Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco

From today’s Chron:

Soon-to-be-dethroned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have been a favorite target of Republican candidates in the midterm elections Nov. 2 – by one count more than 400 of their ads featured her as the enemy – but voters in her famously liberal home turf of San Francisco still love her.

A look at election results in the city showed her with the highest support, percentagewise, of any candidate running for state or federal office. Pelosi, who is vying to become the House minority leader in the 112th Congress, claimed 79.97 percent support in her re-election bid.

That was a tad higher than incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who secured 79.85 percent of San Francisco’s vote, according to the latest election results.

Jerry Brown, in his bid for governor, grabbed 78.71 percent of the vote. Support dropped for Mayor Gavin Newsom. He secured 75.41 percent of the San Francisco vote in his race for lieutenant governor.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, meanwhile, won 70.87 percent backing from city voters. By the way, with the exception of Harris, all the Democratic candidates mentioned above won. The outcome of Harris’ race against GOP rival Steve Cooley is still too close to call.

Keep those numbers in mind as you peruse Zombie’s latest post, this one taking you on a wild ride through behavior not only tolerated, but encouraged, in Pelosi’s San Francisco. (Serious content warning: Do not read Zombie’s post in a public place or with children around. Be aware, though, that every single picture Zombie includes took place openly on the streets of San Francisco.)

All of the ugliness Zombie documents takes place in a City that is falling apart, clearly with the active encouragement of the vast majority of its citizens.  Last week, I had occasion to make four separate trips to the City.  Each was unpleasant.

The first trip, I got a flat tire from broken glass in the street.  I know that can happen anywhere, but it’s more likely along the Market Street stretch I had to travel.

The second trip, I found myself at a corner that boasted both a stop sign and a red light.  This was ludicrous, confusing and, therefore, dangerous.  This is manic control run amok.

The third trip, I almost got a ticket when I parked at what appeared to be a non-metered space.  Half the block had parking meters; half the block, the part where I was parking, didn’t.  It was only because a nice pedestrian warned me that I learned that there was an electronic kiosk about 25 feet away from my car that sold parking passes for the car’s dashboard.  Other than that word of mouth tip, there were no signs at all warning that, while half the block had old-fashioned meters, the other half had switched to a computer system.

The fourth trip, my husband and I were walking down Gough Street towards the Opera House at dusk.  Between the failing light and the broken and dimmed street lights, it was impossible to avoid the hazards of pitted, jagged, broken uneven sidewalk.  It was only because we’re in good shape, with decent balance, that the two of us avoided a painful tumble.  I won’t even describe the smell of urine and sewage that kept wafting up towards us as we walked along.

Welcome to Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco.