AIDS Health Fdtn Recruiting SF Patient via Postcards

Let's look at the snail-mail postcard campaign that hit many LGBT and straight mailboxes this weekend from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The image above is the front of the postcard Mike and I received in Saturday's postal mail delivery.

The back of the postcard features info about services offered along with the days and times the health center is open.

How huge was the revenue figure raked in last year by Michael Weinstein's behemoth AHF? It was $514,000,000 according to their latest IRS 990 filing. They have an incentive to sign up new clients for their various offerings of medical care to keep insurance and other dollars flowing to the organization, is the cynical take.

However, the upside of a new healthcare facility in the Castro is that for the expanded number of area LGBT residents who aren't in care now, they have another option to receive medical services and maintain sexual-health wellness.

I think it's been a full decade since Weinstein and his Los Angeles based nonprofit decided to penetrate the San Francisco AIDS community and lucrative HIV medical delivery market, opening thrift stores with testing on-site, then direct medical care and patient advocacy services and ruffling plenty of feathers of local longtime peacock groups.

For all the years they've had operations in the city, AHF simply hasn't developed good relations with establish groups or grassroots advocates particularly prevention workers and HIV negative dudes taking Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Will the new facility and outreach effort improve AHF's relationship with locals?

Neither Mike nor I can recall ever receiving a postal mail pitch like this regarding HIV testing and primary care services. Let us know if another nonprofit has ever used postcards to drum up AIDS business in San Francisco.

53% of City-Funded Nonprofits Failing Accounting Standards

Two weeks ago, I blogged about the City Controller's Office replying to my query about the last time HIV service groups receiving public dollars were last audited and it was back in 2007-2008 when the books were combed over by the City.

The City Controller also made me aware of the FY13-14 Annual Report of the Citywide Nonprofit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program, which was issued in October, and while it's not specific to AIDS organizations, it's still of interest to me.

This chart shows the nonprofits with the most "outstanding findings", which is bureaucratese for failure to comply with accounting standards. The report says, "In addition to repeated findings, having a large number of total findings can also illustrate potential instability."

Yes, and just one or two findings of noncompliance could be about major faults at a City-funded nonprofit that should be of concern to the Controller and taxpayers.

This is quite an alarming statistic: "62 contractors (53%) had one or more findings (i.e., did not meet a standard in some area)." More than half of the nonprofits receiving City dollars weren't in compliance with all mandated accounting standards.

In my view, we need a full and public discussion about this October report to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors. I don't recall any attention given to its release and findings, but if there were hearings or coverage of the report, please let me know about where or when if was scrutinized at City Hall or in the community.

Do SF People With AIDS Need NYC's ACRIA?

(ACRIA consultants Cesar Angel, left, and Hanna Tessema, held a forum in San Francisco on Nov. 14. Photo credit: Rick Gerharter.)

There are a few questions in need of answers regarding the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America, why they recently sent two consultants to San Francisco and how to locate their body of research and findings on the web. This note was sent to ACRIA folks today and when I hear back from them, I'll write a new post:

Hello Hanna and Cesar,

I was unable to make your visit forum at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, so I'm following up with written questions about it and ACRIA's purpose in coming here.

You should check out Matthew Bajko's article in the BAR, http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=70186 , because it's really all I know about your forum.

1. Why did ACRIA fly you and Cesar Angel to San Francisco to chat with longterm AIDS survivors? Maybe you were invited by leaders of the Let's Kiss ASS group, and if so, lemme know.

2. How much did ACRIA spend for travel, hotel, renting a room at the center, the catered lunch and all other expenses to have you two come here?

3. Who are ACRIA's primary funders, how much have you received in the past four years from Gilead and did any drug company pay for this trip in part or whole?

4. What exactly is involved with these trainings you're putting on around the country and how will they potentially benefit a longterm PWA such as myself?

5. Why do we supposedly need ACRIA coming from NYC to host such a forum and take an interest in alleged non-cooperation between AIDS and aging groups?

6. What agreement was made between ACRIA and Let's Kick ASS for forum, what other ways are they partnered with each other and how can I obtain the written MOU between the groups?

7. At the BAR site, this comment was made by Mike Wonders:

"We have a New York based group coming out here to tell help us figure out what to do. It's all about funding the professional AIDS machine. We have endless focus groups, surveys, research, meetings, consultants, seminars, paid travel to national conferences etc"

How do you respond to his thinking, which I've heard other SF PWAs express about both ACRIA and leaders of Let's Kick Ass.

