SFBG Blogs

Appetite: A feast of beast, coffee on the road

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Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

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Dessert course from One Market’s Weekly Beast Goat Dinner

11/27-28 – Weekly Beast (Suckling Pig) menu at One Market
Burnt out on turkey? Friday and Saturday take a different turn with One Market’s Weekly Beast dinner. The animal changes weekly, from duck to rabbit to goat; this weekend offering suckling pig from Marin Farms. Sourcing local animals, Chef Mark Dommen cooks five-course meals using varied parts of the animal. Compared to other such multi-course meals around town, after trying their goat dinner, I find at $49 per person, it’s a deal, and only $20 to add on four wine pairings. You can also order a la carte if five courses sounds like too much. Start with Pig’s Head Terrine, move on to Crispy Pig Trotters with foie gras, Suckling Pig Confit with house-made sauerkraut, then Spit-Roasted Suckling Pig Leg. Dessert is Cornmeal Waffles with maple brown butter emulsion, frozen custard ice cream, and (wait for it) pig in the form of candied bacon. Yes, you’ll continue decadent Thanksgiving feasting with… even more decadent feasting. If you’re out of town, there’s always Muscovy Duck next weekend.
11/27-28; make reservations during dinner hours, 5:30-9pm
$49 per person / $20 wine pairings
One Market
1 Market, SF
415-777-5577
www.onemarket.com

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Go Coffee Go, mail order artisanal coffees

Go, Coffee, Go
Ok, coffee addicts: launched just last week is a new website/service started by SF locals, Scott Pritikin and Elise Papazian, that keeps gourmet coffee cravings satiated even when you don’t have access to the best. GoCoffeeGo delivers anywhere in the US, and this is signifcant because of the kind of coffees they sell: the likes of our own Ritual, Barefoot in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz’ Verve, and Metropolis in Chicago. This means whether you can’t buy a regional favorite here or are visiting family someplace bereft of fine coffee, it’s all sent to you. It’s ideal to set up a regular home delivery so you’re never out of stock, while trying different roasters around the country. Though they’ll continue to add vendors, Pritikin and Papazian are committed to artisan, regional coffees, having spent endless hours in big US cities and small towns on the hunt for the best local roasters and beans. Set up an account and feel the buzz.
www.gocoffeego.com

Supes vote to suspend public health layoffs for two months

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By Rebecca Bowe

Department of Public Health employees who are affected by budget cuts have reason to breathe a temporary sigh of relief after today’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Eight supervisors, the two-thirds majority needed to pass the item, voted to spend roughly $1.8 million in the Department of Public Health to push back pending layoffs until the end of January. Sup. David Campos suggested the compromise move, emphasizing that job loss is particularly bitter when it strikes during the holiday season.

Although the supervisors — excluding Sups. Carmen Chu, Sean Elsbernd, and Michela Alioto-Pier, who all voted no — have expressed their intentions to keep the public health workers in their jobs for now, many questions still remain.

The biggest one: What will Mayor Gavin Newsom do? He could veto the move, or, he could simply decide not to appropriate the money, as Sup. Elsbernd made very clear during the meeting.

In the corridor just outside the Board Chambers, City Controller Ben Rosenfield told the Guardian that he believes the layoffs will still go into effect. “Everything the mayor has indicated to me is that they do not intend to spend the funds,” he said. “This could be seen as partially an academic exercise.”

But several feet away, SEIU spokesperson Carlos Rivera sounded more optimistic: “Right now, we are just going to celebrate this, and hopefully the mayor will come around and not be the Grinch who Stole Christmas,” he said. “I know he has a big heart.”

Photo Essay: Comedy at Cobb’s

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Photos and text by Ariel Soto

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Bruce Vilanch, famous for writing for awards show and for quotes like, “What makes me laugh? Richard Nixon always made me laugh.”

Bruce Vilanch is a hip and connected man. He hangs with Cher, writes for Miss Universe, and knows volumes full of ridiculous and hilarious stories about everyone in Hollywood. Vilanch, perhaps best known for his time on Hollywood Squares with Whoopi Goldberg, also writes for the Academy Awards and spent most of his set on November 19 at Cobb’s Comedy Club dishing on untold stories behind the epic Hollywood awards event. There was the time Bart, the bear, took a crap on stage while Dolly Parton was playing a guitar solo; or, the time Vilanch had to battle it out with Steve Martin to get him to say a cock joke on live television. Vilanch seemed to truly relish in sharing all his stories with a San Francisco crowd, a city he said he always loves to come back to.

