Europe’s ‘Capital Of Boredom’ in Crisis

Europe’s ‘Capital Of Boredom’ in Crisis

St. Luke's. Land and Hookers, Shame Shame Shame....

St Luke's hospital in the mission has been closing for years. Honestly it was the worst run hospital I have even been to. My friend Jason and I were left to rot till I went over to General and the wait was actually shorter. Now I think I understand why. The plan was to let this hospital; that is one of 2 South of Market hospitals; rot into the ground and build a new one in the TL. The same TL that is having problems with the gluttonous land absorbsion and alleged near slum lord tendencies of the AAU. So I ask you when 150 SRO's are taken out of the Tenderloin and now Sutter Health is vacating 11 more where are these people going? Where do we imagine they go. To another SRO? Exactly where is that SRO going to be since we have lost 160 or more recently; and as far as I know land developers are not exactly jumping at the chance to build a home for poor or elderly poor, or any other low income folk. So are we saying they have less rights than people who can afford to live here? With affordable housing driven out of the TL where are my friends to live?

Having lived for 2 years in an SRO after arriving to San Francisco perhaps people don't quite understand what it is like. For $450 a month in the late 90's dot com boom era I got a room on California Street with a shower. It was awesome. I had no cooking facilities so I got a hot plate from a friend and ate a lot of ramen noodles and fresh produce from Project Open Hands pantry. See I was also going to Beauty School at Miss Marty's school of Beauty. I wasn't working, my GA was all the money I had and that was $400 a month. Catholic Cheraties had to take my case on and pay my rent and subsidize my income, so I was left with $200 a month to live on. In San Francisco. During the Dot Com Boom. It was only by the help I received from community organizations at that time that kept me alive and healthy and able to make something out of myself. They are the reasons I could succeed in life.

What I learned while living in this SRO is that there are many people who need help in the most desperate ways. People who can't bathe themselves and think for themselves but there is no place to go for them. One time in line at general I saw a man covered in his own feces who had very obvious mental disorders and the staff person told me terminal cancer. This is what is out there and the fact that by closing St Luke's the city gets rid of beds for these people. Plus there are no care facilities with bed to help the mentally ilL who are unable to care for them selves! Downsizing St Luke's removes over 70 acute bed care options as well as eliminating 81 psychiatric beds. Just what the Mission and SF General need in that area. Imagine what we get to see our next visit to General or on a street near you. This is not how housing and care should be dealt with in our city. Land development needs to consider the people who are already living in a community and what their needs are first.

While I was at City hall the other day I was listening to the Native Americans talk about how this was their land and they are not recognized. I thought it just happens over and over again. The people with enough money to silence and discriminate so often reap the rewards. This is still happening at such a quick rate in San Francisco frightens me. I am afraid because so many people seem asleep at the wheel. Grass roots organizing was changing and is changing things but without effort by the communities themselves our cares go without voice. There have been many mayors in this city in a row that run things as they wished and favored business and gentrification. It has changed our beautiful liberal city into a Manhatten Jr. I don't want our city to be owned by Disney with pretty fake atmosphere and botiques only. I want the trannies and the freaks to stay in this city if they want and to be able to find housing. This city should work to become the producer of more success stories like myself. Only through dignity and offering care where it is really needed can we keep this city vibrant for all people.

It's not just land use either. The Polk Street Merchant organizations with Police Chief Gascone and Kamala Harris have decided the Polk is unsafe. They state that the THOUSANDS of trannie hookers, male hookers and a "new influx of hookers from out of town" are making it unsafe to live on Polk. Poor little Johnny is getting stabbed by needles on his way to school and pimps are killing each other every day. First off these are lies. Lies to cover the mass gentrification ideas that the city has for the polk. The Polk is 300 times more white washed and suburban that when I first arrived in San Francisco. You know what is gone from the Polk? Gays. The gay businesses have been snuffed out on purpose because of the beliefe that we are degenerates and ruin the neighborhood. Gay businesses have been blackballed from re opening. In fact one Polk Merchants Association leader thanked the ABC and Entertainment Commission for coming to the aid of a condo owner who lived next to a noist bar and looks forward to working with them again in future such cases.

