SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Zoe, West Portal Station
Tell us about your look: “Haight street flannel.”
SFBG Blogs
Get your holiday ruckus fix this week
By Caitlin Donohue
Santas and Lombard St.: neither on the straightest of lines
It’s upon us. The holiday season is here in full force, bringing with it all attendant wardrobe concerns (I need tights for that dress!), consumerism driven frenzies (where the hell can I find natural fiber men’s scarves!?) and physical discomfort (I’ve drunk… too much… eggnog). Sometimes you just want to say ho, ho, ho- burn the state!
Enter Santacon. Hundreds of Santas, rolling around the city, drinking bars out of their booze supply, gifting gawking bystanders with condoms and avoiding fisticuffs as they are able. This is the pub crawl most likely to make children doubt their worldview. What originally started as a small parade of anarchy minded Chris Cringles has turned into a worldwide phenom- there’s Santacons everywhere from Oslo to Madrid these days.
Anyone with a Santa suit and a yen for mischief making is invited to join in the fun. Download the naughty carols from the website and subscribe to their live Twitter feed @sfsanta before you come- this year’s event has gotten a little tight around the (big black with a golden buckle) beltline. There will be three distinct Santa contingents to make things more manageable, one starting out in the Castro, one at Fisherman’s Wharf and one on Haight. Hit up their website for meeting places. Or just follow the man in the red suit.
Coastal Commission denies enviros’ request to yank desalination plant permit
By Rebecca Bowe
A coalition of environmental organizations argued yesterday that a permit issued to Poseidon Resources to build a massive desalination plant near San Diego should be revoked, because the company failed to provide complete information to California Coastal Commission staff.
At a CCC meeting held in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Chambers in City Hall yesterday, commissioners listened as advocates from the Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Coastkeeper, and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, who filed the request for permit revocation, argued that Poseidon purposely tried to mislead CCC staff by submitting incomplete and inaccurate information about technical aspects of its desalination facility.
The CCC granted Poseidon its permit in November of 2007. The 50 million gallon-per- day facility, which is under construction, has drawn sharp criticism statewide from labor and environment groups who argue that the expensive, highly energy intensive plant would contribute to higher greenhouse gas emissions and do nothing to encourage water-conservation efforts. Concerns have also been raised about the harm it could do to the marine ecosystem and the high price tag for tap water cycled first through a power-plant cooling system, and then through the desalination process.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the construction of the facility as a reliable water source for arid Southern California, and his representatives were in attendance at yesterday’s meeting. Last month, the Metropolitan Water District agreed to subsidize costs for the privately owned and operated plant, and Poseidon will go before the state’s Debt Limit Allocation Committee (which consists of Schwarzenegger, the state controller, and the state treasurer) to request tax-exempt bond status in mid-January.
San Francisco Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, who sits on the Coastal Commission, argued in favor of pulling the permit, saying it represented “a proper juncture for us to revisit the issue” and warned that the highly controversial project might be “rife with procedural and structural errors.”
Let’s get Wonderfull
By Michael Krimper
Few musicians, if any, have influenced and contributed to the sprawling landscape of contemporary music like Stevie Wonder. The songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer boasts a discography far too overwhelming for me to even paraphrase in this blog post. Luckily, New York icons DJ Spinna and Bobbito a.k.a. Kool Bob Love have already done the homework. The self-professed Wonder nerds dug deep in the crates, studied the liner notes, traced the lineage of classics and obscure credits alike, and now share all their research with the Wonderfull party. That’s right, a showcase of music dedicated strictly to revisiting and reimagining the legacy of Stevie Wonder. It’s a pastiche of raw soul and computer funk, the ebullient essence of boom bap and pummeling grooves, all timeless, all Stevie.
Originally started as a one-night celebration dating back to NY 2001, the party has since traveled across North America, touching down in San Francisco for the past five years. And the word is, we know how to jump off like nobody else. This year should prove no different with support from local favorites Hakobo, Proof, and King Most on the wheels of steel. So, if you were looking to escape this winter’s frigid onslaught, as we approach 2010 on the near horizon, I’d recommend sweating it out at the retro-futuristic dance party of decade.