8. Your page about aging PWAs and depression, http://www.acria.org/depression-research , contains no links to any of the research or findings, even though it all began in 2007. Can you provide me any links to the actual research or findings? The page also says you're in the process of publishing results. Please inform of which scientific journal will soon publish these results and when.

9. There are no links to any of the results of ACRIA drug research in the past year posted at this page: http://www.acria.org/research-results . Please provide me with links to all of the results and also consider linking to the results at that page.

10. Your only study on your site is the ROAH Report, https://www.dropbox.com/s/2mhuk7xcynqurhd/ROAH%20Report%20Final.pdf , and it's from 2006. Why is this old study the only one on ACRIA's site? Also, financial disclosure about any funding from drug companies or other outside sources that underwrote the study, along with disclosure on the part of the researchers were omitted. Why the omissions?

11. Finally, are you or Cesar either HIV poz or over 50 or both? It's important to ask these questions to give me a better and fuller understanding of your backgrounds.

Please give me your answers in the coming days. Thanks.

Syringe Box Nailed to Larkin Street Tree

The control and prevention of HIV, hepatitis and other nasty bugs through needle distribution on the streets of San Francisco is laudable for many public health reasons.

Earlier this week, after eating a delicious vegetarian meal at Ananda Fuara at the corner of Market and Larkin Streets, I saw a syringe box nailed to a tree with a informational flyers attached.

Since the box was so high, there was no chance children or dogs would accidentally get stuck by one of the needles. Basically, I support this sort of street level effort to properly dispose of used syringes.

However, I believe it's better to have a sealed box and not one like what's shown in the photo with a removable top. Do you agree?

Which SF Sup. Had the Most Meetings With Uber Lobbyists in 2014?

In addition to following the money, good watchdogging also demands paying close attention to the professional lobbyists hired by corporations to influence politicians and legislation at San Francisco's City Hall.

(Click the images to enlarge.)

Public records at the Ethics Commission reveal that Supervisor Scott Wiener and his aide Andres Power received the most visits from Uber's lobbyists this year. There were five meetings with Boe Hayward, who began his lobbying career about five minutes after he stopped working for Sup. Bevan Dufty in 2011, and one meeting with Patty-Jo Rutland.

All five of Hayward's meetings with Wiener's aide were about opposing rideshare regulations.

Uber paid the Goodyear Peter Hayward and Associates firm $30,000 so far this year, and Rutland and her consulting company received $32,500, bringing Uber's total lobbying fees for City Hall purposes to $62,000.

Sure would be great to know what was discussed at all of these meetings Uber held with our elected officials.

City Hall Workgroup Looking at Selling SF Municipal Air Rights

When I attended the October 23 fire commission meeting I learned that the City is evaluating selling air rights over municipal buildings, which was news to me. I received information from John Updike, the head of the Department of Real Estate, that more than a million square feet of air rights above the Veterans Building are in the process of being sold.

Thanks to a public records request, I've received transcripts from that meeting which provide greater transparency about where the City is in terms of potentially selling off air rights over public properties. If the Board of Supervisors would pressure the fire department, whose current budget is $86 million, to air the commission meetings on SF GovTV, it wouldn't take public records requests to fully learn all that is discussed at the meetings.

First, let me explain that fire commission member Ken Cleaveland is the vice president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco and their primary purpose is "advancing the commercial real estate industry through advocacy, professional development and information exchange."

It's no surprise that Cleaveland is urging movement on selling air rights, after all, it would be a financial boon to his association and its members. At the July 10 commission meeting, he made an initial inquiry:

Commissioner Cleaveland asked if the Department has ever looked at the value of any air rights they may have above fire stations and suggested deputizing someone to look into this possibility. Chief Hayes-White thought that would be a good idea and explained air right proposals were looked at in 2008, specifically to Station 13 on Sansome Street.

(Click to enlarge. Page 1 of excerpted transcripts.)

Here are excerpts of the October 23 transcripts that were provided to me by the commission's secretary:

COMMISSIONER CLEVELAND: And know what the status is of all of our -- of all of our properties, if you will. And the other thing was had we made any progress on determining if we have any transferable developmental rights, air rights above any of our fire stations? Have we done anything to determine or quantify or monetize that value? We might be able to sell. It's a very hot real estate market in order to get more money for the department.

