San Francisco has an opportunity to lessen its use of energy from fossil fuels and thus reduce its carbon footprint by adding new renewable energy to the electric grid. But to do this, city officials need to properly plan and execute a yet-to-be-started program whose prospects appear to be dimming.
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A week after the San Francisco Police Department abandoned its proposal to issue stun guns to a select few officers, a fatal officer-involved shooting proved why it was the wrong decision.
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This week, The San Francisco Examiner reported how Proposition A transit funding has been used by The City. Our conclusions were alarming.
Prop. A was passed by voters in 2007 to boost the Transit Effectiveness Project, a comprehensive plan to speed up and increase service on The City’s transit network. In a February 2008 article, the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association think tank touted the project as “thorough, specific and bold in its recommendations.”
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San Francisco is a walker’s city. When compared to places like New York or Chicago, the temperate climate and compactness of the neighborhoods and downtown make perambulation pleasant and necessary here. Even people who rely on other transit options, including driving and Muni, often begin or end their trips on foot.
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A small but vocal group of San Francisco residents and merchants is vehemently opposed to removing parking on Polk Street to make way for a bike lane. Members have organized well enough to persuade The City’s transit agency to rethink its approach to the proposal, after admittedly not being fully prepared to sell the idea during a March community meeting.
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The California Environmental Quality Act is a good law too often used in bad ways. At its root, the law, typically known as CEQA, requires that state and local governments study the impacts of projects to mitigate, when possible, their negative effects.
But while CEQA-type laws around the nation typically only come into play in the case of genuine environmental objections to a project, the law in California is far too often co-opted by anyone with a “not in my backyard” objection.
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A few ideas in Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget proposal would be so damaging to the free flow of information in California that they should be scrapped immediately.
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Supporting a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles on federal parkland in San Francisco, surrounding counties and Yosemite National Park seems like a no-brainer for a city that regards itself as the epicenter of environmental consciousness.
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Extending the hours during which alcohol could be sold makes sense in a city like San Francisco, which has a dynamic and diverse nightlife scene that draws people from around the Bay Area, country and world.
But state Sen. Mark Leno’s legislation to allow municipalities to decide whether they want to extend the current alcohol-sales cutoff time from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. instantly created opposing sides and nothing in between.
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Far too many projects in San Francisco hit roadblocks because of complaints from a handful of neighbors. And when the America’s Cup Event Authority announced a major concert series on the waterfront, it appeared as if nearby residents could have sunk the deal.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/editorials?page=1
