So, I've posted more than 600 of your Pet Peeves in the Pet Peeves Blog and I still have hundreds more to go, sorry for the delay. I'll get the rest of them up this weekend. I promise. Happy César Chávez Day! Brian Read This Post »

So, we just wrapped up the MeetLocally. I almost forgot to mention that Gavin walked in with a huge book of Pet Peeves. I'd say it was about 100 pages of which you had written. He had been reading through them before the meeting and referenced many of them during the MeetLocally, which you can watch hopefully sometime tomorrow. Speaking of Pet Peeves...It's time to get back to posting. I think we need a better system to get them on the site. We are working on that. Brian Read This Post »

Speaker Núñez wrote an article for Act Locally SF today about what he's doing on the state level to combat global warming. He talks about how his 15-year old daughter was the one that prompted him to step up and do something about it: Fighting global warning is a challenging situation. But we can take action right here at home. Last year, the legislature did its part by passing Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This legislation is the gold standard for combating global warming. Several other states, and even the U.S. Congress, are using it as Read This Post »

So, we're going here at HQ. I'd say about there are about 40 people. The first couple questions have been about Healhcare and when the Health Access Plan is going to start. The questions are moving to quality of life. There's a a ot of concern about break-ins, burglary... The Mayor says they are arresting these people, but they are being released. He says that's why he, the DA and others are in support of bringing a Community Court to SF modeled after NYC to tackle these quality of life issues. Also, starting tomorrow the Mayor says you only need to remember Read This Post »

I've taken a short break from posting your Pet Peeves to film our third MeetLocally event. I've posted about 400 Pet Peeves in the last day, but I have hundreds more and I will get them up as soon as possible. Okay gotta set things up. -Brian Read This Post »

So, apparently people have a lot of them. I was in a meeting until 11AM and I come back to check my email and I see there are oh...let's say 155 to add to the Pet Peeves blog. I need an intern. And then I go over to our friends at SFist to see what's going on and there is a post about Act Locally SF taking Pet Peeves to the street. What else, we've got a new article about city schools and giving the Mayor the ability to open public charter schools -- using Indianapolis as an example, by David Read This Post »

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I did. Took the dog - Axel on a long walk on Saturday. I guess he's a little out of shape. A little kid riding his bike stopped to say, "Daddy...look at the chubby dog." So, I've been watching the Discovery Channel's Plant Earth. It's pretty cool -- seeing a Great White in slow motion. If you didn't see it this week, I suggest checking it out (even though there is a commercial like every 4 minutes). Speaking of TV we have taken the Act Locally SF to the street, Gavin wants to find Read This Post »

So, I did my first interview about Act Locally SF yesterday with Caroline Boussenot of Divine Caroline. The ladies of Divine Caroline launched their site a couple months ago. I'll have the interview up shortly. We talked for a while about what we're trying to do with ActLocallySF.org -  engaging more people to help form policy that will shape San Francisco. The conversation drifted quickly to Asia, I lived outside Tokyo last year for a couple months in Makuhari, Chiba and she was traveling around Vietnam for 7 months. So, memories of singing "West Virginia" by John Denver with my Read This Post »

So, I've been busy trying to get people to write more articles for the site. If you've got a great idea for an article let us know. Send me an email. I'm looking for policy papers on crime, housing, education...I'm searching for it all. ActLocallySF.org is your chance to be heard by the Mayor and the public. How about a little Act Locally SF blog roundup...We've got new people joining every day. Don't be left out. Our newest member, Rick is posting on cleaning up SF: Cleaning-up and maintaining our urban landscape enhances our whole community. “People feel better in clean Read This Post »

We continue to add new content and features to the site. Check out video of the Mayor talking about bringing a community court to San Francisco. He talked about this and a lot more at the 2nd of 100 MeetLocally events this past weekend. You can watch it all here. We want to hear what you think about bringing a community court to the Union Square area to address quality of life concerns. Leave a comment. Vote in our poll on the front page of ActLocallySF.org. Better yet...start a blog. Here are instructions how to set one up. We also got a Read This Post »

We're about 30 minutes into the second Meet Locally event at the HQ. The Mayor has answered many questions in regards to the SF Chronicle story about bringing a community court to the city. Now, he's taking questions about public transportation and the need to limit the number of cars in the city. Make sure to read Brookings' Robert Puentes article about the topic, "America's Car Culture: Almost Out of Gas." Yeah, my cell phone photo is a little blown out. The video of today's Meet Locally will be up on ActLocallySF.org shortly. -Brian Read This Post »

