San Francisco democracy needs to bring back legitimacy to the electoral process by eliminating ranked choice. The runoff system guarantees that those elected would always have the endorsement of the majority of the voters. In a runoff election, voters do not need further clarification, as Supervisor Scott Wiener pointed out. Read More

As a native San Franciscan, it galls me to hear about how Muni is always in the red. I know that plenty of people enjoy a free ride every now and then on the streetcars. With doors wide open on the various lines, it’s too tempting to just hop on. If the police patrols for fare evaders were used more often, they could put a huge dent in the deficit. As I have personally witnessed on weekday mornings, over half of the riders who board the L-Taraval and N-Judah trains headed toward downtown just hop onto the rear cars and never swipe a Clipper card or anything. Read More

There has been vast neighborhood opposition to the on-street skateboard park being imposed at the Stanyan/Waller site. Neighbors are not opposed to a skateboard park in Golden Gate Park, and offered to help find a better location. In imposing this skateboard facility, the Recreation and Park Department did no neighborhood outreach. Then, when confronted with opposition from hundreds of nearby residents, businesses and neighborhood organizations, the department turned a deaf ear to their concerns. Read More

Your editorial on Thursday announcing new ownership had some ominous words. “Moreover, this paper will become more truly reflective of the ideals of San Francisco with editorials and opinion pieces in line with the ideology of The City.” I hope this doesn’t mean your editorial page is going to fall in line with the San Francisco Chronicle and the eastern establishment liberal press that has controlled most of the editorial content in print and broadcast for the past 40 years. Read More

In its Nov. 27 reporting on pending improvements to The City’s plastic bag ordinance, The San Francisco Examiner looked at it the wrong way. San Francisco passed a groundbreaking ban in 2007, but is now falling behind. The region’s largest city, San Jose, passed a strong ban applying to all retailers in 2010 and other cities are following that lead. These common-sense amendments have the support of groups like the Small Business Commission. Read More

Why does Mayor Ed Lee want to move the Occupy San Francisco camp to the Mission district? We don’t want them. There are too many problems with drug addicts, drug sellers, prostitutes and vagrants here. Putting that group here will only bring more of these people. The police have enough work to do in this neighborhood; they don’t need anyone adding more work for them. It’s a waste of taxpayer money. And calling the Department of Public Health, police and Department of Public Works has not done any good. Read More

I am a lifelong independent and dislike many Democratic policies, but I have yet to hear a Republican who will admit the three fundamental GOP claims are false. And the media will not report these falsehoods. “Raising taxes on the wealthy reduced employment” is false. The Clinton administration raised taxes on the wealthy and saw unparalleled growth. The George W. Bush administration dramatically cut taxes on the wealthy and saw no job growth. Read More