Gascone and the Merchants association believe shame is the best way to do this. First keep you camera ready because they are asking YOU to take pictures of suspicious characters and turn those pictures into the police. Thats right BIG Brother is here to clean up the Polk. Also pictures of men who use prostitutes will be plastered about the city to shame them into not partaking in the night time trade.

As a gay man I have been shamed, photographed and put in a hospital for the mental disorder called being gay. None of these have worked. I am a very rebellious and angry citizen because of it. I am living proof that shame does not work. Instead of shame shouldn't we give these people, because they are people after all lets not forget; a place to live that they can afford so that like myself they can become another success story for our city. Stop the shame and stop the destruction of affordable housing! There are 2 ways to make the city livable for everyone. To the lady on the Polk Merchants association who said its a women's issue because god knows what these men bring home after tricking; I say this; where is your heart and compassion. Until we offer dignity to the "undesirable" you desirables will not be able to find it for yourself. Personally Kamala, Gascone and the Polk Merchants I don't know how you can sleep at night. That bed of shame money must be pretty darn soft.

Academy of Art and the Good Neighbor argument

Yesterday at the Land Use and Economic Development meeting I saw what was the start of an investigation into the housing practices of the AAU. Last week the Chronicle talked about how this business was really in the business of slum lord ship and in violation of several building codes. I believe the outstanding code violations number 34. Several of these 34 codes are what are known as life codes; or codes that endanger human life. The other problem this giant land owner has that in a disproportionate amount of the buildings being used as dorms are actually rent controlled buildings or former SROs.

Lets start with the SRO buildings. The impact on one hundred and fifty units of SRO housing have been taken off the market by a company that grosses somewhere just over a billion a year. Many advocate groups lobbied David Chiu, Eric Mar, and Sophie Maxwell about the huge impact the loss of that many SRO units were lost. When a company buys a residence hotel and displaces the poorest environs in a city where do they go. Most likely onto the street and into shelters. The shelters are not a guarantee because nationally over 50 percent of homeless can not qualify for sheltered housing or benefits. To qualify for GA one must have a bank account and to have said account one must have money. Although care not cash is headed in the right direction it has run into snags along the way as well. This impact of 150 rooms gone makes the burden fall on not for profits and tax payers to house these new homeless. There are not enough rooms in SRO and the legislation allotting people to pay 15 to 30 % of their income in new construction just fuels the existing problems.

The academy of art also buys up many of the rent controlled buildings. In a city with so little affordable housing again the impact on the community is great. The AAU has 9 dorms, 17 properties used as dwellings and group housings. The AAU and Larry Badner call single kitchen single living space a dwelling. A single kitchen multiple living spaces a Group living space and then no kitchen dorm rooms. So they are taking rent controlled buildings and sticking 4 people in every room possible and sharing a kitchen and call it group housing for mostly wealthy foreign students. The code violations occur when too many people are forced in to small a living space and effectively turn a property into a dorm. Having lived at Bush and Post there are several such building and they are not pleasant to live around. Loud behavior, smoking on the cigarette butt strewn side walk, alcohol use and consumption on the sidewalk. I went to college so I'm not surprised at the student behavior but to impact a community in this way and then say that it is for the love of San Francisco is crazy.

Another issue brought up is that the AAU does not own these properties out right so they are still rent controlled buildings making huge profits by over charging and over crowding. When a property does not change ownership it remains at a 2% yearly property tax increase. So not only is the revenue going directly to the school but there is a loss of tax revenue for the city by skirting the issue of ownership change.

So lets see what else. The AAU kept reiterating that they are doing the city a service by creating a love by foreign students that go home and talk up San Francisco. Brad Paul pointed out that this may be true but many such students stay for jobs in Sf and where are they supposed to live? He also proposed measures to create some public funding fees to be placed in the hands of this university to offset this displacement and impact on the community. Personally I think all land purchasing should stop till all the EIR reports are filled and completed, building violations are brought up to code, and a fare back payment on environmental impact is made. This is exactly the accountability we need from large companies gobbling up land and power in this city. As Jeff Kotsitsky of the CHP stated, "If our buildings were under this many code violations then we would have real trouble from a committee such as this."

