Category: Update

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If you live on Social Security and Medicare, read this article before you vote

by Carol Harvey : sfbayview – excerpt

Produced over 12 years ago, this video never gets old…
Hey kiddos, Mom and Dad here. Let’s talk turkey – specifically about those turkeys who want to cut Social Security benefits. What’s up with that?

Read the article before you view the videos. Watch the entire one and one-half hour event by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRITuQhUO3g&list=PLHrKWOo7hlZBqhGnknzClH3RqOO_sR4Lz.
Watch a 14-minute video summary by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/KlcWvBFn36Q.
Watch an eight-minute summary by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/zbHBfGQjK3Y.

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…

13scrap-the-cap-1400x875, If you live on Social Security and Medicare, read this article before you vote, Featured News & Views

“Scrap the Cap” signs were everywhere. So what’s the cap?

…(more)

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Lurie Announces Plan To Create New Police District

For Immediate Release : via email

New Police District Would Cover Hospitality Zone to Better Deter Crime Targeting Businesses and Tourists Downtown

SAN FRANCISCO– Today, Daniel Lurie announced a plan to create a new police district that covers San Francisco’s hospitality zone, from Moscone Center to Union Square. The new police district would encompass the Convention Center, San Francisco Centre, Yerba Buena Gardens, and Union Square, with a station located in the district once Lurie’s plans to fully staff the police department are implemented. Currently, the hospitality district is split between three police districts, dividing already limited police resources across an area with unique public safety needs.

“The Union Square shopping area is ground zero for retail theft,” said Daniel Lurie, a longtime non-profit executive, father of two, and lifelong Democrat. “From deterring crime in our shopping corridors to ensuring tourists feel safe in an iconic San Francisco neighborhood, this area has unique needs that require dedicated and specialized resources. Revitalizing this area is key to San Francisco’s economic recovery. The current and former interim mayors caused a morale crisis in our police department which has spurred an exodus of officers, but I’m confident we can turn this around with new accountable leadership.” 

Union Square, historically the region’s premier shopping area and the most important city-center shopping district west of Chicago, has been hit hard by retail theft, threatening businesses and deterring foot traffic, putting the economic vitality of downtown San Francisco at risk. This specialized police district would focus on protecting the heart of San Francisco’s economy, which contributes 75% of the city’s GDP and 40% of the city’s jobs. The plan for a new police district is coupled with Lurie’s existing plans to increase police staffing numbers citywide, create a downtown climate innovation hub, ensure certainty in zoning and permitting, and transform downtown into a 24/7 vibrant urban core.

Lurie’s plan for fully staffing the police department includes: building workforce housing for first responders, offering rent subsidies so officers can live in the communities where they work, providing child care and transportation incentives, and increasing diversity in our ranks so officers reflect the communities they serve.

In contrast, both Farrell and Breed have a track record of defunding the police. Specifically, Farrell claims to have increased police funding as budget chair, but during his tenure from 2013 to 2017, his Budget Committee actually reduced the police department’s budget by nearly $6 million over three years—$600,000 less in 2013, $1 million less in 2014, and $4 million less in 2015. Moreover, as interim Mayor, the San Francisco Police Officers Association criticized him as obstructionist on officer pay. Since Breed became Mayor in 2018, SFPD has lost 300 officers creating both a staffing and morale crisis that has further exacerbated a sense of lawlessness while stretching 911 call response times to dangerous levels.

 

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Muni riders walked a mile through a tunnel after their train died. The city blames a can

By Alex Mullaney : sfstandard – excerpt

It wasn’t surprising when a K Ingleside train lurched to a stop moments after leaving Castro Station one Friday last month. Delays are a fact of life. But for Stephen Martin-Pinto, being told to step into the dimly lit subway tunnel and walk a mile down the tracks was new.
The 42-year-old firefighter was returning home in a two-car train with about 50 passengers when, as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency would tell state regulators, “the overhead power feeder was reported open and then closed.” In other words, the train died.

Apparently, an object on top of the train shorted out the system, a city official who was briefed on the matter later told Martin-Pinto. Electricity arced, sparks flew, the tunnel filled with smoke, and the power went out.

