Mission Dolores Meeting

Currently, in San Francisco, a trouble is brewing. It all really begins in 2008 when a series of bond measures were passed in California. These were the Clean and Safe Park bonds which enacted recently. Parks throughout San Francisco are getting necessary renovations to make them safer, more modern and just better over all. One of these parks is the Mission Dolores park.

On Feb. 3rd, Nick King, a staffer of Bevan Dufty told the press along with the need for renovations;

"The park is in dire need of renovation," said Nicolas King, a legislative aide for Supervisor Bevan Dufty. "The bathrooms are horrible, the bridge is not ADA compliant, and don't even get me started on the drainage and irrigation in the park."

Also stated that "entirely closed during its renovation." Currently the two most important S.F. Parks to the San Francisco constituency are Golden Gate and Dolores. The long and short of this is that this statement is premature, the bond for this project hasn't even been sold yet. This means that the money hasn't come to the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD) which means that the design and planning stages hasn't happened yet. All together, nothing has been decided yet. But still, this simple statement made the "blogosphere" blow up.

From the Noe Valley Blog,

The local blogosphere blew up this week with word that Dolores Park will close for at least a year for renovations. PBR-drinking fixie riders were in an uproar. Nevermind all those who loved the park long before the others decided it was their holy land. And so it was up to Dolores Park Works to set the story straight - the park will remain accessible:

The renovations will be done in phases. The whole park will not be closed or fenced off for the duration of the renovations. ... [The playground remodel phase] is scheduled to start in October 2010 and end in April 2011. [Phase 2 will start after that]. The goal is to limit the impact on the community while ensuring that the work is done efficiently and safely.

It has been assumed for a while that Dufty will be running for Mayor of San Francisco. In a May 2009 article it speaks on his focus on the individual and smaller projects to garner local support;

Supervisor Dufty learned that a little time devoted to little things can make a big difference. He encouraged Mayor Brown to launch the Open Door Program, a Saturday morning forum that provided an opportunity for individual San Franciscans to talk privately with the mayor about their individual problems. That program alone gave thousands of people personal access to their mayor in a way that never occurred before. And countless problems were solved.

If Bevan Dufty is serious about his bid for Mayor, then he needs to concentrate on how this situation is handled. This Dolores Park situation is more than just one of the "little things" and needs to be handled with kid gloves.

Currently, though the efforts of Dufty's office, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department and others there will be a meeting March 3rd regarding the park. Honestly I have concerns that there will still be a lot of unhappy people if the meeting isn't prepared well. I have a frightening vision of around a thousand angry "hipsters" rallying at the site and then using that anger to ruin Dufty's chances.

Hopefully this gaff wont affect his chances too much, it can still be resolved and spun, but it should have been handled more carefully from the get go. If he doesn't realize it by now, he should at least consider the fact that State Senator Mark Leno will be eyeing the Mayoral position himself seeing as how he will probably be termed out near then and there will be huge pressure on him to do so.

If either Dufty or Leno make the cut and hold the office, it would still mark the first openly gay mayor of San Francisco, and, as Leno was the first openly gay Assemblymember (with John Laird), if he wins he would have broken two barriers.

All eyes to Mission Church on March 3rd.

-Please keep in mind these are MY views and not the views of any organization I may be associated with.

-Quick update, Nick King has been transferred to soon-to-be-termed out Mayor Newsom's office.

Health Care Bill.

The fact that we have come to a point where a comprehensive Healthcare Bill can't be passed without an Excutive Order tells me something; we really haven't come a long way. With history showing us how hard it was to Pass something that most take for granted today like Social Security it reflects on the fact that the evolution of social thought in America has been retarded at some point along the path towards an egalitarian society.

This Healthcare overhall has taken so much effort and appeasement that I wonder if it is really worth it. At this point an affordable public option seems impossible and some basic protections such as safe procedures dealing with a woman's right to choose seem in jeopardy.

There was plenty of hoopla in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday when President Obama signed the health care bill into law. But when Mr. Obama signs an executive order that secured the votes of some anti-abortion Democrats, he will do so in private.

There is an excellent interactive site that will explain how the health care bill will effect you.

But one section confuses the hell out of me how it will be done.

• Premiums for individual policies will be 10 to 13 percent higher by 2016 than the average premium that year under current law, according to Congressional estimates. But most people would qualify for subsidies, meaning they might pay less than they do now.

