Category: News

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Trump convicted: San Francisco, tell us how you feel after guilty verdict

By Stanford Staff : sfstandard – excerpt
Are you headed to a party? Planning a protest?

Former President Donald Trump prepares to make comments to members of the media after being found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday. | Source: Seth Wenig/AP

Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts in his New York hush money trial Thursday.

The landmark jury verdict makes him the first former American president to be found guilty of felony crimes in the nation’s nearly 250-year history.

Trump is set to visit San Francisco next Thursday for a fundraiser dinner at David Sacks’ ritzy Pacific Heights home.

Sacks has already shared his feelings about the trial on X… (more)

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SF Police Commission cancels five meetings, awaits mayor’s appointees

By ELENI BALAKRISHNAN  : missionlocal – excerpt

When the San Francisco Police Commission began repeatedly canceling meetings this spring, it raised questions about whether Mayor London Breed — who has made her disdain for the commission very clear — was behind it.

Breed, as mayor, appoints the majority of the Police Commission’s members. But ever since she fell out with her own appointee, Max Carter-Oberstone, in 2022, she has worked to stymy the powerful commission that sets policy for the San Francisco Police Department. In March, voters approved Prop. E, her measure to restrict the commission’s policy-setting abilities.

And then the cancellations started. Of the past eight scheduled meetings going back 11 weeks, five were canceled: one in March, two in April and two this month. The reasons: vacancies, and absences for personal and business reasons. Maintaining a quorum — at least four out of the seven commissioners are needed for the body to meet — became more difficult after April 30 when two of Breed’s four appointees, Debra Walker and James Byrne, vacated their seats…(more)

 

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Wednesday, June 5, 7-9 PM
Scottish Rite Center, 2850 19th Avenue (parking garage)
Upzoning Impacts presented by Neighborhoods United SF
District 7, along with many neighborhoods in western San Francisco, face significant upzoning mandated by the State and the City, aiming to raise building height throughout the area. These significantly taller structures won’t address affordable housing but will instead lead to luxury high-rises, tenant and small business displacement, and neighborhood gentrification, profoundly impacting our neighborhood and quality of life for all residents. Register Here: https://www.neighborhoodsunitedsf.org/d7-town-hall

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Mayor Breed withdraws from TogetherSF debate, citing ‘chaos,’ Farrell ties

By Joe Eskenazi : missionlocal – excerpt

Mayor, Aaron Peskin organize alternate Monday forum

Shades of confusion as money and suspicion flow through the 2024 election.
Mayor London Breed this morning announced she will not participate in the scheduled May 20 TogetherSF mayoral debate, citing unease with the political action group’s ties to the Mark Farrell mayoral campaign — as well as organizational “chaos.”…
Breed’s camp on May 6 had told Politico that they “have real concerns with the debate and are reevaluating our participation.”…
The mayor this week reached out to Board President Aaron Peskin, her most progressive fellow major mayoral contender, who last month pulled out of the TogetherSF debate. The two agreed to appear together at a moderated discussion. It will take place on Monday, May 20 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Manny’s at 16th and Valencia.
After agreeing to appear at a joint event, the Breed and Peskin campaigns reached out to the venue Manny’s, and then invited this reporter to moderate it.
“San Francisco needs debates free from the influence of partisan political action committees,” wrote Peskin. “I’m excited for the opportunity to have a discussion about the future in a non-partisan setting conducive to a mature debate. There’s too much at stake for anything less.”
Details and tickets to the Monday, May 20 discussion are available here… (more)
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The San Francisco Influence List: People who are directing the city’s future

By Chronicle staff : sfchronicle – excerpt

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.

Enter the San Francisco Chronicle’s first Influence List…

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

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How earthquake preparation has changed since 1906

By Rob Nesbit : kron4 – excerpt

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Thursday marked the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire that devastated San Francisco, killing 3,000 people. It’s been more than a century since then and a lot of lessons have been learned when it comes to being prepared for a quake.

Before 1906, building codes were lax because of profits. For instance, wood was used more to save money. That doesn’t happen today, but there’s still concerns for safety.

Building codes have been updated, but when Dave Osgood from the Coalition For San Francisco Neighborhoods researched data on 180 of the city’s tallest buildings he found concerns.

“There are 43 tall buildings with the same kind of foundation that the Millennium Tower had before it started leaning and had to be propped up,” Osgood said.

The number one priority in cases like this is safety.

Emily Guglielmo, president of the Structural Engineers Assoc. of California, says that modern buildings codes do a good job of saving lives in the event of an earthquake. But she also said there’s room for improvement when it comes to making sure buildings are usable after shaking.

…. (more)

Last time we worked on seismic upgrades for our building, we were told that the upgrade that brought us up to code for a public space, is only guaranteed to save lives. Not guaranteed to be safe after a big earthquake.

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Dissecting Mission Local’s reporting on big money donors

By Yujie Zhou :missionlocal – excerpt

Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and TogetherSF are gonna go for Farrell. GrowSF and Abundant SF will go for Breed,” Joe Rivano Barros, told the audience at Manny’s.

