Category: Power Politics

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Building Public Awareness

ONV Volunteers at the League of California Cities Conference Anaheim, September 23, 2026

In 2024, Our Neighborhood Voices, a 501(c)(4) campaign committee, welcomed the formation of a 501(c)(3) sister organization, Our Neighborhood Voices Education.  The sister organization was created to illuminate the issues and empower the public and city governments regarding their rights and possible solutions regarding local control.  It has built a statewide following and a network of local activist groups. Together, these groups increased public and local-government awareness of the issues and possible solutions, culminating in Friday’s vote of 253 California cities.

 

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Mayor Lurie declares ‘rent emergency’ as San Franciscans struggle

By Silas Valentino : sfgate – excerpt (audio)

Proclaiming a “rent emergency” in San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a series of tenant protections Thursday morning that he says will fight the city’s rapidly escalating affordability crisis.

The mayor’s proposed reforms include six ordinances and more than $30 million in investments, and addresses three areas fueling the rent emergency: protections from unwarranted evictions and “sudden rent spikes” while beefing up the city’s enforcement of tenant rights.

Lurie did not announce any immediate action and it’s unclear when renters in the city can expect any tangible relief as the median rent in San Francisco has risen over 25% in the last year.

The incredible increase in prices has allowed some landlords to take advantage of the booming economy by driving rents up to “astronomical” levels, according to City Attorney David Chiu. The city is now asking renters to report any wrongdoing to the city attorney’s office….

While local and state law limit some rent increases, there are numerous carve-outs to those laws that leave many San Francisco renters at risk of unlimited rent increases. Some tenants have seen rent increases as high as 90% during this latest housing crisis…

The mayor’s most progressive effort is to reaffirm his support for District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s proposed legislation to prevent evictions that are issued for less than a month’s worth of unpaid rent.

Introduced this month, the law would bar a landlord from evicting a tenant for nonpayment unless they’re owed at least one month of the fair market rent…(more)

Still no mention of the numerous unfilled housing units that exist in the city today. Seems like that filling those should one a priority. Read the rest of the article to see more suggestions by other supervisors.

 

 

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How cities are going to lose all control over housing development, soon

The Wiener Way Is getting a lot of pushback as people realize their rents are not going down as he promised they would. Question for our readers: Will the voters get the message that his way has not worked the way he claimed it would and quit supporting him?

Scott is pushing the towering plans for Marina Safeway.

Wiener’s housing laws are set up for cities and counties to fail, allowing developers to do almost anything they want, for many years to come Wiener’s housing laws are set up for cities and counties to fail, allowing developers to do almost anything they want, for many years to come
August 26, 2026  By MICHAEL BARNES…(more)

The bizarre incompetence of Wiener’s SB 79
Do that math: This will never work. And it undermines all the twisted efforts cities are making to comply with RHNA
September 22, 2025 By MICHAEL BARNES…(more)

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Sprint to the finish at the Capitol

By Lynn La via email from calmatters – see email for action items

With days to go until the end of the legislative session, lots of things are brewing at the state Capitol:
  • California Forever setback: Solano County supervisors voted against proposed legislation that would have allowed the billionaire-backed California Forever to speed up the creation of a new shipbuilding facility by exempting parts of it from environmental review. The vote threw a wrench in California Forever’s wider efforts to develop a new city and manufacturing hub in the county. Read more from Kate Wolffe and Yue Stella Yu.
  • Coastal carveouts: Newsom is pushing a plan that would give an environmental carveout to an oceanfront project belonging to Jeff Worthe, a Santa Monica developer who is also a donor to the governor. Environmental advocates are slamming the last-minute proposal and oppose any backdoor deals that sidestep a state law limiting development along the coast. Read more from Stella.
  • Cheaper GLP-1 drugs?: A bill that aims to lower the price of anti-obesity medications, or GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, is one step closer to reaching the governor’s desk after clearing the Assembly earlier this week. If passed, the state would partner with a drug maker to produce cheaper GLP-1 drugs and distribute it through the state’s CalRx program. But it’s unclear how long this could take: California’s $55 insulin took three years to bring into market under CalRx. Read more from Ana B. Ibarra.