(Page 2.)

MARK CORSO, Chief Financial Officer for SFFD, bolding added: Specifically we looked at it when it was first brought up with the Commission a few months ago, I believe. That comes up every now and then, and we discussed it with the Department of Real Estate and we are not the only department to discuss it with them. So there is a workgroup city wide looking at that. They've hired some consultants with regard utilities pricing and inventory. I believe there is a demand for, or there's actually a large want amongst many city departments to sell it so there is an issue of over saturating the market with those real estate options. And so that's one of the things with regards to timing that the Department of Real Estate is looking at. So they are working on it in conjunction with capital planning, the city's capital planning department.

(Page 3.)

COMMISSIONER COVINGTON: Thank you, Mr. President. Every time my fellow Commissioner Cleveland talks about air rights I want to bring up the fact that I would like to have us to continue to investigate the ability to build workforce housing for firefighters, police officers, and teachers.

Since developers are running out of land to build on and they can't very well construct new properties in the San Francisco Bay, it makes sense that they would look to purchase air rights for future projects. At the same time, can you blame the City for considering how to sell those air rights and produce more revenue for municipal coffers?

Now is a good time for historic building preservationists, affordable housing advocates, progressive social and urban planners, to demand more transparency from the City's workgroup looking air rights.

Since there's a workgroup and consultants have been hired, selling air rights is far enough in development to demand greater public scrutiny.

When Did SF Last Audit Local AIDS Groups?

During my DIY Democracy campaign for District 8 Supervisor, a key plank in my platform called for audits of all nonprofits receiving City dollars especially HIV groups and the AIDS programs of the Department of Public Health.

According to a story by Seth Hemmelgarn in the Bay Area Reporter, the City appropriated about $12 million for HIV services for the current fiscal year.

I asked the Controller's Office for info about when they last conducted audits of HIV programs and the last round of them for City-funded agencies was in 2007, and for groups receiving federal AIDS dollars it was back in 2008.

Six years is a long time to go without looking at the books of HIV nonprofits and there must be a push to have the Controller audit these groups again in 2015. Here's the reply from the Controller with links to the audits performed in the aughts:

"In response to your email inquiry, the Controller’s City Services Auditor (CSA) has completed the following reports related to HIV/AIDS nonprofit organizations and DPH grantees: Fiscal and Compliance Audits of DPH Contractors/Grantees:

• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_Baker%20Places.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_FCMonitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPHSubrecipientReport(1).pdf

"Review of Single Audit Reports of Nonprofit Organizations Receiving Pass-Through, Federal Funds from DPH:

• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_A_133Monitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPH_SingleAuditMonitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_SingleAuditMonitor%20.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPH_%20SingleAudit.pdf

Which Supervisor Got $15,700 Worth of Free SF Opera Tix?

(Sup. Eric Mar at the podium speaking at a July presser. Credit: Paul Chinn, SF Chronicle.)

The current compensation package for each member of the Board of Supervisors comes to $154,719, giving them enough money to purchase tickets to cultural programs at any of the houses that comprise the City-owned War Memorial & Performing Arts Center.

Public disclosure records show that several Supervisors have received thousands of dollars in comp tickets to the City Arts and Lectures, SF Ballet, SFJazz, the SF Opera and the SF Symphony programs taking place at these City-funded institutions.

(Public document shows Mar and Campos received SF Opera tickets valued at either $296 or $306 in September.)

Here's the list of Supervisors who took advantage of the comps available to them, from 2012 through September 30, 2014, and total amount of comps they received:

Eric Mar:
$15,707

David Campos:
$3,192

Scott Wiener:
$1,335

Malia Cohen:
$530

Mark Farrell:
$256

David Chiu:
$144

The combined amount of freebies for these six Supervisors since 2012 is $21,164. The disclosure forms state the reasons for the comps include gaining awareness of the institutions or building appreciation for them.

We must ask the Supervisors to fully and voluntarily disclose all perks available them, eg: SF Giants tickets, Muni passes, free parking, on their official City-funded web sites and to explain which perks they've used and when.

Given their six-figure salaries, I believe they can well afford to purchase tickets to the cultural events and avoid the appearance of entitlement as elected officials, feeding at the public trough in all ways possible.

SF Faerie House For Sale in January: No More Orgies?

(Composite image of a few sections of the colorful interiors and front exterior of this legendary house. Courtesy photo.) 

The tremendous positive queer benefits, especially the spiritual and sexual healing, that occurred at the Faerie House in San Francisco cannot be over-stated. Owner Marty Kahn is an unsung homo hero for allowing so much pleasure to flow from the bodies and minds of queers at his home. Thanks, Marty!

This house welcomed all men, and women too at the pansexual orgies, regardless of age, body shape, economic status, cock size, being HIV poz or negative, skin color and our communal culture was allowed to flourish and be fabulous and justly celebrated.

All this happened without the Nanny State monitors of AIDS Inc groups or the Department of Public Health. There is so little queer space not colonized by commercial interests or intrusive busybodies on the government payroll or receiving state grants, making this house extraordinarily necessary for the natural evolution and development of our communal norms and sexual healing arts.

Mike and I went there countless times over the years, especially for the Tuesday Sucks events, and so many times we enjoyed the company and bodies of other dudes we otherwise would not have engaged with.

One of my favorite memories from the Faerie House was the memorial orgy honoring our friend and sex icon Scott O'Hara. It was a medium sized crowd and everyone was on a good vibe and pulling out all the stops to laugh, love and remember Scott's enormous endowment and sweetness. I learned two new sexual positions that night!

Members of the Bay Area Faerie Circle have created a Facebook page, explaining the upcoming sale of the property and an effort to keep it in queer hands. We wish them all the best with this project. From the faeries press release:

The 14th Street House (known as the Faerie House by some) is going on the market in January 2015. For over 25 years, this house has been a residence, a safe space for sex-positive gatherings, and a nexus for radical sexuo-spiritual community. 

In 1988, it was purchased as a place for gay men to gather and build individual and communal intimacy at a time when bathhouses and other spaces were closing due to the AIDS epidemic. Since then, this refuge has taken on a multifaceted meaning. 

Various leather, kink, sex-positive, yoga and pan-spiritual groups have hosted and participated in events that touched - even transformed - the lives of many people in San Francisco and the wider world. 

The 14th Street House Project is working with the San Francisco Community Land Trust to create a housing cooperative (6-8 low/moderate-income tenants) to steward and maintain the house in a sustainable model, keeping it accessible to its various communities and a safe space for future generations. 

The Project’s goal is to raise $900k in pledges and donations by the end of 2014 to fund this joint purchase of the 14th Street House. Interested donors should contact us at: 14thstreethouseproject@gmail.com.

2,001 District 8 Voters Can't be Wrong!

The San Francisco Department of Elections continues to count vote-by-mail and other ballots from the November 4th election and yesterday's daily update contained excellent news for my DIY Democracy campaign for Supervisor.

Thanks to District 8 voters, my vote tally now stands at 2,001 and it feels good to break the 2,000 mark, and to remain in second place.

Additionally, the number of votes for all four challengers to the incumbent is 6,535 and is a robust figure. Let's look at other D8 stats from the department for the election.

There are 53,781 registered voters in the district, of which 29,361 cast ballots and 24,420 didn't bother to vote last week.

The incumbent has thus far received 22,924 votes, but if when you combine the number (24,240) of folks who didn't vote and the 6,535 figure of the votes for us challengers, the total is 30,955.

In other words, the incumbent was reelected with less than half of registered voters casting ballots.

By the way, in the 2010 race for D8 Supervisor, the fourth-placed candidate was Bill Hemenger who is a business executive and quit his job at Oracle to run for office. His vote total was 1,802, which is nothing to sneeze at given his low-wattage name.

Needless to say, I think it's interesting to note I received more votes this year than Hemenger did in 2010.

Again, much gratitude to all who voted for me or in any way supported my alternative candidacy.

Bono & BofA Begging for HIV Bucks in the Castro

The acronym WAD, for many HIV organizations and corporations looking to increase their revenue or brand awareness, stands for World AIDS Dollars. Technically speaking, WAD equals World AIDS Day every December 1st, but it's increasingly nothing more than a marketing tool of little benefit to people living with AIDS or those at risk-of contracting HIV.

A perfect example of how this can be found in San Francisco Castro's district at the LGBT crossroads of Castro and 18th Streets, in the windows of the Bank of America.

This financial institution, with billions in profits, has partnered with U2 musician Bono and his RED organization that works on international HIV efforts, for the Turn Your Miles (RED) fundraising project.

