Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

San Francisco’s hometown newspaper, the Hearst owned Chronicle, is taking a gratuitous victory lap while taking a shot at the latest political scandal roiling La La Land down south.

In short, three Los Angeles City Council members and a labor leader were taped, during a private meeting discussing the City’s redistricting, disparaging Blacks and Asians.

The recording was a conversation among Nury Martinez, the Council president; Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, council members; and Ron Herrera, the leader of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, that took place in October 2021 during intense negotiations over City Council redistricting.

Ms. Martinez is heard comparing the Black child of Councilman Mike Bonin to a “changuito,” Spanish for little monkey, and joking with Mr. de León that Mr. Bonin carries the child around like a designer handbag. Those were only two of the offensive comments in the 80-minute recording, which included ugly remarks describing recent migrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and disparaging remarks about the trustworthiness of white liberals and a councilwoman who is of South Asian descent. (excerpted from The New York Times 10.11.2022)

While it’s all well and good to splash this scandal across the front page, San Francisco cannot be proud of its own political goings on.

The following paragraph buried in the Chronicle Op Ed succinctly takes down San Francisco.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 10.11.2022

By – Justin Ray a Los Angeles-based journalist who has published works for the Los Angeles Times and Columbia Journalism Review.

If you live in San Francisco, you may believe your political scene is the most volatile in the state and there are understandable reasons why. Mayor London Breed is embroiled in a scandal following the revelation that she has requested her appointees to sign undated letters of resignation.

There have been numerous other incidents among city leadership, including the bitter recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

And the revelation that his successor Brooke Jenkins was paid more than $140,000 by a nonprofit organization linked to his recall. And Breed is no stranger to controversies herself, like her attending a party at upscale restaurant French Laundry in the throes of a pandemic and $23,000 in fines related to her ethics violations.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/los-angeles-california-city-council-17502830.php

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

The Power of the Media.

The podcast ‘Serial’ shone a light on the Justice system in America and how one man, then a teenager was arrested, charged and convicted of a murder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Hae_Min_Lee

Adnan Syed spent 23 years in jail and person for a crime for which there was always a reasonable doubt he did not commit. Now, he is a free man.

Sadly, he can never have back the lost years of his life.

New York Times 10.11.2022

Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the charges against Adnan Syed, who was released last month after he spent 23 years in prison fighting a murder conviction that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” officials said.

Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, said in an email on Tuesday that the case had been dropped.

On Sept. 19, Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Mr. Syed’s conviction on charges that he murdered his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. Prosecutors had 30 days from that date to decide if they would proceed with a new trial or drop the charges.

October 9, 2022

Letter to Chronicle Bill Nagel, Publisher and Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Editor

ONGOING ARBITRARY VIOLATION OF LEE HEIDHUES’ RIGHTS AS A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE SUBSCRIBER

Re: Block from @SFChronicle – Twitter site

Sincerely, Liz Heidhues

 

 

Lee Heidhues 10.9.2022

I was in High School when the Cuban Missile Crisis totally upended my life. The entire Planet Earth was transfixed with the looming spectre of nuclear war. 

It was genuinely terrifying. 

Years before the Internet people were glued to their television sets, radios and newspapers as the Crisis unfolded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

 

Now we have Vladimir Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons as his war of aggression falters in Ukraine.

We can only watch and wait.

 

Perhaps the best cinematic take on the Cuban Missile Crisis is the 2000 film “Thirteen Days.” For those of you who want a quick primer on this terrifying period 60 years ago the movie is a good place to start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Days_(film)

 

 

 

Lee Heidhues 10.8.2022

Photos by Liz Heidhues

The theme of the afternoon – VOTE YES ON J FOR JFK PROMENADE.

It was a foggy afternoon in historic Golden Gate Park in the midst of Fleet Week with the Blue Angels flying overhead.

The foggy cool weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd which came to enjoy Prom on the Prom as advocates for Proposition J fight to preserve the car free oasis JFK Promenade.

There was music, food, a photo booth, free books courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library, and an atmosphere of camaraderie in the air.

