San Francisco Board of Supervisors

District Attorney Files Criminal Charges Against Supervisor Ed Jew

SF's Needs to Kill Its Armenian Genocide Resolution

Democracy Deferred: Board of Supervisors Finally Considers New Voting Machines

SF Gov't InAction: This Week It's All About Troops ... and the Budget

Gavin's Catholic Bashing

By Lauren Smiley Is Mayor Newsom a self-hating Catholic? The Catholic League said this week that the Mayor (and the Board of Supervisors) should be blamed for vandals scrawling the names of the pope and the San Francisco archbishop next to a Nazi symbol on Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the ... More >>

Pull My (Trigger) Finger

By Lauren Smiley Is Mayor Newsom a self-hating Catholic? The Catholic League said this week that the Mayor (and the Board of Supervisors) should be blamed for vandals scrawling the names of the pope and the San Francisco archbishop next to a Nazi symbol on Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the ... More >>

Best Glimpse of San Francisco's Past, Present, and Future

By Lauren Smiley Is Mayor Newsom a self-hating Catholic? The Catholic League said this week that the Mayor (and the Board of Supervisors) should be blamed for vandals scrawling the names of the pope and the San Francisco archbishop next to a Nazi symbol on Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the ... More >>

Same as the Old Boss?

Why the new mayor should resist political pressure from the new shadow ayatollah of San Francisco politics, real estate mogul Clint Reilly

The Horror

Darkness descends at City Hall as supervisors argue ceaselessly over dogs and apartment size

Political Relativity

Stuck in a strange warp of the space-time fabric, our supervisors can't stop tilting against a dot-com development monster that's dead and buried

Urine a Bad Spot Because of Them

Why do our supervisors pass over substance in favor of trivia like the public peeing bill?

Pinocchio and SFO

Once upon a time, there were airport officials who wanted to spin tall tales, spend $745,000 on Honduran boondoggling, and not explain very much

Intended Consequences

Our supervisors tilt at a lot of silly windmills. But the city's recognition of Mexican consular IDs may help change national immigration policy for the better.

Mark of Effectiveness

Why Mark Leno ought to serve in the Assembly, and Harry Britt should go back to New College

Dead Mud Walking

A ballot measure that would create a Municipal Utility District has so many legal flaws, it's all but DOA. In fact, passing the measure might delay the advent of public power here for years.

Heavy Issues

The city has new guidelines on discrimination against the fat, skinny, tall, and short. They teach us a valuable lesson: Our leaders need to quit pandering and focus on business.

Axing Permission

Everyone who needs an affordable apartment loses when NIMBYs get to appeal housing permits to the Board of Supervisors

Delusions of Power

Is it smart to jump into the Bay Guardian's version of public power, without even studying whether it will save money?

Flying Blind

Are San Francisco International Airport managers running Honduras' airports? If so, why?

Unexcused Absence

School leaders snub supervisors, refuse to show at parleys

Benign Neglect

There's a pot of money available to investigate real estate fraud, but Terence Hallinan isn't using it

Cothran

There's a pot of money available to investigate real estate fraud, but Terence Hallinan isn't using it

Mecklin

There's a pot of money available to investigate real estate fraud, but Terence Hallinan isn't using it

The Redevelopment Sinkhole

Years of reckless borrowing have sent the city's Redevelopment Agency spiraling into debt. Mayor Brown's pet projects may flush it down the drain entirely.

The Grid

Years of reckless borrowing have sent the city's Redevelopment Agency spiraling into debt. Mayor Brown's pet projects may flush it down the drain entirely.

The Grid

Years of reckless borrowing have sent the city's Redevelopment Agency spiraling into debt. Mayor Brown's pet projects may flush it down the drain entirely.

SF Gov InAction: Supes To Spend Week Memorializing Extra, Extra Hard

Most Government offices in America took Monday off to honor those who fell in our nation's defense. For the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, however, Memorial Day is really about honoring what all the other holidays, from Veterans Day to Christmas, are really about honoring: the San Francisco ... More >>

San Francisco Has a Budget -- and Chris Daly Has Left the Building

Once more, for old time's sake. Lost somewhere between the news of Sacramento's impending raid upon municipal revenue streams and President Obama's comfy jeans, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors yesterday passed the city's contentious, agonizing $6.6 billion budget. This wasn't done without Super ... More >>

SF GOP Opposes Sanctuary Legislation in Letter-Writing Offensive

Supervisor David Campos​If an angry Republican writes a letter in San Francisco, and no elected official cares enough to read it, did it ever really exist?San Francisco's local curiosity of a G.O.P. is currently seeking pen-pals in city government with a barrage of letters to Mayor Gavin Newsom an ... More >>

SF Gov InAction: Supes Try To Save Cats, Unify Ireland, and Create Public Power

  The moral high ground in San Francisco may be the most valuable real estate of all. Last week Gavin Newsom -- who thumbed his nose at state and federal law on gay marriage -- tried to claim it by saying he couldn't help illegal immigrants because he has too much respect for the law. The ... More >>

Mayor's Office: Supes' Veto Override on Immigrant Policy 'Cannot Take Effect'

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors today mustered enough votes to override Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of a law softening the city's treatment of juvenile undocumented immigrants who are arrested. But the mayor's office was quick to dismiss the widely expected vote as a symbolic gesture that would h ... More >>

