Can Supes Break SF’s Better Market Street Logjam?
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 17‚ 2013
When I wrote last week that San Francisco’s Mid-Market Street had “turned a corner” ---and the last remaining troubled site at the former Hollywood Billiards was reported sold the next day ---I did not address the lack of progress in the transit/public space/streetscape proposals for the area. These are incorporated in the remarkably ambitious, $250 million plus Better Market Street Plan to improve biking, walking, and transit on Market. The Plan was originally set to begin in 2013, but has been pushed back to 2017--- at the earliest. The Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee holds a hearing on the Plan today, and activists will be testifying about ways to break the logjam and jump start the Plan's implementation. The hearing's timing is perfect. With much of Market Street under renovation, the time is now to take several incremental actions. The Board has waited long enough for the Better Market Street process to right itself, and should take greater leadership in both ensuring immediate implementations and in formulating the broader Plan strategy.
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Elizabeth Warren’s QE for Students: Populist Demagoguery or Economic Breakthrough?
by Ellen Brown‚
Jun. 17‚ 2013
On July 1, interest rates will double for millions of students – from 3.4% to 6.8% – unless Congress acts; and the legislative fixes on the table are largely just compromises. Only one proposal promises real relief – Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act.” This bill has been dismissed out of hand as “shameless populist demagoguery” and “a cheap political gimmick,” but is it? Or could Warren’s outside-the-box bill represent the sort of game-changing thinking sorely needed to turn the economy around?
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Talking Spirituality: SF Reiki Center
by Natalie Grigson‚
Jun. 17‚ 2013
I was just heading home, the bus stop in sight, when I decided at the last moment to stop into this coffee shop. It wasn’t the smell dark, roasting coffee beans wafting out the door that drew me in—in fact, the outside of this particular establishment smelled more like cigarettes and something sour—something that I didn’t want to put my finger on, literally or figuratively.
No, it was the need to sit down and write about the experience I just had, before even a moment of it faded from memory. So here I am, sipping a hot chocolate that tastes more like milk and playdough than anything else, simply buzzing with energy, trying not to bounce around in my seat as I type away. [more]->
The Demise of Labor Papers is a Crisis—Is It Also an Opportunity?
by Roger Bybee‚
Jun. 17‚ 2013
The Milwaukee Labor Press has become the latest labor newspaper to fall victim to major declines in union membership, ending publication after 73 years as the tribune of working people in what had been, until recently, a massive labor community. The paper’s circulation had fallen from a peak of 150,000 in the mid-'50’s to 44,000 subscribers for the last issue, with the impact from Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 restricting public-sector unions likely to drive it down to 38,000, according to former editor Dominique Noth.
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In California Cities, Drivers Want More Bike Lanes. Here’s Why.
by Tanya Snyder‚
Jun. 14‚ 2013
Whenever street space is allocated for bicycling, someone will inevitably level the accusation that the city is waging a “war on cars.” But it turns out the people in those cars want separate space for bicycles too, according to surveys conducted in two major California metropolitan areas. Bike lanes make everyone feel safer — even drivers. Rebecca Sanders is a doctoral candidate in transportation planning and urban design at the University of California-Berkeley. She’s spent a lot of time asking people — drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians — what kinds of street treatments would make them feel safer, giving them a list of safety improvements to choose from. Most drivers said their top priority was bike lanes. (In the Los Angeles area, the top choice was for improved pedestrian crossings, but bike lanes were a close second.)
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WHAM BANG!-- THIS IS A SUBLIME POLITICAL PLAY BY CARYL CHURCHILL.
by Buzzin' Lee Hartgrave‚
Jun. 14‚ 2013
The men: Sam and Jack - are hot and steamy "gay" lovers. Sam is very aggressive and Jack follows with abundance. This a a brief play (45 Min) and without an intermission. Rarely do I like plays without an intermission - but this brief intense drama brings out secrets of America, foreign intervention and a lover who becomes disillusioned near the end. It has been suggested that the Bush-Blair political relationship keeps giving us Love and hate moments. They come close to breaking up -- but they can't stay away from each other. Sex -- is very much a huge part of their lives.
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A Blue Georgia Might Happen Much Sooner Than You Think
by Ruy Teixeira‚
Jun. 14‚ 2013
In terms of red states going blue, Texas gets most of the ink (I myself wrote a recent piece on possibilities for a blue Texas). That’s understandable. Moving Texas and its 38 votes out of the red column would sunder Republicans’ already tenuous path to an Electoral College majority.
But Georgia’s 16 electoral votes are not trivial and would, if lost, also do grievous damage to Republican prospects. Yet we hear relatively little about possibilities for a blue Georgia, despite the fact that Georgia is, in many respects, a more plausible candidate than Texas for changing colors. Zac McCrary and Bryan Stryker’s strong argument, as well as some of my own research, suggests that we might see Georgia’s votes go to the Democratic candidate as soon as the 2020 Presidential election.
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Winners, Losers in SF Condo Conversion Fight
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 13‚ 2013
The Board of Supervisors’ 8-3 vote in favor of the “Big Tent” legislative approach to condo conversions left winners and losers in its wake. The biggest winners are TIC owners who can now bypass the condo lottery, and tenants living in small buildings who face reduced eviction threats from speculators. Mayor Lee comes out a big winner for getting $20 million for his reinvention of public housing, and newly seated Supervisor Norman Yee proved he could hit the ground running by playing a critical role in revising the original Wiener-Farrell proposal. Real estate speculators organized as "Plan C" were the biggest losers, having urged the Board to kill legislation that would enable over 2000 TIC owners---the group Plan C has long claimed to represent-- to convert to condos. Here are other winners and losers in a struggle that left the San Francisco Chronicle completely confused, as it reported “thousands of San Franciscans could become first-time homeowners” when in fact TIC owners already are “homeowners,” not tenants.
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The Impact of Congressional CIR Rhetoric and Action on Latino Voters
by Sylvia Manzano‚
Jun. 13‚ 2013
A new poll from America's Voice and Latino Decisions shows immigration policy action and rhetoric weighs heavily in on Latino voters as they evaluate elected officials, parties, and their vote choices. The national survey of 500 Latino registered voters asked a novel set of questions to measure the extent to which position-taking and votes on the Gang of 8 immigration bill factor into Latino voter choices. [Webinar slide deck here] [Full topline results are posted here]
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SF DOCFEST—“BLACKSTAR: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CLOSE FRIEND,” “THE WOMEN AND THE PASSENGER,” “TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY”
by Peter Wong‚
Jun. 13‚ 2013
This year’s San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (hereafter “DocFest”) sets aside June 16 for a marathon retrospective of the entire oeuvre of gay filmmaker Tom Joslin. This marathon of politically charged personal films consists of only three movies, as the filmmaker died of AIDS at a relatively young age.
June 17, 2013
