By Kimberly Chun
An artifact from another age … well, from late ’08. Spotted at around Divisadero and Bush (near the corner where some wag reworked the “Bush” street sign to read “Puppet”).
SFBG Blogs
Team Newsom readies the mudballs
By Steven T. Jones
Gavin Newsom has been openly and repeatedly signaling his intention to run a negative primary campaign for governor against Jerry Brown ever since he hired political hitman Garry South, who encouraged his client Steve Westly to beat the crap out of Phil Angelides last time, thus ensuring Arnold Schwarzenegger would keep the governor’s office. Newsom’s determination to take the low road was also reinforced by the recent departure of Eric Jaye, who opposed South’s penchant for scorched earth campaigning.
The Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee was justifiably concerned and recently unanimously passed a resolution calling for the gubernatorial candidates to sign a clean campaign pledge. The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee followed suit this week, overwhelmingly passing an identical resolution, with only a few staunch Newsom allies in dissent.
“Democrats cannot afford a negative, bruising primary that leaves our nominee weakened and damaged going into the general election and according to recent published press reports, negative attacks are likely to be forthcoming in the coming weeks,” reads of the resolution’s whereases.
Hotel workers strife returns to SF
By Steven T. Jones
Image from SF Chronicle
San Francisco hotel workers plan to demonstrate in the streets tomorrow afternoon, the day that UNITE-HERE Local 2’s contracts with the major San Francisco hotels expire, launching what could well be another pitched labor battle with larger political implications.
In 2004, shortly after Gavin Newsom became mayor, a standoff between the union and the coalition of corporations that own the city’s biggest hotels resulted in strikes and lockouts that were San Francisco’s most significant labor fights of the new century. Newsom tried to mediate the conflict and when the hotels (which had back him for mayor) defied his demand to end the lockout, he walked the picket line with workers.
That moment and Newsom’s decision to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples that same year were arguably the high water marks for his standing with progressives. After that, he checked out, moved to the right, and began to pursue celebrity and the governor’s office.
Now, with hotels apparently using the economic downturn as an excuse to cut their workers’ numbers and benefits, the union gearing up for the fight of its life, and Newsom more focused on running for office than city business, this one might just get ugly. The fun begins at 4 p.m., near the Four Seasons Hotel, Market between 3rd and 4th streets.
Bombshell Betty TV?
By Molly Freedenberg
She’s been happily teaching regular ol’ women how to be pretty, pouty pin-ups in her adorable SoMa studio for years – but now Bombshell Betty wants to take her talents to television. Take a look at promo videos Miss B. hopes will get cable TV’s attention below and here. If you like what you see, leave a comment. Who knows? Our girl could be the biggest busty Betty on TV since Ms. Boop.
Bombshell Betty’s
715 Bryant, SF
(415) 574-8785
www.bombshellbetty.net
San Francisco scores victory in Mirant settlement agreement to shut down plant
By Rebecca Bowe and Cecile Lepage
The Guardian’s rooftop view of the Potrero power plant.
“I know that there are many people who doubted that this day would ever come, but I’m happy to report that it finally has,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced at a press conference at City Hall this morning.
Herrera was referring to an agreement between the City and County of San Francisco and Mirant Potrero, LLC to shut down of the polluting Potrero Power Plant no later than December 31, 2010. Freshly signed, photocopied and distributed, the settlement agreement represented a major victory for the city attorney and San Francisco elected officials, who’ve been railing against the hazardous effects of the 40-year old gas-fired facility for years.
“Despite the fact that we have over the years been involved in policy debates with Mirant Corporation and litigation … over the last decade, I’m happy to report that they have stepped up as a partner and have committed themselves to working alongside the city and county as we make sure that we get that power plant closed by the end of 2010,” Herrera said.
In addition to requiring the shutdown, the agreement requires Mirant to pay the city $1 million to be put toward addressing pediatric asthma, neighborhood beautification projects and other programs that would be beneficial to the surrounding community. In exchange, the city agrees to drop a lawsuit it filed in April to force Mirant to comply with laws requiring seismic upgrades to unreinforced masonry buildings on the power plant site.
Hot sex events this week: August 12-18
Compiled by Molly Freedenberg
Trace Kitten on the Keys’ figure with your fingertips … on the page, of course … at Dr. Sketchy’s on Monday.
