Category: Uncategorized

Daniel Lurie’s stealth campaign to destroy Great Highway Park

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.11.2025

The entitled motorists have an ally in Room 200 at City Hall.

In a brutal last ditch attempt to halt creation of an environmental oasis by the Pacific Ocean, Levi’s scion and billionaire Mayor Daniel Lurie has enlisted his legal fixer to destroy Great Highway Park

Proposition K was approved by 55 percent of San Francisco voters last November.

Daniel Lurie has been Mayor only nine weeks and his attempt to slash and burn the environmental legacy of his predecessor London Breed is evident for any who care to notice.

Rather than come out and publicly say he opposes Great Highway Park, approved by 55 percent of the voters last November, Mayor Lurie enlisted his campaign lawyer to slash and burn the voters will. The only conclusion one can draw from this turning his back on The People is that the Mayor has been bullied into submission by the entitled motorists.

It’s a crass political calculation that the environmentalists who have waged a successful battle can be safely politically ignored.

It’s a shame that even though the proponents of a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly San Francisco have emerged victorious in all the major battles; JFK Promenade, Slow Streets and Great Highway Park the spoiled rotten entitled motorists refuse to acknowledge reality.

Former Mayor London Breed was a champion for the environment and car free streets. She advocated for JFK Promenade and Great Highway Park. Those halcyon days of environmental progress are over.

Former Mayor London Breed, champion of both JFK Promenade and Great Highway Park, signs enabling legislation creating JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park – May 7, 2022 – photo Lee Heidhues

Excerpted from The San Francisco Standard 3.10.2025

Opponents of Proposition K, the ballot measure that authorized the closure, and created Great Highway Park last November were expected to file a lawsuit Tuesday arguing that San Francisco voters don’t have the right to close the street to cars.

The lawsuit, led by Jim Sutton, alleges that the city ignored the state’s authority and unlawfully placed a measure before San Francisco voters. Sutton was Mayor Daniel Lurie’s campaign attorney.

Advocates for Proposition K – Great Highway Park. Will Daniel Lurie destroy their success?

The lawsuit also questions how the measure was put on the ballot, saying it bypassed the California Environmental Quality Act review process.

“This lawsuit is about standing up for the people who are being left behind,” said Albert Chow, a Sunset small-business owner and plaintiff. “Seniors, kids, and families will be forced to navigate more dangerous streets just so City Hall can score political points.”

Prop. K passed with 54% of votes in November 2024 after being placed on the ballot by five supervisors, including Joel Engardio of the Sunset, where the stretch of road is located. Approximately 64% of Sunset residents opposed the measure. Some have launched a recall effort against Engardio.

Top photo: Daniel Lurie prays that his Hail Mary to destroy Great Highway Park succeeds.

Trump should be in jail. Criminal presidents busted in other lands

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.10.2025

Donald Trump should be in prison.

American justice is disgraceful. The convicted felon Donald Trump is in the White House while the ex Presidents of The Philippines and Brazil have been indicted for their criminal acts and face major jail time. In these countries a compliant judiciary will not save them.

Where Trump belongs.

In the Philippines former President has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Excerpted from The New York Times 3.10.2025

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, was arrested on Tuesday in Manila, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity in his war on drugs in which, human rights groups say, tens of thousands of Filipinos were summarily executed.

He was taken into custody at the airport in Manila after returning from a trip to Hong Kong, according to the Philippine government. Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Panelo, said the arrest was unlawful, partly because the Philippines withdrew from the court while Mr. Duterte was in office.

Mr. Duterte, 79, who left office in 2022, is a populist firebrand who remains one of the Philippines’ most influential politicians, and he has enjoyed relative immunity despite several accusations against him in connection with his antidrug campaign.

But Mr. Duterte’s arrest could be a major step toward accountability for thousands of Filipinos who have long sought justice for their loved ones, many of whom were gunned down by police officers, hit men and vigilantes. Activists say the vast majority of victims were poor, urban Filipinos, some of whom were minors and people who had nothing to do with the drug trade.

In Brazil Jair Bolsonaro has been indicted for attempting to overthrow an election he lost.

Well Well all you MAGA Trumpies. How’s your bank account now?

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.10.2025

What say now all you fools who fell for the BS being spouted off by the Convicted Felon Donald Trump? How are things looking now out there in MAGA land? This arrogant clown has been President only seven weeks and the economy is already in the tank.

The arrogant felon Trump. What me worry?

Too bad the intelligent ones are going to pay a price for your idiocy at the ballot box.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 3.10.2025

Stocks slid Monday as concerns about the U.S. economy tipping into a recession grew.

