zRants

Views are gold in San Francisco,. Some people live with them, others visit them. I’ve always lived with them. Tonight, I’m sitting in my third floor loft in Project Artaud facing west, looking at the moon slowly slipping into the eclipse. I’ve got a wonderful view of the yellow lights of 17th Street climbing to the blinking red light at the top of the hill. The moon is turning a rusty orange. This has been my home for most of the last 30 years. Theoretically I can stay here as long as I want. But do I want to when a lot of friends are leaving?

I’ve been thinking about my life in San Francisco and how it’s changed. I came here as a young wantabe artists and found my way into a lifestyle, with trendy friends living in beautiful homes, with nice views.

For years we moved easily from one cool neighborhood party to another. There was always a view, easy parking, and affordable rents. My friends had flats and apartments in Buena Vista Heights, Potrero, Noe Valley, North Beach, Burnal Heights, Sunset, and the Upper Haight. We watched the fireworks from a fourth floor balcony overlooking Fisherman’s wharf, or a private club near the Bay Bridge.

With a couple of exceptions, most of those homes are no longer held by my friends. Through a series of health issues, life changes, higher rents and lower wages, many of my friends have moved into smaller, less expensive places, or left the city, or the state. Some even moved out of the country.

What is going on here? How did the boomer generation fall from being stakeholders in “the city the knows how” to barely hanging on in our middle age as we slip slowly down the economic ladder. Is our California dream dying? Is this part of the global shift in economies that grinds us down? Is the pie getting smaller or people getting greedier?

This week will be the celebration of the 40th anniversary of he Summer of Love. We get to see how the old stars are holding up. and meet people who were here for the first love fest in 1967. I wonder how many of them have lost their views. How many are giving up on their California dreams.

Candidates on Health Care Reform

A good source for links to Presidential Candidates health care reform platforms as the develop and change.

Health Care Tax Credits: The Right Prescription for Expanded Health Care Coverage.
from the Heritage Foundation.

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
Capitol Hill Watch | Sen. Gregg Joins Co-sponsors of Sen. Wyden’s Universal Health Coverage Bill

[Aug 15, 2007]

DETACH HEALTH INSURANCE FROM THE EMPLOYMENT

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is the latest Republican to sign on as a co-sponsor to legislation (S 334) from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would detach health insurance from employment and guarantee universal health insurance, CQ HealthBeat reports (CQ HealthBeat, 8/14). Under the legislation, private health insurers would provide coverage to individuals directly, rather than through employers, and employers initially would shift funds currently used to pay for coverage to employee wages. Over time, employers would have to pay the federal government a health insurance contribution (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/3).

In a statement on Monday, Gregg said that Wyden’s measure “is by no means a perfect plan, but it is a good starting place for a bipartisan dialogue on health care reform.” He added that he is concerned about some aspects of the plan, “including the imposition of mandates; its impact on current market competition; and its impact on domestic businesses and our global environment.”

TAX CREDITS TO COVER HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS

CQ HealthBeat notes that separately, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and other Senate Republicans have sponsored a bill (S 1886) that would provide tax credits of $2,160 per individual or $5,400 per family to help cover health insurance costs. Burr in a statement said of his proposal, “The plan is budget neutral and puts an end to unfair discrimination in the [Internal Revenue Service] tax code that only benefits health coverage offered by employers and that disproportionately subsidizes Americans with more costly health plans and with higher incomes” (CQ HealthBeat, 8/14).

Citizens of San Francisco, let your supervisor know how you feel about your parks and other public lands. Keep the public lands public and the private lands private. Email the supes today.

There is a movement to keep public properties public in San Francisco. That means DO NOT SELL  the golf courses, Camp Mather, and the airwaves. How about we agree to this. Keep what is public in the hands of the public, under government control and management.

And while we’re at it, why don’t we allow private properties to stay private. If someone went to the trouble to save enough to buy property in San Francisco, and can afford to invest in upgrades and improvements, why don’t we let them go ahead and do that.

Conservatives are fond of accusing liberals of disagreeing on more than they agree on. Liberals should never forget that they share the same goals, even though they often disagree on the methods to get there. The fight over San Francisco property development, is a prime example. Groups disagree on the degree to which government involvement is needed or desired. Middle class workers are pitched against the very poor and their supporters, in a fight over real estate values. Instead of fighting each other over the concept of gentrification and real estate values, they should unite and go after the real interests who keep them all down. Together they could fight city hall. Together, they could run the show.

In the end, we all know we want to provide better housing choices, better schools, better transit systems, and decent health care for everyone. Perhaps if we just concentrate on those goals that we share, we can work together to obtain them.

The supervisors voted to allow the development of the 3400 Cesar Chavez project. On another matter, they also approved the continuation of the Hunter Point Construction Project. Some neighbors claim they are being contaminated by the dust stirred up. See the story in the Examiner for details.