SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 362 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Faust keep it ‘Complique’

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August 1, 2009

faust complique sml.jpg

FAUST
C’est Com… Com… Complique
(Bureau B)

By Kimberly Chun

Too eclectic for its own good? Not Faust. The combo fully deserves that wretchedly overused “legendary” label: its relatively new full-length, C’est Com… Com… Complique — is all that and then some, meaning complicated in the most meatily excellent, endearingly awkward way. The band has been around almost four decades, but original members Jean-Herve Peron and Werner Diermaier — working with Amaury Cambuzat of French post-rockers Ulan Bator — still put together sounds with a child’s mind, as if they were starting all over from scratch. Never mind that Faust sold 100,000 copies of their third album, The Faust Tapes (Virgin), way back in the day.

This latest Dadaist document starts with the heavy breathing and shattered guitar of “Kundalini Tremolos” and then stops, starts, pauses for a pastoral reverie or two (with and without throat singing), and then squeaks and squeals with bugle peals to an inspired, absurdist close. The strategy, or lack thereof, runs counter to the more popular/familiar beatific motorik musings of, say, Neu!, and even diehard Faust heads are likely to shrug at the group’s attempt at throwaway, goofball dub, mixed up with “derrieres” cries (“En Veux-Tu Des Effets, En Voila”). But otherwise, Complique bears repeated listens — ‘cause it’s devilish fun.

SF Street Art: Intrepid flat-dwellers find new uses for berry baskets

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August 1, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

One of my favorite regularly rotating yet impromptu installations of San Francisco street art has to be here, around McAllister Street, near Fillmore: the residents of this Victorian flat like to change it up, using all that wasted space in front of their dwelling to dangle and display their zany, all-weather creations. Seasonal – and playful (and almost beating out the huge, teddy bear-and-flower-embellished pro-peace, anti-Dubya installation/political soapbox that once covered the front of a blue house near Webster and Hayes, which, I’ve heard, was shut down by the Man).

Are you ready to fly?

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July 31, 2009

1

By D. Scot Miller

Unless Greyhound grows wings, I’ll never be a member of the mile-high club. For those that don’t know, the mile-high club sports members who have gotten a little somethin’-somethin’ 30,000 feet in air. Membership is just one trip to that chemical-smelling cubicle that most airlines call bathrooms. Cleis Press editor Rachel Kramer Bussel puts a much better spin on the prospect in her anthology The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories. One-flight stands, kinky passengers, fantasy stewards, and cozy couples commingle when free to move about the cabin.

The standout piece for me is Thomas S. Roche’s, “When Your Girlfriend Wears A Very Short Skirt.” I’ve been seeing Roche’s name in anthologies for years and often found his work not daring enough for my taste. Imagine my surprise when the word “cunt” was just sitting there! I never use that word. Not much of a fan of it either – I prefer pussy – but Roche dropping it in the middle of his piece was like a wolf showing off his teeth for the first time. Maybe he’d used it before, but this time I was shocked, appalled, and impressed.

Alison Tyler flexes her prodigious erotic muscle in “Planes, Trains, and Banana Seat Bicycles.” “I could tell he was groaning, but I couldn’t hear a sound besides the roar of the plane” Her title character says, “And I realized I don’t ever want total quiet. I don’t need darkness. Lights at the end of the runway are among my favorite sights.” Talk about jazzy analogies! I can dig it.

Now for the bumpy landing: Erotic writing, second only to sports writing, can easily turn into a cliche-ridden morass. “His manly arms,” “her dripping pussy” — in many ways erotic lit hasn’t made it past Victorian tumescence and tribadism. This is not to say that many of the passages in this fun book avoid this hazard, just that the ones that don’t fizzle the sizzle for shizzle. Mix it up more next time.

Is everything Chris Daly’s fault?

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July 31, 2009

9

Is she a good witch, or a bad witch?

By Tim Redmond

To read the Chronicle these days (and some of the comments on sfgate.com) you’d think the District Six supervisor had the power to single-handedly destroy the entire city.

Today’s entry: Daly Forces Lovely, Generous Arts Commissioner To Resign.

