Lee Heidhues 7.28.2023
Make no mistake. The film Oppenheimer, at its Core, is all about nuclear war.
Hopefully the audiences around the world see this as a warning about the peril to the human race which nuclear war would bring to the planet.
Nuclear war would be the ultimate in climate change.
The final act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_warfare
Lee Heidhues 7.27.2023
Tuesday evening I spent nearly five hours at San Francisco City Hall waiting to make my presentation to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.
Shortly after 10pm I was able to address members of the Task Force to grant my Appeal seeking documentation regarding the Fine Arts Museums refusal to provide documentation regarding its political and legal fight to destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park.
I prevailed unanimously. The SOTF voted unanimously and ordered the FAMSF to make public its communications on this political brawl which riveted The City.
Following is my presentation.
Sunshine Ordinance Task Force – File 22052
Lee Heidhues-Complainant
Public Records Request with Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
July 25, 2023
JFK Promenade is now a reality. It emerged victorious with the Board of Supervisors. SFMTA. The Recreation and Park Commission. The voters by an overwhelming 63 percent margin last November. And, finally, the lawsuit filed by the FAMSF ‘Open The Great Highway Alliance’ was tossed by the California Court of Appeals earlier this year.
You may ask, “Why are you here today? You won. It is over.”
There is a simple reason. Transparency and Accountability.
I asked for everything and received nothing.
It is difficult to prove a Negative. In this instance the FAMSF is maintaining it has no responsive documents nor a responsibility to provide them.
People forget the political dynamics three years ago when The Mayor decreed JFK Drive car free as an emergency declaration on April 28, 2020. A declaration which was immensely popular with those enjoying the car free oasis in Golden Gate Park.
There was also institutional opposition. Opposition with deep connections at City Hall and deep pockets financially. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco was in the forefront. In 2021 there were events on JFK Promenade beginning in March and concluding with a holiday celebration in December. I was at all of them. It was common knowledge that the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco was working hard behind the scenes to end JFK Promenade.
In early 2022 there was a party on JFK Promenade during Lunar New Year in support of this car free sanctuary.
In 2022, with the Mayor’s emergency declaration about to expire, various City Boards got into the action. The FAMSF Board. SFMTA. The Recreation and Park Commission. And, finally, on April 26, 2022, when the Board of Supervisors passed an Ordinance, supported by The Mayor, which designated JFK Promenade permanently car free. On May 7, 2022, The Mayor signed the Ordinance into law before a joyous throng on JFK Promenade. I was there.
At this time, I became aware of the FAMSF deep seeded opposition to JFK Promenade. I learned that District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, whose opposition to JFK Promenade was well known, had met with Platinum Advisors – the lobbyist for FAMSF – 14 times. Documentation I found by researching the Ethics Commission website.
I filed several Public Records Requests with both Supervisor Chan and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Because only the FAMSF is on the Agenda I will provide the dates of these transactions.
The responses on April 18, April 21, and July 12, 2022, provided nothing of substance to my requests for documentation about the political battle waged by FAMSF to destroy JFK Promenade.
Megan Bourne is Chief of Staff of the FAMSF. On April 21, 2022, she wrote me that the Ethics Commission “is responsible for maintaining all records under the City’s lobbying ordinance.” It is reasonable to expect the FAMSF would have copies of these same records. My Records Requests did not limit themselves to just formal “lobbying.”
Parfa Dea, Senior Government Affairs Manager of the FAMSF, wrote to me on July 7, 2022. She needed more time “to search for, collect and appropriately examine a voluminous amount separate and distinct records.” Five days later Parfa Dea wrote and told me FAMSF “is not involved with the ‘Access for All’ initiative. It has no responsive documents to your request.”
This assertion was made despite the fact that the FPPC Form 460 submitted to The Ethics Commission for July 2022 lists “Access for All, Sponsored By Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums and Open The Great Highway Alliance.”
The political fight waged by FAMSF against JFK Promenade should have provided a trove of documents. They need to be provided.
