Phil Ting

Assessor Carmen Chu: What Comes Next

The announcement today that Mayor Ed Lee has appointed moderate stalwart and diligent number-cruncher Supervisor Carmen Chu to the vacant Assessor-Recorder position is a bit like the revelation that the boat sinks at the end of Titanic. A great deal of time was expended before exactly what everyone ... More >>

Fact Check: Was State Assembly Candidate Michael Breyer Investigated by the Ethics Commission?

Assessor Phil Ting's campaign says that Library Commission Michael Breyer, Ting's opponent for the 19th District state Assembly seat, "was investigated by the Ethics Commission for what they suspected was an illegally coordinated 'independent' expenditure."Breyer's campaign says that "Michael Breyer ... More >>

Michael Breyer: Good Job, Dad!

Michael Breyer, the Assembly candidate who will duel Phil Ting to represent the segment of San Francisco where people have lawns -- and mow them -- made an announcement today. The candidate let it be known that this morning's Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare was to his liking. In this, he wa ... More >>

Prop 13: The Building-Sized Loopholes Corporations Exploit

Facebook: The New S.F. Voter Guide

Who reads that shit anyway?​Long gone should be the days of those wasteful and cumbersome voter guides delivered to your mailbox every election cycle. Just weeks before Election Day, some local programmers invented a much more efficient and less sterile way to get to know your candidates. Votesf.c ... More >>

List: Checking In with the S.F. Mayoral Race

Ranked-Choice Voting Makes for a Boring, Undemocratic Political Mess

Phil Ting Is a Buzz Kill, Talks About Extra Tax on Medical Marijuana

What does he know about smoking pot?​Taxes are Phil Ting's business -- when the assessor-recorder isn't campaigning for San Francisco mayor, that is. But when Ting recently took stock of the Bay Area tax scene on medical marijuana, he realized that San Francisco could be bringing in more cash. Ev ... More >>

Giants Fan Petitions Team to Create "It Gets Better" Video for LGBT Youth

Do the Giants believe it gets better?​SF Weekly readers might recall the recent Giants games against the Atlanta Braves. Yes, we got swept, but what was even more upsetting was the fact that the Braves pitching coach, Roger McDowell, accosted Giants fans, asking a group of men if they were homos. ... More >>

Cesar Ascarrunz Would Have Spiced Up Mayoral Candidate Forum

Hmmmm. How could we make the mayor's race a little spicier!​Cesar Ascarrunz, the legendary nightclub impresario and current mayoral candidate, blasted the University of San Francisco for excluding him from a recent candidate forum."They're afraid, because they know I'm going to win the election," ... More >>

The Phil Ting Happy Hour

Totally sober​A few weeks ago, SF Weekly told readers about how, in a desperate attempt to be cool, mayoral candidate Phil Ting challenged his supporters to come up with the wildest, tastiest, alcoholic beverage as part of a campaign cocktail contest. Believe it or not, people did enter the contes ... More >>

Phil Ting: What Alcoholic Drink Would He Be?

Would Phil Ting win a popularity contest?​Yesterday SF Weekly gave you the breakdown of mayoral candidates -- who's hot and who's not. But you didn't really need us to tell you that assessor-recorder Phil Ting is sooooooo not hot, politically speaking. Ting and his campaign are arguing otherwise. ... More >>

Who Wants a Date with a Smokin' Hot Progressive?

How much would you pay for a date with him?​The question of whether mayoral candidates can technically be bought has been answered. Yes, they can. Some of San Francisco's mayoral candidates will be auctioning themselves off at a fundraiser for the New Leaders Council on Wednesday, April 27 -- and ... More >>

Mayoral Candidates: Who's Hot, Who's Not

Chris Daly -- would have been "hot"​After Supervisor John Avalos jumped into the mayor's race yesterday afternoon, we started thinking: with so many candidates now in the race, how will voters decide?To date, there are more than 30 potential candidates who want to be the city's chief executive. Of ... More >>

YouTube: City Hall Petitioned to Accept Public Comment Via Video

Wants to make public hearings more unbearable​Remember in January when Phil Ting carved out a tiny, tiny place for himself in the mayoral race by protesting Muni parking tickets? We had almost started to forget about Ting again until today when he fired people up with his proposal for City Hall st ... More >>

