Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin went above and beyond in his civic duties Thursday morning. As he drove toward City Hall along Van Ness Avenue, he spotted what appeared to be a homeless man being beaten and robbed.
Acting fast, Peskin called 911 at 11:02 a.m., he told The Standard in a phone call, and began following the suspect in his car, remaining on the line for eight minutes.
“At which point, I was told he had been apprehended, and I drove back around and found him and identified him, and he is now under arrest,” Peskin said.
Peskin said the victim looked as if he was in his 60s and “maybe homeless.”…
Peskin’s longtime political consultant, Jim Stearns, wasted no time seizing the opportunity to promote the mayoral candidate’s good deed for the day.
“He not only swims from Alcatraz, he single-handedly apprehends dangerous criminals. I mean, of course, he should be mayor,” he told The Standard by phone…(more)
She also took two trips to Martha’s Vineyard in 2023 and 2024, where she and other Dream Keeper recipients were event sponsors…
Mayor Breed, right, appointed Mawuli Tugbenyoh to serve as acting replacement for Human Rights Commission head Sheryl Davis…
To nobody’s surprise this close to an election where Mayor London Breed, her dear friend, is battling to keep her job, Sheryl Davis, head of the Human Rights Commission where she also ran the Dream Keeper Initiative, has resigned (on Friday the 13th, no less). As I pointed in last week’s GBTB, when London Breed was District 5 supervisor, she asked Mayor Ed Lee to allow Davis to run programming at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. After a few years there, Davis was asked to be interim director of the Human Rights Commission, and soon after that she became the director. In November 2023, I called out the Dream Keeper Initiative, which took $120 million from law enforcement and created a citywide plan for “reinvesting” those millions in San Francisco’s African American community, as a pet project of Mayor Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton ripe for grift. “A quick glance at the beneficiaries brings up numerous ‘nonprofits’ with ties to Breed and Walton, including organizations involved with the SFPUC Community Benefits pay-to-play scheme,” I wrote. A year later, my predictions came true, with many of the nonprofits I referenced caught misusing those funds on everything from cigars and bourbon to $700,000 for two Juneteenth parties.
On Sept. 12, Davis took a paid leave of absence, but she phoned it in. The day before, on Sept. 11, she presided over the Dreaming Forward “fireside chat” and reception at the luxury five-star Riggs Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event was hosted by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, as was a seminar held from 11 a.m. to noon that same day called “Dreaming Forward: Investing in Black Culture to Advance Academic Excellence,” featuring Davis and Dream Keeper Initiative director Dr. Saidah Leatutufu-Burch.
It turns out Burch has big City Family ties as well, to District 10 supervisor Shamann Walton, co-sponsor of the Dream Keeper Initiative. Walton officiated the wedding of Leattutufu to his aide and longtime associate Percy Burch. In his opening comments, Walton made light of the fact they met “while one was the boss of the other” but said (with a “wink-wink”) that both swear the relationship started outside of work. And where did they work? At the infamous Young Community Developers while Walton was director. Not surprisingly, YCD got a nice grant from the Dream Keeper Initiative…(more)
If you live on Social Security and Medicare, you and I are not alone.
It has now become too expensive for 65 million Americans to live in the United States of Money. People need food, shelter, healthcare and a basic income. Social Security and Medicare are our safety nets…
On July 30, 2024, with flare and a sense of fun, the California Alliance of Retired Americans (CARA) threw Social Security and Medicare a birthday party. I videoed the event, which took place at the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francesco. I swear I gained weight just looking at the red, white and blue frosted birthday cake held up by Hene Kelly, CARA vice president, and Kory Powell-McCoy, Nancy Pelosi’s district director…
“Scrap the Cap” signs were everywhere. So what’s the cap?
Fire truck got stuck in a tight turn. Had to get another. Use a different approach. Hydrant was 300 feet away Here’s something fresh!
There is a new and dangerous assault on local control. Senator Wiener is not content to merely wrest zoning from cities. He is now targeting Fire Hazard Severity Zone Maps as “impediments” to housing.
SB 610 upends local considerations — and would eliminate the State Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps and familiar terms — most noticeably “ember resistant zones.” A whole new system would instead declare portions of the state “Wildfire Mitigation Areas.” There would be no comparative maps to see where changes were made.
Wiener introduced SB-610 “Fire prevention: wildfire mitigation area: defensible space: State Fire Marshal” as a “gut and amend” bill, meaning the contents were completely changed after it had already passed the Senate in an innocuous form (a proposed annual report by the chair of the State Energy Resources Commission).
The Assembly had no time to digest the language or its ramifications and it has sailed through.
“to keep localities from weaponizing the fire hazard mapping as anti-housing/development tools.”
“LRA (Local Responsibility Area) maps can functionally result in restrictions on growth in those areas through imposing costly building standards, increased disaster planning and mitigation requirements, or increasing home insurance premiums.”
“Local jurisdictions have the ability to misuse this process and make the majority of their community a high or very high FHSZ (Fire Hazard Severity Zone) map that could impact housing development.”
In other words, the Maps must go in order to keep cities and counties from cheating their way out of “fair share housing.”…(more)
San Francisco is changing. These are people whose decisions will shape that change — for better or worse. You might not know them all. But you should.
