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Chaos reigns in San Francisco’s redistricting. Here’s a better way to do things

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Chaos reigns in San Francisco’s redistricting. Here’s a better way to do things


After almost 6 months, San Francisco’s allegedly independent redistricting procedure was intended to be done. Rather, after it had actually declined right into extreme partial squabbling, the city’s Redistricting Job Pressure took the unmatched action of declining its last draft strategy and also blowing its city mandated target date for establishing brand-new limits.

The job pressure elected 5-4 on April 13 to proceed servicing a map, and also it intends to satisfy Thursday to think about an additional draft. It has actually likewise been taken legal action against over the hold-up, which might cause a court establishing brand-new area limits.

San Francisco’s district-based political election system requires revising supervisorial limits every ten years to represent populace adjustment to make sure each area has approximately the very same variety of individuals. San Francisco is divided right into 11 geographical areas. However numerous teams differed with the map that the job pressure attracted. And also they presumed regarding attempt to get rid of 3 job pressure participants that sustained it.

The brand-new map has to equally disperse San Francisco’s populace based on the regulation. However it includes concessions that might alter the equilibrium of power in Municipal government. Progressives are specifically worried that they will certainly shed electing power.

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Redistricting is needed to make sure that areas are equitably sized as populaces alter. However why do we split individuals geographically? Can’t we locate a far better method to choose genuinely depictive agents without separating individuals based upon approximate maps?

Yes, we can. And also the remedy is to embrace a political election approach that leads to something called “symmetrical depiction.” However to describe why that remedy is best, right here’s a little bit extra concerning the existing scenario.

However, there’s no chance to attract a map that can be genuinely reasonable throughout all constituencies; compromises are a requirement when attempting to attract approximate boundaries with neighborhoods. Additionally, areas essentially misshape the method local government runs. Supervisors in our system undoubtedly play warm potato over whose area obtains tasks like homeless sanctuaries, apartment and also malls.

So why do we do it by doing this?

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From 1900 to 1977, the city didn’t have actually areas and also chosen managers “at-large” utilizing plurality block ballot. That suggests: If there were 5 seats open, citizens had 5 ballots, despite the variety of prospects. Nevertheless, the defect in plurality block ballot is that it benefits bulk ballot obstructs and also can cause little to no minority depiction.

Visualize a city of 51% blue citizens and also 49% eco-friendly citizens with 3 open seats on their council. If each citizen picks their shade, each blue prospect will certainly win — currently the council is 100% blue.

To much better recognize this issue, it’s important to state Manager Harvey Milk. He was chosen in 1977 when San Francisco transferred to an area political election style comparable to our existing system that lastly provided the LGBTQ neighborhood in the Castro a possibility at depiction. After Milk was unfortunately executed by previous Manager Dan White in 1978, citizens rescinded area political elections, which the New york city Times reported “had actually assisted place 2 blacks and also a homosexual on the board of managers.”

It wasn’t up until 2000 that San Francisco re-adopted area political elections.

However also sympathetic area political elections still stop working to make sure reasonable and also equivalent depiction for all. Minority teams that are geographically expanded do not get appropriate depiction, in spite of having a populace enough for a seat.

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It’s not an issue of attracting a far better map — separating neighborhoods is the issue itself.

Which brings us back to “symmetrical depiction.”

Instead of attracting geographical areas, we can make use of the details citizens offer when they choose prospects to organize them right into constituencies. Doing so can make sure that the last make-up of the board is depictive. A team that is made up of 30% of the populace need to see 30% of the seats on a council. This is what symmetrical depiction ballot approaches do.

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The Eastern American neighborhood is especially disenfranchised by the suggested adjustments to electing maps. In the initial last draft, the Eastern American populace stop by 2.61% in Area 7 (west of Double Peaks) while the white populace is increased by 2.42%. Little adjustments like these can influence the result of a political election.

Instead of randomly concentrating on location, symmetrical approaches make sure a completely varied board without reducing up the city, more ghettoizing areas and also depriving others of growth. It is an approach that has actually made sure variety and also depiction in 85 nations that have actually embraced it.

Symmetrical depiction is an objective and also can be accomplished with different approaches.

My recommended approach is symmetrical authorization ballot. Citizens can choose as numerous prospects as they such as on the tally. The prospect with one of the most ballots wins the initial seat. As the citizens for that seated prospect are stood for, the ballot power of their tallies are minimized. To identify that obtains the following seat, the tallies are stated, and also the prospect with one of the most ballots is seated. The procedure begins once again up until all seats on the board are filled up. The outcome is a board that matches the ballot demographics of the city precisely, as opposed to a bad estimate.

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Time will certainly inform whether it’s politically feasible to do away with areas totally, yet a middle-ground remedy would certainly be to include even more managers to the board and also choose those brand-new participants proportionally. That would certainly maintain our existing areas while making sure a real depiction of San Francisco’s variety.

Felix Sargent is the chair of the Facility for Political Election Scientific research, a nationwide not-for-profit with the objective to encourage individuals with ballot approaches that enhance freedom.



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San Francisco, CA

Child saves day after telling parents about San Francisco house fire

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Child saves day after telling parents about San Francisco house fire


SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco firefighters say a small child helped save the day when a fire broke out outside a home.

