THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2024
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Lessons learned, or more of the same?
by Mike Ege
Editor in Chief, The Voice of San Francisco
(Editor’s note: this is a re-send of last Thurdsay’s newsletter as we got notice that some of our subscribers had technical issues opening it. Look for our updated, regular newsletter this Thursday.)
These days the song that I can’t get out of my head is the ’80’s classic, “Once in a Lifetime,” by Talking Heads. It’s an enigmatic track to say the least, given that it’s refrain, “same as it ever was,” belies its title.
It’s a song worth keeping in the back of your head when you consider San Francisco’s ostensibly renewed establishment, that promises a new day for politics and policy aimed at the city’s age-old problems.
This week Susan Dyer Reynolds details Mayor Daniel Lurie’s past promotion of initiatives such as the ONE system for tracking homeless people, and his own supportive housing endeavor at 833 Bryant. But as it turns out, the record of those initiatives isn’t exactly spotless. And some of Lurie’s own observations back then make you wonder: is the new Daniel Lurie committed to changing City Hall’s approach to homelessness and its attached issues in a more permanent way, or will his approach stop at containing the problem to its old blocks?
Lessons learned, or more of the same? We are waiting to find out.
Speaking of learning from the past: John Rothman has a truly excellent podcast this week on the Trump Administration’s attack on birthright citizenship and what it means:
“When I hear stories as I have of people who are staying home, afraid to go out, afraid to interact, when I hear that our children in school are worried about the question of whether or not they or their friends will vanish … I wonder whether we have forgotten the words by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty: give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.“
You can listen to the rest here.
Meanwhile, the folks behind the Great Redistricting Insurrection of 2022 appear not to have learned any lessons either, as one of its ringleaders, Cynthia Dai, makes a bid for a seat on a body that guides the city’s open government laws. You can read more about that here.
Back on Feb. 4, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood held a hearing on the departure of the Fillmore Safeway, where electeds and members of the public alike appealed for solutions. Shortly thereafter Mahmood’s office released a resources list that included about 20 different businesses where neighborhood residents could buy items they used to get at Safeway. If that makes you wonder how far City Hall can really, practically go in influencing the business decisions of retailers, you are not alone. So is our publisher, John Zipperer, and he has lots to say about it here.
Jerold Chinn continues to chronicle the fiscal hazards at San Francisco’s transit agency, as Supervisor Myrna Melgar got to buttonhole Lurie on the subject this week.
Finally, we have some follow-ups on two recent stories: Attorney General Rob Bonta has decided not to run for governor, and that’s probably a wise decision as we covered his unfortunate decision to take campaign cash from Andy Duong, whose largess figures in the downfall of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao back in July. There also an update to a story we did in November on how a Police Commissioner and his deputy public defender wife have been making life miserable for their neighbor. That neighbor now has temporary restraining orders sworn out against the Hall of Justice’s Fun Couple, and a court date for the matter is set for later this month.
We will keep you posted! Stay dry!
Check out links to our latest content below, or just bookmark our homepage to see the latest.
Top News
SOTTO VOCE
by Susan Dyer Reynolds
On May 11, 2020, Daniel Lurie, freshly retired from working one hour a week leading his “anti-poverty” nonprofit Tipping Point Community, sat down with podcast host Stevon Cook. If that name sounds familiar, Cook was elected president of the San Francisco School Board in 2018 and, before presiding over his first meeting, he had the board skip the Pledge of Allegiance. During a sometimes rambling, sometimes braggy hour-long video, Lurie and Cook fanboyed about the many celebrities, from Prince to John Legend, who performed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Lurie’s charity. Lurie also talked about homelessness, and how he planned to solve it in his retirement. “Supportive housing works 85 percent of the time — you get somebody in housing, they stay in housing,” he said. That, of course, isn’t even remotely true. In the 2016 “Performance Audit of Homeless Services in San Francisco” prepared for the Board of Supervisors on June 13, 2016 (and the last real audit we have), the city’s budget and legislative analyst’s office cautioned that San Francisco needed to get a stronger grasp on spending and procedures, writing, “Despite a significant allocation of funds to homeless services, the City does not conduct formal needs assessments of the population to ensure that services align with needs.”
TRANSPORTATION
Mayor Lurie faces questions on Muni as potential service reductions loom this summer
Riders push mayor for solutions to preserve service.
by Jerold Chinn
EDUCATION
Dr. Su offers bitter medicine and pledges to cure San Francisco schools of chronic budget woes
Plan depends on factors outside of school district’s control
by John Trasviña
Quote of the week
“For something as the backbone and the lifeblood of the city, we sure do treat it like a hernia.”
— Jaime Viloria, a member of “Muni Now, Muni Forever,” on Mayor Daniel Lurie’s response to concerns about transit cuts, in Mayor Lurie faces questions on Muni as potential service reductions loom this summer
Nomi toon
In Case You Missed It
NEWS
Controversial redistricting figure vies for Sunshine Ordinance Task Force
Cynthia Dai helped drive 2022 redistricting controversy and attempted to oust elections director.
by Mike Ege
TRANSPORATION
SFMTA halts fines for unmarked daylighting parking spaces, prioritizes red paint rollout
The agency plans to continue issuing warnings at unmarked daylighting spaces.
by Jerold Chinn
OPINION
Stay in your lane, city government
Government resolutions telling businesses to do bad business is a bad way to do government.
by John Zipperer
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EVENTS
Out and about Feb. 13–19, 2025
What to do this weekend and beyond
By Lynette Majer
Managing Editor, The Voice of San Francisco
While many may be focused on myriad NBA All-Star events this weekend, it’s also time for the Chinese New Year Parade and street festival, some wonderful music, comedy, museum events, and more.
Thursday, Feb. 13
Join a discussion, California Supreme Court Year in Review: 2024, with the American Constitution Society’s Bay Area Lawyer Chapter at Manny’s, which will cover last year’s most important decisions. Tickets: $5 and change.
The Exploratorium’s popular yearly After Dark Sexplorations explores how the natural world gets it on, from the mating rituals of insects to the naughty bits of flowers. Enjoy special events like the Science of Pole Dancing, sea urchin egg fertilization, asexual reproduction, and lots more, including sex toy discussions. Tickets: $23
You won’t want to miss conductor Esa-Pekka Salonem and Yuja Wang, the celebrated, world-renowned pianist in a program of Debussy, Ravel, and Rautavaara with the San Francisco Symphony. Through Saturday. Tickets from $99.
Friday, Feb. 14
You can never go wrong with any Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers performance, so Swing into Love: Lavay Smith’s Valentine’s Day Celebration, a “romantic journey through jazz history” at Biscuit and Blues will surely not disappoint. Tickets: $40
Listen to our podcasts
- No safe haven: fear is abroad in the land
- From Oakland, to San Francisco and beyond, how do we pay for what we need?
- The passing of a legend: Jim Eason
- Would you give something for nothing?
- Plus more (and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible or everywhere else you get your favorite podcasts)
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