Headlines
Sanctuary Ordinance: Defined Along Political Party Lines
By Jonathan Farrell, Jun 13, 2009
The “Gallant Old Party” Republicans of San Francisco have set the issue of the Sanctuary Ordinance along political party lines. This past April the SF GOP unanimously passed a resolution to “support and defend the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of California” in opposition to the City of San Francisco’s current policy of its Sanctuary Ordinance. This local Republican Party platform resolution was established in response to the SF Democratic County Central Committee resolution this past March to demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom direct the SF Police Dept. not to enforce immigration laws for undocumented aliens, including youths that commit felonies. The Mission Dispatch talked with the Chair of the SF Republican Party, Howard Epstein and he explained that San Francisco “must follow the U.S. Code Laws as well as State Code laws.
City Attorney Takes Legal Action Against U.S. Postal Service
By Jonathan Farrell, Jun 13, 2009
This past May, City Attorney Dennis Herrera took legal actions against the United States Postal Service for refusing to ensure proper delivery of mail to Single Residency Occupancy Hotels in San Francisco. Tenants of SRO hotels throughout the City have complained that their mail is often misplaced, tampered with or stolen because the USPS will not take the basic steps to ensure mail is placed securely in each individual mailbox. As it is now, mail delivery to a SRO hotel is simply left at the front desk or in the hands of the hotel’s owner or staff clerk. “Should a desk clerk control who gets their mail?” Jeff Buckley, director of the Central City SRO Collaborative asked this question as he talked to the Mission Dispatch about this on-going and menacing problem. “We didn’t think much of this at first, considering it isolated incidents,” said Buckley. “But it kept growing,” he added.
Sunday Streets Event Rocks the Mission
By Jonathan Farrell, Jun 13, 2009
Sunday Streets creates a safe, fun, car-free place for people to get out and get active in San Francisco neighborhoods. Last year’s two events drew more than 15,000 people. Sunday Streets coordinators Susan King and Cheryl Brinkman of the nonprofit Livable City spoke briefly at the Mission Station community meeting on May 26 at the invitation of Capt. Stephen Tacchini. The community room at SFPD’s Mission Station that Tuesday evening was overflowing. Most were there for other concerns. Yet all seemed pleased to hear that another neighborhood event is being planned, especially upon the heels of Carnaval celebration. Capt. Tacchini mentioned that Carnaval this year went very well with only a few small incidents that were easily maintained. He welcomed the Sunday Streets event idea. King explained Sunday Streets, opens the streets to San Franciscans to explore four different neighborhoods and participate in a wide variety of activities, including dancing, biking, skating, walking, hula hoop, yoga, and just people watching.
DPT’s Mission: More Meters, Longer Hours, No Free Parking
By Jonathan Farrell , May 13, 2009
Attention car owners! Get plenty of extra quarters in your pocket change. Proposals to increase parking fees by 50 cents to a dollar citywide are being reviewed, as the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority needs to recover a $128 million deficit. As reported in the San Francisco Examiner this past April 6, ideas to increase parking fees would cover all four parking zones in the City with the exception of sections of the waterfront that is controlled by the Port of San Francisco.
Representative for the Parking and Traffic Division of the SFMTA, Terry Robbins met with the Mission Merchants Association about the proposal on April 21. His purpose was to bring to the merchants the idea as a way of improving and creating more parking availability in the Mission District.
Eastern Neighborhoods: Community Meeting Gone Awry
By Jonathan Farrell , May 13, 2009
Since the announcement of the forming of Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan, critics have worried that the 13-member committee will be biased toward the wishes of the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors will nominate most of the seats as applications are now being accepted and the five remaining seats are to be appointed by Mayor Newsom.
There was no mention of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee at the Mission Street Heights Community meeting held on April 14. Instead the focus of the meeting was upon the issue of “small business displacement,” and “smart growth” which despite six wall maps displayed then included only vague references to the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan.
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MissionBlog [more]
Fighting Crime in the Mission: Racial Profiling & Police Misconduct May Be Part of the Package
By Pedro Tuyub, Mission Dispatch Publisher, Mar 20, 2009
A PERSONAL STORY — ON THE EVENING OF FRIDAY, JAN. 30, I was detained and later taken into custody by two plainclothes police officers while I was walking along 16th Street. During this ordeal, I was handcuffed, insulted, and generally treated as a criminal for nearly 8 hours without being allowed to contact my family or anyone else. All of this took place without ANY explanation or justification then or now as to why this occurred. Many friends tell me I was picked up for “Walking While Mexican.” Around 7 that evening, I was contacted by a childhood friend who is from the same town in Mexico. He is selling a house down there and I had expressed some interested in buying it. We decided to go to the El Tin-Tan Bar and Restaurant on 16th Street to discuss the matter over dinner and a few drinks. That restaurant is frequented by many other people from our area of Mexico, the Yucatan, and so we both encountered many friends we had not seen in awhile. [more]
Calendar [more]
, Jun 13, 2009
@ Roxie, Castro and Victoria Theater
Frameline, the oldest and largest LGBT film festival will present more than 200 films from all over the world from June 18-28 at the Roxie Cinema, Castro Theater, and Victoria Theater. During the 11 days of Frameline33, more than 60,000 patrons around the Bay Area, the U.S., and around the world will attend the various screenings. The films, both short and feature, examine the lives of gay people in the Latino, Asian American, African American, and Native American communities. Opening night film is An Englishman in New York, starring John Hurt as Quentin Crisp, a great performance portraying the queer Crisp, who shot to fame as "the naked civil servant.” Centerpiece films are Patrick, Age 1.5, a Swedish film about a gay couple who get more than they bargain for, when their adopted “baby” turns out to be a cranky 15-year-old boy — and Prodigal Sons, a documentary about a transgender woman going home to Montana for her high school reunion. Famous local twin filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar will receive the 2009 Frameline Award at a screening of the new documentary It Came From Kuchar on Sunday, June 21 at the Castro Theater. For more info and tickets, go to www.frameline.org — tickets are also available at the Frameline Box Office at Superstar Video at 474 Castro St. [more]
Kids Corner [more]
Cinco de Mayo Festival 2009
, , Apr 16, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Dolores Park, Dolores Street between 18th & 20th
SF Cinco de Mayo Festival invites the everyone to bring their picnic blankets and enjoy the lush green grass of Dolores Park and its million dollar skyline view, while enjoying music, cultural entertainment, and outdoor recreation. SF Cinco de Mayo is a FREE family and children-friendly, alcohol-free environment. This year SF Cinco de Mayo is introducing Health Screening, Education, and "Going Green" [more]
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