Results tagged “housingauthority”

One day in San Francisco politics you're in, and the next day, you're out.

Looks like Gavin's already started recruiting! After his housecleaning began last week, we were waiting with bated breath for the job ads to start appearing. But foregoing the mighty Craigslist for our lil' SFist job board? It's going to be hard to replace the head of the strife-ridden Housing Authority - if he's only offering equity, he should probably be looking anywhere he can!

Step right up! Step right up! The Gavin Newsom San Francisco carnival is coming to town! SEE .... the horrors that abound in the San Francisco Housing Authority! GAWK..... at the desperate lives of people trying to get by in the sub-standard apartment units provided by the city! GASP..... at the pitiful amounts of money residents try to live on! And then.... open your wallets! Won't you help.... for the children?

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Anyone who's interested in San Francisco history must see this movie. Director and MacArthur genius grant recipient Stanley Nelson (who previously directed the Emmy-award-winning The Murder of Emmett Till) has put together a sensitive and thoughtful history of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple that stays away from the usual pat explanations of the situation (as Nelson said in the post-screening Q&A, the story of "900 crazy people drinking Kool-Aid in the jungle") to outline a story that's even more disturbing when you realize how almost-acceptable the situation was that Jones created. As you can see in the picture at the left, Jim Jones was tight in San Francisco local politics, and was considered a key part of George Moscone's (short-lived) mayoral triumph in 1977. Peoples Temple promoted a religious doctrine of interracial brotherhood, responsibility for the poor, and a socialist utopia in which everyone looked out for everyone else. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Peoples Temple also participated in a number of progressive social movements, attending rallies and organizing get-out-the-vote campaigns, and as a result, Jim Jones was awarded a seat on the board of the San Francisco Housing Authority (!!!) before he fled for Guyana, killed a state congressman, and orchestrated the mass suicide of over 900 people. Our mouth kept dropping open at the footage that Nelson had obtained -- interviews with Jones's childhood acquaintances (all of whom agreed he was a weird little dude, torturing and killing cats so he could hold funerals for them), sermons by Jones at his Fillmore/Geary temple (now the post office next to the Fillmore Theater, where the downtown-bound 38 Geary stop is), footage of followers seeing Guyana for the first time, and the most chillingly, live film of the final days in Jonestown and the fateful visit by Congressman Leo Ryan (and a very young Jackie Speier) and tape recordings of Jim Jones urging people to "drink faster, faster, faster." Dude, we were freaked out. Interviews with survivors, Intersection for the Arts, and Jim Jones Jr. at the Q&A, after the jump.

The hydrants don't hook up to the hoses, there's fighting over Treasure Island, there's corruption in the Housing Authority -- and what are we all still talking about? This afternoon's Cow Hollow ski jump! The tempers are as hot as the ice is cool, with the homeowners agripe that the ski jump organizers still don't have enough insurance to cover any damage done to homes along the route, "some of which are worth over $10 million." (If your home is worth $10 million, can't you just tap into that equity line and pay for any damage done yourself?) There's also speculation that part of the reason why Mayor Gavin Newsom has been pushing the event so hard is that he might have some marshmallows of his own bobbing in this cup of hot cocoa, as it turns out his Plumpjack Group is a sponsor of the event and some friends of his came up with the idea in the first place. Protective Peter Ragone fires back, "I'm sure the mayor doesn't even know that PlumpJack is a sponsor." Though hey -- if you want to pick up some Moseley gear, they sell it at the Plumpjack Group's Balboa Cafe. Well, temperatures today are expected to be in the 80s, so we'll see if the snow holds up. Meanwhile, they're putting bales of hay along Green Street to try and keep skiers from flying off the ramp and into the blameless 22 Fillmore bus. Thanks to Bill Jennings for the awesome Flickr shots! Check out his pics of Jonny Moseley too! Let us know if you've got pics to share too!

Seems Dan Siegel, member of the lame-duck Oakland School Board and likely candidate for Jerry Brown's job, had "less than an ounce" of marijuana discovered in his checked luggage on his way out of town Tuesday. From the Chron:

Kevin Shelley, the only man standing between California voters and Diebold, is in a world of trouble. Special feature by Rita Hao.