Should a one-party town have its elected officials reflect “unity and common purpose?”
That’s the Question of the Day.
(I’ll bet PG&E lobbyist Willie Brown would answer in the affirmative.)
Deets below.
Wednesday evening, 455 Golden Gate Avenue:
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“San Francisco Democrats elect Mary Jung chair, as newly elected DCCC members take office
Committee reflects ‘unity and common purpose’ in 2012 to re-elect Obama, help Pelosi reclaim Speakership, and make a difference on key state ballot measures
SAN FRANCISCO (July 27, 2012) — California Democratic Party Chair John Burton administered the oath of office to the newly elected members of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee Wednesday night at the first general meeting of the local Democratic Party’s governing board following the June 5th Primary Election.
Veteran Democratic activist Mary Jung was unanimously elected to serve as the San Francisco Democratic Party’s chair, and several DCCC members were elected to fill leadership roles that will be critical to the local party’s success heading into the November 2012 General Election. Top priorities discussed at the public meeting include re-electing President Obama, returning the Speakership to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi by helping reclaim a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, and pushing to expand the number of Democratic voters citywide.
“I’m honored to serve as Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, and I look forward to working hard with my fellow Democrats in an election year with so much at stake,” said Party Chair Mary Jung. ”San Francisco Democrats elected a terrific team to lead our county central committee, and I think it reflects a spirit of unity and common purpose. I’m confident in our ability to help return President Obama to the White House, make Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Speaker again, re-elect Senator Feinstein, and pass Gov. Brown’s revenue measure so California can maintain vital public services, restore quality education for all, and support our most vulnerable.”
Other officers elected at the general meeting held at the California State Office Building’s Milton Marks Auditorium on Golden Gate Avenue are: First Vice-Chair (Finance) Zoe Dunning; Second Vice-Chair (Issues) Alix Rosenthal; Third Vice-Chair (Voter Registration) Trevor McNeil; Fourth Vice-Chair (Club Chartering and Development) Leah Pimentel; Recording Secretary Kat Anderson; Treasurer Tom Hsieh; Corresponding Secretary Matt Dorsey; and Parliamentarian Arlo Hale Smith. Rafael Mandelman will serve on the DCCC’s Slate Card Committee along with the Chair and Treasurer. A committee tasked with proposing party bylaw changes to incorporate requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which assures public access and participation in local government public meetings, will include David Chiu, Arlo Hale Smith, Matt Dorsey and Hene Kelly. That ad hoc committee will seek to fully harmonize local party bylaws with relevant provisions of state law to address concerns that the election of six members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to the DCCC may occasionally trigger Brown Act requirements.
The committee also adopted two resolutions: one in support of placing AB 1648, a campaign finance reform measure known as the DISCLOSE Act, on the California ballot; and another expressing the Democratic Party’s support for City College of San Francisco.
About the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee, or DCCC, is the governing body of the local Democratic Party as defined in California’s Government Code and Elections Code. The DCCC is comprised of local Democrats elected by voters in each Assembly District, as well as partisan-level Democratic elected officials and nominees who serve as Ex-Officio Officers. Current members elected from the 17th Assembly District are: John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu, Malia Cohen, Petra DeJesus, Matt Dorsey, Bevan Dufty, Zoe Dunning, Leslie Katz, Rafael Mandelman, Carole Migden, Leah Pimentel, Alix Rosenthal, and Scott Wiener. Members elected from the 19th Assembly District are: Kat Anderson, Kelly Dwyer, Bill Fazio, Tom Hsieh, Mary Jung, Hene Kelly, Meagan Levitan, Eric Mar, Trevor McNeil and Arlo Hale Smith. Ex Officio members are: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, Attorney General Kamala Harris, State Senators Leland Yee and Mark Leno, and Assemblymembers Fiona Ma and Tom Ammiano.
Here he is at 595 Market, along with Commonwealth Club Past President J. Dennis Bonney:
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All the deets:
“Scotland targets Fortune 500 in US push for business - First Minister writes to top global companies in California ahead of trade mission
EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 17, 2012 — Over 70 leading California-based companies, including all Fortune 500 companies in the state, are being targeted as part of a new campaign to attract inward investment to Scotland.
