Sam Spade's San Francisco

If you are HIV+ it is absolutely essential that you know your rights and know what to do when your rights are violated. Twenty-five years into the AIDS epidemic, the secondary infections of ignorance and bias still rage on. Some employers continue to fire workers who pose no risk to others. Some health care providers still groundlessly deny services and treatment to those living with HIV — and even to those they only suspect might be living with the disease. And the U.S. State Department still refuses to hire well-qualified Foreign Service applicants if they are HIV-positive.

If you have a good reason to suspect that your rights are being violated, please contact Lambda Legal. Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

The Lambda Legal Western Regional Office is headquartered in Los Angeles and maintains a very active San Francisco office. Make initial contact through the Los Angeles office at:

3325 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1300
Los Angeles, CA 90010-1729
Telephone:
Fax:

Jon Davidson, Legal Director for Lambda Legal wants it made clear that while employment discrimination is a hot issue, it is not the only issue being faced by HIV+ Americans:

"As Lambda Legal continues the fight against such discriminatory acts and policies, we also are trying to make sure Social Security properly evaluates disabilities caused by immune disorders such as HIV. This is why we are working with HIV and Social Security experts across the nation to urge the adoption of revised regulations. These revisions will properly take into account the ways HIV, common co-infections and the medications those with HIV often take, can disable people from working."

"Along with other national and regional groups, Lambda Legal is voicing strenuous objections to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s revised guidelines that suggest that health care providers dispense with informed consent before people are tested for HIV, eliminate pretest counseling and only provide post-test counseling to those who test positive. We have banded with the ACLU to question the ways in which the CDC’s data initiatives fail to protect the confidentiality and security of clients of community-based organizations providing HIV services. Until prophylactics are developed against prejudice, injustice and bad public policy, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project will not rest. "

If you would like to financially support Lambda legal please follow this link.

In February 2004 Denver, Colorado - based billionare Philip Anschutz purchased the San Francisco Examiner for about $20 million. Anschutz, who is worth nearly $8 billion, is well-known for his active support of conservative right-wing interests. He helped fund Amendment 2, a ballot initiative to overturn a Colorado state law protecting gay rights. He also supported the Discovery Institute, the conservative Christian think tank that is the center of the intelligent design movement. Anschutz is also a major supporter of the Media Research Council, a group of rabid right-wingers responsible for the majority of indecency complaints filed with the FCC, many filed against gay entertainers and plots with gay themes or contents. Anschutz is one of the leading opponents and enemies of gay and lesbian rights in this country.

After buying (and destroying) the honorable reputation of the Examiner (once the Hearst flagship newspaper) Anschutz has turned the once honorable newspaper into nothing more than a running collection of news items pulled from the major wires. It is a weak imitation of the auto-generated news services offered by Google and Yahoo.

Anschutz has been trying to blend the concept of a national newspaper with Craig Newmark's Craigslist idea. If you go to the Examiner's web site (for whatever reason you may have) the first thing you will notice is an option to change your city. Anschutz has created an Examiner "presence" in most major US cities. The presence is nothing more than a web site, similar to Craigslist; a virtual presence.

Now Anschutz has struck a deal with one of the most ridiculous and absurd conservative newspapers in the country: The New York Post.

If you are not familiar with newspapers in the Big Apple, the only knowledge you need to bring yourself up to speed is that the real newspaper in New York is the New York Times. The Times is a newspaper of the quality and professionalism equal to the San Francisco Chronicle or any of the other major newspapers in the country. The New York Post, by contrast, is a cheap rag not much different in style and substance from those horrible tabloids one hears so many complaints about. The National Inquirer immediately jumps to mind.

Beginning next week Anschutz will use his Examiner presses to print the Post and distribute the rag locally. While introduction of the New York Post is a further sign of journalistic deterioration, it should be noted that, like the Examiner, the Post also once had a good and positive reputation. The New York Post was founded by Alexander Hamilton in November 1801.

Everybody goes to the supermarket. The choices in San Francisco are better than most because the people in San Francisco are more discriminating than most. That's why it's bad news that Save Mart Supermarkets, an independent grocery chain based in Modesto, has agreed to buy the Northern California division of Albertsons and it's 132 stores.

Side note: The first photo I used with this story depicted a Save-Mart store in Stockton. It was a photo of Save-Mart (with a hyphen) which is the wrong store. The Save Mart that is coming to San Francisco is completely hyphenless. Thanks to Bob Wilkins for the correction. By the way, if the name Bob Wilkins reminds you of the host of those classic horror movies on television, you are absolutely right. It is the same Bob Wilkins. You can read his blog at: http://bobwilkinsthemanbehindthecigar.blogspot.com/

Albertsons is one cut above Safeway but well below the quality, selection and appearance of most Whole Foods stores. Albertsons is a good mid-level store that forms a nice buffer to protect the genteel shoppers of Whole Foods from eventual invasion by the Jerry Springer crowd that seems to prefer a dump like FoodsCo. The FoodsCo crowd might occasionally shop "upscale" by going to a Safeway, but they seldom venture into a Whole Foods. Albertsons was the last line of defense to protect us from the Invasion of the BigGhettoMamas.