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>> Asking for What You Want in the Bedroom and Beyond
Marcia Baczynski leads this workshop on speaking up about what turns you on. Learn to be assertive, yet sensitive and generous.
Thurs/13, 7-9pm. $12-$20.
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
www.sexandculture.org
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>> Ask Our Doctors: Anal Sex
Celebrate anal Sex Month by learning what you need to know to have hot, fun, safe anal play! Join Dr. Carol Queen as she explains the ins and outs of anal sex in a comfortable, conversational context.
Thurs/13, 5:30pm. Free.
Good Vibrations Berkeley
2504 San Pablo Ave, Berk.
events.goodvibes.com
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>> Where the Girls Are!
Erotica extraordinarie D.L. King makes an SF stop on her west coast reading tour, featuring Girl Crazy, Lesbian Cowboys, and the tour’s namesake novel, Where the Girls Are!
Fri/14, 7:30-9:30pm. By donation.
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
www.sexandculture.org
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>> Lick It
What do you have a taste for? Find out with host Lance Holman, lickable gogo dancers, and decadent raffles.
Fri/14, 10pm-1am. $5.
Powerhouse
1347 Folsom, SF
www.powerhouse-sf.com
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Sonic Reducer Overage: Lil Wayne, Green Day, Down, and more
Kimberly Chun
Les Paul, Rashied Ali – Big Daddy Death keeps claiming another one. Goddamnit. You can find me at the bar, buried in vodka tonics, till you finally find the strength to perk up, listen to Interstellar Space again, stroke your koa-wood SG, and contemplate all the live music, still kicking all around you.
Society of Rockets and Dominique Leone
The SF psychedelicists bang noggins with the congenial local, NorCal synthesist. Thurs/13, 9 p.m., $10. Café du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. (415) 861-5016.
Solillquists of Sound
Me likee the bubbling, robo-futuristic beats of the Orlando, Fla., quartet’s new No More Heroes – and the live act is supposed to be pretty awesome, too. With 40Love and Zutra. Thurs/13, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Mirant agrees to close Potrero Power plant by 2010
By Rebecca Bowe
This just in from City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office:
City Attorney Dennis Herrera has reached an agreement with Mirant to permanently shutter the company’s Potrero power plant by the end of 2010, and to secure the Atlanta-based energy giant’s unprecedented commitment to join the City in actively pushing for the plant’s closure should state or federal energy regulators attempt to delay it. Under terms of the agreement signed by Mirant officials today, the company will also pay at least $1 million to the City to help address pediatric asthma in nearby communities and to initiate other mitigations in neighborhoods adjacent to the fossil-fueled facility. Mirant will pay another $100,000 to the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office for legal fees and costs.
The agreement was just signed this morning. We’ll give you an update soon with more in-depth information.
Daggering: Eric Wareheim shows us how it’s done
By Juliette Tang
God damn. Eric Wareheim (of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job) has directed a music video for Major Lazer that makes me want to find someone willing to pretend that my ass is a turntable and get down. Watch the above video (and make sure you watch it until the end because 3:14 is, I believe, the most hysterical part of the whole thing).
We’ve been following the Jamaican daggering craze for a while now, but never would we have thought that the venerable Eric Wareheim would take a stab (hah) at interpreting this cultural phenomenon. For those who are unfamiliar, “daggering” is a style of Jamaican dance that basically simulates crazy rough sex. Like, the kind of acrobatic sex only Jamaican daggerers and Cirque du Soleil performers are capable of. One of the moves, called “sky daggering,” literally involves dancers flipping and catapulting themselves onto one another in ways that scare me. Due to the increasing popularity of this form of dance, it’s caused some public controversy, and the Jamaican government has even launched a campaign against “daggeration” and music associated with it are banned from Jamaican airwaves.
Sup. Mirkarimi pushes for transparency in mayor’s security detail costs
By Rebecca Bowe
Image courtesy James Ratcliffe
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has introduced legislation that would require elected officials to reimburse the city for security-detail costs while traveling the campaign trail, the Chronicle has reported. Mirkarimi has been trying unsuccessfully for more than a month to get the Mayor’s Office to disclose how much is being spent on security for Mayor Gavin Newsom as he campaigns for governor outside San Francisco. In response, he’s been told that revealing that dollar amount would be a security risk.
The legislation also seeks to shine some light another longstanding transparency problem: Newsom’s public calendar. Mirkarimi’s proposed rule would require the mayor to submit a detailed schedule, describing how much time was spent on each activity listed.