WONDERFULL
Featuring DJs Spinna and Bobbito
With Hakobo, Proof, and King Most
Sat/12, 9 p.m. – 4 a.m., $20 presale, $25 door
The Mezzanine
444 Jessie St., SF
(415) 625-8880
www.mezzaninesf.com
Kink launches slave society website
Text and photos by Steven T. Jones
Kink.com founder and CEO Peter Acworth
BDSM porn powerhouse Kink.com today launched a new website, TheUpperFloor.com, in which the top floor of its iconic Armory Building headquarters is transformed into a hierarchical community of masters, mistresses, and slaves and all levels in between, with Kink founder Peter Acworth at the top of the pecking order. And the Guardian was there to toast to and take in the debaucherous live-streaming debut.
While the domination-submission theme runs throughout Kink’s many websites, this one is especially intriguing for its intention to develop into a 24/7 community, with participants playing essentially permanent roles and the whole thing going out live to viewers, as today’s three-hour debut did to about 1,000 subscribers (initially, TheUpperFloor will be taped broadcasts and live events available to subscribers).
Lilla Katt was bound with rope and bamboo poles by Lochai
Acworth told us the concept realizes his original conception of what the Armory could become, turning BDSM fantasies into something like real life. “From the first time I saw the Armory was for sale, I couldn’t help but think of the Story of O and other stories,” he said, citing stories of women trained as sex slaves in dungeons and other BDSM fantasies. “So this sort of realizes that dream.”
LAFCo: “PG&E’s claims have no basis in fact or reality”
By Rebecca Bowe
The SF Weekly once made up a story on its Snitch blog about how LAFCo is the Guardian’s imaginary friend (this was back before they had imaginary delivery vehicles). So it’s kind of ironic that LAFCo should be the one to respond to an attack mailer paid for by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. which has quotes from an SF Weekly story splashed all over it.
The PG&E-funded mailer even borrows from the language of that Weekly article, calling CCA a “scheme” after the title of the piece, “Green Scheme,” and telling voters that the program will be implemented “whether you like it or not,” which sounds a lot like a line from the Weekly article, which says, “like it or not, you’re already signed up.” Given all this striking similarity, it’s almost like the Weekly is PG&E’s very own imaginary friend.
LAFCo is the Local Agency Formation Commission, the driver behind San Francisco’s Community Choice Aggregation program, which a “coalition” financed by PG&E attempted to shoot full of holes in a smear campaign we told you about yesterday.
LAFCo’s response to PG&E’s mailer is posted below.
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PG&E Continues Campaign against San Francisco’s Clean Energy Program
Latest Salvo from PG&E is riddled with False Assumptions and Deceptive Marketing
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – On December 9, 2009, San Francisco businesses received a direct mail piece from the “Common Sense Coalition.” In it, the alleged “Coalition” critiques the City’s Community Choice Aggregation plan to provide cleaner, more renewable energy to its residents and businesses through a newly proposed clean energy program to the businesses and residents of San Francisco. Financed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the mailer makes several specious economic claims sourced from outdated documents, including a 2007 City Controller’s report. However, that very same report states that the program “has not yet advanced to the stage where any definitive economic impact statement can be made. A detailed economic impact assessment will not be possible until the RFP process is complete.”
The City just issued its own comprehensive and through RFP four weeks ago and responses are due on December 29th. There is no set contract with an energy service provider and more importantly, no structured, long-term rate plan has been formulated. Consequently, PG&E’s claims have no basis in fact or reality.
Brits blame Bremer on Iraq
Text by Sarah Phelan
Paul Bremer called the shots (based on “pre-agreed Washington policy”), and the Brits were left in the dark in Iraq, according to a British inquiry into the war.
Campos to Herrera: tell Newsom he’s not a king
Louis XIV didn’t exactly have a good rap as king of France. Is Newsom in danger of becoming Louis’ SF equivalent?
Text by Sarah Phelan
‘We may have a strong-mayor system of government, but it is not a monarchy,” writes Sup. David Campos in a Dec. 10 letter to City Attorney Dennis Herrera, sent the day that the Board’s veto-proof civil rights legislation to restore due process to undocumented kids is supposed to kick in—except Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he intends to ignore it.
“Nothing short of unprecedented,” is how Campos describes Newsom’s posture—as he urges Herrera to issue a written legal opinion on whether the mayor has “the authority to unilaterally refuse to implement the duly-enacted civil rights legislation at issue, where such legislation was reviewed and approved as to form by you and your office.”
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Ashley, West Portal Station
Tell us about your look: “This is all from thrift stores.”
Joe Lynn, 1945-2009
By Tim Redmond
Joe Lynn with Sup. John Avalos at a celebration of Lynn’s life in August. Photo by Luke Thomas.