SF GovInAction: So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Adieu

There's virtually no government happening this week, and the few meetings scheduled are so pointless that you'd be excused for calling them vanity government. David Chiu just likes to call stuff to order -- and can you blame him? But before I cover this week's vanity meetings to reveal once agai ... More >>

Mexican Consulate Says S.F. Supes' Resolution Riddled With Errors

Uh-oh. The Board of Supervisors would like a word with you people...​As it's wont to do, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Feb. 2 passed a chest-thumping, toothless resolution. This one condemned Mexico for taking measures to privatize the government electric utility known as Luz y Fuerza ... More >>

A Look Ahead at Your Week in S.F. Lawmaking

Pay attention, supervisors: The hair ain't pleased​San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is coping with some serious budget issues -- well, one big one, in the form of a $522 million deficit -- and there are some serious pots of money on the table this week as the supes head to City Hall. Health ca ... More >>

VIDEO: Stalemate in Gaza Resolution Debate Following 10 Hour Hearing

www.sanfranciscosentinel.comPick a side​The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' meeting on Tuesday lasted until Wednesday, at last ending this morning at 12:03 AM. Hundreds of members of the public stood for hours in a City Hall corridor for the opportunity to speak for three minutes each on a con ... More >>

No legal authority? No problem!

www.sanfranciscosentinel.comPick a side​The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' meeting on Tuesday lasted until Wednesday, at last ending this morning at 12:03 AM. Hundreds of members of the public stood for hours in a City Hall corridor for the opportunity to speak for three minutes each on a con ... More >>

Board of Supervisors Decides Future of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Today

​Hunters Point/Lennar meeting could stretch past the bewitching hour for Board of Supervisors. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors face a long night ahead as they today decide whether to go forward with the redevelopment of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Hundreds of millions of dollars in federa ... More >>

Hunters Point, Taxes Get Supes' Approval

​San Francisco's Board of Supervisors didn't need to wait until the wee hours of the morning this time to give the greenlight the massive Hunters Point Naval Shipyard redevelopment, as was the case earlier this month. Yesterday, the supes approved the Environmental Impact Report for the project at ... More >>

Palm Reader Foe Writes Angriest City Hall Petition Ever

You are lower than sub-scum. The slimy stuff you find under scum. There is not a scum category for you. I will now make one up especially for you. The super slimy sub-scum bovine queen liar thief of the decade. Still too nice. I'll work on it."

The Happy Meal Effect: Five More Food Bans

​A veto-proof ban on Happy Meals passed the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week, but it wasn't the first time this city or others around the country have tried to legislate what its citizens should be consuming. Which of these initiatives are silly, and which are a good use of local r ... More >>

S.F. Supes Officially Pass Happy Meal Ban

gadgetdude/FlickrIt's done. But are fast-food companies considering legal action against the city?​There was never any doubt that it wouldn't but still: San Francisco's Board of Supervisors today officially passed the so-called Happy Meal ban, reports our sister news blog, The Snitch. From Sni ... More >>

Supes Punt on Naming Next Mayor

Joe EskenaziLarry Edmond says, unlike Tom Ammiano, he'd be thrilled to be our next mayor​As expected, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors did not select the city's next mayor today. Instead  the process was continued to Dec. 14 (for the record, this was done on a 9-2 vote with Supervisors Ch ... More >>

America's Cup: Supervisors Unanimously Adopt Hosting Bid

San Francisco has finalized its bid for the America's Cup. Is it enough to win the battle?​By an 11-0 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted the so-called "Northern Waterfront Alternative" bid to host the America's Cup -- a deal race officials over the weekend deemed insufficient. Th ... More >>

Matt Gonzalez Named Chief Attorney in S.F. Public Defender's Office

Back at City Hall ​Matt Gonzalez, the liberal former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is coming back to local politics after taking a job as the new chief attorney in the Public Defender's Office, effective today. Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced the appointment this morni ... More >>

S.F. School Board Raises Move Ahead; Budget Cuts Loom

Our schools are broke, but so are our teachers ​Nevermind the steep budget cuts facing our schools -- San Francisco education officials want a hefty raise and it looks as though they might get one. After much debate over the last several months, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors favored placi ... More >>

Double Drain: Program Pays Cops Pensions While Still on the Force

Our schools are broke, but so are our teachers ​Nevermind the steep budget cuts facing our schools -- San Francisco education officials want a hefty raise and it looks as though they might get one. After much debate over the last several months, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors favored placi ... More >>

Supreme Court: S.F. Politicians Free to Denounce Catholic Church

Heresy: The business of S.F. government?​The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit brought by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, essentially settling the question of whether the supervisors were out of line when they passed ... More >>

Dianne Feinstein Tells Francisco to Go Smoke a Fat One

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, San Francisco.​Wait, not all of your tax dollars are wasted in San Francisco. Your local bureaucrats make it part of their job to send a letter every February to state and federal politicians restating the city's desire that the government legalize marijuana. No ... More >>

San Francisco to Protect Birds from Flying into Buildings

​Unless you're part of a small cadre of environmental activists, the danger posed to birds by high-rise buildings is probably not an issue in the forefront of your mind. Unless, of course, you are a member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, which just saw fit to pass a new set of development ... More >>

Supervisor Wiener Introduces Legislation to Let Food Trucks Park on Colleges

John BirdsallAre SF State students finally going to be able to buy food from trucks like Little Green Cyclo?​In December 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed new legislation revising the city's regulations for food trucks seeking to park on the street. The goal: helping San Francis ... More >>