• "Why should a small group of residents (the appellants) determine the fate of technology for the entire city? I want faster broadband and I want a choice in video." more ›

Despite a deficit of $306+ million, the San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, mayor and other elected officials could receive thousands of dollars more in their paychecks come next fiscal year. "The salaries of each of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors will increase by nearly $2,000 next fiscal year, from $96,549 to $98,469, reports The Examiner. "Other, more highly-compensated elected officials, such as the city attorney, will see their salaries grow next year compared to this year by more than $4,000. The mayor’s salary will increase by $5,462 from $247,473 to $252,935." more ›

This week's Board of Supervisors meeting agenda lacks the star power of an Ed Lee cameo, so those of us following along at home will probably be left with nothing to discuss other than the seasonal-appropriateness of Supervisor Kim's outfit. If we can get past our sartorial obsessions, however, here's what we'll be keeping an eye on: more ›

Last week's meeting turned out surprisingly short after most of the supes managed to keep their discussions of the Twitter tax break relatively brief. This week, a slightly longer list of agenda items, some administrative items to take care of, and a very special cameo by Temporary Mayor Ed Lee might stretch the meeting's run time a little longer. With that said, here's a brief rundown of how Question Time with Ed Lee will play out and the agenda items we'll be keeping an eye on after the Board is finished gently poking the Interim Mayor: more ›

At last week's board meeting we saw the current lineup tackle their biggest issue so far: the Parkmerced project which could do a great deal to shape the future of the southwestern edge of the city. Well, they didn't quite tackle it, so much as they put it off until May. This week the agenda is a bit short, but today's big issue: the payroll tax break Twitter and other Mid-Market and Tenderloin businesses (Item 8) could lead to some lengthy debate, especially after some alternative solutions were introduced last week. So with that, here's what we're looking at on today's agenda: more ›

Our interest in the Board of Supervisors weekly meetings has been waning ever-so-slightly every week since the class of 2011 took their place in the People's Chambers. So, in order to bring a little more excitement back in to our city's politics, here's our completely unbiased recap of last night's meeting, along with a scorecard and not-at-all-subjective Board of Supervisors Weekly Power Ranking: more ›

As the meeting gets underway in the People's Chambers this afternoon, we should point out that there are actually two agendas for today's Board of Supervisors meeting (Dueling agendas, huh? Imagine that...): The first is our usual 2 p.m. meeting and the second is a Special Meeting to approve Temporary Mayor Ed Lee's budget amendment for the City and County Redevelopment Agency (assuming it went through Budget and Finance Sub-Committee earlier today). On to today's items of interest, in order of their appearance: more ›

Interim Mayor Ed Lee, as many of you know, only took the job on the promise that the law could be changed allowing him an exception from the rule that says that mayors and supervisors can't be given government jobs for one year after holding office. The Board quietly withdrew the proposed rule change from the June ballot this week, promising instead to get this done by legislative means. more ›

Over in Bernal Heights a battle is being waged over a vintage Coca-Cola ad that typifies all we know and love about San Franciscans. The fight pits neighbor against NIMBY neighbor, preservationist against anti-consumerist, sentimentalist against anti-corn syrup activist — and therefore it has the makings of a made-for-KQED movie. You see, as Bernalwood first reported, an anonymous Bernal resident complained to the City about a vintage, painted Coca-Cola sign on the side of a building at the corner of Tompkins and Banks Streets. The complaint: The sign promotes the unhealthy consumption of sugar, and what's more, it violates San Francisco's strict anti-billboard law. more ›

Another nugget from Matier & Ross this a.m.: Newly seated District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen is one of the many in the country who was the victim of predatory lending, and her $581,000 condo has been lost to foreclosure. more ›

Board of Supervisors meetings haven't been quite as exciting after the 11th-hour fireworks that went down just before the class of snooze-thousand-eleven took their seats last month. Hopefully, the rookies will find their stride soon enough and start sniping at each other about banning non-vegan rubber bike tires or what have you, but as today's full board meeting gets underway (like, now-ish - you should tune in) we thought we might highlight some of the issues on today's agenda that seem to have people talking. more ›

Supervisor Scott Wiener has had quite enough of the 'unsavory' characters who congregate around the Castro Safeway with their cart-loads of bottles and cans, headed to the recycling center. He's been aware of neighbors' complaints for years regarding that Safeway, and he proposes that the City lobby the State to mandate that all bottle redemption centers begin offering food vouchers in place of cash for recyclables. We're envisioning a citywide revolt by elderly Chinese ladies who carry around those red, blue, and white heavy-duty plastic satchels. more ›