So why has the AAU gotten away with this? Where was representation from district 6? Why are the EIR reports not made a priority and pushed through legislation? It's time to find out and get answers and restitution from one of the biggest slum lords, taking advantage of over seas students, and enforce strict laws and adherence to all outstanding code violations.

kick off

Well here we go. I remember the day after I filed the papers stating my intention to run for Supervisor of District 6 thinking I am putting myself on the chopping block and I feel amazing. Yesterday while preparing with my team I felt that same elation. I couldn't wait to be here with you. I have always said that there is no reason that I should be here and not you or someone else. I am here for the same reasons you would be. I have lived for 14 years in this city and in District 6 almost all of that time. If I was not in the district I was right on its borders. This district is where I could afford to live. It is where my friends live, work and created. It is the heart of the entertainment industry as well as home to some of the poorest in this city. It is the center for visitors from foreign lands and multi national corporations. I'm finding out what its all about when a person takes their political activism and become a politician. This has been a steep learnig curve for me and I expect it to get steeper. I expect this to be the most challenging time of my life. I expect it to be but I am going to do it anyway. Well what I hope to say is that WE are going to do this anyway, and we are gonna start making the difference.

We are the ones who call this district and city home. We are the ones who walk the streets instead of driving through them looking for parking. I know that personally without this community I wouldn't be here today. What has happened to our city based on community? The Cockette's, Finochio's, the Barbary Coast, Grace Slick and Janice Joplin, Small and large artists and collectives that have raised this city's profile to national acclaim. Where are those voices that have made this town great and opened the world to counter culture? Well they have been sold out to special interests and developers who care nothing of the people but only about the cash. It is time this behavior by our leaders be stopped; and its time we stopped it. Our apathy has kept us down long enough and we will stand up and demand that our city take care of it's environs before special interests.

When a hotel is paying 2 % increase of its property tax assessment of 1978 market value because it is owned by the same company; especially when the same hotel was an SRO in 1978 and is now a Hotel, Nightclub and restaurant; and their taxs have not been reassessed since 1978..... something is wrong. When there for a meet and greet with the new Tenderloin Police Chief the new proprietors talked about how they really cleaned up the block. Did they clean it up by creating new housing or by offering their toilets to those in need? When we can't find money for ADAP spending or homeless solutions, there is no excuse not to hold multi national or even local corporations responsible for helping to fund our city's infrastructure. Their ability to make and invest money has gotten them special privildeges and wealth. So it's only natural to believe that they should be made to share that wealth with those who have no wealth. Yes it's socialism but for all of you educated here in America there are far worse isms to be. There must be more accountability by our leaders in industry, public service, and public office. When an organization like the Community Housing Partnership has a 98% success rate why is it that they face their funding being cut? It certainly makes more sense to support the organizations that are creating dignity for this city than the ones creating cash only. Now is the time for fresh ideas and aggressive grass roots organizing. It's time to put the "we" back into po"we"r with no more excuses.

We must start saying and hearing yes. Yes there are solutions and yes there is money out there. Yes there will be change and it will be change that is wise and decent. Not hollow promises handed over for a quick buck for a very few, or people who own interest in our city but live elsewhere. When condo owners can shut down a bar that existed before the condo was slapped together, we see an imbalance of power. When a Mayor wants to do away with condo lotteries we see an even more unbalanced power structure emerging for the future. All because of greed and a power hungry ego. My friend Dudley once said he would rather vote for someone who didn't want to hold office because at least they wouldn't have an agenda. It is time for that kind of leader now. It is time to remove the corruption in our government and it's spending to free up the money needed to solve the problems of this city.

We must become more active. There is a steep learning curve ahead but we don't care about the struggle because that is what creates community. We have what we need right in our own community to create change and to protect those who are falling through the cracks. Not just the homeless but immigrants and families who can no longer afford to be part of the city that is San Francisco. We must unite to remind those in power that our city and our dignity are not for sale. Our city's government must be accountable. Why do we have an entertainment committee that is not encouraging the proliferation of entertainment? We already have the ABC and the Police to keep these entertainment venues in line. Its like a film commission that says "Stay away don't shoot or show films here". We need to create an environment and a liaison that serves the community and finds solutions instead for spreading fear and deceit. Not just in entertainment but in all areas. I just chose entertainment because it's what I know. It makes no sense to destroy an industry that is already working and supplying revenue.

