Six members of the Board of Supervisors, along with marijuana activists, dispensary owners, and representatives from George Gascon's and Dennis Herrera's offices gathered for a rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday in protest of the federal crackdown on medical marijuana sales in California. Though the rally had been planned weeks in advance, it came just a day after a surprise raid by the feds on Oaksterdam University in Oakland. "This raid was meant to demoralize us," said the school's chancellor Dale Jones, "but it did not cripple us, it merely galvanized us." more ›

As City Insider reports, the Board of Supervisors are reconsidering Muni's decades-old policy regarding strollers on the bus in an effort to keep families from fleeing the city at the alarming rate we keep hearing about. Although, we'd like to point out that the Chron article to which everyone keeps referring and that keeps getting recycled every year says that there are actually 3,000 more children under age 5 in San Francisco than 10 years ago. It's the school-aged children that we've actually been losing (more than 8,000 over the age of five). But maybe we're just niggling. more ›

Here's a problem we didn't know was a problem: recycling theft. All those little Asian ladies and various other scavengers who go around pulling bottles and cans and cardboard out of bins in order to profit from the trash themselves at scrap yards are depriving Recology of $5 million a year! Also, some residents are up in arms over the noise and trespassing happening when these brazen trash thieves pillage their discarded belongings. more ›

From way out in Forest Knolls (which, like Sherwood Forest, is one of those fairytale neighborhoods that sounds like it was named by six-year-olds) we learn of a new candidate running for the Board of Supervisors in November. As you may know, District 7 Supervisor and mic-dropping speaker Sean Elsbernd will be termed out this year, so the folks on the western slopes of Twin Peaks and out at Park Merced will be looking for a new supe to lead them in to 2013. Enter former journalist and civil rights advocate Joel Engardio, the self-proclaimed "common sense candidate." more ›

Now this is rich: Item 40 on the agenda for today's Board of Supervisors meeting [PDF warning], is a non-binding resolution that would formally declare the San Francisco city government's displeasure with the currently limited selection of musical genres at the Grammys. Richmond District Supervisor Eric Mar, the resolution's sponsor, hopes his Board colleagues will resolve to stand with him in the fight to have categories like Hawaiian, Cajun and Zydeco, reinstated in time for the 2013 Grammy nominations. more ›

As San Francisco redraws the borders of the neighborhood districts represented by our 11 city supervisors, a few members of the Board might want to start trawling Craigslist for new apartments. David Chiu, Board president and supervisor for North Beach, Chinatown and the Financial District, for example would have to move out of his Polk Gulch apartment, on the edge of his district if the latest draft of the district map passes. Chiu has already said he's ready to pack up and move if his apartment ends up becoming a part of District 2, but the changes could also affect Supervisors Jane Kim and Malia Cohen — both of whom are only a year in to their terms. more ›

Sheriff-elect Ross Mirkarimi, who's being sworn in to his new post Sunday, is currently under investigation by the SFPD after an incident of alleged domestic abuse involving his wife over New Year's weekend. Mirkarimi's wife, former Venezuelan telenovela star Eliana Lopez, reportedly hid out in a neighbor's apartment after a physical fight with Mirkarimi, and the neighbor subsequently called police, according to Matier and Ross. Police have now interviewed the neighbor, but Mirkarimi and Lopez are maintaining that this has all been blown out of proportion. Lopez made an official statement last night saying, "I have absolutely no complaint against my husband. My husband has never been abusive to me. Ross and I are committed to our marriage, our son and our family." more ›

Remember way back in January 2011, when the promise of a mayor with less exciting hair and a refreshed lineup at the Board of Supervisors had every political wonk in town excited for things like "change" and "progress"? Neither do we. But we do remember the time that one notoriously feisty District 6 Supervisor and current dive bar owner took to the mic in the Board chambers to re-appropriate gangster rap lyrics* to describe, "the biggest fumble in San Francisco politics." more ›