Reinforcing the public's perception of the Board of Supervisors as a group of whiny liberal high school kids who go to battle, and occasionally try to one-up each other with how forward-thinking and/or blasphemous they can be, newly elected District 6 rep Jane Kim has taken a stand against reciting the Pledge of Allegiance that is sure to garner her some nice, negative national press attention. Way to fill Daly's shoes, girl and take on your first important issue as Supervisor -- that is, besides Tenderloin bedbugs. more ›

Yesterday's eight-and-a-half-hour meeting of the Board of Supervisors regarding the vote for interim mayor -- a drama which, as we noted, riveted at least several dozen non-blogging, non-journalist San Franciscans -- culminated in yet another delay, with the final vote happening Friday. However all signs point to Ed Lee getting the job. Who is this Ed Lee, you ask? Why he's our not-oft-spoken-about City Administrator, and he's Gavin's first choice for a "caretaker" mayor. more ›

After last week's Board of Supervisors meeting turned out to be such a charming shitshow, we've become something of SF Government TV Nerds around here. Our only real complaint is that there aren't enough nights of the week when the Board sits down to suffer verbal abuse from the city's lovable whackos. more ›

In an effort to create more jobs for San Franciscans, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 last night to approve an ordinance that requires contractors to hire city residents for municipal construction projects. The ordinance will initially require workforces be 20 percent local and increases that percentage every year until workforces are 50 percent local in seven years. more ›

New legislation, proposed by Supervisors David Campos and John Avalos and inspired by a fight over a new cell phone tower in Bernal Heights, may make it more difficult to place a call in some neighborhoods of S.F. as more and more people buy smart phones and try to play Words with Friends simultaneously on the bus at 5:30 p.m. As noted by Matt Baume over at NBC Bay Area, "As a result [of this proposed legislation], more parts of the City may become like AT&T in the Upper Haight: impossible to place a call unless you walk several blocks north or south." more ›

Last night, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to postpone nominating an interim mayor. So the current board will have one last chance to pick San Francisco's Mayor for 2011 when they meet for a final time on January 4th. more ›

Although it still needs to be given the green light by Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Team, today the San Francisco Board of Supervisors "voted 11-0 today to approve a bid put forward by Mayor Gavin Newsom for hosting sailing's premier regatta," reports The Chronicle. "It was revised substantially in recent months to minimize the city's costs." This calls for a little Christopher Cross... [SFGate] more ›

The Daily Show has already spent some time mocking San Francisco's Happy Meal toy ban (in particular Lewis Black's tirade against our Nanny State legislating), which the Board of Supervisors passed last month with a veto-overriding majority of 8 votes. Well, now Supervisor Eric Mar posted something to Facebook about how he got interviewed for a whole segment on the show by Aasif Mandvi. more ›

more ›

Even though the SF Department of Elections refuses to go beyond the *preliminary* stages of ranked choice vote tallying, Debra Walker and Rafael Mandelman put us out of our misery yesterday by issuing concessions, allowing Jane Kim and Scott Wiener to claim their victories in Districts 6 and 8 respectively. more ›

With the whole ranked choice thing, and the relatively slim majorities being held, it's probably too early to call most of the Supervisor races. The Appeal has published the percentages of votes tallied for each candidate, with most votes already counted. But when you're talking about a difference of a couple of hundred votes (as is the case with Jane Kim and Debra Walker in District 6), with absentee ballots still to be counted, not to mention the ranked-choice complication, we're not going to get ahead of ourselves just yet. more ›

Even though Gavin vetoed that alcohol "fee" (or "tax" if you prefer), there are apparently rumblings still on the Board of Supervisors, likely originating with John Avalos, about trying to override Gavin's veto. We thought they needed eight votes to veto the veto, but according to the Examiner, confusingly, "The legislation passed 6-3, but would need a two-thirds vote to override the mayor’s veto." So it only needs six votes in a new vote? That makes no sense. Anyhow, we're pretty sure this thing is still dead in the water, and any threats Avalos makes about putting this on a ballot for the voters seem pretty empty and ill-advised. [Examiner] more ›

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg ruled last week in favor of San Francisco's ranked choice voting system, which has been in effect since 2004. Sunset district resident Ron Dudum filed the suit, calling the system unconstitutional, after he narrowly lost to Ed Jew during the 2006 election. The judge concluded that while the system does "exert some burden on voting rights, it is not severe." more ›

In the hotly contest race for District 6 supervisor, Chris Daly has finally given his formal endorsement to longtime aide and former election campaign manager James Keys. "While there are many good candidates in this race," Daly tells Fog City Journal, "James Keys best represents what I’m about — social and economic justice for our City’s most vulnerable." Does that mean he'll also take up the torch of saying "fuck" a lot during Supervisors' meetings? more ›

Vibrator + City Hall = Good Times more ›