San Francisco, CA
A phone on SF’s Valencia Street aims to address the political divide through conversation
SAN FRANCISCO – A social experiment is underway on the streets of San Francisco, aimed at connecting a country that at times seems so far apart. It all starts with picking up the phone.
‘Party line’
On Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, this ringing phone hopes to connect the nation in a way many feel has been lost.
A modified pay phone says “talk to a Republican.” On the other end, the phone is connected to a phone in Abilene, Texas, one of the most politically conservative parts of the country, where it says “talk to a Democrat.”
The hope is, the phone will ring and someone will pick it up.
Pick up the phone
The phone line just opened up over the weekend and is already creating conversations.
Steven Bednarczyk picked up the phone and began talking about one of the big issues that has split the country.
“Politics,” he told the person on the other end of the call. “All they do is divide, and we just lose.”
The telephone social experiment by Matter Neuroscience is called The Party Line, aimed at creating a way to bridge a gap that has grown in this country, and has sometimes split families down political lines.
Organizers took two old pay phones and repurposed them with a note explaining what they were doing.
In an Instagram post, Matter Neuroscience said, “It also says the goal for this project, which is to have people from different places have meaningful conversations, because hostile political discourse increases our brains’ cortisol levels and suppresses happiness.”
The phone on Valencia St. is located outside Black Serum Tattoo and was placed there with permission from the shop’s owners.
A path towards healing
Bednarczyk, the caller, said there is so much rhetoric dividing the country and families, the phones may be a path toward healing. “It’s brutal the divisions that this is doing and until it hits close to home, people aren’t going to realize. But, this, this is kind of bringing people closer in a way.”
Instead of waiting for a call, Dakota picked up the phone herself.
“So, this is super cool,” she told the woman on the other end of her call. They talked for a few minutes, and at the end of the call, Dakota said there wasn’t a big political difference between them. She said the phones can help show that we have more that unites us than divides us.
“I would also like to think that someone who answers the phone, even if they are very conservative, it would still be a human-to-human interaction and walls would be dropped, which I think is really fun,” Dakota said.
Organizers are recording the calls, hoping for connections that may show the world that even in two places separated by politics and 1,500 miles, we are more alike than different. Matter Neuroscience hopes to highlight some of those positive calls on their social media.
Featured
Trump and Harris call for bridging political divide
President-elect Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris both spoke of national unity in their post-election speeches. Finding a path forward, however, could prove to be difficult, following an election that showed Americans continue to be sharply divided.
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
Advertisement
So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
Advertisement
They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
Advertisement
Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
Advertisement
Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
Don’t miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news!
It’s completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!
The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
-
New York31 minutes agoInside the NYC Power Stations That Keep Trains Moving — or Bring Them to a Halt
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoDetroit Pistons already facing must-win Game 2 vs Orlando Magic
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoGiants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoNew video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes
-
Miami, FL1 hour ago
Ty Simpson considered staying in college for $6.5 million offer from Miami
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoTools for Your To Do List with Spot and Gemini Robotics | Boston Dynamics
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoDenver beekeeper says swarm season came a month early this year thanks to warm weather
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoHere, Kitty, Kitty: Scenes from POP Cats Seattle 2026