The Guardian has noted the mayor’s tendency to reveal only a bare minimum of information in the official schedule he publicizes, telling journalists and concerned citizens virtually nothing about how the people’s business is being conducted.
Sunshine advocate Kimo Crossman, who has been publicly calling for a meatier mayoral calendar for years, pointed out that there are already open-government rules in place that have been ignored. “When the Guardian found out the Mayor Willie Brown was shredding his calendars, part of the Prop G enhancement to [the city’s Sunshine Ordinance] required keeping a very detailed calendar and preserving all correspondence in the Mayor’s office,” Crossman told us via email. “The [Sunshine Ordinance Task Force] has found that [mayor’s office spokesman] Nathan Ballard and Mayor Newsom have willfully violated these provisions and therefore committed official misconduct.”
“Subsequently,” he added, “no behavior has changed.”
Appetite: 50-cent oysters, cocktail dinners, and a Coda
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.
DEALS
50-cent oysters at Zuppa’s happy hour
Now here’s an oyster deal: 50 cents per bivalve every weekday during Zuppa’s happy hour, when most consider $1 a discount. Here you can nurse $4 beers and wines and eat $3 flat bread or marinated olives or $5 arancini with your oysters. At that price, you can order more.
Mon-Fri, 5-7pm
564 4th Street
415-777-5900
www.zuppa-sf.com
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OPENINGS
A little night music at Coda: the Mission’s new jazz supperclub
Levende Lounge has transformed into Coda, a supper club/live jazz venue, utilizing the striking lofty, brick-walled space with tables set up in full view of the stage. Wine on tap and cocktails flow as you watch national and local acts like Jazz Mafia (Tuesdays) and Lavay Smith, almost all under $12. Paired with six nights a week of jazz (an option we don’t have enough of in SF), is a menu rife with tempting eats: coffee-crusted pork loin with Jameson cream sauce, creamy polenta topped with mascarpone, mustard-crusted lamb loin with salsa verde, or pecan pie tarts with Jack Daniel’s caramel sauce. A sexy evening for the senses.
1710 Mission Street
415-551-2362
www.codalive.com
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EVENTS
Monthly cocktail dinners at Beretta
Beretta has become such a fixture in our local food scene that the pairing of thin-crust pizzas with artisan cocktails seems a given. With Dinner and Cocktails series, which began Monday, they explore other culinary realms paired with exquisite cocktails and spirits in their basement, limited to 30 people so it feels more like a private dinner with friends. Sign up on their Web site’s email list to get notifications of future dinners – this one features tequila and Mexican food – hosted by Beretta’s bartenders and industry guests. With tequila tastings, cocktails, appetizers to start, then a family-style feast, it’s a dream dinner party where you don’t have do any of the work.
8/10 – 6:30pm
$60 all-inclusive (food, drink, tax, tip)
1199 Valencia Street
415-695-1199
www.berettasf.com
Editorial: The big prison duck
California incarcerates 170,000 people in facilities designed for less than half that number.
EDITORIAL A panel of federal judges has ordered the release of 44,000 California prisoners, sending politicians of both parties scrambling for cover and throwing a crucial issue into the heart of the Democratic campaign for governor.
And so far, both major candidates are ducking, badly.
The state prison system is a mess; any sane person knows that. California incarcerates 170,000 people in facilities designed for less than half that number. Sick inmates don’t get to see doctors; mentally ill or drug-addicted inmates often get no treatment at all. It’s so bad that a federal monitor appointed by the courts has demanded that the state spend $8 billion building new medical facilities for prisoners.
SF protest against illegal Honduran regime
By Steven T. Jones
People are understandably still outraged by the coup d’etat in Honduras, which will be the subject of a 5 p.m. rally today outside that country’s consulate in San Francisco, located at 870 Market Street near Powell.
“Tuesday will culminate a week-long march against the illegal coup in Honduras by hundreds of Hondurans nonviolently calling for the immediate and unconditional restitution of elected president Mel Zelaya,” announced organizers that include the ANSWER Coalition, School of the Americas Watch, Barrio Unido, and many others.
The group is certainly correct that US-trained members of the Honduran military have kept the illegal regime in power and silenced critics for almost two months, and even the Associated Press and New York Times have written about the class conflict at the heart of the coup.
Meet SFPD Chief George Gascón, Giants fan.
