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Arrested DeSantis protesters still singing as they get booked

The arrested DeSantis protesters were booked on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in the Cabinet Meeting Room on the floor below the governor's office. They still sang.

Douglas Soule, USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA

These are dark times for Florida Democrats in the Legislature.

The just completed 2023 session saw them consistently lose debates as Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican majority "seized the moment" and passed a culture-war laden agenda that expanded gun rights, restricted access to abortion, and banned diversity efforts in public education among other things.The session also saw mass arrests from two separate protests, when demonstrators refused orders to vacate the premises.

Elements of DeSantis's legislative blueprint sailed through House and Senate committee meetings on 15-5 and 5-3 votes as the GOP consistently rolled over the outnumbered Democrats.

Registered Democratic voters stayed on the sidelines last November, with more than half not casting a ballot.

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That enabled DeSantis to score a 19-point reelection victory and become the big man on the Capitol Campus - backed by two-third Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

Thursday, DeSantis said the GOP went on a historic run that has never been seen before in this states history, as he set the stage for a potential presidential bid.

House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa knew election night when Democrats sank deep into superminority status they would hold little or no influence at the state capitol.

At the time, she told Tampa public radio her fear was that Democratic voices would be shut out of the process in Tallahassee.

That is what happened this session, she said Thursday.

We saw the Republican supermajority bend to the will of the governor. I think that he and the Republicans in the legislature felt very emboldened, so much so that they passed bill after bill that's unpopular with the people, said Driskell.

A University of North Florida poll found more than 77% of respondents opposed the Legislatures decision to allow permit less carry of firearms, and 75% opposed to the six-week ban on abortion.

Superminority status is a math problem; too few votes to block, delay, or mitigate the majorities initiatives, according to Charles Zelden, political science professor at Nova Southeastern University.

Rhetoric is all you have at that point because you cant shape the outcome of policy, said Zelden.

The best you can do is to make good PR. Sellan alternative vision to the public and hope that will help in the next election cycle, said Zelden.

Democrats say they did not intentionally craft viral moments in legislative debate but their assertions, and questions produced some memorable ones that may become decisive talking points in a 2024 election featuring Florida's head of state.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard said, damn right, about the possibility of erasing Drag Queens if it meant protecting children.

Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, argued Second Amendment rights were more important than protecting children from gun violence.

Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, defended support of a gay ban in the military with the conclusion, Our terrorist enemies hate homosexuals more than we do.

And Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, compared transgender people to demons.

Harsh words: Florida legislator compares transgender people to 'demons and imps' as bathroom bill passes

Targeting trans: What can I do if I'm a transgender person living in Florida? State erasing trans options

I wish I could take credit for that, said Driskell in a discussion of a series of statements Republicans made that were shared widely on social media and picked up by national news outlets.

They pushed and rammed through all those things and were their worst enemy. It's starting to have adverse consequences for Ron DeSantis, and I hope its reflected at the ballot box in 2024, said Driskell.

It wasnt all bad news in 2023 for Driskell and the Democrats.

Lawmakers approved a $117 billion state budget that included many local spending projects and initiatives submitted by Democrats.

Driskell was able to secure $5 million for a sickle cell disease care program and approval of a historical cemetery program to locate, identify, and maintain abandoned cemeteries.

Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee, landed a $1.9 million check to refurbish a shelter for theBig Bend Homeless Coalition, and $720,000 for a special needs shelter in Jefferson County.

To combat rising sea levels, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, got a saltwater intrusion grant program established within the Department of Environmental Protection

Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, chaperoned a child custody bill in cases involving domestic violence to unanimous approval by the House and Senate it now awaits DeSantis signature.

And while it appears every lawmaker got something to take back home for their time in Tallahassee, Driskell said budget victories do not ease the feelings of defeat that came with losses on major policy bills.

You can not take away Floridians rights and then soothe the loss of those rights with a water project. We have to have a government that actually is for the people and by the people. Not what we've had with this Republican supermajority, which is really just serving the Governor, said Driskell.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahasse

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What Democrats got done as a superminority in Florida Legislative Session - Tallahassee Democrat

In a politically healthy city,Cyn Wang would be embraced by the local Democratic Party. She might even be touted in campaign ads.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she married a woman from Mexico who just got her green card last week. She serves on the entertainment commission promoting nightlife, helps run her familys small insurance business, sends her daughter to her neighborhood public school, and worked in the Obama administration as a diplomat in the foreign service.

