-After Gavin vetoed the "Healthy Saturdays" initiative, the Board of Supervisors voted to see if they could override Gavin's veto but couldn't. Once again, the vote came down to a 7-4 vote, not enough to override, with the Usual Suspects-- Alioto-Pier, Dufty, Elsbernd, and Ma-- voting no. The next steps are unclear at this point. McGoldrick says he's in negotiations with Gavin to come to some sort of resolution to the initiative but people are skeptical of Gavin's intentions. Maybe we'll have another ballot measure, but apparently this issue has been deemed too important to be left to us. BTW, we're a little confused about the fact that all the pro-bike people keep on saying Gavin vetoed the measure because he's the bitch of the rich. When did neighborhood activists and activists for the disabled and all the other people who came out against the measure suddenly become rich and powerful developers? Anyways, check out this hilarious interview with Gavin on the Bay Guardian's web site, an interview that takes place while Gavin and the reporter are riding bicycles to City Hall on Bike to Work Day. We imagine the reporter and Gavin puffing away, muttering curses at each other underneath their breath and trying desperately not to roll their eyes too much lest they accidentally crash into other bikers.
-The San Francisco Board of Education decided to take up the measure banning the JROTC from city schools, obviously overjoyed by recent news that every San Francisco school kid was tested to be fluent in three languages, experts in physics and the works of Charles Dickens, and under 6% body fat. The measure calls the JROTC program: "unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia." Says Mark Sanchez, the person behind the measure "If the military said, 'You can't be openly Jewish or you can't be openly Catholic,' I don't think we would have stood for it this long.'" The program, for those still unclear of what the JROTC does, makes it's members (all of whom volunteer to join and all of whom are allowed to join, even gay and lesbian kids) do things like exercise, study military history, perform community service, and lots of marching up and down the square. The kids seem to like it and feel that it adds value to their lives, but what do a bunch of kids know? It's not like the schools are for them. Anyways, there will be a full vote sometime in the next month.