If you're a Financial District worker who has been dying a slow death of salad and bland soup consumption ever since you started working down there, you were probably thrilled to find fun and interesting food trucks parked down the block from your office in recent months. But if you own one of the longstanding businesses in and around the District where you sell overpriced sandwiches, salad, and soup to the captive and hungry hordes, paying a premium in rent for the privilege, you're probably not too happy about these food trucks. Hence the quandary that the city is in right now, having been hip to the zeitgeist in loosening food truck regulations so that more could swarm downtown and make the populace happy, but also owing something to the brick-and-mortar business owners who've been paying lots of rent, permits, and taxes over the years. more ›

Supervisor Scott Wiener has taken the bold step of authoring some new legislation that will make it illegal for dog walkers in San Francisco to walk more than seven pooches at a time. So, in short, our Board of Supervisors have extended their nanny-state agenda from saving our children from Happy Meals to saving birds from buildings and now saving dogs from being walked under extra-crowded conditions. more ›

The Board of Supervisors will be taking a vote today about a long-discussed proposal to charge customers a fee for every bag they take from a grocery store or retail outlet. Ross Mirkarimi is the sponsor of the ordinance, which takes a further step from the 2007 law banning plastic bags in S.F. (which clearly the pink-plastic-bag distributors of greater Chinatown never got the memo about), and requires everyone to use compostable paper bags or reusable bags manufactured for 125 uses. more ›

On the day of San Francisco's first ranked-choice mayoral election, Supervisors Elsbernd and Farrell are set to propose a new charter amendment that would eliminate the new voting system altogether. As first year Supervisor Farrell told the Examiner, "ranked-choice voting is a failed experiment." more ›

Just when we were on a roll with sub-three hour meetings, the Board had to go and put a teeth-gnashing public hearing on youth housing smack in the middle of yesterday's agenda. Final runtime on Tuesday's meeting: 7 hours. Ouch. Anyhow, might as well get to it: more ›

Eric Mar might be saving birds from those tall shiny glass-and-steel deathtraps we humans have erected, but not even bird-safe building legislation can keep us from wanting to slam our heads against the wall once a meeting breaks the 3-hour barrier. On the bright side, yesterday's meeting featured enough supe-to-supe cross chatter to keep us entertained. Also: what's going on here, Sean Elsbernd's haircut? more ›

While we love the tortue of an eight-hour Supervisors meeting as much as the next person (read: not very much!), we're happy to see these meetings have become a lot snappier in the three weeks we've been back from recess. That whole cordial, kumbaya thing was great, sure. But so is getting in and out of the meeting in under two hours. This week's meeting the board covered everything from bird safety issues to mobile apps to a potential lawsuit for public campaign financing - all in an hour and 40 minutes. Let's get to it: more ›

If the nonstop whacky antics at yesterday's Board of Supervisors meeting are any indication, we're looking at what could be an exciting fall in City Hall. By which we mean, no one appeared to be falling asleep yesterday. more ›

Coming to you late this week due to a few technical difficulties with the post-recess SFGovTV feed, we now return to our regularly scheduled Weekly Power Rankings. This week, just gettin' back in the swing of things: more ›

The most popular story on the 'Gate right now? That would Matier and Ross's column about the wheelchair ramp to the Board President's chair, currently being constructed in the Board of Supervisors chamber, whose total cost looks to be topping out at about $700,000 after design and construction. It's kind of a symbolic ramp, is the thing, with Chiu -- who doesn't require a wheelchair -- defending the project by saying "San Francisco has been at the forefront of access issues, and it's important the board reflect that." John Avalos was the only supervisor to vote against the project, which, because of issues surrounding the historic room, etc., was originally estimated to cost $1 million. more ›

Supervisors David Chiu and Jane Kim will voyage to the annual art and drug festival in the Nevada desert known as Burning Man. For whatever reason, they plan on spending only 24 hours there, flying there in a private plane. "For several years, I've wanted to visit the Black Rock Desert to learn about how Burning Man is building 21st Century community, creating art, and fostering sustainability," Chiu told the SF Bay Guardian's Steve Jones. more ›