Here's how BofA describes this PR, er, philanthropic endeavor:

From October 12 until December 7, 2014, for every mile, up to a weekly cap published at NIKE.COM/ONESTEP4RED, recorded on Nike+ Running as part of the Turn Your Miles (RED) pledge program Bank of America Corporation will donate $.40 to the U.S. Fund for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to support and fund prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, up to a total maximum donation of $1,000,000.

BofA is probably spending at least one million dollars on its feel-good PR campaign and could easily drop a few million bucks into Bono's charity's coffers without any problem.

If you want to help a homeless person with HIV or any individual living on San Francisco's streets, as the holiday season begins and we approach World AIDS Day, skip giving any money to Bono or BofA.

Instead, drop some green bills into the hands of the homeless folks on the streets of the Castro, trying to survive the winter and keep warm and food in their stomachs.

9 Action Items for Campos to Be a Better Supervisor

(Campos at a City Hall rally in September. Credit: Paul Chinn, SF Chronicle.)

On Election Day, I held my nose and cast a vote for Supervisor David Campos in his bid for the District 17 seat of the state assembly. I was under no circumstances voting for his opponent Supervisor David Chiu and now that the race is over, I wish to offer a few suggestions to Campos in his remaining time on the Board of Supervisors.

These recommendations would go a long way toward showing me and others that Campos can accept constructive criticism and improve his record of delivering tangible results for constituents and supporters.

1. Begin providing weekly updates about the LGBT homeless shelter in District 9. I've followed the delays and lack of movement on this project for a few years, it's been in the works for about four years, and a recent article in the Bay Area Reporter by Seth Hemmelgarn provided a status report.

While I understand building permits and all are a laborious process, that is no reason for Campos to not tell the community what's happening and if there's anything individuals can do to move the project to finally open and provide beds and services to homeless queers. Campos complained in the BAR story that he wasn't getting balanced or objective coverage.

In addition to bemoaning the paper's reporting, Campos can his own on the shelter.

2. What's happening with opening a bricks-and-mortar shop for Tamale Lady Virginia Ramos? Almost one-year ago, Lauren Smiley at Mission Local reported that Campos had secured a lease for her on a storefront on 16th Street near Mission. Campos aide Nate Allbee was quoted saying they'd spent six-months pulling out all the stop for Ramos.

In May, Jay Barman over at SFist gave an update and noted that Allbee said Ramos' place would be open by late spring. Well, it's late autumn and the Tamale Lady venue isn't operational and selling food. Campos needs to share monthly updates on this project.

3. Since Campos has three paid City Hall staffers, he and they should start writing and posting monthly newsletters about their activities on his City-funded web pages. His page for the dormant Campos Connect newsletter, last one was published in October 2013, should be the place we can turn to and learn about his agenda and City Hall goals.

4. Speaking of his Supervisorial web pages, he should set an example of voluntary transparency and begin posting his monthly work calender on one of the pages. After doing that, he could expand his government transparency agenda and urge his Board colleagues to do the same with their calenders.

5. Let's not stop there. We could use Campos pushing all City department heads and holders of elective office to post their monthly calenders, along with expense and travel reports, on their site and make it easier for taxpayers to keep tabs on our public servants.

6. Campos could also lead the fight to have public comment at the Board meetings on Tuesday at a fixed time, so taxpayers know when to show up and take advantage of addressing the Supervisors for two-minutes. Currently, public comment time is decided willy-nilly and citizens don't know if they should be in Board chambers at 3 pm or 5 pm or whenever. We're expected to just sit around waiting patiently, with working folks losing wages, until public comment is allowed.

7. Formally withdraw the plan,whatever the stalled plan's status, to rename San Francisco International Airport to honor Harvey Milk. This idea from Campos grabbed headlines and sucked the political oxygen out of the struggle to address the affordability crisis and eviction epidemic hitting the entire city, particularly so in District 9.

8. Let's hear what Campos' plan is for the next six months at City Hall. Put the plan in writing and on the web for public debate. Will he run for the Board president's position? If not, who does he support as the next president after Chiu moves to Sacramento? Is Campos preparing a strategy for stopping the Maximus Partners luxury condo at the 16th Street BART Plaza? What legislation is he preparing to introduce and topics for discussion at the committee level?

