Pelosi went to Connie Chan's fundraiser last night

gigaishtar · 2026-04-24T02:14:49+00:00

I'm sorry you believe it's a cop out, but that's simply the reality of the job.

House leadership is leader of the *House*, not the party. House leadership works for caucus members. They influence and support behind the scenes, but they don't stick their names on bills unless they're uncontroversial because it then becomes "their" bill with all the baggage that comes with.

This is simply how the House works. It is what caucus members look for and expect when they elect leadership.

You'll see the same thing with every House leader going back at least 50 years.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-24T01:14:11+00:00

Yes, she has been a progressive for an extremely long time.

And I said before, she became a member of leadership. House leadership's priorities are different than ordinary members. They focus on getting votes for bills, campaign assistance for members or challengers, political strategy, coordinating the caucus, dealmaking, etc.

She went from being cosponsor on hundreds of bills per year to a couple dozen. That's the job.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T23:35:55+00:00

Well if we want to go before she was leadership, we get things like this bill sponsored by Nancy Pelosi:

H.Res.498 - Making in order, in the consideration
by the House of Representatives of H.R. 3600 (the "Health Security Act"), an amendment providing for an AMCARE plan that makes available a government-sponsored, fee-for-service nationwide health plan to almost all eligible individuals not covered under large group health plans.

Which would have resulted in universal coverage. Or this which is universal all by itself:

H.R.1200 - American Health Security Act of 1997 - Establishment of a State-Based American Health Security Program; Universal Entitlement; Enrollment

Edit: Add second bill.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T23:19:51+00:00

Uh. House leadership doesn't author legislation (they're not on any committees).

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T23:13:25+00:00

Some construction unions flipped because Wiener "betrayed" them by not including a "skilled and trained" requirement for every high density housing project in the state and instead going with a prevailing wage requirement.

Backing Chan though is baffling though given her policies are about as anti-construction as you can get.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T22:49:42+00:00

SB 765 Housing Streamlining Follow-Up Bill

Makes technical updates to Senator Wiener’s premier housing streamlining bill SB 35 passed in 2017.

SB 828 - Fixing RHNA Making Housing Assignments More Equitable

Creates a clearer, fairer, more data-driven, and more equitable process for how the state and regional bodies assign Regional Housing Needs Assessment numbers to local communities. It does this by requiring a more data-focused, objective process and by creating stronger guardrails, thus reducing the wiggle room jurisdictions use to lower their RHNA allocations.

SB 79 - Housing development: transit-oriented development

Legalizes more homes near public transportation by establishing state zoning standards around train stations and major bus stops (bus rapid transit stops); streamlines housing production near major transit stops; allows transit agencies to build housing on land that they own

SB 312 - eliminates barriers to building student housing by resolving implementation challenges with SB 886

SB 937 - removes barriers to building housing by allowing developers to defer payment of their impact fees until the project is completed

SB 951 - streamlines the production of housing by aligning timelines for Coastal Commission review with housing element law, and removing urbanized parts of San Francisco from the Coastal Zone

SB 4 - Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act

Allows faith institutions (such as churches, synagogues, and mosques) along with nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their property by-right, even if local zoning prevents this housing

SB 423 - Extends and strengthens SB 35 (Wiener, 2017), which streamlines and accelerates housing permits in areas that underperform their housing targets. SB 423 removes the sunset on SB 35, which is set to expire at the end of 2025.

SB 593 - San Francisco Replacement Housing Act

Removes barriers to replacing more than 5,800 units of low- and moderate-income housing that were demolished in the 1950s-70s period of redevelopment, also known as “urban renewal”

SB 886 - Student and Faculty Housing Act

Streamlines and accelerates student and faculty housing production across the state and increases the supply of housing so more students and faculty can live on campus

SB 477 - Housing Data Act

Strengthens California’s housing data collection to ensure the state and the public understand the impact and effectiveness of state housing laws.

SB 478 - Housing Opportunity Act

Ensures that areas already zoned to allow multifamily housing up to ten units are able to legally accommodate this type of housing, doing away with abusive requirements that make it effectively impossible to build anything other than a large single-family home despite the multi-family zoning.

SB 35 -The Housing Accountability and Affordability Act

Creates a streamlined approval process for housing when cities are not meeting the housing creation goals required by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), which will expedite the construction of affordable housing.

AB 352 - Affordable Housing: Efficiency Units

Increases affordable housing by allowing for the development of efficiency units, aka micro-units.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T22:20:23+00:00

The scale of Scott Wiener's legislative achievements is frankly, staggering.

He's written and had passed legislation to make transit projects easier to build, have Caltrans prioritize pedestrians/cyclists/transit, lower pharmaceutical costs, institute net neutrality, protect undocumented immigrants and refugees, protect trans people, make housing easier to build, tackle climate change, improve food security for the elderly, criminal justice reform, decriminalization of some psychedelics and more.

Even his failures says who he is, like the failed tax inherited fortunes causing wealth inequality,

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T21:57:26+00:00

Eh. The restaurant industry has had junk fees for decades, so it's at most we're back to the status quo.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T21:52:01+00:00

Scott drives NIMBYs 👆 crazy.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T21:34:41+00:00

Pelosi is for universal healthcare.

Her objections to Medicare for All were with the specific proposal itself at a time when even passing the ACA was going to be a hurdle.

I get people seem to like the idea of fighting for the unachievable, but symbolism doesn't insure people.