BigGhettoMamas, by the way, come in all colors and ethnicities, but they do have a few things in common. They are poorly educated, take poor care of their health (as frequently demonstrated by their gross tonnage), scream at their children often, have little understanding of English (even if it is their first language), and, based on the crap they stuff into their carts, have absolutely no understanding of home economics or nutrition.

When I go to a supermarket I want to meet people in the aisles I have something in common with and to whom I can intelligently speak. The first reaction that comes to mind when a herd of BigGhettoMamas come plodding down the aisle is to toss them a peanut or two. Its like having a day a the zoo during feeding time.

Albertsons protected us from such unpleasantries. Now they are being scooped up by a chain of FoodsCo-like supermarkets based in the Valley.

Oh my god! ... Valley People!

Save Mart Supermarkets is a big player in the California grocery business. They sponsor the kind of things blue-collar Valley People like, such as the NASCAR Dodge/Save Mart 350, a car race that people in Modesto (Save-Mart's headquarters) would love, but wouldn't generally impress people here in San Francisco. Save Mart operates under the Save Mart Supermarkets, S-Mart, and their lowest-level stores, FoodMaxx names. (FoodMaxx, FoodsCo and Food-4-Less, by the way, are all the same level and type of grocery store .... the bottom of the barrel.)

Recently Save Mart has been testing an upscale prototype with its own coffeehouse and expanded offerings of ethnic and organic foods and its private-label salad mix line, Fresh Favorites. If they intend to convert the Albertsons stores in San Francisco to their new upscale concept store, they may be welcomed with open arms. If they bring us their low-level Valley Crap, they will find a chilly reception.

Time will tell.

The picture is an aerial view of Hunter's Point.

Take a good look.

Life has its ups and its downs. Not long ago Conde Nast Traveler magazine announced that San Francisco is the Number One tourist destination in the United Sates and Number Two in the world. A couple of weeks ago we had a very successful Oracle Open World event that brought 40,000 of the brightest and most promising computer professionals on the planet to San Francisco for a full week. Then, on the day after Thanksgiving, the weather was perfect and tens of thousands of shoppers descended on our legendary Union Square shopping district.

Then, today, comes the inevitable spoiler.

The Chronicle decided to ask Heather Knight, a staff writer, to do a piece on the Toxic Tour.

The What?

The Toxic Tour is primarily intended for school groups, so it seems remote that the concierge at the St. Francis Hotel will suggest it to their guests (thank goodness), but it still draws attention to a very ugly fact. Heather Knight phrased the subject just about perfectly, so, here 's the way she tells it:

"It's the Toxic Tour -- and if it doesn't sound like fun, that's the point. It's intended to show participants -- mostly school groups -- what happens when a largely poor, minority population lives on a swath of land containing 325 toxic sites." You can read Heather's complete story here.

Herein lies the real story:

The Hunters Point - Bayview community is largely African-American. We seldom hear much good news coming out of the Bayview or Hunters Point. San Francisco's leading African-Americans seem to be centered in other parts of the City. Willie Brown, for example, is associated with luxurious apartments, the grandeur of City Hall, and if we go back far enough, to the New Chicago Barber Shop on Fillmore where he used to hang out as a young and promising politician. Reverend Cecil Williams is another San Francisco leader who is both African-American and not generally associated with the Bayview - Hunter's Point. When we think of Cecil, we think of Glide in the Tenderloin, his home out near Twin Peaks, and Cecil's legendary meetings at Glide with people like Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu, Sharon Stone and Maya Angelou.

It seems the only time we hear about a particular African-American from Hunter's Point or the Bayview is when the news story is associated with gang membership, crime at a public housing project, semi-automatic weapons fire, cold-blooded murder, baggy-panted young men selling crack cocaine and meth in front of run-down corner liquor stores that are owned by people who claim they have no idea what is going on around them, and even one case of a San Francisco police officer being shot and killed at point-blank range by a young African-American man brandishing an assault rifle ... all in the Bayview and Hunter's Point.

Now, that's not an entirely accurate picture of the Bayview or Hunter's Point. There are a lot of non-profit organizations that are doing a lot of work to turn that community around. The Third Street Light Rail project is complete and it promises to connect the BV-HP to the rest of the City on several levels. There are churches in the BV-HP that are full of very good, very fine, very wonderful people. Unfortunately most of those people are old and getting older. Too many young people are following a different call, a call that will lead eventually to their incarceration, death or both. The last thing the struggling and honorable people of BV-HP need is more bad publicity.

So, let's balance things out a bit. In addition to a tour showing students the hundreds of toxic sites in the middle of a minority residential neighborhood, let's put those students back on the bus after the tour and drive them to Pacific Heights. Park the bus near Dianne Feinstein and Larry Ellison's mansions. Let's show the students what a wonderful job the City does of keeping the streets spotless and the trees and bushes trimmed. It all looks so ... Stepford Wives.

