Cross posted at piratecatradio.com.

In this week’s edition:
- Progressives Mount Campaign to Control San Francisco Democratic Committee
- Halloween in the Castro Canceled Again?
- Mayor Refuses to Make Public His Phone Records
- Olympic Torch Will Bypass Chinatown, Protests May Be Tolerated
- Supervisors Gut Resolution Critical of China’s Human Rights Record
- Will SF Finally Be Able to Opt-Out of Examiner Delivery
- Police to Focus on the City’s Most Crime-Prone Areas

Progressives Mount Campaign to Control San Francisco Democratic Committee
Top progressive leaders in San Francisco have filed to run for the influential San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. The DCCC makes endorsements and sets policy for the Democratic Party in San Francisco.

Supervisors Chris Daly, Jake McGoldrick, and Aaron Peskin, school board member Eric Mar, and likely supervisorial candidates Debra Walker and Eric Quezada all filed papers last Friday, the last day to file.

Mayor Newsom and his allies were caught flat-footed, only able to field a couple of administration loyalists — Mike Farrah, director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, and Catherine Dodd, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff for health.

The big names could join incumbent progressives on the DCCC, such as Robert Haaland, Michael Goldstein, David Campos, and Rafael Mandelman, to form a new progressive majority.

Peskin said he doesn’t think the DCCC should endorse candidates in local races because it can fracture the party. Daly disagreed and supports the local endorsements. Forty-five people filed papers to run for the 24 seats as of late Friday afternoon. For more information, see this Bay Guardian article and this Chronicle article.

Halloween in the Castro Canceled Again?
San Francisco is again planning to cancel Halloween in the Castro this year. But so far the City’s plan for Halloween remains unclear. The Entertainment Commission is trying to organize a number of Halloween celebrations in neighborhoods like the Mission and Polk Street. There is talk of bringing in a big name musical act, but so far no plans have been made. Last year, they had a similar plan, but the Entertainment Commission was unable to organize anything, so they instead canceled Halloween. A massive police presence shut down the Castro and area bars were pressured into closing early. For more information, see this Chronicle article.

Mayor Refuses to Make Public his Phone Records
Days after the Cosco Busan oil spill, Mayor Newsom flew to Hawaii for a vacation. He claimed he was in constant contact with City and state officials, but he has refused Sunshine Ordinance requests to release his cell phone records from the trip.
Newsom said: “I did reach out and was connected to people and used my own resources, my own money to pay for that communication. And the only question is: why didn’t I submit a reimbursement?”
“Whether the message comes by text message to a personal iPhone or by Pony Express is irrelevant. What matters is the content of the message,” said Peter Scheer, the executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition. “If it’s about public business, then its public record.”

Melissa Griffin, a lawyer who blogs about local politics, reviewed the legality of Gavin’s claim that his personal cellphone records are private:

the California Public Records Act defines a “public record” as any “writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.”
Then in the San Francisco Sunshine Act, it defines “public information” as “the content of ‘public records’ as defined in the California Public Records Act.
And while there are tons of exceptions to the applicable sunshine laws (for medical records, social security numbers, etc.) I could not find one for “using your own doohicky.”

For more information, see this Examiner article.

Olympic Torch Will Bypass Chinatown, Protests May Be Tolerated
On April 9th, runners will carry the Olympic torch through San Francisco. But it won’t pass through Chinatown on its way to Beijing. The torch relay will begin near the Ballpark and end near the Ferry Building, but officials refused to release any details of the route the torch will take.

Mayor Gavin Newsom made conflicting comments about how people protesting the China Olympics will be treated. The Chronicle reported that he said protests would be allowed along the route of the torch, but later in the article they also referenced “so-called free-speech zones.”

Newsom said large demonstrations would be granted permits for areas within sight and hearing distance of the route, but activists said they’ve been unable to obtain permits.

In they Mayor’s typically passive-aggressive style, he said “no one will be denied the ability to protest all along the parade route if, indeed, they find that it is a great idea because they want to disrupt what should be a unifying event and try to make it more divisive.”

The Tibetan Freedom Torch is also traveling around the world and will stop in San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza on April 8. The Global Human Rights Torch event is planned at Union Square on April 5.

Supervisors Chiu and Elsbernd Gut Resolution Critical of China’s Human Rights Record
On Thursday, the Board of Supervisors’ City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee heard public comment on a resolution introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly that called for the public official who represents the city during Olympic torch ceremonies to “make publicly known that the 2008 Summer Games Torch is received with alarm and protest.” The committee heard over four hours of public comment that was overwhelming supportive of the resolution and critical of China’s human rights record.

But the chair of the committee, Supervisor Carmen Chu, amended the resolution to remove the criticisms of China. In their place she added language welcoming the Olympic torch as well as two other torch events - the Tibetan Freedom Torch and the Global Human Rights Torch.

The committee voted 2-1 for the amended resolution with Sean Elsbernd joining Chu and Jake McGoldrick opposing. Both Elsbernd and Chu were originally appointed by Mayor Newsom.

Daly said he hopes to reverse the changes when the full board hears the resolution on April 2nd. For more information, see the bottom of this Chronicle article and this Fog City Journal opinion piece.

Supervisor Mirkarimi Introduces Ordinance to Allow Residents to Opt-Out of Examiner Delivery
There may be hope for San Franciscans who are tired of the Examiner, the conservative daily newspaper being delivered to their doorstep.
Under the proposed law, newspapers that deliver unsolicited copies would have to publish a phone number or e-mail address residents could use to place their residence on a do-not-deliver list.
If newspapers keep coming, the publisher would face a $100 fine per residence on the first violation, $200 for the second and $500 for any thereafter. Also, in some circumstances, people living at the residences where the unwanted newspapers are delivered could collect three times the amount of the fine from those who violate the law. For more information, see this Chron article.

Police to focus on the City’s most crime-prone areas
The SFPD is initiating what they call the most significant change in their strategy in the last four years. This new strategy? To focus police resources on the most crime-prone areas of the City! This includes Bayview-Hunters Point, the Mission, the Western Addition, the Tenderloin and Visitacion Valley.

The change was introduced by Cmdr. Kevin Cashman, the new head of the Field Operations Bureau of the department. Officers will focus on drug busts, traffic stops and probation or warrant checks.

Supervisor Ammiano says “its worth a try.” Supervisor Maxwell said “the police have to follow certain procedures. They can’t just patrol the streets and harass any black man they see.” For more information, see this Examiner article.