San Francisco and what to do in it

Jesus the stuff on pages 98-100 (just skimming) is pretty damning.

ok I'm settling in to read this start to finish...the first 2 pages were enough to hook me. DAMN

Chinatown power broker Rose Pak back in July 2011:

Leland Yee is one of the most morally corrupt politicians I've ever encountered in 40 years. From the first day he stepped in as the school board member, lying to get his children to the preferred assigned school using a phony address, selling his services to Chinese-American parents who would cut an arm or leg to get their kid to the right schools ... he did all of that.

So I don't think he stood for anything decent in our community except to come and take money and then claiming to be the first Asian this and Asian that, but he doesn't impress me. He doesn't stand for anything except corruption and bribery.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/item/Key-players-California-state-Sen-Yee-and-others-28376.php

Jew eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud, extortion and soliciting a bribe. Facing years in prison, however, he reportedly began singing to the feds - telling them that he had learned about how to trade cash for favors from Chinese American politicos, including Yee.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2014/03/27/a-san-francisco-restaurant-walking-tour-of-the-leland-yee-saga/

Because of course.

jfc

http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2014/03/27/watch-raymond-shrimp-boy-chows-episode-of-history-channels-gangland/#21934101=0

This episode of Gangland is pretty interesting in retrospect

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/How-an-undercover-FBI-agent-broke-Calif-state-5355568.php

The man appeared to be some type of supercriminal - a drug-dealing, gun-running member of the Sicilian Mafia who held up cigarette trucks, fingered enemies for assassination and swam in millions of dollars that needed laundering.

He became, authorities allege, a trusted go-to guy and moneymaker for associates of the Ghee Kung Tong, the Chinese brotherhood that Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow ran in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Or so everyone thought.

lol polls

73 percent of respondents think tech companies are good for the city, but only 60 percent think tech workers are good for the city

the buildings & their logos look pretty but the people uuuugh

If I'm in the city after 10pm with no car, waiting for the last Caltrain, any suggestions on how to kill an hour?

http://www.ofarrell.com/

that's two buses to get to the Caltrain station from there though

http://www.goldclubsf.com/

^ walking distance from caltrain

this sounds kind of made up:

http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/04/14/another-google-glass-wearer-attacked-in-s-f/

"Glass!"

also lol sarahell

xp

sarahell sent Leee to the Gold Club?! It must be a riff on milo z's suggestion...

was it Dave Eggers who used to do cartoons about the "Gold Club Guy" from the weekly ads? This was back in the 90s so i may not rc

I miss that guy

dave eggers or the gold club guy?

Yeah I was kind of looking for a cafe or a bookstore.

The Gold Club Guy! who cares about dave eggers?

True story: I have been kicked out of the Gold Club.

Embarcadero BART most nuts I've ever seen it in my five+ years of commuting to the east bay. Lines up all the escalators and through the entrances.

I blame the technology people

some got run over at montgomery station

When I got to Montgomery station, BART cops were telling everybody the station was closed and to leave. As they were doing so, someone came on the PA system and said the station was open. The cops didn't seem to hear, so there was this weird brief moment where we were starting to push toward the gates while the cops were shaking their heads and trying to walk us back. Someone with a video camera filmed me and a few others going through the gates. Went downstairs and my train rolled up with hardly anybody on it. Impeccable timing! Once everybody piled on from Embarc station, it got hot and sweaty, though.

Cool story, huh.

Seems like a lot of people have been getting hit by trains lately.

currently having a FB argument with a friend who thinks SF's housing supply problem is caused by rent control :/

a guy I went to college with got hit and killed by the caltrain a couple months ago trying to convince someone to get off the tracks

Interesting in-depth look at SF's housing problems:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/sf-housing/

^^^really good piece

holy data, the detail

Wow o nate to the rescue

it's been freaking me out all day that the most thorough and thoughtful coverage i've seen in the last year was in freakin' TechCrunch

That's a great article

It is great, but also highlights (in a million different ways) how difficult it will be to fix this problem.

Best article on the topic I've read yet. Thanks for sharing.

“…the war on tech workers—as opposed to tech companies or policies— is not really a “class war.” Rather, it is about one group of predominately white people complaining about a similar demographic group that likes many of the same restaurants, bars, street festivals, and Samba classes that they do—but who makes more money.”

randy shaw otm, it always seemed weird to me that tech workers have become this villain down there but it seems like it's been a pretty effective tactic? at least w/r/t the ellis act compensation, getting the mayor's attention, other promising legislation being proposed, etc

please please someone turn this into a political reality

Any idea how much added revenue that would generate?

I have no idea. at the same time anything that chips away at that stupid law has to be a good thing.

yep.

i guess that would be better than nothing, but yeah what a terrible law. has anyone ever come up with a reasonable transition strategy for a repeal? seems like it would be incredibly difficult to pull off both logistically and politically

upthread someone mentioned something about having it only supply to someone's primary residence, which makes a ton of sense to me. i'm politically naive, but what does the counter-argument look like? "but what about the millionaires with second homes in Carmel?"

supply -> apply

brauch Kaffee

I think you'd need to have some pretty long (20 year?) transition period.

"but what about the millionaires with second homes in Carmel?"

when you have pissed off millionaires and property rights advocates you don't need a rational argument