San Francisco Weekly
Some San Francisco citizens who are worried that the city’s iconic Coit Tower is not getting the TLC it needs are hoping to force the city to shower the landmark with a little more money. And what better way to make sure that happens than through another ballot measure? The Protect Coit Tower Committee — a coalition of neighbors, environmentalists, and artists — filed a ballot initiative with the city’s Elections Department yesterday, and plans to collect 9,700 signatures over the next two months to get the measure on the June ballot. If approved, the measure would limit commercial activities and private events held there.
California pot advocates are taking another stab at legalization with a proposed measure that would dictate pot growers be regulated in the same way as microbrewers and vintners. Home growers would be be left alone, sales would be taxed, and nobody would be charged criminally for possession under the proposed law.
The Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012 has been certified, which means that backers can begin gathering the more than half-million signatures they’d need to put it before voters.
Supervisor Scott Wiener says he plans to propose a charter amendment at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting that would grant the supes power to amend or appeal ballot initiatives approved by voters —Â a step he insists will help reduce the number of such measures San Francisco residents are asked to weigh in on during election seasons. The the change to the city’s charter would allow the supervisors to amend or appeal a ballot measure with a two-thirds majority after it has been in effect for three years, and through a simple majority vote after seven years.
Santa Clara County has taken a historic step by allowing residents to register to vote electronically, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The new procedure allows people to register using touch-screen devices such as iPhones and iPads, and is the result of a proposal by the Silicon Valley firm Verafirma, which created the technology that will be used. The plan has the support of the county registrar and board of supervisors, according to the Merc.
Mayor Gavin Newsom has never been particularly subtle about attempting to dictate marching orders to the Municipal Transportation Authority Board. Now, the mayor’s progressive critics, particularly members of the Board of Supervisors, are being equally unsubtle in their criticism.
Real estate investor David Addington, 42, walks down the part of Market Street that intersects San Francisco’s Skid Row, motioning at run-down century-old buildings and describing his plan to lead an economic renaissance. “Take a look down the sidewalk. You see all the people?” he says, in reference to a mob of pedestrians in front of Nordstrom on the northwest side of Fifth and Market streets. “Now look at this side. There’s nobody.”