Actually, as reporter Heather Knight noted in her blog update, all 11 supervisors voted to change the disclosure rules for Arts Commission members. The mayor signed the bill. And there’s actually a reason for this: The Arts Commission may sound like a ceremonial body that goes around shining statues, but these folks actually oversee a lot of money. San Francisco requires that all major developments and civic projects contribute two percent of the cost of construction to public art; that’s a big pile of cash, and the commission monitors it.

So what’s the big hairy deal here? Why can’t Dede Wilsey fill out the forms like everyone else? Why is Jeannene Przyblyski, wife of political consultant Eric Jaye, so determined not to disclose information that’s mostly public anyway?

Please: This isn’t about Chris Daly.

And by the way: Dede Wilsey may have money and give some to the arts, and she wears fine gowns and looks like she ought to be in an old Disney movie, but she also promoted the underground parking lot in Golden Gate Park and the Fisher Museum at the Presidio and fought like hell to prevent Saturday street closures in the park. I suspect the Arts Commission will survive just fine without her.

Did Newsom forget to mention COPS cash during budget talks?

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July 31, 2009

6

By Rebecca Bowe

The San Francisco Police Department received $16.5 million in federal funding through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring grant program, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced July 28.

That’s a lot compared with the sums allocated to other cities throughout the country, but it’s just a fraction of the $89 million that Mayor Newsom and then-Police Chief Heather Fong requested for the SFPD in mid-April. So did the mayor mention that the city had applied to receive millions for the police from the federal government when the budget talks were going on?

Sup. Ross Mirkarimi told the Guardian that he was never informed that the city had applied for the COPS grant. “If in fact an application was submitted, then in my opinion it’s incumbent upon the mayor’s budget office and the police department to inform us of this,” Mirkarimi told us, adding that in his opinion, it should have come up during the budget talks.

Why the rich attack Daly’s voting record on housing

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July 31, 2009

3

Text by Sarah Phelan
Illustration by Jose Luis Pavon

Pavon80%.jpg

Actually, you’ll never see the rich attack Daly’s actual voting record on housing, which you can find here.

That’s because facts don’t concern San Francisco’s well-heeled political elite, who remind me of a high school clique that knows how to demean folks they don’t like. I always wondered what those folks would do when they grow up. Apparently, some of them run for higher office.

“It’s garbage,” is how cartoonist Jose Luis Pavon, describes C.M. Nevius’ and Sup. Michela Alioto’s Pier’s most recent attempt to blame San Francisco’s housing crisis on Daly.

Pavon, who grew up in San Francisco, says his grandparents came here in the 1940s and spent their whole lives working, yet none of their grand kids can afford to hang on.

“And I’m scrambling,” said Pavon, who fears that left to millionaires like Mayor Newsom and Alioto-Pier, San Francisco is destined to become another Venice.

‘Venice was really scary,” said Pavon, who visited the fabled city on a recent trip to Italy. “There is virtually no working class at all. The workers all come in on buses, then go back to their ghettos and suburbs at night. Venice is only for the elite rich.”

And just to be clear, this post is about Daly’s voting record on housing, not his family’s decision to move to Fairfield, which, me thinks, is a whole other story.

Who’s in charge again?

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July 31, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

I’m glad to read in the Chron that Christine Soto-DeBerry likes her job, and is willing to defend her boss against charges that he’s flouting the needs of Latino business leaders, but her descrition of her responsibilities in the Newsom administration was a little weird:

“Being a Latino, a minority, in this administration, that has not been my experience,” Soto-DeBerry said. “I am essentially second in command, which speaks volumes about (Newsom). I have been very humbled by the opportunity, and a lot of advocates are grateful to have a Latina in a high post in the administration that they can reach out to.”

“Essentially second in command?” Does that mean that Steve Kawa isn’t the chief of staff anymore and Soto-DeBerry reports directly to Newsom? Or does it mean that in the Newsom administration, she and Kawa are running things anyway because the “First in Command” is never around?

By the way: The complaint small business owners had was not that Newsom didn’t hire or promote Latinos in his administration. The problem is that Newsom is planning to fire the popular Christopher Iglesias, director of the Human Rights Commission, and they fear that the HRC won’t be as vigorous about helping minority businesses get city contracts.

B there: Bay Bridged bash Friday night!

