Despite what lies and racist attacks the felon Trump spews out American workers, many from other countries, do the heavy lifting to keep the country moving.
This truth is evident in San Francisco’s outer Richmond District where the City is in the midst of a two year project to repair the Geary Boulevard infrastructure. Many of these workers have family origins from countries outside the United States.
The construction crews are not the only workers in the Richmond District. There are neighborhood merchants. The barber shop; the grocery store proprietor; restaurant worker; the maintenance worker; the school crossing guard; and the ubiquitous food delivery man.
The Richmond District has its share of alternative modes of transportation on May Day. Three wheeled bicycles and e-bikes.
The steeple at St. Monica’s Church. A Richmond District landmark.
May Day also has special resonance for bloggers Liz and Lee. It is our 54th anniversary together. A memorable day. We became acquainted at San Francisco State University. We had separately left San Francisco after living together. Lee left America in late 1969. Liz left in mid 1970. Circumstances, perhaps fate, brought us together, again. We connected in Germany.
To celebrate 54 years we spent the May Day lunch hour at a neighborhood restaurant with a group of Liz’s fellow Tat Wong martial arts school comrades. All of whom are community elders keeping themselves in good physical and mental condition.
While we were enjoying our neighborhood on a foggy May Day several miles away there was a stark reminder of what havoc the felon Trump is bringing to America. At the Federal courthouse a 1000 lawyers and their supporters rallied on behalf of the judiciary.
An attendee holds an upside-down U.S. flag, a sign of distress, during the Thursday rally at the Federal courthouse. Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAttendees hold inverted U.S. flags, a sign of distress, during a rally organized by the Bar Association of San Francisco in support of attorneys and law firms targeted by President Donald Trump. Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Top photo: Blogger Lee gives the clenched fist for the May Day poster on Geary Boulevard.
It was a foggy Good Friday in the outer Richmond District. The cool weather added to the laid back vibes of this neighborhood close by the Pacific Ocean.
We took a walk down Balboa Street and surveyed the action. Everything from a major construction project on 36th Avenue, a pallet weighted down with so many sacks of coffee imported from Central America it was stuck, the friendliest and most helpful crossing guard at Lafayette School and the marquee at the Balboa Theater. Always informative about the latest cinema offerings.
The much maligned mysterious magical black cat strikes an eerie pose on the fence.
The coffee deliveryman struggles with his pallet of coffee to reach his destination.
Bicycles parked in front of Simple Pleasures Cafe.
The Lafayette School crossing guard makes sure pedestrians, school kids, dogs and cyclists stay safe.
Marquee poster for the film SINNERS at the Balboa Theater
The Balboa Theater marquee in 1968.
The long gone mural at the Balboa Theater. circa 1980’s
There will always be neighborhood graffiti.
The always vigilant tuxedo cat guards bird feederon the back porch railing.
Liz and Lee have been a presence together on Balboa Street since 1969
Top photo. Liz chats up the coffee delivery man on Balboa Street as he navigates his way to the Simple Pleasures Cafe roastery.
The San Francisco Chronicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Chronicle prides itself on promoting progressive social values. When these values don’t upend the entrenched political establishment. Behind this hip veneer the city’s only daily newspaper has historically followed the money. Big development, law and order are the historical political touchstones of this publication.
A San Francisco Chronicle headline from Dec. 1, 1918, explained a car break-in epidemic in the early years of automobile travel in the city.
Julie Pitta is President of The Phoenix Project founded in 2024.
Excerpted article by Julie Pitta – President The Phoenix Project – April 2025
San Francisco Chronicle editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz’s lack of self-awareness and commitment to circular thinking is galling. He made an editorial decision that created a perception that crime had become a crisis, and then feigned surprise when San Franciscans expressed their belief that crime, indeed, was a crisis.
When I tried to draw a connection between the tech titans who cut their political teeth in San Francisco politics and are now advising President Trump, Garcia-Ruiz became angry.
Billionaire Levi’s scion Daniel Lurie. The Chronicle choice for Mayor
He compared me to Trump, the implication being that these ties do not exist and that I had concocted them from thin air. He seemed particularly bothered by my description of Garry Tan and Elon Musk as aspiring fascists.
I pointed out that the term “techno-fascist” had, for good reason, become a popular label among members of the national press.
Garcia-Ruiz rejected the idea that San Francisco had been a warm-up for the likes of Tan, Musk and David Sacks, a tech investor and leading contributor to the School Board and Boudin recalls, who are now focusing their efforts on national politics. Sacks, in fact, was recently appointed as the White House’s first artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, payback for his generous support to the Trump campaign.