Shes a registered Democrat and has been active in Democratic politics since high school. She voted for Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 presidential primary and Joe Biden in the general election. She calls herself an intersectional feminist in her Twitter bio and considers todays Republican Party the biggest threat to our democracy.

But are she and her political alliesreally Democrats or are they Republicans playing pretend? This is the ludicrous question that has emerged in San Francisco where many liberal leaders have chosen to embrace zero-sum politics rather than a shared opportunity to fix the citys biggest problems.

Wang and other parents living on the citys sleepy, politically moderate west side asked the San Francisco Democratic Party last weekto charter their new club, the Westside Family Democratic Club. They want to register more voters in Districts One, Four and Seven in time for next years big elections and persuade families to get involved in civic life rather thanbail on our struggling city.

But party members rebuffed them over a host of ill-defined concerns: They invited Supervisor Joel Engardio, a leader in last years school board recall movement, to an event! Their members include some well-off families! They say theyre Democrats, but what if theyre actually closeted Republicans? What if Republicans are funneling dark money into their bank accounts? In the most out-of-nowhere chatter of all, some party members speculated that the club co-founders are racist.

My mouth was agape, Wang said, expressing a shock shared by many San Franciscans these days over the meanness in local politics and the political orthodoxy in some progressive circles.

Those allegations could not be more false. We dont have any funders! We probably have less than $100 in our account, she continued. Fighting systemic racism is one reason Im involved in local Democratic politics. To me, it lifted the veil on how narrow of a definition they have of what being a Democrat means.

San Francisco politics have long been toxic, but the blue-vs.-blue infighting has grown particularly nasty in recent years. Too often, debate jumps from what would be a small disagreement anywhere else to, Youre a Republican-backed, Trump-supporting monster! Common ground has been ceded to groundless accusations.

And in this case, the rejection matters beyond hurt feelings. San Franciscos Democratic County Central Committee or the D triple-C to local political nerds is a little-known yet powerful group of people elected by party members in both of the citys assembly districts. Democrats elected to office at the state and federal level also get votes on the committee.

The committee holds a lot of sway with its endorsements; a seal of approval from the San Francisco Democrats can vault local candidates into office. They also charter local clubs 23 are listed on the partys website that can also endorse candidates, register voters and advocate for issues. Very few clubs exist on the west side or to promote issues important to families, leaving a big hole in a party thats supposed to be inclusive.

Wang wanted to create a more welcoming party, including families with young children. She helped form the nonprofit San Francisco Parent Coalition, which supported the recall of two of the three school board members last year, and then teamed up with a few other politically involved parents to launch the new club.

Among them are Robin Pam, who started Kid Safe SF and the campaign to make car-free JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park permanently car-free; Parag Gupta, chief program officer at Mercy Housing, a nonprofit that builds affordable units; Sara Barz, a product manager at Apple and a Slow Streets supporter; and Maco Stewart, a privacy lawyer at Salesforce.

The club wants to improve the citys public schools, make its streets cleaner and safer, get more housing built and strengthen public transit a platform most Democrats across the political spectrum say they support. They met all the criteria to get chartered, including getting enough registered Democrats to join and filling out the proper paperwork.

They figured the Zoom meeting with party leaders would be a breeze. They figured wrong.

Some members of the DCCC grilled them intensely, made baseless accusations and then voted to table their chartering request.

Janice Li, a DCCC member who voted against tabling the effort, said the outcome reflected the citys intense polarization.

Its that You cant sit with us mentality that makes me very uncomfortable with the state of San Francisco politics, Li said. Its very, Youre not even allowed in. Its very Mean Girls.

Li was referring to the 2004 comedy starring Lindsay Lohan as a new kid at a high school ruled by a trio of popular girls who cast out anybody whos not exactly like them. Its based on a book about cliques called Queen Bees and Wannabes.

In this case, the DCCC Queen Bees told Wang and her fellow Wannabes that the party suspects theyre DINOs(Democrats in Name Only), secretly funded by Republicans and perhaps even racist.

Based on what? Turns out, not much.

Before the chartering discussion began, the DCCC heard public comment and two people opposed the charter. Brandee Marckmann, who staunchly opposed the school board recall, said DCCC members should think twice because the Westside Family Democratic Club invited Engardio to one of its events.

I know a Republican when I see one, Marckmann said of Engardio and the club founders, all Democrats.