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Charles Karel Bouley, who performs as just “Karel,” is best known for being fired from KGO radio for controversial on-air statements about people like Ronald Reagan and Joe the Plumber.

His set was preceded by Karel, who covered everything from politics to his recent airplane ride, ending with an epic song about his thrill in obtaining a pot card. But I’d like to give it up for Nico Santos. Santos, a homegrown San Franciscan, is hilarious. From the gay Asian jokes to the fat jokes, Santos was perfectly inappropriate and in my opinion, really stole the show.

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Nico Santos recently starred in a run of “Fags and Hags” at the Punchline.

Photo Essay: Snoop Dogg at the Warfield

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Photo and text by Ariel Soto

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Snoop Dogg, why you gotta be such a tease-izzle? You tempted us all night on November 21, as we waited and waited for you to come on stage, the early morning hours coming nearer and nearer. Finally you made it, slipping your way through the thick cloud of ganja goodness to tickle our ears with your naughty lyrics and seductive dance moves. We loved that you sang us all the classics and can’t wait for your new album, Malice in Wonderland, to debut in December. Snoop, you are our hip hop hero … for shizzl.

Editorial: Time for serious budget reform

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It’s time to quit with the patches, quit with the one-time solutions and fee hikes

EDITORIAL Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, likes to say that politicians should never let a crisis go to waste — but that’s what happened in San Francisco last summer, when the mayor and the supervisors approved a budget deal that didn’t involve any real structural reform, didn’t solve any long-term problems, and didn’t even last six months.

Now there’s a new crisis, one that, if anything, is worse. Cutting almost a half-billion dollars from the city budget last year was absolutely brutal. But cutting another half-billion, which is what the controller is now talking about, seems almost inconceivable.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Hanne, Haight and Ashbury

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Tell us about your look: “This is all Urban and shoes by Vagabond.”

Supes to vote on restoring DPH cuts (again)

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By Rebecca Bowe

This afternoon, a special meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee will be held to determine whether to take roughly $8 million out of the Department of Public Health reserve — money that’s already spoken for, but that some Supervisors say will be replenished before the next budget cycle — in order to stave off layoffs and salary cuts to front-line city workers in the Department of Public Health. Directly after the special meeting, the item will go before the full Board for a vote at today’s meeting.

SEIU Local 1021, the union representing city workers who’ve been pitted in an ongoing battle with mayor since the budget cuts were announced, has done its best to line up the eight votes needed to restore the cuts, leaning heavily on Sup. Sophie Maxwell to reverse her prior position by robo-calling in her district and encouraging political heavyweights to urge her to support the item.

On a conference call yesterday afternoon, Assembly Member Tom Ammiano said the city should count on stimulus dollars generated by Assembly Bill 1383 to refund the roughly $8 million.

“There seems to be a dispute about those funds, but we took the extra step to get the funding,” Ammiano said, noting that he worked with Assembly Member Dave Jones on the legislation that secures the money for public health services. “They pulled the trigger much too early here,” Ammiano said, referring to the layoffs. Noting that the mayor seemed to be disputing the purpose of the funding, Ammiano said, “I thought the purpose was to prevent layoffs.”

When asked what the Mayor Gavin Newsom thought the money should be used for, his press secretary, Joe Arellano, indicated that Newsom disagrees that it should be applied to stave off immediate layoffs. “The funds will ultimately will be used to prevent layoffs and other cuts, since, assuming it comes to us in time to apply toward next year’s deficit, it will reduce the cuts we need to make in order to balance,” Arellano said.

Check back here later for an update.

Dive In: I’m sensing a theme

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Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column. Check out her last installment here.

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Hold the fancy schmancy mixers. At Butter, strawberry soda is better.

Themed establishments frequently leave a bad taste in my mouth. Images of Disneyland and their exorbitant prices, or that one time I had a drunk waitress at Rainforest Café who checked my I.D. by listening to it, do little to dispel my notion that themed equals over-hyped-waste-of-time. However, introduce alcohol, reduce prices, grime it up a bit, and you’ve got me singing a different tune. There are a few places that keep it kitsch without coming across as hokey, and where you don’t have to pay extra for novelty décor and drinks. And that’s a theme I can jump aboard.