Attachments:
Top photo: San Francisco City Hall dome
Lee Heidhues 7.26.2023
Tuesday evening I spent five hours at San Francisco City Hall participating in a public hearing.
During the long wait, four hours before making my presentation past 10PM, I walked the halls of the 4th floor. Decades ago the 4th floor was the courthouse. Working as a journalist I covered trials in those courtrooms. Reporting for The Sun Reporter Newspaper, whose publisher Carlton B. Goodlett, the street in front of City Hall is now named.
Now these former court rooms are used as meeting rooms and offices for local government business.
In the evening City Hall is often empty. The quiet is very peaceful. I took this unique opportunity to memorialize my night in this beautiful building which has seen its share of historic events. Ranging from joyous occasions to political assassinations.
Lee Heidhues 7.26.2023
Sinead O’Connor will always and forever stick in my mind for one reason.
“You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” as the credits roll in the 1993 film ‘In the Name of the Father’ the cinematic recounting of the Guildford Pub bombings on October 5, 1974.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_pub_bombings
I watched the film at the now closed Northpoint Theater in San Francisco near Fisherman’s Wharf. I was transfixed during the entire movie. When Sinead O’Connor’s song blasted the screening room with its surround sound I was totally blown away.
From that moment on the name Sinead O’Connor stuck in my mind forever.
Following are two renditions of the song. A video with Sinead O’Connor appearing. The next. The actual end scene in the movie and the credits rolling with the song in the background.
Lee Heidhues 7.24.2023
Jane Birkin died a week ago and the story of her iconic life continues to unfold.
At the age of 40 Jane Birkin took a turn in life. Away from the fashion pop star of Je’ Taime persona towards a more politically aware life. A decision which only enhanced her reputation and credibility for the next 36 years.
Maintaining her sense of style while immersing herself in the real World of everyday people.
Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 7.24.2023
Following the death of Jane Birkin on Sunday at age 76, Instagram was flooded with photos of the Brit-in-Paris singer in her photogenic 1960s and 1970s youth. She was a style icon everyone could agree on, be they designers such as Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello and Simon Porte Jacquemus to French President Emmanuel Macron. In numerous tributes, we were reminded of her risqué, girlish fashion moments: the lacy dress worn backward, the completely sheer gowns, the denim mini shorts and the straw basket she used as a handbag.
But that leggy, pouty period, coinciding roughly with her relationship with Serge Gainsbourg from 1968 to 1980, will not be Birkin’s only style legacy. Her later decades, particularly her 40s, 50s and 60s, are an inspiration to women hoping to age without succumbing to plastic surgery and conventionality.
After 40, Birkin abandoned her famous babydoll look for menswear, a makeupless face and unlaced sneakers. “As time went by, I did less and less,” she told British Elle a few years ago.
Birkin’s turning point from ingénue to self-possessed, confident artist was her 1987 concert at the Bataclan in Paris, when she was 41 years old. She was then dating Jacques Doillon, a filmmaker who encouraged her to leave behind what he called the “gimmicks” of her youth, from the basket (which he ran over with his car) to the makeup and minidresses.
The less Birkin seemed to care about Fashion with a capital F, the more it embraced her as a pinnacle of chic.
In 2017, she sang at the concert hall Le Palace in Paris for a Gucci fashion show, wearing a simple suit as models in over-the-top multicolored lace and sequined looks marched around her. She often wore Saint Laurent alongside her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg in recent years, but stuck to white shirts and black suit separates.
Top photo: The late Jane Birkin photographed in 1989. ‘I think at 40 years old, I was at my best, really,’ she once said. PHOTO: JEAN-CLAUDE DEUTSCH/GETTY IMAGES
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jane-birkin-women-over-40-49e913ef?mod=style_arts_lead_pos2
Attn: Cheryl Leger – San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF)
It is important this information be brought before the full SOTF during its July 25, 2023 in which I will participate.
