Crucial Programs Saved; Mayor’s Pet Projects Remain
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jul. 02‚ 2009
Will Sacramento Blow Up City Budget? Will Newsom Target Add-Backs?
After intense negotiations, the Board of Supervisors’ Budget & Finance Committee began yesterday’s meeting 10 ½ hours past schedule – and approved a budget that Chair John Avalos and President David Chiu crafted with the Mayor’s Office. The package has an unprecedented level of “add-backs” – $43 million – to save crucial services, and will stop all contracting of City workers. But this victory may be illusory and short-lived. The Board took $16 million out of the Police, Fire and Sheriff Departments – but what’s troubling is what was not cut. Gavin Newsom’s City-funded campaign for Governor remains intact, as are his “pet projects” like 311 and the Community Justice Center. Other savings in the budget are mostly technical, but part of the “add-back” money ($7 million) requires taking a chunk of what was set aside to deal with inevitable state budget cuts. Unless the voters pass serious revenue measures, expect to see devastating mid-year cuts in a few months. And with Newsom’s track record of making such cuts that thwart the will of the Supervisors, the future looks precarious.
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Thanks to Arnold, California’s Bankrupt
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jul. 02‚ 2009
Two months ago, Beyond Chron wrote that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s legacy as Governor will be driving the state to bankruptcy. At 12:00 a.m. on July 1st, this became a literal fact. Arnold has vetoed the latest budget measure, meaning the state now has no money – and will start issuing I.O.U.’s rather than paying its bills. With a $24 billion deficit, Democrats in the state legislature passed a $7 billion stop-gap measure to keep the state running for a few months – as negotiations with the Republican ideologues were going nowhere. All Arnold had to do to avoid the state going broke was to sign the legislation, thus extending negotiations for a few months – which could buy some time for a long-term solution. But Schwarzenegger vetoed the stop-gap measure, saying we must solve the “whole budget” now. And what exactly is the Governor’s idea of a “whole budget”? Eliminate Cal-WORKS, making us the only place in the industrialized world that would not have a safety net. Even Mississippi has a safety net, but California (a deep blue state) soon might not.
“Smash the Church, Smash the State” Documents Gays’ Radical Past
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jul. 02‚ 2009
For the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, local activist and Beyond Chron writer Tommi Avicolli-Mecca has written Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation. In a collection of 48 essays by 35 writers, Avicolli-Mecca documents the LGBT movement’s radical past – and how it changed in the 60’s from timid requests for basic tolerance, to demanding a full-scale revolution of American society. Although at times repetitive, the book illustrates the vision of this movement’s pioneers – who believed that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people could never achieve full civil rights without upending capitalism, breaking down the walls of religion and challenging the basic gender hierarchy that has dominated Judeo-Christian mores. It is a manifesto of sorts, and Avicolli-Mecca starts in the preface by lamenting the queer community’s current obsession with gays in the military – and gay marriage. But in its strongest moments, Smash the Church, Smash the State provides insight about the early gay movement – where even seasoned activists will learn something new.
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Texas Cops Celebrate Pride by Bashing Gays
by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca‚
Jul. 02‚ 2009
News stories around the country are comparing it to the Stonewall Riots of 40 years ago that gave birth to the modern gay liberation movement. Ironically, it happened on the actual anniversary date and around the same time that the New York bar was raided. Only this time, it was in Fort Worth, Texas.
On June 28 around 1:00 a.m., police and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agents entered the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth for what they said was a routine inspection for liquor-related violations and in the melee that followed, one man was hurt. Twenty-six-year-old Chad Gibson is still in intensive care with a serious head injury. What happened depends on who you talk to ...