Joe Lynn — crusader for sunshine, crusader for honest, ethical government, font of wisdom and knowledge about campaign reform and wonderful, sweet man — died yesterday after a six-month battle with leukemia.
The former staffer at the Ethics Commission was fearless, willing to risk his own job to take on the likes of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. After leaving the commission, he was a frequent critic of its practices.
He was a fighter to the end; a lot of us didn’t think he’d make it through the summer, but he left the hospital, and when I saw him at the Guardian Best of the Bay party in September, he was in great spirits. But his body finally gave out at 5:45 p.m. Dec. 9th.
The web is full of plaudits for Lynn, but one of my favorites comes from Marc Salomon:
Let’s hope that instead of the usual hyperventilating memorializing by politicos, that instead of mourning, they can organize to pass the Joe Lynn Ethics Reform Act of 2010 so that Joe’s passing will not be cause for the clinking of champagne glasses by the elites in their mansions who feel entitled to own San Francisco politics.
Well said. We’ll miss you, Joe.
Losing hope even faster
By Steven T. Jones
For more than a year, I’ve been defending President Obama against his critics on the left. They’d complain that he’s enabling hyper-capitalism and the military-industrial complex, and I’ve always urged them to give him time. The problems are huge and the political climate is stormy, so we needed to keep our immediate expectations reasonable and be patient.
But I’m beginning to lose hope.
The escalation of war in the Afghanistan was his third strike. First, he bailed out Wall Street, preserving an inequitable and unsustainable economic system. Then he abandoned his past support for a single-payer health care system, propping up the costly and corrupt insurance-based system. And then he decided to perpetuate the dangerous delusion that our military can make the world safe and secure and turn Afghanistan into a functional, modern state.
And now, as icing on the cake, it looks like Obama is backpedaling on his Afghanistan exit strategy and working with Senate Democrats to give up on the public health care option, leaving a “reform” bill whose most notable characteristic is that we’ll all be required to buy overly expensive health insurance from a profit-driven corporation.
Hope – it was nice while it lasted.
That’s funny, they didn’t mention climate change
By Rebecca Bowe
“The war with PG&E over clean energy is now fully on folks.”
That’s what local public power activist Eric Brooks had to say in a widely distributed email to alert green-power advocates that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has started a smear campaign against San Francisco’s community-choice aggregation program, CleanPowerSF.
A “coalition” backed by PG&E recently sent glossy brochures to San Franciscan’s mailboxes, and launched a Web site called CommonSenseSF.com. Based on the information provided, it was unclear who, besides PG&E, the coalition members are.
The intent of CleanPowerSF is to reduce the city’s overall greenhouse gas emissions by offering San Franciscans the choice to use 51 percent green power supplied through a program administered by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, instead of buying power exclusively from PG&E, whose electricity sources are primarily fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.
PG&E often mentions climate change in its ads, but the topic doesn’t come up on either the mailer or the Web site. Instead, the message focuses on proposed exit fees that consumers would have to pay if they decided to go back to PG&E after the close of a two-month CCA opt-out period. It calls San Francisco’s CCA — one of the most dramatic attempts at community-wide greenhouse-gas reduction that any U.S. city has taken on — a “costly energy scheme.”
The campaign’s Web site notes that the information is provided by the “Coalition for Reliable and Affordable Electricity, a coalition of concerned consumers, small businesses, labor, community organizations and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.”
A representative from Townsend, Raimundo, Besler and Usher, a Sacramento-based PR firm, confirmed that the Coalition for Reliable and Affordable Electricity is one of its clients.
The person who is handling that client, we were told, is Bob Pence. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because Robert Lee Pence is listed as the proponent of a statewide ballot initiative that would impose a two-thirds majority vote requirement before CCA could be implemented.
The mailer includes a form that members of the public can send in, postage-free, to sign up for an alert when the Board of Supervisors votes on CCA. The address the postcards would be sent to appears to be a mail drop at Mailboxes Etc.
Will Newsom follow Obama’s sunshine lead?
By Tim Redmond
The Obama administration has begun releasing a complete list of White House visitors. It’s pretty cool — who knew that my old friend David Binder, who did some polling work for the Obama campaign, is now hanging out at the White House?
But it raises a question: If the president of the United States is willing to tell us who is visiting what may be the most secure facility in America, why can’t the mayor of San Francisco tell us who’s coming to see him at City Hall?
No such list has ever been released. The mayor’s appointment calendar is sparse and incomplete.