Moments later, the train’s batteries kicked in, and the lights came back on. The operator soon announced that a rescue train would pick up the passengers. But after 16 minutes, the operator came on again to announce a change of plans — the system had shorted out, after all — and told the passengers they could exit the train. The majority did. For Martin-Pinto, this is when serious safety questions began cropping up.

Although the smoke began to clear, the tunnel was “poorly lit and full of trip hazards,” Martin-Pinto said…

Initially, the transportation agency said it was a mechanical issue with the overhead power system — a once-common problem that has decreased in the past five years.

But no. It was something much simpler — and handheld. A few days later, Martin-Pinto asked the San Francisco Fire Department’s Transit Committee to take up the incident and learned what had shorted out the train: a regular aluminum can. Someone had thrown a can from the platform. Martin-Pinto wasn’t told exactly what kind it was — “a soda or beer can.” Whatever it was had exploded.…(more

Interesting to note that regardless of what happens it is never SFMTA’s fault. In this case a soda can exploded on the tracks and that must be vandalism. It could not have been that a soda can was accidentally dropped and rolled onto the tracks? SFMTA blames everything on someone else. No apologies and no falling on swords. For those who missed it,  (Video of Stephen Martin-Pinto describing the incident at our Town Hall) 
 
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Confederacy of NIMBYS cheer Peskin, criticize Melgar on housing

By KELLY WALDRON : missionlocal – excerpt

As dozens of slides on the evils of new housing construction flashed on the screen, the 100 or so residents gathered Wednesday night at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center agreed on one thing: Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin best represented their views, while the local district supervisor Myrna Melgar did not.
Peskin, who is running for mayor and spoke for around 10 minutes, often skeptical of new market-rate housing, was a clear winner for the crowd. District 7 Supervisor Melgar, who represents the area in which the meeting was held and is running for re-election there, attended but did not speak. She was not a fan favorite — and she made it clear the feeling was mutual.
“These are not my people,” said Melgar about the event put on by Neighborhoods United, a coalition of over 50 neighborhood associations across the city…(more)  
 
Melgar was invited to speak but just sat in the audience and said nothing. One of her opponents, Stephen Martin-Pinto was in attendance and gathered a lot of support last night. There were a lot of people from D-4., D-7, and D-11 that I recognized.

RELATED:

An Open Letter to Mission Local reporter Kelly Waldron

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Breed proposes $1.3 billion budget bump, despite months of deficit warnings

By Gabe Greschler and Noah Baustin : sfstandard – excerpt (see graph at the source)
For months, Mayor London Breed has been ringing the alarm about an $800 million deficit and asking city departments to plan for budget cuts. But instead of cutting overall spending, Breed’s latest budget proposal calls for a record $15.9 billion outlay next year, a nearly 9% climb from this year’s budget…

Breed’s plan is likely to spur intense debate and discussion this summer and comes as the mayor—along with two supervisors and another two City Hall outsiders—seek the city’s top job in November.

Breed’s challengers are already casting her as having squandered years of bright economic growth—and a moderate versus progressive fight is almost certain in the coming weeks over at least some of the mayor’s spending priorities.

Last year, Breed was able to plug up a similarly large deficit through the use of Covid-related reimbursements and reserve funds. But by October, Breed warned that cuts were coming and directed city departments to make 10% reductions to their budgets.

San Francisco’s supervisors will propose their own tweaks to the mayor’s budget proposal before sending it back to her for a final signature by the end of July… (more)

RELATED remarks via email

…Supervisor and Budget Chair Connie Chan blasted the mayor on Friday over what she described as the mayor’s “wasteful spending and inefficiencies” in city contracting and departments.

“My task is clear—we must comb through the mayor’s proposed budget and advance a budget that prioritizes all San Franciscans—not just the demands of the wealthy few,” Chan said.

Likewise, Safaí had some harsh words for Breed: “Her budget is out of touch with working families, and there’s no way it will pass as is.”

Other critics of the mayor echoed Chan’s remarks: “We’re going to have to understand and digest the money machinations,” said Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club President Jeffrey Kwong.

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Political foes join forces to fix SF’s job-killing business tax

By Kevin Truong and Josh Koehn : sfstandard – excerpt
Mayor London Breed and Board Supervisor Aaron Peskin are opponents in the upcoming mayoral race, but teamed up to support a pro-business tax reform measure…

It’s a rare cause that can align San Francisco’s biggest private sector employers with its nonprofits and labor unions, or bring together political rivals like Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who is challenging her reelection bid.

