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Subject: Peter Jamison
Will Gay Marriage Have to Wait for Democracy to Catch Up?
History's Answer: Yes By Peter Jamison Since Californians voted to enshrine discrimination against gay couples in their state constitution on Nov. 4, the varied strains of lamentation from San Francisco's chattering classes have risen to a choral swell. The success of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, gave rise to all manner of complaint: Black voters killed the right of gays and lesbians to wed! So did churches! So did black churches! So did the class of first-graders who naively
November 26, 2008Why the 'Black Friday Story' Is the Enemy of Real News
By Peter JamisonThe professional world offers few examples of desiccated ritual more perfect than those to be found on newsstands the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when daily papers across the country give over their front pages to the annual Black Friday story. Every year, without fail, unlucky reporters are stuck with the Sisyphean task of taking this most mundane of consumer binges -- so named because retailers supposedly move out of the red with large volumes of sales -- and turning it into s
December 2, 2008Bicycle Blitz Brings 'Sexual Healing' to SOMA
By Peter Jamison An interesting scene awaited anybody who happened to be passing by 8th and Howard in SOMA last night after dark: Bright lights, lots of bicycles, and a speaker system blaring Max-A-Million's reggae remix of "Sexual Healing." I know what you're thinking, and yes, the mood was unusually festive for a corner typically populated by folks lollygagging on their way to or from leather stores and methadone clinics. Turns out this was one of roughly a half-dozen similar events put on
December 3, 2008A McDonald's You'll Actually Miss
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation Evicts SF Booklovers' 'Institution' By Peter Jamison In a section of the Tenderloin just off Market Street and 5th, where check-cashing outfits and strip clubs give way to desolate, garbage-littered streets, is the kind of store that San Franciscans love to say they love. It's McDonald's Bookshop, an emporium of more than a million used books, magazines and records that's been doing business on Turk Street since 1926. In its cavernous reading roo
December 5, 2008Mayor Proposes 712 Job Cuts in SF Government
Hand it to Mayor Gavin Newsom's office for upholding the bureaucratic tradition of euphemism. In a statement today outlining the mayor's plan for addressing San Francisco's revenue shortfall this year, estimated at up to $125 million, Newsom calls for "solutions" -- in the form of spending cuts and "new revenues" squeezed out of city departments -- totaling $118 million. "Only 11 percent of the $118 million in solutions is made up of direct reductions to services," the statement boasts. So just
December 9, 2008SF Businesses, Pelosi PAC Gave $30K to Scandal-Plagued Illinois Gov.
By Peter Jamison In politics, shame is contagious. Small wonder, then, that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- who yesterday was arrested on federal corruption charges alleging that, among other indiscretions, he sought to auction off the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder -- has overnight become the most radioactive figure in American politics. Blagojevich's troubles have even cast a pall over The One himself, leading Obama, who has deep roots in Chica
December 10, 2008Photos: Where the Dark Art of Custom Corsets Lives On
By Peter Jamison This woman wants to sell you a corset. Autumn Adamme, pictured above, is the owner of Dark Garden, a corset shop on Linden Street in Hayes Valley. These days, corsetry of the kind practiced at Dark Garden is a lost art. In fact, Daphne Merkin, writing in T Magazine, the glossy Sunday style rag of the New York Times, recently lamented the absence of girdles and other forms of ironclad undergarments from lingerie shops in Manhattan.