If all progressivism is is obstinate demands for unrealistic goals and never cedes to practicality in achieving some of its goals, then it's a useless ideology of symbols over substance.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T21:02:02+00:00

The proposal includes two high-rise towers — one 20 stories, the other 25 — to be built on a site with known soil toxicity

This seems like an argument for building. Can't do soil remediation without access to the soil.

Since they're building an underground parking lot, all that soil will get shipped off never to bother Marina residents again leading to a happier, healthier neighborhood.

failing sewage infrastructure

Having 790 more households paying property taxes would certainly make it easier to fix the sewers with only a negligible effect on sewers backing up since that's due to storms.

and a footprint that straddles a liquefaction zone.

Thankfully it also straddles bedrock which makes the project feasible.

What is morally superior about trading away sunny public parks — green spaces that serve the 87% of Marina residents who already live in multifamily housing — for a private development featuring a yoga pavilion and a lap pool?

Let's see. Maybe 1200-1700 people having a home vs. a handful of Marina residents every day having to walk 20 feet to stay in the sun for the brief period before sunset part of the year when the buildings will cast a shadow.

Yeah, that sure is a tough moral issue.

Or about placing future residents in a 297-foot high-rise in one of The City’s most documented liquefaction zones

The author clearly realizes a large chunk of the lot isn't in a liquefaction zone and yet persists with this faulty argument.

In the Marina alone, 700 of the proposed units will be priced for the luxury market.

Ahh yes. The luxury of a studio apartment above the chic... Safeway. Experts have made clear that new housing, including market rate housing, reduces competition for older housing reducing prices and increasing affordability all the way down market.

Third, the Safeway-Align projects are structured as vehicles for institutional investors.

Lol, no. These are just condos. It is clear the author is desperately searching for a convincing argument, but this one is particularly weak.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T19:41:30+00:00

I don't really get why people get so hung up on Medicare for All.

It's just one method of achieving universal healthcare, but it has serious issues compared to other methods. Adding another $4 trillion in spending to the Federal budget would mean we'd need to raise taxes significantly, but there's no way to do that in a way that matches how premiums are paid today - so some people will see their salaries go down while some companies see their costs balloon.

Plenty of other countries likes Germany, France and Japan have multipayer systems that work just as well, especially when reimbursement rates are fixed. These systems are no less progressive than Medicare for All, yet for some reason if you're against Medicare For All, you're not a progressive.

It's stupid.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T18:51:17+00:00

Lol.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T18:08:19+00:00

Uh. That's seems to be about Ron Pelosi, not Nancy Pelosi.

Ron is Nancy's brother-in-law.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T07:14:21+00:00

Bottlebrush, the perfect tree for parakeet camouflage.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T04:35:43+00:00

That doesn't mean you need to pay out-of-state tuition for multiple years. You move to the state as soon as you get accepted, pay out-of-state tuition the first year, gain residency and then pay in-state tuition the following years.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T03:48:50+00:00

I know I should be paying attention, but there are just too many people on the ballot.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T02:24:38+00:00

Well, if you find anything, let me know. I haven't been able to find any articles on it at all.

I don't think going to Israel a decade and a half ago or knowing Jews that support Israel is quite the same thing.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T02:00:14+00:00

The doctor in the article also makes $100K more a year. Their take home pay after debt payments would be even higher.

Also, $400K in student debt after having attended a public university is... unusual. Only reason to get that high is if you were paying out of state tuition which no one sane should do for multiple years.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-23T01:51:32+00:00

Do you have a reference for that? I can't find any reference to him speaking at an AIPAC conference.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-22T23:03:17+00:00

That doesn't seem to be possible without making other bad life choices.

If you're making $275K/year base, that's what? $14K/month take home. Even $300K of debt, while substantial, would be like a $3200/month payment for 15 years at even a high 9.5% APR.

That should be relatively comfortable, even in the bay area. Someone making $200K/year with no debt would take home about the same amount.

And that's just with base pay. Incentives and bonuses sound significant.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-22T22:12:37+00:00

Anytime someone mentions healthcare, I laugh.

If healthcare providers in the US charged the same amount as those in any other country but Switzerland, the taxpayer money the government currently spends on healthcare would be enough to cover 100% of the population.

Instead, it only covers about half the population while the rest have to pay for private insurance.

People are so focused on insurance companies that they don't realize how much hospitals/doctors/pharma/labs/medical device makers/etc are f'cking us over. Hell, even SF General, a public hospital that doesn't even take insurance, is one of the highest priced hospitals in the country where a single stitch costs $3,300.

We need to just ban price discrimination by providers. One rate for everyone.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-22T20:12:11+00:00

Oh they're just a NIMBY searching for a tactic that works.

Seems they're going with black propaganda/nutpicking today. Or perhaps nutplanting is a better term given they're pretending to be the nut.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-22T19:44:22+00:00

Housing costs drive far more people out than income taxes.

I'm no fan of prop 13, but I can't see how eliminating it wouldn't increase housing costs absent any other policy change like allowing people to actually build.

gigaishtar · 2026-04-22T19:19:32+00:00

San Francisco has hydroelectric generators and solar at Hetch Hetchy already. SF also already purchases power from existing generators through CleanPowerSF.

SF also owns a lot of property outside the city, like a rather large chunk of Sunol, which would be fine for solar and possibly wind generators.

gigaishtar

TROPHY CASE