San Francisco, CA
San Francisco has gotten so blue it’s finally starting to turn purple
Here’s a riddle: What species is more endangered than the Delta Smelt?
The answer: Registered Republicans in San Francisco.
The last “census” on Jan. 5, 2024 as reported by the Secretary of State’s office indicated Republicans accounted for 7.22 percent of all registered voters in that county.
It is actually a more robust percentage than back in January 2020 when 6.4% of San Francisco’s registered voters identified as Republicans.
Before anyone in the Grand Old Party starts popping bottles of champagne and waxing eloquently about the Great Republican California Comeback starting, there is one little detail you need to take into account.
The percentage of San Francisco voters indicating they were Democrats as of January 5, 2024 was 63.97 percent compared to 56.8 percent back in January 2020.
That’s an increase of 7.17 percent for the Democrats compared to 0.82 percent for the Republicans.
To put San Francisco in perspective, it is the only one of 58 counties where Republicans account for less than 10 percent of the registered voters.
Statewide, as of six weeks ago, 46.76 of registered voters identified as Democrats and 24.16 as Republicans.
There were 8 counties where more than half the registered voters are Democrats — San Francisco, Los Angeles, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Yolo, Sonoma and Napa.
Believe or not, two counties had more than 50 percent of those on their voting rolls who identified as Republicans.
They were two adjoining counties in the extreme northeast corner of California — Lassen and Modoc.
As for the local percentages, San Joaquin County at the start of January had 43.68 percent of those registered that are Democrats and 29.62 percent identifying as Republicans.
It’s a little closer in Stanislaus County where former Congressman Gary Condit was part of a group known as the Blue Dog Democrats.
Stanislaus County’s registered voter party percentages earlier this year was 38.43 percent Democrat and 34.64 percent Republican.
Blue Dog Democrats, by the way, were elected House of Representative members who were moderate or conservatives. There were no less than three of their ranks at one time from the Central Valley.
How conservative back then were they and the Democratic voters that advanced them from primaries to the general elections?
Back in 1991 when I moved to Manteca from Placer County, I was asked my party registration.
After replying I was Republican with the added caveat I rarely vote straight party line, the lady who asked said, “good, it means we’ll have a liberal editing the Bulletin.”
She shared, after that response, that she was frustrated as a registered Democrat with how conservative the elected Democrats were in and around San Joaquin County.
It didn’t make sense at the time to me, but after a few years I understood her point.
Given the vitriol that hardcore Republicans and hardcore Democrats hurl toward those that share their party affiliation but don’t mindlessly toe the party line, I can see why “no party preference” is the fastest growing box to check when registering.
The days are over when the major political parties pursued the big tent philosophy.
Both have long since traded the big tent for straight-jackets.
Times have changed.
But what hasn’t changed is the fact both parties have members that hold more moderate views than positions staked out and pounded incessantly into the ground by hardcore party animals that view red and blue as the new black and white.
It is why the Good Ship California is showing signs that the blue captains are easing up in veering hard left away from a middle course.
And nowhere in California are there as many signs that is happening than in San Francisco.
No, I haven’t sustained a concussion from being hit by a renegade driverless car on the streets of San Francisco.
And while the gap between “true” Republicans and “true” Democrats will always have distance similar to that between the Golden Gate and the Farallon Islands, they are clear signs the City by the Bay is starting to see a more purplish tinge in that mile wide deep blue stripe they’ve painted.
Consider these developments in recent years:
*The hard left leaning district attorney Chesa Boudin that made law and order subservient to social justice was recalled.
*The recall of school board members that were more concerned about championing woke culture than educating kids.
*An organized effort to elect moderates for the purpose of tackling crime, homelessness, public education, and business flight is growing.
*The push of a ballot measure to modernize police to fight crime instead of shackling them with social justice agenda.
*Advocating a ballot measure aimed at bringing back algebra to middle schools after it was dropped in the name of promoting racial equity.