Since the pandemic, San Francisco has been thrust into the global spotlight for its myriad problems: homelessness, the fentanyl epidemic, the affordability crisis and the potential for an economic “doom loop.” These challenges have forced a place known for historic cataclysms and rebirths into one of its most difficult transformations.
The election in November comes at a critical time: Residents are eager for solutions, and the decisions being made have the potential to dramatically alter what it’s like to live in San Francisco. It’s important that you, our readers, understand how things grow from idea to reality, so we are identifying the people directing that process. You might or might not like what they’re doing, but you should know who they are.
Kanishka Cheng : Founder and CEO of Together SF Action Jennifer Friedenbach : Executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness Rudy Corpuz : Executive director of United Playaz Sean Elsbernd : Mayor London Breed’s chief of staff Chris Larson : Chairman and Co-founder of Ripple Sheryl Davis : Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission Phil Ginsberg : General manager of the SF Rec and Park Department John Elberling : President of TODCO Laura Crescimano : Principal of SITELAB Studio Enrique Landa : Managing Partner of Associate Capital Rudy Gonzalez : Secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council Larry Baer : President and Chief Exceutive of hte SF Giants Malcolm Yeung : Executive director of Chinatown Community Development Center Lena Millier : Founder dn CEO of Urban Alchemy Joe Derisi : President of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco Mira Murati : Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI Greg Perloff : Co-founder of Another Planet Enertertainment Pim Techamuanvivit : Chef-owner of Kin Khao and Nari Brandon Jew : Chef-owner of Mr. Jiu’s D’arcy Drollinger : San Francisco drag laureate
Merchants from Geary, Market, and Taraval, and other streets along with SaveMuni and other transit supporters, joined the Valencia merchants in their demands for a removal of the center bike lane on Valencia.
The crowd, composed of business owners, local residents, and a handful of cyclists, took turns decrying the lane as people on bikes shuffled around them. Several brandished signs calling on Jeff Tumlin, director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), to resign. The occasional car honked its support.
“We’ve been in business for 33 years, and this was the worst six months we’ve ever seen,” said Nikki DeWald, owner of Blondie’s Bar and a director of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. “We love bikes, but not this bike lane.”
Anger at the trial lane, which spans from 15th to 23rd streets, has been brewing since before construction began in April. Business owners have expressed frustration at the loss of roughly 70 parking spaces, and new limits on turning for cars. Some cyclists are also upset, saying that the design turns the road into a “bicycle freeway” that is difficult and unsafe to navigate.
And store owners have begun to organize: Walk along Valencia Street, and you will likely spot several pink-and-white posters emblazoned with the message, “This Bike Lane is Killing Small Businesses and Our Vibrant Community.”
Objections continued at SFMTA meeting
The Valencia Street protest was followed by an SFMTA Board meeting, where public comment was filled with frustration directed at the center bike lane. But although many voiced their objections, there was little consensus on what should be done to remedy the situation.…(more)
City and Supervisor Engardio claim the project is a no go on San Francisco Beach. Petition against skyscraper in SF’s Sunset District draws over 2,500 signatures. Planning Department will hear the matter on July 26. One other issue that has been raised is over who is behind the caper.
By Joe Kukurta wrote in sfist, ” There are other things that smell funny about this proposal. CH Planning “project consultant” John Hickey, the wife of listed developer Raelynn Hickey, was convicted on securities fraud and mail fraud charges in 2006. Plus, YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss has been doing a full-court press giving interviews on behalf of this project. That indicates this whole scheme may be a ruse to create Housing Element-related lawsuits, albeit lawsuits that could push the Overton window of San Francisco height limits up a little more. And that would benefit real estate developers pretty much across the board.… (more)”
Tuesday, January 17, 1 PM SF gray Panther Zoom event
Here’s the next event in which we can all participate in: Save the date for this SF Gray Pather Zoom Event: Tuesday, Jan 17, 1 PM: Zoom Town Hall/Update on Laguna Honda Hospital and the intersection with treatment and shelter for San Franciscans in need….What’s happening? What promises are being kept? What promises are being broken? How can San Francisco be the best for all of us? All are welcome at this SF Gray Panthers January Meeting. Stay tuned for more. FOr more background, see bit.ly/LHH-ACTION Letters and comments are appreciated. UPDATE: https://westsideobserver.com/news/longTermCare.htm The Feds have NOT postponed the deadly discharges at Laguna Honda they are scheduled to begin again on February 2, 2023.
John Rothman Show on KGO 810 taped podcast: https://www.kgoradio.com/johnrothmann/ with Megan Bourne de Young Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Trustees, and Richard Skaff, Executive Director of Designing Accessible Communities. Federal ADA issues are discussed and the public has some comments.
Supervisors are expected to have the final say. According to and article in SFist.com there are three Supervisors who support permanent closure. The Mayor has voiced support for permanent closure.
Thursday March 10 there is a rally to Re-open JFK Drive at 9 AM prior to a special joint meeting at 10 AM with Rec and Park and SFMTA. They are expected to vote on the closure after the public speaks on the matter. Stay tuned for more news as it developed. Please try to attend he meeitng and speak in person or call in to do so.
