Total holiday comfort food coma on the Guardian staff menu last week:
(1) White trash Bundt cake and Martha Stewart roast beef
(2) Meat pie
(3) Domaine De Canton ginger liqueur
(4) Yule log cake
(5) Dungeness crab and single malt Scotch
SFBG Blogs
The Blender: What we’ve been eating
The Mix: What we’ve been up to
The Guardian staff got frisky — and predictably hungover last week:
(1) Breakfast of Champions on New Year’s Day
(2) The Music Library, Jonny Trunk (Fuel Publishing)
(3) Scoping hot bears at the Lone Star Saloon
(4) Y: The Last Man (DC/Vertigo) comics binge
(5) Snorbot
Peskin declares emergency, calls special election
By Sarah Phelan
With the next regularly-scheduled election not until November 2009 — that’s nearly halfway through the fiscal year and too late to address the City’s staggering $575.6 million projected deficit, which threatens to kill or maim just about every program and service that local citizens hold dear–termed-out Board President Aaron Peskin used his last day on the Board of Supervisors to call for a June 2 municipal election “for the purpose of submitting revenue and fiscal measures to the voters.”
But, as Peskin’s resolution notes, to conduct an election on such short notice, the City must modify certain election procedures and deadlines. And such modifications are permissible if the Board finds an emergency
“The Board of Supervisors therefore finds that an emergency exists,” Peskin’s resolution states.
“This emergency ordinance will ensure that the City is able to submit and the voters are able to consider revenue measures designed to avoid the impending deficit threatening the public health, safety and welfare.”
Suggested measures include
**A possible increase in sales tax “and a possible dedication of the proceeds of the tax increase to emergency health and human services and to public protection.”
**A possible increase in the payroll tax
**A possible new residential utilities users tax
**A possible increase in the commercial utilities users tax
**A possible new parcel tax
**A possible new gross receipts tax on residential rental income
**A possible new gross receipts tax on commercial rental income
**A possible new gross receipts tax on all commercial transactions
**A possible new surcharge on the parking tax
**A possible amendment to the City charter to allow the City to appropriate up to 100 percent of the current balance in the Rainy Day Reserve, not to exceed 20 percent of the projected deficit in years in which budgetary deficit of $250 million or more is projected
A possible new charter amendment that would cap all set-asides at their Fiscal Year 2008-2009 level, allow the City to reduce its contributions during budgetary shortfalls, and provide that year-end surpluses be returned to the General Fund.
Peskin is proposing to modify the election code so the Board can consider such measures fewer than 30 days after receiving drafts and legislative digests, if both are delivered to the Clerk of the Board at least 72 hours prior to committee hearings and made available to the public at that time.
Wow. Sounds like the incoming Board is going to be pretty darn busy.
On a related note, Sup. Sean Elsbernd introduced a charter amendment for the November 3, 2009 election, requiring that “one-time revenues be spent only for one-time uses, unless otherwise authorized by the Board.” In other words, not on salaries. Stay tuned.
Chris vs. Ross on the board presidency
The Guardian last week wrote an editorial endorsing Sup. Ross Mirkarimi for the presidency of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Sup. Chris Daly and Mirkarimi responded. Here are their letters that will appear in Wednesday’s Guardian. The president will be chosen by the new board on Thursday in a special board session following the swearing in ceremony of the supervisors at noon in the supervisors’ chambers at City Hall. B3
DALY MAKES THE CASE FOR AVALOS
I support John Avalos for board president because I believe he is the best choice to lead the new progressive Board of Supervisors in these tough times (See “The next board president,” 12/31/08). His progressive politics are grounded in decades of community and labor organizing work. Avalos is universally liked and respected (which seems to differentiate him pretty well from me!) and has an uncanny ability to bring people together.
Let’s be honest with everybody here. There are maybe five or six legislative assistants who are more involved in the day-to-day running of the board (and the city, for that matter) than several members of the board. Over the last four years, I have watched as Avalos adroitly guided the budget process, always taking time to hear from everyone while watching out for our city’s most vulnerable. He may know more about the city budget than I do. Putting the supervisor with the most hands-on budget experience in our top leadership spot is not risky, it’s smart.