December 13, 2008A Welcome Diversion: Renowned Dog-Cat-Rat Man Heads for Drug Treatment
By Peter Jamison It ain't easy strolling through Baghdad by the Bay with three species of pets stacked atop one another. Just ask Gregory Pike, who has famously trained a rat to stand on top of a cat standing on top of a dog. His outrageously cute animal act has made him a star on YouTube and served him well as a panhandler. (For a video, click here.) But while the dollar bills from tourists at Union Square are still coming fast, Pike is feeling less love these days from the law. On Hal
December 16, 2008Say What? Why California Has No Corruption
By Peter Jamison As a member of a profession that relies on scandal in the upper echelons of representative government to justify its existence, it was with some chagrin that I noticed the recent rankings of states by level of corruption published in USA Today and the New York Times. (Such comparisons have become a popular parlor game since the feds' arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.) In an analysis of per-capita convictions of public officials, the Times found, our very own Golden State
December 18, 2008SFPD Report Urges More Tasers, Fewer Dog Bites
By Peter Jamison The San Francisco Police Commission and the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee are getting together tonight at 6 p.m. in city hall to chew over the findings of an organizational assessment of the city's police department. The analysis, performed by the Police Executive Research Forum, was based on a review of police calls and incident reports, as well as focus groups and interviews with members of the public. What can we expect to learn?
December 17, 2008Santa Claus: The Frankenstein's Monster of Madison Avenue
By Peter JamisonLike many of my colleagues in the blogosphere, I've repeatedly found myself unsettled this holiday season by the appearance of a freakish new incarnation of Santa. This vest-sporting and dubiously gendered hipster isn't to be found, as you might expect, after midnight at Pop's. Rather, he (?) is the figurehead of a new ad campaign from telecoms giant Sprint and the Palm Centro phone. There's a lot not to like about this fellow. I could go on and on, but it's better that you just
December 23, 2008Coming Soon to the Tenderloin: Another Dirty, Poorly Lit Place For Books
By Peter Jamison Transporting a collection of books, records and periodicals that purportedly surpasses 1 million volumes is no small feat. Imagine doing so on a litter-strewn block in one of the city's worst neighborhoods, dodging local toughs and zig-zagging wheelchairs at every step, and you've got the case of McDonald's Bookshop owner Itzhak Volansky. Evicted from his cavernous Turk Street shop earlier this month by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, Volansky is suppose
December 24, 2008Why Outside Lands Looks Juicy to Big Promoters
By Peter Jamison We reported this week on the ungainly turf war that has erupted among bureaucrats and entrepreneurs over the future of Outside Lands, the popular three-day music festival whose inaugural run was overseen in August by Berkeley-based Another Planet Entertainment. Despite the event's success, the city has now asked Another Planet to compete against other interested promoters to host Outside Lands next year, submitting qualifications for the consideration of Recreation and Park D
December 25, 2008Borders: Oops... We're Actually Still in Business!
By Peter Jamison Frequent shoppers at Borders may have found themselves crestfallen over the weekend upon discovering that their favorite stripmall purveyor of books, music and movies was seemingly the latest victim of the U.S. financial crisis. "Borders Closing," announced an e-mail that went out to selected Borders customers, at least some of them in San Francisco. The message went on to announce a clearance sale -- all inventory 40 percent off. Any despondency among the Borders faithful wa
December 29, 2008KRON Can't Stand Criticism, Bags Interview with Media Critics
By Peter Jamison Those who call the shots at San Francisco's KRON-TV can't say they weren't warned. Howard Rosenberg -- who had been booked to appear on the station with co-author Charles Feldman in January to discuss the pair's new book, No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle -- has been criticizing television programs for years. Rosenberg was, after all, television critic at the Los Angeles Times, and won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1985. That didn't sto
December 30, 2008Happy New Year! Want Some Paranoia With Your Arugula?
By Peter Jamison It's an open secret that not much changes with the advent of a new year. Resolutions or no, most of us wake up on Jan. 1 with the same reluctance to exercise, 3 p.m. caffeine cravings, and freight of interpersonal neuroses that haunted us on Dec. 31. The same can be said of people's political convictions, and anyone out shopping for organic Brie and not-so-bargain bubbly in San Francisco on New Year's Eve could see that the ravings of Lyndon LaRouche (pictured below) are here
January 1, 2009Apple's Jobs Suffering From "Hormone Imbalance"
Rumors that Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs is in deteriorating health have been abroad at least since last summer, when journalists and tech-market analysts began fretting aloud over his gaunt appearance. For the many investors who care about Apple's stock, this is no idle worry. The mystique-laden Jobs, after all, is credited as a driving force behind the company's success, and he has already undergone treatment for cancer, in 2004. The rumors were revived when Apple announced that Phil Schiller, th
January 5, 2009The Feinstein-Panetta Back Story
By Peter JamisonObama's tapping of former Monterey congressman Leon Panetta for CIA director was bound to raise hackles among pols and pundits. While Panetta has that rarest of political assets -- an unimpaired reputation for probity among his colleagues and former constituents -- he has little direct knowledge of intelligence work. Still, there can be no doubt that the pot was set all the more furiously astir with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's public disavowal of Panetta once the news br
January 6, 2009Riddle: Can LAFCo Be Saved If It Can't Be Killed?
