San Francisco, CA
Thousands Expected at San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast
Thousands are expected at this year’s Walk for Life West Coast, which will be held in the streets of downtown San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 24. The event is in its 22nd year and previously has drawn crowds as large as 50,000.
Major features of the event include a rally at the City’s Civic Center Plaza beginning at 12:30 p.m. followed by a 1.8-mile walk to Embarcadero Plaza beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Rally speakers include filmmaker and podcaster Jason Jones, Spokane pregnancy center director Glendie Loranger, pro-life advocate and convert to the pro-life cause Elizabeth Barrett, and Baptist pastor Clenard Childress.
“This is an effort to bequeath to our children a civilization of love and life,” said Jones, who is attending the walk for the second time and his first as a speaker.
Jones’ motivation to join the pro-life movement, he explained, dates back to his “irreligious” teen years when, at age 16, he learned he had impregnated his girlfriend.
He joined the U.S. Army upon turning 17 as a way to support his child, only to learn that his girlfriend, due to pressure from her father, had had a late-term abortion. He recalled: “It was insane. Even as an uneducated high-school dropout, I could see that abortion was unspeakably evil.”
Jones began his pro-life activism while stationed in Hawaii, later becoming a prominent pro-life advocate in the media and participating in the production of pro-life films such as Bella in 2006. His chief activities today include serving as president of The Vulnerable People Project, through which he defends “the most vulnerable across the globe, from the unborn to persecuted minorities in war zones.”
Jones said he is excited about the progress the pro-life movement has made in recent years, particularly after the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision striking down the nation’s anti-abortion laws.
“The abortion establishment is a billion-dollar industry fighting for its life. They’re at the end of their rope,” he said. “The pro-life movement, conversely, is vibrant, lively, spirited, and diverse.”
He lamented that the pro-life movement “lacks the political power it should have” but noted that much of the efforts of pro-lifers are directed at operating pro-life pregnancy centers at the local level. Their work, he said, is “the biggest untold story in American history.”
Today, Jones is a Catholic convert living in Texas and is married with seven children. Of his faith, he remarked: “I’m so glad I’m Catholic. Whether it be dehumanizing ideologies that lead to abortion or other evils, our faith inoculates us and enables us to see the truth.”
Catholic Schools and Parishes
Participating in the walk annually are groups from Catholic schools and parishes. Among the most prominent participants are students from Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) in Santa Paula, California, which this year will turn out over 250 walkers. These include senior Patrick Daly, a regular walk participant during his college years.
“It’s really cool to see the number of people who make the trip to San Francisco from long distances, especially high school students,” Daly said. “The younger generation tends to lead the walk, which gives it a lot of energy.”
Daly also said each time he walks the experience is “eye-opening” and “rekindles the fire against abortion.”
He noted that unlike many political demonstrations that can be loud, vulgar and violent, in contrast the West Coast Walk for Life is peaceful and joyful, with participants singing the Salve Regina or praying the Rosary.
“It’s a beautiful experience. We’re not there to fight or to yell. We humbly walk and ask God to intervene on behalf of our nation, that we develop a greater respect for human life,” he said.
Daly acknowledged that the political culture of San Francisco is at odds with the pro-life beliefs of Catholics, but added: “We’re bringing a Christian influence on an evil city. It is a special walk in a broken place.”
TAC sophomore Basil Gutch is another repeat walker, annually participating because “it is a way to share my beliefs in a community setting.”
“Abortion is a modern-day holocaust. It hits close to home when I realize that a third of my generation has died by abortion. Also, the abortion industry is corrupt, selling dead fetuses for experimentation. When we walk, we wrestle with its grave evil and pray for it to end,” he said.
Gutch noted that in last year’s walk residents approached his group seeking to dialogue about abortion — both from curiosity and trying to convert his group to a pro-choice view. He continued: “While there were people who were yelling pro-choice slogans at us as we walked by, these conversations were surprisingly civil.”
Other Activities
Other activities for the Walk for Life West Coast include a Silent No More Awareness Campaign led by Georgette Forney and Frank Pavone of Priests for Life from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The event precedes the rally and features testimonies of individuals harmed by abortion. There will also be an Info Faire on the Civic Center Plaza, in which pro-life groups share information about their activities.