We need new ideas and strong advocates for change. People who will not dumb themselves down to the middle to appease wealthy interests, labor, or to protect their job. We need fighters for justice or justice will keep getting bastardized. No one is going to do it for us and in the last year we have seen how we can loose rights; that were already granted to us; and let bigotry become law. We can not let these fascist tendencies go unchallenged. By raising our voices for what we know is right is the way to a brighter future. Not just for us but for the people who have neglected to recognize this truth for themselves. When given dignity and given a place to live a little gay named Glendon Hyde could put himself through beauty school, win Miss Trannyshack as the dark horse, run a very successful club, become an leading activist, and find his/her true spirit. Proof that dignity and community can create success and there is no need to own shame, oppression and fear any longer. That I would even consider standing before you tonight asking for contributions when you have already given me so much seems strange. I must remember however, that I am not asking for me, but for us. What this community has given us is a gift and not a gift that we should ever forget. We left the suburbs to find solice with like minds and to share our gifts where we wouldn't be shunned or killed for doing so. This is our city as much as it is anyones, and our city has been the voice calling others to share and create this magic. This magic, our community, these legends, are ours and we will not let them be sold. Not for any price.

To the guy who after a political meeting said "Oh so your the "drag queen"". I say yeah thats right buddy and don't you forget it; because Drag Queens have taken bigger games than this to the mat; and won.

Helping my friends at Tiara Sensation as they move to a new night

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Royalty and Commoners alike,

Princess TIARA SENSATION requests your presence at SOME THING. SOME THING happens Friday nights at the Stud, commencing with our opening gala on Friday, the Fifteenth night of January in the year of our Lady-Lord, Two Thousand and Ten.

We are proud to proclamate and set to celebrate Tiara Sensation’s monumental transition from manic Mondays to freaky Fridays. After a year and a half of doing everything wrong that we could possibly think of, we realized, we hadn’t yet tried SOME THING.

“Tiara Sensation was established to provide a free, creative party for people who want to ‘live the dream’ thru art and performance. And I'm ‘dreaming’ of a jager shot right now! ,” says VivvyAnne Forevermore, the hot heir apparent to the Tiara riches.

SOME THING is upping the auntie with not one, but two drag shows each night:

-"SOME THING" (a Gem in the Rough) at 11 p.m.

Glamamore’s "SOME THING MORE" (the Drool in the Crown) at midnight.

-SOME THING will make you DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! with sexy foreigners and the local gentry alike. Featuring all your favorite disk jockeys and DJ down-E.

-Make SOME THING at the craft table with Hot Gloo all night long.

According to Glamamamore, her royal dowager Empressness, “If you want to have fun in San Francisco, this is it. There is no thing like SOME THING!”

“We want people to experience joy, have fun, and remember that living is creativity explored,” says DJ down-E, esteemed jester, preferred above all others.

Failure to adhere to weekly thematic attire and spirit, though not required, is highly frowned upon, and therefore subject to the wrath of the queen (this does not, however, include "misunderstanding the assignment," even severely).

Yours humbly,

The Queen

Its a great group so please support! Anna Conda

Oxymoron.

The richest country in the world has About 3.5 million US residents (about 1% of the population) , ...Statistics for homeless families are even graver -- 52% were turned down by homeless shelters. Change means stepping up a war and paying more money to Huge Insurance Corporations so that the rich can get richer. Moderate means Right Leaning. Right is using fascist scare tactics to pass unconstitutional laws in favor of bigotry and hate and having very little resistance from the liberal media. Nor any opposition from politicians who are hired by the people to take care of the people. More people know who Kim Kardashian is than who the Vice President is and we can't find funding for schools. Texas; since they buy the most books for schools; gets to help right history for our countries public school system.No wonder we are all as fucking stupid as George Bush!

Wake up! Put down your soda and open your eyes. We can not fear change because what we have is not working. We are killing the planet. Killing ourselves. Killing each other. Not only in the US, but all over this world. Not in the name of democracy but in the name of capitalism. Our country is being held hostage by corporations that are paying the government to ignore the people in their interests! Hillary Clinton in the 80's and now Obama have been shut down by special interests. The current health "reform" has us putting MORE money in the pockets of Insurance Conglomerates! We have been taken over and they are running the government and its all our fault. If we do not stand up for ourselves we are going to be taken advantage of! That is NOT what we deserve and we know it! Tell Pelosi to stop selling out! We want abortion covered because who the fuck are we to tell a woman what she can or can not do with her body. That is her decision to make. Nobody has abortions for fun so get the fuck over it!

