I'm a skeptic of congestion pricing. I don't think it's the way to go.
That's based on thinking about it in a San Francisco context and I'm not too familiar with NYC's implementation details. It'll be interesting to see how it works over there in any event https://mastodon.vladovince.com/@mejs/112548422653262867
It's not that congestion pricing can't work to achieve some good outcomes. But directly shrinking the streets could also work, cheaper, quicker, and without sacrificing privacy to cameras everywhere. If we won't consider that, why not?
Honestly, I was reluctant to support Ryan's DA campaign because I think he's unlikely to win.
But it's important he's running. Running for office is hard! Progressives don't have a candidate this year for SF westside Assembly or state Senate, so Catherine Stefani and Scott Wiener will coast to (re-)election, and they're both pretty bad.
So while I'll be pragmatic about where I spend volunteering time, I donated to Ryan and will be at the kickoff. When good people make the effort, back them up.
Also, let's be clear why a reform DA is unlikely to win in SF this year:
No, it is not (just) because polls show crime as a top issue and police and punitive measures as popular. If progressives united to push back on those narratives, we could change minds and have a good shot.
It's because spineless and self-interested progressive electeds fear those polls, refuse to lead, and won't back candidates like Ryan, that he has a very tough road.
@kingrat Out of all the progressive supervisors on the board in 2022, only Dean endorsed Hamasaki. Melgar actually endorsed Jenkins.
Matt Dorsey did joint mobilizations with Jenkins. Honey could've had joint mobilizations with Hamasaki, but chose to present herself as a "tough on crime social worker" instead. No endorsement, while Jenkins worked with her opponent.
Peskin's mayoral campaign and Chan's, Jamil's or Lai's, Jones' supervisor campaigns could team up with Ryan, but they won't.
@stevenbodzin@inquiline For me, it's him funding and supplying a literal genocide. Nor is this a separate issue from the climate. Destruction of livable habitat around the world due to climate change will create hundreds of millions of refugees, who will then be seen as undesirable populations in places they end up. The state of Israel sees the Palestinians as an undesirable population today. It's a template for how a lot more people could be treated.
If riding an ebike is "cheating" compared to other exercise, why do my ebike rides have such a profound effect on my happiness and physical well-being? Why do I have measurably better health and get dramatically more minutes of activity compared to when I was riding a non-electric bike? Why can't I find a single downside to this form of exercise other than cost?
If it walks like exercise and quacks like exercise, maybe just call it exercise and leave off the judgment.
A business tax "reform" (cut?) backed by business groups, London Breed, and Aaron Peskin contains a gratuitous poison pill that would kill the @sftransitact (boo!).
But we're soldiering on, as we can still win if the ComMUNIty Transit Act gets more votes. Come to an event, sign it and get involved!
Social housing would solve so many problems but California hates it for some reason. Mayor Breed hates it at the municipal level as well, although in her defense, it may not be ideological, just pettiness about her rival Dean Preston championing it. https://sfba.social/@alfredtwu/112516860891403040
Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet:
Celebrities and billionaires have long complained that it's just way too easy for random people on the internet to monitor how much... https://jwz.org/b/ykSW
@jwz Hmm, I agree though that it's a problem we can track the travel patterns of billionaires' private jets. Because that implies that billionaires and private jets exist.
It took more than a year of nagging MTA and RecPark, but there’s finally bike racks at Brazil/Persia/Mansell in #McLarenPark. Come through #bikeSF! Perfect place to lock and hike the Philosopher’s Way trail
“What destroys the poetry of a city? Automobiles destroy it, and they destroy more than the poetry,” sez SF’s first poet laureate, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who I’m reading today along Shelley Promenade.