Additionally, there will be a series of events on the Friday before the walk and the day of the walk. Friday events include a Walk for Life prayer vigil at St. Dominic’s Church at 5 p.m. followed by Mass, a Holy Hour, and confessions, and adoration for life at Sts. Peter and Paul Church from 8 to 10 p.m.
Saturday events include a Walk for Life Mass with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at St. Mary’s Cathedral at 9:30 a.m. and a Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi at 5 p.m. Star of the Sea Parish will host a barbecue and all-night adoration for life beginning at 5 p.m. For a complete list of activities, visit the event website at WalkforLifeWC.com.
Organizers request that participants register for free on the website. The site includes helpful information on such topics as parking, public transportation, and accommodations, as well as a code of conduct for the walk.
Watch on EWTN.
Few things are more valuable in the Bay Area than real estate. In San Francisco, the median house price is now over $2 million. Last month, at least seven houses in the city sold for $1 million over the asking price, and buyers regularly offer to pay in cash or waive contingencies to stay competitive. Yet there is one thing that remains even more valuable than a house, and possibly more valuable than money itself: stock in Anthropic or OpenAI.
Last week, 160 Noe Street, an Edwardian home in San Francisco’s desirable Duboce Triangle neighborhood, was listed for sale at $2.9 million—or the equivalent amount in Anthropic or OpenAI shares, as based on those companies’ current valuations. Rachel Swann, the listing agent, says she was inspired to set these unusual terms after meeting several Anthropic employees at an open house for a different property. “These people have a lot of paper wealth, but they don’t always have the liquidity to do things they want,” Swann says. Some of these employees were expecting to come into as much as $50 million from their Anthropic shares, and wondered if they could use that as leverage to buy a house, according to Swann. “This kept coming up over and over again.”
Swann’s listing is unconventional, but not singular. In April, an investment banker named Storm Duncan offered to exchange his Mill Valley home and an adjacent parcel of land for Anthropic shares. And in May, Vijay Chattha, who owns an agency that does PR for tech companies, listed his Healdsburg home for $2.5 million, or $2 million in Anthropic stock. “I want to sell my house, and I want to invest in Anthropic,” Chattha says. “Why not combine the two?
Chattha’s house—a three bed, three bath with a pool and a bocce court in a part of Sonoma County that abuts some of the region’s most famous wineries—also comes with coveted short-term rental status, allowing the owner to list it on platforms like Airbnb. Only a handful of properties in Healdsburg come with that status, and only about a dozen come up for sale in a given year.
Chattha is offering a $500,000 discount to Anthropic employees because he believes the value of Anthropic shares will grow faster than any other investment, and his vacation home in wine country is the best bargaining chip he has to try to access them. “If you look at Anthropic’s growth last year, it’s insane,” he says, noting the $380 billion valuation the company claimed in February. “Now they’re raising at $965 billion. That’s three X in like three months.” He added that he was open to exchanging the house for shares in Anthropic, but not OpenAI, because he prefers using Anthropic’s products.
The real estate listings come at a time when investors are salivating at the record-high valuations of Anthropic and OpenAI, and even those considered wealthy by Bay Area standards are feeling FOMO about the affluence that could come from these companies’ debuts on the stock market. (On Monday, Anthropic submitted paperwork for its initial public offering; OpenAI is also reportedly preparing to file in the coming months.) Despite the unprecedented valuations of these companies, many people believe their stock prices will only go up, and that anyone who gets a piece now could win the jackpot.
People are clamoring to buy equity in OpenAI and Anthropic on the secondary market, leading to a frenzy of transactions that may or may not be legitimate. As a result, Anthropic updated its policy around “unauthorized Anthropic stock sales” this spring, which notes that “if someone purports to sell Anthropic shares without proper board approval, that transaction is invalid.” A spokesperson for Anthropic pointed back to this policy when asked about the possibility of exchanging company shares for real estate.
Welcome to our running tally of Election Night results. Or, as this is California, well beyond tonight, as results continue to trickle in.
The first batch of results should arrive at 8:45 p.m., with three more to follow tonight. The Department of Elections has the breakdown.
San Francisco is voting in three special elections, for District 2 and District 4 supervisors and for a Board of Education member. Both supervisor races are referendums on housing, especially District 2, while the main backdrop of the D4 race is all the hot feelings around the fate of the Sunset Dunes Park (nee Great Highway).
