The day that is dedicated to Christopher Columbus is still a holiday in San Francisco, although my daughter’s high school properly defines it as Indigenous Peoples Day.
But it means most city business doesn’t happy Monday or Tuesday, as the supes take a recess.
But there are a few things of note going on.
The Planning Commission is meeting in closed session with the city attorney Thursday/12 to discuss the city’s lawsuit against Judy Wu, who illegally converted a dozen Bayview houses into 49 apartments. City Attorney Dennis Herrera wants all of the illegal units removed, which makes sense from the perspective of enforcing the law — but in the process, 15 tenants who did nothing wrong stand to lose their homes.
They are mostly older African American veterans, and there’s not much room in the local housing market for them.
I am told by, as they say, normally reliable sources that the Planning Commission members aren’t eager to force the eviction of those tenants. The issue has been delayed for months, and won’t come back to the commission before November.
In the meantime, this secret meeting. Is it an effort by the city attorney to discourage the commissioners from cutting deal that would somehow legalize the units and keep the tenants in place? Or is there some way to make this work for everyone?
(The city could, of course, fine Wu so heavily that she won’t make any profit at all of the units, but still allow the tenants to stay. Maybe there’s another way to do this, and I hope that’s on the agenda.)
The Police Commission has once again delayed any discussion of Tasers. That suggests that the chief and the backers of the stun guns don’t think they have the votes.
Jon Golinger, political activist and author of the new Bay Guardian book Saving San Francisco’s Heart, will be reading and signing books Tuesday/10 at The Green Arcade, 1680 Market, 7pm. Tom Ammiano calls it “a must read for political junkies of all stripes.” If you can’t make it to Green Arcade, you can order a copy here.
Sup. Norman Yee wants to ban robot deliveries on the sidewalk. I can’t believe this hasn’t already happened.
San Francisco has a habit of waiting until new technologies start creating problems before we even think about regulating them. That’s what allowed Airbnb to wreak havoc on the rental market and allowed Uber and Lyft to screw up the traffic.
Does anyone really think that sending robot along the sidewalk to deliver packages is a good idea right now? With disabled people, strollers, kids, dogs, homeless people and everyone else on the sidewalks, and cars and bikes and pedestrians on the streets?
Well, apparently the Small Business Commission thinks it’s fine, because that agency urged the supes to put this on hold until a working group can study it.
That comes before the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee Wednesday/11.
Thanks for mentioning the sharing tomorrow on robot devices on the sidewalk.
To be fair, the robots are (currently) escorted by workers. I assume they're referring to the Potrero Hill company, at least that's where I've seen robots making deliveries. Definitely think there is a compromise to be made there.
Thanks for the update on Bayview! I live in Dogpatch and work on Van Dyke so glad to know there's movement for the Vets. Hopefully they get to stay. Please keep us updated on how we can help, if we can.
What if there were deliveries by human push carts like grocery deliveries in NYC? Would they also be banned?