Free Republic

This tragic story has gone national and the blame game along with the finger pointing has started. Adachi(Public Defender) and Mirkarimi(SF Sheriff)are blaming the federal government and ICE but it was not the federal government that made San Francisco a sanctuary city. That was done by local politicians decades ago and has been reinforced by many current politicians including Adachi and Mirkarimi. Bottom line is a young innocent woman has been murdered in cold blood, in front of her father, by a 5 time deported illegal alien drug dealer. He is an ILLEGAL ALIEN not an undocumented immigrant and if...

People in the Bay Area gave a smaller percentage of their income to charity than residents of most large cities, according to a study published Monday by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Among the nation’s largest 50 metro areas, San Francisco and San Jose metro areas ranked 45th and 48th, respectively, in 2012. The only two large cities that ranked below San Jose on the generosity list were Providence, R.I., and Hartford, Conn. Their residents gave just 1.9 percent of income to charity. Among the 50 largest metro areas, the most generous was Salt Lake City, whose residents gave 5.4 percent...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Put away the chestnuts; the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has announced that wood burning will be banned in the region on Christmas Eve—and possibly on Christmas Day, too. Tuesday will be the 17th “Winter Spare the Air” day of the season, and the air district will decide that day whether wood burning will also be banned on Christmas. “The weather forecast looks like we might see another Spare the Air day for Christmas Day,” air district spokesman Tom Flannigan said. He explained that winds are light, and the weather is forecast to be...

San Francisco must have taken a chapter out of Laer Pearce’s new book “Crazifornia.” The city’s new CleanPower SF plan garners subsidies from U.S. taxpayers for green-power purchases. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But you would have to be crazy not to shift your green power purchases onto U.S. taxpayers if laws provide for it. And what city wouldn’t want to do it if it could cover it up as part of their compliance with AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006? San Francisco is “gaming the system,” just as Enron supposedly did in the 2001 state energy...

Does San Francisco have a serious problem with birds flying into tall buildings? Was there a good reason the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a "bird-safe" building ordinance last month? I asked Supervisors David Chiu and John Avalos on Saturday why they supported the measure, at a mayoral candidates debate hosted by the West of Twin Peaks Central Council. Their answers were instructive. Chiu seemed put out that he had been asked such a trivial question. The board has spent about "40 seconds" on the measure, he assured me, less time than during Saturday's debate. Avalos answered that he knows...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Something could soon be coming between San Francisco's proud nudists and their unusual freedom to bare it all. Walking around naked is legal in the city under most circumstances, but a city supervisor concerned about public health and sanitation introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the clothing averse to put a cloth or other barrier under their bottoms if they take a seat in public. > Wiener represents the city's Castro District, where a group of men locals refer to as "the naked guys" is known to strut its stuff, and some residents have grown weary...

San Francisco -- Supervisor Scott Wiener's proposed legislation about the nude guys in the Castro is already a success. That is, assuming his intention was to make kooky San Francisco a national joke while doing nothing about the core problem. Wiener has come up with a plan to compel the nudies to put something under their bottoms when they sit in public chairs and cover up in restaurants. "What I am proposing is noncontroversial," he said. "Rather than try to hit one out of the park and take on the broader issue of public nudity, I am proposing a modest...

<p>Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 95-year-old Castagnola's on Fisherman's Wharf (286 Jefferson St.) was buzzing. With a holiday weekend swelling the reservation book, the dining room was full and the Saturday night comedy show was set to begin.</p> <p>Then the kitchen staff walked out.</p>

Hundreds of never-used English and math workbooks were tossed into the recycling bin last week at a San Francisco school, stunning neighbors who called it a waste of taxpayer money, particularly at a time when budget cuts are forcing the district to lay off teachers, increase class sizes and eliminate summer school. "My first thoughts were: Here's the district begging for money, and they're throwing out perfectly good, unread, unused books," said David Toerge, who lives across the street from Paul Revere Elementary School and first saw the books Friday. The practice of tossing unused and obsolete books isn't unheard...

San Francisco mulls ban on all pet sales, including goldfish and hamsters San Francisco, a city named after the patron saint of animals, is considering banning sales of all pets including goldfish and hamsters in a sweeping attempt to end cruelty. By Nick Allen, Los Angeles 4:37PM BST 27 Jun 2011 The ban would cover everything from dogs and cats to snakes, lizards, guinea pigs, parrots, mice and rats. All mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish would be banned from sale in pet stores in what would be the most radical measure of its kind in the Unite States. Those...

