A statue of Prometheus has been proposed for Alcatraz. The monument to the Titan would be 450 feet — larger than the Statue of Liberty which stands at a mere 305 feet — and is planned as a tribute to American exceptionalism, no matter that the island is a sacred site for
Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff had himself a week. Days before the company’s annual Dreamforce Conference, an event that brings some 50,000 to San Francisco, Benioff gave an interview to a sympathetic reporter, the New York Time’s Heather Knight. The billionaire told Knight that he fully supports
The centerpiece of Daniel Lurie’s campaign for mayor was a promise to enlist San Francisco’s wealthiest to open their wallets in support of the city. After his November 2024 election, Mayor Lurie pursued this project with vigor, establishing a handful of public-private partnerships to revitalize downtown, clean up
Golden Gate Park is a San Francisco jewel, a lush oasis in a busy urban center that should be there for all San Franciscans to visit and enjoy. Mayor Daniel Lurie has decided it is a money maker, accelerating the scheme begun by longtime Recreation & Parks director Phil Ginsberg.
Wealthy hedge fund manager, Philip Dreyfuss is spending lavishly on right-wing candidates and causes in Oakland with the aim of masking his involvement in the city’s elections. The machinations of various political organizations involved in the recalls of Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price, as well as
Chris Larsen recently told a local reporter that the phenomenon of money in politics is “gross.” Whatever repulsion Larsen feels hasn’t got in the way of his quest to become a top political donor. It’s a feat he’s achieved both by spending some of his own billion-dollar
No local politician is more connected to San Francisco’s Astroturf Network than District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio. Now Engardio, the elected official who has served them so well, has become a liability. Not only is he likely to be recalled, leaving the Network without its most reliable ally on
PayPal has attained mythic status in some corners of Silicon Valley.. The money transferring service spawned the careers of a generation who went on to start and bankroll some of tech’s most successful startups, among them YouTube, Yelp and Tesla. A 2007 Fortune Magazine article, featuring a photo of
The website is slick, sporting photos of smiling San Franciscans happily picking up trash from city streets. Among them are local celebrities, including San Francisco Giants icon Hunter Pence and two mayors, one past and one present: London Breed and Daniel Lurie, heir to a billion-dollar fortune and the man
JJ Smith became a local internet star by posting videos of drug users in the city’s long-troubled Tenderloin neighborhood. Smith’s videos became fodder for members of the Astroturf Network as it attacked progressive elected officials including former District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Supervisors Connie Chan, Aaron Peskin and
Not long after the new year began, political provocateur and Pied Piper of right-wing San Francisco Garry Tan announced his departure from Astroturf group, GrowSF. Using his famously hyperactive X/Twitter account, Tan issued a terse message. He was abandoning local politics to spend more time in Washington, D.C.
Gil Duran was the first journalist to identify the strange right-wing beliefs being enthusiastically embraced by Bay Area tech leaders. The Network State, a scheme for tech elites to exit democracy and create their own sovereign states, served as a blueprint for their recent involvement in San Francisco elections. As