The decision to report on misdemeanors would prove devastating for District Attorney Chesa Boudin as he faced a recall funded by the Astroturf Network*, an effort driven substantially by the Chronicle’s unrelenting crime coverage.
An August 2024 release of campaign-finance filings chronicles the money raised and the money spent for the 2024 mayoral election. The most important takeaway was: A quarter of the money that’s been raised — $5.5 million out of $23.5 million — came from a handful of donors, ten to be precise. They include billionaires Mimi Haas, mother of Levi Strauss heir and then mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie, technology venture capitalist Michael Moritz and cryptocurrency mogul Chris Larsen. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the political group headed by Republican billionaire William Oberndorf, had spent nearly $3 million on the upcoming election.
An “Astroturf network*” refers to a collection of individuals or organizations that are ostensibly grassroots movements, but are actually created, funded, and controlled by a larger entity like a corporation, political group, or PR firm. The goal is to create the illusion of widespread public support for a particular issue or product.
Garcia-Ruiz also refused to address questions about former Chronicle columnist Heather Knight, (currently New York Times San Francisco bureau chief) a frequent Boudin critic and Astroturf Network favorite.
Heather aka Knightcrawler Knight in her halycon days with the San Francisco Chronicle – graphic Liz Heidhues
In July 2022, Knight wrote a glowing profile of prosecutor Brooke Jenkins, asserting that Jenkins left the district attorney’s office to “volunteer” on the recall. Jenkins, according to Knight’s account, claimed that Boudin prioritized ideology over outcomes. Left out of Knight’s account was the fact that Jenkins had been hired by William Oberndorf, the billionaire donor to numerous conservative causes, who created Neighbors for a Better San Francisco. Oberndorf paid Jenkins a handsome $100,000 for six-months work on a report that never saw the light of day. With his backing, Jenkins was appointed Boudin’s successor.
Garcia-Ruiz bristled at the mention of Knight, who wrote for the Chronicle from 1999 to 2023: “You’re asking me about a columnist who no longer works for this paper? I suggest you talk to her.” He reminded me that the Chronicle had opposed Boudin’s recall. However, by the time the Chronicle’s editorial board weighed in, Boudin was mortally wounded, in no small part, by Garcia-Ruiz’s newspaper.
April 12th, 2025 was the day of celebration for San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio who spearheaded the campaign which made Sunset Dunes Park, “California’s largest pedestrianization project” a reality.
Supervisor Joel Engardio the leader of the campaign which made Sunset Dunes Parka reality celebrates the moment as a beaming Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg looks on.
It was a historic day in San Francisco on a sunny April Saturday as thousands turned out for the formal opening of Sunset Dunes Park.The culmination of the victorious Proposition K in the November 2024 election as 55 percent of San Francisco voters approved creation of the two mile park alongside the Pacific Ocean.
Liz Heidhues flashes the “V” for Victory sign as the Snowy Plover waves approvingly
A parade of dignitaries spoke at the event including, but not limited to, Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg, representatives from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), the California Coastal Commission, the California Academy of Arts and Science and a representative from Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office.
Sunset Dunes Park. A happy place for people of all ages.
The beautiful Pacific Ocean adjacent to Sunset Dunes Park
The mural celebrating Sunset Dunes Park near Judah Street.
Bikes, bikes and more bikes on Sunset Dunes Park
Park Rangers have a quiet day at the Sunset Dunes Park inaugural festival
A group of Sunset Dunes Park celebrants
San Francisco Chronicle – 4.14.2025
Sunset Dunes Park emcee Unique Derique juggled many responsibilities during the inaugural party.
A jazz rock fusion band ‘Children of Lucy’ provided musical entertainment at Sunset Dunes Park.
Sunset Dunes Park is a “PARK IN PROGRESS.”
One celebrant steps up to get a better view.Sunset Dunes Park is welcoming to everyone.
An enterprising citizen offered lemonade to the attendees.