9. I'd like for Campos to get interested in airing the San Francisco Fire Department's commission meetings on SF GovTV. In the spring, when I approached his City Hall office about pressuring the Department of Public Health's commission meetings on Channel 26, the staff wasn't interested in the project. Here we had a city agency with tremendous influences over the health of hundreds of thousands of citizens, not to mention a huge multimillion dollar budget, and no one could watch and hear the health commission meetings.

After a month of my solo lobbying, DPH director Barbara Garcia authorized money be spent installing cameras and microphones in the auditorium at 101 Grove Street and the public and taxpayers now can tune in and watch anytime with the video-on-demand option at SF GovTV. Campos could have had a feather in his cap on this government transparency matter and used it as an example of his power of persuasion during the assembly race.

The fire department, with an $86 million budget, is under much pressure and scrutiny because of a shortage of trained EMT ambulance workers and poor response times to medical emergencies on the streets and in homes. Department chief Joanna Hayes-White faces calls from many quarters to be replaced. In short, a number of crises roil the SFFD and their commission meetings aren't televised. This must change in order to better serve the City and improve this vital department.

At minimum, Campos can send a letter to Chief White-Hayes strongly urging her to either move her meetings to a camera equipped room at City Hall, like the police commission did long ago, or install the necessary tech equipment to begin airing SFFD meetings on SF GovTV by the end of the year.

Campos has two years left on the Board of Supervisors. He's going to need plenty of prodding to be a better elected official. Let's see if he's open to my advice.

Weekend Woof #93: Campaign Trail Cuties

The campaign for District 8 Supervisor is winding down, what with the election taking place on November 4 and I'm proud to say we came in second with at least 1,875 votes. The Department of Elections issues daily updates with tallies from the tens of thousands of absentee ballots being counted, and the final results will be released on November 14.

One of the pleasures of campaigning was meeting a lot of handsome fellas, a few of whom we'd like to press the flesh with in a more intimate environment than the Harvey Milk Plaza transit hub. Here are a few of the boys and men who graced the lens of our camera in the final weeks of the campaign.

My upstairs neighbor Brett, who is rather cute for straight boy in his mid-twenties!

A few fine fellas seen around the Castro when the weather was warm.

These two dudes work at City Hall and were around when I stopped by the Department of Elections last week.

Chiu Slings Feces at Campos in New Mailer
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis
(Originally posted here on October 29.)

Today's snail-mail contained a new mailer from an independent expenditure committee (wink, wink), promoting Supervisor David Campos for the District 17 seat of the State Assembly and it brought San Francisco politics to a new low.

The mailer features an image of an alleged Mission District resident identified only as Allie E. and she's quoted saying, "I live on the street with the most human feces in David Campos' district. David Campos has done nothing to address this issue. All of our neighborhoods deserve better."

Chiu's supporters are now slinging feces at Campos after throwing vomit at Campos in a mailer last week. Can anyone tell us how to measure, as Allie E. apparently has, the amount of people poop on the streets of the Mission? We're just curious how she determined her block has the most fecal matter of all streets in the Campos district.

The issue of lack of public restrooms for all citizens and visitors, whether homeless or housed individuals, is a public health problem in desperate need of address.

We believe all members of the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee have not done nearly enough thinking about providing more toilets for folks to use so they don't have to pee and poop on the streets.

In Chiu's mailer last week, er, from an independent expenditure committee, Campos was alleged to have stood by as his supporters vomited on shuttle buses.

Well, we're saying Chiu and his backers, including Mayor Lee and tech mogul Ron Conway, are silently standing by as their choice for assembly slings metaphorical puke and poop on Campos. It's time for the Mayor and Conway to denounce such sleazy political crap, pun intended.

After we #VotePetrelis, we're voting for Campos for assembly and we hope you also cast ballots for Petrelis and Campos.

I Won Second Place With 7.2% of the Vote
By Michael Petrelis

The results are in and I'm damn proud to have received 1,485 of ballots cast in the San Francisco District 8 race for Supervisor, and winning the second place of the campaign.

Election results are for all intents and purposes complete, with 98.57% of the vote in our district counted, and my percentage of votes comes to 7.2%.

It's been a fantastic and long trip running for elective office, and my sincerest thanks go out to everyone who voted for me or in anyway lent support and friendship during the almost year-long campaign. I couldn't have done this without you!

Special gratitude and love to my great and wonderful husbear Mike Merrigan, who had to put up with all the ups and downs of this DIY Democracy effort and kept me laughing and healthy.

