Monthly Archives: January 2024

Photo shows SF's Bustling Mid-Market--2015

A Bold New Tax Plan for San Francisco?

Posted January 29, 2024 by

Mid-Market, Tenderloin Need Boost In 2011 San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced a revitalization strategy for the long neglected Mid-Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods. Lee’s temporary payroll tax exemption for new hires (often described as the “Twitter Tax”) was an incredible<br> Read More »

Can Newspapers Survive?

Posted January 29, 2024 by

Mass LA Times Layoffs Highlight Crisis Last week’s layoff of 115 newsroom employees at the Los Angeles Times revived a longstanding question: can traditional newspapers survive in the age of rampant free media? The LA Times layoffs occurred the same<br> Read More »

More Reviews From Slamdance 2024

Posted January 29, 2024 by

Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos’ avant garde short “Ask The Plantain” has nothing to do with the type of banana found in Africa and the Americas or even by extension the analogy of male genitalia.  The plant in question is colloquially known<br> Read More »
Letters to the Editor…

Letters to the Editor…

Posted January 24, 2024 by

Dear Editor: Re Drug Markets   Thank you for bringing attention to this appalling mess in the Tenderloin and Market Street. I rode the 27 bus through there yesterday and is the closest to Hell I have seen in any<br> Read More »
Photo shows Dealers and Users filling 7th and Market

Can SFPD Finally Close Drug Markets?

Posted January 22, 2024 by

Clearing Tents, Users, Nighttime Drug Markets Last Thursday at 2:30 am rival drug gangs fired over twenty gunshots on the 400 block of Turk. A block with senior housing, permanent supportive housing, a “tot lot” playground and the headquarters of<br> Read More »

Should Uber, Lyft Be Allowed in Mid-Market?

Posted January 22, 2024 by

Time to Revisit an Outdated Decision A June 2015 unanimous SFMTA vote banned private cars and rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft from Market Street between Third and Eighth Streets. Taxicabs were still allowed. I’m sure I cheered SFMTA’s action.<br> Read More »

Reviews From Slamdance 2024

Posted January 22, 2024 by

A pimped-out gold-plated car, a cryptocurrency billionaire wearing a Spanish conquistador helmet, and singing electron puppets: these are just some of the story elements in Trygve Luktvasslimo’s quietly demented musical “The Bitcoin Car.”  If the final payoff does not create<br> Read More »