Out-of-State Politics

Potrero Hill residents Steve Phillips and Susan Sandler are leading efforts to invest $10 million to support Stacey Abrams’ quest to become Georgia’s first African-American woman governor. Phillips is a former San Francisco Unified School District board member and author of Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority, a playbook, of sorts, for Abrams’ campaign. To win in November, Abrams’ strategy is to turn out a couple hundred thousand more nonwhite voters, reinforced by Phillips’ PowerPAC Georgia…Meanwhile, closer to home, Potrero Boosters’ president J.R. Eppler has dropped out of the District 10 Board of Supervisors race. The politician he was looking to replace, Malia Cohen, who is termed out of the Board of Supervisors, is running against Republican Mark Burns for the District 2 Board of Equalization seat.

Sign-of-the-Times

A three-way stop sign was installed on De Haro and Division streets last month. New traffic lights and placards seem to be popping up faster than nail salons and cafes once did, perhaps suggesting that the go-go growth of the last decade is slowing down, at least traffic-wise…

Bad Fences

Last spring, a Rhode Island Street homeowner alleged that an effort to repair a rotting fence escalated into an assault. The incident started with a non-confrontational discussion between the homeowner and his neighbor about fixing the fence that divides the two properties. Shortly after, the homeowner reported that he, his spouse and a contractor were approached by the neighbor’s partner, who sprayed their faces with a garden hose equipped with a high-pressure nozzle. During the incident the alleged assailant reportedly yelled, “You are a terrorist. We know you are from the Middle East. Go back to where you came from.” According to the homeowner, other hateful language was used; he injured his arm while trying to shield his wife. The victims retreated into their home and called the police, who advised them to avoid the neighbor and seek a restraining order. The homeowner said he felt bewildered and distressed by the experience, with insomnia and high anxiety after it. The attack was especially disappointing to him because he considered San Francisco to be a “hate-free zone.” He’s lived in the Bay Area for decades, as well as Florida and England, and had never previously been victimized.