For those that say San Francisco is essentially a one party town, there are serious issues that are being seriously debated with successful political pushback that is moving the dial toward the middle than there is in the State Capitol that at times seems interchangeable with the headquarters of the California Democratic Party’s progressive wing.
Granted, it is new moderate Democrats taking on hard left Democrats that prefer the seemingly softer and more tolerant sounding label progressive Democrats.
Given politics once upon a time was about advancing different ideas in a bid to find common ground, government in San Francisco these days is showing signs of being more representative than what is up in Sacramento.
Bay Area High School baseball fans are treated to a rare opportunity Saturday (April 18) with three games at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, including the famed Bruce-Mahoney clash between West Catholic Athletic League rivals St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The first pitch of the 20th annual Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic starts at 11 a.m. and pits two more San Francisco private schools as University (9-7), winners of four straight, taking on Riordan (5-11).
That will be followed by the Bruce-Mahoney game at 2:30 between St. Ignatius (12-5, 4-2 WCAL) and the Irish (7-10, 1-5) and finished off with a North Coast Section clash between North Bay’s Marin Catholic (9-7) against Acalanes (7-6-1).
The Benedetti Classic, founded by Dante’s Boys Foundation board member Tom Lounibos and Giants president Larry Baer, benefits the DBF which honors the spirit of Benedetti who for nearly 40 years owned San Francisco’s Mr. Baseball nickname for his kindness and generosity to baseball-playing youth in the area.
Among their philanthropic efforts are glove and baseball equipment drives, field renovations and contributions to scholarships and sponsorships.
After starting the season 0-4 — three of those losses were by one run — University, under head coach Andrew Suvunnachuen, has found its way, winning the last four, all in Bay Counties League play, by a combined 51-6 count over Lick-Wilmerding (16-1 and 11-3) and San Domenico (13-2 and 11-0).
Senior catcher and pitcher Jett Messenger leads the way with a .447 average, while getting on base at a .638 rate. He also leads the team with 20 stolen bases. Junior third baseman Tate Gebhart is hitting .419, while Leo Felder and Behbart share the RBI lead with 15 each.
Junior Matthew Foley is 3-2 on the mound with a 2.38 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.
Riordan, under second-year head coach Craig Sargent, was 5-5 in nonleague games but lost six straight in the rugged WCAL, losing two tough games this week to Mitty (3-2 and 7-4). Junior third baseman and pitcher Santiono Williams leads the team in batting average (.371), on-base percentage (.488) and stolen bases (nine). He’s also been the team’s top pitcher at 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA.
The teams have split two previous games in their history, with Riordan winning 2-0 in 2023 and University prevailing 5-0 in 2021.
St. Ignatius, led by ninth-year head coach Brian Pollzzie, has already secured the Bruce-Mahoney trophy with four straight wins — one each in football, girls volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball — but this rivalry is always spirited.
The Wildcats, who are ranked fourth in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle, are coming off a tough 3-0 home loss to No. 2 St. Francis on Friday after beating the host Lancers 10-6 on Tuesday.
The team is led by Stanford-bound Archer Horn, who is hitting .486 with four home runs and a .604 on-base percentage. The shortstop and pitcher also has not allowed an earned run in three pitching appearances while registering one save.
Pitching is a team’s strength with a 2.59 ERA, led by a brigade of strong arms including Leo Rhein (2-0, 2.38), Tycco Giometti (2-1, 2.62), Charlie Stecher 1-1, 0.72) and Chase Gordon (1-0, 2.80). The team is missing standout Finn Demuth, out of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, led by fourth-year head coach Gregg Franceschi, has scored 60 runs on the season and given up 61. The Irish are coming off two losses to eighth-ranked Valley Christian (5-2 and 10-1).
They are led offensively by junior outfielder Brody O’Sullivan (.381) and senior infielder Jacob Vines (.378). Johnny Nepomuceno and Max Nylander are other run-producers. Zach Stallworth (37 strikeouts, 29.2 innings) and Cooper Rogers Lewis (0.25 ERA) have been the team’s top pitchers.