Then it's back on the bus for a quick trip down the hill where the students would meet with Mayor Newsom and Board President Peskin in the grand gold-leafed opulence of our City Hall. Give the students an opportunity to let Newsom and Peskin explain why the poor African-American people live in the middle of 300-plus toxic waste dumps while the rich white people get to live in beautiful big houses on the top of a magnificent and spectacularly coiffed hill.

Actually, I'd like to have an explanation myself!

When's the next tour?

Courtesy of Google Blogoscoped:

Google invited students to use to come up with (now more properly called Climate Change) One of the ideas makes it as , Google says. Among the ideas:

• “Require companies to limit the amount of packaging an item can have and it must be recyclable.”
• “Teach recycling techniques in classes and school-wide programs.”
• “Put light sensors in all office and school buildings so all lights go off when the rooms are empty.”
• “Unplug all electronics from the wall when they’re not in use.”
• “Use solar panels in the construction of new homes and office buildings.”
• “Use less electricity, turn off the TV, read books, walk, run, bike, surf, play tennis.”
• “Enforce laws about littering.”

On a related note, has been released on DVD.

The painting on the right shows a group of Ohlone people at Mission Dolores.

Some of us who proudly wear the name, San Franciscan, came to this City a few years ago and some a decade or two ago. Others of us have roots that go back to the days of the Gold Rush and the real 49ers. I am in the latter category, but we must all temper our pride of ownership when the Ohlone are mentioned. Only the Ohlone can lay claim to San Francisco as their native home. The rest of us all came here from someplace else.

This past week was our week to gather with our families and friends and enjoy a meal of thanksgiving for everything life has given us. It is regretfully easy to focus on the negatives. They are all around us, but here in San Francisco the positive things of life far outshine all the rest.

San Francisco is so many wonderful things to so many different people from so many differing points of view. It would be a massive project to begin listing them all. Instead I want to go directly to the point and thank the people who shared this wonderful collection of 43 hills, gently rolling sand dunes, a stunning bay and a long sandy ocean beach. The people who first shared San Francisco with us are the Ohlone people. Only the Ohlone are real, original San Franciscans.

The rest of us are recent arrivals, relatively speaking, of course. Many of us came from China, and those mostly from Guangdong (Canton), and in later years, from Hong Kong. For more information on historic Chinese San Franciscans and early Chinese Californians click here and here.

Others of us came up along the Mission Trail with the brown-robbed Franciscan friars in the later 1700's. Franciscans are still in San Francisco and you can learn more about them here and here. You can read about San Francisco's oldest building, built by the Franciscans in 1776, before this nation was founded, by following this link and this link. Today the descendants of early Mexican settlers have built the thriving Sunny Mission District we all know and love.

In the 1800's there were ship-loads of Irish and Scots and Englishmen to arrive at San Francisco. Many of them became the merchants, politicians, police officers (and also most of the crooks) of early San Francisco.

Also in the 1800s came the Fishermen. They came from Sicily and Italy. Most of them built the type of tiny Monterey fishing boats familiar to them in the Mediterranean and they began a tradition of family fishing that would eventually give rise to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

In the 19th century many Jews came to San Francisco and their contributions are seen by us every day of our lives. Jewish merchants, bankers, investors and professionals began to change San Francisco from the wild Barbary Coast to a civilized and mature city. Many of our City's greatest institutions were begun by Jewish patrons. More recently, there are more than 200,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union, many of them elderly, who live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Until the disgraceful relocation policy during the Second World War there was a thriving Japantown. Sadly, it was never able to return to its former size and prominence. The same story holds true for the African-American community. Fillmore Street, not Market Street or Powell or Broadway, was the place to go on a Saturday night for a great night of first-class entertainment and fun.

During the 1930's, 40's, 50's and through the 60's a weekend on might allow you to bump into Isaac Stern, Maya Angelou, Mel Blanc, Alan Ginsberg, Bill Graham, John Handy, The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan and Willie Brown (who used to hang out at the New Chicago Barber Shop).

The magic that made Fillmore so inviting to so many world-class entertainers was provided by the African-American business owners and entrepreneurs along Fillmore Street. One of the great social questions of the twentieth-century, of course, is what happened to the influence of those African American leaders and how did their community deteriorate into the Bayview - Hunters Point and the Western Addition we see today.

However ... before us all ... there were the Ohlone people, the Original San Franciscans. We would have no San Francisco to love and cherish today were it not for their original hospitality.

To all California's native people and most particularly to the Ohlone, Muwekma and Coastanoan people I take this opportunity this Thanksgiving Weekend to say THANK YOU for sharing this stunningly beautiful and truly magnificent place with us all.

Story tools:
Ohlone & Coastanoan Information
Muwekma Ohlones
California Native American Heritage Commission
Ohlone (Wikipedia)
UC Berkeley - City of Oakland's Ohlone site
Ohlone Education Project
Walk in the Marsh: Ohlones and the Environment
Ohlone Canoe in San Francisco

November 22, 1963

Those of us alive at the time distinctly remember where we were and what we were doing at the moment we heard the news that the President of the United States had been shot.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m. CST. The President was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.

