Author Archives: gdewar

I attended Mayor Newsom’s “Town Hall Meeting” today in the Bayview. I’ll post a little something later on, but for now, check out my photos on Flickr here, or click on any of the pics in the Flickr Box on the right. For now, all I’ll say is anyone who thinks they can pre-script a meeting in a community with Real Problems Needing Solutions needs to think twice. Suffice to say, there were plenty of questions even Our Supervisors probably wouldn’t have thought to ask.
SFist Rita beat me to the punch with her posting this afternoon, so go ahead and read it, since it’s pretty good. I am sure my good pals at SFGate.com and other good folks will follow suit. Cheers!

On behalf of the Bloggers Union, Local 20-Deep, I want to thank San Francisco City Hall for continuing to invent more fodder for blogs that would normally be dry of new material.
I mean, really. I thought I’d seen it all when we had the Jr. High Drama Production last month, or perhaps when a supposedly smart PR flack for the Mayor spent all his time flinging rude insults on blogs (and lied about it – good job!), but then you get a call late last night and read all about this little news tidbit.
Which, on the face of it is a piece of news, but not necessarily earth-shattering news item. When you consider, however, that we seem to live in a city where you can shoot people and murder people (and get away with it), a MUNI system in crisis, and you’re wondering if the San Francisco of the 2000s is becoming the New York City of the 1970s, then you get worried.
One starts to wonder if our Mayor (whom we are told is supposed to be this moderate, wise counterpart to those Supervisors we’re told are so evil) has his full attention to his job. And given all the problems we’ve got in San Francisco, another bloggable, avoidable distraction is not what Our City needs.That is unfortunate, because overall he seems like he’s a nice guy and means well – but he’s in a lotta trouble.
And now for today’s footnote of footnotes: Early last year (March 1st, I think), I remember getting a call from my friend, Savannah Blackwell (formerly of the Bay Guardian, now a law student at Boalt Hall) who’d called me up and asked me to join her at Finnegan’s Wake in Cole Valley. It being Laundry Day, I was wearing my oldest shirt, jeans, and socks whilst I had the clothes in the washer.
When I walked in, it turned out that she had failed to mention that she was with a number of her pals from her City Hall days who were out celebrating a birthday for some guy named Alex Tourk. And she happily introduced me to Mr. Mayor himself, who was in attendance, as well as her friend Emily Morse and assorted Important People in the administration.
Needless to say, I was a bit surprised (and embarassed, being clad in Laundry Day attire). We hung out for a bit, then I went home to finish laundry. I’m sure no one in attendance would recall my presence (and this being in the Era Before I Got My Camera Phone I couldn’t take any pics) but I remember thinking it was kinda fun to see the Mayor and his crew, 20 deep at Finnegan’s.
Who knew that 13 months later we’d be watching a scandal unfold with all these folks. Weird.
PS: I don’t know why this picture of a Mooninite giving the finger makes me laugh so much – it’s a combination of its absurdity, along with the completely idiotic response by the idiots that run Boston. News flash – it’s not Turner Broadcasting’s fault you’re too stupid to figure out what’s a terror threat and what is not – it’s the fault of idiots like Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick.
Our Mayor may have made mistakes, but at least he didn’t make one as big (and loud) as this one, kids.

Usually, when I’m reading my stack of local newsweeklies, I can blast through the Bay Guardian in 15 minutes or less since I either a) know what they’re going to say in advance or b) already read the news they’re reporting elsewhere, earlier, sometimes you see something so ridiculous, you have to call BS on it.
Such was the case in this week’s rant-a-torial on the front page (supplemented with a repetitive blog posting) that starts out as a “hey I complain too much, I love owls, life in SF is lovely” piece, and concludes with a scathing “frak you” barb aimed at the SF Weekly, accusing the paper of “hating” San Francisco, because one piece by columnist Matt Smith a few weeks ago.
Oh, wait, let me correct that. In the print edition they wonder “do the folks at the SF Weekly even like San Francisco” whereas online they say that he hates San Francisco. All because some of his views are not completely 100% in lock step with the Guardian.
Ok, I get it. If you’re not with us, you’re against us. Kinda sounds like the line of logic pumped out by Mayor Newsom’s PR flacks at anyone that is not in 100% lock step with the Mayor. Which, I think is something they’ve been criticizing lately, no?
Blah, blah, blah. There’s just one hitch – many times it’s the Bay Guardian that has pumped out insult after poser hipster insult at parts of the city that are declared “not cool” by the BG staff. Westsiders apparently don’t vote the correct way so it’s ok to trash them. Sounds really pro-San Francisco to me.
That’s why you can read a long, sonorous pieces about some Burning Man thing affecting .02% of the population (almost 4000 words worth!) but you’d be hard pressed to see similar coverage on a consistent basis of an issue, such as the myriad of problems facing MUNI – something every San Franciscan is affected by.
Hell, even when a progressive Supervisor holds a really good, uncensored meeting of MUNI management with the public (a contrast with Jr. high school theater productions of late), there’s nothing in the paper about it. Who’s the SF hater now?
I complain a lot, I understand: I shouldn’t let the Guardian piss me off, I should relax and go chill out with the N-Owls. I guess I’m just sick of people on the left and the right in this town picking on various parts of Our Fair City. San Francisco, for all its flaws, is a nice place to live, and it’s big and strong enough to take more than one POV. At least, those of us from here know that.

