My latest column raises questions about historic buildings. Should they be preserved at all costs, even if the price is a threat to public safety and billions of taxpayer dollars? Few would argue that’s an appropriate tradeoff, but it’s what has happened in the building of the new Bay Bridge. The current span was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing a motorist, and could collapse again if a ......
When people ask me what my column is about, I tell them my agenda is always the same: to present something new that I think is interesting and worth having a public discussion about. Well, my latest column has certainly started that discussion — and then some. I wrote about a growing quandary: as more and more wealthy people live in San Francisco, should they be eligible for rent control? After ......
We live in a media-saturated world where celebrity is all too often manufactured by armies of publicists who wage cynical, manipulative and expensive battles to grab the spotlight for their clients. This week’s rise of Menlo Park’s Carl Clark from obscurity to American war hero is not one of those stories. The remarkable scene this week of the 95-year-old World War II veteran receiving a combat medal 66 years late ......
Twenty little dogs dressed in festive outfits for holiday photos scurried around The Animal House pet shop in San Francisco's Lower Haight last week during a fundraiser for Wonder Dog, an animal rescue service. Skillet, a wiry-haired mutt with bug eyes, seemed especially excited, although not about wearing a yarmulke — it stayed on for about three seconds. Such scenes of puppy love are typical here, a city named for ......
Much of my childhood was spent in church. I was raised in Massachusetts and we were devoted members of a Congregational church that dated back to 1712. The building was so puritan in its design that there was no back entrance - the doors to the sanctuary were on either side of the pulpit, so you faced the entire congregation as you entered. No sneaking in late. That’s accountability. Still, ......
