Ralph Nader is unapologetic about his politics-he’s right.
Matt Gonzalez, May 11, 2008

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and his running mate, former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez held a rally at the Roxie Theater last night.

The theater was almost filled. There were a good number of senior citizens, a sprinkling of young hipsters and a small number of families. In front of me in line was a high school junior from Marin who was taking his mother to see Nader for Mother’s Day. The mother told me that she had donated $500 to Nader in 2004 and she got a personal phone call from him. “I still have it on my voice message machine,” she said.

SFUSD’s only year-round school, Argonne Elementary School had its annual May Fair fundraiser this weekend. Argonne ES is located in the mid-Richmond.

Public School Parents, note that Argonne got its sign donated by FedEx/Kinkos. If they can do it for Argonne, they should be making a similar sign for your school.

Future firefighters were exploring a SFFD fire truck.

Music graced the large playground of Argonne Elementary School. The most interesting music act was a father-son duo who was doing Ramone and Clash covers. (They had help with a bass player who was standing apart from Dad and Son.) Mom was showing her mosh pit moves in front of the audience.

Parents for Eric Mar for Supervisor in D-1 had a Mothers’ Day Event on Saturday, May 10 at Rossi Park.

Over 40 people were in attendance to enjoy the food and listen to their favorite candidate for Supervisor in D-1 (the Richmond). The event was held at Rossi Park. Organized by Valerie Soe, Sandra Fewer and myself, the event had balloons to delight the children as well as a small gift of candy for mothers.

Here are some photos of the event:

These are some of the people who came to the Parents for Eric Mar for D-1 Supervisor event on Saturday.

The Chicago Tribune has been giving front page to their favorite campaign and hometown candidate, Barack Obama. New York Times has been favorably covering the junior senator from New York, Hilary Clinton.

So here is news of San Francisco’s connection to the presidential race:

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader and his running mate, former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez will speak at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St. There is a request for a $10 contribution and $5 for students or low-income people, but nobody will be turned away.

Supervisor Mirkarimi’s kickoff for his re-election campaign has filled with constitutents, supporters and well-wishers.

Supervisors Peskin and McGoldrick were attendance. School Board members Eric Mar, Mark Sanchez, Jane Kim and Kim-shree Maufas were in attendance. Community College Board John Rizzo was also there.

Assemblymember Mark Leno and former Mayor Willie Brown were also at the kickoff. Leno has never endorsed a Green, so it must have been a campaign stop.

PTA’s Protest Potluck drew in Gwendolyn, a representative from Fiona Ma’s office who gave us the numbers of Republicans on the Assembly Education Committee who needed to be convinced to “Flunk the Budget” (i.e. cuts to the state’s education budget). The list of the three Republican Assemblymembers that Assemblymember Fiona Ma wanted us to contact is listed below.

One of our callers, Terry Norbury reached someone in Leland Yee’s office who also suggested calling specific Republicans. Bob Twomey, another aide in Fiona Ma’s office (and former School Board candidate) talked to Carol Kochivar.

FLUNK THE BUDGET - Protest Potluck Sponsored by the 2nd District PTA

Date: Friday May 9, 2008
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Where: McAllister Conference Room
at 555 Franklin Street

Grab a potluck dish and your cellphone and head on down to 555 Franklin on Friday, May 9 to remind our legislators that they MUST Flunk The Budget!

This coming Friday evening, the Second District PTA is coordinating a Potluck Protest against the Governor’s plan to drastically reduce funding for education. This is another URGENT reminder to Sacramento as they prepare to work on the 2008-2009 Budget.

The JCCC sponsored its anual Kindergarten Information Night last night.

At Kindergarten Information Night, parents are invited to talk with representatives from public and private schools. I was there to represent the 2nd District PTA. Even though John Muir ES had asked to be on the mailing list for booths, we didn’t get the notice. But John Muir ES was able to get a table when one of the schools that had RSVPed didn’t show up. Our table was chaired by John Muir ES’ PTA President, Gail Baugh.

SFUSD Superintendent Garcia announced that he is rescinding teacher layoffs for the 2008-09 school year.

The District sent out layoff notices to 535 certified personnel and were required by the State Education Charter to send out the final notice by May 15.

On Tuesday, the Board passed with a 11-0 vote to authorize the use of a portion of the Rainy Day funds to SFUSD. The resolution didn’t note the amount. But reports from SFUSD is that the City will provide $18 to $19.7 million of the Rainy Day fund to SFUSD. But one supervisor, Sean Elsbernd noted that he will be looking a recommendation at cutting Prop H funds, since he felt that the District has not been willing to go through the process with the BOS to have a hearing about the use of the Rainy Day funds. President Peskin concurred with Supervisor Elsbernd’s remarks.

This Monday come support CitiApartments tenants and CitiSTOP campaign volunteers as we show the Board of Supervisors how CitiApartments mistreats their tenants and raises all our rents!

WHAT: Hearing in front of the Land Use & Economic Development Committee
WHEN: Monday May 12th at 1pm
WHERE: City Hall, Room 263 (on Polk St between McAllister and Grove)

In 2005, the City Attorney’s office filed a lawsuit against CitiApartments for unfair business practices, but today, in 2008, CitiApartments continues to buy dozens of buildings across the city, using aggressive and illegal tactics to evict long-term tenants and raise their profit margins. This is our chance to remind our lawmakers that CitiApartments is still a problem and to ask for their help in making Citi behave like a good landlord.