The Dow gave up nearly 900 points, the S&P 500 fell 2.7% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 4% as shares of big tech companies extended their selloff. Tesla’s stock lost 15%. Shares of the other Magnificent Seven stocks—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia and Meta Platforms—fell between 2% and 5%.

Bring on a Recession says the convicted felon Trump

President Trump over the weekend refused to rule out the U.S. entering a recession this year, telling Fox News there will be a “period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big.” In contrast, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC News: “There’s going to be no recession in America.”

Some investors say that the Trump administration’s seemingly blasé attitude toward potentially setting off a downturn is rattling market watchers, who had believed that Trump’s pro-growth stance would boost the economy and markets.

“This is the first time we’ve had an administration pretty much say with a straight face…the objectives are going to cause pain,” said Shelby McFaddin, investment analyst at Motley Fool Asset Management.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-nasdaq-sp500-03-10-2025

Orwellian Surveillance is omnipresent in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO CIVIC CENTER

Lee Heidhues 3.7.2025 – Text and photos.

This is what San Francisco has become in 2025. A surveillance State.

Unbeknownst to the hundreds of people who gathered in San Francisco Civic Center on a beautiful March afternoon to protest Donald Trump’s evisceration of the federal work force their every move was being filmed from above.

Perched on the fourth floor of the Superior Court building the blogger had the same view as the omnipresent surveillance cameras positioned atop the Asian Art Museum and the San Francisco Library.

Hundreds of people gathered at a Stand Up for Science rally outside City Hall on Friday, protesting in the face of widespread cuts and layoffs from the Trump administration. Attendees held up signs like “Public Health Over Private Wealth” and “Science for All. Justice for All.” They chanted, “This is what democracy looks like” and cheered. SF Chronicle 3.7.2025
Surveillance camera atop the Asian Art Museum films everyone and everything. “What we’ve seen so far are cuts on the order of 10% to NOAA and the weather service,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, during a briefing Friday. “There are highly credible rumors that the plan is for a further 30% to 50% cut.” SF Chronicle 3.7.2025 –

Surveillance has been a decades long fixture in San Francisco. Its early history is best memorialized in the classic opening scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film “The Conversation.”

The opening scene of “The Conversation” establishes Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert, eavesdropping on a couple walking through Union Square in San Francisco, using a team and equipment to record their conversation, which is often muffled by ambient noise. 

Top photo: Surveillance camera perched atop the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library sees all in the Civic Center.

Freedom of Expression is a Human Right. It cannot be suppressed.

San Francisco

Lee Heidhues 3.5.2025

This afternoon Liz and I, on our way home after a meeting in North Beach, walked by the 333 Pine Street skyscraper in which California Senator Alex Padilla has a local office. Outside during the rush hour on a cold windy afternoon a hardy group from Amnesty International was campaigning to CLOSE GUANTANAMO.

We spoke with several Amnesty International campaigners who have been advocating for the closure of this American incarceration facility in Cuba which has detained, tortured and abused detainees since its opening in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks.

Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and supporters around the world.[1] The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for “a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.”[4] The organization has played a notable role on human rights issues due to its frequent citation in media and by world leaders.[5][6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International

Liz Heidhues and Gavrilah Wells – Amnesty International Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, CA, at California Senator Alex Padilla’s San Francisco office.
The Guantanamo Survivors Fund
A portion of a letter sent by several senators to Donald Trump 2.24.2025.

https://www.closeguantanamo.org/

Gitmo Global Vigils March and April 2025Download

‘A Night in the Garden’ the Felon Nazi Trump 2025 edition in DC

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.4.2025.

YES IT CAN…AND IT IS… HAPPENING HERE..PATHETIC THAT ONLY ONE MEMBER OF CONGRESS HAS ENOUGH COURAGE TO CALL OUT THIS FELON.

Top photo: Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was removed from the House chamber after heckling President Trump during his first address to a joint session of Congress of his second term.

Though lawmakers in the opposition party have been vocal from their seats during past presidential addresses, Green’s removal from the chamber marked a stark break from tradition.

Green stood up and began yelling at Trump after the president referenced his 2024 election win and claimed he had been given a mandate from the American people. Green first received a warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson and when he did not stop was escorted out by the Sergeant at Arms. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/04/nx-s1-5318102/trump-joint-session-al-green-protest

A Night in the Garden in 1939 was the preview of what America has become in 2025.

“I’ll pass on tonight’s state of the union. I’ve already seen it on the history channel.” Posted by a user on Elon Musk’s “X”

Palestine-Israel film chronicling “ethnic cleansing” wins Academy Award

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.2.2025

On a glitzy night in Hollywood when a kow towing cinema industry shamefully bowed down to the Nazi Felon President Trump there was a notable exception.