Even though the electoral and judicial battle is over, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) whose De Young Museum stands astride JFK Promenade still needs to be forthcoming and stand in the sunshine of public disclosure.
Attached you will find the following:
In my earlier Immediate Disclosure Requests I labeled the responses by FAMSF “preposterous”.
Language which still holds true today over a year later.
Requests which were totally non responsive and resulted in my first hearing before the SOTF in May 2022.
In the FAMSF rejection of my subsequent June 26, 2022 IDR the FAMSF is trying to, again, duck its responsibilities by hiding under a technicality. Claiming it has no obligation to provide responsive documents.
This may be correct in a court of law. But in the real world of San Francisco politics it’s preposterous.
FAMSF was the leader in the attempt to destroy JFK Promenade legislatively. That is the reason I filed my initial Requests.
Lee Heidhues
San Francisco 94121
Husband of a long time member of the FAMSF.
Top Photo: Yes on J For JFK Promenade victory party – November 9, 2022
Lee Heidhues 7.22.2023
Leave it to the tabloid style All American New York Post to put into print what I was thinking while watching the Americans grind out a 3-0 win over the tough Vietnamese in a World Cup match up in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Post gushingly reports that the Vietnamese national team, “emphatically crooned their national song “Tiến Quân Ca,” or “Song of a Marching Army.” These women have something to sing for and I am sure what those before them were doing decades ago. Fighting an American aggressor.
I applaud without reservation the American women who refuse to observe the flag of a country which denigrates women and people of color.
What really struck me during the entire match is the reality that America, in its striving for global hegemony laid waste to this small proud Asian nation for 20 years. Disrupting the fibre of American life forever and causing the deaths of 55,000 young Americans. Killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. For what?
American pride and ego.
It cheers me that while the American women on the pitch in New Zealand were not thinking much about what happened over 50 years ago, they were thinking about America today.
Kudos to them all.
Excerpted from The New York Post 7.22.2023
Most members of the US women’s soccer team stayed silent during the national anthem before its World Cup opener Friday against newcomers Vietnam — who passionately belted their nation’s tune.
The majority of the reigning women’s World Cup champion team stared stoically ahead as the “Star Spangled Banner” blasted across New Zealand’s Eden Park arena.
Only five of the 11 players who stood on the field for the anthem — with young, aspiring players standing before them — placed their hands over their hearts, while their six teammates kept their digits clasped behind their backs, video shows.
Only three USWNT players — Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Lindsey Horan — sang along with the hundreds of American supporters watching in the stands.
Comparatively, members of World Cup debutant Vietnam emphatically crooned their national song “Tiến Quân Ca,” or “Song of a Marching Army.”
All 11 players passionately sang along to the anthem in unison, with their right arms precisely held over their hearts.
The coaches and fans passionately joined the chanting for the first time their national song was ever played at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Top photo: American women stand silent during playing of national anthem at World Cup opener in Auckland, New Zealand – 7.22.2023
Lee Heidhues 7.21.2023
German authorities now say the lioness on the loose is no lion….it’s a wild boar.
The search ends. The drama is over.
The King of the Jungle continues to roam free.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 7. 21.2023
Police said on Friday that they had found no signs of a lion, or any other large predator, following a massive search around Berlin that was launched after reports of a lioness sighting on Wednesday night.

Two experts who examined the video footage that sparked the search told police that in all likelihood the animal in the video was a wild boar.
“Everything indicates it is not a lioness,” Michael Grubert, the mayor of the town Kleinmachnow where the suspected lion had first been spotted, said at a press conference.
https://www.dw.com/en/lioness-near-berlin-likely-a-wild-boar-police-say/a-66284417
Lee Heidhues 7.20.2023
A lioness in Berlin has taken it upon herself to take a road trip.
Local authorities are vexed because neither the Berlin Zoo or the Circus have reported an AWOL (absent without leave) feline.
Authorities can only conclude, at this juncture, that the lioness decided to leave her home at a private estate or is, alarmingly, being kept captive by an animal trader.
