Car free Market Street was not suffering prior to the Pandemic. It was a healthy oasis in car centric San Francisco. And still is today. But, not if Mayoral wannabe Mark Farrell has his way.
Mayoral wannabe Mark Farrell is engaging in a total distortion when he claims without evidence this car free oasis is the source of the downtown slump.
Wealthy businessman Mark Farrell. The Pacific Heights guy. Former Supervisor and one time six month interim Mayor wants the job, again.
The Car Free Market Street concept is older than tubular Mark Farrell
What’s the lede on his law and order hooray for big business campaign?
Bring climate killing cars back to San Francisco’s premier thoroughfare. Market Street.
A wide street which City Hall, in a moment of enlightenment and concern for pedestrians and cyclists, banned private vehiclesin January 2020.
Now, here comes Mark, who rather than pushing for cars on Market Street, should get out of his car and get some exercise on Market Street.
Give Mark Farrell The Malocchio on Market Street
Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 2.13.2024
He’d (Mark Farrell) like to let private cars once again drive on Market Street downtown, which would reverse a ban put in place four years ago.
Nikki has finally taken the gloves off and fired one (a rhetorical golf ball) right into Donald Trump’ golf cart.
I am no fan of Nikki Haley. But I must give her credit for this Zinger.
Excerpted from The New York Times 2.12.2024
“The most harm he’s (Donald Trump) ever come across is whether a golf ball hits him on a golf cart, and you’re going to go and mock our men and women in the military?” Haley said. “I don’t care what party you’re in, that’s not OK.”
Top photo: Donald Trump drives his golf cart on the links. He needs to be walking the golf course and lose some of that excess baggage.
Some San Francisco 49ers players said following the team’s Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that they were unaware of the overtime rules that allowed for both teams to possess the ball.
Lee Heidhues 2.11.2024
As BB King sang, The Thrill is Gone. This time for the San Francisco 49ers.Shocked in Vegas.
The 49ers bring something akin to heartbreak for their fans. During the past several seasons they’ve come oh so close. Two Super Bowl appearances and four times in the NFC championship game.
Yet they can’t make the final leap.
The Thrill is Gone – for the 49ers in 2024
The 49ers Super Bowl hopes have been dashed once again.By the Kansas City Chiefs.
This time in Las Vegas. In overtime no less. Only the second overtime in Super Bowl history. The score was 25-22.
The media and many fans will blame kicker Jake Moody who missed an extra point. Which might have made the difference in regulation time. But, having said that, Jake also made three field goals. Two of which were over 50 yards.
The 49ers in regulation time made long drives and had to settle for field goals. Likewise in overtime. Had the 49ers made one more first down just over two minutes remaining in regulation time they could have run down the clock. Attempted a field goal and probably won the Super Bowl in regulation time.
San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy walks off field after after Niners’ 25-22 loss to Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 11, 2024.Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
It was not to be.
I turned off my App when the game started at 3:30PM. Including a g’zillion commercials, a long halftime show and overtime the game ended disastrously for the 49er faithful at 8:00PM.
Of course there have been some glory moments in 49er history. Five Super Bowls. I attended the Super Bowl in 1985 at Stanford Stadium when the Niners, led by Joe Montana, scored three TDs in the 2nd quarter and demolished the Miami Dolphins 38-16.
I was at The Catch game in January 1982 when Dwight Clark broke the Dallas Cowboys heart and sent the Niners to their first Super Bowl.
San Francisco 49ers Dwight Clark (87, WR), goes up in the air in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown pass from QB Joe Montana to set up the PAT which beat the Dallas Cowboys to give the 49ers their first NFC Championship and Super Bowl berth. At right is Cowboys Michael Downs (26, S) and at right Everson Walls (24, CB).
Sadly for much of the past decades there has been too much frustration and heartbreak. I think of more than 10 years ago when Richard Sherman intercepted Colin Kapernick’s pass in the end zone in the final seconds. Sending archrival Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl.I was so upset I retreated to my downstairs bathroom and furiously scrubbed out the bathtub.
In 2024 I just unhappily and disgustedly exited the kitchen quietly. Came downstairs and folded my clean wash.
Heartbroken 49er fans digest the overtime Super Bowl loss to Kansas City
I must ask myself why the 49ers have had such a hold on me. I went to my first game at Kezar Stadium when I was nine years old. A year later I witnessed my first heartbreak when the Niners lost to Detroit in a playoff game 27-31. after leading 27-7 in the third quarter.
I possessed season tickets for two years when I was in high school. A season ticket for seven games was only $31.50. In adulthood I attended several games at Candlestick Park. So, as I look back on my life I can glance backwards and remember it all.
Kansas City is definitely excellent. Their quarterback Patrick Mahomes is top notch. The coach Andy Reid, early in his career, coach at San Francisco State University in the 1980’s.
In 2026 the Super Bowl will be played at Levi’s Stadium. So, if the Niners make it in 2026 the game will be home field advantage for the locals.