Phil Ting Upstaged By Lenny the Service Dog

Nobody's foreclosing on Lenny...​When Phil Ting, the city's assessor-recorder, mounted the City Hall steps today, he faced two obstacles. One was getting the general public to comprehend a complex and disturbing situation involving foreclosures that he'd like to remedy. The other was getting the g ... More >>

Phil Ting Carves Out a Place in Mayor's Race

If You are Angry, Vote for Phil Ting​Phil Ting might have just saved himself from being a nobody on the campaign trail for San Francisco mayor.In a stroke of genius, San Francisco's assessor camped on the one issue that makes voters convulse with rage: parking tickets. Muni recently rolled out a n ... More >>

Phil Ting Launches Slick New 'Reset S.F.' Site -- But Not to Bolster Mayoral Run. Right?

Phil Ting knows assessin' and recordin'. But transportation? The environment? Ain't those mayoral subjects?​Perhaps it's a bit of a simplification, but the city's assessor-recorder has two jobs: assessing and recording. So it came as a bit of a surprise when assessor-recorder Phil Ting launched a ... More >>

SF Gov InAction: Mayor and Supervisors Still Not the Get Along Gang

  Oh bleary eyed passengers on San Francisco's ship of fools: I have to say I'm getting quite the kick out of my vacation. Last week I went a whole six days without thinking of Sean Elsbernd!  Honestly, life is too short to think about Sean Elsbernd. I don't know how he does it. Instead ... More >>

At the Jersey Shore, Everybody Has a Nickname. Even San Francisco Politicians

Yes, San Francisco's politics suffers from bouts of dysfunction. But let's face it: The exploits of the boys and girls at City Hall can't hold a candle to the high drama on display in MTV's new blockbuster reality series, Jersey Shore. The show features an eight-count of self-styled "guidos" and "gu ... More >>

So, Top City Elected Officials Lost 2.45 Percent of Their Salaries? Here's What They Could Have Bought.

Apparently, even this guy has been forced to give up $4.90 every time he passes "Go"​The official reason that 18 of the city's highest paid elected officials will take a minuscule pay cut was a recent city charter. But you could trace this one back to the Code of Hammurabi. Way down at the end, it ... More >>

S.F. Cracks List of Nation's Three Fastest-Plummeting Housing Markets (We Took Bronze)

New statistics show you absolutely can't afford these houses, but they now likely cost 28 percent less than last year's ridiculous pricesWhat do Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco have in common? Yep: sketchy nightclubs and plummeting housing prices. According to S&P data released today, San ... More >>

Sf Gov InAction: Special Faux-Guest Edition!

Do you ever get tired of doing the same thing every week? Me too. So this week I decided to imagine how SF Gov InAction would look if it were written by five of this city's most ... um ... noteworthy ... pundits. You say "parody," I say "homage." Either way: Enjoy. Monday, June 29 11 a.m. ... More >>

Pride Rides: The Mayor's Convoy, The Public Defender's Truck, The Assessor's Last-Minute Call -- and a Big Surprise From Eric Mar

Janine KahnAn artist's rendition of Jeff Adachi's dump truckAnswers are trickling in from our elected officials on how they plan on cruising at this weekend's Pride Parade. Starting at the top, Mayor Gavin Newsom takes the same approach with vehicles as he does with spokesmen -- if one is good, then ... More >>

S.F. Assessor Phil Ting Takes on the Catholic Church Tomorrow Morning

Nobody expects Phil Ting!Tomorrow morning, assessor Phil Ting will be arguing in front of the San Francisco Appeals Board that the Catholic Church owes San Francisco up to $15 million in transfer taxes -- one of the largest tax bills in the city's history. The hearing will be held at 1 South Van Nes ... More >>

Hardline Catholics: Just Because You Gays Can't 'Marry' Doesn't Mean We Should Have to Pay Taxes!

San Francisco and Catholics just ain't gettin' along these days (if they ever did). We recently wrote about the Catholic Right urging believers nationwide to tell Mayor Gavin Newsom he's responsible for the recent graffiti on Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the Castro because Newsom permits na ... More >>