Where is the anger and marching in the streets by true liberals? The idea that if we stand up for ourselves is going to do our cause damage is ludicrous! Those Tea Baggers got exactly what they went down there and protested for! The morons have taken away the ability for progressive thinkers to make policy and create a better US because they are being fed fear. They are consuming the fear and they are using it to "their" advantage! Yet because they are being educated by the televisions they have no idea what they are saying. Yet neither do we!

There is only rhetoric out there right now. So many people are so afraid that they are going "moderate" in their lives so as to please the most people. Our government is being squashed of all purpose just because there is no actual liberal power. Liberal power is not to be feared. Anger is not to be feared. Just because there is a confrontation created with the right? This confrontation has to be started in ernest again. Our apathetic view of what grass roots can do must change. Look at what the right's grass roots campaign has done. It has changed our country to a hate filled barbaric trash bin for Jesus and lets poor people die, kills fags and non believers, and is single handedly the most selfish self absorbed country on the planet.

It is because WE are not doing any thing! It is because we would rather not or are too "busy". Just because you are on a cell phone you are still ALONE! No one is actually there with you. The person that is there with you is the person who you just stepped over in disgust. You are inside an SUV and can't see us, but We still exist. Its time to let people know we exist!

This city is becoming a gentrified playground of mediocrity and we should not stand for it. Newsom wants us all to own a condo or leave. There can be 200 condo conversions a year and it is decided by lottery. Imagine if anyone could convert to condos! That would be the most horrible thing to happen to this once proud city. That is exactly what is happening in Newsom's fevered brain right now. Just so Newsom can reward his rich friends who helped a spoiled little boy get into office. We are being governed by selfish voices who care nothing about the people. I personally find it infuriating! Just think what would happen to all the bars that are too loud, night clubs, trannies, freaks, and the people who make this city great! We had to leave suburbia and we don't want to go back!

Why is the government not taking care of ALL the people? Why is the entertainment commission taking away the reason young people come to this city? Why must our city be like a suburb? Why can't creative people and families find affordable housing? We are the ones who gave Paris Hilton all that money and now we are paying for it. We are spoiled and rotten and so selfish as a culture that people hate us. I mean do you like the "Marinaization" of this city? Of the state? Of the US? We don't want to live in a city of mini skirts and orange tans and bleached hair? We also don't want to live in a city of codo's! We don't want more homeless on the streets because they used to live in a high priced "new" condo. We don't want to have our well being left in the hands of corporate bosses! It's like Dickens era England right now in the US! Why are we not asking more questions? Where is the accountability? Lets show those bastards what a REAL Teabagger can do! It is time to get active because this current situation is so not working for us!

1 State, 2 State, Red State, Blue State.

I keep reading about how we are really a Blue Country but are being blind sided into believing we are red. What with the lack of back bone from the truly liberal movement and apathy at an all time high I might believe it. I know better though. It's not red and blue; noting ever is this or that. Mix some red and blue and you get the brown area. Yep we are in the shit and its all our fault. We have been asleep and uninvolved and we deserve the brown that we are currently wading through. Everyone keeps saying where is the money going to come from that is needed to fix where we are? You know the answer..... YOU.

I know why we are pissed by that answer also. Major corporations have stolen our money and blown it at the race track in get rich quick schemes and we are handed pails to clean up their brown. Health Care has been bleeding Americans dry for ever and now when we see the problem we still get only the slightest improvement. (An improvement if your an insurance company). Bigotry and hatred have combined to create fascist laws against gays in many "liberal" states. The state can't pay for ADAP and yet there seems to be room to pay for lots of press secretaries and still not raise taxes on the rich. Yep Its been a year of change and this is what post Bush has left us with. Ineffectual government that still cares noting about the people and only about the bottom line and we have to pay for their gross spending and back room deals. However if people are the government then we are just as responsible for what has happened to our city, our state and our country.

