Category: Update

by Dr. Derek Kerr : westsideobserver – excerpt

Awakened by federal prosecutions of City officials and contractors for corruption, the Ethics Commission (Ethics) has once-again been digging into governmental pay-to-play culture. Ethics cannot easily lead this endeavor because it’s dependent upon the same officials it supposedly oversees. For example, Ethics’ budget is subject to approval by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors. Its 5 Commissioners are appointed by the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, District Attorney, City Attorney and Assessor. It’s all in the City Family.

As described in the June 2019 Westside Observer, the Ethics Commission had previously fractured when it came to independently fighting pay-to-play corruption. Commissioners Yvonne Lee and Daina Chiu torpedoed an “Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance” that Ethics staff and then-Commissioners Peter Keane, Quentin Kopp and Paul Renne wanted to bring to the voters. Commissioner Lee had dismissed the “perception of corruption,” calling it “anecdotal.” Dismayed, Commissioners Keane and Kopp resigned. City Family interests seemed secure…

Another Crack at Behested Payments

In November 2020, Ethics released a report on behested payments whereby City officials solicit donations to favored charities and non-profits. When such donations are sought from entities doing business with the City it becomes a “shakedown” – of money for official support. Worse, those funds may go to non-profit accounts that are controlled by a City official. That was the case with Mohammed Nuru who asked DPW contractors like Recology to donate to a Parks Alliance account from which $980,000 was accessed over 5 years for holiday parties and the like…

Ethics staff concluded that current gift disclosure mechanisms are “ineffective”. They proposed remedies to deter pay-to-play transactions. Their thoughtful analyses and recommendations must weather the appeals of gift recipients and the sausage-making of their Commissioners and City Hall. If the end-product is baloney, concerned citizens can still get results by reporting governmental corruption to the FBI or the Media.”…(more)

sfexaminer headlines – expert

What are the odds that SF Examiner headlines would deal with shortage and tech troubles?

SF restaurants face product shortages and skyrocketing costs

How San Francisco tech companies are addressing the global supply chain crisis

San Francisco’s ‘Champagne problems’ — Wine industry suffers supply chain woes

Could it be that there really is a supply chain problem that is outside the realm of our government to fix immediately?

By John Elberling : 48hills – excerpt

The document needs major changes if it has any hope of promoting social equity

Editor’s note: The Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will meet Thursday/21 to consider approving Plan Bay Area 2050, which seeks to address housing needs in the region.

Despite its lofty goals, Plan Bay Area 2050 as now constituted will in fact result in the disappearance of the Bay Area’s lower-income/working class/minority BIPOC central-city communities and the market-driven displacement of hundreds of thousands of their long-time residents. Many will be forced out of the Bay Area entirely.

Housing is a human right. Affordable housing for all the people of the Bay Area is their human right. That was the commitment of the National Housing Act of 1937 that still remains unfulfilled today, 84 years later. That must be the commitment of PBA 2050. This is social housing, housing that all low/moderate/middle income households can afford. But it can only be accomplished with the full commitment of the local, state, and federal funding that it will take.

Without that, PBA2050 is nothing but an empty shell full of empty promises.…(more)

By Wendell Cox : newgeography – excerpt

US major metropolitan areas show considerable differences in their median house sizes and median lot sizes among major US metropolitan areas. Reviewing the median square footage for owner occupied housing units (single-detached and manufactured/mobile homes) and median lot sizes for single unit houses varies significantly between metropolitan areas although, by contrast, median house sizes are remarkably similar.

The Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey (AHS), provides data on housing by metropolitan areas, with the latest posting on the American Fact Finder website covering metropolitan areas in 2011 and 2013 (Note 1). These surveys use “AHS areas,” which roughly conform to metropolitan areas or metropolitan divisions (in the few cases where metropolitan areas are divided for analytical purposes).

Lot Sizes

The largest existing lot sizes are about three times that of the national median lot size for one-unit lot of 0.26 acres. The largest median lot sizes for existing 1-unit houses are principally in the South and Northeast. Birmingham and Nashville share the top positions, with a median lot size of 0.75 acres. Hartford’s median lot size is 0.66 acres. Richmond, Atlanta, and Charlotte each have half-acre median lot sizes. This is to be expected, since each of these metropolitan areas has an urban density below 2,000 per square mile (Figure 1)…(more)

By Heather Knight : sfchronicle – excerpt

Three years ago, Supervisor Matt Haney trounced Sonja Trauss, co-founder of the YIMBY movement to build more housing everywhere, to win his seat representing District Six at San Francisco’s City Hall…

In a debate, Haney questioned Trauss’ insistence that solving the city’s dire housing crisis meant forcing every neighborhood to take on more housing units. He said he’d focus on his district, which includes the Tenderloin and South of Market, not harangue others.

“I am not going to pick fights on the other side of the city,” he said. “I’m actually going to fight for all of you, the residents of District Six.”

