The Weekly Digest (March 12, 2023)
Happy Vernal Equinox, Brionies! Thank a Canadian for the extra hour of daylight.
Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:
City Hall
Tuesday, March 14 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 19 – Resolution to accept the Draft San Francisco Reparations Plan of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee.
Item 20 – Resolution urging Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Scott Wiener, Assemblymember Matt Haney, and Assemblymember Phil Ting to legalize consensual adult prostitution in the State of California.
Note: Both of the foregoing resolutions are being put forth for adoption by the full Board without committee reference. Therefore, they require unanimous approval to be adopted.
Wednesday, March 15 at 1:30pm: Regular meeting of the Budget and Appropriations Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 2 – Ordinance appropriating $27.6 million of General Fund reserves to the Police Department for increased overtime.
Happenings around town
Week to Week Political Roundtable: Ides of March Special Edition
Tuesday, March 14 at 6pm, The Commonwealth Club (in person and virtual)
FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) in the Bay Area
Featuring Greg Lukianoff, CEO of FIRE, and Chris Best, CEO of Substack
Tuesday, March 21 at 6pm, La Honda Winery, Redwood City
What we’re reading
She’s running. Catherine Stefani, current District 2 Supervisor, is throwing her hat in the ring to replace term-limited Phil Ting in Assembly District 19. While Stefani is the first to announce her candidacy, others rumored to be considering a run include cure-for-insomnia-personified Gordon Mar, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, and BART Board President Janice Li.
Speaking of BART, the transit agency’s inspector general just resigned and, in a blistering statement, blamed BART’s board of directors (and the labor union to which it invariably defers) for obstructing her department’s oversight work. The sudden resignation could end up costing the cash-strapped agency state and federal subsidies.
“The entire housing process is a complete nightmare.” 87 permits, at least 12 of which pertain to water regulation, across three separate city agencies – and all must be filed sequentially. 1,000 days of meetings. This is why we have a housing crisis in San Francisco.
TODCO spends a lot of (your) money on political donations – money that could be used to, perhaps, improve the absolutely horrific housing it “manages” for the city. TODCO, for those unfamiliar, is one of the venerable housing nonprofits that opposed an affordable housing project on a valet parking a couple years ago.
Governor Newsom took a break from campaigning in other states this week to announce that California won’t renew a contract with Walgreens after the company signaled it wouldn’t mail an abortifacient to certain states in response to threats of legal action from conservative attorneys general (Allahpundit has a good analysis of the legal backdrop here). The $54 million contract was used mainly to provide medications to California prisons. Walgreens took in $132 billion last year, so the loss is a drop in the bucket for the company monetarily, but it sure is worth a lot of press.
Here’s hoping two men accused of heinous crimes don’t go in front of one of our city’s more lenient judges. Facing intense pressure, including from the Board of Supervisors, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is backing off her request to waive Sanctuary City status for one man accused of child rape and another accused of domestic violence murder.
Another day, another scandal at City Hall.
It’s been a rough go of it for small businesses in San Francisco these past few years, but there is at least one exception: this car window repair shop is “inundated” with customers. Wanna guess why?
Talking about the weather is admittedly a bit of a cliche, but, seriously, how about this weather? Stay safe and dry, everybody – and beware of trees.
Palate cleanser