The world is going to hell in a hand basket. War in Ukraine. The Israel assault on Gaza continues unabated. But in San Francisco it’s possible to find some unity and happiness.
Liz spent a post Christmas afternoon in San Francisco’s historic Japantown. Walking through the only mall in our part of the city. And enjoying “Bibimbop” at her favorite Korean restaurant, Doobu. Liz has known the owner since she first went there nearly 15 years ago. Portions are lavish and the food is excellent.
On a Wednesday afternoon the east and west Japantown mall was hoppin’ with people of all ages enjoying the atmosphere and the multi-cultural delights of San Francisco.
Liz digs into her “Bibimbop” at Doobu in Japantown
Japantown – an integral part of San Francisco
Multi-cultural San Francisco at the Japantown mall
A Tree of Hope festooned with origami swans.
The thriving mall in Japantown.
A poster for the classic film ‘Giant’ at the AMC Kabuki 8 movie house in Japantown.
Memorabilia brought home from Japan by our son Paul from his cruise on the Golden Bear when he was a student at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo. Paul was the first visually impaired student to participate in the cruise.
One of Liz’ ESL students from Japan.
An Ikebana Sword Mountain Flower Arranger given to Liz by one of her dear friends.
A sampling of Liz’ Origami workbooks and Origami creations.
Liz poses in the beautiful kimono brought home by Lee during a trip to Nagoya, Japan when he worked as International Traffic Manager for Levi Strauss & Co.
Japantown “….international thriller.”During our recent trip to Berlin there was a Free Library shelf in the Hotel Tiergarten. Interspersed amongst the German language books was Japantown. I shipped home this mystery which takes place in Japantown, San Francisco. It will be my first read in 2024.
Petulant pouty protest prosecutor DA Brooke Jenkins
She (DA Brooke Jenkins) has filed preposterous charges of “false imprisonment” against Bay Bridge demonstrators (“Eighty will be charged for shutting down Bay Bridge in protest calling for Gaza cease fire,” San Francisco, SFChronicle.com, Dec. 15). Perhaps she has missed the long and proud history of nonviolent protest against unjust policies in this country (Jim Crow laws, the exploitation of farm workers, Vietnam War) and abroad (El Salvador, Nicaragua and now Gaza).
Protesters who put their bodies on the line to protest Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza are being prosecuted by DA Brooke Jenkins
I can’t speak for all San Franciscans, but I do think that most of us support humane policies for those living on the sidewalks, and we support, even take pride, in those who protest against the mass killings of civilians.
As the descendent of a German Jewish family that was nearly eradicated by the Nazis, I admire and support those demonstrators and am disgusted, once again, by our district attorney.
Last week I was studying the San Francisco Symphony schedule and was riveted by the program for May 22 and 23, 2024. The 2000 Ridley Scott directed film “Gladiator”, winner of five Academy Awards, will be shown at Davies Hall.
The Hans Zimmer soundtrack will be played by the San Francisco Symphony orchestra.
We immediately purchased tickets. Having seen this film on the big screen in 2000 and watched it several times at home since then. This will be an entirely different experience.
There are many great scenes. Not the least of which is the violent chariot scene and the classic follow up face off between Maximus (Russell Crowe) and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
We have listened to the soundtrack too many times to count.So, we are looking to this cinema musical extravaganza next May.
The Chariot scene in the Roman arena
“I will have my vengence in this life or the next.”
Even though the event is not for five months I was surprised to learn, when I went on line to purchase tickets, Davies Hall is filling up quickly. Today I learned the possible reason.
Next November Gladiator 2, also directed by Ridley Scott, will hit the big screen. Only this time the star of the film is Denzel Washington. The initial trailer is already available for viewing.
Israel military might has killed 20,000 children, women and men in Gaza since launching its offensive, bordering on war crimes, against the people of Gaza.
In retaliation for the murderous Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7. An attack which took the lives of 1200 people. An attack which the Israelis knew was in the planning and, as has been well documented, did not take adequate security measures to prevent. (Link to New York Times article below).
On the brink of starvation by Israel in Gaza
Now, eleven weeks of barbarity by the Israelis has resulted in barbarity which has appalled the world. In Gaza the people are not only under murderous assault by American supplied weapons.