Valet parking at Prom on the Prom

Dancing at Prom on the Prom

Luke Bornheimer – longtime advocate for JFK Promenade

Lee Heidhues 10.7.2022

People may be protesting around the Globe the murder by Iran’s “morality police” of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for violating the strict dress code for women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Mahsa_Amini

But, back in Iran, it’s business as usual. The government continues its crackdown on protest as The People struggle to have their voice of protest heard.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.7.2022

Iranian authorities have been struggling to put an end to the demonstrations that have roiled the country for weeks. The protests against the leadership began following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly failing to observe the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

 

The internet is still very slow. I feel cut off from the world;” “VPN connections don’t work this time either;” “Messaging services like WhatsApp or Signal are blocked.” These kinds of messages are rife in Iran amid escalating anti-hijab protests and people in the Islamic country are reporting extensive internet blockades.

Streets in the capital Tehran are quieter during the day. It’s a long weekend in the country, but more protests are planned for the coming days. To prevent this from happening, the country’s police and security forces are arbitrarily arresting civil society activists and journalists. 

On Wednesday, Iranian police arrested Amir Mirmirani, one of the country’s best-known bloggers. For a decade, Mirmirani has been producing a tech podcast, “Jadi.” In 2021, it received a national prize for the dissemination of knowledge.

From an award-winning blogger and podcaster, Mirmirani has become a “public enemy,” as his recent podcasts have openly criticized the internet blockades. He is also one of the few tech pros who did not support the government’s plans to “nationalize” the internet. Five of these IT experts have been arrested in the past few days as a result.

Authorities have so far detained people from various walks of life, including football players, singers, students, filmmakers and women’s rights activists.

“The wave of arrests started in Kurdistan, shortly after Mahsa Amini’s funeral,” said Asieh Amini, an author and women’s rights activist who currently lives in exile in Norway. 

She has compiled a list of female activists who have been arrested in the past three weeks. Among those on the list is Bahareh Hedayat, who was detained by authorities on October 3. The 41-year-old has been repeatedly arrested over the past 13 years, following the 2009 anti-government protests in the country. She has served a total of seven years in prison during this period for her peaceful advocacy for greater democracy in Iran. She has not commented publicly on the ongoing demonstrations.

https://www.dw.com/en/iran-hunts-down-anti-hijab-activists/a-63373577

Top photo – Mahsa Amini – Murdered by Iran’s “morality police.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Heidhues 10.6.2022

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has spent nearly $700,000 to destroy JFK Promenade.

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco just dumped another $75,000 into its selfish greed driven campaign to destroy Golden Gate Park’s car free Oasis and bring cars back to JFK Promenade. (see attached)

FAMSF 75K 10.3.2022

On September 24, 2022 The ‘Access for All, Yes on I, No on J Sponsored by Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums and Open the Great Highway Alliance’ reported TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED $618,135.65 (see attached)

FAMSF Form 460 9.29.2022

I have reported earlier that the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums is using its Staff to work on the attempt to destroy JFK Promenade.

https://leesperspective.com/2022/09/28/desperate-de-young-museum-paying-its-employees-to-destroy-car-free-jfk-drive/

It can be expected that in the next 33 days the Fine Arts Museums will do whatever it takes to destroy JFK Promenade.

Lee Heidhues 10.5.2022

This has been a shameful dismal performance by San Francisco officialdom.

Joshua Klipp, Liz Heidhues and I went through the entire Appeal process to preserve the beautiful New Zealand Christmas Tree at 39th Avenue and Clement Street.

We prevailed. Yet, the City went its own merry way and totally blew off the Decision by its own SFPUC Hearing Officer.

It has been nearly month since we learned that the City and County of San Francisco willfully ignored the Final Decision by an San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Hearing Officer on July 6, 2022. Workers from the Recreation and Parks Department wantonly cut away a 9″ root on the tree.

 

In that Decision the Hearing Officer ordered the City to preserve the decades old New Zealand Christmas Tree at 39th Avenue and Clement Street.

WD-2852_Decision_on_appeal_Tree_Removal_lyman

On September 26, 2022 after nearly three weeks of imploring the SFPUC, The Department of Public Works, the Bureau of Urban Forestry and the Recreation and Parks Department we received the following on September 26.

It now appears the mission to install a water pipe to accommodate the entitled class of golfers at Lincoln Park Golf Course is complete. The tree has been severely damaged in the process.

Whether it is able to survive only time will tell.