But now Haney has changed his housing tune, and for good reason. He’s making an open secret official. He’s running for state Assembly to replace David Chiu, widely expected to be named imminently by Mayor London Breed as city attorney. Chiu would take over from Dennis Herrera following his appointment to helm the Public Utilities Commission…(more)

Big money will follow that decision no doubt as Haney goes to work fighting David Campos for the position. Now it is up to David Campos to speak on the subject to see where he will go on the bills. Will he support them or the ballot initiative to overthrow the state overreach? https://www.communitiesforchoice.org/

By Mckenzie Locke : cp-dr – excerpt

Group Pursues Ballot Measure to Overturn SB 9 “Duplex Law”
Californians for Community Planning is organizing to launch a ballot measure against SB 9, which Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed into law and is set to take effect January 1, 2022. The organization argues that SB 9, SB 10, and AB 1401 could have damaging impacts by eliminating minimum parking standards near transit stops and will accelerate gentrification because there are no affordable housing requirements. The measure’s proponents include Mayor Bill Brand of Redondo Beach, Mayor Peggy Huang of Yorba Linda, City Council member Jovita Mendoza of Brentwood, attorney John Heath, and Dennis Richards, a former San Francisco planning commissioner. The group’s overall agenda is to put an end to existing centralized zoning policies and advocate for local zoning control. They have completed step one — submitting the CCPI to Attorney General Rob Bonta — to allow residents to vote on their ballot measure on the November 7, 2022 ballot. (See related CP&DR coverage.)…

SB 10 Housing Streamlining Law Immediately Draws Lawsuit
Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 10 into law, the bill is catching some heat from the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who is suing the state of California to stop its implementation…

Study Finds Mismatch Between Zoning & Building in Bay Area
The median Bay Area city will likely approve housing projects on less than 10% of the sites listed and approved in its housing plan, according to a study published by the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies published a study titled “What Gets Built on Sites That Cities ‘Make Available’ for Housing?”…

California Cities Fare Poorly on Quality of Life “Ranking”
The US News and World Report released its 2021-2022 “Best Places to Live in the US” rankings, and no California cities made the top of the list…

CP&DR Coverage: Ruling Strengthens Housing Accountability Act
In an important new ruling, the Second District Court of Appeal has concluded that the City of San Mateo’s design guidelines are not “objective” under the Housing Accountability Act and has ordered San Mateo to reconsider its denial of a four-story 10-unit apartment buildings…
(more)

Press Release announcing the filing of a ballot initiative to gather signatures for a state constitutional amendment:

https://www.communitiesforchoice.org/2021/08/27/ballot-initiative-filed/

Download the Press release here.

For Immediate Release
August 25, 2021

www.communitiesforchoice.org

Californians for Community Planning Initiative
for immediate release

Redondo Beach, CA —

August 25, 2021

Today, a bipartisan group of proponents from Northern and Southern California have filed the Californians for Community Planning Initiative to protect local control of zoning, land-use and development. The initiative was filed for title and summary with the State Attorney General, starting the process to place the Initiative on the ballot for the General Election on November 8, 2022…(more)

A few people asked about the intuitive ballot date. So that date is now understood to be November 8, 2022.

by Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

Plus: Private electric-car charging in neighborhood curbsides? And a key vote on housing in the Tenderloin.

Even the Chron is now reporting that it’s likely that Assemblymember David Chiu will be the next city attorney. The incumbent, Dennis Herrera, has negotiated a contract worth almost $400,000 a year to take over the SF Public Utilities Commission; the state legislative session is done for the year.

Mayor London Breed has made no announcement, but Chiu is an ally of hers, wants the job—and it would make sense for her in a whole lot of ways.

Let’s look at what the next year would look like if Chiu got that job…

It’s possible that Mayor Breed could wind up appointing a city attorney, a district attorney, a supervisor, and three members of the School Board within less than a year.

Even Willie Brown, who managed at one point to appoint a majority of the Board of Supervisors, appointments, never got that much power in that short a period of time…

The SFMTA is apparently thinking about letting private companies install for-profit electric-car charging stations in curbside parking spaces in neighborhoods…(more)

Anybody who has not figured that City Hall plans to enact more controls over our lives had better take note of this week’s actions. If you just want your life back, you are going to have to fight for that right soon because that is not what the plan appears to be.

By Gabrielle Lurie : sfchronicle– excerpt

Longtime San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is likely to be approved to lead the city’s Public Utilities Commission next week, an appointment that could lead to a flurry of changes within City Hall.

The commission plans to vote on Herrera’s $395,000-a-year employment contract at Tuesday’s meeting, according to an agenda posted online. If approved, Herrera will then step down as head of the City Attorney’s Office, a position he’s held since 2001.

Then comes a number of potential changes on the city — and possibly state — level...(more)

Continue reading “San Francisco politics could see a major shake-up next week. Here’s why”