Will Rent Control/Housing Measures Pass?

Posted October 27, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Voters Will Decide State, Local Housing Policies California voters will decide one state measure (Prop 21) and several local ones impacting the state’s affordability crisis. There are initiatives that strengthen or repeal rent control laws, raise real estate transfer taxes,
Read More »

54 Ways Cities Can Increase Affordability

Posted October 27, 2020 by Randy Shaw

New Book Offers Common-Sense Solutions I argue in Generation Priced Out that whether cities improve affordability and increase racial and economic diversity is a question of political will. Ending homelessness, overcrowding, and long car commutes is not like a search
Read More »

Reviews From The 2020 United Nations Association Film Festival

Posted October 27, 2020 by Peter Wong

Rita Hargrave and Reginald D. Brown’s documentary “The Last Mambo” offers a wonderful toe-tapping, skirt-twirling historical overview of the San Francisco Bay Area Latinx music scene. It gives plenty of shoutouts to the various types of Latinx music genres available,
Read More »

San Francisco’s Bright Future

Posted October 20, 2020 by Randy Shaw

The City’s Core Strengths Remain Many seem convinced: San Francisco faces a troubling future. The evidence? We are told: *people are relocating from cities to suburbs; *tech workers, free to work at home, prefer living outside San Francisco; *the city’s
Read More »

San Francisco Needs the Radical Power of Commissions: Yes on Prop B

Posted October 20, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Prop B Brings Essential Public Input for Cleaner Streets San Francisco’s Prop B creates a new Department of Sanitation and Streets overseen by a commission. It is not without opposition. For example, SPUR argues that “past experience in San Francisco
Read More »

Vancouver Council Votes for $1-Billion SRO Purchase Plan

Posted October 20, 2020 by Jen St. Denis

(Editor’s Note: Last week, Vancouver announced a dramatic plan to buy up to 105 of the city’s SRO hotels. I was flown up to the city in 2016 to talk to city officials about upgrading their SRO stock. I saw
Read More »

Interview With Chelsea Christer, Director of “Bleeding Audio”

Posted October 20, 2020 by Peter Wong

San Francisco-based film director Chelsea Christer comes full circle this week. Back in 2005, Christer was a teenager growing up in “a small conservative town in the middle of Colorado.” Attending the Epitaph Tour’s concert at Denver’s Ogden Theatre, she
Read More »

Is Ronen Headed for SF’s Board Presidency?

Posted October 13, 2020 by Randy Shaw

SF Supervisor Races Will Decide Presidency In the months leading up to the January 2019 vote for Board President D9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen openly campaigned for the position. Her supporters spoke on her behalf for nearly two hours before the
Read More »