Text and photos by Sarah Phelan
New SFPD chief George Gascón (in olive suit) hopes to be in uniform any time soon.
New SFPD Chief George Gascón still wasn’t wearing uniform at today’s press conference at the Hall of Justice, (instead, he was wearing a olive suit) but he is being fitted for one, so expect to the new chief to be sporting SFPD blue, very, very soon.
In the meantime, he has already established that he is going to have a far chattier and more forthcoming style than we’d come to expect from outgoing Chief Heather Fong.
For instance, today Gascón revealed that he saw a drug deal going on right in front of him, last week, while he was roaming through the Tenderloin.
“Did you arrest them?” barked a running dog of the press, sensing an opportunity to pounce on the chief before he’d even donned the uniform.
Gascón smiled, flanked on either side by his command staff.
“I did not arrest them,” he said, remaining composed as the photographers started snapping picture of the new chief talking about how he didn’t arrest the bad guys.
“I was not yet sworn in, yet,” he continued. “ I was a civilian at the time.”
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: Barbara, Union and Gough
Tell us about your look: “I got these boots in Mexico, where I live, for $6.”
Moveon.org posts ‘list of lies’ in healthcare debate–and how to fight back
Text by Sarah Phelan
It’s getting hot in here, so fight back all the lies
Moveon.org just sent out an email blast that indicates just how ugly the health care fight has become—and suggests some ways to fight back. Because, as the moveon.org team notes, while many of the rightwing claims are simply not credible, “If we don’t fight back with the truth, the right will continue to poison the health care debate.”
I’m posting their list of lies below, so check them out, debate them, disagree, etc. But whatever you do, don’t let a bunch of lies kill this country’s chance for real healthcare reform. (And I, for one, won’t want to hear from people whining about not having healthcare, if they didn’t lift a finger to make it possible when the fight was at its height.)
(To see all the sources for this list, you can check out moveon.org’s website here.)
Lie #1: President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!
The truth: These accusations-of “death panels” and forced euthanasia-are, of course, flatly untrue. As an article from the Associated Press puts it: “No ‘death panel’ in health care bill.”4 What’s the real deal? Reform legislation includes a provision, supported by the AARP, to offer senior citizens access to a professional medical counselor who will provide them with information on preparing a living will and other issues facing older Americans.5
TONIGHT: town hall to discuss a California constitutional convention
By Rebecca Bowe
A lot has happened since we first reported on a campaign spearheaded by the Bay Area Council to hold a California constitutional convention.
We watched the state-budget drama unfold, a tearjerker with a surprise ending delivered by knife-wielding Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (In the sequel, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg files a lawsuit against Schwarzenegger for cutting an additional $489 million in health, welfare and other programs through line-item vetoes, a move the lawmaker claims was beyond the governor’s constitutional authority.)
And in the meantime, the Bay Area Council has attracted lots of attention for its call to revamp the system, campaigning under the banner Repair California. The Bay Area business group has even started traveling around the state hosting town-hall meetings to rally support for a constitutional convention.
And tonight, it’s San Francisco’s turn to share ideas on how to fix California. (How about splitting it in pieces?)
Run, Sanchez, run
By Steven T. Jones
Loretta Sanchez
The Guardian may not have been a big fan of Willie Brown when he was mayor, but I certainly appreciate his political insights now, as expressed in some of his Sunday Chronicle column items. He knows the players and their motivations better than anyone, making him one of the top sources in town for political buzz.
So his observation yesterday that others are likely to jump into the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary is good news for anyone loathe to watch Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown beat the crap out of each other – including trying to out-tough-on-crime each other, a specialty of Newsom’s Neanderthal campaign chief Garry South — before one of them limps into a tough race against the Republican nominee.
Brown leads with the likelihood that Steve Westly will jump in, which isn’t very exciting to progressive voters. And he teases out how Dianne Feinstein is still a possibility – again, not too exciting for progressives, but at least she’d likely move the governorship into the D column.
Yet it’s the last name he mentions – Rep. Loretta Sanchez from Orange County – who would instantly become a progressive favorite if she gets in. And she’s also someone who’s proven palatable to OC conservatives and has a real independent streak that would appeal to voters who are sick of both major parties (and for good reason).
So, Rep. Sanchez, if this link finds its way to you, let me just say on behalf of San Franciscans who fear the prospect of a Governor Newsom: please run!
