The blog is back. Everyone can now resume their normal lives.
My time away brought me to a number of locales, including Chicago, Tupper Lake, and my glorious hometown of Albany. Huge thanks to Steven Simon and his rock star wife, the gorgeous Stacey Moen Simon, for our two nights in Chicago at their Diamond Certified home, which were perfect. But there will be no Travel Guide for Chicago, as with only two nights, I couldn't do it justice. Nor for Tupper Lake or Albany; I've beaten the former to death already, and who on Earth is going to Albany and needs a Travel Guide?
But this picture I snapped this past Saturday afternoon of the Empire State Plaza and the NY State Capitol made me think of governing and thus today's topic.
But I can summarize quickly if you're too busy or are desperate for my take after the painful void of my blog's absence. As you may have heard (even here in this blog), SF has its troubles. There are a lot (actually, a shit-ton) of "quality of life" crimes that piss people off (car break-ins, wildly aggressive homeless people, shoplifting that results in everything at Walgreens being under lock and key, open air drug markets and use, etc.)
The DA Boudin is - shocker - liberal and progressive. Here's a quote from The Atlantic article:
Boudin came into office promising to make the city safer with judicious, rather than punitive, policies: eliminating cash bail, reducing the jail population, focusing on diversion for young and first-time offenders.
But in practice that means a lot of actual criminals and miscreants slip through, get out, and continue to wreak havoc on our beautiful City By The Bay. And that's made a whole bunch of people unhappy. And in California, that can only mean one thing: a recall election. The mandate on Mr. Boudin occurs June 7.
But I despise recall elections the way they're employed now. Because we already have a mechanism for removing someone from office: they're called just plain elections.
Much like the failed recall attempt on my hero, CA Governor Gavin Newsom, what's happening here is that people don't like the outcome of Boudin's policies now that he's in office, and want him out.
But he ran on those same policies!
I am all for recall elections when an elected official has done something egregious and/or illegal. But that's not the case here. And I am as saddened/maddened as any by the problems that plague some parts of my city.
But you can't toss someone out for doing what they said they would do but not liking the results. You can do that in the next actual election. I'll therefore be voting "No" on the recall of Chesa Boudin on June 7.
FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES Understandably quiet, given my absence. So here's a pretty picture of Chicago to enjoy, instead.
Thank you to any one that is reading this newsletter.
KLUF In a highly encrypted message, here is Abba, and their greatest hits on "Gold".