I emailed the mayor’s press spokesperson, Joe Arellano, to ask if Newsom was willing to become as sunshine-friendly as the prez, but no word yet.
Fun and games, City Hall style
Text, photos and video by Sarah Phelan
City Hall looked cold and pretty Tuesday, what with the snow outside.
And the wedding couples posing for photographers at the top of the stairs.
Against the backdrop of a glittering Tree of Hope.
But inside the meeting, things were getting hot and ugly… in that glitteringly controlled way typical of city politics.
The highlight came Sup. Chris Daly produced a handmade bar graph in an effort to help folks better understand the economic backdrop against which the budget debate plays out.
Promising to bring more charts to future meetings, Daly displayed a chart that showed how the San Francisco Police Department has enjoyed a significantly larger growth in General Fund support than any other department, including the Health Department. And you can watch some of that fun by clicking on the following video clip:
During Daly’s show and tell, Sup. Sean Elsbernd started mumbling about stunts, and according to the Chron, he subsequently challenged Daly to tackle pension costs, especially related to the Service Employees International Union, promising in return to tackle the police budget. Daly reportedly said he’d take a look at pension reform—so expect even more bar charts in the New Year.
Hot sex events this week: Dec 9-15
Compiled by Molly Freedenberg
Celebrate the 2010 Bare Chest Calendar with hotties like cover model John Lopez at Powerhouse this weekend.
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>> Barbary Coast Burlesque
For the last show at Annie’s, BCB will pull out all the stops to raise funds to help Satan’s Angel with her medical bills, including performances by Cock T’s, Dottie Lux, Balla Fire, the Devil-Ettes, and more.
Wed/9, 8pm
$5
Annie’s Social Club
917 Folsom, SF
www.anniessocialclub.com
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>> Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop
Gina de Vries hosts this workshop for current and former sex workers who want to share their writing and get honest, non-judgmental feedback.
Wed/9, 6-8pm
$10-$20
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
www.sexandculture.org
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>> Intro to Burlesquercise Mini-Session
Bombshell Betty hosts a three week course including the bump-and-grind warmup and workout, lessons in how to create your own retro style dance moves, how to work a boa and twirl tassels, and more.
Wed/9, 7-8:30pm. Also Dec 16
$60
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
www.bombshellbetty.net
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alt.sex.column: Winter Wonderland
By Andrea Nemerson. Email your questions to andrea@mail.altsexcolumn.com. Read more of Andrea’s columns here.
Dear Andrea:
Every year I dread this season, not because I particularly hate the holidays, but because the short, dark days depress me. I talked to a therapist friend and she doesn’t think I have SAD, and says lots of people feel a little gloomy when the days get short. I also notice that I have almost no libido this time of year. I’m single and I usually date, but when it gets dark so early, I find that I just can’t be bothered. I don’t want to meet anyone because I don’t feel like having sex or any sort of intimacy, really. I just want to sit on my couch in my pajamas. Do I have "seasonal libido disorder"? Is this kind of seasonal swing a common thing? I also find I get the stereotypical "spring fever" and can’t wait to go out and meet guys (I’m a girl) when the days get longer. Any ideas?
Love,
Poorly Seasoned
Dear Poorly:
You’re not the only one! Even people who need look no further than the other end of the couch often experience a libido-slump in the winter. For the single, who may have to actually leave the house to find a prospective mate, the hurdles are higher. There are all sorts of possible factors, including less exercise and its possibly associated weight gain and/or lack of energy, as well as the bigger push it takes to get up and bundle yourself into cold-weather gear and slog through sleet or slush, as opposed to merely flitting out the door in a darling little sundress whenever you feel like it.
Ready, set, Whirling Dervish
By Caitlin Donohue
Get lost in the whirl of the Mevlevi, better known as the Order of the Whirling Dervish
Recents events involving an unlit bicycle, an unsignaled left turn onto Geary and an unexpected phone call from the emergency room have impressed upon me the true cyclical nature of this crazy world we live in. Viewed from a properly meditative perspective (difficult when one is contemplating ambulance bills san health insurance), it can be a calming thought; that the ups and downs and round abouts we experience are merely a reflection of a turning universe.
The Order of the Whirling Dervish, or the Mevlevi, are a Sufi Islam sect that holds that to revolve is life’s original nature. Electrons, protons and neutrons revolve, the human being’s life cycle revolves from the earth to life and back again. The prophet Rumi developed their traditional “whirling” dance, the sema, 700 years ago to reflect this fact and to bring one closer to the “Perfect,” or the god force.