I spent the final hours of this Election Day at the David Campos party at the El Rio, my first time there, and glad I schmoozed with everyone. Campos got my vote and at one point told me he was glad I ran against the incumbent and I thanked him for saying that.

Here are photos of me with friends and folks who gave me their votes.

Poz Mag: Positive Politics With Heywood & Petrelis
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

There are two openly HIV positive candidates on the ballot in America this November according to an excellent story by Casey Halter at the Poz magazine web site last week, (http://tinyurl.com/POZ-2014-candidates).

Todd Heywood is vying for seat on the Community College Board of Lansing, Michigan, and Petrelis is running for District 8 Supervisor in San Francisco.

Halter reports that there currently are very few two self-identified positive political leaders including John D'Amico who is the mayor of West Hollywood and New York City Councilmember Corey Johnson. We could use a few more poz politicians.

We're especially pleased Halter quoted us about races here in which there is just a single person, usually the incumbent, on the ballot. This year, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, Assessor Carmen Chu and District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang have no competition and that is very unhealthy for San Francisco democracy.

Here are excerpts from the Poz piece:

"Like [longtime advocate and person living with AIDS Sean] Strub, Petrelis is running in protest. 'In the past few years, there have been too many races [in San Francisco] where there was only one candidate. There were no serious challengers to incumbents.' The former ACT UP member describes himself as the 'underdog' in the District 8 race. [...]

“I say I’ve already ‘won’ in the sense that, for the past 10 or 11 months, I have engaged with voters as a person living with AIDS,' Petrelis says. 'I’ve engaged with many other HIV-positive people in San Francisco and a number of people who are HIV negative and certainly concerned about AIDS. It’s really been a fulfilling endeavor.' [...]

"For Petrelis, being HIV positive is an asset in his race for supervisor. 'One benefit, if I were to be elected, would be that I know how to follow the money through the AIDS groups,' he says. He has a long record of pushing AIDS service organizations to release their federal tax returns to increase financial transparency.

"We’ve been throwing so many millions of dollars at AIDS in San Francisco, but I don’t think we’ve asked the question: Has the money been effectively used?” [...]

"In addition to delivering on policy goals that support people living with the virus, Heywood, Petrelis and Strub believe that getting the HIV/AIDS community involved in politics also helps combat stigma and discrimination.[...] Whatever your politics, remember to vote."

Thank you, Casey Halter, and Poz magazine for this write up!

Here's a photo of Petrelis with his good friend Dean Oullette at a recent City Hall rally.

Which Supes Got Airbnb Executives' Donations?
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Following the money of Airbnb executives for the current election season as listed at the San Francisco Ethics Commission web site led us to some unsurprising info. All of these contributions from the executives were made in 2014.

Varsha Rao gave Supervisor Mark Farrell $500; Stephen Conley donated $500 to Assessor Carmen Chu, $500 to Supervisor Katy Tang, $500 to Supervisor Malia Cohen; Jeffrey Nanney contributed $500 to Supervisor Scott Wiener; and David Owen gave $100 to Chu.

Airbnb Inc contributed $2,500 to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, which is the home club for Wiener.

All of the Supervisors who received donations from the Airbnb leaders voted in the majority last week legalizing short-term stays in private homes and apartments, and absolving Airbnb of having to pay about $25 million in back taxes.

The legislation was signed by Mayor Ed Lee yesterday, as affordable housing advocates built an alter honoring all the displaced and evicted renters and small businesses over the past few years of the tech boom disfiguring San Francisco.

We're just saying it's rather curious four of the Supervisors who voted for legislation with very favorable terms for this tech firm also received the maximum amount allowed by local law for donations from individuals.

Pissed off about this sort of stuff? Then #VotePetrelis!

War Memorial Air Rights Up for Sale; City Hall Next? 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Thanks to information from John Updike who is head of the San Francisco Department of Real Estate, we've received a great lesson in potential development of the space above City property. We asked him to explain if City Hall is cataloging and evaluating such space over fire, health, police, etc, departmental property. Updike said:

"Some departments have opportunities to facilitate development above their lower level public use (such as a fire station in the financial district, for instance) through the sale and development of 'air rights', which usually require a redevelopment of the lower level public use in concert with the new vertical development."

"Other departments have an opportunity to offer something called Transferable Development Rights (TDR). TDR is available on city-owned historic properties that are under-utilized, and in such cases, if there is market demand, TDR can be sold to a developer of property of a small footprint but with allowances for great height under existing zoning (mostly in the Financial District or Civic Center Center areas)."

