San Francisco News Blog

The story didn't coincide with the headline. The purported San Francisco backlash consisted of one guy  on a bike who got a ticket for running a stop sign in Portola Valley. More striking, however, was the question of what strap-hanging Big Apple readers might find interesting about a San Mateo County traffic ticket -- even one wrapped in the sort of bogus Times trend story Slate columnist Jack Shafer has made a steady sideline of outing. (Ex SF Weekly editor Shafer's latest roundup began with a story about a phony NYT-reported trend in which men supposedly grew pot-bellies on purpose because it had become fashionable.)

Eh.

​We'd like to award the Wall Street Journal's Bay Area section with an even slightly less enthusiastic response than we gave the New York Times. And here it is:

"Eh."

We have our reasons. 

At first, the the addition of Bay Area sections to the nation's most prominent national newspapers sounded pretty exciting. Talented, experienced reporters from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal would be penetrate our sad, sad news vacuum, rewarding their target market -- educated, affluent readers -- with graceful prose and well-reported stories.

Plenty of people (including this reporter) subscribed at special-offer rates.

Then the Times ran its debut Bay Area section, and as you may recall, it produced in Will Harper, managing editor of SF Weekly, the following reaction: "meh." The section was short and the news stories weren't news to savvy locals. Still, the addition of sophisticated prefixes to names were enjoyable. Perhaps things would get better with time?

Now comes the Wall Street Journal Bay Area section, which appears to have peeped at its predecessor's section and essentially reproduced it, only with financial flair. (Know this, Wall Street Journal: you lost the "m" in "meh" for being a copycat). The Journal format is strikingly similar to Times' section, with a couple of newsy stories, one of which is  missing key information; a Q&A that probably took some reporter all of 20 minutes; and a couple of culture stories that aren't very new or interesting. 

Daly is entitled to write whatever he pleases -- and, on Fog City Journal, it seems he can truly write whatever he pleases; the Web site serves as the Kato Kaelin to Daly's O.J. Simpson.

But we are also entitled -- and some would say obligated -- to point out that the central premise of Daly's diatribe, that articles in SF Weekly and San Francisco Magazine are part of "The Big Rollout," that shadowy, high-placed apparatchiks of downtown sidled up to us and said "Hey kiddo, I'm rich and powerful and I've got a pitch for you" -- is bunk. Not only is it bunk, it reveals a lot more about Daly than about Sparks (or us). Along with a large portion of the city's hard left, Daly seems disturbingly eager to engage in paranoid conspiracy theories.

"This is the craziest thing that's ever happened to me," Sean C., as he's known on Yelp, told SF Weekly. "If I had a gun she'd probably be dead right now."

The fiasco started when Sean C. posted a two-star Yelp review for Ocean Avenue Books in the Ocean View neighborhood last week, warning: "This place is a TOTAL MESS."

​Brown's office has released a resignation letter from Gerber, dated today, in which the former head of the AG's press office admits to "serious errors in judgment." He continues, "I suspect that the few reporters involved in the calls I taped would have readily said yes, but nonetheless it was wrong not to ask them first." Gerber states that, "as a result of my actions, I realize that I can no longer effectively serve the Office of the Attorney General."

Last week, the Chronicle reported that Gerber had taped an on-the-record conversation with Chron political reporter Carla Marinucci and two senior staff attorneys from the attorney general's office. While his actions were probably not illegal under state law, they ran counter to the typical protocols followed by both reporters and government spokespeople, and caused an unwelcome scandal for Brown, the current front-runner in the 2010 governor's race.

In a statement sent to SF Weekly in response to questions about the incident, Brown staffer Christine Gasparac said the spokesman, Scott Gerber, "has been put on administrative leave and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken." The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that Gerber had recorded a conference call with Chronicle political reporter Carla Marinucci without informing her beforehand.

​"Mr. Gerber's recording of certain telephone conversations was done without Attorney General Brown's knowledge and in direct violation of explicit directions regarding office policy," Gasparac wrote. "These conversations were on the record and in no sense confidential. Nevertheless, the explicit agreement of all parties should have been obtained."

​Turns out that a flak in Brown's press office recorded a telephone conversation he had this week with Chronicle political reporter Carla Marinucci and two senior staff lawyers from the AG's office about a ballot measure on car insurance. The story -- by Marinucci and fellow Chron scribe Joe Garofoli -- takes pains almost immediately to imply that the action might have been illegal, citing a relevant section in the California Penal Code in the third graph.