At one point banned from their religious practice in Turkey by a political regime for being excessively mystic, the Mevlevis are allowed to continue their sema in their home country for purposes of tourism- but not to vocalize their prayers to Allah. In 1986 the head of the Mevlevi sect sent his son to America to spread their beliefs. Since then, the Order has had several successful US sema tours- and apparently has accrued some American faithful as well. The US Mevlevi website posts an announcement of an “obligatory practice and tuning for all semazen (as the participants in the ritual dance are called) turning in SF and Sacramento” to proceed the public event at the Palace of Fine Arts on Friday.
In practice, the semazen are hypnotically tranquil in their dance. Traditional Sufi music accompanies the dancers, an atmospheric affair of sitars that provide fertile foundation for whatever meditation you bring to the performance. The men and women are dressed in white robes to signify “ego’s shroud” and tall camel hair fez-like hats portraying “ego’s tombstone.” They whirl about the floor on their right feet, weaving through one another in one long motion of prayer with one arm extending to Allah and one cradled in front of them, delivering a message to their fellow human beings on earth. Altogether, they look like maple tree seed pods, helicoptering down from their branches. Its calming, almost enough to make one appreciate that in life’s twists and turns lie an equilibrium of sorts.
In the meantime… anyone know a good bike lawyer?
Fri/11 8 p.m., $25- $45
The Palace of Fine Arts
3301 Lyon, SF
www.ciis.edu
“Hit job” on Marin Clean Energy
By Rebecca Bowe
In a report officially released yesterday, the Marin County Civil Grand Jury tore apart Marin Clean Energy, a community-choice aggregation program that is intended to reduce the region’s greenhouse-gas emissions to address climate change.
The Civil Grand Jury report called the project “costly and extremely risky” and recommended that the whole effort be abandoned. It criticized the program as adding another layer of bureaucracy at a time when resources are limited, and described it as being plagued with uncertainty. The report was titled “Pull the Plug,” and it warned of risks ranging from market volatility to legal costs if Pacific Gas & Electric should take steps to attack the effort once it is launched.
“The county and all participating municipalities of Marin Energy Authority should step away from their adversarial political posturing and seriously work with foundations, federal, state and local agencies and PG&E to foster cooperation,” the Civil Grand Jury report recommended.
The report was released on the same day as the start of the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhapen, and coincided with the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that greenhouse gases endanger human health. MEA Chair and Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan said the timing was poignant, and called the civil grand jury report “a purposeful hit job by a biased group of conservative people in the county” that is “riddled with errors and misinformation.”
According to McGlashan, energy customers who accept the transition to MCE would automatically begin using electricity that is 25 percent greenhouse-gas-free, as opposed to PG&E’s 15 percent GHG-free power, with no difference in price.
San Francisco Panorama hits the streets
By Steven T. Jones
Chris Cook and Lila LaHood of the San Francisco Public Press hawk copies of San Francisco Panorama in front of the Chronicle Building.
There’s a new newspaper in San Francisco – at least for today. San Francisco Panorama is being hawked on street corners around the city for $5 (get ‘em quick because they go up to the list price of $16 after today), perhaps the thickest, best-designed, and most creatively written (or at least the one penned by the most notable writers who aren’t usually journalists) newspaper ever.
The one-time product was produced by McSweeney’s, the literary magazine and publishing house operated out of 826 Valencia by author Dave Eggers, in partnership with the San Francisco Public Press and with financial support from Spot.us, which allows citizens to directly fund good journalism. The San Francisco Chronicle also helped with promotion and distribution.
The cover story on Bay Bridge cost-overruns, written by new journalist Patricia Decker and old pro Robert Porterfield, was overseen by the Public Press – a non-profit news outlet that aims to produce a non-commercial daily newspaper – and its project director Michael Stoll (full disclosure: I serve on the Public Press Steering Committee).
Eggers originally conceived the Panorama project as a way to demonstrate what a vital and attractive medium newspapers continue to be. Or as Stoll told me this afternoon, “If you give people a news product that breaks the formula they’re used to seeing, you’re going to capture their imaginations.”
Stiglitz: Too Big to Live
Here is our monthly installment of Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Unconventional Economic Wisdom column from the Project Syndicate news series. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics. His forthcoming book Freefall will be published this winter.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
NEW YORK – A global controversy is raging: what new regulations are required to restore confidence in the financial system and ensure that a new crisis does not erupt a few years down the line. Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has called for restrictions on the kinds of activities in which mega-banks can engage. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown begs to differ: after all, the first British bank to fall – at a cost of some $50 billion – was Northern Rock, which was engaged in the “plain vanilla” business of mortgage lending.
