Noe Valley SF reports that the Noe Street Plaza has been shot down in favor of the small parklets that have been going up around the city.  Even though this isn't entirely Dufty's fault and he's clearly going to receive the majority of the blame, the whole escapade demonstrates his inability to lead.  During a recent community meeting on the subject, Dufty could not control the floor and let screaming neighbors run the show.  The net effect of this failure was the “compromise” that was just reached in Noe Valley:

We are excited to report that of all the different ideas talked about over the past few months, Parklets on 24th Street have gained the most support in Noe Valley (a survey at the June 30th workshop, for example, demonstrated 3 to 1 support for this proposal). Parklets do not affect traffic circulation and instead use two parking spaces to build out a deck for landscaping, tables and chairs, and other pedestrian elements (see sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org for images of Parklets in other parts of town). If all goes to plan, we would like to add two Parklets along 24th Street this Fall. We will be working with the merchant community to identify the most suitable locations but it is important to note that these spaces will be open and free to use by anyone. As in all Pavement to Parks projects, these Parklets will be trial and closely monitored for success. If they do not work out, they will be removed.

So basically a bunch of whiny car drivers derailed what would have been a positive addition to Noe Valley.  Instead, we'll get a place were people briefly hang out then move along (given my experience with the parklet on 22nd, it is not a comfortable space to spend any more time than it takes to eat a slice of pizza).  Oh, and it will probably be removed when people complain about losing parking spaces.

This is the second massive failure we're seen in the past 6 months from the Supervisor's office.  He largely punted the Dolores Park renovation outrage and presided over another joke of a public meeting on that subject.  Worst of all, he promised there would be a followup meeting in June to discuss planning for the Dolores Park renovations.  That meeting never occurred.

A man who cannot control crowds and show leadership on important, divisive issues does not deserve to be our mayor.  The fact he even considers himself qualified is shocking.

I applaud your self-esteem Bevan, but why don't you sit this one out so we don't have to endure another 4 years of incompetence.

For once, I mostly agree with Bill O'Reilly:

Maybe I'm alone here, but the shit that's been going down at City Hall lately is so profoundly embarrassing that it makes me want to deny living here.  In an effort to legislate for headlines rather than solve issues, the city recently banned soda from public vending machines and is currently considering banning pet sales because there are too many abandoned hamsters at the SFPCA.  Look Gavin, I know you blew your way through college and you're pretty much just winging this gig as mayor, so let me help you out a little bit.

The city has some real problems, like a huge budget deficit that our already ludicrous tax-rate can't balance.  And that it's goddamn impossible to find condoms on the 23rd St. Walgreens*.  However, Gavin is generally more concerned with addressing the negative externalities of capitalism than running the city.  How can we solve these problems at the same time?  Taxes.

This graph should actually mean something to a politician.  Sadly, Gavin is a talentless jackass in a suit.

Basically, what Gavin is trying to address is that a hamster may cost $25 at Petco, but it costs society additional money because SFPCA needs to care for the animals/toss them in zee ovens.  There are a few ways to handle this problem:

1. Criminalization: makes you look tough for your campaign for higher office, but doesn't do jack shit (how hard is it to buy drugs?)  In these cases, people will just ride the BART to buy pets or buy soda from a bodega.
2. Lawsuits: sue the pants off companies hurting America.  Generally just makes lawyers rich and slaps wrists.
3. Taxation: artificially raises the cost of goods with negative social effects to lower consumption of said goods while raising revenue for the government/regulatory agencies/the NSA's porn addiction.

What am I getting at here?  If our elected officials even had the faintest idea as to what they were doing (read: qualified individuals were elected for office, as opposed to windbags like Chris Daly), they would cease making the city look like it is governed by a left-wing idealist version of Sharia law and begin taxing the things that hurt our society.  Too many hamsters being euthanized?  Put a tax on hamster sales, thus encouraging people to adopt while simultaneously raising funds for the SFPCA.  Too many fat kids drinking soda?  Tax soda sales within city limits and use the money to fund healthy lunches in school cafeterias.

In short, stop running for Lt. Governor and try to fix the city.

* okay, that last one isn't a problem for City Hall.

(video hat tip to SF Citizen)

(Photo via Governor Schwarzenegger's Twitter)

The Governator welcomed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to San Francisco earlier this evening.  I'm kinda disappointed they didn't send Ivan Drago (HE MUST BREAK YOU).  Also disappointed that Arnie, with all his action cred, didn't do anything to stop this Red Invasion.  

According to SF Appeal, the Russians are after San Francisco's most valuable natural resource… Twitter.   Leave it to Gavin to quickly become collaborator #1 in the Russian Occupation of SF; he'll be facilitating Medvedev's access to Twitter HQ  tomorrow, where they will undoubtedly steal all our tweets for study and dissection back at ChatRoulette Labs.  

Avenge Me!  WOLVERINES!!!

Q: If Red Dawn took place in the Mission today, what would be the name of our youth based resistance cell?

• Trustafarian Terrors
• Fauxhemian Fangs
• The Blue Ribbons
• …?

(photo by Thomas Hawk)