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Politics Blog

SEIU 1021 employees authorize strike as its clash with the city goes to arbitration

03.14.13 - 4:19 pm | Steven T. Jones |
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[UPDATE: The two sides reportedly reached a tenative agreement over the weekend]. Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents most city employees in San Francisco, continues to fight both internal and external challenges, with its own staff employees overwhelmingly authorizing a strike just as the union battles the city over pay equity issues.Read more »

Those infuriating private buses

03.14.13 - 2:02 pm | Tim Redmond |
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People in the Mission continue to get more and more angry with the private tech-company buses clogging streets and filling up Muni stops; here's a great photo of two of the behemoths forcing Muni passengers to walk out into the street to catch the bus that is supposed to be at the stop.Read more »

Tough questions asked on America's Cup fundraising shortfall

03.13.13 - 5:53 pm | Rebecca Bowe |
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At a March 13 subcommittee hearing called by Sup. John Avalos, representatives from the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), the America's Cup Organizing Committee (ACOC) and others were called upon to explain why coordinators of the prestigious yacht race have failed to reach projected fundraising targets to defray city costs. If the fundraising goals aren't reached, the city’s General Fund could weather a $13 million hit to cover costs for the sailing event.Read more »

Supervisors approve Western SoMa Plan, rejecting expanded office development

03.12.13 - 4:29 pm | Steven T. Jones |
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The Board of Supervisors today approved the Western South of Market Community Plan, the first step to ending a development moratorium that has been in place since the citizen-based planning process that developed the plan began in 2005, but not before some supervisors made a last-ditch effort to allow more office development and nightlife.Read more »

The 8 Washington shit show

03.12.13 - 2:31 pm | Tim Redmond |
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The latest problem with the 8 Washington condo project emerged March 12 when the Chron reported on a new study that shows construction of the most pricey condos in San Francisco history could threaten a major sewer line that serves a quarter of the city. Read more »

Get your political moving and shaking on

03.12.13 - 1:32 pm | Rebecca Bowe |
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What's happening in the socially conscious Bay Area this week? Well, there's a mass rally Thurs/14 to save City College of San Francisco. There are community organizing meetings, like today's Transgender Month of Action panel co-sponsored by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, San Francisco Pride at Work, and others. Read more »

Poverty among plenty -- and it's getting worse

03.12.13 - 10:32 am | Tim Redmond |
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Check out the news this week:

The Associate Press reports that there are increasing numbers of homeless and poor people in Silicon Valley. The piece almost sounds like something I would write:Read more »

From the Rocketship to Bay Lights, "temporary" is the key that unlocked public art in SF

03.11.13 - 4:22 pm | Steven T. Jones |
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In the wake of The Bay Lights coming on to rave reviews and mesmerized gazes last week, next weekend the Raygun Gothic Rocketship will be taken down from the Pier 14 launch pad it's occupied since 2010, the latest transitions in San Francisco's trend of using temporary public art placements to bypass the protracted, emotional, and expensive battles that once defined the siting of sculptures on public lands in San Francisco.Read more »

Next, the Treasure Island sellout

03.11.13 - 1:43 pm | Tim Redmond |
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Now that he's done such a bang-up job negotiating a deal for the CMPC hospital, leaving the supervisors to clean up the mess, does anyone think that the hurry-up-and-finish-in-time-for-a-China-trip talks with Rose Pak and Willie Brown (who has his own interests here, too) will have Read more »

Labor activist urges “innovation” in workers' rights organizing

03.11.13 - 12:56 pm | Rebecca Bowe |
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Even as renowned labor activist Bill Fletcher Jr. geared up for a talk last Thursday to describe the dire situation he believes the labor movement is facing, local organizers had victories to celebrate.

Fletcher joined organizers from the Filipino Community Center, OUR Walmart, PODER and POWER for a March 7 forum hosted by San Francisco Jobs With Justice, called “Labor at the Crossroads.”Read more »