A California bill working its way through the state legislature providing more protection for transgender individuals in the workplace could allow for cross-dressing employees to wear whatever they want to work, despite workplace dress codes. AB 887, which passed through the state's Assembly on May 16, is causing a stir among critics who feel it's raising the identity of a transgender individual to the same level as one's ethnicity or gender.

San Francisco, one of the first sanctuary cities in the nation, plans to end its cooperation with federal immigration officials and start releasing illegal immigrants arrested for minor offenses before they can be picked up for deportation. The city's decision is the latest development in a tug of war between several communities and the federal government over its controversial national program that automatically checks the immigration status of arrestees. Officials in jurisdictions including Providence, R.I., and Chicago have also challenged the program, which they say undermines trust that it has taken local law enforcement years to build in immigrant communities....

Eye-popping pension costs are the issue du jour at City Hall these days, but city officials say skyrocketing health care benefits are a far bigger concern - and some of them blame a little known group of seven for exacerbating the problem. They're the members of the obscure Health Service Board, which meets monthly to select the medical and dental plans for employees and retirees, set the amount members pay for each plan, and set policy for the plans' administration. It sounds innocuous enough, but the City Charter requires that four of the seven be employees or retirees who are...

More San Francisco adults smoke than those in most other urban and suburban counties in California, according to data on smoking rates released by state health officials Monday. The numbers, which are based on 2008 data and for the first time include statistics from every county, show that adult smoking rates statewide have dropped 42 percent since 1988 to the lowest levels ever - 13.1 percent. That makes California second to Utah, which has the country's fewest smokers per capita. Counties that are more urban and suburban tend to have significantly lower smoking rates than rural areas. Exceptions in California...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Department of Motor Vehicles employee who sent a letter to a transgender woman warning of eternal damnation after she sought to record her sex change on her driver's license has quit his job, the DMV said today. Thomas Demartini, who had worked as a customer service representative at the department's San Francisco office for about two years, submitted a letter of resignation Wednesday evening, DMV spokesman Michael Marando said. The department placed Demartini on administrative leave, with pay, shortly after the woman reported the incident in late October. Marando said the DMV has nearly completed an...

(CNSNews.com) - The Center for Science in the Public Interest said Thursday it plans to go ahead with its lawsuit against McDonald’s to ban children's Happy Meals, which include free toys. On Tuesday, San Francisco became the first major U.S. city to pass a law regulating the practice of giving away free toys with restaurant meals for children. Stephen Gardner, litigation director for CSPI, told CNSNews.com that his group applauds San Francisco’s action, but it won’t have any impact on the CSPI lawsuit, which is close to being filed. “We have been talking with them (San Francisco) behind the scenes,...

They also are accused of hiring prostitutes for sexual encounters at their remote worksite on the former Navy base in San Francisco Bay and stocking a private bedroom in their office suite with liquor, condoms, Viagra and pornographic DVDs. They were known as the Hetch Hetchy Power Crew, an elite unit named for the reservoir in Yosemite National Park that supplies the city with hydroelectric power. Their difficult, sometimes dangerous job was to maintain the city's high-voltage electrical system, especially during emergencies. Five members of the power crew were arrested last year after a whistle-blower complained that crew leader Donnie...

It seems the gang over at San Francisco's Planning Department has been looking at more than zoning codes on their computers - namely, porn.According to City Hall sources, Planning Director John Rahaim has recommended the firing of four high-ups - including veteran Zoning Administrator Larry Badiner - for allegedly receiving and in some cases circulating X-rated photos and videos for years.The material wasn't criminal - we're talking "Debbie Does Dallas" stuff, not child porn - but it was "incredibly inappropriate for the workplace," said one source, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of...

Call it sanctuary on wheels: San Francisco is about to give a big break to people, many of them illegal immigrants, who are caught driving without a license. Beginning Sunday, cops will no longer impound cars the first time drivers are pulled over without a license. The reason: Many such drivers are in the United States illegally - and thus unable to get a license - and the officials pushing the change think that impounding their cars is an unfair hardship.