San Francisco's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) is the appendix of the city's muniEntriescipal body -- an unnecessary entity serving no obvious or useful purpose. Considering the city is looking at a half-billion-dollar deficit, cutting this useless civic appendage and its $1 million budget would seem like an obvious and sensible move. But this is San Francisco, so there's no room for common sense if it gets in the way of ideological purity. Last week those foes of common sense at th
January 21, 2009Snuggies Bring Comfort, Stall Productivity at SF Weekly
When I arrived at the SF Weekly this morning, it became obvious that something was terribly wrong. Instead of working dilligently and greeting visitors, our editorial assistant Andy Wright (pictured above) had gone to sleep underneath her desk, and she was wearing a bright blue blanket...with sleeves. When I asked her what was up with that, she opened her eyes very wide and said, in a raspy, almost demonic voice, "it's the Snuggie." Then she passed out. The Snuggie. Where h
January 29, 2009S.F. Planner: To Stop Poverty Pimping, TL Residents Must Fight the Law
Peter JamisonChristine Haw of the San Francisco Planning DepartmentA San Francisco Planning Department official delivered a less-than-inspiring message last night at a meeting of Tenderloin residents worried that their neighborhood is being overrun with social-service providers: Deal with it. Under current zoning laws, many sections of the Tenderloin are extraordinarily open to incoming businesses and nonprofits of all varieties, including charitable outlets that attract some of the city's most
February 26, 2009Plastiki Prepares to Set Sail from Pier 31
Peter JamisonClick the image for a full Plastiki slideshow. Alright, fine, we admit it -- we here at SF Weekly were prepared to be less-than-impressed with a media circus hosted at Pier 31 yesterday to celebrate the upcoming launch of the Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran built from recycled plastic. Piloted by David de Rothschild, an heir to one of Europe's great fortunes whose publicists call him an "Adventurer and Environmental Storyteller," the vessel is supposed to sail 10,000 nautical miles
March 4, 2009Gay Mormons, Black Pentecostals, Jedi Drag Queens, Oh My! Demonstrators Descend on State Supreme Court for Prop. 8 Hearings
Peter JamisonMinister Chauncey Killens thinks gay marriage should be illegal."I don't know any white gay man who sat on the back of the bus." So spoke Chauncey Killens, a black Pentecostal minister from Salinas, as he stood on San Francisco's Civic Center mall yesterday. Like hundreds around him, Killens had showed up to demonstrate outside the state Supreme Court, which today heard arguments on the legality of Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that several months ago amended California's c
March 5, 2009Bay Area Tibetans Protest Chinese Rule on 50th Anniversary of Failed Uprising
Peter JamisonStill nationless after all these years Explaining their nationality puts Richmond residents Tenzin Youdon and Tenzin Wangchuk in an awkward position. Their ethnicity isn't in doubt: Both are proud Tibetans, descendants of refugees who fled the vise grip of the Chinese government half a century ago. Currently residents of the U.S., they were raised in India, and have never seen the land with which they most strongly identify. Like other Tibetan exiles, they would have to acknowledge
March 10, 2009Dog-Cat-Rat Man Now Accepting Credit Card Donations Online
Peter JamisonLife in the peaceable kingdomYou've got to hand it to Gregory Pike, aka Dog-Cat-Rat Man, the nomadic animal trainer who, since arriving in San Francisco last summer, has assumed a place in the city's pantheon of beloved street performers. No matter what trouble comes his way -- rain, wind, fog, a narcotics arrest -- Pike always seems to hoist himself back into the saddle. Pike's act -- it is not so much an act as a way of life; he has trained a rat to stand on top of a cat standing
March 24, 2009AT&T Park Bustling Early on Opening Day
Peter JamisonParking Lot of DreamsThe above photo was snapped at 8:18 a.m. this morning -- the San Francisco Giants' opening day. As you can see, the parking lots behind AT&T Park were filling up early. While the workaday world was still reading the newspaper (!) over its cereal or crowding into commuter trains, Giants employees, serious fans, and an industrious gaggle of scalpers were crowding the Embarcadero, waiting for the season to start. One of them was Jeff Little, a Stockton reside
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May 13, 2009MTA Budget Showdown Leads To ... Wait For It ... A COMPROMISE!