Meta to pay $17B — and limit ‘likes’ for teens — in social media settlement with states // CalMatters (free)

Taxing the rich cracks open the Democratic coalition // Politico (free)

Trump can’t cut off funding to communities whose policies he opposes, court rules // The Mercury News (gift link)

Nearly 300,000 K-12 students are homeless in CA, UCLA report says // EdSource(free)

Years late, billions over budget: CA’s high-speed rail hasn’t laid a track // The Wall Street Journal (gift link)

CA gas prices ‘shaping up to be the highest on record.’ What you’ll pay // The Sacramento Bee (paywall)

CA lawmakers sound alarm about urgent need for $2B for Olympics transportation // LAist (free)

SpaceX windfall presents dilemma for CA pension fund // Bloomberg (gift link)

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Daly City rebels against Olympic Club’s Westlake Park proposal

By Angela Swartz, Freelance Writer : sfgate – excerpt

Beware Gifts that come with Conditions

The ‘whole idea of privatizing a public park is really nonsensical,’ protester says

Children blow bubbles and climb monkey bars on a typical foggy Thursday evening at Daly City’s Westlake Park. Just 100 feet away, in front of a pale yellow post-World War II building with a green awning, about 50 people clutch bright signs reading “No plastic park” and “Westlake Park is not for sale or lease.” Organizers, who are part of a group called Save Westlake Park, pass out neon-colored posters describing a “land grab” and flyers linking to a website with more information on their cause.
 
The Aug. 13 gathering at the park at 145 Lake Merced Blvd. brought together a new coalition of residents of the working-class suburb just south of San Francisco. They have banded together in hopes of halting a $10 million proposal to revamp Westlake Park. The Olympic Club, one of the oldest private athletic clubs in the world, has offered to make the changes — in exchange for some exclusive use of the field and facilities. … (more)

What is it about AstroTurf that YIMNYs like? This is becoming a national front to green grass trees. Who is behind this? We know who is paying for it, but why? And what role does Rec and Park pay in. this?

They cut down a tree, pour concrete or Astroturf and call it a park?

And then want the public to volunteer to maintain it?

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‘Independent’ super PAC paying Wiener campaign staffers, records show

By Ian Firstenberg : 48hills – excerpt

Families for an Affordable San Francisco, an Independent Expenditure PAC supporting Scott Wiener’s congressional bid, was the primary employer for a number of staffers who also work on Wiener’s official campaign—something that would have been illegal until recently and is still in a shady political arena, experts say.
Under federal law, independent expenditure super PACs are explicitly prohibited from coordinating with campaigns. That’s because IEs can take unlimited money, and contributions to a candidate’s campaign committee are limited.
The Federal Elections Commission in 2024 issued an advisory saying that IEs and candidates can share fundraising for canvassers. That ruling is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.
In several cases, Federal Elections Commission records show, staffers have been paid during the same period by both the Wiener for Congress Campaign and Families for Affordable San Francisco.
A former staffer, who worked briefly for the Wiener campaign, shared documents exclusively with 48hills that identify the super PAC as their employer. They noted that a similarly structured employment agreement, with Families as the employer, was circulated “to about 12 people.” Given that the Scott Wiener for Congress 2026 runs Wiener’s campaign, the former staffer expected that committee to be their employer.
“Not only have I never seen this before, but I have only seen it that campaigns and independent expenditures have zero communication, zero coordination,” they said in an exclusive interview with 48hills.
The former staffer, who shared details on the condition of anonymity, said that when they received the employment agreement that listed Families for an Affordable San Francisco as the primary employer, they flagged the concerns to higher ups. They got no response from them and chose to leave the campaign because of the legal concerns…

Jim Sutton, a lawyer who is an expert on election law, told us that the situation is, at the very least, questionable… 
(more)

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There are some lines you don’t cross in politics

By Willie Brown : sfexaminer – excerpt (audio)

San Francisco politics has often been described as a knife fight in a phone booth. Having spent a life inside that phone booth, I can tell you the description is largely accurate.

I have thrown my share of elbows and taken plenty in return. Politics is a tough business — no one who puts their name on the ballot should expect otherwise.

But there are still lines you don’t cross. State Sen. Scott Wiener’s decision to create an artificial-intelligence chatbot impersonating Supervisor Connie Chan, his opponent in the November race for Congress, crossed several.

Wiener’s campaign built a website around an AI version of Chan, put her face on it and invited voters to have a conversation with a machine programmed to mock her. When prompted about Chan’s accent, the chatbot responded that her “accent is so thick I can barely understand myself.” When asked whether she was an American citizen, it dodged the question with a birther swipe, which Wiener shrugged off as a “joke.”