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July 30, 2009

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If you haven’t heard of local blog The Bay Bridged, you probably aren’t a fan of Bay Area indie rock. No offense, but you’re missing out — not just on a thriving music scene, but also on a well-written, easy-to-navigate (and totally nonprofit) site that boasts podcasts, show and album reviews, music news, videos, and more. The Bay Bridged sponsors rock n’ roll shows from time to time, but they’re steppin’ to the spotlight Friday night with Regional Bias, a fundraiser jam-packed with, well, the kinda stuff BB covers (live music, celebrity DJs, art by Bay Area artists) plus food, drinks, and raffles with some pretty stellar prizes — Outside Land$ ticket$, for example.

Info is on the flyer below, or visit the event website for more details.

Enclosed 49ers stadium in Santa Clara?

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July 30, 2009

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Text by Sarah Phelan

The draft EIR for the 49ers stadium in Santa Clara states that the proposed construction will result “in significant cumulative transportation, air quality and global climate change impacts.”

According to the study, the significant unavoidable impacts of the proposal include a substantial increase in ambient noise levels during large stadium events, temporary noise impacts from construction, regional air pollutants in excess of established thresholds, significant impacts on 17 intersections on 8 weekday evenings a year, and on two local intersections on 42 weekend days.

It could also result in the abandonment of active raptor nests or the destruction of other migratory birds’ nests.

And expose construction workers and future site users to contaminated soil, airborne asbestos particles, and lead-based paint.

The proposed site is located within the worst-case release impact zone for two toxic gas facilities and thus, “could expose event attendees to toxic chemicals.”

Then there is the fact that it could impact “unknown buried prehistoric and/or historic resources.”

And numerous BBQ activities within 700 feet of neighboring residences “could result in odor complaints”

What impact this draft EIR will have on Santa Clara voters when they go to the ballot next March remains unclear.

But a quick skim through this 336-page report finds it concluding that other alternatives, including Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed site at Hunters Point Shipyard, are mostly deemed inconsistent with the 49ers objectives.

“The costs and time required for hazardous materials clean up, infrastructure and roadway/transit improvements, and permitting make the Hunters Point site inconsistent with the following objectives: locate the stadium on a site that can be readily assembled and that enables the development of the stadium within budget and on schedule; locate the stadium on a site that is served by existing streets and highway infrastructure adequate to reasonably accommodate local and regional game-day automobile circulation.”

The existing Candlestick Point site, as well as Pier 70, Pier 80, Pier 90-94 backlands, Baylands, San Francisco Airport, Moffett Airfield, Zanker Road, San Jose State, Santa Clara Fairgrounds, a reduced stadium size alternative and an enclosed stadium alternative are also evaluated.

Ultimately the report concludes that “the enclosed stadium alternative would meet all of the project proponent’s objectives.”

“In addition, this alternative would reduce impacts from crowd noise in the stadium…and would eliminate the visible light increases,” the draft EIR continues. ” Energy use would increase to some extent with the enclosed stadium because it would require more of the stadium area to be climate controlled. An enclosed stadium would, however, allow for a variety of design features that would at least partially offset energy consumption. This alternative is environmentally superior to the proposed project.”

Prison report: The laws are wrong

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July 30, 2009

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Editors note: Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His blogs typically run on Mondays and Thursdays, although it’s sometimes hard to communicate from prison.

By Just A Guy

Today Brett Pedroia, the brother of Boston Red Sox all-star Dustin Pedroia, received one year in jail and eight years probation for the molestation of a nine-year-old boy.

Last month, Dante Stallworth received 30 days in jail, community service, and probation for killing a man inFlorida while driving while intoxicated.

And here I sit, among many others, serving multiple years in prison for possession of a controlled substance — which is a victimless crime. Yes, I know that friends and family get hurt by our behavior if we’re addicts, but let’s face it – the emotional pain an addict causes to friends and family is not too different that caused by a verbally abusive spouse, parent or boss. Yet those people aren’t generally considered criminals.

Now that the governor has signed the budget, and part of the budget cuts more than $1 billion from corrections, it’s likely that a lot of us will be released. Remember thought, we are only released from prison, not from the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. We will be on parole, which is change in custody status.

Let me ask you, would you rather have Brett Pedroia living next to you (a convicted child molester) or me, a recovering addict clean and sober for two years and eight months?