The country’s leader, First Minister Alex Salmond, has personally written to top executives at leading companies which have been identified by Scottish Development International as potential investors in advance of his visit to the US on a trade mission.
In his letter, which is part of a wider SDI campaign to encourage some of the world’s most successful companies to consider setting up operations in Scotland, the First Minister highlights the benefits of choosing Scotland over any other nation.
The First Minister will be reinforcing the message that Scotland is ready to do business during his four-day visit to California. He stresses in his letter that Scotland - with its highly-skilled workforce and a cost-competitive business location – is a land of opportunity.
The First Minister said:“Scotland is already an economic success story and we make no apologies for going after new business at every opportunity. We perform better economically than everywhere else in the UK bar the southeast of England and that brings major business opportunities.
“Scottish Development International’s campaign is backed by a number of companies already investing in Scotland such as Pfizer and Amazon and the message is absolutely clear.
“Scotland is a land of major opportunity and it is open for business. We have a long and impressive track record in life sciences, sciences, technology and creative industries developing an environment where ingenuity and innovation can create jobs and wealth for Scotland.
“Even without our offshore oil and gas reserves, Scotland has the highest GDP in the UK outside London and southeast England.
“We have five universities in the world’s top 200, we rank first in the world in research productivity per unit of GDP and second in the world in research impact.
“Business operating costs for key functions can be almost a third lower here.
“This campaign will also send the message directly to the heart of US business community with print and online advertising running in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Business Times, New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
Danny Cusick, President, Americas, Scottish Development International, said:
“SDI has seven offices across North America, including a significant presence in California, to provide support and collaboration opportunities for key North American companies.
“This campaign is part of a global drive to attract new investment to Scotland. There has been a significant level of inward investment success over the last 12 months, with Amazon, FMC Technologies and State Street all making significant investments in Scotland. SDI is building on this with a continued focus on securing new, sustainable jobs and opportunities.
“It is clear that Scotland remains a location of choice due to our winning combination of qualities, including our highly skilled and educated workforce and efficient operating costs.
“This is an excellent opportunity to highlight Scotland’s competitive advantages to some of California’s biggest companies.”
And here are some Upcoming Events at the Commonwealth Club:
“PAULSON, FALK TO CO-CHAIR YES ON PROPOSITION C PENSION REFORM CAMPAIGN - Top Labor Leader, Top Business Leader Tapped To Lead Consensus Coalition
SAN FRANCISCO, August 31, 2011 – San Franciscans United For Pension And Health Reform today selected Tim Paulson and Steve Falk to serve as co-chairs of the campaign supporting Proposition C and opposing Proposition D on the November ballot.
Paulson is executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, comprised of 150 local unions and representing 100,000 workers, and Falk is president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, a 1,500-member organization representing the business community.
“We are pleased that San Francisco’s top labor leader and top business leader are working together to lead this coalition’s campaign for pension and health reform,” said Thomas P. O’Connor, president of Fire Fighters Local 798. “Unions and the business community don’t agree on everything, but on Proposition C, San Francisco is united.”
Falk praised Proposition C, which was developed with input from the community, introduced by Mayor Ed Lee, and passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors.
“Proposition C saves taxpayers at least $1.3 billion over the next decade,” said Falk. “This measure is fiscally responsible and it will help keep us solvent.”
Paulson emphasized the measure’s fairness.
“Proposition C provides a safety net for hardworking city employees who earn lower wages,” said Paulson. “It keeps pension contributions stable for those making less than $50,000 a year. Those who make more pay more.”
O’Connor drew a contrast between Proposition C and Proposition D, a rival pension measure.
“Proposition C has widespread support because it was conceived in the light of day, with a public process that encouraged input and ideas from everyone,” said O’Connor. “On the other hand, the backers of Proposition D bought their way onto the ballot with signature gatherers who were paid five dollars a signature and repeatedly got caught on tape lying about what the measure would do.”
