"I'm the commander in chief of this goddam place, and there is no way the command staff of my Police Department is going to step down at this time. It's a matter of public safety."

So responded San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to the indictments of ten SFPD members, which included Police Chief Earl Sanders. The convictions were passed after police officers assaulted two men who wouldn't hand over a bag of steak fajitas. Top brass deliberately delayed handing over records to the DA. Has Brown committed political suicide standing by an old friend? Are his words a realistic portrayal of municipal operations? And what does an indicted command staff still on the job say about justice being served?
posted by ed on Mar 1, 2003 - 21 comments

SFMOMA appoints Neal Benezra as new director. Benezra was formerly the deputy director and curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, and replaces David Ross, who left the museum in a hurry last August to become chairman of the board of Eyestorm. During his tenure, Ross spent $140 million on acquisitions for the museum; Elaine McKeon, chairwoman of the Museum's board told the NYTimes that "We will still continue purchasing works of art, but we are going to move more slowly." Benezra has ties to Hunk and Moo Anderson, and wrote the catalog essay for the 2000 show of the Anderson collection. Could this mean that the Anderson collection will eventually be gifted to SFMOMA? (sfgate story, nytimes story)
posted by msippey on Mar 14, 2002 - 4 comments

I feel represented. I live in the East Bay, and I cannot believe my feelings towards all this have been represented in congress. Does anyone else feel that petitioning their rep's may be a good idea? I understand the need for retribution, but, really, is it worth more innocent death? We have carried out search and destroy missions before with zero civilian casualty. I'm sorry to not understand "death to all", I just think that this is WAY more delicate.
posted by tenseone on Sep 15, 2001 - 5 comments

The dog mauling case in San Francisco continues to make for some bizarre news. Turns out that the possible sexual abuse of the animals did in fact happen. The dogs had also previously attacked another woman.
posted by crushed on Apr 1, 2001 - 15 comments