There's never a dull moment!  At our March 3rd kick off for the petition to get a parcel tax for Muni on the ballot, I noticed the very tall formidable body guard for the mayor.  (Guy in foreground)  A few days later it looked as if that body guard had been attacked by someone in the streets of the Tenderloin, but when you see this video, it's clear that the body guard ( Frederick Mello) used incredible force first!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgLoh1VGkzY

The guy Tony Shervaughn Phillips got up and fought back extremeley effectively.  In fact, I think the mayor might want to hire this guy as a body guard.  

 

I think the Mostly British Film Festival is better than ever this year, and I'm grateful to Maxine Einhorn!  This weekend the stand-out films for me were "Tina," which I chose both because a friend drew it to my attention and because I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga, and Tongans and Samoans are very similar in many ways including in their a cappella singing, sometimes featured in this film.  Edna O'Brien was as much "her own person" as the self-sacrificing son in "Four Mothers" was not.  I loved the film in spite of not believing that a son could be that self-sacrificing or a mother that selfish and clueless --unless she was demented, which apparently she was not supposed to be.  It shows a lot about the demands of caregiving.  May we all managed to be grateful for whoever helps us when we can't help ourselves--and may that time not come until after death!

 

Reading Peter Hartlaub’s beautiful and heart-felt defense of SF (Boston radio hosts branding SF as “a zombie apocalypse”), I was grateful both for Peter Hartlaub and a Boston friend now staying in SF who has not failed the empathy test.  In fact,  at the end of his article, Peter Hartlaub says “Start at the Ferry Building….then take a public ferry (anywhere!)”  That’s exactly what my Boston friend suggested when the ferry we had planned to take to Treasure Island February 3^rd had mechanical problems and couldn’t take us there.   It was a toss up at Gate B:  Tiburon or Sausalito.  The ferry to Sausalito came first, and we were aboard it, both happy to explore a bit of Marin and return to the lovely skyline of SF.

 

After Beethoven! presented by Calvary Music & Art,

Patty signed the petition

I see that Chris Larsen is listed first as OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS on the petition to get Connect Bay Area Transit on the ballot. How much did he give?

Chris Larsen is listed as a major early funder for the 

Connect Bay Area Transit initiative, which has raised approximately $3 million to support signature-gathering efforts for the November 2026 ballot. 

While specific individual donation amounts for this exact transit measure are often not broken down in initial news summaries, Larsen's status as the lead "Official Top Funder" on petition disclosures typically indicates he has provided a significant portion of that $3 million total. 

His recent high-profile contributions to other Bay Area and state initiatives include:

• $5 million to Grow California, a political initiative he co-launched in late 2025 to reshape state politics.
• $5 million for the revitalization of the Larkin Street corridor in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
• $9.4 million in combined gifts (including free office space) to create a new technology hub for the San Francisco Police Department.
• $2 million previously donated to support San Francisco shopping districts like Union Square. 

Larsen's support for the transit measure is part of a broader push by regional business leaders and labor groups (including Genentech and SEIU 1021) to secure a long-term sales tax to prevent service cuts for BART, Muni, and Caltrain. 

 

Today was the kickoff for Connect Bay Area, and that was quite an event too!  I planned to get there early, but I couldn't find them on Embarcadero Plaza, where they said we'd meet.  Finally, I noticed a group of people right by the Railway Museum.  It was just about to start, and I hurried into the area, accidentally standing in the lineup of public officials--Mayor Lurie, Scott Wiener, Jesse Arreguin, Myrna Melgar, Barbara Lee,  etc.   (I say "etc.", but I'm not sure all the mayors were there.  Are there some who don't favor this?!  We filled out a form online, checking boxes on what we understood was kosher in soliciting signatures, and then we got a set of petitions to get Connect Bay Area on the ballot.  I took BART back instead of the L-Car deliberately to get signatures, but I was going in the wrong direction--towards the airport!  People from Alabama and other places aren't registered to vote in the Bay Area!  

 

What a celebration City College had for the ground-breaking for the Diego Rivera Performing Arts Center!  This event got the city-wide attention it deserved, and the public who voted for this DRPAC were thanked repeatedly.  

The only surviving person who is in the mural, Donald Cairns, was there!  In the mural, he's depicted as a little boy.  

Alberto Vasquez, the Vice Chancellor for Facilities and Buildings and Grounds, did a great job as MC.  He always seems to keep his warmth and calm--even under pressure, as when he didn't think Mayor Lurie had arrived, then found out he had arrived, and  Alberto had to arrange a photo shoot close to the beginning of the ceremonies.  Fortunately, people stuck around!

Madeline Mueller got honored in many ways including with more than one standing ovation. I thought the talks were good.  Alberto Velasquez spoke and gave the land acknowledgement.  Joaquin Torres, SF Assessor-Recorder, gave a passionate speech about the Americas, immigrants, and Fascists.  The Consul-General of Mexico Marco Antonio Mena Rodriquez. (I'm not sure of the names.  I may correct later.) 