Back home after the celebration blogger Lee proudly displays his “OFFICIAL SOUVENIR” ribbon
The old San Francisco along the Pacific Coast shorelineBanned forever from Sunset Dunes Park in San Francisco
The losers trying to Recall the leader of Sunset Dunes Park
A small group of obnoxious motorists gunned their engines and tried to disrupt the joyful event. Their rotten entitled motorist behavior fell flat when the City blocked the nearby streets to all vehicular traffic. “One family in the protest parade screamed in unison out of their open car windows, mother and children lending their voices to the cacophony. Another protestor, revving his motorcycle, declined questions, and revved only louder when a park supporter asked him to quiet down.“I hate them,” said the supporter, Dee, who withheld her last name for privacy. The Great Highway neighbor and SFUSD paraeducator said she had been on the fence about the issue, but the protestors helped make up her mind. ‘They have convinced me. They’re just a bunch of screaming, tan-truming 3-year-olds,’ “she said. Reported in SF Standard. SF Chronicle photo – Stephen Lam
These guys intentionally blocked traffic on the Lower Great Highway and blew their horns repeatedly. But it was barely audible in the park. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick
Liz Heidhues stands at the bus stop en route to the Sunset Dunes Park celebration. Blogger Lee and Liz have never owned a car. We have made our way through life in San Francisco raising two children utilizing bicycles, public transit and our feet. Using our bodies, our good health, our wits. Never succumbing to the typical American false need for a climate destroying car.
Top photo – Sunset Dunes Park ribbon cutting – Liz Heidhues
Excerpted from San Francisco Standard Power Play 4.13.2025
Daniel Lurie has spent his first three months as mayor trying to engage people all over the city’s political map. But in a departure from this painstaking strategy, he unilaterally granted Waymo robotaxis access to a mostly car-free Market Street.
Cyclists advocating for car free Market Street cycle by City Hall in 1972. Years before Daniel Lurie was born.
It may come as little surprise that jilted stakeholders — from safe-street advocates and the SF Bicycle Coalition to rideshare companies Uber and Lyft — are peeved. This is San Francisco, after all.
Uber officials didn’t get word until right before Thursday’s announcement, while Robin Pam, cofounder of KidSafe SF, said she got a heads-up just the evening before.
Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the mayor, suggested that Waymo’s fleet has commercial license plates — unlike Uber and Lyft drivers, who use their private vehicles — and this would have given the robotaxis the ability to provide rides on Market Street with or without the mayor’s permission. Waymo supposedly chose to honor the car-free policy instituted on Market Street in 2020.
Car free and pedestrian friendly Market Street in San Francisco.
But Uber and Lyft officials aren’t buying that argument, saying Lurie is playing favorites. Uber has a higher-end service that features commercial vehicles. There is suspicion across the political spectrum that Lurie is playing favorites with Waymo because his policy chief, Ned Segal, is tight with Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet, which owns the robotaxi company.
Porat was tapped to serve on the Partnership for San Francisco, the mayor-aligned group advising City Hall on revitalizing downtown. Its other leaders include philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and Katherine August-deWilde, a former president of First Republic Bank.
Lutvak said he wasn’t sure if Waymo officials or the mayor’s office reached out first about getting robotaxis onto Market Street. He added that he probably wouldn’t share that information even if he did know. Stay tuned for more on the situation Monday.
Lee Heidhues 4.10.2025
The billionaire San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is no friend of the movement for pedestrian car free areas. He is kowtowing to the motorists and their enablers.
His most blatant move to date is his unilateral decision permitting Waymo driverless vehicles to pollute Market Street. A thoroughfare which former Mayor London Breed made a car free sanctuary six years ago.
This is the same Daniel Lurie who opposed Proposition K, approved by 55 percent of the voters last November, which mandated the creation of the newly named Sunset Dunes Park. A two mile pedestrian/cyclist oasis along the city’s shoreline.
This is the same Daniel Lurie whose campaign lawyer Jim Sutton is leading the lawsuit to overturn the voters mandate creating Sunset Dunes Park (Matthew Boschetto v City and County of San Francisco – CPF25-518967).
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 4.10.2025
The move comes at a moment of tense debate over the future of Market, six years after the city’s seismic decision to remove cars from the eastern portion.
District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder underscored that point in a social media post Thursday: “Waymo should be taxed to fund public transit,” she wrote. Pedestrian and bicycle groups expressed their dismay in a statement, calling autonomous vehicles “a step backward to a chaotic, dangerous Market Street that serves no one’s purposes, including businesses.”
Supporters view car-free Market as a win for pedestrian and cyclist safety and note how it’s improved the speed and reliability of public transit. Some view the incursion of Waymos as an attempt to replace high-capacity Muni buses with low-capacity self-driving cars, especially given the timing: Muni is slated to make service cuts this summer that would have some bus routes turn around when they reach Market Street, obliging riders to transfer.
“Market Street runs through the heart of the city, and we’re making sure it continues to evolve with the times,” Lurie said in a statement Thursday, presenting the autonomous ride-hail vehicles as a tool to invigorate the troubled corridor — and in particular the theaters, hotels and restaurants whose owners have begun lobbying the mayor to reinstate car access.
