Tag: San Francisco

Image SAN FRANCISCO — Over the last decade, this has become the tech industry’s hometown. Tech leaders were featured in a video for their preferred candidate, Ed Lee, who went on to win and was re-elected in 2015. Tech got political, fast. Mr. Benioff, a native of San Francisco and the most prominent tech executive in the city, was a financial backer of Mr. Lee. “This is the hottest election San Francisco has ever had for mayor,” he said. “I’ve just been super busy,” Mr. Altman wrote in an email, adding that he had “no idea” why others had been so quiet. Hunter Walk, formerly with Google’s YouTube and now a venture capitalist, appeared in the 2011 video supporting Mr. Lee. Breed, the mayoral candidate who seems to have the most backing from tech. Breed, a president of the board of supervisors who became interim mayor after Mr. Lee’s death, as the next mayor. Mr. Conway emphasized that he is still backing Ms.

SAN FRANCISCO — A major tobacco company is pouring millions of dollars into a ballot initiative that would repeal the country’s strongest effort yet to ban the sale of flavored tobaccos, which are attracting a whole new generation of users including children and teens. A $12 million campaign primarily funded by R.J. Reynolds is urging San Francisco voters next Tuesday to reject the city’s ban on selling flavored vaping products, hookah tobacco and menthol cigarettes. The flavored tobacco comes in brightly colored packages and tastes like bubblegum, mango or chicken-and-waffles, which public health advocates say are designed to entice young people. While the industry argues the devices help adult smokers kick the habit, public health advocates contend the flavored products are also getting young people to try nicotine products. Studies also show that young people who vape — inhaling a heated vapor instead of smoking cigarettes — are more likely to go on to become smokers. The campaign argues that the ban is a government overreach in a state that already raised the smoking age to 21 and banned the sale of these flavored tobacco products to kids. Repeal backers also argue it will hurt small businesses and create a black market for these products. “San Francisco voters should say enough is enough and adults should be free to make their own consumer choices,” a longtime San Francisco libertarian activist known as Starchild told those gathered at a “No on Prop. About $1.8 million of the $2.3 million raised by supporters of the flavor ban has come from Bloomberg, who has bankrolled other public health campaigns to support soda taxes and smoking bans, among other issues. They also argue that young people are more likely to buy these products online than in stores.

On Tuesday, President Trump participated in California Sanctuary State Roundtable. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable, FNC has…

Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. Event is sold out, but will be live-streamed here. More information is here. 5-7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery St., San Francisco. Palestinian forum: Event marking 70th anniversary of the Nakba, the expulsion and exodus of Palestinians from what became the state of Israel. More information is here. Politics 101: United Democratic Club hosts a primer on local politics. 6:30 p.m., New Valencia Hall, 747 Polk St., San Francisco. More information is here. More information is here.

California’s exposure to climate change has been laid bare with warnings that San Francisco faces a far worse threat from rising seas than previously thought, while the agricultural heart of the state will increasingly struggle to support crops such as peaches, walnuts and apricots as temperatures climb. The findings, from two new scientific studies, come as California’s neighboring west coast states Oregon and Washington have both faltered in their legislative attempts to address climate change and deliver a rebuke to Donald Trump’s dismissal of the issue. “In Washington, we are holding a very good policy hostage because it’s not perfect. San Francisco can lay claim to being one of the greenest cities in the US, through its embrace of clean energy, mandated recycling and banning of single-use plastic bags, yet it faces a steep challenge to avoid the ravages of sea level rise. Researchers using satellite-based radar and GPS have discovered large areas of land beside the San Francisco bay is sinking, exacerbating the threat from sea level rise and storms. This scenario would worsen if melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica trigger a far faster rate of ocean expansion. “A huge number of people along the west coast are in low-lying areas, in Los Angeles and San Francisco all the way up to Seattle. And California’s neighbors to the north are struggling to demonstrate that states can compensate for the lack of federal action on climate change, even those where Democrats have a firm grip on power. Meanwhile, in Oregon, another state dominated by elected Democrats, lawmakers failed to agree on a cap on greenhouse gases and will instead revisit the issue in 2019. “Rather than getting bogged down in how money from a carbon tax would be spent, we need to make climate change a bipartisan issue again,” said Aseem Prakash, the director of the center for environmental politics at the University of Washington.

A column from local political consultant and data expert David Latterman explaining the technical side of San Francisco politics. In the fall of an odd-numbered year, the rumors swirl, the teams form, and some candidate starts his or her campaign early and is proclaimed the “frontrunner” just because that person is first. We hear the whispers of dozens of ballot measures being hatched in smoke-filled rooms, and potential candidates size up their chances not just for next year’s races, but all the offices they dream of years down the road. The different San Francisco political factions – with their respective slates of candidates and menu of ballot measures – have gamed the system to push their champions and their measures to whatever cycle they feel gives them the best chance of winning. Ranked choice voting isn’t unique to San Francisco, but there are often a very large number of candidates in local races (22! Failing to know the difference can get you literally run out of town. Having worked in San Francisco politics for fifteen years as a consultant, advocate, researcher, and teacher, my goal is for readers – especially newcomers to San Francisco politics – to learn to see San Francisco races and political activity as I do. Much of my knowledge of city politics comes from data and many years of quantitative campaigning and research, but there are also the lessons of many hard-fought wins and losses in the campaign trenches. David Latterman is a San Francisco political consultant with over fifteen years of experience analyzing San Francisco political data. For just $7 a month, get an inside look at San Francisco politics!