The urgent need to reform San Francisco’s perverse business tax formula is just such a cause—and, after two years of effort, a proposal to fix it could be going to voters for approval in November.

Modifying the gross receipts tax to focus on a company’s sales instead of its on-site headcount, the proposal would slash taxes for many small businesses while making it more attractive for large ones to keep their workers in town.

City officials acknowledged to The Standard that the plan, which underwent an extensive review by former City Controller Ben Rosenfield and the Treasurer and Tax Collector’s Office, will likely bring in less revenue for the city in the first few years but make San Francisco’s budget less dependent on a handful of companies over the long term. (Hardened policy wonks can delve into the specific language of the plan here.)… (more)

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Peskin, Farrell, balance neighborhood wants with housing needs

By Adam Shanks : sfexaminer – excerpt (includes audio)

Mark Farrell has joined the growing list of candidates delicately attempting to accede to demands for new housing in San Francisco without rankling homeowners.

The mayoral candidate introduced a set of housing policy proposals Thursday that included targeting new housing largely in areas that have already seen the greatest surge in development in recent years, including SoMa and Mission Bay…

Farrell and Peskin’s prescribed solutions to The City’s housing woes differ radically, with the former seeking to get government out of the way and the latter calling for government to be an active facilitator…

Farrell and Peskin occupy opposite ends of San Francisco’s political spectrum but share a belief that The City can address its housing crisis without radically altering the aesthetic fabric of its iconic neighborhoods…

Farrell’s focus… Farrell’s plan focuses on neighborhoods in and around downtown, or on increasing the number of units in the existing footprints of west-side buildings. Asked if the housing built in the neighborhoods he highlighted in his plan would be hospitable to families, Farrell said his vision “will include housing for all sizes of families, from the single individual to larger families.”…Farrell has also called for ending the current caps on how many units can be built into a single building, but would maintain height limits. On the surface, it offers assurance to neighborhood preservationists that new apartment towers won’t be built next door…

Peskin’s plan…Peskin announced legislation Tuesday that would allow The City to issue bonds to fund housing projects in which middle-income families would live. Rather than heading to the ballot for a sweeping bond measure, the Board of Supervisors would issue bonds directly for specific projects…Peskin argues that the revenue generated by tenants paying rent would offset the debt without affecting The City’s general fund and — unlike low-income housing projects — would not need government subsidies…“The City must lead on addressing the real barriers to housing construction, particularly for demographics the market is not able to subsidize: middle-income workers who don’t qualify for significant public subsidies but who also can’t afford market-rate rents,” Peskin said in a statement…(more)

It appears Ferrell and Peskin hold similar intentions to protect the neighborhoods, but, have different ideas on how to add housing. They are both mindful of the voters’ desire to preserve their neighborhoods and lifestyles.

YIMBY spokesperson Corey Smith seems to doubt either of them can persevere against the state intentions of overriding everyone and everything that puts a damper on the desires of the developers to build as dense and as high as they want. The corporate carpetbaggers want to push land values up and the middle class out, even though it will take a while for the economy to cooperate. This is going to be a choppy ride. We will need to rely on the current board of supervisors to get as many protections in place as fast as we can.

We shall see how well the candidates connect with the voters during this stressful season.

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Exclusive: Aaron Peskin announces financing tools to create more ‘missing middle’ housing in S.F .

By Laura Waxman : sfchronicle – excerpt

Over the past year, San Francisco has slashed its building fees and cut its affordable housing requirements almost in half. The city has also come up with a plan that promises to produce thousands of new homes in the coming years.

Now, a supervisor who is running for mayor is working to create a permanent funding source for a section of the housing market that’s challenging to finance: the “missing middle.”

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin — who earlier this month promised a “Marshall plan for middle-class housing” after starting his candidacy in the November mayoral race — announced legislation Tuesday to create a way to pay for workforce housing using tax-exempt bonds…

Peskin’s proposal, called the “Missing Middle Workforce Housing Act,” aims to “produce and protect” thousands of affordable units using “little to no public funds,” kick-start stalled housing projects and “bring people to live downtown and other opportunity sites.”…

If adopted, the ordinance would authorize the city to issue two new types of tax-exempt housing revenue bonds that, according to Peskin, would not impact the city’s general fund: government bonds for publicly owned but privately developed and managed facilities and 501(c)(3) bonds to finance projects owned by nonprofits that serve a governmental purpose.

