San Francisco finds a new way to break the bank

By Mark Moses
10/18/2023
The City of San Francisco is reeling from rampant crime and facing a commercial real estate crash. Arguably, City policies have created both problems – the former, a result of lax law enforcement, and the latter, a consequence of the first, coupled with unfriendly business policies. Meanwhile, the City is facing a $489 million budget...

TAGS: Climate Action Plan, environmentalism, Housing, Public Bank, San Francisco, Zoning

Bay Area Financial Crisis: Oakland

By Sheridan Swanson
06/02/2023
Like San Francisco, the Bay Area City of Oakland is facing major budget woes. Mayor Sheng Thao’s proposed budget for 2023-25 released last month reveals the city is facing  a $360 million shortfall, the largest budget deficit in Oakland’s history.  The proposed budget for FY 2023-24 and 2024-25 plans for total expenditures of over $2.1...

TAGS: Bay Area, Finance, Government Finance, municipal bankruptcy, Oakland, San Francisco

San Francisco’s Financial Crisis

By Sheridan Swanson
05/26/2023
The State of California isn’t the only one scrambling to prepare a budget while staring down a deficit. Several Bay Area municipalities are also struggling with their own budget problems, San Francisco chief among them.  San Francisco’s 2022-23 budget and next year’s 2023-24 budget total approximately $14 billion each. On March 31, the San Francisco...

TAGS: California budget, California state budget, Finance, Government Finance, Reparations, San Francisco

Listen: While San Francisco simmers

By Editorial Staff
07/08/2021
Latest episode of the Radio Free California podcast is out! In this week’s episode of National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast, CPC’s Will Swaim and David Bahnsen discuss the latest lunacy coming out of the City by the Bay, and an expansion of California’s ban on taxpayer-funded travel to states Attorney General Rob Bonta thinks...

TAGS: David Bahnsen, Gavin Newsom, Kevin Kiley, Podcast, Radio Free California, San Francisco, Will Swaim

Sad Francisco

By Larry Sand
06/01/2021
The charming city by the Bay has some serious edu-warts that need to be excised. San Francisco is a magical city. My first visit there was in 1969 as a New York city college kid on winter break, and I was enthralled. I was there again in 1996 on my honeymoon, and several times since,...

TAGS: San Francisco

Should My School Be Open?: Looking at Alternative Benchmarks for Reopening Schools

By Brandon Ristoff
02/10/2021
CLICK HERE to see the which benchmarks your county has passed. It has now been over a month since Governor Newsom introduced his Safe Schools for All plan, which would have allowed schools to reopen soon. How has the school reopening situation changed since then? Newsom’s plan did not receive the necessary legislative approval by...

TAGS: Andrew Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, reopening schools, San Francisco, schools

Governor Newsom Fails to Put Pressure on Teachers Unions to Reopen Public Schools

By Brandon Ristoff
01/25/2021
Late last month, Governor Newsom announced a $2 billion plan to support reopening K-6 public schools for in-person learning by providing districts money if they agree to a timetable for reopening starting in mid-February. But Newsom is playing both sides. He’s trying to support both families who want their kids back in school and the teachers...

TAGS: Bay Area, California Federation of Teachers, California Teacher Association, California teachers unions, Gavin, Gavin Newsom, Newsom, public schools, San Francisco, teachers unions

How a San Francisco union brought shame to the city’s police department

By Editorial Staff
08/05/2020
Emilie Daedler | California Policy Center If you hope to reform policing in America, you have to reform the unions that invariably protect bad cops. That’s how Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, though trailing at least 17 excessive-force complaints, ended up on duty on May 25, the day George Floyd died. And that’s how San...

TAGS: San Francisco

The Manger vs The Monster – Housing California’s Homeless

By Edward Ring
12/18/2019
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” – Luke 2:7 Advocates for the homeless frequently invoke biblical passages in order to appeal to the Christian compassion that still guides the hearts of most Americans, whether...

TAGS: City of Los Angeles, Edward Ring, Homeless Industrial Complex, homelessness, Housing, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Prop 47, San Francisco, Venice Beach

The Boondoggle Archipelago

By Edward Ring
11/20/2019
Across California, there is a growing string of islands, exquisite gems in the urban ocean. Dredged from the pockets of taxpayers, and constructed by elite artisans, these pristine islands have been created at stupefying expense. But their beauty is seductive. Each time an island is completed, or even proposed, glowing reports are logged across the...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act, San Francisco, Venice Beach