Today, San Franciscans United For Pension And Health Reform also announced the other members of its campaign committee. In addition to Paulson, Falk, and O’Connor, the committee includes other business and labor leaders, along with the measure’s sponsor at the Board of Supervisors:
Warren Hellman, Civic Leader Gary Delagnes, President of the San Francisco Police Officers Association Sean Elsbernd, Member of the Board of Supervisors Steve Fields, Co-Chair of the Human Services Network Larry Mazzola, Business Manager and Financial Secretary Treasurer of UA Local 38 Rebecca Rhine, Executive Director of the Municipal Executives Association Bob Muscat, Executive Director of IFTPE Local 21 Sean Connolly, President of the Municipal Attorneys Association
Please visit www.yesoncnoond.com for more information.”
Senator Leland Yee Assemblywoman Fiona Ma Marisa Churchill, former Top Chef, Food Network Challenge competitor and author of Sweet & Skinny Heather D’Eliso Gordon, Registered Nutritionist at Kaiser Permanente Marci Harnischfeger, Head Dietician at Shopwell.com James Cabigon, Personal Chef Chefs of Loving Hut Vegan Cuisine Self-Help for the Elderly Lion Dance Team Live salsa dance performance and vocals by local talent Tracy Samiento
When:
Saturday, August 6, 2010 at 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Where:
Noriega Street, between 31st Avenue and 33rd Avenue, San Francisco, California
What:
The Office of State Senator Leland Yee is proud to announce the second annual Noriega Street Food Fair, which strives to empower the community by demonstrating how to prepare simple, healthy meals and by providing resources to encourage a health-savvy lifestyle. It is also designed to rally the community and promote the diversity of merchants and restaurants along the Noriega Street corridor.
Everyone is invited to sample an array of tasty eats from the Sunset and far beyond, including Chinese cuisine, tacos, Jamba Juice fruit smoothies, tofu treats and even meat-free German currywurst. This free event will also offer five healthy cooking demonstrations, nutritious recipe ideas, healthy food samples from vendors including Pirate’s Booty and Honest Tea, free giveaways, health education and free consultations from Chinese and Western health-care professionals, pony rides, live entertainment, children’s activities and more.
But first, here’s the very latest, from this afternoon – it appears as if the Message of the Day is that Meg = Arnold.
“As Meg Whitman continues her Schwarzenegger-like bus tour of California’s fast food restaurants, Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford released the following statement:
“Meg Whitman likes to tell Californians that she doesn’t owe anyone anything, but she owes Governor Schwarzenegger more than she wants to admit.
Outsider who will blow up the boxes? We’ve heard that before. Running the state more like a business? Check. Bus tour? A familiar tune. Why does so much of the Whitman campaign feel like a rerun? Because it is.
Arnold Schwarzenegger entered California politics with a cadre of the most expensive Republican consultants he could find, and they fed him a divisive agenda that Californians rejected. He had the good sense to send them packing. They have now de-camped to Whitman’s headquarters where they are recycling their empty slogans and shrill accusations. Incredibly, Meg Whitman has already spent more than $14 million on Schwarzenegger’s old crew.
Schwarzenegger’s top strategist Mike Murphy? On the Whitman bus for $90,000 a month. The Governor’s former political director, Jeff Randle, is on Whitman’s payroll for more than half a million dollars. Schwarzenegger veterans Rob Stutzman, Mitch Zak, John McLaughlin, Stuart Polk, and more than 30 other consultants jumped from Schwarzenegger to Meg Whitman. She even uses the same public speaking coach.
Governor Schwarzenegger and Meg Whitman both say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. On that, we all agree.”
There weren’t any today, so it looks like smooth sailing ’til November 2.
This will all be over soon…
“Given Brown’s record and commitment, Asian Pacific Islander leaders across California have endorsed his candidacy. This includes Congressional members Mike Honda, Doris Matsui and Judy Chu, State Controller John Chiang, State Board of Equalization member Betty Yee, Former Acting Lt. Governor Mona Pasquil, California Democratic Legislative Caucus members: Senators Carol Liu and Leland Yee, Assembly Members: Mike Eng, Paul Fong, Warren Furutani, Mary Hayashi, Ted Lieu, Fiona Ma, Alberto Torrico and Mariko Yamada.
