We are very dissappointed in Mayor Newsom’s recent veto of the Healthy Saturdays initiative, and are dismayed by the De Young Museum’s misleading attack on the proposal — which after all is a trial, not a permanent fixture. The veto survived today (May 23) thanks to the usual supects on the board.
For a good round up of the issues, and what you can do about it, check out the Bike Coalition’s Golden Gate Park page.
Healthy Saturdays
May 23rd, 2006Spillover
May 23rd, 2006When collections from gas sales tax increases faster than other taxable items, transit funding gets a boost (throught a complicated formula) to help cover its higher costs of fuel and accomodate higher demand. These funds are split between state and local agencies (through the State Transit Assistance Program).
Or that is transit funding SHOULD get a boost, but over the last two decades, most of this money has ended up in the general fund. Our Governor’s budget proposal is no better, and over the next 10 years, will divert and estimated $4.1 billion spillover funds away from transit.
June 2006 Endorsements
May 18th, 2006Proposition A
No. Proposition A allocates $10 million more from the City’s General Fund for the next 3 years to violence prevention and intervention services. We are opposed to this on good government grounds. While we are not opposed to any of these services in general, this seems a poor way to legislate.
Proposition C
Yes. Proposition C changes the appointment process of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority — giving the Board of Supervisors 2 appointments. The TJPA is responsible for the designing, building and operating of the Transbay terminal in San Francisco. This proposition continues a process of giving some powers of appointment to the Board of Supervisors.
No Position
We have not taken a position on Prop B or D.
For California State Initiatives and Candidates, please see the California League of Conservation Voters.
Central Committees
DCCC – 12th AD
- Susan Hall
- Trevor McNeil
- Jane Morrison
- Melanie Nutter
- Connie O’Conner
- Roy Recio
- Jason Wong
DCCC – 13th AD
- David Campos
- Gerry Crowley
- Rick Galbreath
- Michael Goldstein
- Robert Haaland
- Rafael Mendelman
- Laura Spanjian
- Holli Thier
- Jordanna Thigpen
- Scott Wiener
Green Party
- John-Marc Chandonia
- Susan King
- Kim Knox
- Nancy Lewis
- Sue Vaughan
- Patrick Villano
Big thanks!
April 11th, 2006Many thanks to all those who came out for the fundraiser, and especially to our sponsors. We’d also like to thanks the artists who brought their work out to show what they loved about our City, and still more thanks to our great DJ: Chris Galvin. Turned out to be a fine little success. Next year, we hope we can make it even finer. We hope you all had a good time.
You’re Invited
February 28th, 2006Here’s the first “official invite” to our March 20th Fundraiser.
Doyle Drive — Comment Period Open
February 16th, 2006The comment period for Doyle Drive is now open, and closes March 1st. More details here. SFLCV supports the parkway option with some caveats.
For a quick background, Doyle Drive is the stretch of road that connects the Marina to the Golden Gate Bridge. The current structure is 70 years old, and is considered seismically unsound, as well as no longer meeting highway standards. This project is now ending phase 2. Phase 3, design is slated to last through 2008, with construction starting 2009 and ending 2012(?). Costs for the various proposed designs and variations (details on their website) range from ~500-750 million dollars (with roughly a third apportioned to each city, state and federal authorities).
I attended the public comments in the Presidio. A good percentage of the speakers were opposed to the Parkway option on account of the buildings it would cause to be removed. Most requested additional time for the comment period, and the desire to see a parkway option that was less damaging to the historic nature of the Presidio.
Some of the local neighbors disbelieved the traffic studies for the parkway option. I was puzzled that some felt the non-parkway option was the more beautiful option, until I realized their viewpoint was that of a car driver rather than someone in the park. Other neighbors were adamantly opposed to a parkway design option that would remove the YMCA pool building.
Various enviros spoke in favor of the parkway option, as did SPUR, all with (naturally) a few caveats for further study.
One member of the community, a victim of head on collision on Doyle Dr, spoke eloquently about just needing to get on with it, that enough people have died.
You can submit your own comments here.
Clean and Green City Summit
February 16th, 2006The Clean and Green City Summit was an interesting event. Looking back on it, I’m not quite sure what it accomplished — other than the obvious networking potential. It started off a little odd, with a clown group trying to poke fun at the whole effort, with only occassional success. The Mayor gave a decent speech, supervisors gave awards to worthies in the community. I attended workshops on Community Benefit Districts, and one on how to keep plazas attractive. The former was more practical, with two community leaders sharing there own experiences of starting a CBD (and the many challenges that lie therein). The most inspirational thing from the whole day, was the presenter representing Mayor Daly’s office and showing off what the city of Chicago has done and is planning to do. As one member of our city government exclaimed, “we have a lot of work to do!”
Celebrate Our Urban Environment – Save the Date (3/20/2006)
February 3rd, 2006We’ll be holding a fundraiser on March 20th, at 111 Minna in San Francisco. This is out FIRST “I Love San Francisco: Celebrating Our Urban Environment” Fundraiser.
CONTEST
Enter our “San Francisco The Beautiful” Contest and you could win an iPod! Just enter an artistic creation (any medium: short story, poem, photograph, video, etc) that represents what you love about San Francisco’s urban environment and you could win an iPod Nano – more details to follow!
SPONSORING
Please consider sponsoring our fundraiser:
- Street Steward ($100)
- Neighborhood Protector ($250)
- City Champion ($500 and up)
Sponsors will thanked publicly in invitations and at the event.
Again, details to follow. Questions? Please email deep -at – sflcv.org
Checks may be mailed to SFLCV, 937 Valencia St., SF CA 94110-2320
San Francisco Clean and Green City Summit , Wed Feb 15, 2006
February 3rd, 2006This summit features experts on cleaning and greening, interactive workshops, inspirational speakers and a vendor gallery. The Summit is presented by the Mayor’s office, DPT, SF Clean City Coalition and the Recreation and Park Department.
The summit will be held on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30p.m. The summit is free of charge, however, advanced registration is required. Space is limited.
More information here:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=36859
There is also an evening event “A Green Valentine with the Mayor” Feb 14th, 5-7pm at the South Light Court of San Francisco City Hall.
Gordon Price of Vancouver and Astrid Haryati will be speaking on “Building a beautiful, safe & sustainable public realm in Vancouver and Chicago.”
High Speed Rail and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S.
January 26th, 2006The Center for Clean Air Policy in LA, and Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago. has produced a report (January 2006) to better understand the some of the potential impact and value of high speed rail in the U.S., in particular the impact on Greenhouse Gas emissions. There models show there could be a signigicant savings depending of course on how many people switched to this mode of travel. They look at proposed high-speed rail corridors throughout the country. They also identify another area of research to better understand the potential benefits of a network as opposed to separate corridors.
One of those corridors is, of course, between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
You can read the report here:
http://www.ccap.org/trans.htm
