One of my pet peeves is that my neighborhood, Bernal Heights is like an unincorporated part of some third world country. There are blocks with no sidewalks or curbs, and the streets are like dirt roads. Potholes abound and I will see abandoned cars, washing machines and other garbage accumulating and staying for very long periods of time. It feels like my neighborhood is a forgotten wasteland completely ignored by the city of San Francisco. I am a property owner and I pay my taxes but they certainly don't come back into this neighborhood. Read This Posty »

My husband and I always pay our property taxes in person.  We started this little tradition because it made us feel proud to be homeowners.  Nothing made us feel more like real citizens than to walk into the marbled entrance of City Hall to drop that check at the clerk's office. We scrimp and save to pay thousands of dollars twice a year.  We accept that it's the price we pay to ensure our public transit works, our streets are safe, and that our future children will go to decent schools. However, nothing angers me more than having to walk Read This Posty »

There are only one or two schools of each level that even come close to performing above state standards, which are low to begin with.  As an SF resident, a pediatrician and a parent of 15 years (who has paid the astronomical property taxes required to be a homeowner here), the one San Francisco value that disappoints me is the low priority of child welfare and public education on the city agenda.  While I know that children are a small (and largely poor) community in our city, shouldn't we step up and take better care of this profoundly important group Read This Posty »

As a lifelong bleeding heart liberal, my heart and often my wallet goes out to the people who for whatever reason find themselves living on our streets. They are becoming our very own “untouchables’ as we move toward a caste system in our society. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class gets squeezed and is quickly disappearing throughout our nation and our city. I’m not a native San Franciscan, but San Francisco is the place I’ve called home for many years and it feels more like home to me than the city of my birth Read This Posty »

My current top pet peeves as a San Francisco resident of Bernal Heights: -- Massage parlors full of trafficked immigrant women.  The city has a history of tolerance for the sex trade, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  But sex trafficking and slavery is something else entirely.  I know that the Mayor has recently been speaking to this issue and I hope we will see some real action. -- Major commercial streets in the Mission with worn out, bumpy pavement. -- Homeless people in city parks.  They need a place to stay, but not next to a playground full of kids or Read This Posty »