The Weekly Digest (February 18, 2024)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy President’s Day week, Brionies!

Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:

City Hall

No regular meeting of the Board of Supes this week, as our fearless leaders take time off to celebrate the Presidents whose names they hope to someday remove from schools. 

  • Wednesday, February 21 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here)

    • Item 1 – Hearing on the status of the City’s residential treatment bed expansion plan for people suffering from mental health and drug abuse disorders. 

Action items


Happenings around town

What we’re reading

There is a budding sub-genre of San Francisco progressive journalism (and freak-out) regarding the amount of money funneling into San Francisco politics. Julie Pitta’s Phoenix Project vows to uncover the trail of “dark money.” Tim Redmond warns that the funding is “getting ridiculous,” Gil Duran writes that billionaires are attempting a “hostile takeover” of San Francisco and the Bay Area, and Mission Local describes the upcoming elections as “BigMoneySF.” The implication is that absent donor money, San Franciscans prefer progressive over moderate (or conservative) policies, and the money will only confuse voters about what they really want. As Redmond noted: “San Francisco is still a progressive city.”

But is it? Progressives get the issue backward here. San Francisco voters are not falling for a hostile takeover by clandestine monied interests. Rather, poll after poll shows that San Franciscans are dissatisfied with the results of progressive rule. From the Board of Education’s navel-gazing over the renaming of schools while pupils were locked out of class, to the feckless response to the state of our streets, to the Police Commission’s attempt to decriminalize neutral and longstanding parts of the Vehicle Code, San Francisco voters are fed up with progressive ideas in action. They want something different: a return to basic competence. 

One would think the condition of our city would be cause for introspection and evaluation. But instead, progressives are doubling down and insisting that their ideas aren’t the problem –  the money is. In doing so, they reveal contempt for the average San Franciscan and imply that they are simpletons who just follow the money without any agency of their own. Newsflash: voters aren’t abandoning progressives because of Garry Tan’s coffers. They just aren’t buying what progressives are selling. 

Quick hits

Bill Jackson
Previous

The Weekly Digest (February 25, 2024)
Next

The Weekly Digest (February 11, 2024)