“State scientists predict more than a foot of bay rise by 2050 and more than 6 feet by the end of the century in the worst-case scenario” but now there’s a PLAN.
“Many landlords now use a single company’s software — which uses an algorithm based on proprietary lease information — to help set rent prices” and yet some people hate innovation:
“Federal prosecutors say the practice amounts to “an unlawful information-sharing scheme” and some lawmakers throughout California are moving to curb it. San Diego’s city council president is the latest to do so, proposing to prevent local apartment owners from using the pricing software, which he maintains is driving up housing costs. San Diego’s proposed ordinance, now being drafted by the city attorney, comes after San Francisco supervisors in July enacted a similar, first-in-the-nation ban on “the sale or use of algorithmic devices to set rents or manage occupancy levels” for residences. San Jose is considering a similar approach.”
No Gods No Mayors takes on Gavin Newsom with Shanti (podcast).
Austerity is coming to Oakland? And as usual, Omar is at Oakland city council writing it all down in gruesome detail. Financial stuff.
“How Dean Preston Lost” from the Phoenix Project blog:
As an advocate for renters and other vulnerable San Franciscans, Preston became the subject of a two-year disinformation campaign in which he was called anti-housing and anti-police. More than a year ago, billionaire Elon Musk called for Preston to be “imprisoned” after the supervisor introduced legislation to ban store security guards from drawing firearms to protect private property. Preston’s resolution came after a Walgreen’s security guard shot and killed Banko Brown, a transgender man suspected of stealing snacks. Musk claimed Preston “is arguably the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco,” and promised to donate $100,000 to GrowSF’s “Dump Dean” political action committee.
Photos that I took of the Walgreens where Brown was shot, May 2023, before and after they ripped down the shrine to his life, a couple weeks later:
The Phoenix Project emphasizes dark money, but redistricting was a big part of Preston’s loss. (“The lower turnout came close to losing the race for Preston…The difference of 1,489 votes wasn’t the election — Preston still needed another 176 votes — but it would have helped: Preston lost to Bilal Mahmood by 1,665 votes.”)
San Francisco’s redistricting map was “hotly contested” at the time: “The 5-4 decision drew fire because it separates the Tenderloin from SoMa, a move that critics says reduces the influence of low-income San Franciscans in those neighborhoods — many of whom share cultural roots and beliefs. Residents who attended the Thursday meeting were angered over what they felt to be “a class warfare map.”
(“After rocking, my next favorite activity right now is San Francisco politics,” as one of the upper class warriors put it in 2022.)
A reporter writing a piece for the New Republic on “California anti-progressive organizations,” drawing on Phoenix Project reports, sent GrowSF a request for comment and got a very chill response. After the Phoenix Project’s first paper last February, the SF Chronicle described them as “concerned that wealthy tech moguls and billionaires are funding moderate political action committees.” It’s the Chronicle, so they use the word “moderate” thirteen times. In the New Republic at the time, Gil Duran wrote that Phoenix’s targets “frame their politics as “moderate,” but the terms “reactionary” and “right-wing” often fit better.”
Preston wrote an editorial during the pandemic that “Now is a great time to pilot free Muni.” GrowSF wrote that “Dean Preston tried to defund Muni by approximately $200 million dollars by eliminating fare collection.”
The Phoenix Project describes themselves as “bring[ing] to light right wing money in politics by combining research and analysis with advocacy to build power and cohesion in progressive campaigns to win a just and radically redistributive society.” Their blog has stuff like “The Election that Outed the Astroturf Network” on “The Rout that Wasn’t.” You can read their longer papers here.
It was a strike slip earthquake and NOT a subduction type event on the Cascadia subduction zone. But what would happen if it was for real. (Never forget: grocery store in Scotia got its shit all fucked up.)
Doomloop Dispatch, with Ryan LaLonde talking aboutworking with Pamela Price (podcast).
I posted a blogpost to reddit and people had thoughts.
Some dude on reddit that takes pictures of Oakland like movie stills.
Dave Eggers still doing cute quirky shit with books.
San Francisco reviews whatever.
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