 Almost all of the "entities" at CCSF were represented.  Academic Senate president Katia Fuchs (I think), President of Classified Staff (Michael Snider?)   Rudy Gonzales was there.  But did anyone speak for the AFT2121?  

There was one heckler, when Mayor Lurie was speaking.  I couldn't make out what she was saying and don't know who she was.  

Madeline Mueller provided tiny shovels for us!  I was thrilled to get a bag with souvenirs for serving on the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee.  Trinh Tran presented us members with a sweatshirt with the Diego Rivera Mural of Pan-American Unity on the front and a sleeve saying "Diego Rivera Performing Arts Center."

Do you know who presented Madeline Mueller with the special shovel?  

Here are some photos--too many, I know, but I don't have time to be discriminant!  You'll see the third panel of the mural in the final picture with Donald Cairn, the little boy.  

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/93juhhbi00qsy5peey8nx/AIC7Dzp6hwPs6DDHPEW2M00?rlkey=usdsjt9ie8ic2ipxoq0g4vehl&st=jiez1ntk&dl=0

Joe Garofoli's column on the Billionaire's Tax is a must-read!

 

Joe Garofoli's column on the Billionaire's Tax is a must-read!

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/billionaire-tax-california-state-21297701.php

Here are my favorite points:

The proposed tax on California billionaires would affect about 200 people in a state of nearly 40 million.

For the past four decades, it has been hard to persuade the poorest 99% of Americans to raise taxes on the other 1%. Much of that has to do with a federal campaign finance system that allows the wealthiest Americans — and corporations and labor unions — to give unlimited amounts to candidates. As a result, politicians have been too gutless to tax their biggest donors. 

In California, many Democrats have couched their opposition by arguing the tax would push wealthy entrepreneurs to leave the state, starving the budget of their businesses’ revenues and thus negating the impact of the tax. Experts, however, say that sort of mass billionaire exodus is unlikely. 

Some billionaires, such as Google co-founder Larry Page, did take steps to leave the state before Dec. 31. But some politicians and economists say the billionaires are largely bluffing. Why would they leave? They’ve been making a mint here. A UC Berkeley report on the tax found that “studies of how the super wealthy respond to tax changes find that very few super wealthy residents actually uproot their lives and move due to tax.”  

UC Berkeley economics professor Emmanuel Saez, an adviser on the ballot measure who helped design a wealth tax proposal for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, told me: “Billionaires are a group that has done extraordinarily well in California in recent years.”

“They have over $2 trillion in wealth as of Jan. 1, 2026,” said Saez. “California billionaire wealth grew 30% in 2025, 40% in 2024, 40% in 2023, hence more than doubling in the last three years.”

Saez noted a crucial provision of the tax that makes the argument over a Great Billionaire Flight of 2026 somewhat moot: The proposal would impose the tax based on residence status on Jan. 1, 2026, meaning it’s already too late to move to avoid it. It’s still possible, though, that some would move out of spite.

Saikat Chakrabarti, a House candidate in San Francisco who is worth an estimated $167 million from his time as a founding engineer at Stripe, said that the “mega-rich won’t even feel a one-time 5% wealth tax.  They just got a massive hand-out from Trump.

Et un article précédent souligne que des milliardaires mentent concernant cette proposition de loi:  

 https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/billionaire-tax-ballot-california-21284717.php

San Francisco at Night--Sacramento from Powell

 

I like to have a voice, so I was happy to see my letter to the editor in the SF Chronicle yesterday, January 13, 2026.  But they left out a part about how the billionaires could pay it forward!

 

Yesterday (Sunday, January 11, 2026) I went to the  Ferry Building to participate in a protest against the killing of Renee Nicole Good and thought I was seeing Palestinian flags--though they are red, green, and black.  Instead I found a huge protest by Iranians and Iranian-Americans protesting the regime in Iran, who had shut down the Internet in Iran.  Unfortunately, things are so bad that they're longing for the return of the Shah in the form of his son, Reza Pahlavi, who's still living (in the US), and they're even asking for Trump's help..

I saw a lot of toddlers with iPhones, making it look as if they're celebrating having the Internet here!

I talked to a few of the protesters.  Then I found the group I had been looking for a bit farther west, protesting against Trump.

 

 

Keep Market Street Moving

I've read that since Market Street went car-free in 2020, Muni is running 14% faster, and injury collisions have decreased by 40%.  I have a car, but I really do think taking Muni is the better way to go.  A car is a gated community.  Public transportation is the world, and I like to feel like part of the world.  Other cities have managed to keep the downtown vital without cars.  We can do it too!

 

I used to be able to walk to the Empire Theater from my home, but in its final days as a movie theater, they didn't turn on the heat, and they didn't even provide toilet paper in the restrooms!  I suspected that they wanted it to fail.  Now a housing development has been proposed in its place--a 64-unit, 9 story building, and as a neighbor who loves West Portal as it is, I favor this housing.  I feel for the merchants, whose businesses will be affected, and I wish there were some kind of compensation the city could give them, but I do think they'll benefit once the housing is build.  The estimate is a 2027 ground-breaking and a 2029 completion.  I hope they can stay in business until then.