The Palestinian Israeli produced film “No Other Land” which chronicles the destruction of a Palestinian village, in an act which the director described as “ethnic cleansing”, by the Israel military won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Despite the fact this gripping documentary received rave reviews and awards including best documentary at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in 2024 no American large scale distributor has picked up the film.

For fear of offending the powerful Israeli lobby in America, the Israeli government and the current regime in Washington “No Other Land” cannot be readily seen in Trump’s America.

That should now change.

No Other Land is a 2024 documentary film directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor in their directorial debut. The film was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists in what they describe as an act of resistance on the path to justice during the ongoing conflict in the region. – excerpted from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Other_Land

Excerpted from The Guardian 3.2.2025

The West Bank-based film No Other Land has won this year’s best documentary feature Oscar.

Despite acclaim, the film could not find distribution in the US and was self-distributed instead. The Guardian’s Adrian Horton called it “straightforward, un-sensationalized and completely infuriating” in a five-star review.

The film, which is made by a Palestinian–Israeli collective, won out against competition from Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War and Sugarcane.

No Other Land premiered at the Berlin film festival last year where it won the Berlinale documentary award. The film was made between 2019 and 2023 and focuses on the steady forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta, a region in the occupied West Bank targeted by Israeli forces.

Speaking to a standing ovation, the film-makers thanked the Academy before co-director Basel Adra said he had recently become a father and hoped his daughter’s life would not be like his – “always fearing certain violence, home demolitions and forced displacement”.

He continued by saying his film reflected “the harsh reality” that his fellow Palestinians had endured for many years, “as we call on the world to take serious action to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.

Co-director Yuval Abraham then took to the stage to say that Palestinians and Israelis had made the film together “because together our voices are stronger. We see each other the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people must end.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/03/no-other-land-wins-best-documentary-feature-oscar

Excerpted from The New York Times 3.3.2025 – Marc Tracy

Most Political Speech

It was not surprising that “No Other Land” took home the Oscar for best documentary feature. Nor was it surprising that, upon accepting the award, the filmmakers would discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the demolition of homes in the West Bank.

But the acceptance speeches by two of the film’s four credited directors, the Palestinian activist Basel Adra and the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, notably did not hold back from a kind of rhetoric not ordinarily heard in mainstream American discourse. Adra called on the world to “stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”

Abraham condemned “the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people” (he also characterized Israeli hostages in Gaza as victims of “the crime of Oct. 7” who were “brutally taken”). The remarks were delivered eloquently by filmmakers who have lived, seen and documented some of the events they sought to describe. They also entered a political maelstrom, with a presidential administration that has sought to transfer Gaza’s Palestinian population and a film industry rived by charges that its pro-Palestinian voices have been insensitive to Israeli suffering and antisemitism generally.

No Other Land. “I don’t wan them to take our home.”

April 12th. Day of Great Highway Park. “The truth will prevail.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues. March 1st, 2025

A local senior law enforcement official recently told me, “The truth will prevail.”

March 1st is a historic and memorable day for San Francisco in general and for Liz and me in particular.

Today March 1st 2025 San Francisco officialdom announced a date for the formal opening of Great Highway Park, the two mile stretch of road adjoining the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.

Liz and Lee in younger days

On this first of March day in 1969 Liz and I moved to a place which came to be known as the ‘Beach House’ in the outer Richmond District. High on a hill this house, still standing 56 years later, overlooks Golden Gate Park and a view which stretches all along the coastline. Site of Great Highway Park. That night we took the 38 Geary bus downtown to the Chinese New Year Parade; ate dinner at Sam Wo and bought two LPs, which we still have today. ‘The Blues Alone’ by John Mayall and ‘Sailor’ by The Steve Miller Blues Band.

Today officials from City Hall announced The Great Highway Park will formally open on April 12th 2025.

The date, April 12th, has taken on a tragic, traumatic and long lasting significance in Liz’s life.

It was on this day, seven years ago April 12th 2018 that Liz, then 68, was subjected to the first of two citizen’s arrests.

This event has had an ever lasting traumatic impact on Liz’s life.

Liz self portrayal behind bars at San Francisco County Jail.

The fact The Great Highway Park will open on April 12th 2025 is a joyous event, one which we have battled for the past four years and will ease the hurt of what happened seven years ago. The fact Liz and I, along with countless other environmental advocates, persevered despite the opprobrium heaped on us taught us one thing. “The truth will prevail.”

Liz and Lee on JFK Promenade

Top photo: Looking down the Pacific Coast shoreline in San Francisco adjacent to Great Highway Park

Lucky Man – Steve Miller Blues Band “Sailor” 1968

Opening Day-April 12 2025 Great Highway Park in San Francisco

Environmental triple play at Ocean Beach near reality in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – GREAT HIGHWAY PARK

UPDATE Lee Heidhues 3.1.2025

Official date is April 12, 2025….But cars will be permanently banished in less than two weeks.