His campaign has since taken the site down for “maintenance” after widespread condemnation, but not before Wiener dug in his heels on the legitimacy of the attack. He has also yet to formally apologize for the offense it caused… (more)

RELATED:

Pelosi slams Wiener chatbot mimicking opponent as sexist, racially problematic

Scott Wiener takes down AI chatbot mimicking Connie Chan after criticism

You said it Willie. There are some lines you do not cross and Wiener has crossed a lot of those lines in his scramble to the top.

 

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Grassroots Efforts Are Thwarting the Billionaire Agenda

By Ian Firstenberg : phoenixproject – excerpt

If you are not at the table you are not in game.

Despite their attempts to remain in the shadows, the state’s roughly 200 billionaires have outed themselves. Greater visibility has meant their narrow — and self-interested — agenda has come increasingly under fire.

San Francisco billionaires like Michael Mortiz and Chris Larsen have a storied history of opposing increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy, using their fortunes to elect allies who will protect them from any incursion into their wealth.

Recently a labor-backed measure, the Billionaire Tax Act earned a place on November’s statewide ballot. The modest, one-time tax that, if passed, will fund essential services like public hospitals, has mobilized California’s elite who tried — and failed — to keep it off the ballot. Despite successes in smaller statewide races, and a few wins in recent San Francisco elections, the very fact that the Billionaire Tax earned a place on the ballot may be a sign that their winning streak is coming to an end.

The measure is popular. It should also be kept in mind that the tax on billionaires will not meaningfully affect their lives or reduce the obscene generational wealth. Nonetheless, billionaires are willing to spend millions to defeat it. This won’t endear them to the state’s voters. A coalition led by Google cofounder Sergey Brin has reserved $87 million of ad space for spots to combat the measure. That number will likely increase as the election approaches… (more)

When billionaires have such an appetite for spending ungodly amounts of money to buy elections one must consider why? The end goal cannot be more money since paying the taxes might be less painful than fighting them. What is worth more than the money? Buying a seat at the table where power lies.

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Albertsons is infuriating Bay Area shoppers over vacant grocery stores

By Susan Guerrero : sfgate – excerpt

Town Hall July 23, 2026 on the Towering plans at the Marina Safeway

In the heart of downtown Larkspur, a tiny shopping center has become the grave site of a former Lucky Supermarket. The building, with its barren storefront and sealed doors, has haunted the neighborhood since 2023, yet there are currently no plans to open another grocery store in its place.

Tina McArthur, a Larkspur resident and board president of the historic Lark Theater, blames the building’s owner: Albertsons Companies.

“I think it’s terrible that they just left their building like that,” McArthur said. “The lights are still on. … I really don’t think they care one bit.”

The Lucky store is not an outlier. Albertsons — the parent company of Safeway, Vons and other major supermarkets — owns dozens of vacant surplus properties across the U.S., including at least seven vacant California stores listed for sale. An SFGATE investigation found that Albertsons appears to have a history of using its vast real estate portfolio to block the opening of competing grocers through restrictive land covenants or by keeping its properties vacant. In some cases, Albertsons has introduced controversial development plans on its properties that could raze existing supermarkets like Trader Joe’s in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood and Safeway in San Rafael without replacing those markets.

Albertsons could leave even more vacant properties on the market as the grocery company plans to shutter an unknown number of underperforming stores in California, and beyond, after its failed merger with the Kroger Company…

Grocery companies that keep properties vacant or add covenants to prevent future stores contribute to limited food access in communities, according to Christopher Leslie, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine…

The race for housing  Albertsons’ impacts on grocery availability in the Bay Area are likely to only increase as the grocery conglomerate flexes its muscle into property development. Align Real Estate and Albertsons are developing housing projects at Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area, including plans to build almost 3,500 units of housing across San Francisco’s Marina, Bernal Heights, Outer Richmond and Fillmore districts. The proposed residential housing project that could demolish the Safeway in San Rafael is not part of the Align Real Estate portfolio and is instead managed by Mill Creek Residential…(more)

Lots to take in here. I can remember hearing about food deserts from Malia Cohen years ago. Now we all are being faced with them.

What do we belive and what can be done to break those covenants? The food deserts are yet another reason to blame Wiener density bills for the loss of grocery stores as grocery chains are playing into his “HOUSING ONLY” zoning directives, except when he needs an exception and then he creates one..