San Francisco, CA

Declaring the end of progressive San Francisco is a bit premature – 48 hills

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2024

Declaring the end of progressive San Francisco is a bit premature – 48 hills

The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Standard have both declared that this is no longer a progressive city.

That seems a bit premature to me.

The early results from last night’s election do, indeed, mostly favor the wing of the Democratic Party that calls itself “moderate” but is actually, on economic issues, pretty conservative. (I call neoliberals conservatives.)

Ballot measures supported by the mayor that do things like give the police more authority to spy on us all and require drug screening for welfare recipients are passing easily.

Sup. Aaron Peskin celebrates the apparent victory of Prop A on Election Night.

The conservatives are heading for control of the Democratic County Central Committee.

But let’s hold on a moment here before we pronounce a dramatic shift in local politics.

These results are based on a turnout of 20.9 percent. Four out of every five registered voters have not had their votes counted. There are, as of Wednesday, more ballots still outstanding (110,000) than have been counted so far.

And according to all the maps I have seen, the early ballots, the ones they count first, are overwhelmingly from the most conservative parts of the city.

Look at the data: 22.5 percent of the Democratic votes have been counted. But almost 29 percent of the Republican votes are in. One out of every ten votes counted so far was cast by a Republicans, who represent 7.4 percent of the registered voters.

The early returns always skew conservative, since the more conservative voters tend to turn their ballots in early.

I’m not suggesting that the final results will change dramatically—but only a few hundred votes separate the winners and losers in the DCCC, and it’s likely that at least a few more progressives will make the cut.

In the end, though, we will have a fairly conservative outcome—largely because of who voted. The Chron noted that in an update this afternoon. The Department of Elections will release more results Thursday at 4pm.

As I said last night, many of the conservative voters turn out anyway, and the mayor’s attacks on the poor and promotion of the police brought out more of those voters. And the billionaire money made a huge difference, particularly in the DCCC race.

The biggest problem for the progressives, particularly younger voters, was the lack of anything at the top of the ticket to inspire them to vote.

People on the left in San Francisco, by and large, are not happy with Joe Biden. So, either as a protest or as a matter of disinterest, some of then stayed home.

Check out this chart, from the Department of Elections. Turnout is highest when there’s something at the top of the ticket—and that is also when progressives do best.

In November, if there’s a candidate progressives can support running for mayor, there’s a good chance that the presidential race and the mayor’s race will bring out enough voters on the left to make a big difference in the supes races and on ballot measures.

The impact of the tech workers who have moved to town in the past ten years is becoming real. At first, they weren’t voting; now, apparently, they are. We all knew this was going to happen; as longtime activist Calvin Welch likes to say, “who lives here, votes here,” and as displacement forces out the working class and communities of color, the city gets more conservative. The Yimby pro-market approach to issues like housing, and the pro-police approach to social problems, has become more appealing to the wealthier residents.

Maybe wave after wave of gentrification will ultimately usher in a neoliberal majority on the Board of Supes and a more conservative body politic.

But I’ve been around a long time. In the 1980s, the city was run almost entirely by economic (and often social) conservatives like Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who had more than six call-up votes on an at-large board. Frank Jordan, a former police chief, was elected mayor in 1991. In the later 1990s, Mayor Willie Brown controlled the supes and his pro-developer politics dominated the city. The left was always in the minority and on the ropes.

Gavin Newsom get elected mayor by attacking poor people with a ballot measure called “Care not Cash,” which passed with a clear majority.

The DCCC used to be controlled by the old Brown-Burton Machine, which made sure that progressive Harry Britt, the heir to Harvey Milk’s supervisorial seat, lost a generational, defining Congressional race to machine candidate Nancy Pelosi.

Conservative election outcomes are not new. Neoliberal mayors have run San Francisco for much of past half century.

But recent years have shown a remarkable uprising of progressive candidates and causes. The young, organized, diverse left in this city is as strong as I’ve seen it.

So after all this time, I’m not ready to write the obituary for the progressive city.

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco’s Union Square sees holiday boost as Winter Walk begins

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

San Francisco’s Union Square sees holiday boost as Winter Walk begins

With only 12 days before Christmas, San Francisco is ramping up the holiday spirit. On Saturday evening, they kicked off the Union Square Winter Walk, an outdoor space designed to bring life and customers back to the struggling retail center.

It’s hard not to succeed in business when you can get hundreds of Santa Clauses converging on the area. The annual SantaCon has become the city’s most popular pub crawl, with everyone decked out like Saint Nick.