And what about Stallworth? Sure, he isn’t likely to rob you or molest your child, but will he drive drunk and kill your kid or someone else?

Sale: Skingraft at Five & Diamond

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July 30, 2009

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By Molly Freedenberg

Long before “burner” and “circus” became official fashion sub-genres, the geniuses behind Skingraft were constructing leather into fairytale dresses and imaginative bags that would eventually define the burner bourgeoise aesthetic. Handmade, intricate, and of stellar quality, their clothing has always been gorgeous but just out-of-reach — both because the company’s centered in L.A. and because clothes that good cost a pretty penny to make, and therefore own.

But in recent years, Skingraft has turned some of its attention to more ready-to-wear, and easy-to-buy, options — starting with holsters made of leather and less expensive canvas, selling wares in local shops like Five and Diamond, peppering collections with simpler designs more appropriate for streetwear, and now, hosting a kickass sale.

Tonight, Five and Diamond hosts Skingraft’s designers and collaborators for a preview of the 2010 collection, discounts on the 2009 collection, and plenty of music, libations, and even fireworks. Considering the store’s opening culminated in an Extra Action Marching Band-led parade to the Elbo Room, it’s guaranteed this is an event not to miss – even if you don’t have the scrilla for an equestrian-inspired waistcoat.

Thurs, July 30
5-9pm, free
Five & Diamond
510 Valencia, SF
(415) 255-9747
www.fiveanddiamond.com
skingraftdesigns.com

One serious comic: Judd Apatow discusses his return to stand-up in “Funny People”

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July 30, 2009

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By Laura Swanbeck

Judd Apatow has never been one to play it safe. After cutting his teeth in the competitive world of stand-up comedy and blending male hijinks, self-deprecating humor, and an unexpected sweetness in The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007), Apatow returns to his old stomping grounds while branching out in Funny People. Marking a somber departure, the film stars friend and former roommate, Adam Sandler, as George Simmons, a successful, self-involved comedian, who learns he has a rare and possibly incurable blood disease. While George starts mentoring fledgling comedian, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), he also makes amends with Laura, a lost love (Leslie Mann) who is now a mother and married to an intimidating Aussie (Eric Bana). Amping up the stakes even more, George’s health suddenly improves. Now that he has all the time in the world, will he still feel compelled to fix his fragile relationships or will he relapse into a meaningless malaise of partying and acting in mediocre movies? Suspended between tragedy and comedy, Apatow walks a fine line, acknowledging the inevitable pull of mortality as well as the importance of laughter in the face of death. I sat down with the funnyman on his recent press tour to talk about his latest film.

Weird Wine(s) of the Week: Two to try with your next pizza pie

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July 29, 2009

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Amy Monroe shares her favorite unusual, overlooked, and underappreciated wines. Check out her previous installment here.

It seems like everywhere I look the last few weeks, there’s news of yet another new pizza place opening in this food-crazy town. Not that there’s anything wrong with that I just figured that between the excellent thin crust offerings from Little Star, and the inspired, artisan creations from Arizmendi and Cheeseboard, the Bay Area had its pizza bases pretty well deliciously covered. But, given that there will soon be a slew of new pies from which to choose, it’s only right that I write about pizza wine, and that means I must go somewhere I don’t want to go; to a place that produces a staggering amount of wine and yet has no word in its language for hangover. I must go to Italy.

I have a confession to make: I am intimidated by Italian wine. I should not admit this, being a wine professional and all, but it happens to be true. With well over 1,000 indigenous grape varieties spread among 20 different winegrowing regions, and a total production in 2008 of 45 million hectoliters of wine, Italy is a frightening equation of vinous permutations. In short, there are too many choices. So many choices that I tend to retreat into the comforts of the French, Spanish, Californian, or pretty much anything but Italian, — to wines I understand and love. There’s nothing wrong with this behavior, per se, except that it is antithetical to the very premise of this column in which I advocate stepping outside your wine comfort zone. What have I been doing when it comes to Italian wines? More or less the opposite of that. So in a quest to be less of a hypocrite, I finally took my own advice recently and went down the Italian wine rabbit hole. It just so happens that by doing so I not only had a lot of fun, but I found a couple of really cool, perfect-for-pizza wines along the way:

Hot sex events this week: July 29 – August 4

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July 29, 2009

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Compiled by Molly Freedenberg

Dottie Lux performs at Thursday’s fundraiser for Lux Killmore’s new film. Photo by Leland Bobbe.