The child witnessed the flames after they stared at the house on 35th Avenue in the Richmond neighborhood.

He told his parents to call 911.

And was very excited to be the hero of the day.

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SFFD: “Luca, what did you see up there?”

Luca: “There was a fire, and it was this big.”

SFFD: “And what color were the flames?”

Luca: “It was orange and red.”

SFFD: “And what did you say to mommy and daddy?”

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Luca: “Call 911!”

SFFD: “And did you save the day?”

Luca: “Yes.”

SFFD: “Yay. Thank you Luca!”

Crews put out the flames.

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It’s a good thing young Luca is keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood, and happens to love fire trucks.

Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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San Francisco Giants Could Rush Multiple Triple-A Pitchers to MLB

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San Francisco Giants Could Rush Multiple Triple-A Pitchers to MLB


The San Francisco Giants pitching staff is facing serious injury issues right now, and it could lead to some prospects being rushed into playing at the MLB level before they are ready.

They are currently working with a two-man rotation and will be without a starting pitcher ready to pitch after Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Alex Pavlovic of NBCS stated on the game’s broadcast that the Giants may need to call up one or two Triple-A pitchers as “they just need people who can throw innings.”

“They’re trying to sort through right now, and Bob Melvin said today they’re still trying to sort through what they can do for the next three games. Spencer Howard will probably be the bolt guy tomorrow, but after that, a couple days they have to figure out until they get back to Jordan Hicks on Thursday.”

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Among potential options listed for San Francisco were Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, Mason Black and Kai-Wei Teng.

The best option among those names is the left-handed Whisenhunt, who is the No. 2 prospect in the Giant’s farm system.

The 23-year-old was a second round selection in the 2022 MLB draft. In his first Triple-A season he has a 4.87 ERA and 1.574 WHIP. He strikes out a lot of batters, but has struggled with command. That’s been the case for pretty much his entire baseball career.

Seymour is a 25-year-old prospect who is in his first season at the Triple-A level. He has a 4.33 ERA and 1.604 WHIP.

Next up is Black, a 2021 draft pick. He’s the No. 7 Giants prospect and has already been given a chance in the Majors this season, but it didn’t go well. In four appearances back in May, he had a 8.79 ERA across 14.1 innings pitched.

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The 24-year-old walked seven batters while striking out just 10 and gave up a staggering four home runs. His walk issues have persisted in the minors, but he at least has been more of a strikeout-heavy pitcher there.

Teng is another pitcher who already got called up for a short stint this season but was quickly sent back down when things went sideways.

In just 11 innings pitched over four starts, he had a 9.82 ERA and 2.091 WHIP. He averaged 6.5 BB/9 and just 5.7 K/9. The numbers have not been much better in the minors this year, falling off a cliff after a couple of promising seasons.

He’s the No. 22 prospect in the farm but throwing him out on the mound right now seems like it would be a recipe for disaster.

Whisenhunt and Seymour could make sense as they haven’t gotten a chance to prove themselves in the MLB and have at least been a bit promising.

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Black and Teng have been poor in their chances and are clearly not ready, but could be the options they turn to by default.

Whatever decision the Giants make, they need to hope their staff can return to health.

Blake Snell and Robbie Ray could be making their way back soon, but may not factor into these next few games due to rest.



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San Francisco Giants Reportedly Looking for Ways to Give Star Pitcher ‘A Break’

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San Francisco Giants Reportedly Looking for Ways to Give Star Pitcher ‘A Break’


It’s no secret to anyone that this San Francisco Giants team has suffered injuries that have played a major factor in how disappointing this season has been so far.

Star player after star player, contributor after contributor seemingly leave the roster whenever some bit of continutity is starting to form.

That makes it hard for any team to perform well, especially when it involves the starting pitching staff.

However, it sounds like the Giants are about to get a batch of good news soon as three of their veteran contributors, Blake Snell being one of them, have made their way to Triple-A during their rehab assignments as they inch closer to their Major League returns.

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This would be a huge boost for this team as Keaton Winn just hit the injured list alongside star outfielder Mike Yastrzemski.

San Francisco certainly needs Snell back, and back soon, as there is some concern surrounding how many innings their high-profile signing Jordan Hicks has thrown since being converted to a starter from a reliever role.

On Saturday, Hicks surpassed the most innings he’s ever thrown in a season, toppling the previous mark of 77.2 during his rookie year in 2018 with the 80.2 he has already at in this campaign.

This was always a possibility, and based on how well he was throwing, a certainty at some point.

However, the question becomes what the Giants are going to do with him going forward?

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According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, they “want to find a way to give him a break at some point.”

That might sound nice, but there are three open spots in their rotation with Snell and Winn on the injured list. It doesn’t seem like San Francisco wants to call up some of their Triple-A arms, but they will have to if they are going to give Hicks some time off.

What that looks like is unknown, as well.

Maybe he still goes out there and operates like an opener so he continues to face Major League hitters but doesn’t keep wracking up frames on his arm.

Or maybe, he actually gets time off and doesn’t pitch for a month or two.

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Whatever the decision is made will almost certainly stem from how quickly Snell is able to recover and get back into this rotation.





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