Over the next few weeks, Waymo will begin mapping Market Street for its vehicles, enabling them to start operating there as soon as this summer. Waymo’s electric Jaguar SUVs would then be welcomed onto the two-mile “car-free” stretch east of 10th Street.
There is one solid piece of political news coming out of the California State Bar take down of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Her hopes of being elected California Attorney General in November 2026 has just taken a major hit. It was just over a year ago that this opportunistic political hustler was playing coy when asked about her political ambitions.
What will she say now? Shameless as she is, Brooke will pitch herself as the aggressive prosecutor who looks out for the interests of the crime besieged average citizen.
Brooke’s apologists will continue to spew forth nonsense. The takedown by the State Bar is just more sour grapes from supporters of Chesa Boudin. The DA she worked for and politically stabbed in the back on her way to calling herself a ‘volunteer’ while earning over 150K to lead his Recall in June 2022. Then being chosen to replace Chesa by now former Mayor London Breed.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 4.8.2025
The State Bar of California is preparing to close out a series of ethics complaints against San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins without reaching a formal decision on whether she did anything wrong, despite finding evidence that she improperly handled a defendant’s rap sheet.
“It’s ironic that District Attorney Jenkins, who often opposes diversion in court — and thereby closes off an avenue for our clients to better their lives — has now been ordered to complete professional diversion,” San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said in a statement.
Rather than continuing to investigate the allegations brought against Jenkins by supporters of her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, the state bar has decided that the best way to resolve their complaints is by requiring Jenkins to participate in a diversion program, according to letters that the watchdog agency sent to her accusers in recent weeks, which the Chronicle obtained.
The program is not unlike those offered by the criminal courts to give people accused of small-time crimes a second chance. Jenkins has frequently criticized the overuse and abuse of such programs by people who she has said are taking advantage of them. She has scaled back the use of diversion compared to her predecessor, the Chronicle previously found.
Jenkins ascended to her post after quitting her job as a prosecutor under Boudin to become one of his most vocal opponents in the 2022 recall campaign against him. She was hit with a series of complaints in the aftermath of the election, including from retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin, a San Francisco resident who donated to keep Boudin in office.
Among the numerous allegations that Goldin brought against Jenkins was that she misrepresented herself as a volunteer for the recall campaign, and only later disclosed — when legally required because Mayor London Breed appointed her as interim district attorney — that she earned more than $120,000 as a consultant for three nonprofits tied to the effort.
Goldin and another complainant, Alexandra Grayner, who worked as a prosecutor under Boudin, also accused Jenkins of improperly sharing a rap sheet containing the confidential criminal history of a defendant in a high-profile case highlighted by the recall campaign.
California criminal justice grinds slowly and not necessarily fairly.Particularly when the death penalty is at issue.
Why has it taken 16 years for the California Supreme Court to over turn a jury’s verdict now 16 years old?
Why did the trial Judge not declare a mistrial in 2009 when a holdout juror refused to convict?
Instead this Judge ousted the recalcitrant juror, empaneled an alternate juror who voted to convict. Kicking off a 16 year appeal process while the accused has languished behind bars since 2009.
What’s next? Another trial no doubt with witnesses whose memories have faded over time.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle – Bob Egelko – 4.3.2025
A California Supreme Court unanimously overturned Timothy Joseph McGhee’s convictions and death sentence for three gang-related killings in Los Angeles between 1997 and 2001. Prosecution witnesses said he had fatally shot members of rival gangs, while the defense said the witnesses had admitted being under the influence of alcohol and drugs and had been coached by prosecutors.
After three days of deliberations on his guilt, the court said, several jurors told the trial judge that another juror appeared to be incapable of making a fair decision, had expressed distrust of the police and had told them, “I am not changing my mind.”
After speaking with other jurors, Superior Court Judge Robert Perry questioned the holdout juror, then removed him, saying he was biased and had refused to deliberate. He was replaced by an alternate juror who then joined unanimous verdicts for convictions and a death sentence.
In a unanimous ruling overturning the convictions and sentence, Justice Goodwin Liu said the juror’s stated refusal to change his mind about McGhee’s guilt did not amount to a refusal to deliberate, and he should have been allowed to remain on the jury.
The juror “was rejecting, not disregarding, the prosecution’s evidence, and the record as a whole indicates that his rejection was based on the evidence,” Liu said.
“There was an evidentiary basis for (the juror’s) concerns regarding the credibility of the witnesses who were central to the prosecution’s case,” Liu wrote. He said many of the prosecutions’ witnesses were current or former gang members, and some admitted having lied to the police.
McGhee, was initially convicted and sentenced in 2009 and who could still face death penalty charges from Los Angeles County’s newly elected district attorney, Nathan Hochman.