Butter:

Finally, a place where you can celebrate trailer park chic and the white trash within. Quality mixers for cocktails include Tang, Sunny D, and grape and strawberry sodas. If you’re more of a purist, you can sip the ubiquitous award-winning Pabst on draft, or opt for a tall boy, complete with paper bag. The food includes a number of microwaved specialties, like tater tots and Frito pie, or you can go really gourmet and get a deep fried PB & J or Twinkie. Go before 10 p.m. any Thursday through Sunday for happy hour prices and to avoid a cover charge.

354 11th St, SF
(415) 863-5964
http://www.smoothasbutter.com/

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Watch hipsters at Double Dutch try to figure out how kids in the ’80s attached their iPods to boom boxes like these.

Double Dutch

Vintage ghetto blasters, ‘80s kicks, and street art adorn the interior of this bar and dance spot. Designed to bring to mind the New York street scene of the same decade that brought us hair metal and acid wash jeans, Double Dutch is a fun take on the traditional nightclub. The dance floor gets packed and sweaty with patrons dancing along to hip hop tracks from a decade they were just old enough to experience the end of, imitating the same break dance moves featured in the pictures of the people plastered to the wall. If you’re nostalgic for house parties where your friend DJing knew how to cut it better than the jokes spinning in the clubs, Double Dutch is more than happy to give you a pleasant case of déjà vu.

3192 16th St, SF
(415) 346-5699
http://www.thedoubledutch.com

High fructose corn syrup ragin’

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Text and photo by Caitlin Donohue

Now, I understand that Thanksgiving is upon us with all it’s attendant gluttony. But these lovely billboards have been up all over town since OCTOBER.

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50 ounces? If that’s not enough for your meal, we’ve got problems. And even giving Coca-Cola the benefit of the doubt that this is a holiday advertisement (which I strongly resist believing), I’m not sure I buy it that, even on a day of government-sanctioned weight gain, any coke fiend family needs to be encouraged into drinking 50 OUNCES of a liquid that dissolves pennies.

They need to save space for sparkling apple cider. And beer.

Thanks for listening.

Obama alert: Restore funding for small business

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As small business people know, the Obama administration has spent its capital largely on Wall Street and neglected the real job creation engine of the U.S. economy: small business and loans to small business.

Scott Hauge, president of Small Business California and the Paul Revere of small business, has put out the SOS for people to contact Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and push them to help restore the critical funding programs for small business.

He sent along this Portfolio.com article for explanation:

Sba Runs Out Of Gas On 7a And 504 Loans
Capital – Portfolio.com

By Kent Hoover

It’s a blue Monday for small businesses and the lenders that make SBA loans.

The Small Business Administration no longer has enough economic stimulus funds to continue its 90 percent guarantee on its flagship 7(a) loans. It also will have to raise its fees on its 7(a) and 504 loans, which primarily finance real estate. As a result, beginning today, borrowers face a choice: They can be put on a waiting list to get the higher guarantee and lower fees on their loans if additional money becomes available; or they can apply for a regular SBA loan.

Incident shows BART cops need civilian oversight

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By Rebecca Bowe and Steven T. Jones

BART police are once again embroiled in an excessive force controversy, this time for an incident yesterday involving a BART cop, a belligerent passenger, and injuries on both sides from a powerful collision with a plate glass window at the West Oakland BART Station. And once again, BART has reacted in a defensive fashion that only makes a bad situation worse, highlighting the long-overdue need for a civilian police oversight body.

Late yesterday afternoon, 37-year-old Michael Joseph Gibson of San Leandro was escorted off a Pittsburg-Bay Point bound train by an unidentified BART cop after he was yelling at other passengers and allegedly trying to pick a fight. The cop dragged him off the train, onto the platform, and appears to have rammed him into a window, causing the glass to shatter and injure them both, with footage of the incident going viral on You Tube.

While BART officials commendably moved to get out front of the situation by proactively holding a press conference, they’re clearly prejudging this incident in the officer’s favor by refusing to name him, defending what was at the very least sloppy police work that endangered both men, and making silly statements like “we don’t know what broke the glass.”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Takashi, Haight and Central

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Tell us about your look: “This hat is from Japan.”

