The GrowSF Report: Half of California no longer in drought
The GrowSF Report: Half of California no longer in drought
PLUS: Dean Preston doesn’t support arresting and prosecuting fentanyl dealers
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of February 27, 2023:
- Half of California no longer in drought
- Bay Bridge lights going out for good
- Dean Preston doesn’t support arresting and prosecuting fentanyl dealers
- Drink cheaper at Giants games
- CA Court of Appeals finds that Berkeley students are pollution
Half of California no longer in drought
After three years of intense drought, the recent stormy weather has brought some much needed relief: just over half of California is no longer in a drought. This is a drastic shift from even just three months ago, when the entire state was in drought, and 40% of the state the extreme or exceptional drought category.
Unfortunately, the effects of the prolonged and severe drought linger on, with many forests and wildlife ravaged by the effects. And the state and local governments have a lot to do to better prepare for both drought and storms. But for now, we should all breathe a sign of relief at our improved drought conditions!
Bay Bridge lights going out for good
On Sunday, March 5 at 8pm the beautiful lights on the Bay Bridge will blink out for the last time. At least… until the organization that runs them can raise some money.
Help bring back this beautiful piece of public art with a donation to the San Francisco-based art nonprofit Illuminate.
Dean Preston doesn’t support arresting and prosecuting fentanyl dealers
Thanks to your signatures and emails on our campaign, we finally got an answer: Dean Preston thinks we shouldn’t enforce our existing laws, shouldn’t arrest dealers, and certainly shouldn’t prosecute fentanyl dealers.
Fentanyl dealers have killed over 1,500 San Franciscans — more than 10x the number killed by anything else in the city including murders and traffic accidents. But while Supervisors spend time talking about Vision Zero (zero traffic deaths), we have to ask: where is Overdose Zero?
Big thanks to SF Chronicle columnist Heather Knight for covering our campaign and finally getting an answer out of Supervisor Preston.
Drink cheaper at Giants games
The Giants are planning to give fans a break by lowering the price of beer at Oracle Park. By reducing the price from $14 to $9 for 14-ounce beers (craft brews not included), the Giants will be addressing the complaint most often made by fans - more so than the cost of tickets!
“Fourteen-ounce domestic draft beers will now cost $9 instead of $14 at Doggie Diner stands throughout the ballpark, as well as at Section 415”
“Coming out of two years with the pandemic, and the lockout last year, it’s kind of like our fans deserve a break,” team CEO Larry Baer told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I mean, it’s been three tough years.”
CA Court of Appeals finds that Berkeley students are pollution
Yeah… that’s a weird headline. But the CA Court of Appeals ruled that prospective student housing cannot be built because the noise which might be generated from students constitutes an “environmental pollutant.” By abusing CEQA (the well-intentioned but completely broken California Environmental Quality Act), anti-growth and anti-student busybodies have succeeded at preventing hundreds of students from having a home just off the UC Berkeley campus.
Check out this (very long) twitter thread for more information and a PDF of the ruling itself:
Your Action Plan
Now that you know what’s happening, help us shape what happens next:
Stop Connie Chan from defunding the police
Thank you to everyone who signed our petitions and sent emails for arresting & prosecuting fentanyl dealers, and to demand that Connie Chan vote for the supplemental police funding bill! Nearly 1,000 of you have already delivered for San Francisco!
But we’re not safe yet — Supervisor Connie Chan is holding back funding for police officers. If she refuses to schedule a vote in the Budget Committee, police patrols will go down by about 30% because officers will be forbidden from working overtime. And the police department will be forced to abandon plans to hire unarmed community ambassadors due to lack of funds.
Send an email to Supervisor Chan demanding she fund our police department using our fast and easy email tool.
New Liberal Action Summit
GrowSF is cohosting a policy conference with our friends at the Center for New Liberalism (CNL) on March 31 at the SPUR Urban Center in SoMa.
The conference, NLAS West, will be the first in a series of regional conferences organized by CNL to discuss a fresh, innovative agenda for the Democratic Party’s future.
NLAS West will feature elected Democratic leaders from the region, activists, policy experts, and political analysts as well as business and civic leaders. The discussion will center on issues of local, regional, and national significance – driving down housing costs, managing fiscal issues in an era of unprecedented inflation, assuring public safety, reinventing public education, modernizing America’s outdated immigration laws, exploring the future of Section 230, and discussing the nation’s bioscience innovation ecosystem.
We invite you to join us and over 100 pragmatic liberals in San Francisco later this month! RSVP here.
Celebrate San Francisco
There’s a lot to love about our city. Here’s what makes it great:
TODAY: Final day of the SF Middle School Science Fair
Today is the final day of the San Francisco Middle School Science Fair, hosted by the Randall Museum. From 10:30am to 4pm today you can check out the innovative science fair projects by our incredible middle schoolers. Bring the whole family for a fun day of learning and celebrating our kids!
Catch live music in Golden Gate Park through November
A new Mini Food Hall coming to the Upper Haight
The 730 Stanyan project will turn a parking lot in the Upper Haight area into 150 units of much needed housing. Adding to the good news, the developers also plan to add a mini food hall to the building, and have a request for proposals out. We look forward to this transformation, and enjoying some great food in these awesome new digs!
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Topical Tweets
Yes, there is good stuff on Twitter. Here’s some of it:
Supervisor Joel Engardio is bringing a Taiwanese night market to the Sunset