McGhee’s lawyer, Patrick Ford, said the ruling “sent the important message that our system won’t tolerate the removal of a dissenting juror,” especially one who was troubled by what Ford described as “massive police misconduct.”
Hochman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
San Francisco billionaire Mayor Daniel Lurie may want the folks to believe he’s just one of the gang. Like everybody else. It ain’t true. The Levi Strauss & Co. scion is San Francisco economic royalty at his core.
San Francisco traded in London Breed, born and raised in the Western addition housing projects across the proverbial tracks from Pacific Heights, for a Mayor dripping wealth and entitlement from the moment he was born in that enclave of old school privilege.
It comes as no surprise that Daniel Lurie is buddies with the likes of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. He keeps this relationship quiet as feasibly possible in the hot house cauldron of San Francisco political gossip.
Excerpted from San Francisco Standard – Power Play – 3.30.2025
MONTANA MAGA FEST: On Thursday, former political operative Yashar Ali tweeted what he said was a confidential schedule for a two-day JP Morgan Chase tech summit in Montana. The lineup, per Ali, was packed with MAGA all-stars: Elon Musk; AI and crypto czar David Sacks; Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick; Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum; and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Oh, and Tom Brady, of course.
In between talks titled “DOGE: Sources and Uses” and ”Decoding the Trump Playbook,” our very own Mayor Daniel Lurie and ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were listed as speakers on a panel about “Rebuilding America’s Urban Glory,” moderated by actress and Goop CEO Gwyneth Paltrow.
But that wasn’t the weird part. Reached for comment, Lurie’s new communications director, Han Zou, stubbornly refused to say whether Lurie was taking part in the conference, even by video. A spokesperson for JP Morgan declined to confirm if Lurie took part in the summit.
It’s unclear if Lurie knew the reported JP Morgan event would feature so many Trump die-hards, but his love of JP Morgan is well-known.
In January, the mayor and his policy chief Ned Segal met with JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimonat City Hall during the investment firm’s annual healthcare conference in San Francisco. In an interview that week, Lurie boasted to Mad Money’s Jim Cramer that he’d met with corporate bigwigs like Blackstone executive Jonathan Gray, pitching himself as a pro-business mayor eager to lure companies back to town.
So why the secrecy now? After all, just because Lurie reportedly joined a conference full of MAGA men doesn’t mean he is one. The mayor has had little to say about Trump’s attacks on immigrants, transgender people, the First Amendment, the judicial system, and federal workers — we could go on — but has pledged to stand up for San Francisco values.
At an event Friday honoring Wong Kim Ark, the San Franciscan who fought to enshrine birthright citizenship in the Constitution in the 1800s, Lurie offered pro-immigration platitudes and said people born in the U.S. “belong here.” Asked about the JP Morgan conference, Lurie said through an aide that he would only talk about Wong Kim Ark at the rally, declining to answer other questions.
Former Mayor London Breed and Jamie Dimon had a frosty relationship
J.P. Morgan is holding an invitation-only tech summit in Montana, targeting top clients, corporate and government leaders, and institutional investors, with notable conversations and panels including top Trump administration officials.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Event: J.P. Morgan Tech Summit.
Location: Montana.
Target Audience: Top clients, corporate and government leaders, and institutional investors.
Focus: The summit is focused on technology and innovation.
Notable Conversations: Some notable conversations and panels include top Trump administration officials.
Nature of Event: The summit is an invitation-only event.
Other J.P. Morgan Events: J.P. Morgan also hosts other events, including the Clean Tech Stars Conference.
Who could have imagined in that just over 10 years a fringe far right party would have such a meteoric rise to to power in Germany?
Stop the AfD – May 2017 -photo Lee Heidhues
It’s an unnerving reality that the far right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) captured 152 seats in the 630 member German Bundestag.Making this party with thinly veiled neo-Nazi sympathizers and virulent anti-immigrant proponents the second largest group in the German legislature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_for_Germany
With its 152 seats on the far right the AfD can expect to engage in fierce parliamentary battles with the two parties on the left. Die Linke (64 seats) and The Greens (85 seats).
The parties in the middle. Social Democratic Party (120 seats) and the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (208 seats) will inevitably form a coalition government. A tenuous coalition which will be buffeted from the right and left.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 3.25.2025
The far-right AfD has become the second-biggest party in parliament, winning around 20% of the vote in February’s election, but the other German parties have all ruled out working with them.
Even with this so-called “firewall” against the far-right party, they hold enough seats that they could prove to be a thorn in the side of any coalition government.
Lee's Perspective 