Tenant activist Jordan Davis also opposed the charter, saying the word family is a common dog whistle on the right, that the club would be a funnel for Republican dark money and that the club wants to turn San Francisco into a bland-ass gated community.

F you, Westside Family Democratic Club! Davis shouted into the computer screen. I yield my time! F you!

In a normal city, these comments wouldnt be enough to undo a clubs chances. But soon, DCCC members were grilling Gupta, who defended the club over Zoom. The harsh questioning transpired remarkably likethe infamous 2021 school board meeting in which the commissioners wouldnt let a gay dad volunteer on a parent council with lots of empty seats and nobody else wanting to fill them because hes white.

In this case, the DCCC asked Gupta about the club members income levels, racial backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities. They asked for the members positions on the school board recall and building market-rate housing. They asked why they used the word family in their club name. They asked whether the club members are really Democrats, whether theyre secretly taking money from Republicans and whether theyre racist.

Gupta, looking shell-shocked, gamely tried to answer their questions, but acknowledged he hadnt quizzed all the clubs members on details like how they voted in a recall 15 months ago.

Were just starting out, Gupta told his inquisitors. We seek to be an inclusive club, and we seek to be representative of all demographics, genders, races and inclusive of all families. If someone considers themselves a family, we consider them a family.

His admirable attempt to answer these questions wasnt good enough. DCCC member Keith Baraka moved to table the chartering of the club. Honey Mahogany, the DCCC chairperson, stuck up for the group, reminding members that the club met the chartering requirements and had the right to form, but her instructions went unheeded.

Most club members abstained from the vote, but six voted with Baraka, enough to kill the clubs chances for now. Baraka told me after the vote his concerns had stemmed purely from the two public commenters, but that he had a fruitful discussion with Wang afterward and will support the club if it comes back for a vote. Its unclear whether others will join him.

Peter Gallotta, a DCCC member who voted to table the chartering, told me after the meeting that hes not clear why the group wants to be a chartered club with the Democratic Party rather than an advocacy organization.

I think we need to reform our application process so we have more, and better, information as members before we give a stamp of approval, he said.

Mahogany said shell schedule another vote on the club soon and thinks the real reason for the pushback was that someDCCC members fear the Westside Family Democratic Club could help get a moderate challenger to Supervisor Connie Chan elected in District One next year. But, she pointed out, thats no reason not to grant a charter.

This was really unprecedented, she said of the scrutiny and quashing of the club. The Democratic Party is a big tent, and we have people with different viewpoints.

That, she said, is how we have a healthy democracy.

Reach Heather Knight: hknight@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @hknightsf

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Who counts as a real Democrat in S.F.? Infighting on left reaches new lows - San Francisco Chronicle

Five years ago, a punk rock, skateboarding Democratic phenom named Beto ORourke seemed like he might unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. As liberals around the country went starry-eyed over his viral speeches, ORourke raised more than $80 million and lost by less than 3%. The former congressman went on to a failed presidential bid, and then lost a gubernatorial race last year by more than ten points.

Now, Cruz is back up for reelection and national Democrats must decide if they can continue to justify pouring their resources into a state thats repeatedly let them down. No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994, when Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock was reelected. And Texas Republicans won resoundingly in last years midterms. With Democrats nervous about holding on to their slim Senate majority in 2024, national Democratic groups may be slow to invest in the Lone Star State. But a number of factors, including Cruzs polarizing reputation, means the race could once again draw big money.

Youre calling at a good time, because I think a lot of us are changing our attitude right now, says Alex Morgan, the president of Progressive Turnout Project, which poured more than half a million dollars into a get-out-the-vote mail program for ORourke in 2018. With Colin Allred jumping in the race, I think Texas becomes our best pick-up opportunity in the U.S. Senate this year.

Allred, a former NFL linebacker who made it to Congress after defeating a longtime Republican incumbent in a swing district in 2018, launched his campaign against Cruz on Wednesday. His introductory video, which highlighted his biography and bipartisan wins, recounted his experience inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and trashed Cruz as all hat, no cattle, quickly garnered millions of views on social media. Allred announced Thursday evening that his Senate campaign had raised more than $2 million in its first 36 hours.

Although other Democrats are expected to vie for the chance to be the nominee, Cruz was quick to sic his supporters on Allred as an immediate threat.

We cant let a radical leftist like Colin Allred flip our state blue in 2024, Cruz tweeted on Wednesday, with a link to a fundraising page.