“Upper Great Highway will close permanently to cars Friday March 14, 2025.”

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Annual Sand moving operation at Great Highway Park March 14, 2025. Over the following weeks Friends of Ocean Beach Park will be working closely with SFMTA, SFPUC, and Rec & Park on major traffic and safety improvements at the Great Highway’s intersections—making it easier to access the park by foot, bike, and transit. At the same time, crews will be setting up seating areas, recreation spaces, and the first round of temporary public art installations.

It’s official. San Francisco voters citywide approved Proposition K with a 55 percent majority last November which mandated Great Highway Park as a two mile oasis along the Pacific Coast shoreline.

Six weeks from now this stretch of land will officially become a permanently car free oasis.

This landmark accomplishment, in large part due to the advocacy of former Mayor London Breed, will cement San Francisco’s reputation as an environmental leader.

Former Mayor London Breed whose advocacy for JFK Promenade and Great Highway Park was crucial meets with life long cyclist and car free space advocate Liz Heidhues at 4th anniversary celebration for JFK Promenade 4.28.2024

Car free oasis Great Highway Park

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/great-highway-beach-park-20190299.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL3NmL2FydGljbGUvZ3JlYXQtaGlnaHdheS1iZWFjaC1wYXJrLTIwMTkwMjk5LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc0MDg2MDcwNDg5Nw%3D%3D&rid=OTJhM2RhZWItNDMzYy00ZjMxLTgyMTQtZTU2ZjE2NDIzNDRl&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D

RIP Gene Hackman. “The Conversation” a cinema gem

“The Conversation” and its dark look at the perils of personal surveillance

SAN FRANCISCO – SITE OF GENE HACKMAN CINEMATIC GEM “THE CONVERSATION”

Lee Heidhues 2.27.2025

I am truly saddened to read about the passing of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The cause of their deaths is raising many questions which may eventually be answered.

One thing which will never be in doubt is Hackman’s greatness as a performer. Five years ago I published a blog post about this incredible film and am reprising it to commemorate Gene Hackman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman

In my mind his most compelling role was that of private investigator Harry Caul. The Francis Ford Coppola psychological mind bender filmed in San Francisco and released in 1974. The Conversation won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, the highest honor at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards for 1974,but lost to Francis Ford Coppola’s own The Godfather Part II. It won the National Board of Review Award for Best Film. – excerpted from Wikipedia.

Francis Ford Coppola and Gene Hackman during filming of The Conversation in San Francisco

Considered one of the best San Francisco movies of all time, “The Conversation” featured Hackman as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert and a loner who has been hired to record the conversation of a couple as they walk through Union Square. Retired San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle 2.27.2025

The opening scene in San Francisco’s old Union Square is unforgettable.

Hackman appeared in another film which portrayed the perils of surveillance. The 1998 Tony Scott directed “Enemy of the State.” In its Appreciation of Gene Hackman the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Mr. Hackman would essentially reprise his character for a flashier thriller, the 1998 Will Smith man-on-the-run tale “Enemy of the State,” which was prescient about the potential for technology to keep tabs on us all.”

Enemy of the State is a 1998 American political action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by David Marconi, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman with an ensemble supporting cast consisting of Jon Voight, Regina King, Loren Dean, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper and Gabriel Byrne. In the film, a lawyer is targeted by a group of corrupt National Security Agency (NSA) agents after he unknowingly receives a tape of the agents murdering a congressman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)

Will Smith and Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State

Excerpted from Santa Fe New Mexican 2.27.2025

Two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home northeast of the city.

Although investigators do not suspect foul play in the deaths of the longtime Santa Fe residents, who over more than 30 years here became known for their involvement in the local cultural and business scenes, the circumstances of their deaths were “suspicious enough” to warrant a thorough search and investigation, according to law enforcement.

A search warrant affidavit filed by Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies offers scant answers to the question of what happened to the couple, who were both found dead along with one of their dogs inside their house just outside Santa Fe city limits Wednesday afternoon. 

Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman at the Academy Awards – 2003

The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were each found lying on the floor in separate rooms of their Hyde Park-area home, the affidavit says, and one of their three dogs was found dead in a kennel or crate in the closet, Sheriff Adan Mendoza told CBS. The door to the home was ajar. 

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/report-offers-questions-but-few-answers-on-hackmans-and-wifes-deaths-at-santa-fe-home/article_86bf333e-f525-11ef-b63e-cf71c4c042f4.html

Top photo: Gene Hackman with a young Harrison Ford in The Conversation.