Through the cracks journalism
The latest catch.
Anybody who thinks students should pay more to borrow money than banks, should pay 12% interest on their loans. If Congress can’t figure this fairly simple problem out, how can they manage anything complicated? We need new blood in Washington, that will hopefully come attached to new brains.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
by Richard Colman : halfwaytoconcord – excerpt
A brilliant American leader once wrote: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” That brilliant American was Thomas Jefferson, as he refered to King George III of England, in the Declaration of independence, which he authored.
Something similar to the autocracy of King George III is coming to the Bay Area. What is arriving is Plan Bay Area, a long document that will, if enacted, irreversibly transform the Bay Area’s land-use patterns.
Plan Bay Area’s goal is to curtail the use of cars and push Bay Area residents into high-rise, high-density housing. The housing, often called “stack and pack” housing, is to be located near such transit hubs as BART stations. In theory, stack-and-pack housing will lead to less carbon dioxide pollution, and — again in theory — keep the planet from becoming too warm.
Two main forces behind Plan Bay Area are the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).
ABAG and MTC respectively have boards of directors who have never been elected directly by voters. Thus, ABAG and MTC are similar to King George III, an unelected ruler who told the American colonies how to behave.
To help these ABAG and MTC rulers achieve their goals of having Bay Area residents ditch their cars and live in stack-and-pack housing, urgent legislation needs to be passed immediately by the California Legislature.
The legislation must require all ABAG and MTC directors and all ABAG and MTC employees to surrender their driver’s licenses and move into stack-and-pack housing.
If less driving and more stack-and-pack housing are such good ideas, let those bureaucrats who want to implement Plan Bay Area be examples for the rest of us… (more)
RELATED:
Supervisor Sears Responds to Tam Junction’s Plan Bay Area Concerns
I have asked both Brian Crawford, Director of our Community Development Agency (land use planning staff), and Diane Steinhauser, Director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, to analyze (1) whether removing Tam Valley/Almonte from the 101 transit corridor PDA would result in loss of the $175,000 OBAG grant and other potential sources of funding for transportation and bike/ped needs; and (2) whether removing only the Manzanita area from the PDA would result in retaining that grant and other sources of funding… (more)
S.F. boom leaving many behind
by Joshua Sabatini : sfexaminer – excerpt
Amid a rebounding San Francisco economy, attention is being brought to the inequity found in neglected neighborhoods where residents are more likely to be killed, drop out of school, suffer health complications at an early age and earn low incomes.
As The City attracts large, high-profile events such as the America’s Cup and Super Bowl L in 2016, and as a growing local technology industry drives the economic recovery, Supervisor John Avalos said San Francisco leaders must rethink how budget and policy decisions are being made at City Hall given the stark disparities among communities.
“The City doesn’t always make the decision that is going to serve the most impacted, where the need is greatest,” Avalos said. Instead, he said, the more organized and well-heeled constituencies benefit more and some neighborhoods are “actually falling behind in the resources that they should get.”…
There are a large number of residents seemingly struggling to pay the bills in District 3, which includes Chinatown and North Beach, and District 6. Residents living in poverty make up 12 percent of the overall population at 96,550, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 count. The fewest residents in poverty were found in District 2’s Marina and Pacific Heights neighborhoods (6 percent) while District 6 has the most (22 percent).
The report, Avalos said, “Provides a baseline that we should work off.”
Avalos said he may propose requiring the issuance of socio-economic equity reports for legislation the board votes on, similar to how The City currently issues economic impact reports for legislation affecting businesses. Rose also plans to issue a second report examining disparities in the distribution of city spending on social benefits… (more)
Very interesting that “there are a large number of residents seemingly struggling to pay the bills in District 3, which includes Chinatown and North Beach, and District 6.” You would think that Districts 9, the Mission, and 10, Bay View, would be the poorest. What does this mean? Especially considering that the new Central Subway is headed for the heart of District 3. Could residents of Chinatown be next in line for displacement, as Tim Redmond’s recent article “Planning for Displacement”, suggests?
We heard rumors of a socio-economic test for development strategies, but this is the first indication we have seen that there is indeed a consideration for legislation in the works.
RELATED:
Hilton Hotel ends room service:
Where are all the new low-end jobs we are promised by the developers going to come from if the luxury hotels are cutting back on hiring?
We can’t agree more with the statement made by Center For American Progress:
“Right now, Washington is focused on the wrong problem: promoting austerity policies now to massively reduce the deficit rather than focus on economic growth,” she added. “Our report demonstrates that right now, we face a growth challenge.”
Amen to that. The race to the bottom is insane.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
This is about as gross as it gets. This is the most obvious corporatization of national resources and financial institutions that we have seen to date. If you haven’t watched the movie, “Brazil” you should.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
According to Rob Black on KRON 4 News, hotels are eliminating amenities and the low paying wages associated with them. i.e. room service and bellhops. So, how many jobs will be created by the new Warriors stadium and accompanying retail and hotel outlets Sacramento is planning to build on San Francisco’s waterfront? Read more here: http://www.sfwaterfront.org/
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Shopping Spree: Newspaper Magnates Within Days Of Closing Deal On Yet Another SF Publication
by Max A. Cherney : http://sfappeal.com – excerpt
Hot on the heels of the San Francisco Newspaper Company’s acquisition of the SF Weekly, two principals at the SFNC are within days of closing on an agreement to purchase 49% of venerable LGBTQ publication the Bay Area Reporter.
The SFNC presently owns the San Francisco Examiner,SF Weekly, and Bay Guardian – all bought since the SFNC’s formation in 2011.
In a letter of intent, inked in April, SFNC CEO Todd Vogt and CFO Patrick Brown made clear their plan to acquire a minority stake in the BAR – independently of the SFNC.
All that’s left to cement the deal is “dotting the “I”s and crossing the “T”s” – and that should happen within the 60 days, Brown told The Appeal. (When contacted by The Appeal, Vogt declined to discuss the deal on the record.).. (more)
Say goodbye to San Francisco as we know it. The artists, creatives, and dissidents that haven’t left, are packing. Some are cashing in on the way out, making way for Plan Bay Area.
What will the new “green world class city” be like, and who will be left to document the reconstruction of San Francisco, by state “infill” edict, into New York West?
What will draw tourists after the single family homes in the Eastern Neighborhoods with views of the Bay are replaced by highrise condos? Will a few random “historically significant” Victorians, Edwardians, and the faux Beaux Arts City Hall be spared as it is turned into the Disneyland of sports arenas? California’s Vegas without Hollywood style?