Jerry Brown is also supported by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Campbell Mayor Evan Low, Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga, Monterey Park Mayor Anthony Wong, Cupertino Vice Mayor Gilbert Wong, Union City Council Member Manny Fernandez, Colma City Council Member Joanne Del Rosario, Alhambra Unified School District Member Bob Gin, Philippine News President Francis Espiritu, CEO of Megatoys Charlie Woo, Former Deputy State Superintendent of Instruction Henry Der, Former Appointment Secretary Michael Yamaki, Little Tokyo Service Center Executive Director Bill Watanabe, Former Milpitas Mayor Henry Manayan, Former Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto, longtime API community leader Maeley Tom, Civil Rights attorney Dale Minami, Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center, Paul Osaki, Former US Civil Rights Attorney Yvonne Lee, and many other leaders.”
How do you get a strong-willed (and is there any other kind?) billionaire to change his or her mind?
No matter, San Francisco’s #1 banjo playerwants out of the pro-Proposition B campaign. Get all the deets, plus reaction from San Francisco Labor Council President Tim Paulson, below.
(This is seismic, baby.)
(This is unprecedented, baby.)
Click to expand. His head’s not really blue – it’s just the way the lighting was.
(Hello, MSM, are you there? It’s me, Margaret. Can we get a little follow-up, please? Show us what you can do with this one. Starting…now!)
Statement from F. Warren Hellman:
“I’m leaving the Yes on Proposition B campaign for the same reason I got involved in the campaign in the first place – we need a meaningful dialogue in San Francisco between business and labor to solve long-term problems threatening the city’s future without name-calling and fingerpointing.
“We must address the issue of spiraling public pension and health benefits costs. They’re like an iceberg floating beneath the surface that threatens to sink cities like ours. At the same time, I’m not willing scapegoat police officers, firefighters and other public workers to do it.
“We got into this situation together and we must work together to solve it in the interest of a city we all love.
“I was reminded of this spirit at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival this past weekend. We pulled off a massive free concert in Golden Gate Park without one major injury, disruption or arrest, which is a testament to the professionalism of San Francisco’s public workers and our City’s spirit of cooperation.
“I believe that organized labor appreciates that it is in San Francisco’s interest – and the interest of its members — to head off a looming pension and benefits crisis before it cripples public services and leaves police officers, firefighters and other public workers without retirement security.
“And I also believe that San Francisco business must understand its responsibility to pay its fair share to fund quality public services. And that begins with workers who are properly trained, fairly paid and able to retire with dignity.
“We have a history of working together in this city and settling issues without expensive and divisive political fights at the ballot box. I’m going to focus my attention and resources on restarting those discussions.”
Statement from Tim Paulson, San Francisco Labor Council
“On behalf of the Labor community, we are very pleased that Warren Hellman has withdrawn his support from the Yes on B campaign. Many of us in organized labor have worked closely with Mr. Hellman in recent years to rebuild San Francisco’s schools and fund public education and we were disappointed to be at odds on this measure.
“We share Mr. Hellman’s legitimate concerns about rising pension and health care costs and commit to work with him and other likeminded leaders in the business community to address them. We want to find sustainable and affordable ways to attract and retain the best public employees, compensate them fairly and allow them to retire with dignity. In short, we acknowledge and respect Mr. Hellman’s goals, even if Prop B is not the vehicle to achieve them.”
Ever more deets, from the Anti-Prop B people, after the jump
This was a fairly large event, this NO ON B rally. State Senators Leland Yee and Mark Leno, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Board President David Chiu, and Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Carmen Chu, Eric Mar plus a couple hundred city workers were all on hand this afternoon in front of The Pavilion at the renewed Laguna Honda Hospital.
See?
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Avuncular Leland Yee went on the attack against Prop B proponent Jeff Adachi:
“Jeff Adachi you have slighted this city.”
And:
“How dare you take this from the backs of our workers?”
O.K. then.
Today’s rally coincides with the website lauch:
“The No on Proposition B campaign today launched its website, www.nobadmedicine.com, a resource to learn the facts about Proposition B, a November 2 ballot measure that will double the cost of health care for over 20,000 people. The new site features a fact check of the “Yes” campaign’s claims and the stories of real people who would be directly impacted by the passage of Prop B.”