Revenue bonds are already issued by city entities to finance projects such as roads, schools and sewers.

The city would own the properties and hire nonprofits to manage them or would work with for-profit developers to build and manage them

Peskin said that the new “tools” that the proposed program provides to developers can be applied to a variety of projects. These include acquiring distressed or foreclosed rental housing portfolios, funding office-to-housing conversions and public surplus sites as well as for new construction…(more)

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YIMBYS love to hate mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin. But is his housing record more nuanced than critics say?

By J. K. Dineen :sfchronicle – excerpt

A month before Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin announced his candidacy for mayor, London Breed stood on the steps of City Hall flanked by a dozen yellow-vested carpenters and delivered a scathing assessment of her soon-to-be rival’s approach to housing.

“What Supervisor Peskin is trying to do is what he’s always done, the NIMBY that he is, and that is to destroy housing production,” Breed charged. “I am sick of his shenanigans.”…

Yet Peskin’s record is more nuanced than critics are likely to admit. As board president, he shepherded through the rezoning of the eastern neighborhoods, which has resulted in thousands of units in Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, the Mission and Showplace Square. He supported and was instrumental in negotiating neighborhood plans for Market-Octavia, the Transbay Transit District, Rincon Hill and Central SoMa, as well as development agreements for mega-projects such as Potrero Power Station and Balboa Reservoir…

Peskin has also shown an independent streak on big housing decisions, voting against his progressive allies to support large projects. That was the case with the several key votes, including the a 2006 rezoning that set the stage for the approval of the redevelopment of Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point, which came after Peskin had left office. Then-Bayview Supervisor Sophie Maxwell needed one more vote to push through 13,000 housing units and millions of square feet of commercial space in one of the poorest corners of the city…

Over his many years in office, Peskin said he has supported neighborhood plans, development agreements and other approvals that have led to 80,000 units, of which 37,000 are affordable. He has worked to put three housing bonds on the ballot, totaling $1.1 billion, including the recent $300 million bond for which Peskin led fundraising.

“We don’t build things. We create conditions for things to get built. We approve development agreements. We approve zoning changes. We grant money for affordable housing. We put measures on the ballot for affordable housing,” Peskin said. “Put that up against any other supervisor in modern San Francisco, and that is an unbeatable record.”…

Peskin said he now supports the [Tresure Island] island development, where 1,000 units are either recently completed or under construction. “I went out there on a tour with Chris Meany a year ago,” he said. “It’s impressive — they are sinking a billion dollars of infrastructure into that piece of Jell-O.”

Peskin’s clash with Wiener has only escalated over the years. Peskin called California’s most prominent pro-housing legislator “a senator who hates his own Senate district.” Wiener says Peskin is committed to preserving a housing system that is “structurally broken” and “designed to fail.”…

Architect Mark Hogan said he has disagreed with some of Peskin’s positions, but they have worked together on legislation to allow more granny flats, making it easier for multifamily building owners to convert basement storage spaces and other common areas into units.

More than anything, Hogan said he has been struck with Peskin’s willingness to tackle the byzantine world of development — skills that fans and critics agree make him a force in the politics of housing and land use.

“Aaron’s knowledge of the planning code and development and land use is pretty exceptional,” said Rahaim, the former planning director, “Probably better than mine.”…(more)

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California electricity prices now second-highest in U.S.: ‘Everyone is getting squeezed’

By Julie Johnson : sfchronicle – excerpt

North Beach resident Serena Satyasai never thought much about her utility bill, but that was before February when California’s electricity prices rose to become the highest in the contiguous United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Satyasai’s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bill jumped by about $100 compared with the same month last year. Like many of PG&E’s 5.5 million customers, she’s having to rescript her monthly budget around these rising costs…

“Everyone is getting squeezed,” Satyasai said.

Propelled in large part by PG&E, which hiked residential electricity rates by 20% for about 16 million Californians in January, the state’s high electricity prices are second only to Hawaii, which is always an expensive outlier because of the costs of shipping oil to the far-flung archipelago…(more)