So far, sounds like a great story: The state's top law-enforcement official breaking the law in a manner suggestive of the sleaze and secrecy that so many of us love to loathe in government. The only problem is that the actions of Brown's press office, while unquestionably stupid and a PR blunder, are almost certainly not illegal -- as the Chron should know.

SF Weekly's proud Baby Mama of the Year now has a blog

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Eliana Lopez, the Venezuelan soap star who gave birth to a son this year with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, launched a Spanish-language blog this month about motherhood named maminatural.  Its glamorous tagline: "Being a woman, being a mother, being natural,"

With 18 followers so far, Lopez spins out advice for new moms and natural birth, and includes some sassy photos of herself pregnant as well as of Mirkarimi in his early forays into fatherhood. (Cheese/heartstring alert for the pic of Mirkarimi smiling up at Baby Theo in a redwood grove.) 

Naturally, we're partial to the post in which she announces she won "Best Baby Mama" in SF Weekly's 2009 Best of San Francisco issue. Here's what she had to say:

"The newspaper San Francisco Weekly named me the best new mom of 2009. I think that they were captivated by the photos that Franca Franchi took of me pregnant, and that's why they picked me. :-)"

Daniel C. Britt

Drool Brittania: British cougars Rita Sangha (left), 39, and Bea Cameron, 45, make nice to the camera during August's "National Cougar Convention"

​Do people complain to Rich Gosse about the use of the term "cougar" -- previously applied to a 1970s-era muscle car and, of course, a beast -- for older women with a yen for younger men? Yes. Yes they do. All the time. But he doesn't care.

"We used to have cougar parties in San Francisco before the term 'cougar' was invented," says Gosse, proprietor of the non-profit (!) Society for Single Professionals, which he runs out of his San Rafael home. "We called them 'Younger Men Older Women Parties.' No one knew we were alive. Now we do 'Cougar Parties' and we're famous. I love the term cougar."

Indeed, Rich Gosse is a cougar impresario. Readers may recall his "National Cougar Convention" held down the road in Palo Alto (SF Weekly's summary: "More cleavage than a butcher shop run by Eldridge Cleaver"). Now, searching for a new wrinkle in the "older women-younger men" mileu, he's struck on a novel concept: The nation's initial Cougar Sadie Hawkins Dance, set for San Francisco on Nov. 14.

Uhhh, Rich? Will twentysomething men who don't understand the meaning of the term "don't touch that dial" or even "shake it like a Polaroid picture" really comprehend a 70-year-old Lil' Abner reference? "They will have no idea," he concurs.

Daniel C. Britt

Reloading for battle...

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Now comes more bad news for our journalistically crippled cousins: During the six-month period between April and September, the Chronicle's circulation dropped more than any other major daily in the country. According to Editor & Publisher, the Chron's circ declined 26 percent -- down to a total of 251,782. That's less than half of the paper's circulation back in 2001 when it was more than 530,000.

The spin on the numbers from Chron execs is that this is all part of their business strategy. It may seem strange that losing readership is part of a strategy, but that's their story.

Click on this image for a larger version

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Last week, we ever-so-slightly spat out some of our coffee when we noticed an interconnected conspiracy theory chart a la Lyndon LaRouche in our rival publication, the Bay Guardian. The graphic purported to reveal the vast cabal squelching progressive thought and action worldwide -- and it certainly does reveal something.  

While it's far from zany to point out that wealthy conservatives have many fishing poles in many ponds, once you start interconnecting "The Rothschilds," "British newspapers," "Richard Nixon," and "Spain" in some grand plot -- the cheese has neatly slipped off your cracker.

And yet, it gets worse. Not only is the Guardian convinced there's a worldwide conspiracy to strangle progressive thought -- there's also an international plot to undermine the Guardian! Atop this article is the flow chart prepared by Guardian higher-ups outlining the myriad forces in league against this thing of theirs -- which we obtained by slipping an old Muni pass and a signed glossy of Tom Wopat to one of the paper's unpaid interns.

Click on the image for a truly gargantuan version. And the truth will be revealed.

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And then there were none...

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Back in August, a group of more than 100 unruly sea lions swarmed the Hyde Street Pier, claimed it for themselves, and seriously pissed off nearby boat owners, fishermen, swimmers, and especially Port of San Francisco wharfinger Hedley Prince. (Here's our cover story documenting the adorable infestation).  