The people of Gaza are starving. The result of Israeli calculated action to continue to kill and starve the People of Gaza.
Here in Rafah, crowds jostle for what little food is available.
The despair is evident.
The faces of war. Terror. Fear. Starvation in Gaza.
(Displaced Person) “This war brought an unbearable level of humiliation. We struggle so much just to provide lunch. Life has become so expensive it’s unbearable. We do not eat, drink or sleep properly. And nothing is available.”
A United-Nations-backed report says more than 90 percent of people in Gaza are facing crisis levels of hunger.
UN agencies say Gazans are getting just 10 percent of the food deliveries they would usually receive.
People struggle to find water, medicine and fuel.
(Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program) “What is happening in Gaza is unprecedented. Both in terms of its scale but also how quickly it has happened. You know, in the world right now, there are about 130,000 people who are in catastrophic levels of hunger, meaning they are starving. In Gaza, more than half a million. That is four times more. And that is what makes this totally unprecedented.”
Palestinian men prepare food at a make-shift charity kitchen to distribute to families in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 8, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)
Israel did briefly allow aid through its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza this week.
But an Israeli airstrike that hit the Palestinian side forced UN staff to stop its pick-ups there.
(Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program) “We can still avoid this famine. But we need to make sure that people have food, people have water, they have shelter, they have sanitation. And for all of those things to happen, we need border crossings open so these commodities can come in.”
The growing desperation for food also means that the limited supplies that do make it into Gaza are often seized upon before being handed out.
And the UN says it’s not just access to aid that is vital, but also its safe distribution across the strip.
Without it, they warn, the risk of famine in Gaza is increasing every day.
Mine is just a personal story. I only have to look at the local media to read endless stories of the mayhem, violence and state of abhorrent human behavior and societal disrepair with which I am surrounded.
San Francisco is an angry place. Liz and I confronted it this week with two disturbing events. Illustrative of the mood inflicting this city.
Angry San Francisco
I Had My Chance – Morphine
Anger is something notably missing in Berlin where we spent three weeks in November. The people in Germany seem to enjoy life.
We did not notice the obvious systemic unhappiness, hostility and anger which casts a fog like pall over America in general and San Francisco in particular.
Systemic anger in the streets of San Francisco
On Monday Liz and I had an appearance in San Francisco Superior Court pursuing an elder abuse restraining order against a 34 year old. He appeared via phone. When the Judge put him on speaker phone the respondent, with no preliminary comments, launched into a tirade called us “crazy” and “insane.” Despite being admonished that such personal attacks are inappropriate he continued on, shouting sometimes, this abusive rhetoric.We just sat impassively while this verbal fusillade went on despite efforts by the Judge to maintain order in the court.
That was Monday.
This afternoon, Friday three days before Christmas, I brought back a defective item to our outer Richmond District neighborhood hardware store one hour after purchasing it. The clerk refused to consider a return. I asked to speak with the “boss” who eventually appeared.
The packaging clearly stated my consumer rights. The owner yelled at me. He threw the defective item on the floor. His employees looked on. Mouths agape. “Give him back his money. You’re a fucking asshole. Never set foot in this store again!!” My wife and I are legacy customers. We have done business with previous owners since 1978. Never, again.
The owner yelled at me. He threw the defective item on the floor. His employees looked on. Mouths agape. “Give him back his money. You’re a fucking asshole. Never set foot in this store again!!”
A sampling of the diverse literary delights in Berlin
Our fraught German excursion whose hi-lights were being laid low by a vicious virus and Liz suffering an ankle fracture riding the dangerous Deutsche Bahn is now officially over.
This rainy morning our faithful USPS postal carrier delivered two parcels totaling 44 pounds. Containing a number of gifts and mementos from what may be our last German experience.
It certainly has been good to return to our quiet San Francisco neighborhood. Drink the quality Hetch Hetchy water. Have our own home brewed coffee and read the newspapers each morning.
We couldn’t resist the thermometers in Berlin. The celsius thermometer on the left was purchased at a quality hardware store. The thermometer on the right “Some Like it Hot” we found at the book emporium Dussman on the Friedrichstrasse in Berlin.The Berlin hardware store complete with bird houses.The fateful Deutsche Bahn Inter City Express train where Liz suffered her fractured ankle putting the brakes on our trip when we reached Frankfurt.