Jim HerdThat sound you heard earlier today was every City Hall journalist in San Francisco slapping his palm on the table when the Board of Supervisors vote over the controversial Muni budget was continued. And continued again. And more time went by. And now ... after several hours of behind-the-scenes intrigue, a compromise budget has been announced. Chris Roberts at SF Appeal has been live-blogging this thing -- a Godsend for those of us chained to our desks -- and SF Weekly's Peter Jamison is
May 12, 2009CA Supreme Court Upholds Prop. 8, But Also 18K Gay Marriages
The Supreme Court voted 6-1 to uphold Prop. 8, the November ballot initiative banning same-sex marriages. That's not exactly a surprise, considering the flavor of the questions from the justices during oral arguments a couple of months ago. It was more unclear what the justices would do about the 18,000 gay marriages that took place last year before Prop. 8 was passed. Today the justices decided that the initiative wasn't retroactive and those couples will remain married. SF Weekly reporter Pet
May 26, 2009Pictures At A Demonstration: Today's Prop. 8 Events, In Photos
Peter Jamison Peter JamisonNow you know what people did with all their Prop. 8 paraphernalia -- both "Yes" and "No" placards. They saved it for today. Click on the jump for more photos of today's Civic Center demonstrations following the ruling.
May 26, 2009SF Weekly Letters
June 10, 2009A Beautiful Risk
June 10, 2009SF Weekly Letters
July 15, 2009SF Strip Club In the News Again
JennaHaze.com If you read Peter Jamison's post in the Snitch yesterday about the troubles with Heaven Mini Theater or today's related story in the Chron, it's clear the city is actually doing something about one of it's so-called "problem clubs." Finally. While the Snitch scooped the Chron by about fourteen hours, the latter's rundown does have some additional details about the incident last April, when, according to court documents,: "a Heaven employee shot the Broadway Showgirls Nightclu
July 23, 2009SF Weekly Letters
July 29, 2009SF Weekly Letters
August 26, 2009SF Weekly Cover Story Lands in Food Writing Anthology
ForageSFRabins, subject of our anthology-worthy feature story.Local forage guru Iso Rabins is up for more exposure than he got at Eat Real in Oakland last Saturday, where he was hawking sea beans for three bucks a box. "Out of the Wild," a March cover story about Rabins by SF Weekly staff writer Peter Jamison, will appear in Best Food Writing 2009, to be published in the fall. And just because we're all about saving you cash (so you can afford, oh, an extra gob or something), you can read
September 3, 2009SF Weekly Letters
September 30, 2009SF Weekly Letters
October 14, 2009From The Snitch: Entertainment Commission Reform Passes
Over on our sister/news blog, The Snitch, Peter Jamison reports on yesterday's hearing for the Entertainment Commission, San Francisco's nightclub-industry watchdog agency."Following a three-hour hearing that featured extensive public comment...the three-member committee unanimously approved the new law, which would grant the Entertainment Commission added powers to crack down on problematic nightclubs as well as establish stricter oversight measures for how the commission operates." Rea
October 27, 2009
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© 2009 Village Voice Media All rights reserved.