“We started coming here a couple years ago. You know, get some holiday cheer going,” said one SantCon partier named John. “And it’s just, like, seeing hundreds of Santas on the street, it’s just a sight to see. It’s a fun time, it’s a fun time.”

“I’m very confused,” said his friend Julian Schiano, also in a Santa suit. “I have no idea how this started. They invited me out. I requested the day off, so, had a little bit of fun. But, I have no idea about how this started or anything, but it seemed like a good day to get away from everything.”

“It is so much fun,” said Wendy Solorio from San Jose. “You get to mingle and meet a whole bunch of festive people.”

So, what makes them so festive?

“It’s actually right here,” she said, holding up her drink.

With so many people coming each year, the Union Square Alliance uses it as the kick-off to its Winter Walk festival, which will continue through Christmas Eve. Two blocks of Stockton Street are decked out in blue outdoor turf, with food trucks, pop-up stores and winter-themed photo ops.

“We have records of Winter Walk from 2016, where it was holiday decor, and the turf was out here,” said Holly Chiao with the Alliance, “but it’s really grown to what it is now in 2025. And we’re so happy with how it turned out.”

It actually started in the 2014 Christmas season when someone got the simple idea of closing off the street and covering it in green artificial turf. They were amazed at how much fun people were having with just a wide-open place to play. And now they’ve carried the idea on to become a bona fide holiday tradition.

“Look around,” said Chiao. “I mean, people come down to Union Square to celebrate life’s greatest moments. And for something this big and interactive, for all the friends and family and loved ones to come together, putting this on, year after year, is so important for us for, for overturning that negative narrative around Union Square, around San Francisco. And that’s what keeps us going.”

The shopping district is still trying to recover from the pandemic and a high-profile rash of retail crime. Many stores have left, and the flagship Macy’s says it’s on its way out. But for those still operating, Mayor Daniel Lurie had good news. Crime is way down, he said, and there is a renewed sense of hope in Union Square and across the City.

“San Francisco, y’all, it’s happening. It is happening,” he said to the cheering crowd. So, listen, the world is starting to know, and get to know, that we are not only on the way back, but we’re going to be back to our rightful spot of being the greatest city in the world again. And, I’ll close with this: let’s go, San Francisco.”

Retail still has its challenges, but it can’t hurt for San Francisco’s premier shopping destination to have a few cheerleaders. That, and a couple of hundred Santas.

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San Francisco, CA

First Alert Weather Saturday morning forecast 12-13-25

Published

15 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

First Alert Weather Saturday morning forecast 12-13-25 – CBS San Francisco

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco’s Santa Con expected to bring in large crowds, benefit local bars

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

San Francisco’s Santa Con expected to bring in large crowds, benefit local bars

For some businesses, Saturday is the most wonderful day of the year as thousands of Santas visit San Francisco watering holes for Santa Con.

But for others, the festive event is more trouble than it’s worth.

Kevin Sully Sullivan and his wife, Deb, met at the Marina Lounge in the 1980s. Sully then went on to work at the bar for 30 years and just two years ago, took over the business from the prior owners.

“We’ve loved this bar for such a long time and it’s a dream come true to actually have our names in it,” Sully said.

While Sully loves celebrating the holidays and supports Santa Con, he has posted this sign on the door of the Sully’s Marina Lounge, officially making it a Santa-free zone. For him, the extra customers aren’t worth the hassle.

“Some of these bars that encourage it, that participate, they do months of business in one day,” he said. “But many of them have to replace sinks in their restrooms. They get it torn off the wall and toilets that have all kinds of things go wrong.”

On the other hand, Westwood has beefed up its staff and is looking forward to all the Santas coming to town.

“It’s really good,” Kwame Wright said.

“It pumps in a lot of money into the economy,” Westwood said. “Local businesses, we benefit from it as well. So, we’re really happy and we’re excited that we get to host. Santa’s are welcome here.”

Aside from Halloween, Santa Con is one of the biggest events of the year for Westwood. This place normally has long lines to get in on weekends and it’s expecting an even bigger crowd Saturday. Westwood is taking steps to make sure all the Santas behave.

“Security does really hard work, and we have extra security to make sure everybody is safe,” said Wright.

But for those willing to wait until Christmas for a Santa sighting, Sully says his place will be the place to be.

“It actually ends up being a really nice day here because they know it’s a sanctuary haven from the Santa Con,” Sully said.

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