Sniping into the holidays with the SF Golden Girls

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Deck your halls with the SF Golden Girls’ very special Xmas performance

“The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.”

“You know what they say, you can lead a herring to water but you’ll have to walk really fast or he’ll die.”

“You’ll have to excuse my mother. She had a stroke a few years ago which rendered her totally annoying.”

Blanche: “My goodness, what would the neighbors think if they saw two men laying in my bed?”
Sophia: “They’d think its Tuesday!”

(Thanks, IMDb for the sassy granny quotes!) You know who people friggin’ love? The Golden Girls. I sort of just got turned on to the show, but the four ladies’ caustic back and forths make me feel like I’m enveloped in a big flowered dress wrinkly bosomed tough love hug. It’s a warm feeling.

And its just what I need to get over my antipathic, do-I-like-them-or-I-uncomfortable feelings regarding the holidays. Especially when some of San Francisco’s fine drag queens, SF’s Golden Girls themselves, will be coming together in a show of love to bring us two back to back, line for line very special Christmas episodes of TV’s Golden Girls. I hear in one of them the girls volunteer at a soup kitchen! Outrageous!

The San Francisco Golden Girls’ “The Christmas Episodes”
starts Thur/5 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. (also every Thurs, Fri & Sat through Sat/26), $20-$25
Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory
1519 Mission, SF
www.trannyshack.com
www.cookievision.com

Calvin Trillin: Deadline Poet

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GOP Candidate, pushed by right, ends upstate bid

–The New York Times

The GOP’s chief commissars had heard

That there was trouble in the 23rd:

Though every county chairman there had voted

For Dede Scozzafava, it was noted

That she, though certainly a high achiever,

Was not, in fact, a zealous true believer.

If any of the canon caused her doubt,

That justified their push to throw her out.

All commissars need neither rhyme nor reason.

They know that deviation’s always treason.

Lea Redmond: A girl and her tiny post office

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Artist Lea Redmond gets all kinds of adorable with her “World’s Smallest Postal Service”

Lea Redmond does not suffer for a lack of ideas. The lady has a degree in making common place objects make us feel new sensations- literally. Her thesis from her days at my favorite crunchy Northwestern school, Whitman College, was inspired by the story of a man who saw his Indonesian hostess placing small leaf-boats of rice around her huts “for the spirits.” The rice always disappeared, so one day the man sat to watch what was becoming of it. He found out a trail of ants taking away the grains, and initially was disappointed- until the “strange juxtaposition” struck him. Maybe the ants were the spirits, after all! Redmond’s art is all about causing us to reconsider the schemas we carry of everyday objects. Her brainchildren range from creative courtship advising to redoing clothing tags so that they say socially equitable messages. Currently, she’s finding major buzz with her World’s Smallest Postal Service, which has her schlepping a tiny desk all over the country to transcribe stranger’s messages onto the most twee notecards you’ve ever done seen. Lea’s based in the Bay Area, so check her site for the next day she’s going postal near you. (Caitlin Donohue)

San Francisco Bay Guardian:Where to start… so, where are you from?
Lea Redmond: The literal answer is that I grew up on the Southern California coast right between the conservatism of Orange County and the wildness of the Pacific Ocean. My family did things, like we’d all play hooky once a year when I was in elementary school and we’d go to the Los Angeles Contemporary Art Museum. I remember standing in front of oil paintings completely mesmerized and boggled about how tiny dabs of paint could magically turn into pictures. I still don’t understand. One Christmas I got crayons in my stocking in the shape of miniature Coca Cola bottles. My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 8. She also loved to collect small things. I suppose these are my roots.

Sonic Reducer Overage:Kiss, Fanfarlo, Lake, and more

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By Kimberly Chun

Rick Springfield and Sister Christian should be forever indebted to Boogie Nights for being draped so unforgettably in that terribly tense deal-gone-drastically-wrong scene. Too bad Kiss never got the proper Ramones/Rock and Roll High School treatment with **Detroit Rock City** — but hey, they’ve got reality TV. More shows than we could fit into print.

