Newsitem List

After news of an unexpected budget surplus of $137 million hit City Hall, just about every elected representative threw out a proposal for spending it before there was time to blink. Now, as the debate over the competing proposals heats up, it’s important to remember a crucial voice in the process - the people of San Francisco. Budget and Finance Committee Chair Chris Daly has called for an initial public hearing on all proposals March 15, and will hopefully call for a following series of hea...

On Tuesday, February 28, 2006, the City and County of San Francisco became the first large municipality to call for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney, by a 7-3 vote. Supervisors Sean Elsbernd, Michela Alioto-Pier, and Sophie Maxwell cast the dissenting votes (Sup. Jake McGoldrick was absent for the vote). Sup. Chris Daly commenced his introduction of Agenda Item 27 with "I initially thought this ... would be a noncontroversial piece of legislation. Perhaps it still is, maybe...

I wrote on February 24 that the San Francisco Chronicle’s front-page story falsely claiming “momentum” for Governor Schwarzenegger (See “A Bad Week for the Chronicle,” http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=2977#more ) was part of a long running, pro-Arnold disinformation campaign. Further support for this assessment comes in a story in the Sunday, February 26 New York Times, “Schwarzenegger is Forced Into a Political Tightrope Act,” that notes how the Governor is in fact“ politica...

Mayor Gavin Newsom promised that San Francisco will become the first city to provide health care access to all its uninsured residents, some 83,000 people. Speaking at a press briefing held by New America Media for the city’s ethnic media, he said he was taking small steps now by expanding hours at community clinics and enticing patients to spend a small amount of money to receive primary medical services....

Peter Camejo who is planning to formally announce his candidacy to run for Governor of California will speak about his lifetime of activism for social justice and other topics tonight in Berkeley....

On Thursday, February 16, the Rules Committee heard testimony and recommended and voted to send the proposed resolution to the full board for a vote, but not without controversy. Rules Chair Ross Mirkarimi has already spoken for impeachment on more than one occasion; and Tom Ammiano has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration. It was the conservative Sean Elsbernd who voted against the resolution thereby in effect choosing to take the side of the President and Vice President....

Secretary of State McPherson seems to have a thing for making major announcements late on Fridays just before holidays. Following in what seems to be a pattern of his, he announced late this afternoon that he was certifying Diebold Optical Scan and AccuVote TSx (touch-screens) for use in elections in the state....

HUFF, the Human Rights Organization, SAFE, and Housing Now! in Santa Cruz sent two letters to Mayor Cynthia Mathews urging fairer treatment and an end to repressive behavior at City Council. Instead of answering our phone calls and letter, Mathews agreed to meet. The meeting was taped and will be replayed 10 AM Sunday February 19 on Free Radio Santa Cruz. A shorter segment will be played on Thursday evening at 7:30 PM....

On February 13th, Just Us and the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra held a press conference and rally to call attention to Santa Cruz Police Department spying and their investigation clearing themselves of any wrongdoing. Police Auditor Bob Aaronson's rejection of the results of the SCPD’s investigation of its own behavior set the tone for the meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the Santa Cruz City Council. The Committee stated that they were not going to make any decisions until they had a ch...

San Francisco community leaders support Supervisor Daly's resolution at the February 7, 2006, press conference. Ten-minute QuickTime movie. 34MB....