We as environs in San Francisco have watched as our city has become a playground for trust funds and condo owners while squashing the creative and underground scene. "What about the children?"; we hear it all the time. Myself; and most of my friends; were thrown out of your suburban safety nets and sought refuge and community here in this city. It became a refuge where we could gather and create and find family. We are not leaving without an fight and were not going to let an entertainment commission, drunk on it's own power, destroy the world we have worked to create. We am not going to stand silent while our places are taken from us by selfish condo owners who move next to bars and whine until they get their way! That person who moved next to the Cinch and started complaining was only there for one year or less and the Cinch has been a bar SINCE ITS INCEPTION! Anyone who has seen the place in the day knows how old it is! Yet one selfish person can complain and because she has money and isn't a degenerate gay dictates the actions taken. If I wasn't a lady I would have some very choice words for people like that!

So hey policy makers if you are looking for income I have a few suggestions.

1. Decriminalize pot - A projected 1.6 Billion in tax revenue. Not to mention if we let no violent offenders out of jail, pardon them and wipe the slate clean, we could save millions there. Plus we would have more people out of jail serving as farmers helping to stimulate our economy even more.

2. House the homeless - It costs 2 times as much to keep a person on the street. Police, Fire, Sanitation all work over time due to our lack of compassion. The argument that you would "not want one or several of them living by you or your bar (Marlene's)" makes no sense! I hear that people are afraid there will be excrement and needles in their bushes. Who poops on the street when they have a toilet? Would you shoot up in an alley if you had a home? These problems exist because we allow the dignity to be stripped from our fellow man and believe if we shared the wealth there would be less for us. ABSURD! Wake up there isn't any for you unless your an insurance executive and you steal it.

3. Charge Large Car Owners MORE! - More to cross the bridge more to park more for healthcare more for insurance more! we could call it the selfish and heartless tax. The I'm so selfish I have a giant car tax. The I do what I want and I don't care give me some McDonalds so I can throw the containers out the window later because I'm so ignorant tax. The Me Me Me tax. A tax for America.

4. Charge a fee for every menu and club promotional card that litters the street. Make it so people can collect these cards, turn them in and the clubs and restaurants can help the local ecology and community. These invites and menus are not recyclable because they are covered in plastic. This is left all over the sidewalk after a busy night, or in the case of menus wind and rain, and end up in our sewers and the bay and the ocean. We can help people, build community, and help the ecology in 1 foul swoop.

5. Property taxes on Commercial real estate must be raised and the state policy changed. There is a Prop 13 from 1978 that has stripped foreign investors of their responsibility to our community and they used little old ladies to do it. When you house or property is Assessed it is given a fair market value and you pay taxes based on that assessment. In Ca the property taxes were actually going up so fast that elderly did loose housing. Yet here is the down side. The Gate Residence Hotel has had the same owners, investors, who have owned the property since 1978. They pay 2% increase annually since 1978. The rate of inflation is usually 3.5 or higher. Cheep property taxes for prime down town location. The Hotel goes out of the business of being a residency hotel and many poor are out of housing that many have been in as long as the hotel has been around. Now the Hotel is owned by the same people but a new Leaser is found to open a Commercial Hotel, the Infusion Lounge, and a Chinese restaurant. All booming and doing very well. Still owned by the same people. Still only a 2% increase each year for a property assessed as a residence hotel. Get the picture. What do you think the Fairmont pays in property taxes as compared to a new home owner in the city? So why do young couples and singles and the poor not have an easy time staying here and yet foreign investment gets breaks for holding on to property?

6. Tax the Churches. Listen they are making policy, owning vast tracks of land, doing business from their offices, and paying to advertise their views on propositions. Tax them and start treating them like the lobbying groups that they are. The Christian Right and Mormon's have put their hand in deciding law and influencing votes on a national level, why not treat them like any other business. Unfair policies for bigots doesn't wash and neither do the laws that they pay for.

With all that said I would like to remind us that we can change these unjust laws and we can do it soon. The trick is to be responsible and take part and do it. Grass roots still works. Vote, read a paper, get involved and hold people accountable. Hold yourself accountable. That way we can have some other color that brown. We can have a government that works for us not special interest. Wouldn't it be better if we turned off the TV for a second, got off our cell phone, stopped texting on our blackberry and remembered we are part of a world that was happening right here and now? I mean look what's happened since we've been away.