One of the most onerous California ballot measures, passed unwittingly by the voters in 2020 as Proposition 19, may be headed for a second vote next November.
In order to place the measure on the November 2024 ballot, 1.2 million signatures are needed by the deadline on January 16, 2024.
That ballot measure struck down the ability of parents and grand parents to pass on their homes to their offspring and not suffer a huge property tax hit. Prior to passage in 2020 children and grand children could inherit these homes without incurring a potentially huge increase in property taxes.
Under CURRENT law when a property passes onto the children it is reassessed at current market value. For example a family which purchased their home in the mid-1980’s, raised their family and still live in the same property, currently pay approximately $3000.00 in yearly property taxes.
Under CURRENT law the property is reassessed to market value. The revised property tax could increase to at least $12,000 yearly based on current market value. A burden which has forced children and grand children inheriting family property to sell.
Excerpted from The Wind 12.17.2023
(SAN FRANCISCO) In November 2020, Proposition 19 which changed the rules of tax assessment transfers was passed by 51% California voters to become law. Three years later today, people are trying to repeal the law by gathering 1.2M signatures by January 16, 2024 for a petition to put the state measure back on the ballot in the November 2024 election.
Prop. 19 eliminated the parent-to-child and grandparent-to-grandchild exemption in cases where the child or grandchild does not use the inherited property as their principal residence, such as using a property as a rental house or a second home.
Prop. 19 is also called the Death Tax on Property. Its full name is the Property Tax Transfers, Exemptions, and Revenue for Wildfire Agencies and Counties Amendment.
The property tax transfers in Prop. 19 affect properties being handed down by parents or grandparents to their children and grandchildren. This amendment has angered a large number of homeowners and parents including members of the large Chinese community.
Prior to Prop. 19, parents or grandparents could transfer primary residential properties to their children or grandchildren without the property’s tax assessment resetting to market value.
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association started the petition to repeal Prop. 19 by collecting signatures statewide for a new ballot measure at the November election in 2024.
“As more and more Californians find out what has happened, anger is growing,” Jon Coupal, President of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, wrote on the petition website. “Parents should be able to transfer property to their children without triggering reassessment to current market value and a huge tax increase. For more than 30 years, they could. It was a right enshrined in the California constitution. But now, it’s gone.”
“Under Prop. 19, property transferred from parents to children is reassessed to current market value, with only limited exceptions. Grieving families find out about it in a letter from the assessor’s office that arrives in the mail along with the sympathy cards,” said Coupal.
Pouty and petulant Brooke Jenkins at San Francisco State DA candidates night in 2022 being confronted by protesters. She didn’t like the view and was escorted out by her security posse.
Never mind that the political animal San Francisco District AttorneyBrooke Jenkins conned and lied her way into office on the back of her one time boss. Progressive DA Chesa Boudin.
Turning her back on the man who promoted her career. Quitting in October 2021. Calling herself a “volunteer” as she campaigned to recall Chesa Boudin. All the while being paid over 150K for her political “volunteer” gig. Then being rewarded handsomely by Mayor London Breed for doing the Mayor’s political chores. Being handed the DA job after Chesa was politically lynched on June 7, 2022.
A shameful action backed with nearly 9M in right wing moneyand supported by Mayor Breed.
A DA who has torn to shreds everything put in place by her predecessor. Including dropping charges and refusing to prosecute dirty cops who were under Chesa’s microscopeof treating all law breakers equally.
Has the crime situation improved on her watch during the past 18 months? Not in the least. Though DA Jenkins brandishes her few successful prosecutions as evidence of her stalwart performance.
What are the DA’s priorities? Unctuously announcing that she is going to throw the full weight of her office. Prosecuting 80 people who engaged in civil disobedience protesting the Israeli military assault against Gaza during the November APEC conference in San Francisco.
Several weeks earlier Brooke Jenkins, following an uproar in the Arab American community, deleted a tweet in which she characterized a rally in support of Palestinians as a “pro-Hamas” event, saying she only meant to condemn a piece of anti semitic graffiti that appeared downtown.
Some courageous crime fighter is our political DA.