If you wanted to see “political theater” in action, Junior High School Drama Department style, all you had to do was watch the co-production between the Offfice of the Mayor, the San Francisco Party Party, the Bay Guardian, the SF People’s Organization, and the cast of city-paid extras. Unlike past Political Theater productions by such talented director/producers as say, Willie Brown or any of the Burtons, this was a strictly amateur production.
Watching the reaction of Mayor Newsom’s administration to what was easily one of the most unimportant referendums on the ballot last year was the basis for last week’s production. A strictly advisory measure asking the Mayor to respond to questions from the Board of Supervisors was passed by a slim majority of voters last year. Mind you, there is nothing in the law that forces the Mayor to actually do anything to comply with it.
Thus, if it is opinion of the Mayor, his esteemed staff, and allies that the referendum is bogus, then they should say so and ignore it. It’s not like the police are going to break down Mayor Newsom’s door and put him in jail for not answering questions, right? Instead, the Mayor’s team gave this wild idea credibility by trying to meet it halfway, and the media feeding frenzy that has followed hasn’t made anyone look very good.
Watching the defensive reaction to the appearance of a couple of goofballs in chicken costumes I began to wonder – is El Alcade so inept that he needs a staff 20 deep to “protect” him from a bunch of Burning Man doofuses?
Last time I checked, Mayor Newsom is an adult, he’s the Mayor, he’s a smart guy, and I would think a couple of silly protestors would be no big deal for him to handle should anything “happen.” And of course, nothing “happened” except the aforementioned goofs sitting in the audience, occasionally entertaining small children. (Oh, except for one shout out to the costumed critters by one of the Mayor’s panelists that raise a few minor hackles – but other than that, no one really gave a hoot, so to speak about said chickens).
Frankly, the Mayor and the fair citizens of Our City would have been better served if he’d taken a stroll down any major street and talked to people in various coffee shops along say, Clement Street, or at Irving and 9th, backed up by a staffer and a bodyguard. Not only would it have been cheaper to “produce,” it would probably have been more fun for all involved! Not to mention a lot easier to control.
The Mayor and his team weren’t the only ones co-producing this Political Junior High Drama Department production, however. The Bay Guardian inexplicably devoted a front page cover story (the kind usually reserved for investigative pieces on PG&E), and then added to the dogpile with an editorial, and a cutesy piece of cover art (which bore a suspiciously close resemblance to this little chestnut from the SF PartyParty.)
If that wasn’t enough, they also posted not one, but two blog postings to drive the point home. All over an advisory measure that has no force of law (or even a code that would indicate how such a “Question Time” would work.)
For a paper that supposedly does investigative reporting, uncovering the news the MSM does not, devoting this much space to a non-issue makes you begin to wonder just how credible the paper can claim to be on civic issues. At best, they seem more invested in the success of pranksters from the “SF PartyParty” (who were last seen devoting time and energy to the lost cause known as Alix Roenthal’s Supervisorial bid) than they are in devoting precious column inches to covering an issue of more direct importance to the City (crime, poverty, MUNI, someting I don’t know, etc.)
After a few hours of amateur hour, I took off. I posted some pictures at Flickr.com (you can also see them on the new Flickr Badge I have on this site in the right column as well).
All in all, the best minds of the city found a way to make a Himalayan mountain range out of a molehill. Judging by the endless coverage on blogs, newspapers, YouTube and elsewhere, I think that the Mayor’s folks and the progressive folks might wanna take a “time-out” before planning any more political theater productions, since this last one was such a bomb.

Happy 2007, everyone!
I thought I’d kick off the new year with a rather amusing email I received recently. Although I’d never heard of the “Bay Area Dems” (Dems as in Democrats) before, I got an email from the group’s organizer, Mr. Randlett.
You might remember him from such groups as SFSOS (whose emails I get all the time – wait maybe that’s how I’m on this other list!) and the many calm, polite and downright friendly emails his group sent out during the Daly/Black race.
Anyway, take a look at the graphic banner at the top of the email and see if you can’t find the mistake:

It’s one thing to make a typing mistake (I do it all the time!) but it is quite another to spend the time to make a graphical banner with such an obvious abuse of the pluralization rules regarding punctuation. Won’t someone please think about the children?

I’m breaking radio silence as I make plans for both my sites for 2007 to let all of you who are really mad that Supervisor Chris Daly won that there’s a present you can send each other – or to Supervisor Chris!
Bear in mind that in San Francisco all you have to do to rile people up is to use the words “Chris” and “Daly” in the same posting. As in “I went to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and had a steak, then went to Daly City to particpate in the cultural offerings thereof” to get yourself spammed and attacked by They Who Dare Not Say Their Name (AKA message board posters!)
Anyway, back to our story…
Whilst shopping around town for gifts for family and friends, I saw this display at Scandinavian Details in the Hayes Valley/Civic Center area of town.
No I am not making this up.
The Japanese have made plush toys out of Pee and Poo.
So there you have it. Why not send one to SF SOS, the nemesis of Mr. Daly? Or, buy a set for Mr. Daly himself? Or, if you’re really that worked up, why not send a set to Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Daly City just because, well, you’re mad that nefarous Chris Daly won!
See? Life’s good and just. And the Japanese have an easy, low cost way to make it all Good. Go for it!