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>> Ron’s Birthday Underwear Party!
Celebrate Ron’s “Dirty 30” with cake, underwear drink specials, and birthday surprises.

Thurs/30, 10pm. Free.
Powerhouse
1347 Folsom, SF
(415) 552-8689
powerhouse-sf.com

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>> Red Hanky Nite
Hell Hole hosts this theme night at Chaps on Folsom.

Thurs/30, 9pm. Free.
Chaps
1225 Folsom, SF
www.hellholesf.com

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>> FEED the FUN-draiser
In this fully LGBT film, all the characters are homo or trans and the killer? A lesbian. Help Lux Killmore get this movie made by supporting a fantastic evening of DJs, dancing, burlesque, performances, a silent auction, and full bar. With appearances by Kellita, Dottie Lux, Lady Monster, Kentucky Fried Woman, and more.

Thurs/30, 7pm. $10-$25.
Climate Theater
285 Ninth St, SF
www.climatetheater.com

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The BART police review plan

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July 29, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

The BART Board has released a final draft of its new police-oversight policy, and you can comment on it at a public meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 PM at the Joseph Bort Metro Center Auditorium, 101 Eight St. Oakland.

There’s a lot to digest; you can read the whole thing here (PDF). In essence, the Board would create an 11-member citizen oversight commission and an independent police auditor; the auditor would investigate complaints and the commission would monitor the auditor.

It’s going to be a fairly conservative commission — each of the nine BART Board member gets to appoint one commissioner, and it’s a fairly conservative BART Board. And — in a move that’s pretty shocking — BART wants to allow the police unions to appoint their own rep to the commission. (A final member would be chosen at-large by the entire BART board).

And here’s the big problem: The auditor can’t impose discipline — that’s up to the police chief (who reports, by the way, to the BART general manager, not the BART Board). Nothing weakens civilian oversight more than a police chief who won’t discipline the troops, and I suspect that’s what’s going to happen at BART, where the chief didn’t even bother to show up for most of the community meetings on civilian oversight.

The Newsom campaign’s in trouble

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July 29, 2009

4

By Tim Redmond

Lots of interesting opinions about what the loss of Eric Jaye means to the Newsom campaign. Paul Hogarth at Beyond Chron Thinks that Garry South, who is now in charge, could lead to Newsom’s downfall. Brian Leubitz at Calitics thinks that

Eric Jaye was an enormous asset to Newsom’s campaign. It is hard to see how a departure of somebody with that kind of relationship and with that kind of intricate knowledge of the candidate is good for the campaign.

And Jerry Roberts, who has been covering politics in this state even longer than I have, thinks this is exactly what the Newsom campaign needs:

The last political consultant to elect a Democrat governor of the state, the Duke of Darkness is a bare-knuckles, in-your-face, shoe-leather, hand-to-hand combat veteran who has two main tasks: 1) Get his candidate to raise a ship load of money and 2) Needle, badger and tweak primary rival Jerry Brown at every turn.

A few thoughts:

1. Everyone agrees that South is, in political terms, an asshole, someone who loves negative campaigning and sees the key to victory as raising tons of money and trashing your opponent. He has had both success (Gary Davis, at first) and failure (Gray Davis, later; Joe Lieberman, Steve Westly) with that approach.

But the thing to keep in mind is that, whatever you think of Newsom’s politics, this isn’t his style. Newsom’s not a brawler; he wouldn’t even show up at supervisors meetings to argue with Chris Daly. He’s much more of a stand-in-the-well-scripted-public-meeting-with-a-cordless-mike kinda guy. In fact, if this becomes a bloodbath, Newsom loses; he can’t take a punch. Real conflict makes his nervous. And I don’t think Jerry Brown will come out of the gate with a negative campaign, but if Newsom starts it, Brown will respond.