That was the prediction for November’s looming election offered by Mission Local’s senior editor at a Tuesday night debrief on big money in San Francisco politics.

Mission Local has been covering the groups that have collectively launched a more conservative-leaning movement to oust progressives from elected office in San Francisco — and their spending. “We’re gonna see a big divide, a big rift in November,” said Rivano Barros. Also on the stage were Will Jarrett, Mission Local’s former data reporter, and managing editor Joe Eskenazi. All three have been contributors to Mission Local’s BigMoneySF series…

The tech- and real-estate-backed groups who have put millions into city elections do not only diverge on mayoral candidates but also differ more generally: Neighbors for a Better San Francisco has geared towards public safety, while GrowSF and Abundant SF are more urbanist and YIMBY, focused on market-rate housing, bike lanes, keeping the great highway and JFK Driver car-f-ree, according to Rivano Barros…

As for the progressive-leaning candidates, one reflection Rivano Barros has heard: “They’ve got to stop just talking about billionaires controlling this.” At some point, you have to offer voters a reason to vote for you, not just reasons to vote against your competitors: “There was a question mark there [in the March election] about what progressives were proffering.”

“If you allow your opponent to define who you are and they have ten times the money you do,” added Eskenazi, “you will lose.”.… (more)

RELATED:

BigMoneySF: Explore the major players paying out to remake San Francisco

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London Breed’s predecessor Mark Farrell is running for mayor. Here’s what he’d do if he wins

By J.D. Morris : sfchronicle – excerpt


Mayor Mark Farrell swearing in officers at a CSFN meeting at the Northern Police Station. Photo by Zrants

Mark Farrell, the former San Francisco supervisor who briefly served as the city’s appointed mayor in 2018, is officially running against Mayor London Breed in November, increasing the competition Breed faces from other moderates who think she has failed to lead the city well enough to earn another term.

Farrell, who ended months of speculation about whether he would jump into the race, unveiled policy proposals Tuesday to try to set himself apart from Breed and two other high-profile candidates. The 49-year-old venture capitalist wants to replace the police chief, create a new 24/7 intake center to connect homeless people with shelter and services, and reopen all of Market Street to cars to make it easier for people to visit the city’s struggling downtown, among other plans…

To counter the trends downtown, Farrell thinks the city should steer sales tax generated in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market areas into public safety services in the same neighborhoods. And he’d like to let private cars once again drive on Market Street downtown, which would reverse a ban put in place four years ago…

“The MTA should be there to serve the residents of San Francisco, not make our lives more difficult.” I believe in a transit-first policy. I’ve always supported the goals of transit first inside of City Hall, but the SFMTA has literally gone off the rails.”

“I simply reject the idea that San Francisco cannot recover economically post-COVID,” he said. “I’ve traveled across the U.S. and I’ve traveled abroad over the past few years post-pandemic for work. Other cities are thriving. They were proactive, they (had) plans in place, they worked together with their business community and they are thriving. San Francisco is not.”…(more)

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The housing crisis Scott Wiener created

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

This 50 story tower planned for 2700 Sloat  next to a half-empty brand new housing complex is being blamed on Scott Wiener. He is up for re-election and opposed by three people so far:  Cynthia Cravens (D), Yvette Corkrean (R), and Jingchao Xiong (recent immigrant form China) 

Demolitions. Displacement. And zero new affordable housing. That’s the bill the state senator got passed, and the supes have to deal with it this week.

On KQED news Sunday night, a reporter announced that “housing advocates” in San Francisco were pushing the Board of Supes to approve the mayor’s housing legislation this week.

The reporter quoted one person, from Habitat for Humanity, which is a fine organization but has never been involved in local housing politics and isn’t a member of the Council of Community Housing Organizations, which has serious problems with the bill.

Nobody from CCHO, from the Race and Equity in All Planning Coalition, or from the Anti-Displacement Coalition, made the cut…

In all of the news media coverage about the issue, there’s been little discussion about the role Wiener has played in essentially screwing his own city. But the Wiener bill, and the Newsom administration, with the apparent support of Breed, are pushing toward the point where developers will have what’s called the “builder’s remedy,” which means anyone can build anything they want, including demolishing existing rent-controlled housing, without any public input.

Breed, with the support of almost all of the local news media, is trying to blame the supes for delaying or seeking to amend her legislation. And if the supes don’t go along with everything the state is asking for, the Yimbys and the mayor will blame them when a 50-story tower that Wiener and the Breed Administration say they oppose starts construction near Ocean Beach…(more)

This is literally a case of convicted felons moving into San Francisco to take over our beachside community. (Details on sonsf.org)

KQED has lost its local charm and the respect from the community they seek to serve. They bought the “build the perfect place” Kool-Aide and spent a bundle on their new digs. Their funding and programming are suffering. Too bad they did not take a serious stab at a real discussion about the state bills that are pushing homeowners and many others to new levels of anger and disgust with Sacramento politicians. When they open their mouths words come out but the meaning is not there.