Because of the passing years it has become just a part of American history. To me it is the loss of a living person, someone I deeply respected, and someone I was once very, very fortunate to have personally met as a school boy.

Rest in Peace, Mr. President.


To learn more about President John F. Kennedy please visit any or all of the following links:

Biography of JFK by The White House

The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

JFK Inaugural Address, Friday, January 20, 1961

Arlington National Cemetery, JFK grave

Kennedy's We choose go to the Moon speech

JFK Assassination Records Collection

NASA: JFK's decision to go to the Moon

Republicans complain often that Democrats ran against President Bush in this month's general election. They accuse the Democrats of having no clear plan on Iraq. Some of their criticism was well founded, but no more!

Enter Barack Obama, U. S. Senator from Illinois, the man who may very likely occupy the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the near future.

Yesterday, Senator Obama delivered a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on how America can move forward in Iraq. In his comprehensive plan, he spoke about beginning a phased redeployment of American troops, increased training of Iraqi troops and engaging other Middle East countries who do not want to see a security vacuum in Iraq filled with chaos, terrorism, refugees and violence.

"...A few Tuesdays ago, the American people embraced this seriousness with regards to America's policy in Iraq. Americans were originally persuaded by the President to go to war in part because of the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and in part because they were told that it would help reduce the threat of international terrorism.

"Neither turned out to be true. And now, after three long years of watching the same back and forth in Washington, the American people have sent a clear message that the days of using the war on terror as a political football are over. That policy-by-slogan will no longer pass as an acceptable form of debate in this country. "Mission Accomplished," "cut and run," "stay the course" - the American people have determined that all these phrases have become meaningless in the face of a conflict that grows more deadly and chaotic with each passing day - a conflict that has only increased the terrorist threat it was supposed to help contain."

Story tools:
Barack Obama: Our Best Hope Since JFK
Audacity of Hope: Barack Obama
Barack Obama's web site
Senator Obama's government web site

Makeshift Submarine With Cocaine Seized

The U.S. Coast Guard, assisted by the Costa Rican Servicio de Guardacostas (coast guard) and Colombian national police, seized a makeshift submarine carrying 3.5 tons of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean off Isla del Coco (Coco Island) on Sunday.

The photo shows the submarine after its capture.

On board were four people: two Colombians, one Guatemalan and a man believed to be from Africa.

The submarine appeared to be a makeshift vessel unlike military submarines or those used by oceanographers. The 45-foot-long vessel was found last Wednesday near the remote island, southwest of the mainland, and had traveled hundreds of miles from Colombia on its way to the United States.

Because part of the vessel was submerged, it made it more difficult for authorities to detect the drugs and the materials used in its construction made it invisible to satellites.

This would be nothing more than a cute story for a Monday morning were it not for the seriousness of the implications involved with this story. If four common drug smugglers could acquire a working submarine, take it across the open open sea and use it to transport 3.5 tons of cargo, then it should be shockingly clear to us here in San Francisco that something similar, but more sinister could happen here.

The Scenario:

Four terrorists acquire a similar submarine. The subs are obviously not that difficult to get. The terrorists carefully load 3.5 tons of high-explosives into the submarine and bring it into San Francisco Bay. What do they blow up with the explosives?

Well, let your imagination run through the lists of possibilities. There is the Golden Gate Bridge, a commuter ferry packed with people, the oil loading docks at Point Richmond, a cruise ship bringing thousands of people to San Francisco, a tanker loaded with gasoline slowly moving out under the Golden Gate Bridge, or, maybe they would just park the sub on top of the BART tube and let it blow - suicide bombers extraordinaire.

The capture of that submarine in Puerto Rico is a very serious event. It is not just an isolated news story about something that happened far away. Make absolutely no mistake about it. It can happen here.

There is one thin blue line that protects us from this kind of disaster. It is the United Sates Coast Guard. The next time you see a USGC vessel in the bay, know that they are the thin line protecting us. We need to do whatever we can do as San Franciscans to support the men and women of the United States Coast Guard.

We need to encourage Speaker Pelosi and Senators Feinstein and Boxer to do everything within their (considerable) power to increase Coast Guard strength in the San Francisco Bay Area. We as a nation also need to provide an employment package for Coast Guard recruits that will attract the brightest and best America has to offer.

Most importantly we need to bring an end to the childish, silly, moronic dislike many of my fellow San Franciscans feel for the military. It is not the military that is at fault with what's going on in the world. It is the goddam jackass in the White House.

Let's keep the facts clear. The military, and most importantly for us here on San Francisco Bay, the Coast Guard, is the one force on earth that can save our butts when all hell breaks loose. Remember that!

This December 1st a new law in San Francisco will take effect. It is the first law of its kind for any city or state in the United States and it prohibits the manufacture, sale or distribution of toys and child care products if they contain the phthalates DEHP, DBP or BBP in levels higher than 0.1 percent.