In January, Supervisors David Chiu and Scott Wiener introduced a resolution (http://tinyurl.com/BOS-TDR-reso), outlining the current state of TDRs, as part of a plan to sell the air rights over the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue:

"On July 1, 2013, the City began renovation of the War Memorial Veterans Building, including seismic upgrades, accessibility, life safety and building code improvements, and replacement or improvements to building systems, at a current projected budget of $154.3 million. [...]

"Net proceeds from the sale of up to 1,100,000 TDRs would be used for the War Memorial renovation project, which is currently projected to have a $14.5 million funding shortfall. [...]

"In the mid-1980s, the City established the Transfer of Development Rights program to allow the sale of unused development potential from preservation properties. The goal was to generate income for the maintenance and preservation of historic buildings while allowing the developments to build higher. [...]

"Based on a recent study, the City has certified approximately 5.3 million square feet of TDR originating from 112 buildings downtown. [...]

"Mr. Updike also notes that the market conditions are very favorable now given the current real estate market. [...]

"Such additional TDRs are potentially available from City Hall, Asian Art Museum, Bill Graham Auditorium and 101 Grove Street (Public Health Building)."

The Chiu and Wiener resolution was unanimously passed by the board in late January (http://tinyurl.com/BOS-passes-TDR-reso).

What all this means is that we could see new developments built over City real estate in the coming years, the process for doing so is quite complex and involves many stakeholders, and the only current project slated for sale of air rights is the Veterans Building.

Still, we're nervous about City Hall leaders, who are too friendly in our opinion with the developers and tech firms looking for more construction projects, considering selling precious air rights over our iconic public buildings.

We need to keep our eyes on the TDRs and how they will impact San Francisco's landscape, along with the changes that will trickle down to ordinary citizens and potentially negatively impact low and moderate income renters.

Glen Park Area Outreach & Posters on Display
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Our terrific volunteers went out to the Glen Park area of District 8 and taped up a few dozen of our campaign signs. They energetically engaged with voters,distributed our union-made buttons and handed out campaign cards.

We're hoping the voters who expressed dissatisfaction with the incumbent Supervisor check out our Facebook page, as they promised to do. Of course, we'd love to have them also mark their first choice on the ballot for Petrelis!

It's great to see our posters have gone up in Noe Valley, the Castro business district, the Mission, around Dolores Park, along the Church Street business corridor and near Duboce Triangle Park.

Many thanks to the volunteers and contributors who've made this outreach and poster display possible. If you're pissed off, #VotePetrelis!

Closed-Door Job Evaluation of SF Fire Chief Protested
By Michael Petrelis

The San Francisco Fire Commission met yesterday afternoon for a regularly scheduled meeting and I was there for a few reasons, starting with verbally protesting how Chief Joanne Hayes-White's performance would be discussed out of public view.

As you may know, she's been under withering criticism from Supervisor London Breed, a former member of the fire commission, members of the firefighters union and its bosses, and ambulance workers and their parent companies over issues such as long response time for EMT vehicles.

However, Mayor Ed Lee has stood by Hayes-White and has given no indication that he's unsatisfied with her leadership and several women in leadership positions at City Hall have come to her defense.

During public comment about Hayes-White's report to the commission, I protested the closed-door evaluation that would happen at the end of the meeting and stated it was a huge disservice to the taxpayers, the general public and the safety of citizens to conduct the evaluation out of public view.

I mentioned that she's faced a pitchfork brigade and a trial by fire, no pun intended, in the media, and that I wanted facts unfiltered about her leadership protecting the public from fires and solving the ambulance response time crisis.

Even though the job evaluation would be behind closed-doors, I still requested a summary be issued to the public about what transpired in the session. I also distributed my #VotePetrelis campaign cards to folks.

How the heck are we taxpayers supposed to fairly judge Hayes-White's performance if we don't have access to the information and details presented to and debated by the fire commission? Yes, I understand privacy protections for public employees, but when that employee is responsible for a vast portion of public safety a way must be found to provide some degree of transparency to the public.

The fire commission owes everyone additional data about the job performance and evaluation of the chief.

Chief Hayes-White giving her report.

 Two ambulance workers. Minutes do not reflect the diversity of attendees at commission meetings.

Yours truly at the podium before the meeting began.