Mission Dolores Meeting Follow Up and PROTESTS!!!!!

If you will recall in my last post I had voiced concerns over this March 3rd Meeting on the future of Dolores Park and its effects on Dufty's mayoral bid.

First of all, the meeting was not the overflowing crowd of angry "hipsters" (a word that was thrown around a lot at the meeting itself) but a fairly calm and collected meeting consistent with the community meetings I had been to in the past.

I had forgotten that the internet is a place for individuals to vet their anger and what many people post that they will do, like show up to a public meeting in volume, isn't always what they actually do. All in all it was a very lovely evening with poignant questions, specific and informative answers and amazing presence by Supervisor Dufty. I was really impressed by how he handled the meeting and the input. He showed class and grace and poise. The city staff gave a great presentation and answered questions in a way that was both personal and impressive. Even the popular local Ritual Coffee Roasters donated some coffee for the event (apparently half pay and half donate still counts as donate). If you want to learn more there are some rather amazing and comprehensive notes here.

There are, however various protests around California that were supposed to be enormous and attention getting. In SF people were warned that traffic would be disrupted, but the actual protest is supposed to happen at five so no real details about the effectiveness until then, odds are I will try to put something a little more comprehensive up tomorrow. Apparently "organizers hoped to spur events in 30 other states..." These protests are regarding the huge cuts made to the UC, STATE and Community College systems including cutting massive amounts of students. Assemblymember Torrico has a tax proposal to hopefully help rectify it; "... [he] has proposed a new 12.5 percent tax on revenue from oil and gas production in California, a measure that he says could raise $2 billion for higher education" and hopefully these protests will give the legislature the push they need to get things done. More later.