Happy New Year!
Thanks to you, 2023 was a year of positive change. Building on the successes we all had in 2022, change is starting to appear in the city. From Supervisor Joel Engardio's fabulous Night Market in the Sunset, to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins bringing competence back to the DA's office, we can see the City getting better with our own eyes.
Civic Center Plaza has gotten remarkably better. (If you haven't seen it during the day, go check it out!) A new skate park and anti-drug-dealing enforcement have shown a little good policy goes a long way. It's gotten (slightly) easier to open a new business, thanks to new reforms spearheaded by the small business community in collaboration with Mayor Breed's office.
We're even starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for our housing shortage, thanks to fantastic state law from State Senator Scott Wiener. Over the next 10 years in San Francisco we may welcome over 100,000 new neighbors!
2023 was not without its challenges. From a very slow downtown recovery, to large scale layoffs across several industries, to setting a new record for fentanyl overdose deaths, we still have a ways to go. But we think 2024 will be the year San Francisco really turns a corner!
Coming up this March is the primary election, where we will elect new leadership to the Democratic party. Leadership that prioritizes outcomes over ideology, and listens to the concerns of their constituents.
And in November, we will flip City Hall to a common sense majority. San Franciscans are tired of waiting and are now demanding change. Our September Pulse Poll showed it clearly: a record number of San Franciscans say the city is off track. This coming November we will need all of you to vote for the change you deserve.
We deserve affordable housing. We deserve clean and safe streets. We deserve great schools. We deserve better government.
Thank you for your support, and we can't wait to make 2024 a year for the history books!
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The Spirit of San Francisco
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What we’re doing this week
New Years Eve at Cat Club
We published a whole list of options for New Years, but we may personally be joining Cat Club for their New Year's Eve celebration, with music from the 70s and 80s in two electrifying rooms. Experience the 70s and disco sounds in the back room, and dance to 80s and new wave beats in the front room. It’s cheap at about $30 + fees.
WHEN: New Years Eve, party starts at 9 p.m.
WHERE Cat Club, 1190 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Breakfast of Champions
Admittedly, we’ve never been, but it’s all we hear about to do on New Years Day. SF's longest-running New Year's Day celebration is back and bigger than ever to ring in 2024 the best way they know how. Join Breakfast of Champions as they take over the block with our favorite crews and plenty of new surprises. Tickets begin at around $95.
WHEN: January 1, 4 AM - 9 PM
WHERE: The Great Northern, Alameda St. & Vermont St., San Francisco, CA 94103
What we’re writing about
What to do in San Francisco to ring in 2024
Fireworks, fancy parties, and cruises are just a few options on deck for San Francisco. Or spend a quiet night in. There’s no bad way to ring in the new year. With tons of stuff to do, these are our personal picks.
The Bold Italic’s top stories of 2023
Collapse and rebirth are common themes in San Francisco of late, from ongoing stories chronicling our troubled neighborhoods to successes in our night markets, bar openings and concerts. The Bold Italic has grown and changed, too, now in the past 12 months at the helm of GrowSF. Amid that transformation, our top stories of 2023 show that first-person perspectives and lived experiences still have resonant and quantifiable value within the modern media landscape.
All of our top stories this year are heartfelt essays about San Francisco, events connected to the city, and the true opinions about life here. We kept the creative prompt quite plain: What can you say about San Francisco that represents what it’s like to be here, but also doesn’t get caught in the very persistent “doom loop” narrative?
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