And here are the stars: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, United States Senator Barbara Boxer, and, at the podium, that Transbay Joint Powers Authority Executive Director I remember meeting at Town Hall in SoMA a half-decade ago. (Didn’t know what this project was all about back then – anyway, she’s still totally gorgeous. Oh, turns out I still have her business card, she’s Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan and she went to UC Berkeley undergrad and UC Hastings Law School, like a kajillion lawyers in town.)
Also on hand was a host of more local pols, like Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Supervisor Chris Daly, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, SFMTA CEO Nat Ford (“Chairman of the Ford” he was called), the list went on and on.
And, that savvy AND very smart (a dangerous combination that’s rare in San Francisco politics) former Mayor Willie Brown knew just when to show up to make the maximum impact. His late-on-purpose Grand Entrance was made all the grander with the biggest hat I’ve seen him wearing. (Any smiles you see house right/stage left are not really happy smiles, they’re looks of disapproval. Oh well.)
Throw in buzzwords / phrases such as Grand Central Station of the West, world-class city, constancy, and you got yourself the Transbay Terminal groundbreaking in a nutshell.
Expect the “tallest tower in the West” and “San Francisco’s newest neighborhood” to come online by 2017 or later.
In the beginning (circa 2005), there was nothing preventing drivers from making an illegal right turn from inbound Market onto the Octavia freeway on-ramp.
See? Inbound Market at Octavia in early 2007, no cones, no Safe Hit posts, no nothing:
Consequently, drivers would gain access to freeways taking them to the east bay and the south bay by making illegal right turns. See how this harried yuppie pilots his SAAB into an innocent cyclist? T’pau! The cyclist wasn’t hurt all that bad, but others were.
A traffic study showed that reverse-commuters were making an average of one dangerous, illegal turn every two signal cycles. Here’s the report, from early 2007.
But then, Someone said, “Let there be light-weight cones ‘n stuff placed on the painted line dividing the bike and car lanes.”
And it was good. Or good enough for a quick fix anyway.
These posts and cones, along with other efforts such as stepped-up traffic enforcement from the CHP and SFPD, had an immediate effect. Here’s the follow-up traffic report showing a 90% reduction in the number of illegal turns.
But what about the remaining 10% of drivers who would run over the posts like this?
Assemblymember Tom Ammiano is sponsoring a bill (AB 2729) which will allow San Francisco to use camera enforcement to ticket drivers who make the illegal right turn. The SF Bicycle Coalition thinks that camera enforcement is a smart solution for this notoriously dangerous intersection. Currently, there is almost no enforcement happening. We need public testimony from people who have been hit by a motorist or have had other bad experiences at that intersection to build support for this new bill.
The bill will be heard by its first committee next week, so if you are one of the unlucky folks who has a story to tell, please take a moment now to write down the details of your encounter and email them to Marc!
But what of today? Are drivers still making that illegal turn a couple of years after the island installation? Sounds like it’s time for a new traffic study.
Well, here it is.
Exactly zero drivers made an illegal turn from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM this morning. That’s the same time period measured back in 2007.
However, one driver tried to make a turn, but couldn’t do it easily because he (it’s always a he, am I right ladies?) was blocked by cyclists that he noticed at the last second. So he gave up and went south of Market to get onto the freeway. Amazingly, he wasn’t driving a BMW, Audi or a SAAB. There he is, in the grey Mazda 3 you can see here:
So, can we use some cameras here? Sure, why not?
Now, let’s not get into how we got saddled with Octavia and all its problems. That ivory tower academic from across the estuary already took our money and collected her awards so it’s unlikely she’d want to revisit her creation. Actually, she’s off to laboring on Masonic, where there’s simply no way her notions can hurt people and mess up traffic more than horrible Octavia does now. So that’s a good thing. Anyway, she feels any troubles associated with Octavia are San Francisco’s fault, so you can’t even count her as a defender of this massive planning failure.
(Speaking of which, should we now have traffic engineers work as urban planners, considering that urban planners and architects have gotten into traffic engineering lately? It would only be fair. Oh well.)
You know, down in Mexico City, a ward heeler faced with something like our right turn situation on Octavia would get a crew going and have a concrete traffic island curing in the pouring sun by the next day. It took us about a thousand times longer than that, but we got our island and there are people walking around today because of it.
But it certainly would be nice to have a camera or two to complete the job…
