The Weekly Digest (September 17, 2023)

Happy Sunday, Brionies!

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

City Hall

• Tuesday, September 19 at 2:00pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda and call-in instructions here) 

• Item 3 – Resolution approving surplus land at 1939 Market Street and 1515 South Van Ness for 100% “affordable” housing. With an average home price of 1.2 million, we certainly agree that San Francisco needs more housing. Unfortunately, government-sponsored programs have eligibility limits that won’t help the thousands of families and blue-collar workers – including a majority of city employees – who are priced out of living here. We’ve seen a 32% decline in service industry workers who live in San Francisco since 2019 alone.

• Item 8 – Appointment of Norlissa Cooper to the San Francisco Health Authority. We hope the supervisors ask Ms. Cooper about a research article she wrote in 2021 in which she asserted that “the criminalization of perinatal illicit substance use reinforces widely held beliefs about the behavior of pregnant and birthing individuals” and “sets a dangerous precedent.” We were under the impression that perinatal illicit drug use was an unequivocally bad thing, but what do we know?

• Item 10 – Hearing on the draft San Francisco Reparations Plan and Dream Keeper Initiative updates.

• Resolution 230960 – Ordinance authorizing settlement of a lawsuit filed by Twilio Inc. against San Francisco for $18,000,000.

• Resolution 230965 – Resolution to approve a lease of office space to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, including a rent increase. It's not like we could use any help with drug enforcement or anything …

• Thursday, September 21 at 10:00am: Regular meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here)

  • Item 1 — Hearing on the efforts to address car break-ins, sponsored notoriously anti-police Supervisor Preston.

Happenings around town

• West of Twin Peaks Central Council Fall Meeting with Mayor Breed

• Monday, September 18 at 7:00pm, St. Johns Armenian Church, 275 Olympia Way

• Chronicle Live at Manny’s: How Do We Solve the Overdose Crisis?

• Thursday, September 21 at 6:00pm, Manny’s, 3092 16th Street

• Autumn Moon Festival, Chinatown

• Saturday, September 23 - Sunday, September 24, all day

What we’re listening to:

• Did you know that San Diego had a Republican mayor from 2014-2020? His name is Kevin Faulconer, and he brought down unsheltered homelessness in that city by double-digits. Learn more about Mayor Faulconer in our recent podcast interview with him.

What we’re reading

• The San Francisco Chronicle 2.0? Is the city’s newest newspaper becoming another progressive propaganda machine? The San Francisco Standard recently called out a single police officer for possibly misidentifying the race of individuals he stopped, headlining the story: Are San Francisco Police Officers Misreporting the Races of People They Stop? One officer does not equal officers. Buried in paragraph 34 is this pretty important fact: “Officers are not supposed to ask the person they stopped what their race is for the purposes of entering that information into the state database. They are only supposed to input the races they perceive.” So officers can’t ask about race but will be penalized if they perceive and record the incorrect race. Got it! That makes total sense. Let’s not forget that six months ago, the Police Commission banned SFPD from making pretext traffic stops. Perhaps the best practice for SFPD officers is to not make any stops at all.

• The District 7 supervisor race is heating up. Matt Boschetto has thrown his hat into the ring for the seat currently held by Myrna Melgar. Firefighter, Marine Corps reservist, and Lowell grad Stephen Martin-Pinto is also running.

• California’s Senate and Assembly approved more than 200 bills on Thursday, the final day of their legislative session. Among the 200+ is ACA 1, which would lower the voter threshold from two-thirds to 55% for general obligation bonds and certain special taxes. Get ready for more taxes if Governor Newsom signs it.

• Amid calls for certain leaders to step aside due to their advanced age, there is one mature voice we will always tune in for. Thomas Sowell, age 94, is out with a new book. We loved this recent interview with him.

Quick Hits

• SFUSD teacher shortage is far worse than peer districts, data shows

• SF drug tourism anecdotes could spawn inquiry into city data 

• SFPOA President Tracy McCray responds to Reem’s, the latest SF establishment to openly discriminate against law enforcement

• California to intervene in San Francisco's homeless encampment case

• A must-watch exchange between Mayor Breed and Supervisor Chan on public safety

• Speed cameras may be coming to San Francisco 

• Third world cities are unplanned and chaotic, but that is not necessarily bad

• “You’re saying exactly what my generation grew up on”

Palate cleanser / time waster

• Test your knowledge of San Francisco streets