Protesting Israeli military action in Gaza. Gets you indicted in San Francisco
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 12.15.2023
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety. The demonstration on the Bay Bridge that snarled traffic for hours had a tremendous impact on those who were stuck on the bridge for hours and required tremendous public resources to resolve,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “I would like to commend the California Highway Patrol and San Francisco Sheriff’s Department for their work to peacefully resolve this incident.”
Eighty people will be charged with unlawful public assembly, among other misdemeanors, for a November protest that shut down traffic across the Bay Bridge for hours, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
On the morning of Nov. 16, protesters shut down the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge, calling for a cease fire in Gaza while world leaders met in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Now, 80 individuals will face five misdemeanor charges each, according to the district attorney’s office.
Civil disobedience protesters calling out Israel military mission in Gaza. Now being hauled into Court by DA Brooke Jenkins.
Just before 8 a.m., dozens of protesters stopped their cars and began demonstrating in the middle of the bridge, holding up banners and chanting slogans over bullhorns. Many of them chained their arms together inside of tubes to make removing them more difficult. It took law enforcement four hours to arrest the protesters and remove their cars so traffic could resume. In total, 82 people were arrested, according to a spokesperson for California Highway Patrol.
With each passing day Israel continues to lose credibility in the forum of world public opinion.
The ongoing carnage Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza has no limits.
Israel is not satisfied with slaughtering nearly 20,000 men, women and children in retribution for the vicious Hamas terror attack of October 7inside Israel which resulted in the brutal deaths of 1200 people.
The retaliation by Israel, now over two months, has far exceeded the normal boundaries of a measured response. With the tacit approval of, and weapons provided by, the American government the Israeli military is operating with no restraints.
Now, according to the New York Times, a staunch supporter of the Jewish state, the Israeli military has taken to destroying Gazan holy places. The resting place for the dead.
A hideous action which is considered a potential war crime.
Excerpted from The New York Times 12.14.2023
Israeli ground forces have damaged or destroyed at least six cemeteries during their advance into the northern Gaza Strip, most of them in recent weeks, according to an analysis of new satellite imagery and video footage by The New York Times.
Cemeteries in Gaza. Under attack by Israeli military
The laws of armed conflict consider the intentional destruction of religious sites without military necessity a possible war crime.
In Gaza City’s Shajaiye neighborhood, where heavy combat raged in recent days, Israeli forces razed part of the Tunisian cemetery to set up a temporary military position. A satellite image from Sunday shows armored vehicles and earthen fortifications on what were intact graves days earlier.
The Israeli military did not respond to questions by The Times about its reason for razing the cemetery and whether it has taken any precautions to protect religious sites in Gaza.
Much of the damage was inflicted this month, as Israeli forces advanced toward what Israeli officials believe are remaining Hamas strongholds in densely built-up areas of Gaza City. Israel appears to be using at least one cemetery as a temporary base for military vehicles.
Israeli military vehicles destroyed dozens of graves at a smaller cemetery in early December, next to an existing Israeli position half a mile to the northwest of the Tunisian cemetery. A video published by the Israeli military on Sunday shows soldiers apparently engaged in combat in the area.
Last resting place for the dead in Gaza. Attacked by the Israeli military.
On the same day, in the Jabaliya neighborhood of Gaza City, satellite imagery showed new tracks and possible military vehicles at Al-Faluja cemetery. Later video footage shows damage to gravesites but no established military positions.
After nearly a month in Berlin and Frankfurt, where discordant street life is not part of the mosaic, the reality of San Francisco hits home immediately.
It’s hard to put into words the difference between San Francisco and Berlin when it comes to daily life. In Berlin the people seem to be enjoying themselves. In the cafes, the shopping districts and the museums. The edgy tension which is pervasive in San Francisco. Crime. Violence. The unhoused. It is something generally missing in Berlin.
The following photos were taken in the days after our return to America.
These are not the type scenes we witnessed in Germany.
Bowed and bending overAn SFMTA minder in conversation with a riderA San Francisco street person examines one of his possessions.Sitting in the sun on a winter morningA street person lays prone on the street as a citizen stands over himA couple, their family dog and possessionsNowhere to goWaiting disconsolately in a medical clinicA busted out storefront after a vehicle smashed the entryway to steal an ATM machineOne peaceful scene. A Muni rider and her dog
Top photo: One of San Francisco’s thousands of unhoused finds shelter wherever he can.
Lee's Perspective 