The Weekly Digest (May 14, 2023)
Happy Mother’s Day, Brionies! First, call your mother. Second, here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:
City Hall
Tuesday, May 16, at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 30 – The Board this week will likely ask the Recreation and Parks Commission to rename Stow Lake, so-titled in honor of William Stow, once Speaker of the California State Assembly. Reasonable people can adopt a nuanced view on the wisdom of renaming civic institutions. For example, on one end of the spectrum, it’s possible to argue that institutions should not be renamed when dedicated to figures who (a) harbored prejudices not inconsistent with contemporary sensibilities, and (b) distinguished themselves in ways independent of those prejudices, but that they should be renamed when dedicated to figures who were seen as outrageously bigoted even in their own times and who are known for little else other than that bigotry. Whether Stow is closer to the latter than to the former, we at the Briones Society do not know. What we do know is that the last people we’d trust to make such a determination are the elected officials of San Francisco.
Item 36 – Continuing their focus on key issues impacting the daily lives of San Franciscans, the Board will also consider a resolution supporting the Writer’s Guild strike. While we appreciate the work of those fine people behind hits like Emily in Paris and Bridgerton, we don’t really see why a labor dispute in Los Angeles is the focus of our local government’s attention.
Item 38 – Supervisor Connie Chan will introduce a resolution asking the City’s law enforcement agencies to administer “victim services and justice equitably.” Frankly, we don’t really know what this means (and we don’t think Chan really knows what it means, either).
Thursday, May 18, at 10am: Regular meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 4 – The City, perhaps begrudgingly, has begun reviewing the many irresponsible contracts it has entered into with non-profits. On Thursday, the Government Audit and Oversight Committee will convene a hearing reviewing its contract with TODCO, which could most charitably be described as a sprawling, hilariously inept grift operation that the San Francisco Democratic Party reflexively supports.
Action items
Happenings around town
Monday, May 15 at 6pm, Jewish Community Center
Wednesday, May 17 at 6pm, Fremont Country Club
Friday, May 19 at 11am, online
Saturday, May 20 at noon, Stow Lake Picnic Area
San Francisco Republican Party Summer Dinner with Michael Shellenberger
Thursday, June 8 at 6:30pm, downtown San Francisco (location provided upon purchase of ticket)
What we’re reading
An armed security guard shot and killed Banko Brown after the latter allegedly threatened to stab the guard. SFPD initially arrested the guard, but District Attorney Brooke Jenkins later announced that she would not file charges after concluding that the guard had a genuine self-defense claim. If indeed the evidence shows that Brown threatened to stab the guard, Jenkins’s determination is the correct and ethical one. Of course, correct and ethical never before stopped the city’s progressive establishment from acting upon its worst impulses. Board President Aaron Peskin has publicly challenged Jenkins’ decision – even though he admits that he (a) is not a lawyer, and (b) has not seen the relevant evidence. Now, the Board of Supervisors, after tone policing Jenkins when she had the temerity to defend herself from the supes’ nakedly political and inappropriate insertion into the justice process, has passed a resolution demanding she release video of the shooting – a demand that Jenkins has denied because doing so would compromise an ongoing investigation.
Her decision, while correct, has further unhinged San Francisco’s progs. For example, Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi is now claiming that DA Jenkins “thwarted” any potential prosecution when she announced that the guard had a self-defense claim. This argument, parroted and elevated uncritically by (who else?) Supervisor Dean Preston, is based upon analyses from criminal lawyers who apparently refuse to state their opinions publicly, and the article continues a pattern of behavior by Eskenazi where he seeks to “shed light” on criminal justice issues by soliciting opinions from unnamed experts who tell him things he already agrees with. Regardless, Eskenazi and Preston’s uninformed contention should be put to bed: A potential jury would never hear Jenkins’s statements, as they are legal conclusions and irrelevant, and if any prosecution did occur it would result from the discovery of new evidence (which would explain Jenkins’s change in disposition). Ironically, one of Eskenazi’s quoted sources concedes that the statements would not be admissible – this unnamed defense lawyer just claims that he wouldn’t follow the judge’s ruling (which refusal would likely result in a mistrial). When Eskenazi was asked why he took the unusual step of predicating his entire piece on anonymous sources, his response was: “San Francisco is a small town” – an answer that wouldn’t pass muster at, for example, the Associated Press. In stark contrast, the Chronicle had no trouble finding sources to go on the record for its piece, which unsurprisingly resulted in a more nuanced and legally sound analysis.
Curbed artfully describes San Francisco’s feeling of hopelessness. While we agree that the city is in historically bad shape, we remain optimistic that it can rebound – but only if it has the will to vote for common sense.
A man attacked another passenger with a meat cleaver on BART near the West Oakland stop. Recent polling suggests that only 17% of those surveyed feel safe on the transit system.
Last but not least: Check out our cameo in the LA Times, and tell your friends to register Republican! In 2024, they’ll have what is likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as California voters to meaningfully influence who will become the next president.
Quick hits
Friends of Slain Oakland Baker Speak Out After One Is Robbed en Route to Memorial
A mother was raising her son in a city she loved. Then San Francisco changed and stole her boy
S.F. school district to scrutinize parent group after charges of anti-Chinese bias
The Doom Loop continues, and continues, and continues, and continues, and continues, and continues
Requiem