I am not angry with Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, and I never claimed to be. Mirkarimi did, however, compromise the progressive position in 2007 when he chose to fund more cops over affordable housing and gave the People’s Budget little to no political cover when the mayor’s forces unleashed a full assault against our budget priorities.
Mirkarimi’s four years on the board does not automatically make him the best candidate, but it should provide him with enough insight to make the same choice I did to allow another progressive to lead.
Chris Daly
San Francisco
MIRKARIMI: IT’S ABOUT ISSUES
I thank the Guardian for the endorsement for Board of Supervisors president. The contest for the presidency needs to reflect our values and focus on record and vision.
The leadership fight thus far has taken on an unprogressive machine-like demeanor, bullying for a desired outcome. This sets a troubling tone, one that I haven’t responded to because the real fight is defending our city and those most vulnerable from the economic crunch that threatens to claim all. The real challenge is to innovate revenue enhancement and job creation measures that hedge against a sustained downturn. The real need is to develop an inclusive climate on the Board of Supervisors that respects our differences while advancing progressive governance. And the real difference is that I am independent enough where I see consensus building as a more effective method than division and dysfunction.
Ross Mirkarimi
San Francisco
Robert Scheer
Click here to read Robert Scheer’s online op-ed column on SFGate.com, Runaway Wall Street.
Will Bay Area Dems block CIA reform?
Leon Panetta was a longtime congressman
from Monterey, widely respected for his intelligence
and integrity, before joining the Clinton Administration.
By Steven T. Jones
President-elect Barack Obama sent a clear reformist message by selecting Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, and Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein responded with an equally clear message that she intends to block meaningful reform of this country’s disgraceful imperial overreach.
It’s not surprising. Feinstein has always been a faithful servant of the rich and powerful, and since 9/11 she’s been complicit in the Bush Administration’s illegal approach to the “war on terror” – implicitly condoning illegal spying, torture, assassinations, and fabrication of the casus belli in Iraq — while personally profiting from U.S. wars.
Also complicit in this unconstitutional mess is San Francisco’s other top congressional Democrat, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who knew about Bush’s warrantless wiretapping all along, did nothing to stop or expose it, and single-handedly blocked the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The question now is whether Obama, with the help of the progressive movement that helped elect him, can overcome these powerful defenders of the status quo. Because only a respected outsider (at least during the Bush years) like Panetta – rather than the intelligence community insider Feinstein wants – can credibly repair the damage and set a new course for this country.
The Stooges’ Ron Asheton, RIP
Specs ‘n’ licks: Ron Asheton back in the day.
The man was a great guitarist, bon vivant, and horror movie actor – so sad! This from NME.
“Ron Asheton, the guitarist and bassist with The Stooges, has been found dead today (January 6). He was 60.
“Asheton was found at his home in Ann Arbor this morning, according to police.
“A cause of death is yet to be confirmed, although initial reports suggest that Asheton died of a heart attack.”
Stiglitz: The rocky road to recovery
Here is our monthly installment of Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Unconventional Economic Wisdom column from the Project Syndicate news series. Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University, and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.
More progressive taxation will help stabilize the economy
by Joseph E. Stiglitz
– Joseph E. Stiglitz, professor of economics at Columbia University, and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.
NEW YORK – A consensus now exists that America’s recession – already a year old – is likely to be long and deep, and that almost all countries will be affected. I always thought that the notion that what happened in America would be decoupled from the rest of the world was a myth. Events are showing that to be so.
Fortunately, America has, at last, a president with some understanding of the nature and severity of the problem, and who has committed himself to a strong stimulus program. This, together with concerted action by governments elsewhere, will mean that the downturn will be less severe than it otherwise would be.
Stiglitz: Davos Man’s Depression
Here is our monthly installment of Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Unconventional Economic Wisdom column from the Project Syndicate news series. Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University, and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.