Fanfarlo
High on life like Los Campesinos and a mite folkier. Sun/22, 2 p.m., free, Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. (415) 831-1200. Also with Freelance Whales and Mumlers. Sun/22, 8 p.m., $10-$13. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

Sweet on sour Filipino popcorn in Honolulu

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Garlicky goodness. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

By Kimberly Chun

Biggest food find in Honolulu this Thanksgiving: “Filipino Loco” popcorn.

My bro clued me into the phenom at the very popular shaved ice stand Shimazu Store. The shop is located on a somewhat scruffy, paved-over, truck-heavy stretch of School Street near downtown Honolulu.

But lo, Shimazu manages to survive and thrive by carrying some of the most unusual flavors on the isle: creme brulee, chocolate peanut butter cup, green tea, lilikoi, root beer float, red velvet cake (!), and zillions more. You can get them with all the add-ons: ice cream, azuki beans, and mochi balls buried within; the mountain of multi-colored shaved ice drizzled with evaporated milk without.

But the weirdest, most wonderful item at Shimazu Store has to be their selection of fresh popcorn: furakake popcorn (embellished with Japanese crackers), red dirt popcorn (don’t ask), and the fabulous “Filipino Loco” variety. The corn itself is flavored with an inspired blend of vinegar, garlic, and salt and then topped with a layer of pork rinds. Sour, salty, greasy good fun. OK, I confess, I did say, “I feel like killing myself” after a few handfuls. But what a way to go.

SHIMAZU STORE
Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
330 N. School St., Honolulu

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Economic snapshot for November 2009

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The Center for American Progress reports that weakness in the labor market is threatening the fledgling economic recovery. Policy should center on creating jobs to boost U.S. middle class economic security and help those who are most vulnerable.

Friday, November 20, 2009

By Christian E. Weller

(The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all.)

Lingering weakness in the labor market is threatening the fledgling economic recovery. Millions of jobs have been lost and unemployment has risen to the highest level in almost three decades. The labor market weakness will make it harder for families to repay their high levels of debt and thus will likely contribute to high foreclosures, credit card defaults, and bankruptcies.

Policy has shown what it can do to revive a depressed financial market and turn the corner for a shrinking economy. Policy attention should now lie squarely on job creation to ensure that the recent improvements are not short lived. Strong labor market gains are necessary to boost the American middle class’ economic security and help those who are economically most vulnerable. Extended unemployment benefits, increased health insurance coverage, and support for state and local government programs will all help achieve those goals.

1. The U.S. economy has turned the corner. Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008 and the largest gain since the third quarter of 2007. The economic stimulus legislation helped to increase consumer spending, home purchases, and federal government spending in the summer of 2009, which all contributed to faster growth.

The view from Alameda

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Photo by Sarah Phelan
Last night, they turned on the lights on the buildings along the Embarcadero. This is the view from Alameda Naval Station. The wind was whipping off the Bay. San Francisco looked icy cool.

Prison report (outside the walls): The parolee’s dilemma

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Editors note: Just A Guy has been writing from inside the California state prison system. He was released this week — great news — but the story is by no means over. Here’s his latest; you can read his some of his previous posts here and here.

It’s also a little easier for him to communicate now, so he can more quickly respond to your comments and questions.

By Just A Guy

I’m sitting here about 24 hours after my release from California State Prison, Solano wondering what the hell I am going to do — because I am staying in a hotel and unable to travel to my home.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful to be out — but beyond irritated at the measures The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has gone through to make it difficult for people to transition back into society. You see, I don’t live in this state, and though I started attempting to get my parole transferred out of state six months ago while in prison (as required) the request wasn’t done until two months ago, and Sacramento’s regional parole desk hasn’t even received it.

Now I’m hoping that I am given a travel pass to go out of state to see my little girls and be with my family for Thanksgiving, but that is, according to my P.O, a very tenuous proposition because his boss doesn’t like to give out travel passes…and since I just got out I’m not known…and it doesn’t seem to matter much that my house, my car, my business, and my entire support network are over a thousand miles away…you get the picture.
And I’m one of the lucky ones, because I have the resources to be able to live in a hotel for three months if necessary, to work from a hotel as well, to have a car delivered to me. WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT DON’T HAVE THOSE RESOURCES?

(Not an hour after writing this I was fortunate enough to have my P.O call me and let me know that I have been approved to go to the state where my family resides as long as the supervising agent there is willing to accept me, which he is. I am grateful that my agent was able to go to bat for me and get this done, that I will be able to spend the holidays with my family, friends, and loved ones).