2. Newsom ought to be the clear front-runner in this race. It’s almost a textbook campaign — the new, fresh face, the young, tech-savvy charmer with the grand ideas against the been-there-done-that crabby old pol who has changed his political stripes so many times it’s hard to know what he actually believes in any more. That’s what Eric Jaye was trying to do. Sure, the fundraising was slow, and Jaye mistakenly thought that Newsom could pull an Obama (I’ve seen Barack Obama, and Mr. Mayor, you’re no Barack Obama). But if they could raise enough to be competitive, they had the right strategy.

3. It’s hard to win a Democratic primary without the progressives in California. And South has done everything possible in his career to anger and alienate progressives.

4. Eric Jaye is no fool — he had hitched his own star to Newsom long ago, was looking not just at Sacramento but beyond — and if he thought South’s approach was the correct one, that it would lead to victory, he wouldn’t have been so quick to bail.

I dunno — Jerry Brown ought to be terribly vulnerable at this point, but I think Newsom’s campaign is in trouble.

Are undocumented kids accorded due process in SF?

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July 29, 2009

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Reading the Chron’s article yesterday about citizens suing the US for having been wrongly held/deported, reminded me of an email exchange I had with Mayor Newsom’s mayoral spokesperson Nathan Ballard earlier this year.

I’d asked Ballard what the city is doing to guarantee due process to juveniles who are arrested on suspicion of having committed a felony and who the city suspects are also undocumented.

It’s a question that immigrants rights’ advocates have been asking since Newsom changed the city’s sanctuary policy last summer. And the answers coming from the Mayor’s Office have been troubling to say the least

As these advocates note, using Juvenile Probation Department data to support their case, back in 2006 there were 288 petitions filed against Latin American juveniles, but only 211 were sustained. That means that if Newsom had revised the city’s policy in 2006, 77 Latin American juveniles who weren’t actually found to have committed a felony could have been reported to ICE and deported.

And as the Chronicle noted yesterday, though US citizens are a tiny fraction of the 400,000 people who pass through ICE custody each year, cases in which they are held and/or deported “occur with some regularity.”

Sonic Reducer Overage: Bowerbirds, N.E.R.D., Themselves, Dorkfest, and more

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July 28, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

More music – you got it, SF. Just ‘cause you’re you. Here are a few worthy shows that didn’t make the jam-packed issue. (Psst, pass the tissue.)

Clip’d Beaks
The sometime SF-ers share their latest visions. With Boys IV Men, Vice Cooler, and Emily Hoof. Wed/29, 9 p.m., $5. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. (415) 552-7788.

The Donkeys
Balking? The Dead Oceans combo from San Diego responds to the healing powers of Beach Boys-style harmonies. With Magnolia Electric Company, Val Esway, and El Mirage. Wed/29, 9 p.m., $12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Newsom loses Crowfoot, Coloretti, and Arata

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July 28, 2009

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Text by Sarah Phelan
Images by Sarah Phelan and Luke Thomas

Remember the time the mayor’s office locked its door and sent out Wade Crowfoot to receive a copy from then school board member Eric Mar of the school board’s unanimous resolution that asked Newsom for a temporary shutdown of Lennar’s Bayview development until health testing could be done at the site? Crowfoot promised to “pass the message along to Newsom.”

Well, news is just in that Wade Crowfoot,who was appointed a couple of years ago as Newsom’s climate change initiative director, is headed for the Environmental Defense Fund.

And remember the time that Newsom’s budget director Nani Coloretti was left to face the press after Newsom made a shocking surprise visit to the Board of Supervisors to tell them that the budget was seriously messed up, then fled?

Well, news is just in that Coloretti, Newsom’s budget director, is going to be deputy assistant to the U.S. treasury secretary.

I don’t have any great pix or memories of political fundraiser Paige Barry Arata, but feel free to share them here, as news is also just in that Arata is quitting as the finance director of Newsom’s gubernatorial bid and returning to City Hall.

A big Newsom “oops!”

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July 28, 2009

8

By TIm Redmond

Okay, here’s a big cringe-worthy oops from the Newsom for Governor website.

The mayor loves to talk about technology, and on his campaign website he talks about transparency:

Online Government for Transparency: Mayor Newsom has used technology to cultivate an ongoing conversation with San Francisco residents and to put city services online to increase accessibility and transparency. He recently launched SFrecovery.org to allow citizens to track and provide input on how San Francisco spends federal stimulus dollars and 72hours.org to better prepare San Francisco in the case of a disaster or emergency. And San Francisco’s government television station was recently ranked first among nearly 500 government agencies archiving streaming media content from government meetings.