Davos Man’s Depression
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
NEW YORK – For 15 years, I have attended the World Economic Forum in Davos. Typically, the leaders gathered there share their optimism about how globalization, technology, and markets are transforming the world for the better. Even during the recession of 2001, those assembled in Davos believed that the downturn would be short-lived.
But this time, as business leaders shared their experiences, one could almost feel the clouds darkening. The spirit was captured by one speaker who suggested that we had gone from “boom and bust” to “boom and Armageddon.” The emerging consensus was that the IMF forecast for 2009, issued as the meeting convened, of global stagnation – the lowest growth in the post-war period – was optimistic. The only upbeat note was struck by someone who remarked that Davos consensus forecasts are almost always wrong, so perhaps this time it would prove excessively pessimistic.
Street Threads by night: What are you wearing?
Limor, 24th Street and Castro
Guardian photog Ariel Soto continues her quest for San Francisco’s best street togs — this time with an spotlit eye on eveningwear
Kate, 24th Street and Vicksburg
Keesa, 22nd Street and Valencia
Ain’t no love in Oakland, bitch
Image from imdb.com’s archive for “American Pimp”.
Text by Sarah Phelan
Folks in Oakland—and those in the parallel universe that makes films about Oakland—are getting their knickers in a twist about a HBO drama that wants to focus on a 40something Oakland-based pimp’s attempts to get out of the world’s oldest profession.
In the right corner, we have Mayor Ron Dellums, who is worried about the impact of the show, called ‘Gentlemen of Leisure” and based on a 1999 documentary called “American Pimp”, on Oakland’s image as a “model city.”
In the left corner, we have folks who are worried about the impact of canceling the show, set to begin 2009, on Oakland’s already flailing economy.
And stuck in the middle, so it seems, are the folks at Oakland’s Film Office.
Reached by phone, Ami Sims, (oops, as one reader just pointed out, her name is Ami Zins, not Sims) Film Coordinator for Oakland’s Film office, told the Guardian that she had heard nothing, in terms of the show actually being nixed.
“The company doesn’t even have a script, so there’s really nothing to talk about,” Zins told me.
Pressed for details of how the City could stop HBO from filming and whether it has taken steps to do so, Zins said, “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”
So, what in heck is going on in Oakland, a city made infamous by Too Short’s “No love from Oakland” which begins “Ain’t no love in Oakland, bitch/ Niggas always talkin bout ‘I love you’/But ain’t no love, bitch”?
Shortly before Christmas, the San Jose Mercury News reported that the HBO proposal had come under fire from Mayor Ron Dellums and other city officials before filming had even started.
‘It’s the mayor’s view that this project goes against our vision of Oakland as a ‘model city’ and does a disservice to residents and visitors alike,” Dellum’s chief of staff David Chai told the Merc. “The people of Oakland have come too far to have our city’s name trampled upon in the name of entertainment.”
Now, it’s true that folks nationwide hold a negative stereotype of Oakland, and that the City has spent a lot of time, money and effort to clean up its crime-plagued streets.
But that doesn’t take away from the reality the Oakland continues to be crime ridden and that pimps are no strangers to many of its less than pristine streets.
In 2008, Oakland witnessed 124 homicides. That’s three fewer than in 2007. But 25 more than in San Francisco, which saw 99 homicides (its highest since 1995) in 2008. And it’s a stunning 121 more than the city of Alameda, which saw three homicides in 2008 and is only separated from Oak town by a short underground tunnel.
It’s also true that Oakland is in a very dire financial predicament, one that Mayor Dellums predicts will only get worse over the next couple of years. The City’s $42 million deficit in 2008 could balloon to $113 million by 2012.
So, could ‘Gentlemen of Leisure” be Oakland’s financial salvation?
City officials argue that the $150-a-day cost of a film permit is chump change, given that the project would only reinforce the city’s criminal reputation.
But as a film industry source, who prefers to remain anonymous, points out, Oakland would also benefit from the jobs that the show would create, not to mention the trickle down effect of people spending their paychecks locally.
“These are jobs we could have had, that actors who live in the East Bay could have had” our source said, noting that the Emmy-award winning show Dexter “doesn’t mean that everybody who lives in Florida is a serial killer.”