Top photo: Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 15, and wide receiver Montrell Washington, 12, as the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers 25 to 22 in overtime during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV, on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024.Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
I must correct the misstatements regarding JFK Promenade in your article.“Tech Millionaires Take on Politicians in a Fight to Fix San Francisco.” 2.8.2024 The City did not decide to “reopen” JFK Promenade to cars when the Pandemic subsided. Quite the Contrary. The Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to make JFK Promenade a permanent car free space. The legislation was signed by Mayor London Breed in May 2022. I was there. (see attached photo of Mayor London Breed signing the legislation creating JFK Promenade 5.7.2022) The Supervisors, to cement this legislative victory, placed the issue on the November 2022 ballot. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), whose jewel the De Young Museum sits astride JFK Promenade, paid signature gatherers to place their own measure in opposition to JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway along the shoreline. The FAMSF spent nearly 1M on this effort. In November 2022 the voters approved the Supervisors measure, Proposition J, with a 63 percent YES vote. Simultaneously the voters turned down the FAMSF measure, Proposition I, with a resounding 65 percent NO vote.
Buried deep in the WSJ piece the reader can find the incorrect history of JFK Promenade
Car-Free JFK Drive supporters enjoy during the sunset while celebrating the Prop J victory and continuation of Car-free JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park San Francisco Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. | Camille Cohen/The Standard
TOP PHOTO: Mayor London Breed signs legislation creating JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park 5.7.2022 – photo Lee Heidhues
The voters have spoken and they want an END to the Extremist Circus of LIES! – artwork by Liz Heidhues
The continuing abject silence being exhibited by GrowSF in saying not a word about its Sugar Daddy provocateur Garry Tan is appalling.
Instead as a way to deflect from the treachery of Garry Tan we have the GrowSF L’affaire Julie.
This is the same Garry Tan who two weeks ago wished death on Progressive San Francisco Supervisors.
Fuck Chan Peskin Preston Walton Melgar Ronen Safai Chan as a label and motherfucking crew – Die slow motherfuckers
How does GrowSF deal with the threats issued by Garry Tan, Board member and funder? It unleashes an over the top attack on Julie Pitta. Who, in a moment of frustration more than anything else, took down a campaign flier for a Supervisorial candidate GrowSF is supporting, Marjan Philhour. One week later the details of the L’affaire Julie incident, have been totally blown out of proportion. When comparing Julie’s lapse of judgment to the unbridled threats being put in the public forum by Garry Tan.
Following is the GrowSF take on L’affaire Julie. A diatribe full of innuendo and political buzz words designed to feed the Reactionary beast in San Francisco. Judge for yourself.
Progressive operative Julie Pitta was caught on camera stealing campaign materials for Marjan Philhour, who is running for Supervisor in the Richmond. Stealing and destroying political posters without permission is election interference and a misdemeanor crime. Now, the police are investigating. Pitta has been a vocal critic of Philhour and has volunteered for incumbent progressive Supervisor Connie Chan.
When faced with this evidence, Pitta took to social media to plead her case, claiming that she had permission from the coffee shop’s employees to remove the sign. Unfortunately for her, the owner of Royal Ground coffee shop stated unequivocally that Pitta was lying.
Julie Pitta showed us all what Connie Chan and her allies value: partisan interference in free & fair elections.
It was four years ago that Liz Heidhues, then 70, was handcuffed, thrown into an SFPD paddy wagon and hauled off to jail for the second time in less than two years.
The victim of a second reprehensible, brutal false Citizen’s Arrest. Two false Citizen’s arrests which had no probable cause or basis in fact.
Two false Citizen’s Arrests which were quickly tossed out of San Francisco Superior Court.
Nonetheless, the psychological damage was done and has been long lasting.
Today, on the fourth anniversary of this heinous abuse we went to the Legion of Honor to put ourselves in another place artistically, mentally and spiritually.
Lee and Liz look past the trauma and view Botticelli
Botticelli Drawings is the first exhibition ever dedicated to the drawings of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli – Judith with the Head of Holofernes.The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonicalBook of Judith, and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith’s home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as being carried by an elderly female servant).
Liz captures the art of Bottecelli
A packed Legion of Honor views the Bottecelli exhibit
Sandro Bottecelli – DISCORD – The Late Drawings:Spiritual Anxiety, Political Unrest. Sounds like the current state of life in America
TOP PHOTO: Joan of Arc outside the Legion of Honor. Joan of Arc was born January 6, 1412 and burned at the stake May 30 1431 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc
It was only a matter of time and the time came quickly.
It was just a week ago that the Feds finished their tree trimming renovation project in Sutro Heights Parkat the northwest corner of San Francisco by the Pacific Ocean.
The Feds touted the fact that the workers would be clearing an area so that visitors would have a more unimpeded view of the Pacific Ocean.
