Prop Q: 24 Hours to Lose Your Human Rights

If you are reading this, it is most likely that you are concerned about human rights, you wanted to help someone who is struggling in the streets and needs some money, or you’re a media analyst reviewing the press before a major election. Election Day is to be a big thing and you, reader, have a great responsibility in many ways. There’s a lot at stake, from big nationwide politics to city propositions,

READ MORE

Housing: the Moral Imperative

In the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible), in Isaiah chapter 65:22, we read, “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”

What is this verse saying to us? It is saying that in the righteous world to come and age,

READ MORE

Prop S Promises Funding for Homeless Families, Arts

Since its launch in 1961, the Grants for the Arts/ San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund (GFTA) has allocated over $145 million to local San Francisco non-profit art programs and cultural organizations. This revenue is made possible through a portion of the 14 percent room tax on hotel and motel bills throughout San Francisco.

The GFTA was originally set up to ensure that San Francisco residents had access to a diverse array of arts and culture experiences,

READ MORE

United Support behind Proposition C: San Francisco’s Housing Preservation Bond

Finding common ground during this contentious campaign season isn’t easy. Yet here in San Francisco, people are coming together around Proposition C, a Housing Preservation Bond that will create permanent affordable housing and prevent displacement.   

Proposition C is an innovative measure that frees up $261 million in funding that is left over from a 1992 seismic safety bond.  Voters approved that measure after the Loma Prieta Earthquake as a source of funding to reinforce the City’s masonry buildings.

READ MORE

Is Tech Helping Communities?

Is tech helping communities?

Yes.

I wish I could just answer that question in one word and leave it at that without further qualification. But recent developments in San Francisco have painted the tech community in a sour light. We are evidently responsible for the complete disintegration of communities and the oncoming robot apocalypse. Or, as the Luddites would have you believe. Just so we’re clear, a Luddite is someone who thinks technology is something to be feared and suspicious of.

READ MORE

Encampment Ballot Measure Will Exacerbate Homelessness

Proposition Q is an ordinance prohibiting the placement of tent encampments on public sidewalks, justified in part by Section 169 of the San Francisco Police Code, that attempts to argue that a solution to alleviating homelessness is offering temporary housing and redistribution outside of San Francisco.

The San Francisco City Controller, Ben Rosenfield, in his letter to John Arntz of the Department of Elections analyzing Prop Q, and Section 169 of The San Francisco Police Code contains significant discrepancies regarding homeless housing and rehabilitation in society.

READ MORE

No on Prop R: Care Not Cops

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

A new police beat with officers responding to homelessness in San Francisco could be created if a question on the November ballot passes.

It’s the last thing that is needed, according to law enforcement professionals and experts.

Proposition R, the Neighborhood Crimes Unit ordinance, would mandate the San Francisco Police Department into dedicating at least 60 officers citywide to these units.

Officers assigned to the units would handle crimes such as property theft,

READ MORE

Prop M Proposes Housing and Development Commission

Today, when skyrocketing rents result in ever increasing homelessness and force residents to leave the city, most of the decisions regarding affordable housing as well as commercial development projects are made by a small group of people without independent review or public supervision. One measure on the November ballot, Proposition M, aims to tackle this issue by increasing accountability and transparency in development. Prop M would create a seven-member Housing and Development Commission that would oversee the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Economic and Workforce Development.

READ MORE

Homeless People’s Popular Assembly Gives Voice to People Living in Encampments

The Homeless People’s Popular Assembly, newly created by the Coalition on Homelessness in June, is a space for people who are living in encampments in San Francisco to voice their opinions about homelessness and the treatment of encampments. The Assembly was birthed from the organization’s Human Rights Workgroup, which saw that people living in tent encampments were not being heard. The assemblies occur once every other week, and have already occurred in the Best Buy,

READ MORE