Phthalates are used in the manufacturing process to soften polyvinyl chloride products such as toys, raincoats, shower curtains and medical tubing. They are found in upholstery, detergents, oils and cosmetics. Lab animal studies show some phthalates interfere with hormonal systems, disrupt testosterone production and cause malformed sex organs. The DEHP form is a carcinogen and a reproductive toxicant. Making matters worse, phthalates leach from products containing them.

As of December 1st products for children younger than 3 are banned in San Francisco if they contain DINP, DIDP or DnOP in levels exceeding 0.1 percent. Phthalates are used by BASF Corp., Eastman Chemical Co., ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and Ferro Corp.

The new law also bans Bisphenol A which acts as building block in hard, clear polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, water bottles and containers. It is used as liners inside food and drink cans, electronic equipment and spray-on flame retardants. The new San Francisco law prohibits manufacture, sale or distribution of a toy or child care article intended for use by a child younger than 3 if it contains bisphenol A.

Some toymakers have filed law suits to block the new law, but even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits that its own guidelines -- called reference doses -- for safe human exposure to the chemicals are decades old and don't take into account the new research. The Food and Drug Administration, which controls chemicals that may touch food, and Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is responsible for toy safety, haven't limited the chemicals in baby products for many years and their data is woefully outdated.

Jeff Holzman, CEO of New York-based Goldberger Doll Manufacturing Company, gave the San Francisco Chronicle a statement that raises the bar in corporate double-speak, "The U.S. government has always felt that what's in the marketplace is perfectly safe for the consumer." Then he added, "Be that as it may, if there's a question, all the products that we make will be made without phthalates by 2007." Read the full San Francisco Chronicle story here.

San Francisco alone has taken the initiative.

Those of us who are lucky enough to live in San Francisco sometimes take our good fortune for granted. I do not want this to be one of those moments.

Thank you to the members of our San Francisco Board of Supervisors and to Mayor Gavin Newsom for again putting our City out in front of the rest of the nation. This time San Francisco, a City that sometimes takes criticism for not protecting the sort of family values right-wingers often babble about, is today right on the tip of the cutting edge of child safety protection.

Job very well done!

Mayor Gavin Newsom seemed to be furious at the surprise announcement by John York that he intends to take his 49ers football team out of San Francisco and relocate to Santa Clara. At this point it looks like the 49ers are a loss to us. Along with it our future Summer Olympics hopes are dashed.

BUT ... hold the presses!

Transcontinental Inc. announced this morning it has just signed a 15-year contract with Hearst Corporation to print the San Francisco Chronicle. Luc Desjardins, president and CEO of Transcontinental said his company intends to invest more than $200 million in a new state-of-the-art printing plant that will produce more than 400,000 daily copies of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The question of the day is this: In what city will Transcontinental invest $200 million? In what city will Transcontinental employees work? Will it be San Francisco or will we lose this deal along with the 49ers and the Olympics?

We need to call, email, write and knock on Mayor Newsom's door and the members of the Board of Supervisors and do everything within our power to encourage the Mayor to pull out all the stops, cancel the vacations, authorize overtime, dig into the City's development funds and do absolutely everything humanly possible to get Transcontinental to build, work and live in San Francisco.

We're losing the 49ers and with them the Olympic dream will fizzle out. We really, really need the Transcontinental deal in San Francisco. Let's make this a very high priority and go after it with a vengeance.


Story links:

Trancontinental Inc.
Trancontinental's Press Release about the deal
Hearst Corporation


Key Person Contact Information:

Jake Brennan
Media Relations Coordinator
Transcontinental Inc.
Telephone:


Paul Luthringer
VP Communications
Hearst Corporation
Telephone:

www.hearst.com

Mayor Gavin Newsom
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:

Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development
City Hall, Room 448
1 Dr. Carlton B.Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Web: www.sfgov.org/moewd


Board of Supervisors Contact Information:

Michela Alioto-Pier
District 2



Tom Ammiano
District 9



Chris Daly
District 6



Bevan Dufty
District 8



Sean Elsbernd
District 7



Fiona Ma
District 4
(Note: Fiona Ma was elected a Member of the California State Assembly from District 12 and will take office in January. Her successor will be Ed Jew)



Sophie Maxwell
District 10



Jake McGoldrick
District 1



Ross Mirkarimi
District 5



Aaron Peskin - Board President
District 3



Gerardo Sandoval
District 11

This just in from the Internal Revenue Service's IRS Newswire:

WASHINGTON — An average refund of $963 is waiting for 95,746 taxpayers whose refund checks have been returned to the Internal Revenue Service as undeliverable.

The checks, worth a total of $92.2 million, can be claimed as soon as their owners update their addresses with the IRS. In some cases, a taxpayer has more than one check waiting.

“Every year, many taxpayers miss their refunds because they move without notifying the IRS or Postal Service of a change of address,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. "For those missing their check, the IRS is making it easier than ever for taxpayers to update their information and claim their refunds."

Taxpayers can use the "Where's My Refund?" feature on the home page of the IRS.gov Web site to learn the status of their refunds. To use it, a taxpayer must enter a Social Security number, filing status (such as single or married filing jointly) and the refund amount shown on the taxpayer’s 2005 tax return. When the information is submitted, “Where’s My Refund?” will display the status of a refund and, in some cases, provide instructions on how to resolve potential account issues.