Part of Prince's job involves maintaining the Hyde Street Pier. So when it's covered in smelly, sharp-toothed, 800-pound wild animals, that's kind of stressful. Prince looked into a variety of ways he could deter and banish sea lions, which included exploding seal bombs and shooting rubber bullets at them. But in the end, the port went with the slightly friendlier option of installing barricades.

Turns out, even those may not be necessary. As of Monday morning, the Hyde Street Pier sea lions are no more. They simply vanished, leaving Prince mystified and The CBS Evening News with a non-starter of a story. (CBS was only the latest in a media dogpile regarding the record number of sea lions hanging out in the Bay).  

Prince says a CBS producer had been calling, e-mailing, and interviewing him for a week, and that a crew had come to film the installation of the barricades on Monday. "We go down there," Prince says, "and not a single freaking sea lion was on the docks."

That's not Mayella Ewell, Your Honor.

​If asked to choose a picture of actress Collin Wilcox-Paxton out of a lineup, most of you could not. But you wouldn't mistake her for Gregory Peck. Or would you?

The actress, best known for her role as Mayella Ewell, the horrid, white trash fabulist whose bogus rape accusation against a black man forms the crux of the movie To Kill a Mockingbird, died this month at age 74. The Chronicle's online edition ran an Associated Press obituary along with the above AP photo (we are uncertain at this time if this photo graced the print edition, too). Sadly, however, that photo is of Gregory Peck in his well-known role as Atticus Finch. It could have been worse; it could have been Peck as Captain Ahab.

This is an AP story and an AP photograph -- so it's unclear exactly who's at fault here. Some readers may recall that earlier this year the Chron and papers worldwide used an AP photo to accompany the obit of actor Patrick McGoohan who "died suddenly" -- and the snapshot was of the actor with a gun being held to his head. 
 

The commute to San Francisco is even worse than Fairfield's

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Well, there has been some good reading to be had. I was particularly fond of a blog entry in which scholars parsed the legality of Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors' dueling approaches to city sanctuary policies. But we must admit we were befuddled by Thursday's Bay Area roundup. Beneath the header "The Bay Area: 9 Counties, 8 Bridges, 7 million people" was a link to a story about -- Fullerton?  

While the Bay Area's boundaries stretch a long way, Fullerton is pushing it. That city -- home of the largest liquor store I've ever visited; it was like a football field -- is a scant 408-mile, six hour and 21 minute drive south. It's not in the Bay Area. But Bay Area section editor Felicity Barringer says she and her staff are well aware of this.

Appearing alongside an article by Guardian reporters Rebecca Bowe and Sarah Phelan about the "media machine behind the assault on progressive ideas" is a spiderweb conspiracy chart that puts John Nash's scribblings in A Beautiful Mind to shame. The idea, as far as we can tell, is that a vast array of nefarious entities worldwide -- more than 80 are listed -- are connected to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and the right-wing bloviators at Fox News. (The print version of the chart is pictured below; click here for a crisper PDF from the Guardian Web site.)

Et tu, DIRECTV?

​We have to admit that the conspiratorial wickedness of some of the parties named here had previously been unknown to us. Were you aware, for instance, that an entire sovereign nation -- "Spain," as the Guardian simply notes -- is linked to "British newspapers" via "Satellite TV" and "Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush"? Or that "Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O'Reilly" are secretly colluding with "J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited (London)" and the "U.S. Department of Justice"?

SFGate readers can be forgiven for feeling this photo is eerily familiar... ​

​In this space we sometimes criticize the Chronicle and sometimes praise the Chronicle. This article does neither of these things. This time, we're simply a bit rattled.

Here's the deal: In the interrim between  walking away from SFGate on our home computer, nearly burning down the kitchen with a breakfast mishap, and returning to the computer, the photo of an attractive young couple gracing a Chron light feature on hookah bars had suddenly jumped to a breaking homicide story in which the man in the photo was accused of killing the woman and then setting their home ablaze.

At first glance, one would think this was some manner of editing error; the wrong photo being placed next to a breaking news story. But, no: The photo SFGate was already running on its home page just happened to be of the two people in all the world featured in a breaking homicide story.

Hey Phil Bronstein -- how do you like them apples?

​San Francisco Chronicle editor-at-large Phil Bronstein yesterday reminded the Bay Area of a use for newspapers any puppy owner is well aware of when he inaugurated a journalistic pissing contest. It was a move he may soon regret.