Democrats face a tough Senate map this cycle, with at least seven Democratic-held seats at risk in battleground states. Losing just one could give Republicans control of the chamber. That means resources will already be spread thin. Yet party leaders are on the lookout for possible pickups, and the two clearest opportunities are Florida, which has only seemed to get redder over the past few years, and Texas.

In an interview with CQ Roll Call published Thursday morning, Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, the vice chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, named Texas when asked about a place on the 2024 Senate map where Democrats could go on the offensive, saying the state was like Georgia was a few years ago.

Democrats will look for every opportunity to put Republicans on defense, including in states like Texas, a DSCC aide tells TIME.

Despite well over a decade of unfulfilled hopes among Democrats that Texas might finally turn blue, no one who spoke to TIME for this story was ready to write the state off as a lost cause. Harvey Kronberg, the publisher of Quorum Report, an insider newsletter on Texas politics, thinks that Democrats long history of losses could end with a star candidate who knows how to land jabs at an opponent and use radio and TV to their advantageareas where he thinks ORourke fell short.

I actually think we will see us become authentically purple in the next decade, Kronberg tells TIME, adding, One statewide win will turn us purple.

But polling suggests the challenges for Texas Democrats remain as steep as ever. A survey of Texas voters from the University of Texas at Austin released Wednesday found that 45% approve of Cruz and 41% disapprove. Among Republicans, approval jumped to 78%.

He just has locked down Republicans in the state, said Daron Shaw, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, in a podcast published this week with the poll. And it is awfully tough as a Democrat to beat somebody who generates so much enthusiasm and loyalty among the Republican base.

For now, many national Democrats and outside groups are hanging back to see how the race shakes out before they decide how much they want to put into Texas. That could be another point in Allreds favor, given his reputation as a strong fundraiser.

On paper, he looks like a man that can raise tens of millions of dollars, Kronberg says.

Allred hasnt cleared the primary field yet; State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, is widely expected to enter the race after the Texas legislative session ends this month. Texas Democrats say good things about both men and foresee their differing strengths in reaching Black and Latino Texans, respectively.

With their partys nominee still undecided, Democrats are for now uniting in their antipathy toward Cruz, who is among their biggest bogeymen; in 2021 he earned dozens of bruising headlines for traveling to Cancn while his constituents suffered the effects of a deadly winter storm. Allreds launch video slammed Cruz for that trip, and accused Cruz of hiding in a closet during the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Theyre also united around the idea that the Lone Star State remains a battleground. One Texas Democratic consultant says that the consensus among clients from a variety of sectors is that Texas will continue to see more and more political investment. Rahna Epting, the executive director of MoveOn, whose members backed ORourke decisively ahead of 2018, says fighting in Texas again this cycle remains a real possibility.

Knowing that the Senate map is going to be challenging in 2024, if the Texas Senate race opens up a possibility for us to gain another Democratic seat, that is something definitely worth looking at, she says.

Another national Democratic strategist who spoke to TIME is optimistic about Texas, and particularly the prospect of Allred posing a real challenge in 2024.

Is Colin Allred the one to flip it? I think thats still an open question, the strategist tells TIME. But its one that I think is worth asking.

Abhi Rahman, who served as senior communications adviser and spokesperson on ORourkes 2022 gubernatorial campaign, argues that a general lack of investment in the state hurt efforts to turn Texas blue last year. But he, too, thinks an Allred-Cruz match-up could change the game.

Republicans were effective in the way that they branded Beto right at the beginning of the race, Rahman says. Republicans win when theyre able to villainize the Democrat, which is something that Ted Cruz is not going to be able to do, because first of all, hes Ted Cruz, hes despised by everybody. And secondly, Colin Allred is a moderate Democrat whos really spent his time in Congress working on VA hospitals, doing bipartisan stuff.

Adds Rahman: Its a completely different dynamic in this race.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Write to Mini Racker at mini.racker@time.com.

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Why Democrats May Target Ted Cruz in Deep-Red Texas in 2024 - TIME

The Texas Senate race is already shaping up to be a barn burner Democratic Rep. Colin Allreds initial fundraising haul is an early sign that the Lone Star State will once again host an expensive Senate race.

Allredraised more than $2 millionin the first 36 hours of his campaign, NBC News Daniel Arkin reports. Thats more than GOP Sen. Ted Cruz raised during the first three months of the year, when he hauled in $1.3 million. Cruz did end the first fundraising quarter on March 31 with $3.3 million in his campaign account. Allreds House campaign had $2.2 million, which could be transferred to his Senate run.

