In San Francisco, Mayor Newsom is making a bid to redefine what the nation thinks of “San Francisco values.” The Mayor of the City by the Bay has proposed an ordinance that would make it illegal for someone to sit or lie on sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 11pm, with offenses leading to misdemeanors and ten days in jail upon a second offense, followed by 30 days in jail after a third offense.
I was once one of those homeless people in San Francisco. Kicked out of my shelter in the early morning, before anything was open. The options were to try to muster the energy, after a night of likely very light sleep, to wander about aimlessly for a few hours, or to sit in a park and hope not to get kicked out. Even job searching locations didn’t open until hours after we were sent out onto the streets. (more…)
I think everyone who gets to know young kids knows the look of total disbelief you get when you offer them a quarter (or even worse a dime) and suggest they get some candy. The look of “you’ve got to be kidding” on a five year-old’s face is something to treasure because it’s the first recognition that adults don’t know everything and can say and do stupid things, particularly when candy bars cost a dollar or more. 
Last year, Florida-based Lennar Corp. broke local ballot funding records at the time when it spent close to $5 million on its campaign to approve Proposition G, giving it the right to develop more than 10,000 homes in southeast San Francisco, and to defeat Proposition F, the alternative measure demanding that half these units be affordable. 
The Perception of Public Safety 
CAPE CORAL, Fla. — After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.