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Beyond Chron Writer Enters District 10 Race
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jul. 01‚ 2009
Eric “Doc” Smith, Beyond Chron’s Arts & Entertainment columnist for the past five years, filed to run yesterday for the Board of Supervisors in District 10 - in the race to succeed Sophie Maxwell. Originally from Washington D.C., Smith has made his mark in the District (which includes Potrero Hill, Bayview and Hunters Point) as an outspoken advocate for green jobs and environmental justice. In 2009, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Smith to the Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee, and Supervisor Maxwell appointed him to the Eastern Neighborhoods Citizens Advisory Committee. Smith is also a well-known player in the world of biofuel. He is on the Board of the Biofuel Recycling Cooperative in Bayview, who helped create the Public Utilities Commission’s SF Grease Cycle program (which makes biodiesel for some of the City’s Muni buses from waste restaurant grease.) “There is a desperate need to create new, good paying, green jobs that stay in District 10, to provide truly affordable housing, and to require smart industrial growth and sensible mixed use development that includes open space,” said Smith. “I am committed to making those issues a priority.” With no front-runner in the race, District 10 is a wild card.
AFL-CIO Condemns SEIU Raids on UNITE HERE
by Randy Shaw‚
Jul. 01‚ 2009
One day after 15 international union leaders vowed to provide “material and moral” support to UNITE HERE’s defense against SEIU raids, the AFL-CIO sent a letter to the UNITE HERE convention condemning “all raiding of organized workers by any union.” This letter represents a dramatic shift in position for the labor federation, which previously had been advised by its general counsel to stay out of the fight between SEIU and UNITE HERE. Adding to building momentum against SEIU’s conduct were scathing words from Operating and Engineers President Vincent J. Giblin, who described SEIU President Andy Stern as the “Darth Vader of the labor movement” and who vowed to provide “every resource” of his union, including strike benefits, to help UNITE HERE in its struggle. It was also revealed on the Convention’s second day that former UNITE HERE President and now SEIU Executive Vice-President Bruce Raynor had shifted $23 million in cash from UNITE HERE to his new union prior to his departure; this prompted UNITE HERE’s Jim Dupont to lead the crowd in a roaring chant “They say arbitrate, we say incarcerate.”
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Builders Trade Luxury Condos for No-Frills Rentals
by J. K. Dineen‚
Jul. 01‚ 2009
The following was first published in the SF Business Times on June 26th.
San Francisco residential builders are getting back to basics. Gone are the lap pools, spas and 50th-floor penthouses. Gone are the walnut cabinets, marble bathrooms and built-in wine coolers. Instead, developers with the intestinal fortitude to build in this market are focused on rental housing. They are looking at units that are market-rate yet affordable by design. And some are seeking help in the form of federal stimulus money or Federal Housing Administration-backed loans.
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"I Heard That": Reflections On an Icon; Making the Rounds ...
by Rochelle Metcalfe‚
Jul. 01‚ 2009
The KING OF POP MICHAEL JACKSON asked and answered the question in lyrics from his 1987 album entitled, BAD, “Who’s Bad - I’m Bad!” Yes, he was BAAAAD! The phenomenal icon left us last Thursday afternoon, reportedly died from heart failure.
HEARD the news over the radio while driving in my car, devastated, sad the rest of the evening. I too was a fan - fascinated by his choreographed dancing moves, glittering fashions. In past years seeing dramatic facial changes, wondered how he would look as he aged - would his face cave in??? No longer a question, for he died at 50!
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Labor Movement Backs UNITE HERE Against SEIU Raids
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 30‚ 2009
In a dramatic blow to SEIU’s efforts to raid UNITE HERE members and jurisdictions, 15 of the nation’s leading unions pledged Monday to provide UNITE HERE with “material and moral” support. Before a wildly cheering and upbeat crowd of 700, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee denounced SEIU for the “poaching” of UNITE HERE, and for engaging in “piracy on the high seas of organized labor.” Laborers President Terrence O’Sullivan described SEIU’s conduct as “deplorable,” and said “we didn’t join Change to Win to raid and hijack another union’s members.” Change to Win leaders James Hoffa of the Teamsters and Joe Hansen of the United Food and Commercial Workers also pledged support, while Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers (one of the only two international presidents that SEIU claimed back its position) now supports UNITE HERE. UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm defiantly castigated SEIU as “the bosses union,” and said that his workers are now in a “two headed fight: a fight with the boss and a fight with the boss’s lackey union.” Wilhelm said there has been “real widespread revulsion” throughout the labor movement against SEIU’s conduct, and the UNITE HERE convention has announced a new labor movement unity, with SEIU alone on its own.
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Slow But Steady Progress on City Budget
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jun. 30‚ 2009
July 2, 2009