Texas is one of Senate Democrats few pickup opportunities next year, and a tough one at that. But a well-funded Democratic challenger could force Republicans to spend money in the Lone Star state, diverting money away from Republican efforts to flip blue Senate seats.

The race is already getting heated, with Allred criticizing Cruz for spending time hosting a podcast, which releases three episodes per week. Cruzdefended his podcasting, telling Insider that it is popular because people found it valuable to understand what was happening in the Senate.

That is not somehow peripheral to doing the job, Cruz said. It is integral to doing the job.

In other campaign news

Party time: Former President Donald Trump has onlysparingly mentioned the word Republicanas in speeches, interviews, and videos, NBC News Vaughn Hillyard and Jonathan Allen report.

Standing by their man:Florida GOP Gov. RonDeSantis big donors are largely standing by him, USA Today reports, although they acknowledged that he has faced setbacks and that beating Trump would be difficult. DeSantis (who is not officially in the race yet) alsopicked up an endorsementfrom New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn), per the New Hampshire Journal.

Preaching to the choir:The Washington Post delves into the so-called J6 Prison Choir, who Trump featured at his first rally,identifying five of the 15 men captured on videosinging the Star Spangled Banner in prison. Four of them were charged with assaulting police, using weapons such as a crowbar, sticks and chemical spray, including against Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died the next day, the Post reports.

Trump trial:Both sides of the civil trial against Trump, where he faces allegations of rape and defamation from write E. Jean Carroll,rested their cases on Thursday, with closing arguments expected on Monday if Trump decides not to testify.

Outside help:President Joe Biden is getting some outside help in his push to raise the debt ceiling, withoutside groups pressuring vulnerable Republicanson the issue, NBC News Alex Seitz-Wald reports.

Peach state primary:Democrats effort to make Georgia an early primary state was stymied Thursday when GOP Secretary of State BradRaffensperger announced he was scheduling the presidential primary for March 12, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Raskin askin (about a Senate bid):TIME Magazine reports that Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, the former lead impeachment manager in Trumps second impeachment trial, isconsidering a Senate bidand will be taking the month of May to decide on a run.

The tax man cometh: Spectrum NewsTaylor Popielarzspoke with Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown about reporting from NBC News Henry Gomez cataloging thesenators late tax paymentsand questionable claiming of a tax credit.

Craft and Cruz:Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz backed Kentucky Republican Kelly Craft, the former ambassador to the United Nations, in the states GOP gubernatorial primary andwill campaign with her next week.

The Santos latest: Semafor reports that the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the House Ethics Committeedismiss a sexual harassment claimagainst New York GOP Rep. George Santos because there is not substantial reason to believe that Rep. Santos sexually harassed or discriminated against the complainant.

Bridget Bowman is a deputy editor for NBC's Political Unit.

Ben Kamisar is a deputy political editor in NBC's Political Unit.

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Eyes on 2024: Democrats are all in for Allred - NBC News

The thing about being a Democrat is that its pretty easy. Any US citizen can do it; you just check a box on a voter registration form. Joe Manchin is a Democrat. So, until recently, was Kyrsten Sinema. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who on economic issues is closer to a lot of Republicans than to progressives, is a Democrat.

In San Francisco, everyone in elected office is a Democrat, and if there are any Republicans on city commissions, I dont know them.

So the word Democrat doesnt have much meaning in local politics. Some folks who are Democrats would like to change that; some of us think that the Democratic Party should work to fight economic inequality by taxing the rich, that homelessness is not a criminal-justice issue, that more cops dont make the city safer, that the private market wont solve the housing crisis.

But people who say the San Francisco Democratic Party should stand for progressive San Francisco values are not, despite what Heather Knight at the Chronicle says, embrace [ing] zero-sum politics rather than a shared opportunity to fix the citys biggest problems.

Knight seems oblivious to the reality of local politics. She writes:

San Francisco politics have long been toxic, but theblue-vs.-blueinfighting has grown particularly nasty in recent years.

Yesand the person most directly engaged in petty, vindictive zero-sum politicsthat is, my way or the highwayis Mayor London Breed. Breed routinely does things like kill an affordable housing project because it would help a supervisor she dislikes, and refuse to spend housing money because it wasnt her idea.

I am not the only one who sees this; ask even the more conservative folks at City Hall, and off the record they will tell you how frustrating it is that the mayor wont work on shared opportunities to fix the citys biggest problems.