Shopping Nugget: Offensive and Delightful cards at Space Happy
By Kimberly Chun
We all know downtown Alameda is mega-cute — it’s like Mayberry with Ole’s Waffles, Pampered Pup hot dogs, a major tiki fixation, and some cute boutiques. The ultra-adorable, gift-laden, and kid-friendly Space Happy (1354 Park St., Alameda, 510-301-6733) carries my new favorite card line: Offensive and Delightful. Hey, greeting card humor ain’t what’s cracked up to be – so here comes LA’s O+D to the rescue with its lightly profanity-sprinkled keeping-it-real offerings. Charmingly designed – and snarkily hilarious: here are some of faves.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Los Amigos Invisibles, Caroline Weeks, the Frustrations, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Wow, it’s far from freezing but way too foggy at the beach – so dry off, stop gawking at the sea lion near the Sutro Baths, and check the head at these worthy musical happenings. Black Francis’ acoustic show may be sold out at Hotel Utah tonight, but there’s still too much going on for you to get your grump on.
Concrete Jungle Meets the SF Classic
Yeah, I can tell by your itchy mod finger that you’re just dying to check out the scooter rally afterparty. DJs Selecter Kirk and Prince Omar take the pulse of the mob with two-tone, ska, rocksteady, and more. Sat/8, 9 p.m., $5. Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF. (415) 550-6994.
Frustrations
Wah-wah-wow. The Detroit-based slaves to the skronkadelic grind it up something fierce. With the Mindless Things. Sat/8, 6 p.m., $5. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
New SFPD chief sworn in
By Steven T. Jones
Newly sworn-in San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón addressed the media today, flanked by Mayor Gavin Newsom, mayoral crime adviser Kevin Ryan, and Police Commission President Theresa Sparks.
The Newsom Administration may still be exhibiting signs of brainlessness (today’s hastily arranged and poorly announced press conference with new Police Chief George Gascón was inexplicably moved up by 15 minutes just a half-hour before it was scheduled to start), but the new chief is already showing signs of being a better communicator than either his boss or his predecessor, shrinking violet Heather Fong.
While I missed the first half of the 20-minute press conference, Gascón seemed to offer direct, nuanced answers to the media questions, including fielding one in fluent Spanish, an important symbolic attribute for the head of a department that has often been at odds with the city’s Latino community.
“My goal is to take what is already a good organization and make it an excellent organization,” said Gascón, who hung around to answer more questions long after Newsom Press Secretary Nathan Ballard ended the official press conference, a cue that Newsom usually takes to bolt for the door.
Gascón also told me that he will soon come to meet with the Guardian’s editorial board to discuss a wide range of issues – such as abusive conduct by officers, harassment of the homeless and immigrants, inflexible and heavy-handed policies regarding protests and special events, and unnecessary secrecy and deception – that have long strained relations between the two entities.
Will Newsom get solar money back?
By Tim Redmond
According to a somewhat confusing story in the Examiner, SolarCity, a private company that installs solar panels, collected the lion’s share of $9.5 million in city subsidies under a Newsom program to encourage private homeowners to put up the panels. To make the public subsidy palatable, SolarCity promised to build an academy in Bayview to train unemployed San Franciscans to move into this growing field.
But if the Ex is accurate, SolarCity has just backed out of that promise, and won’t be building the academy at all.
So I’m wondering: Will Newsom ask for the city money back?
Not so far. We checked with his always acerbic press secretary, Nathan Ballard, who gave us a typically terse reply: “I’m not sure what the facts are.”
Hope he takes a few minutes to check it out.
FAIR: Did GE Stifle Keith Olbermann?
The gentleman’s agreement between Fox and MSNBC illustrates the corrosive effect on media of corporate ownership
(FAIR is a media reform group called Fairness & Accuracy in Media)
In the wake of an August 1 expose in the New York Times, an agreement reportedly reached by executives at the parent companies of Fox News Channel and MSNBC to rein in the networks’ two stars’ criticism of each other seems to have fallen apart. The behind-the-scenes deal-making, though, still illustrates the corrosive effect on media of corporate ownership.
The alleged deal concerned MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly. Olbermann seemed to deny any arrangement limiting his speech, and criticized Fox and O’Reilly right after the Times story was published (8/3/09). O’Reilly, in turn, resumed his criticism of GE on his August 5 show. But many questions remain about the nature of the deal.