Again and again, the mediocrity of the R of CDCR stands to the fore — yet the citizens are in denial as to what the real problem is. How can a system such as this possibly sustain rehabilitation? It’s truly unconscionable to proclaim that they are helping. What is also unconscionable is a lot of these P.O.’s really want to help people stay out of prison and protect society — but their hands are being tied by tough-on-crime rhetoric and lack of funding.

Yeah, we committed the crimes, but the majority of these crimes were committed in the pursuit of drugs or alcohol or the rewards of selling the former. What good can possibly come of sending a person into society after many years with no substantive rehabilitative programs, and having him live in the bushes by the freeway, and not let him go home out of state because of CDCRs bureaucratic follies unrelated to the inmate’s attempts to get the paperwork done? Don’t you see how the system is set up for failure?

There are more than 600 more people in prison per 100,000 people in the USA vs. Netherlands (700 vs. 100) , but it’s the inmates that are the problem, right?

Yes, we (I) made some very poor choices, but I just did three years and two months for possession (a victimless crime). I was not allowed to go into the Substance Abuse Program because I had an out of state warrant for a marker I didn’t pay at a casino in Vegas (felony warrant), although I did pay it eventually. What about people who couldn’t pay? Do they need help any less? How does keeping someone from entering a drug abuse program because of old warrants help him prepare for a return to society? How does anything in this broken self-fulfilling prophecy of recidivism called CDCR help transition your soon-to-be neighbors back into the world?

Again, it’s our responsibility to find our own recovery, our own path to staying out of prison, but don’t believe for one minute that we are given the help many of us need, many of us hope for, and many of us never get…because though it is our responsibility many have never been responsible for anything at all, then they are asked to be, they try and find the brick wall that is CDC(R).

I really appreciate the support of my readers over the time I’ve been writing from inside, but my thoughts and observations on the prison system won’t just end now that I’ve been released. I’ll continue to write about the parole process as it develops and to comment on prison issues — and you can look forward to a larger story on my experience in the pages of the Bay Guardian in the near future.

The return of Newsom’s public schedule

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By Steven T. Jones

After my post yesterday about how Mayor Gavin Newsom has been ignoring the City Charter by refusing announce his public events in recent weeks, his Office of Communications just sent out a “revised media advisory” that lists his events for the day, long after the first event is over.

But, hey, at least he’s finally agreed to return to public life. Welcome back, Mr. Mayor. What follows are the first events that Newsom has announced since ending his gubernatorial bid last month:

Newsom talks taxes

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By Tim Redmond

And he appears to be against them. At least, that’s what a brief interview with SF Appeal suggests:

Although that doesn’t mean the Mayor is seriously considering EVERYTHING — especially not tax hikes. The same wisdom as before applies: tax hikes don’t poll well, therefore it’s probably a waste of time to present them to voters. Newsom doesn’t support browning out fire stations, and wants to protect police officers’ salaries (which increased by another 4 percent this year). A bigger sales tax only hits poor voters, Newsom said. The state’s already raising taxes, and the school district has its own parcel tax measure, so we’re back to controversial moneymakers like the condo-conversion fee.

“They hate it,” said Newsom, gesturing to Board members’ doors. Though the Mayor was quick to mention that he and Avalos have a good working relationship, something that might not always play well with Avalos’s progressive buddies on the board.

Ah yes, the condo conversion fees. The idea is to make it easier to turn rental housing into condominiums as long as you pay a fee. That would, of course, decimate the rental housing stock and lead to more evictions.

But the Examiner reports that the mayor seems to be ready to play some political hardball — he won’t talk about new taxes unless the supes give him his condo conversions and a equally bad plan to sell of taxicab permits:

Generating more revenue could soften the blow of the cuts. Newsom indicated he has not ruled out tax measures on the November ballot. But he also emphasized the need to approve two of his previous proposals that stalled after meeting opposition, including from members of the Board of Supervisors. Those proposals are charging a fee for people who want to do a condo-conversion right away, instead of having to wait for years, and auctioning off permits to drive taxicabs.

The thing about both of those items is that they represent short-term money. You’ll get a lot of fees quickly — but no structural fix.

And the supervisors won’t want to go for either of them.

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