The series has been remarkably close since 2005 with Sacred Heart Cathedral holding a 27-20 edge, though St. Ignatius won both games last season (5-0 and 6-3) after the Irish won 9-7 and 1-0 in 2024.
Marin Catholic hopes to get back to winning after starting the season 9-1, but have since lost six straight, four in Marin County Athletic League play, including 4-2 to Novato on Thursday. Senior outfield Luke Martin is the team’s leading hitter at .478 while senior infielder and pitcher Cooper Mitchell is at .455. Senior infielder Walker Untermann leads the team with 15 RBIs.
Acalanes is at the other end of the spectrum, winners of five of six after a 2-5-1 start. Junior infielder Tyler Winkles, also a highly recruited quarterback in football, leads the team with a .383 average and nine stolen bases. Riley Gates (2-3, 2.49 ERA, 30 strikeouts) is the team’s top pitcher.
The teams have played three times, all since 2022, with Marin Catholic owning a 2-1 lead. Acalanes won last year’s game 8-7.
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Chinatown fatal crash victim ID’d, safety measures proposed
The victim killed in Friday’s Chinatown crash was identified Monday by the medical examiner as Cutberto Zamora-Martinez, 49, of San Joaquin County. At a meeting on Monday, city officials said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
SAN FRANCISCO – A 76-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and speeding following a crash in San Francisco’s Chinatown that killed a man working in the area.
Zhuo Ming Lu, 76, is accused in the March 27 crash that left 49-year-old Cutberto Zamora-Martinez, of San Joaquin County, dead.
Suspect was trying to park
What we know:
Authorities said Lu was attempting to park near Grant Avenue and Jackson Street when his vehicle jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the landmark New Lung Ting Café, also known as the Pork Chop House. The vehicle also struck two pedestrians, including Zamora-Martinez.
Zamora-Martinez died from his injuries.
He had been working in the area, according to a GoFundMe page. A San Francisco Police Department source close to the investigation told KTVU the victims were carpet installers arriving for work.
The fundraising page described Zamora-Martinez as a husband and father who was the sole provider for his family and “a humble man who wanted the best for his family.”
Before his arrest, Lu had been cooperating with investigators. Authorities have not confirmed what caused the crash.
Some residents questioned whether the driver’s age or a possible confusion between the brake and gas pedals may have been factors.
“Maybe if people hit a certain age, you got to get retested for your driver’s license is something I was thinking about,” said Keith Hong, who works next door to the crash site.
Another case involving an elderly driver
Big picture view:
In an unrelated case, Mary Fong Lau, 80, was sentenced to probation after killing a family of four, two parents and their young children. in March 2024. Authorities said Lau struck the victims as they waited at a Muni stop on their way to the zoo.
Lau pleaded no contest to four felony counts of vehicular manslaughter, and a judge accepted the plea. A Superior Court judge cited her age, remorse and lack of criminal history in the sentencing decision.
She was placed on probation for two years, banned from driving for three years and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.
The Source: San Francisco Police Department, prior reporting
San Francisco first came to know chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz through their pop-up Istanbul Modern, and later through their breakthrough Presidio restaurant Dalida. The duo’s success is grounded in their take on Eastern Mediterranean food, which they made a conscious decision to champion 10 years ago.
Fast-forward to 2026, and now Laura is taking on a personal project of her own, with Sayat by her side, placing foods from Mexico’s Guerrero and Sinaloa center stage at Maria Isabel. It’s a refreshing menu that combines both Mexican and local ingredients, through the lens of the Ozyilmazes cooking backgrounds.
Reservations are released on OpenTable 30 days in advance, but Laura confirmed that they do take walk-ins depending on space. Smaller parties or solo diners might have better luck sliding in, thanks to the counter in the brighter, “Maria” portion of the restaurant.
The cocktails from consulting bar director Evan Williams are always worth a glimpse, whether at Dalida or at Maria Isabel. They’re well-balanced and have incredible depth and technique behind them. That being said, the team sourced wines from woman-led wine brands such as LOTIS Wines and Amevive Wine, if you’re looking to explore past the usual selections you’ll see elsewhere.
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