The Weekly Digest (July 21, 2024)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy Sunday, Brionies! 

Slow news day, huh? Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:

City Hall

  • Monday, July 22 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Rules Committee (agenda here):

    • Item 2 – Consideration of placing an ordinance on the November ballot to establish a First Responder Student Loan Forgiveness Fund to pay outstanding student loans and job-related educational and training expenses for police officers, firefighters, nurses, and other first responders.  

    • Item 3 – Appointment of a candidate to the Ballot Simplification Committee. The information packet for this appointment does not include an analysis of what this committee (or any of the 130+ others) actually does or why it is needed, but it does include a 29-page Gender Analysis of San Francisco Commissions and Boards for FY 2020-2021. 

  • Tuesday, July 23 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here):

    • Item 5 – Ordinance sponsored by Aaron Peskin to issue bonds to finance middle-income and workforce housing. We’ll keep an eye on this one; similar bonds have been a boondoggle for developers.

  • Wednesday, July 24 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee (agenda here):

    • Item 1 – Proposed resolution to approve a new 20-year lease between the City and Twin Peaks Auto Care, a gas station that has operated at 598 Portola Drive since 1972. Neighbors describe the station as “beloved” and want to keep it. If you agree, consider signing their petition. Per committee materials, if the lease is terminated, it will take two to four years to find a new tenant and redevelop the site. During the interim, the site will be vacant, and the City may be required to fund security to protect it. See the graffiti-covered abandoned lot at 444 Divisadero, f/k/a Touchless Car Wash, for precedent.

    • Item 4 – Resolution authorizing the Sheriff’s Office to enter into an amended contract with the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project for Pretrial Services, increasing the contract amount by $14,905,123, and extending the contract term for two years.

Action items

  • Give feedback on Vision Zero, San Francisco’s policy to end traffic fatalities, in this survey. Our recommendation: bring back traffic stops. Between 2014 and 2023, the number of police traffic citations fell by 96%. Not helping matters is the SFPD’s new policy directive, a passion project of the unelected Police Commission, to prevent officers from pulling over drivers for so-called “low-level” violations such as driving without functioning brake lights or failing to activate a turn signal. While pretext stops may be banned under SFPD policy, rolling through stop signs and speeding are just as illegal (and dangerous) as ever, and we believe law enforcement is an essential component of ending traffic fatalities. The Vision Zero survey closes on August 9.

  • Provide input on proposed geographic boundaries for the ten SFPD districts. 

Happenings around town

What we’re reading

  • Here at the Digest, we have frequently highlighted the enormous resources that San Francisco is pouring into hotels, such as the Cova at 655 Ellis Street, for use as homeless shelters. Local muckraker Randy Shaw takes aim at those policies this week, writing: “San Francisco’s shelter policy has no exit strategy. Why pay rent when the city is giving you a former tourist hotel with private bathrooms for free? With no end date! No wonder we see so much drug activities among those in the COVA—they aren’t spending any money on rent! Instead of using shelters to transition people to independence, the city is fostering dependence…. There needs to be a 14 day maximum stay in non-congregant shelters to prevent them from worsening the city’s homeless crisis.” 

  • Elon Musk announced this week that California Assembly Bill 1955 was the “final straw,” and he plans to move X’s headquarters from Market Street to Austin, Texas. The law prohibits schools “from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent.” Musk said, “I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.” Abigail Shrier offers a thoughtful analysis of AB 1955 here. 

  • More bad Newsom news: according to National Review, a state auditor says California’s economic fundamentals are so unstable that he’s unable to predict repayment of a key federal loan. “Our earlier initial estimates suggested this process could take ten years or more, but we no longer provide a formal forecast of the repayment date,” according to California’s principal fiscal and policy analyst Chas Alamo. “This is because the magnitude of uncertainty looking ahead is too great.”

  • Saks Fifth Avenue introduced a new “appointment only” shopping policy at its Union Square store this week, thereby preventing you plebes from sampling the $325 perfume. 

Quick hits

Bill Jackson
Previous

The Weekly Digest (July 28, 2024)
Next

The Weekly Digest (July 14, 2024)