Amp Fiddler lays down the ‘inspiration’ with Sly and Robbie
AMP FIDDLER WITH SLY & ROBBIE
Inspiration Information
(Strut)
By Todd Lavoie
It’s a meet-up that, admittedly, came as a bit of a surprise, but ultimately makes a world of sense: Detroit retro-futurist funkmeister Joseph “Amp” Fiddler has joined forces with collaboration-loving riddim-machine Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (better known as Sly and Robbie) for an album’s worth of smooth, spaced-out soul and gravy-thick reggae rhythms.
Bestowed with the quite-appropriate moniker Inspiration Information – the title surely a nod to the great fellow traveler of righteous grooves, Shuggie Otis, whose 1974 album of the same name has seen its influence extended further with every passing year – the disc is the first in what is slated to be a series of releases from the consummate tastemakers at Strut Records built around an intriguing concept.
The idea? Take a few musicians who have never worked together before, stick them in the studio on a tight schedule, and see what happens – it’s a strategy that yielded fascinating results for the Dutch label Konkurrent, whose “In The Fishtank” series drummed up tasty pairings from Tortoise/the Ex and Low/Dirty Three, for example. I’m dead curious to hear what Strut comes up with next – how about a Tussle/ESG tête-à-tête, folks? – but for now, I’m more than content to float and bob along with the rumbling, churning head-music of this first installment.
A gay porn manual — live
By Marke B.
“Multi-award winning adult video director” is a phrase that cracks me up — I swear guys have used that line on me a hundred times. Unfortunately or fortunately, it’s usually worked.
But there are a few people to whom the descriptor actually applies. Author Mike Donner is one of them — I think. In any case, that’s his claim, and he’s backing his baccalaureates up with his new book, “How to be a Porn Star,” which features one of my favorite blurbs of this or any other year, by one of my favorite porn stars, Rod Barry: “Don’t start unless you have a regular job. It’s not a career!” Word up, sister girlfriend.
The book’s pretty (intentionally) hilarious as well as playful and insightful — there’s much “backroom info” divulged for those who want to know the gritty details. But, you know, it’s still a book. Wouldn’t it be better live? Of course! See Donner and a cast of well-known porn names
Ammiano lives with nice Sacramento Mormon family
Today’s Ammianoliner:
Gov. Schwartzenneger extends an olive branch to Tom Ammiano and finds him a place to live in Sacramento. With a nice Mormon family.
(From the home telephone answering machine of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (yes, assemblyman) on Sunday,
Jan. 4, 2008.) B3
Steiner: A Global Green New Deal
Achim Steiner, a UN Under-Secretary General, is Executive Director of the UN Environment Program. This column is a part of Project Syndicate, an international association of quality newspapers.
By Achim Steiner
NAIROBI – With unemployment soaring, bankruptcies climbing, and stock markets in free-fall, it may at first glance seem sensible to ditch the fight against climate change and put environmental investments on hold. But this would be a devastating mistake of immediate, as well as inter-generational, proportions.
Far from burdening an already over-stressed, over-stretched global economy, environmental investments are exactly what is needed to get people back to work, get order books flowing, and assist in powering economies back to health.
In the past, concern for the environment was viewed as a luxury; today, it is a necessity – a point grasped by some, but by no means all, economic architects yet.
Zomes, Liquid Liquid, Silver Apples: Mi Ami picks the rest of the best of 2008
Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers. Here’s the rest of Mi Ami‘s best of 2008; for more of their selections, go here.