In what was decidedly not a "Welcome to San Francisco" gift basket aimed at the interloping New York Times, Bronstein accused Times bureau chief Jesse McKinley -- whom he snidely did not name -- of "borrowing" a juicy anecdote about Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts. In both McKinley's Friday story and a Chron story from Aug. 18, Batts is extensively quoted as saying that he initially spurned recruiters' offers to come to Oakland, but changed his mind after the tragic slayings of four Oakland officers.

"Here we are, always bitching about how Google or MSN or Yahoo is stealing our original content and making money from it," wrote Bronstein. "It doesn't really help our case if we're raiding closets and borrowing outfits from members of our own fraternity without at least asking."

By the way, Bronstein's accusation of "borrowing" is just a passive-aggressive way of calling out the Times for sloppiness at best and plagiarism at worst. It's a big deal. And, in the end, it turns out to be hilarious -- because on Aug. 12, a week before the Chron story Bronstein referenced, Batts told the same anecdote to the Long Beach Press Telegram (though they did not lead with it, like the Times and Chron). If the Press Telegram's "editor at large" wrote a bombastic column about the Chron "borrowing" his paper's material -- well, we missed it. Meanwhile, it seems Batts is a man who likes to repeat his anecdotes to anyone with a notepad or microphone. Let's all make a note of this. 

Coming to a Bollywood picture near you...

​It's not quite a Slumdog Millionaire story: Vivek Agrawal is a Stanford grad who lives in a Pacific Heights flat and spends his days working as a product manager at a tech start-up. But the 24-year-old has just landed a huge break -- beating 300 contenders in an online karaoke contest to sing in a Bollywood movie.

In July, Agrawal entered the BollyStar contest hosted by Saavn, a digital provider of Bollywood content online, and State Farm Insurance. Agrawal was planning to sing a cover into a Web cam as required for the contest, but a co-worker urged him to film a low-budget music video instead out on the Santa Monica pier. That's her in the sari in the entertaining video on Agrawal's Web site.

While the song "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" is in Hindi (except for one repeating English line of "Everything's gonna be okay") Agrawal explains the song is about a guy cheering up a pouting girl. (Apparently the puppy at the end does the trick.) Compare it to the original from the 2008 Bollywood movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

Not a disaster, no -- but not 'King of the World' either...

​The nation's paper of record launched its new Bay Area section today to compete with San Francisco's paper of record. So how does the Times' San Francentric coverage measure up? Well, let's just say the Times is no Chronicle. And, believe it or not, I mean that as a compliment to the Chronicle.

The "section" is all of two pages long and, for the most part, doesn't tell locals anything they don't already know. The "Indicators" column contained three items that should all be familiar to readers of the Chron or Examiner (for instance, there was an item on bridge tolls going up, which has been widely reported by the local press). The wine column spotlighted overhyped restaurants like Nopa, Slanted Door, and A16. Even non-wine snobs in the city know about these places.

Rick Hall

Lorelei Lee, left, seen here with fellow porn star Bobbi Starr, has put her San Francisco State undergrad degree to good use already

​ In 1995, San Francisco State professor Geoffrey Marcy, and his student, Paul Butler, created an ingenious optical device allowing them to detect evidence of planets outside our solar system. Since then, the team have discovered more than half the extra-solar planets known to man.

On Monday New York Daily News scribes Kerry Burke and Rich Schapiro, wrote a story about first-year New York University grad student Lorelei Lee, who is simultaneously pursuing a career as a serious writer, and holding down a 10-year career a as journeywoman porn star.

Marcy, Butler, and Lee share in common an affiliation with a school many erroneously perceive as one of the lesser members of the second-tier California State university system. San Francisco State University's lackluster reputation is further damaged by the fact the school never got around to changing its name to California State University at San Francisco, in the style of the rest of the system's schools. The oversight suggesting laziness, ignorance, boorishness, or a combination of the three. Additionally, the school once employed this writer to teach in its journalism department, further diluting SFSU's distinction.

Successful graduates such as Marcy, Butler, and Lee, however, appear poised to change popular perceptions.

What truck mayhem will hit a Bay Area bridge today?

​The tried and true journalistic maxim is that it takes three instances to have a bona fide "trend." So, no, the Bay Area isn't experiencing a "trend" of big rig trucks flipping over on local bridges. But, you have to admit, the knee-jerk phrase of "You don't see that every day" lost some gravity when tractor trailer trucks went topsy turvy on two Bay Area bridges on two consecutive days.

