On my chest I have a red sticker that reads, “William, $800, No Control Freaks.” (Yes, there is a story behind this, but I won’t go into that now.) Red because I am a Needer (this is all very well organized by Trish, who found a place two years ago but still organizes these meetups because she enjoys them). Gradually, a few more people turn up with blue stickers (Havers) that say things like “Jed, $850, Bernal Heights, no cats” and, “Julie, $1000, West Portal”. At last there is a more equal ratio, but there still aren’t many people in my price range.
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Filed under: Housing, Human Interest, Opinion
San Francisco’s 159th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival will be held on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at Civic Center Plaza, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Festival takes place at Civic Center Plaza and on Grove Street, from Polk to Larkin Streets. The Parade will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 11:30 a.m. The Parade begins at the corner of Second & Market Streets, and continues on to City Hall.
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Filed under: Arts and Entertainment, Events, Human Interest, Opinion
All San Francisco properties with a first Certificate of Occupancy that was issued prior to June 13th, 1979 are subject to rent control. If a rental unit was in regular use prior to June 13th, 1979, but does not have a Certificate of Occupancy — an illegal unit — the San Francisco Rent Board will still find the unit subject to rent control. This means rents can only be raised by certain amounts per year, which is tied to inflation. Landlords can also petition for other increases, e.g., for capital improvements for a maximum of 10 percent or for increased operating and maintenance costs for a maximum of 7 percent. In addition, tenants can petition the Rent Board to decrease their rent if the landlord is failing to provide agreed upon or legally required services. Tenants can only be evicted for one of fourteen “just causes.”
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Filed under: Housing, Opinion, Politics
In a world threatened by Peak Oil, Transit Oriented Development is a development concept
aimed at encouraging the development of housing and commercial centers around mass-transit systems.
By Marc Salomon
March 4, 2010
Over the past ten years, the San Francisco Department of City Planning has rezoned much of the east side of San Francisco [0] for greater […]
11 Comments »
Filed under: Energy, Environment, Land Use, Opinion, Politics, Transportation
Charles Washington’s wife and his Australian-born 13-year-old stepson (not pictured)
won a 60-day reprieve yesterday from deportation proceedings following a reexamination
by federal immigration authorities of the family’s legal status.
Photos by Luke Thomas
By Hope Johnson and Luke Thomas
March 4, 2010
By now, most of us are aware of the plight of the Washington family. Until yesterday, native […]
8 Comments »
Filed under: Immigration, Law, Media, News, Opinion, Politics
The illegal wars and occupations, the largest transference of wealth upward in American history and the egregious assault on civil liberties, all begun under George W. Bush, raise only a flicker of tepid protest from liberals when propagated by the Democrats. Liberals, unlike the right wing, are emotionally disabled. They appear not to feel. The tea-party protesters, the myopic supporters of Sarah Palin, the veterans signing up for Oath Keepers and the myriad of armed patriot groups have swept into their ranks legions of disenfranchised workers, angry libertarians, John Birchers and many who, until now, were never politically active. They articulate a legitimate rage. Yet liberals continue to speak in the bloodless language of issues and policies, and leave emotion and anger to the protofascists. Take a look at the 3,000-word suicide note left by Joe Stack, who flew his Piper Cherokee last month into an IRS office in Austin, Texas, murdering an IRS worker and injuring dozens. He was not alone in his rage.
12 Comments »
Filed under: Economy, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics, War
For me, the most powerful moment in over four hours of testimony was one that probably passed almost unnoticed for most people. Representatives from the police and the district attorney’s office had just finished over 100 minutes of testimony during which time they got all the time they wanted to tell the supervisors how they all thought this would be the greatest thing since sliced bread. SFPD Chief George Gascón was a no-show, but Assistant Chief Kevin Cashman was ready with a slick PowerPoint presentation (more on that later), followed by a parade of captains in full regalia whose sole purpose seemed to be to show solidarity across the SFPD, as if this was ever in doubt.
10 Comments »
Filed under: Business, Homelessness, Law, Opinion, Politics
Muni drivers have incredibly hard jobs. They sit in the same position for hours and take all kinds of abuse from the public. They deserve to be paid well. At the same time, they are not completely blameless. Perhaps the work rules do need to be tightened up, but the general public should be clear: getting changing operator work rules will bring back some money to the agency - but $15 million is not enough.
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Filed under: Opinion, Transportation
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
February 24, 2010
Business ethics has become an oxymoron. Wall Street bonuses were up 17 percent to over $20 billion in 2009, the year taxpayers bailed out the financial sector after its meltdown. So, everyone has many reasons to hate the banking and financial sectors that dumped our economy, and the […]
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Filed under: Healthcare, Opinion, Politics