Aaron and I are at the HQ getting ready for our 2nd of 100 MeetLocally events witht the Mayor. We are both sporting our green. There was a good article in today's Chronicle about Mayor Newsom bringing a community court to San Francisco: Calling the quality-of-life crimes that plague downtown San Francisco appalling and frustrating, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Friday he plans to clean up the area by opening a new courthouse to crack down on such infractions as public urination, aggressive panhandling, graffiti and prostitution. Newsom returned Thursday from New York City, where he toured the Mid-Town Read This Post »

Just  got a nice little diddy from Pat Murphy of the San Francisco Sentinel to help start your St. Patty's Day weekend. It's aptly titled, "The Night Pat Murphy Died." Enjoy -Brian Read This Post »

It's a great way to get your ideas in front of the Mayor and the public. And it's a lot of fun. In all seriousness our bloggers are going to help shape San Francisco's future policy. You can create your own by clicking here. So, sign up today. In other news I'm very excited for baseball to begin. I cannot wait. I'm just going to let everyone know. I love the Red Sox. I do. I grew up in Boston. My fiancee took me away from the east coast a year and a half ago. But, ahh those Red Sox. What Read This Post »

We are introducing ActLocallySF.org to San Francisco today. So, if you were wondering what's up with the different articles on the homepage...we've put some of the more popular items on the front page. You can still find all the other articles in the archives. -Brian Read This Post »

So, I just got an email from Michael Pollan, the author of The Botany of Desire...the book which takes a look at the food we eat. It's pretty much The Jungle in modern day form, which was first published more than a century ago. Thank you Wikipedia for that. Anyway, he's going to be moderating a panel discussion about the US farm bill at UCB on March 21st at 7PM. He wants to get the word out -- so, I'm helping him, because I think it's going to be a cool event and I'm hoping that he'll write something for Read This Post »

So, I just posted a new article, America's Car Culture: Almost Out of Gas by Robert Puentes of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. It's a good read. He has some good insight into combating global warming. He also provides some solutions, which is always nice.One of the most positive trends in recent months is the new found acceptance of the connection between climate change, transportation and economic health and competitiveness.  No longer understood as separate issues, reducing vehicle emissions is not only a way to save the planet, but also has an economic payoff.  European policy makers talk about this Read This Post »

I spent Saturday with Mayor Newsom filming some Pet Peeves, if you happened to see him around town and were wondering what was going on.  It was an absolutely beautiful Saturday, so we started things off at the Ferry Building. We gave him a mic and he started walking around the waterfront asking people what their Pet Peeves were. He probably talked to about 30 San Franciscans in an hour and a  half. Homelessness, MUNI, education, crime and WiFi kept coming up as topics. I was supposed to be taking pictures, but got caught up in things, so you'll have Read This Post »

Yeah, so every blog gets them from time to time and we over here at ActLocallySF.org unfortunately are no different. If you were trying to read an article, blog, watch a video, leave a comment from 10 PM PST yesterday until just a few minutes ago, you were taken to our staging site. Not sure exactly why this happened, but the situation has been resolved and everything should be good to go. Our developer said he was messing around with some code last night and mistakingly re-directed all pages to the staging site. Any more issues let me know. -Brian Read This Post »

Okay... so you've heard that the Mayor wants to explore the idea of making Muni FREE. What you probably don't know is he talked about setting Muni free last week at the first of 100 MeetLocally events. We kept it hush hush over here at ActLocallySF.org, just to make sure he was "for serious" as my friend Jared from Boston would say. We have video of him talking to San Franciscans about making Muni free. Check it out!! Gabriel Metcalf from SPUR wrote a great article about the actual feasibility of making Muni free and it's on our homepage, "It's Time Read This Post »

So, we've added a new section to the ActLocallySF.org experience-- The Pet Peeves blog. It might be the most popular thing on the site. Yeah, I think it is. The blog is your chance to be heard -- to let Mayor Newsom and the public at large know what's not working around the city. The Mayor looks at each and every one of your Pet Peeves, so send them in. Be heard. Another San Franciscan has joined the ActLocallySF.org blogger world. Lee Goodin from North Beach is bloggin about the North Beach Festival or as he refers to it as "The Read This Post »

Homelessness is still a very big big issue in San Francisco. But as Randy Shaw from Beyon Chron wrote today -- the city's homeless numbers are the lowest they've ever been. Last count, according to data released by the Mayor's office on March 5th, there were 333 homeless single adults collecting welfare, most have moved into new housing provided by the city. But, as Shaw notes, there are still problems: Why the persistence of visible homelessness in the Central City despite single adults’ unprecedented access to housing? The homeless population has changed. It is no longer the victims of deindustrialization Read This Post »