Unimpeded view of the Pacific Ocean courtesy of the National Park Service
3 VIEWSHED – Selectively prune and/or remove trees to restore or maintain historic views of Ocean Beach
THE WORKERS CERTAINLY DID JUST THAT…….
Ask one of the local residents what she thinks about the unimpeded view of the Pacific
Top photo: A felled tree which went went down during the recent rain and wind storm. The tree was directly in the path of the wind tunnel created by the National Park Service to give visitors to Sutro Heights Park a better view of the Pacific Ocean.
What’s a law and order crime stopper political animal gonna do when she realizes, but refuses to admit, her draconian lock ’em up policies are a total failure?
Close her eyes and pretend it’s all good while drug users are dropping dead in the streets of San Francisco.
Over 800 in San Francisco during 2023.
The San Francisco Chronicle editorial 2.4.2024
San Francisco suffered a record 806 “accidental” drug overdose deaths in 2023.
But the misery we see on San Francisco’s streets is anything but happenstance. It’s a policy choice.
A man holds the hand of his friend, who was revived with Narcan after overdosing on Willow Street in San Francisco on Aug. 31.Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2023
The scourge of fentanyl has largely yet to land on European shores. Its arrival has the potential to collapse systems of care. But fentanyl’s presence in San Francisco is even more reason to stop arguing and get on the same page.
The only inevitable consequence of continued squabbling is more death.
San Francisco has had a comprehensive overdose prevention plan since 2022. Part of that plan is opening overdose prevention sites, which were thrown into legal limbo after Gov. Newsom vetoed a 2022 bill that would have given the city authorization to run such facilities.
The editorial board has highlighted the efficacy of Portugal’s approach to problematic drug use, decriminalizing possession with a focus on treatment. But it’s also worth mentioning Europe’s most deadly region for drug overdoses: Scotland.
After a record 1,339 overdose deaths in 2020, Scotland moved away from a focus on punitive measures for drug use and began pivoting toward Portugal’s approach. Overdose prevention centers opened in the deadliest cities. Conservatives pushed for a universal right to treatment.
Yet providing treatment on demand for substance abuse — an essential component of our plan — is fully within our power to achieve. San Francisco has not. Instead, evidence-based policy pursuits have become mired in debates over crime and punishment.
San Francisco is sinking into a political sinkhole of intolerance and name calling. Garry Tan has led the charge. Mayor Breed, her allies and groups like Grow SF are coming away unscathed.
In the uproar surrounding Garry Tan and his January 27, 2024 violent Tweet wishing violence on San Francisco’s Progressive supervisors there has been total silence from Mayor London Breed.
Mayor London Breed and members of her crew. DA Brooke Jenkins, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Breed and Assistant DA Nancy Tung
A silence which has been copied by those in her political circle and San Franciscans who believe the unhinged behavior of Garry Tan is acceptable election year rhetoric.
It is not.
Garry Tan’s Tweet concluding with “Die slow Motherfuckers.” 1.27.2024
Garry Tan is on the Board of Directors of GrowSFand a financial contributor to this advocacy organization.
We have heard not a word from GrowSF which is leading the charge to further upend the political order in San Francisco. GrowSF is currently pushing hard to defeat Progressives in this years’ election cycle. https://growsf.org/
GrowSF is actively promoting Mayor Breed’s March 2024 ballot measure ‘E’. If passed by the voters it will give more power to the San Francisco Police Department and weaken Police Commission oversight of the cops.
This is a crew lacking any ethical moorings which accepted Garry Tan’s money and worked for the 2022 Recalls of three members of the San Francisco School Board and District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
They have just begun their destruction derby of the political order in a town which likes to think itself progressive.
Garry Tan’s violent tweet advocating violence clearly advocates. Get rid of the Progressives.That’s the opening salvoin his campaign to further upend the political landscape of San Francisco.
Elected and unelected officials are his target.
Money and political intimidation are the linchpins of his agenda.
The fallout from Garry Tan’s threat to Progressive electedofficials continues to percolateis just the start in this election year.
The San Francisco Standard ran dueling op eds. On one side is Christopher Cook who unsheathed his pen and continues to lacerate Garry Tan. The most interesting, and disturbing, part of his piece follows.
“RIGHTS? Sounds like you have had too much to think.” Garry Tan’s world
In a rather Orwellian video, Tan told the Network State conference in 2023, “We need our own parallel media, we need our own machine … We have a parallel media now, with Elon’s Twitter or X. Getting a parallel media was a key piece, and it wasn’t done through voting, it was done by building.”
Tan went on to say, “Voting is important, but it just replaces the elected officials … we need to replace the unelected parts as well.” He proposed a network of “parallel media and businesses” as “a possible recipe for reforming San Francisco and building the alternative tech political machine. And if it works in SF, it will work everywhere. And the cool part about it is, this is just getting started.”
When Garry Tan writes, “Voting is important, but….“
What Garry is really saying is that the voters can’t be trusted. He is advocating for a media and business community sympathetic to his vision of San Francisco.
Lee's Perspective 