The implication of Brown’s observation is that such restrictions will not ensure that there is not another crisis; but King is right to demand that banks that are too big to fail be reined in. In the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, large banks have been responsible for the bulk of the cost to taxpayers. America has let 106 smaller banks go bankrupt this year alone. It’s the mega-banks that present the mega-costs.
Police discipline changes on hold, for now
By Tim Redmond
I picked up a lot of interesting gossip at a Friday night birthday party for Police Commissioner David Onek, starting with the blazing news that former Mayor Art Agnos really wants to get it on with Beth Spotswood, who once called him “hot.”
And Joe Veronese told me he’s “thinking seriously about” running for supervisor in District Two.
But the real news, which I picked up floating around here and there and was able to confirm this week, is that the efforts by Chief Gascon and the Police Officers Assocation to change the cop disciplinary process are on hold, at least for the moment.
Apparently, sources tell me, the chief and the POA aren’t entirely on the same page, and both sides realize that any move to strip the Police Commission and the Office of Citizen Complaints of their disciplinary authority won’t go anywhere with this Board of Supervisors.
So all the parties are back to square one, leaving me to ask, as we did in our editorial (linked above): Why not just give the chief the authority he wants, and leave the commission and the OCC alone?
Resnick and the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)
Text by Sarah Phelan
When I read Lance Williams’ article about a corporate farmer who used his political connections to try and influence the Delta water wars debate, the corporate farmer’s name sounded familiar. So, I checked– and sure enough, Stewart Resnick’s name popped up, only this time in an article that I wrote about the contentious, controversial and ongoing fight about how best to control the Light Brown Apple Moth--and whether the aerial spraying of urban areas with a moth pheromone was ever really necessary.
As the Guardian article about the LBAM debate noted, “Critics of the state’s pheromone spraying program observe that Suterra LLC, which manufactured the spray used over Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, refused to release the full ingredients until it was sued — and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger demanded immediate full disclosure.”
The article also observed that, “These same critics also note that Schwarzenegger, who continues to support CDFA’s LBAM-eradication program, received $144,600 in campaign contributions from Los Angeles–based Roll International owners Stewart and Lynda Resnick (my bold), who control Suterra, Fiji Water, Paramount Agribusiness, and the Franklin Mint.”
“Records show the Resnicks donate broadly, mostly to Democrats — including the gubernatorial campaigns of Steve Westly and Phil Angelides, and US Sens. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama — with a lesser-size donation to Republican presidential front-runner John McCain, proving they play both sides of the fence,” the Guardian’s article concludes.
And as William’s recent article notes, “Underpinning [the Resnicks’] fortune is agribusiness – 70,000 acres of pistachios and almonds, 48,000 acres of citrus and pomegranates – most of it in Kern County at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley, and all requiring irrigation to survive.”
In other words, the Resnicks’ agribusiness empire could be negatively impacted if other countries refused to import their produce, because of LBAM-related fears, even if those fears were unfounded.. Conversely, the Resnicks’ business interests stood to gain if the state mandated the widespread aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone by a company (Suterra) that the Resnicks controlled.
I’m not saying that’s why the state ended up pushing its controversial aerial spraying plan, until public pressure stopped that plan in its tracks, but it sure is an interesting question
Editorial: Don’t rush the Candlestick EIR
The city wants to rush the massive Candlestick Point Redevelopment Project through during the holiday season without adequate oversight, review, or discussion. It needs to extend the public comment period for at least another 45 days.
The Candlestick Point redevelopment project is by far the biggest land-use decision facing San Francisco today, and one of the most significant in the city’s modern history. The project, sponsored by Lennar Corp., would bring 10,500 housing units and 24,000 additional residents to the area. Those residents would need new schools, playgrounds, open space, and transportation systems. Industrial and commercial development would create some 3,500 permanent jobs, and those people would need ways to get to work. Plans calls for new roadways, including a bridge over the fragile Yosemite Slough. The 708-acre site includes areas with significant toxic waste issues.
It’s no surprise that the draft environmental impact report on the project weighs in at 4,400 pages. It took two years to review the land use, transportation, air quality, water quality, population, employment, noise, hazardous materials, and other potential issues.