The appeal of the 3400 Cesar Chavez project was denied, by a vote of 6-5, with Mirkarimi, Daly, Ammiano, Peskin and Maxwell voting for the appeal and the rest voting against.

It was interesting to see how the story of Matt Gonzalez not running unfolded.

When Gonzalez ran for Mayor in 2003, he announced it to the SF Examiner who had the story as the lead story.

When Gonzalez decided to step down from electoral office in 2004, he announced it to the SF Examiner six days before his biggest fundraiser to pay off his mayoral election debt and during the state national Green Party convention in San Francisco. Many within the Green Party felt betrayed when they read the news in the Examiner rather than hearing it from Gonzalez himself that weekend.

Hope that you are enjoying the last days of summer. John Muir won a $1,000 certificate by meeting its goals to enroll four teachers and four proposals. To get more info on donorschoose, go to their website at www.donorschoose.org.

1. Jack Kent Cooke Foundation - Young Artist Awards for Pre-College Classical Musicians (national), Attn: Lisa Utzinger, Scholarship Program Manager, 295 Huntington Ave., Suite 201, Boston, MA 02115 , (617) 437-0707 Ext 121, lutzinger@fromthetop.org

Application Dates: September 1, 2007, November 1, 2007, January 31, 2008

Award Amount: $10,000 (25 awards)

Eligible Applicants: Pre-college classical musicians (ages 8-18) of exceptional musical talent with demonstrated financial need who are interested in appearing on Public Radio International’s From the Top radio show. Applicants must also have a record of academic achievement.

Today, Matt Gonzalez told the editorial board of the Chron that he wouldn’t be running for Mayor. After extensive polling and focus groups, Matt concluded that the voters of San Francisco do not hold Mayor Newsom accountable for City problems like homelessness and MUNI meltdowns…

The Chron suggested that Gonzalez was the last hope for progressives. I think that is a fair assessment. Mirkarimi, Peskin, and Daly have all ruled it out.

This may be a quiet fall.

Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting will be chock full of excitement.

The following are scheduled:

1. A decision on the appeal of the categorical exemption for 3400 Cesar Chavez. There is no public comment scheduled for this item, I think, but it
is likely to come early, and may cause a big ruckus. See yesterday’s post for more context.

2. A decision on the appeal of the categorical exemption for the potential city-wide Wi-Fi network. If the appeal is denied, the contract will go before the Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday.

The phone number of Jim Sutton, one of the most fined political consultants in California, is the contact number that Gavin Newsom has listed at the Dept. of Elections.

As Vice President-Political for the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, it is my responsibility to send out the endorsement questionnaires to all of the candidates running for office in November 2007.

But Newsom listing Sutton’s phone number as his official contact number for his campaign with the San Francisco Dept. of Elections wasn’t the only surprise.

Jim Boeger and Antonio Mims has dropped out due to lack of signatures. John Rinaldi and Lea Sherman noted that they were not interested in completing a questionaire.

The Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) had its 35th anniversary this weekend with music, photos and poetry.

Charlie Chin and Julia Lau performed for a crowd that included CPA co-directors Sarah He and Gordon Mar, School Board Trustees Eric Mar and Kim-Shree Maufas, CPA Board of Directors Chair and UHW Organizer Leon Chow, Mayoral Candidate Josh Wolfe and Supervisorial Candidate Eric Quesada.

There was approximately 70 in the crowd. Several members of PODER and other organizations were there to celebrate CPA’s 35th anniversary.

The adorable Liane Mar with her mother Cecilia Wong was cheering her dad, Gordon Mar.

KALW 94.791.7 FM will be doing a Citivisions show on landlord-tenant issues
Monday night at 7 PM — call in if you can so landlords don’t dominate the
phones!

Call in during the show at 415/841-4134 or e-mail us at
feedback@cityvisionsradio.com

On Monday 7/30/07, 7:00pm to 8:00pm, the topic for City Visions Radio
(91.7.FM) will be:

San Francisco for Rent: What are the Pros and Cons of Renting in SF? (Part
One)

Call in during the show at 415/841-4134 or e-mail us at
feedback@cityvisionsradio.com

****************************************************

pictures by terrrie frye

Friends,
Take action at the Tuesday Board of Supervisors hearing. We have all been
organizing hard and putting pressure on the Supervisors; the emails,
letters, phone calls, actions, visits, press, testimonies, etc… are making
a difference. Last week the Supervisors heard over 5 hours of impassioned
testimonies from our community. This Tuesday at 1:30pm the Supervisors will
decide if they value working families, poor people, mom & pop merchants, and
day laborers. Though there will be no public testimonies taken on Tuesday
we are asking the community to show up and represent our strength and unity
at the decision on Tuesday.

In what has to be considered a victory for folks living or working near construction sites, the California Air Resource Board approved new regulations that require construction companies to clean up their old, dirty equipment.

Under tough new rules adopted by the Air Resources Board, California is the first state to make construction companies fix existing diesel-powered machines. Heavy equipment can last 30 years or more, so without the new mandate, it would take decades for fleets to upgrade to cleaner equipment.