Yesterday's meeting was our last day in the People's Chambers for awhile. With the Board's 5-week summer recess looming the meeting only ran 3 hours long. And in typical last-day-of-school fashion, many zany hijinks ensued. Funny thing though: unlike high school, all the senior supes showed up on time. It was the freshmen who decided to cut class before the vacation: more ›

Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting is the last before the gang takes a month-long recess. It's like the last day of school before summer! Only with less signing of yearbooks and more passing of ordinances. Here are the items we're actually interested in: more ›

Getting right down to the big issues this week (because SFGovTV's footage of yesterday's meeting inexplicably cuts off the first 45 minutes of administrative items), let's talk about those Muni bus wraps. more ›

Cell Phone radiation disclosures, vintage signage preservation, car share vehicles taking up street parking, a ballot measure for street improvement funds and a fight over formula retail pet stores in the Richmond. The Board of Supervisors agenda items that caught our interest for Tuesday, July 25th, 2011. more ›

Tuesday's meeting was all over the board (pun intended?). So, appropriately enough, current points co-leader in these Weekly Power Rankings Sean Elsbernd was all over the chambers. The outerlands supe was probably just getting himself fired up to deliver his big speech on city retirement benefits. It's hard to tell from the SFGovTV video, but we're pretty sure he was hiding a walkman in his coat pocket and blasting "Eye of the Tiger" back there. Such determination: more ›

No Ed Lee cameos this week, but Pension Reform and the Charter Amendment that will allow the board to amend or repeal ballot measures both get a public hearing. And there's a tiny sliver of hope that the AT&T Lightspeed Network upgrade issue will finally get a resolution. more ›

We thought it a little odd that the day after the tragic accident at Octavia and Oak that took the life of a UCSF professor Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi made sure to praise Octavia Street as "a fabulous Boulevard." Mirkarimi may have been trying to head off the inevitable criticism that would follow such an accident, given the Board's two-decade-old push to ban freeway construction north of Market Street, which led to the Boulevard plan for Octavia and the creation of what is, arguably, a very high-speed zone of city streets with cars exiting the freeway and rapidly making their way to the western ends of town. more ›

As you might have guessed by now, Mayor Lee didn't bring any major surprises with him to Question Time yesterday. Batting around questions like "How will you stimulate the economy?" (from Farrell) and "How are we using youth and family services to prevent gang violence?" (from Kim) gave the mayor a couple opportunities to talk about the Twitter tax break central Market payroll tax exemption. That's not actually an answer to anyone's question, that's just a PR move. more ›

OK, so, to be clear, we're all for having criminals do their time, regret their crimes, and we believe that many of them can be rehabilitated and return to society as respectable citizens who deserve a chance to prove themselves. That being said, California is about to face a major opening of the floodgates of paroled prisoners, per the Supreme Court, and everyone is understandably nervous that a few bad apples are likely to end up in the bushels that appear on our doorstep in the coming months. Enter Supervisor and sheriff candidate Ross Mirkarimi, darling of the Progressives, who along with a committee of law enforcement folks and legal advocates would like San Francisco to roll out a more welcoming welcome mat than the rest of the state, by protecting ex-cons from discrimination when they try to seek jobs and housing here. more ›

Temporary Mayor Ed Lee will be joining us at 2 p.m. for his regularly scheduled appearance before the board tomorrow, so expect the usual round of softball questions to kick off the meeting. After that, it's back to the regularly scheduled programming after last week's recess. Here's what's new on the agenda and what's coming back to haunt our dreams after weeks of delays. more ›

Yesterday's brief meeting of the kumbaya board was either incredibly efficient or just a lazy way to slouch towards next week's holiday recess, depending on how desperate you are to know whether those AT&T network boxes will one day replace newspaper racks as the most annoying inanimate thing on our city's sidewalks (progress!). In just under two hours, including a break, the board plowed through a deceptively large number of agenda items. Sadly, no one threw any chairs. more ›