Anyone who has followed Newsom knows he’s the last person who ought to be bragging about transparency — the guy won’t even release his daily schedule.

But here’s the cringe: Click on sfrecovery.org.

I don’t think that’s what the mayor had in mind.

“Legalization is not the answer?” Huh?

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July 28, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

Bizarre story in the Chronicle today about gangs of pot growers using state and federal land for their crops. First of all, this is nothing new — there’s been pot growing on public land for years. And for years, it’s caused environmental problems (and also safety problems; nasty operatives defending crops have been known to shoot at innocent hikers walking through national forests).

But the strangest part was the line at the conclusion. After exlplaining how budget cuts have damaged enforcement efforts and Mexican gangs are getting $3,200 a plant for good bud, writer Peter Fimrite tosses in this:

Legalization is not the solution, Johnson said, given that most of the pot is being grown illegally on public parkland by foreign citizens who cannot be taxed.

Huh? Why, exactly, do these cops and Chronicle reporters think the Mexican gangs are here? Why do they think these guys are getting $3,200 a plant? Isn’t this exactly what happened during Prohibition, when rum-running created the Mob?

“It was the falsest conclusion possible,” Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who has a bill to legalize marijuana, told me this morning.

Folks: Legalization is the quickest and surest way to get rid of the drug gangs screwing up public land. Think about it: We don’t really have a problem with illegal moonshine in this country. We don’t have a major problem with criminal gangs growing and selling tobacco on public land. Make pot legal and this problem goes away, too.

‘Further,’ indeed: More from Jarvis Cocker

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July 27, 2009

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jarvis-cocker sm.jpg

By Kimberly Chun

Jarvis Cocker — an endless source of compelling ruminations. Did you ever imagine it to be any different? More from a talk with the ex-Pulp pasha (for the other choice tidbits, see this week’s Sonic Reducer), right before he was about to get on a train and embark on a holiday with his young son — and while I was being driven very speedily through the streets of San Francisco.

SFBG: So your new record, Further Complications [(Rough Trade)] — how was the making of it different from your first solo album [Jarvis (Rough Trade, 2007)]?

Jarvis Cocker: Well I felt fairly prepared for this record — we played the songs to other human beings. We played them live. There were only two songs that were recorded that we hadn’t played live, so I really wanted to capture the songs.

SFBG: Are the songs particularly personal, reflect your life?

JC: They are reflective of that. I write songs about personal things and songs that I use to make sense of what’s going on in life. I use parts of my experience in them, which is kind of a dangerous thing to do. But I hope to make something that can be amusing but still have some emotional content. For me songs have to have emotional content.

Obama and the California schools

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July 27, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

A lot of us have been worried about Arne Duncan, President Obama’s Education Secretary; he’s been way too close to the testing-is-all and charter schools camp. And now the impacts are starting to show. Robert Cruickshank has an interesting post at Calitics on this:

I am curious to hear how Arne Duncan and Barack Obama believe California test scores will rise when you have classes of 30-35 students. When instructional days are being cut. When school buses are being cut (meaning many students will have a harder time getting to school, or will have longer travel times, leaving less time to study and do homework).

So California schools, which just took a huge budget hit, will now have trouble getting federal money because teachers, through no fault of their own, have a harder time getting students to do well on tests that are of dubious value anyway.

Editorial: What went wrong in Sacramento

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July 27, 2009

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In the end, the Republicans largely carried the day because they had all the power and could block any budget deal, refuse to raise taxes, and don’t really care if the state goes bankrupt

EDITORIAL David Dayen, a political blogger at Calitics, had the best line on the California budget crisis.
“Whoever cares the least about the outcome wins,” he wrote July 20. “If you don’t care whether children get health care, whether the elderly, blind and disabled die in their homes, whether prisoners rot in modified Public Storage units, whether students get educated … you have a very good chance of getting a budget that reflects that.”

In the end, the Republicans largely carried the day because they had all the power: they could block any budget deal, they refused to raise any taxes, and they don’t really care if the state goes bankrupt. In fact, Gov. Schwarzenegger was happy to draw the crisis out as long as necessary — it helped his poll rating.