MORE 2008 PICKS FROM MI AMI’S DANIEL MARTIN-MCCORMICK AND DAMON PALERMO
– Omar-S, “Psychotic Photosynthesis” (both the original and beatless versions) (FXHE)
– Rhythm Based Lovers, “Boogie Vision”/”Snow Drift” 7-inch (Future Times)
– Group Inerane, Guitars from Agadez (Sublime Frequencies)
– Zomes, Zomes (Holy Mountain)
– Kyle Hall, Worx of Art EP 1 (Wild Oats)
– Liquid Liquid, Liquid Liquid (Grand Royal)
– Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures Volume 1 (Sound Signature)
– Silver Apples, Selections from the Early Sessions (ChickenCoop Recordings)
– Droids, Star Peace (Barclay)
– La Düsseldorf, Viva (Water)
– Methusalem, Journey into the Unknown (Ariola)
Meister: Imagine, a pro-labor Secretary of Labor
OBAMA’S PRO-LABOR SECRETARY OF LABOR
By Dick Meister
Rarely has a nominee for any cabinet post drawn such widespread praise as
President-elect Obama’s choice for secretary of labor and for good reason:
Hilda Solis has the potential of returning the Labor Department to its
mission of defending and strengthening the status of American workers.
Solis, daughter of immigrants from Mexico and Nicaragua, has the skill,
experience, determination and firm presidential backing to shift the
department from what’s been the opposite direction under President Bush’s
secretary of labor, Elaine Chao.
More crap from PG&E
By Tim Redmond
Our local private utility continues to make enemies. Ling Ma reports in the East Bay Express that merchants are complaining about the length of time it takes to get natural gas service hooked up; we hear the same about electricity service. You rent a space and prepare to open a business, then it takes six months to get lights and gas service, and all that time you’re paying rent and maybe paying employees — and PG&E doesn’t care. Ma reports that there are no state laws mandating service intervals for utility connections for businesses.
Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee notes that PG&E won’t release key documents related to a deadly gas explosion in Rancho Cordova.
I know the Legislature’s going to be busy with the budget this spring, but somebody ought to introduce a bill mandating that private utilities provide service to new customers within some reasonable period of time — and that records relating to utility safety practices are public. This is one that can unite progressives and small business owners and public safety agencies..
Stiglitz: Whither the Obama economy?
Here is our monthly installment of Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Unconventional Economic Wisdom column from the Project Syndicate news series. Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University, and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.
The Dismal Economist’s Joyless Triumph
by Joseph E. Stiglitz
– Joseph E. Stiglitz, professor of economics at Columbia University, and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.
NEW YORK – I have long been forecasting that it was only a matter of time before America’s housing bubble – which began in the early days of this decade, supported by a flood of liquidity and lax regulation – would pop. The longer the bubble expanded, the larger the explosion and the greater (and more global) the resulting downturn would be.
Economists are good at identifying underlying forces, but they are not so good at timing. The dynamics are, however, much as anticipated. America is still on a downward trajectory for 2009 – with grave consequences for the world as a whole.
Why?, Deerhunter, Chief Briggum land Sholi’s top slots of 2008
Life force: Dead Science.
Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.
MORE PICKS FROM SHOLI‘S PAYAM BAVAFA AND ERIC RUUD
– Dead Science, Villianaire (Constellation)
– Deerhoof, Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
– Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
– Chief Briggum, Ambiguous Garment (self-released)
– Buildings Breeding, LP2 (self-released)
– Deerhunter, Microcastle (Kranky)
– Why?, Alopecia (Anticon)
– Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
– Fennesz, Black Sea (Touch)
– Matmos, Supreme Balloon (Matador)
– Dodos, Visitor (French Kiss)
– What’s Up, Content Imagination (Obey Your Brain)
– Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (XL)
– Love Is Chemicals, Song of the Summer Youth Brigade (Near Earth Objects)
Stoltz, Citadelle, Agent Ribbons make Neil Martinson smile: more picks from ‘2008
The up side: Agent Ribbons.
Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.
SMILE’S NEIL MARTINSON’S TOP 10
– Citadelle at the Knockout, Aug. 4
– Robert Forster at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 10
– Peter Hammill at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 30
– Kelley Stoltz, Circular Sounds (Sub Pop)
– The Moon Upstairs, Guarding the Golden Apple (Gifted Children)
– Various artists, Daisies soundtrack (Finders Keepers)
– Bart Davenport, Palaces (Antenna Farm)
– Lavender Diamond, www.myspace.com/lavenderdiamond
– Agent Ribbons, www.myspace.com/agentribbons
– Willow Willow, www.myspace.com/willowwillow