The winners of all three special races will have to compete again in November for their seats.
Keeping it local, SF is also voting on four ballot measures. Prop A is for a bond to pay for an emergency water-system. B is for term limits. C and D are dueling measures related to the “overpaid CEO” tax. (Links go to our reporting on each race or issue; or click here for our Election 2026 page.)
Vote local, think national: Which two candidates will advance to the November election to replace Nancy Pelosi?
Statewide races include the primaries for governor, education superintendent, lieutenant governor, and much more.
Polls close soon. If you haven’t voted yet, find your polling station here.
Tuesday, June 2, 5:40 p.m.
Two and a half hours until our polls close. Before we go down the local rabbit hole, a reminder that other states have primary action today: New Jersey, Iowa, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Montana.
Why does it take so long to get results in California? CalMatters has you covered on that story. We shouldn’t expect a call tonight on the governor’s race.
The last big election was November 5, 2024. (Remember?) Ten days later, there were still races to call in San Francisco.
So if you’re waiting for the pundits (and maybe even us) to tell you What It All Means, you might have to wait a while.
More from The Frisc…
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco voters to decide on dueling measures on Top Executive Pay Tax changes
San Francisco voters weighed in Tuesday on two competing measures that seek to change the Top Executive Pay Tax, with one of the measures also including a change to the Gross Receipts Tax.
Should both measures pass, the one with the most votes will take effect, according to the propositions’ legal text.
Currently, the measures state that most businesses with San Francisco gross receipts up to $5 million are exempt from the Gross Receipts Tax. And businesses that use more than half of their city payroll for in-house administrative and management services pay an Administrative Office Tax instead of a Gross Receipts Tax.
The Top Executive Pay Tax is a tax some large businesses pay if their highest-paid managerial employee earns more than 100 times the median pay of their San Francisco employees. Businesses that have city gross receipts up to $5 million and are not subject to the Administrative Office Tax are exempt.
Proposition C
Proposition C states it would increase the number of businesses that could be exempt from the Gross Receipts Tax and would stop any further increases to the “Top Executive Pay Tax” after a final rate bump.
The proposed measure says it would raise the Gross Receipts Tax exemption ceiling to $7.5 million. The $7.5 million ceiling would also apply to the Top Executive Pay Tax exemption.
As for changes to the Top Executive Pay Tax, Proposition C states it would implement the 2028 tax rate increase in 2027, but then stop any future increases.
Supporting Proposition C are Rodney Fong, CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and Chris Wright, senior vice president of Advance SF, an organization of companies, which includes Bank of America, OpenAI, Waymo, the SF Giants CEO and others.
Fong and Wright, in their argument for the measure, say giving businesses more tax breaks would help keep more employees on payroll and would give companies the ability to “contribute to city services in a predictable and balanced way.”
Critics of Proposition C, such as the San Francisco Tenants Union, slam the measure as “billionaire-backed” and argue it would kill the Top Executive Pay Tax and would hand out more tax breaks to businesses at a time when the city is in a budget deficit and faces cuts to essential services.
Proposition D
Proposition D also seeks to change the Top Executive Pay Tax, which is collected from some large businesses where the highest-paid managerial employee earns more than 100 times the median compensation paid to other employees.
If approved, the measure would change the calculation of the tax using the compensation of all employees, not just employees based in San Francisco. Top Executive Pay Tax rates would also be increased for San Francisco gross receipts and payroll.
Supporters have billed the measure as a way to counteract federal cuts to Medicaid. A report by the City Controller’s Office said the measure could result in $250 million to $300 million in additional revenue.
“Proposition D is the solution to our budget deficit. It asks large corporations — not small businesses, not working families — to contribute a little more,” supporters said in the city’s official voter guide.
The measure has the backing of most of the Board of Supervisors, along with labor unions and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Opponents, including Mayor Daniel Lurie and state Sen. Scott Wiener, have argued Proposition D would negatively impact the city’s recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“San Francisco is already one of the most expensive cities in the country to live and do business. Adding extreme and unpredictable tax increases risks driving employers away just as we are trying to bring jobs, workers, and foot traffic back downtown,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey in the city’s voter guide.
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