The Weekly Digest (June 9, 2024)
Happy Sunday, Briones! Let’s remember that this Friday, June 14 is Flag Day. Join us in raising the Stars and Stripes with pride and gratitude 🇺🇲.
Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:
City Hall
Monday, June 10 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Rules Committee (agenda here):
Item 3 — Ordinance to streamline contracting for Vision Zero transportation projects by authorizing SFMTA and the Department of Public Works to expedite contracts by waiving application of the Environment Code and provisions relating to competitive bidding, equal benefits, local business enterprise utilization, and other services, for a period of three years. We flagged this one last week and urged you to send emails to the Supes objecting to the City’s ongoing practice of awarding no-bid contracts, which this ordinance would expand. Guess what? It worked. At last Monday’s Rules Committee meeting, Supervisor Safai pushed back hard against the ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Chan, and public commenters were equally livid. Chan was forced to take the ordinance back for further amendments, throwing a wrench into her plans to get a quick approval at committee and then bring the ordinance before the full Board the next day. Let’s keep up the pressure: Send another email tonight to Supervisors Walton and Safai urging them to reject any formulation of this ordinance that does not include competitive bidding. All you have to do is click this linkwhich will create a ready-to-go, pre-populated email that you can send from your preferred email client. The entire process takes three steps — clicking the link above, choosing your email client, and hitting send — and less than 15 seconds.
Tuesday, June 11 at 2:00 pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here):
Item 22 – Resolution approving a grant between Meals on Wheels and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to provide meals for navigation centers and shelters for a term of five years and a total amount not to exceed $49,737,600.
Item 23 – Resolution authorizing contract between the Human Services Agency and Good Guard Security, Inc. for the purchase of security guard services at 13 social service facilities for an initial term of five years and a total amount not to exceed $33,760,000.
Item 36 -- Motion rejecting the Mayor’s nomination for the reappointment of Debra Walker to the Police Commission, for a term ending April 30, 2028. Our friends at Stop Crime Action oppose this motion and endorse the reinstatement of Ms. Walker to the Police Commission. Their petition can be found here.
Item 80 – Resolution urging employers and businesses located in the City and County of San Francisco to recognize Juneteenth as an official federal holiday and to allow employees to observe it with paid time off.
Item 85 – Resolution supporting California State Assembly Bill Number 2917, which authorizes a court to consider the following factors when determining whether there is grounds to grant a gun violence restraining order: evidence of stalking, evidence of animal cruelty, evidence of threats toward a person or group based on a protected characteristic, and evidence of threats of violence or destruction of property for the purpose of interfering with the free exercise of constitutional rights. Read more here.
Thursday, June 13 at 10am: Special meeting of the Budget and Appropriations Committee (agenda here):
Item 1 – Hearing to consider Mayor Breed’s proposed budget.
Happenings around town
JCC Arts & Ideas: Glimpses of the Fillmore District’s Jewish Past
Monday, June 10, 1-2pm
City Arts & Lectures Hosts San Francisco’s Next Mayor? The Candidates Debate
Wednesday, June 12, 6:30pm, Sydney Goldstein Theater
Northern District, Tuesday, June 11, 5-6pm
What we’re reading
Brionies in the news! Ahead of a super low-key and under-the-radar fundraising event for our former Republican president in Pacific Heights, journalists went looking for Actual Real Live in the Flesh San Francisco Republicans, and we were happy to oblige. The BBC spoke with Jay Donde, Briones president and co-founder, and Jennifer Yan, Briones leader and top vote-getter for the Republican County Central Committee, who explained why a shift to the right shouldn’t be surprising: “we are a rich city with a $14 billion budget, but the public service has been terrible,” Yan told the BBC. The Gazetteer spoke with a subset of this strange species - conservative San Francisco women - and tried to figure out - what’s your deal? Again, Yan broke it down: “she said she became a Republican because she’s been disappointed by city and state government responses to problems of safety and education. Yan said she’s much more concerned with local issues than national politics but if asked to pick a side, she is more aligned with Republicans.”
In the Weekly Digest, we regularly highlight massive contracts that San Francisco signs with various nonprofits to perform social services, as well as reports and audits that detail the subsequent screwups of those groups. For a big-picture view of the fundamental problem with the nonprofits that live on government contracts, we highly recommend this piece in American Affairs by Jonathan Ireland. Sneak peak: “As a consequence of the benefit of the doubt provided to nonprofits, there is rarely enough oversight to guarantee that they are doing what we pay them to do. In some cities, upwards of a billion dollars of public funds are paid to nonprofit organizations every year with glaringly insufficient safeguards to ensure that the money is used in a manner likely to serve the public interest.”
What we’re listening to
Quick hits
Counterpoint: San Francisco Is Growing Again, Fueled by AI, Corporate Investment
New Catholic high school to open in San Francisco — the first in nearly 25 years
S.F. Muni passengers walk through Twin Peaks Tunnel after train is halted
'Like a little slap': SFPD's newest restraint tool has arrived
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See you next week,
The Briones Society