On the whole, most of the people who live or work in the areas where this newspaper is circulated came out reasonably well during the triple-digit heat wave that sweltered California during the past two weeks. Unlike some 823,000 of our neighbors in the East Bay and South Bay, we did not suffer extended large-scale blackouts.
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Depending on who does the talking, the six days of free Spare the Air rides on Bay Area Rapid Transit were either a triumph for public transit and smog reduction or a horror show on wheels. Most likely an accurate evaluation would include some of both arguments. However, the program should continue, although fine-tuning is required.
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So now we’re wasting time talking about wasting time. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so disdainful of the voters.In 2004, a long time ago considering the decision-making needs of San Francisco’s business community, city voters enacted Proposition I, creating an Office of Economic Analysis. Working with the controller, the OEA is required to study the economic impact of the supervisors’ legislative fancies.Those fancies, often diseconomic, have come so fast and furious —
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With Congress’ overwhelming passage to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act and President Bush’s likely approval, the federal government has affirmed that a democracy is only as strong as its commitment to its voting rights. Locally, the implementation of ranked-choice voting and public financing ensures that each person’s vote counts despite the influence of monied interests. In the same spirit of democracy, I have proposed a charter amendment to increase voter participation.
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Bus riders in The City, it’s not your imagination. Timespent on Muni really is longer than ever, your rides reduced to crawls. And it probably doesn’t help if there’s an empty seat for your shopping bag or backpack.Your numbers are down 12 percent over 20 years — this trend among the findings of the "San Francisco Transit Effectiveness Project," part of which was released this week. The full report, sure to create angst throughout local government, will be made public in December 2007.
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Monday’s Superior Court ruling that a petition by foes of high-density redevelopment at the Bay Meadows racetrack was 56 signatures short of qualifying for the November ballot begins the opposition’s endgame. With the deadline past for starting a new petition, all that opponents can do now is delay the project a while longer by appealing Judge Mark Forcum’s decision.
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All right, we love what John Muir loved, as anyone with any aesthetic sense and appreciation for nature would. Muir loved the Hetch Hetchy Valley, even to the lengths of idolatry, and when in 1906 thirsty San Franciscans asked the federal government to dam it, the great naturalist waged a relentless crusade against what would become The City’s principal water supply.Muir, obviously, lost in 1923 when the congressionally authorized
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For supporters of stem cell research, this week brought mixed tidings. The good news: Regents voted unanimously to let University of California President Robert Dynes spread millions of taxpayers’ dollars over campus facilities up and down the state. The move will spur the scientific research approved last year by voters.
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So the design for the 49ers’ new Candlestick Point venue is officially unveiled, and it’s a honey. Panoramas of the Bay and San Francisco’s unmatched cityscape. Up-close player views for every fan, no matter the seat number.Touchdown!If an architectural vision can align the stars, then the 49ers’ fortunes are assured. This site can command Super Bowl after Super Bowl, not to mention the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
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The San Francisco-Peninsula axis has posted another significant advance in its bid to become unchallengeable as the world’s leading center for bio-technology research and production. The latest win is that PDL BioPharma is moving its corporate headquarters from the East Bay into 450,000 square feet at two high-rise towers in Redwood City and will bring at least 500 new employees to San Mateo County in mid-2007.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/archive/19/19?page=460&type[story]=story