Let’s hope the wandering lioness is found and safely returnedto her native habitat.Which is not in the urban setting of Berlin but in the wilds of Africa.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 7.20.2023
A “loose, dangerous animal,” suspected to be an escaped big cat, was reportedly sighted in a Potsdam region on the fringes ofthe German capitalon Thursday, police said.
“It’s clear lions can’t drop out of the sky, not in Germany, at least,” said Professor Heribert Hofer, director of the…
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Lee Heidhues 7.20.2023
A lioness in Berlin has taken it upon herself to take a road trip.
Local authorities are vexed because neither the Berlin Zoo or the Circus have reported an AWOL (absent without leave) feline.
Authorities can only conclude, at this juncture, that the lioness decided to leave her home at a private estate or is, alarmingly, being kept captive by an animal trader.
Let’s hope the wandering lioness is found and safely returned to her native habitat. Which is not in the urban setting of Berlin but in the wilds of Africa.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 7.20.2023
A “loose, dangerous animal,” suspected to be an escaped big cat, was reportedly sighted in a Potsdam region on the fringes of the German capital on Thursday, police said.
“It’s clear lions can’t drop out of the sky, not in Germany, at least,” said Professor Heribert Hofer, director of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin.
Authorities are using helicopters to track what they believe is a female lion and have called on residents to stay indoors, the rbb public broadcaster reported.
According to the German tabloid BILD, security forces were also using an armored vehicle, drones and infrared cameras in the search.
Police said veterinary specialists and hunters were also taking part in the operation to find the animal.
A police spokesman said drones were being employed where possible to avoid the usual search method of combing forest areas on foot.
On Thursday evening, a police spokesperson said that 220 officers were searching near where the animal was last seen in wooded areas near the municipalities of Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf at the southern edge of Berlin.
The search is expected to continue through the night with the aid of night vision devices, the spokesperson said.
“We will be on the job until the animal is found ,” the spokesperson added.
Although it is illegal to keep big cats in Berlin, it is possible in the neighboring state of Brandenburg, Hofer told DW.
The owner must have an expert certificate, keep and adequate private enclosure, and receive an official veterinarian check from the state.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-suspected-lioness-on-the-loose-outside-berlin/a-66291669
Lee Heidhues 7.17.2023
I am so shocked The New York Times is blowing its sports page to oblivion.
When I first read the news of this inexplicable act by America’s most well known newspaper I didn’t understand. Perhaps, because I did not think such an action was possible.
Sports are integral part of the global landscape. How the Times could do this for what appears financial reasons and nothing else boggles my mind. As a lifelong follower of sports.
I will let the excellent sports journalist Dave Zirin explain it better than I.
Excerpted from The Nation 7.17.2023 – Dave Zirin
I read the New York Post more voraciously, but my dream was to be a good enough journalist to write about sports for The New York Times.
It would have felt like getting a work of art into a museum. Now, that sports section is gone. The New York Times shuttered its sports page, a victim of greed and union busting.
This announcement came hours after a similar one from the Los Angeles Times that it would be closing its doors to sports coverage as well. As Boston Globe senior columnist Bob Ryan wrote, July 10 is “a day that will live in infamy” for anyone who cares about sports writing as a profession.
The New York Times will replace its sports coverage with the website The Athletic, which it purchased for $550 million 18 months ago in an effort to boost its own subscription base. Now, another side of the attractiveness of The Athletic purchase is revealing itself. The staff there is nonunion.
Mere weeks after a contentious labor battle that put Times management on its heels, a section of the union has been gutted. In a rather nauseating statement on the closure, New York Times Chairman A.G. Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said that this was all part of a bigger plan “to become a global leader in sports journalism, which represents a major pillar of our company strategy to be the essential subscription for curious people around the world.”
How one becomes a “global leader in sports journalism” by blithely wrecking your sports page and outsourcing the labor away from deep-dive coverage is a question they should be pressed to answer.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-york-times-sports-page/
Top Photo-The New York Times – The Greatest Moments In – New York Giants History
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