Tim Redmond wrote an expose about the organizers behind the Redevelopment initiative on the Bay Guardian politics blog yesterday. Unfortunately the information he shared is not widely known. I hope it makes it into the next Guardian issue. Progressives are being duped on this one. The free market tore up the Mission and is tearing up the Bayview. Government intervention, if done right, can help stop market forces from gentrifying the area. The problem is that the Redevelopment Agency has a deservedly bad rap for horrible things done in the Western Addition in the past. This history makes it easier for the organizers of the Redevelopment initiative to move their initiative.
Here is Redmond’s post on the initiative:

The Bay Area Reporter broke some exciting news today. Ammiano is official. He is running for State Assembly when Assemblymember Mark Leno’s term is up. He already has broad support and looks to be a shoo-in for the position.

On the heels of the historic strike vote hotel workers took last week, we will be marching on Thursday August 31st at 4:15pm from the Four Seasons Hotel between 3rd and 4th on Market Street.

What: Hotel Workers Local 2 March

When: August 31st at 4:15pm

Where: Next to the Four Seasons on Market between 3rd and 4th.

In an overwhelming display of unity and strength, Hotel workers voted 93% yes to strike at the Multi-Employer Group hotels.

On Wednesday, Hawaii authorized a strike at the Hilton and Starwood properties. In Monterey, Hotel workers voted at the Hyatt Regency and Park Hyatt to strike. They join Toronto and Chicago which have already voted to authorize strikes.

Yesterday, it was the first day of school for SFUSD.

MUNI buses were filled with chattering students with new clothes and new shoes. Congregations of students were walking down on our streets, excited about the first day of school.

At the corner of Haight and Webster, Supervisor Mirkarimi and Supervisor Dufty had a welcoming event for the students at John Muir Elementary School located at Page and Webster. With Police Chief Heather Fong and Assistant Superintendent Jeanne Pon in attendance, they greeted the students with new notebooks and folders. Approximately 30 people from the lower Haight were there to help the officials greet the students.

Photo by Mike Kepka

So this week, I wrote a letter to the editor expressing my support for Supervisor Dufty. Some have already yelled at me for supporting him. That’s fine. It’s a democracy. We get to yell at each occasionally. But I wanted to share the letter with you. Feel free to criticize, but it is what I truly believe. Here it is:
To the editor,

Join us for a toast to our hardworking educators at SFUSD. DJ Funklor, Youth Speak’s own dj, will be spinning salsa, jazz and some great music from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission (Precita). This is Kim Knox for SF School Board event.

I’m gone on vacation until Labor Day.

Kim and Robert will be keeping the lights on here.

After yesterday’s screed, I was suprised to see an article in the Chron today about San Francisco traffic fatalities.

It turns out that over half the people who have been killed in traffic accidents this year have been cyclists or pedestrians.

The article also points out that there is more than 1 car for every two San Franciscans. Which seems a lot, since we do live in a city with more or less functioning public transit. What I don’t get about the anti-ped and anti-bike people is why they are against getting people out of their cars? Seems to me that if I drove a lot in San Francisco, I’d love to see fewer cars on the road. There’d be less competition for parking, less traffic on the road, fewer traffic jams, less pollution.

1. AIM High’s request for charter was denied on a 6-1 vote (Sanchez voting against the District’s staff’s recommendation).
2. Project Labor Agreement has been sent to the Rules Committee for review.
3. Deborah Sims has been appointed as the new superintendent of Antioch Unified School District.
3. Jeanne Pon, formerly assistant superintendent of middle schools, is now in charge of School Operations and all of the assistant superintendents. Jeanne confirmed that this is a new position.
4. Cheryl Lee, formerly the principal of Lakeshore, is now the assistant superintendent of elementary schools.
5. Margaret Chiu, formerly the principal of Galileo, is now the assistant superintendent of high schools.
6. Joan Hepperly, formerly the principal of John O’Connell High School, is now the assistant superintendent of middle schools.
7. Gentle Blythe was introduced. She replaces Lorna Ho as the director of public engagement and community outreach.
8. Parents from the Mission YMCA’s afterschool program complained about getting an one week notice about the program ending in one week. Staff claimed that the program will continue, but parents had a letter from the California Dept. of Education.

‘This just in from Pat Murphy at the San Francisco Sentinel:

POPULAR VOTE

20 Ballots cast
2/3 needed to endorse
Ranked choice voting

By final redistribution of ballots

District 2 - No Endorsements - 10 votes

District 4 - Doug Chan - 15 redistributed votes

District 6 - Rob Black - 16 redistributed votes

District 8 - Bevan Dufty - 16 redistributed votes

District 10 - Sophie Maxwell - 17 first choice votes

2/3 ratification also needed from Steering Committee

With five steering committee members present as a quorum, four voted to ratify membership recommendation, one voted no.