Taxpayers can access a telephone version of “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-.

How to Update an Address with the IRS

Refund checks can go astray for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a life change results in a change of address. When a taxpayer moves or changes address and fails to notify the IRS or the U.S. Postal Service, a check sent to the taxpayer’s last known address is returned to the IRS.

“Where’s My Refund?” now has an online mailing address update feature for taxpayers whose refund checks were returned to IRS. If an undeliverable check was originally issued within the past 12 months, the taxpayer will be prompted online to provide an updated mailing address.

The address update feature is only available to taxpayers using the Web version of “Where’s My Refund?” Taxpayers with undelivered refund checks who access “Where’s My Refund?” by phone will receive instructions on next steps. Individuals whose refunds were not returned to IRS as undeliverable cannot update their mailing addresses through the “Where’s My Refund?” service.

A taxpayer can also ensure the IRS has his or her correct address by filing Form 8822, Change of Address. Download the form from IRS.gov or request it by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-).

Those who do not have access to the Internet and think they may be missing a refund should first check their records or contact their tax preparer, then call the IRS toll-free assistance line at 1- to update their address.

Direct Deposit Can Put an End to Lost Refunds

To put an end to undelivered refunds, taxpayers can take advantage of Direct Deposit. Taxpayers who choose this service receive their refunds directly into a personal checking or savings account. Direct Deposit, which also guards against theft or lost refund checks, is available for filers of both paper and electronic returns.

Important links:

Where's My Refund

IRS Change of Address, Form 8822

IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service

Contact Your Local IRS Office

Subscribe to the IRS Newswire here

If you are experiencing tax problems, owe the IRS more money than you can afford to pay, or, if you are being hounded by the IRS, your best bet is to talk to a local attorney who is a tax specialist. Most such attorneys (at least the ethical ones) will offer you a free legal consultation. During the consultation you can reasonably expect to have your pertinent legal questions answered, learn what options are available to you and benefit from a game-plan being developed for your particular needs. After the consultation you should be under no obligation of any kind and free to go elsewhere or, if so inclined, retain the firm.

Following is a list of links to selected San Francisco attorneys specializing in tax law:

Robert L. Goldstein

Harry Oliver II

Brown and Davidson

Martin Schanebaum

Henry Glasser

Wendy Abkin

George Argyris

William Hutton

San Francisco Bay Area Falun Gong practitioners have sent out a mass letter Monday evening to much of the San Francisco legal community. Attorneys and law firms received faxed letters that overtly accused San Francisco business consultant Rose Pak of hate crimes.

What!

This has got to be one of the most stupendous blunders yet by Falun Gong. I don't have anything against Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) other than they seem to have a penchant for doing inappropriate things at inappropriate times. They seem to totally lack the finesse necessary to maneuver within professional American society. Their dealings with the San Francisco political, professional and business community reveal significant failure on the part of Falun Gong to do the research necessary and learn the professional, appropriate and polished way to communicate their political objectives. Falun Gong suffers from a deep and basic ignorance of American municipal politics.

Simply put: they are clueless.

This latest Falun Gong diatribe begins with this self-incriminating sentence: "On behalf of Falun Gong practitioners in the Bay Area, we are writing to you requesting assistance on current and possible future civil rights legal cases in which Falun Gong practitioners are victims of discrimination and hate crimes by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and its consultant, Rose Pak."

Wow, talk about sinking your own ship!

It was a colorful picture. More than 150 tiny crab boats set out through the Golden Gate yesterday to begin the 2006 crab season.

Today Fisherman's Wharf is bustling with activity as thousands of pounds of fresh Dungeness crab are unloaded from the colorful boats. Some find their way quickly into the sidewalk pots of boiling water that made Fisherman's Wharf one the the world's most popular tourist destinations. Most of the fresh Dungeness crab, however, will go to one of the major fish processors and then be airlifted to markets around the world.

Want to know more about this most magical time of the year in San Francisco? Explore the following links. Bon apetit!

Alioto-Lazio Fish Company, San Francisco

Fisherman's Wharf

Wikipedia article on Dungeness Crab

California Dungeness Crab

Victor Scargle's Dungeness Crab Salad with Avocado Mousse

Dungeness Crab: Pride of the West Coast Fleet

Oceans Alive: Dunegeness Crab

President George Bush wants San Francisco to lose $10 million to $24 million in federal AIDS money. His proposal will strip the Ryan White Care Act of $50 million from California over the next five years and send the money to the rural South.

Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, whose state would lose $78 million under the Bush plan, have vowed to pull out all stops and do everything possible to defeat the Bush plan. Both our own senators, DiFi and BB, will also be right on the frontlines and in the thick of the fight.

This is the first battle for Speaker Pelosi in the new Democratic Congress and it is a sign of titanic struggles to come as the White House continues to try and force the Bush-Cheney-Rove collective will on the American public. For a sneak peak into the future and of what we can expect, the best read in town is A New Direction for America.