Knight never says anything about that.

No: Its always the left that is causing all the problems.

Knight is mad that the DCCC didnt charter a Westside club. It will eventually wind up chartering this group, which is what it is; there are other chartered clubs that help very conservative candidates. Maybe the new club will turn out to be a great progressive force for change.

But lets not be naive here. From Knight:

The club wants to improve the citys public schools, make its streets cleaner and safer, get more housing built and strengthen public transit a platform most Democrats across the political spectrum say they support.

Yes: Everyone in San Francisco, including Republicans, would say they support those things.

But thats not the point. The point is, do we improve the public schools by, for example, using demonstrably racist policies for admission at Lowell? Do we improve the schools by letting schools in rich areas raise money they dont share with schools in poor areas?

Do we make the streets cleaner and safer by criminalizing homeless people? Do we get more housing built by allowing private developers to demolish existing housing and build very expensive small condos and group housing that wont work for most families? Do we think trickle-down economics works, despite more than four decades of solid evidence that it doesnt?

Do we strengthen public transit by cutting lines, or by raising taxes to replace fair-box revenue?

These are real issues, not platitudes. If they matter to Democrats, its fair to ask the nascent Westside Family Democratic Clubor any other applicantwhere the members stand on them At least, it is if the San Francisco Democratic Party means something different than the national party of Manchin and Feinstein.

Maybe it doesnt.

As former state Assemblymember Tom Ammiano put it to the LA Times: Why does New York get AOC, when we get Scott Wiener?

Whatever. I dont care that much about which Democratic club gets a charter; the corruption of local politics by tech and real-estate money goes so, so far beyond that.

But I wish Knight would for once at least grasp what this blue-blue divide is all about: That lives are at stake, that the policies of the neoliberal wing of the party have wrecked the economy and the city, , and that its not crazy for people who want things to work better to challenge those policies.

Oh and its the mayor, not the progressives, who is the real obstacle here.

Ack.

So on to this week.

The Castro Theater landmarking is, it appears, finally headed to an actual vote. Delayed in the name of maybe parties getting together to find a solution, which as far as I can tell has not happened, the question of landmarking the interior of the theater, including the existing seating, will come back to the Land Use and Transportation Committee Monday/8.

The Castro Theater Conservancy has offered to take over the lease or buy the theater. Another Planet Entertainment, which has the master lease, and the Nasser Family, which owns the property, have rejected that offer.

That could change if the seats are landmarked, because at that point APEs plans to run the place as both a theater and a nightclub become pretty much impossible.

Right now, it appears that both sides are gearing up for a battle at the full board, where it takes six votes to grant landmark status. The committee will likely send this on to the board, with an amendment that would designate the existing seating and raked floor as protected.

Then a few weeks from now, each side will try to count to six.

Sups. Dean Preston and Connie Chan want to ask the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development how its been spending $672 million a yearand how it plans to implement the recommendations of the Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board.

The presentation that MOHCD has prepared for the board is, to say the least, a bit disappointing: its five-year plan calls for reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness by all of 15 percent. A lot of money is going into shelters, following an approach advocated by the mayor and Sup. Rafael Mandelman, which is in essence getting people off the streets and out of sight.

It calls for 3,250 units of permanent affordable housing, which is about 7 percent of what the city has promised the state it will create over the next eight years.

That hearing starts at 1:30pm.

The full board will hold a Committee of the Whole hearing on the nightmare that is Laguna Honda Hospital, where the feds want to, at the very least, cut 120 beds from the public nursing home. At worst, the Biden Administration could order the eviction of 500 people, most of whom will probably die.

There is nowhere for them to go. Very few critical nursing beds exist in California, and even fewer that take Medicare. Th data is pretty clear: Moving these folks is a death sentence.

The Gray Panthers have a good summary here. The item is slated for 3pm.

The full board will also hear a resolution by Sup. Aaron Peskin urging District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to make public the videos that she cited in determining not to charge a security guard with homicide in the shooting of Banko Brown.

The evidence that we have, and its limited, makes clear that Brown was unarmed at the time he was killed.

That resolution could pass unanimously. Even state Sen. Scott Wiener, who is usually on the side of Jenkins and Breed, just released a statement calling for the release of the video.

It puts Jenkins under a lot of pressureI would suspect because the video shows that the guard had no reason to believe his life was in danger, and that her decision not to file charges was entirely political.

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Who are the 'toxic' local Democrats, really? - 48 hills - 48 Hills