Who knows, maybe it won't be worth the paper it is printed on or maybe it will change everything. So far I know that there is far too much posturing on both sides.

My gawd Stewart is brilliant

So, Glen Beck, a horrible man who is destroying the basic sanity of conservatives everywhere and it is rather aggravating. His theatrics and rhetorics are just plain depravity and it really needs to stop.

Even after the fiasco of having Massa on and "waisting your time" he didn't have the decency to change.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sour Gropes
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

What is really excellent is the next Glen Beck based Daily Show episode. I have no analysis, I have nothing else to say, just utterly brilliant.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sour Gropes
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Insanity in Texas School System

So apparently the conservatives on the Texas school board are upset that the impression of the conservative agenda over the years has been downplayed or demonized in Texas school books. My family is from Texas and I have deep concerns with how the Texas educational system turned since Anne Richards was ousted by Bush. Now, while some may marginalize the importance of this situation by saying things like; "Well that is just the South, things have always been this way.." I want you to realize that Texas is the Nations largest buyer of books, and usually will shape some of the National curriculum just by the fact that these books are getting printed. Here is the majority of the NY Times article, the juicy bits in my mind;

Conservatives argue that the proposed curriculum, written by a panel of teachers, emphasizes the accomplishments of liberal politicians — like the New Deal and the Great Society — and gives less importance to efforts by conservatives like President Ronald Reagan to limit the size of government....

There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity....

The amendments are also intended to emphasize the unalloyed superiority of the “free-enterprise system” over others and the desirability of limited government....

References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side withAbraham Lincoln’s speeches.....

“To deny the Judeo-Christian values of our founding fathers is just a lie to our kids,” said Ken Mercer, a San Antonio Republican.....

The fact that these changes are even being considered confuses me; did these people not read the same books as me? The books that say, "All men are created equal" and that we must strive for that? Did they forget their own Judeo-Christian ethics? Since when was Texas so into the confederate idealization? So much about this makes me shake my head in confusion and sadness.

Minority board members, who have called for the inclusion of more blacks and Hispanics among the historical figures to be covered, lost one vote Wednesday when the Republican majority deleted from the list an archbishop from El Salvador. Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980 for speaking out against the country's repressive government.

The board apparently decided Romero was not significant enough and while this selectivisation of history is nothing new, it is just disheartening. And while there was a back and forth between Fox News and the Education agency over this it is just another nail in the head that Texas is circling.

Take the case of Kesha Rogers, a few days ago on the third I published a link on my facebook to her site, her actual political website stating things like "the White House is controlled by Britain to shut down NASA" really crazy things. Of course now it is down but there are still remnants. Why is this significant? She won the Democratic Nominee for the House of Representatives...

Another Special Angel Nova Rant

According to a recent story in the news, republicans are trying to use scare tactics on most Americans to raise money.
The real story here is, DUH!! what? republicans trying to scare people? since when? Obama is a socialist, Muslim, Nazi, foreign born, commie Hitler, who wants to destroy this country with death panels and A.C.O.R.N.? Who couldn't figure out that Republicans are trying to scare dumb people? Who wondered why they don't want to spend money on education and make more Americans into dumb people? Without dumb people, all republicans have is super rich people.


RNC document caricatures Obama, appeals to fear
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/04/national/w124016S98.DTL#ixzz0f1m29TWG

Will it surprise you when some guy blows up another federal building because he got so freaked out by the republican noise machine? What will surprise us next? That republicans are not really patriotic at all and all they REALLY care about is what the highest bidder, multinational corporation tells them to care about? Or that they are as gay as regular people but they just hide it and are dicks to gay people because it gets the votes and money of their dumb, fearful, scared of change constituents? What is going to surprise us next? That They wanted to go into Iraq before 911 and they where planning it? That the reason they tortured people was not to get good intel, but to make them say Iraq was involved even though it wasn't? Should I pretend to be surprised to find that all their buddy's companies mad a super ton of money from it? I know I sound really pissed off and it's because I am. this is bull shit, These so called patriots are dividing and destroying our beloved country for a quick buck and as an actual patriot it sickens me. Hey "Tea Bagers" figure it out!!!!!

This has been an =Angel Nova= political rant!!