A New Direction for America advances the right priorities – to make our nation safer and our economy fairer; to make health care and college more affordable; to energize America with energy independence; and to guarantee a dignified retirement for all Americans. These initiatives – the product of a united Democratic House Caucus working together with Senate Democrats - are our Democratic priorities for the 109th Congress.

A New Direction for America is a fascinating look at the immediate future written by the House Democrats of the 109th Congress under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi. I recommend it highly. Open the book directly in Adobe acrobat .pdf format and save it to your hard drive by following this link.

To receive email updates on the document and the progress of the House democrats sign-up for email briefings through Speaker Pelosi's Office by following this link.

If John York moves the San Francisco 49ers to Santa Clara, when all the dust has settled from the announcement, let's make this one point emphatically clear: the name "San Francisco" stays here!

York said the name of the team would still bear the words "San Francisco" even after a permanent move to Santa Clara. Wrong! York can call the team the 49ers or anything else he chooses (the Google Goons, the Oracle Linux Loonies or the Santa Clara Cow Bells). The choice is entirely his to make ... but he has no right to use the name of the City and County of San Francisco after he moves the team out of the City.

Hopefully Mayor Newsom will direct City Attorney Dennis Herrera to let York know that the value of our City's name is not available to him for misuse. So, listen John York: If you want to go, then go, but our name stays here!

Have you ever walked along the waterfront just south of the Giants Ballpark? If you continue the stroll you will come to Pier 70, where the drydock is located. In the 1880s the Union Iron Works plant occupied most of the dock area from Steamboat Curve (where ATT Park is located today) and up to Pier 70.

In 1885 Union Iron Works launched the first ship built at the facility. It was the Arago and it was the first steel hulled ship built anywhere along the Pacific Rim. Later, the shipyard built one of the most famous American naval vessels of the Spanish-American War, Admiral Dewey's flagship, the USS Olympia. The Olympia was never scrapped and has been preserved as a museum ship in Philadelphia. Today the USS Olympia is the oldest steel ship in the world. Visit the Olympia's web site here.

In 1898 the ferry Berkeley was built at the Union Iron Works shipyard at Pier 70. The Berkeley is an 1898 steam ferryboat that operated for 60 years on San Francisco Bay. The Berkeley is both a California State Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. The Berkeley is still afloat and is on permanent display at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

In 1901 President McKinley came out West to San Francisco to officiate at a ceremonial "launch" of the battleship, USS Ohio (BB-12). Although the ship was ceremoniously "launched", it was really not completed and actually launched from Pier 70 until 1904.

During World War I the shipyard, then known as Bethlehem Steel's San Francisco Shipyard, became one of the most productive naval warship builders in the country. Between 1917 and 1924 the San Francisco Shipyard built 66 Destroyers and 18 submarines for the United States Navy.

During the Second World War more than 10,000 workers at the yards built 36 Destroyers, 5 "Liberty Ship" cargo ships, 4 cruisers, 12 Destroyer Escorts, 4 transport lighters and 11 self-propelled lighters. A "lighter" is a naval term for a barge.

The last warship built at the San Francisco Shipyard was the USS Bradley (DE-1041). It was commissioned in 1965. Her first deployment to the Western Pacific between July and December 1966 included four months of gunfire support along the coast of South Vietnam and carrier escort duty in the Gulf of Tonkin. In 2001 the USS Bradley was decommissioned and sold to Brazil. On March 11, 2004, the Bradley (renamed the Pernambuco by the Brazilian Navy) was placed in their reserve fleet. Visit the USS Bradley Association web site here.

Though shipbuilding had come to an end, the yard continued to build large barges well into the seventies. In the 1960's the yard had a major contract to built the steel tubes that today rest beneath San Francisco Bay and carry speeding BART trains to and from the East Bay. In 1967, 57 sections, each 325 feet long and weighing 800 tons, were fabricated at the yard.

Today, BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair continues the ship repair business on land leased from the Port of San Francisco. One of the largest repair facilities on the west coast, it can handle ships of almost any size, including very large cruise ships. Over 175 union shipworkers are employed here on an average working day.

For an excellent history of Pier 70, please visit this website site developed by Ralph Wilson, a San Franciscan who has been exploring and photographing in the Pier 70 area for many years. He is a member of the Citizens Advisory Group for Pier 70 which provides input to the Port of San Francisco regarding development of this part of the waterfront.

Today is Veteran's Day. Around San Francisco it is very easy to miss this important holiday all together. It is politically incorrect to celebrate Veteran's Day in San Francisco (with the exception of our Veteran's Day Parade).

Well, please allow me to be the thorn in everyone's sides. I am a San Franciscan. My family first came here in 1849. I'm almost 60 years old now. I am about as far left as San Franciscans get when it comes to politics and I am solidly a Democratic Party loyalist. I'm gay, in a California Domestic Partnership relationship and I have a long record of paying my dues to the LGBT civil rights movement. BUT ... I am a veteran and I very proudly served my country in the United States Army. I support our troops, I support our military and I support America's veterans.

To all my fellow veterans and most particularly to all the wonderful, courageous, magnificent men and women heroes who are serving the United States in Iraq, I offer you this deepest, most sincere message of gratitude and support.

And to those of you who hate the military, disrespect our nation's veterans and ignore this precious, important national holiday I have one simple message: This is Veterans's Day, slime ball, so crawl back under your rock. This is OUR day!

HOOAH!

The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) is a San Francisco public-policy think tank. It's purpose is to promote sensible civic planning in San Francisco. It tends to be a bit more conservative on some issues than the main progressive Democratic driving force behind San Francisco politics, but definitely left of most of its counterparts in other U.S. cities.

SPUR was formed in 1959 in an attempt to save San Francisco as the Bay Area's central city. SPUR has been directly involved with every major planning decision in the City. SPUR likes to bring together neighborhood leaders, government officials, business leaders, planners, architects, students, and community activists to debate, learn, and plan for the needs of the city as a whole. SPUR offers an active lecture series and policy papers that are well researched.

This coming Monday SPUR will host its annual Silver Spur Awards Luncheon that is billed as a "truly remarkable annual event - one that defies all political, cultural and class boundaries in a show of support for our City and for SPUR, the organization dedicated to San Francisco's future." Although that tag line sounds a bit too much like something taken from a Barnum & Bailey Circus program, it at least speaks to the fact that someone associated with SPUR thinks it's the cat's meow.

I am not a SPUR member, but I believe I will dig into my wallet and pay the dues so I can become a member. It sounds like an interesting place for a San Franciscan to be.

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA) has humiliated itself and done a great disservice to its membership. The Association does not want to honor the clearly-stated wishes of the San Francisco electorate. They do not want to pay their employees for sick days, even though nearly 62% of the voting citizens of San Francisco want it otherwise. (See Proposition F - Paid Sick Leave results here)

For the full story on the GGRA plan to file suit to stop their employees from getting sick pay, read the San Francisco Chronicle article here.

The GGRA has more nerve than a gunfighter.

To the GGRA: Haven't you half-wits in the restaurant business realized that it is in everybody's best interest not to have sneezy, runny-nosed, coughing workers in your kitchens? What the hell is wrong with you?

Don't you have any common sense at all?

Stop being so goddam cheap. Pay the people who work their buns off to keep your restaurant patrons happy. Pay them when they are sick and cannot come to work. If you don't pay them for sick days, they will have to show up for work anyway, because most of you penny-pinchers keep your workers on a part-time schedule to avoid giving them any benefits and pay them the lowest wages you can get by paying. You're cheap!

Now you want your cooks, waiters, bussers and dishwashers to come to work with infectious colds and viruses just because you want to stuff more money in the pockets of your fat asses.

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association should be thoroughly and completely ashamed of itself.

Want to tell the Association what you think of them? Be my guest. Here are three email addresses for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association:





Read them the riot act!

A memorial gathering will be held in San Francisco tomorrow, Saturday, November 11th, for renowned Bay Area AIDS activist and generally sweet guy, Jeff Getty, who died last month at the age of 49 after a very long and amazing struggle with the disease.

Before antiviral drug combinations were used successfully by AIDS patients, Getty grabbed national attention in December 1995 for becoming the first person ever to receive a bone marrow cell transfusion from one species to another. His transplant at San Francisco General Hospital used cells taken from a baboon, with the hope that the primate’s natural AIDS resistance would take root in his own system.

“That trial reflects the level of desperation at the time,” said Dr. Steven Deeks, the University of California, San Francisco, professor who was the experiment’s lead investigator. “Jeff was just hanging on to his life. He inspired us that a risky and aggressive intervention was worth trying.”

While the baboon bone marrow cells quickly disappeared from his system, Getty’s health seemed to dramatically improve. He went on help pave the way for the drug cocktail HAART — or highly active antiretroviral therapy — that routinely keeps many HIV and AIDS patients alive today.

“He is emblematic of a whole group of men who survived AIDS in the early 1980s and 1990s, and made it into the HAART era, but had developed so much resistance to the drugs that they never got their virus fully under control,” Deeks said.

Fierce activist

Since being diagnosed with AIDS in the days when the disease still was known as “the gay cancer,” Getty was a fierce activist, volunteering to test experimental drugs, getting thrown in jail for protesting against pharmaceutical companies and even throwing a coffin on a hospital lawn to demand organ transplants for patients.

“He was the bravest of the brave. He was committed to getting results, even where it was clear that it wouldn’t help him,” said state Sen. Carole Migden, who worked with Getty when she was an Assembly member.

"He helped save my life" ... Larry Kramer

"He helped save my life. It's a gratitude that's just there inside me forever,'' said New York playwright Larry Kramer, who underwent a successful liver transplant in 2001.

Getty died of heart failure after chemotherapy for cancer on Oct. 9 at Hi-Desert Medical Center in the San Bernardino County town of Joshua Tree, where he had lived since 2002.

The Memorial this Saturday (tomorrow) at 10 AM

The memorial program will be held at 10 a.m., tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 11 at the San Francisco LGBT Center, 1800 Market St. The public is warmly invited. For more information call the Center at .