By now you may have heard of the Safeway truck that dumped enough soda pop and pizza on the top level of the Bay Bridge yesterday to provide last meals for dozens of San Quentin death row inmates. The driver of that truck was apparently exceeding the revamped Bay Bridge's new, piddling 40 mph speed limit by 15 mph. More signs imparting the message "What part of 40 mph don't you understand?" are in the works.

Less publicized than the Bay Bridge tumble was a Tuesday incident in which heavy storm winds blew over a big rig on the Richmond Bridge.

So, naturally, we're wondering which bridge will play host to a turtled truck today?
  

​The big news -- in print, on television, and here on the Internet -- is the one thing that even a deaf, illiterate caveman would realize if he bothered to poke his head out of his dwelling: It's raining. It's raining hard and people are getting wet. And if you take your dog out for a walk, it's getting wet, too.

But since this is the story du jour, we decided to go right to the source. Publicists tend to become very agreeable when you hold their heads down in the toilet bowl long enough, and, just like that, we had an exclusive sit-down with the storm that blew through San Francisco yesterday and rocked everyone's world.

We met the storm -- who goes by "Leonard, just Leonard" -- at The Tonga Room. The artificial rain falling from the ceiling that usually enhances the place's kitschy charm came over and enthusiastically shook Leonard's hand  -- "Man, I'd drench these bastards through and through if I could, if they let me -- but you ... you!" he moaned, staring up at Leonard like a Little-Leaguer in the presence of Derek Jeter.

Leonard magnanimously provided all the patrons with water -- whether they liked it or not. "Plenty more where that came from," Leonard blurted out. "Don't bother waiting to see the weatherman tonight. That's a fact, Jack."

SF Weekly: So, who were your influences?

Leonard: You know, as a gathering storm, you really have to choose role models that work for you. Lots of storms want to emulate the 1900 Galveston hurricane or the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 -- the big ones. You know, Hugo, Andrew, Katrina of course.

For a while, I admit I was really blatantly ripping off Hurricane Agnes. It's not something I'm proud of, but those were my formative days as a storm and I really hadn't found myself yet. So the notion of flooding a capital city to the point that the governor and his family run like hell and being declared the worst disaster in the history of the state of Pennsylvania -- and, hell, this is a state where subterranean coal fires can burn for damn near a century!  -- that was very intoxicating to me.   

The results are in -- the inaugural "Comb Your Hair Like Gavin Newsom Day" is a big, greasy success.

While Newsom's ability to manage this city -- and, potentially the entire realm of California -- is up for debate, his control over his coiffure can no longer be questioned. We ran through combs like Richard III ran though horses, and were forced to use not Pinaud Clubman or Brilliantine, but both. As George W. Bush quipped about running the entire country, whipping your hair into Newsom's 'do "is hard work."

But we think we've succeeded. And a number of you sent in photos of your own efforts to recreate "The Newsom." To quote San Francisco's erstwhile mayor: "All I can think of, is 'What's Next?' ... That's what's so exciting -- how do we top this?"

How about a bunch of amazing photos? How 'bout that?

Here's Hizzoner:

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And here's your humble narrator:

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And it turns out that combing one's hair like Gavin Newsom has some unusual side effects:

​The Federal Trade Commission released new, rather confusing rules this week to smack down bloggers, social media users, famous Tweeters and other online pundits who don't disclose getting money or free schwag from companies that they write about. Some have interpreted the new rules to anyone who didn't disclose tainted reviews could be subject to an $11,000 fine.

Many in the online world are incensed that, in some cases, the FTC rules that will go into effect December 1 seem to be harsher on the Internet than on traditional media. For example, newspapers, including ours, are inundated with reams of free books to review each week, a fact that usually goes undisclosed in the printed review.

Yet we couldn't help wondering how the threat of a massive fine might affect the reviewing-by-the-masses giant in town, Yelp. One Yelper brought the issue up on the Web site's message boards this week, though not many joined in on the discussion.

Windmills aren't the only things spinning

​The gears of the Ministry of Correct Progressive Thought could be seen clanking into action once again this week on the editorial pages of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, where that newspaper's opinion purveyors tried to convince readers that San Francisco should be pushing ahead full-bore with a public power scheme known as community choice aggregation, or CCA.

The argument in itself is a fair one. CCA, known in its local iteration as CleanPowerSF, would advance some widely held local energy priorities, such as greener power, while making the city less reliant on PG&E -- which for a century has held San Francisco in the vise-grip of an electricity monopoly. Yet once again, the Guardian has chosen to play its readers false when it comes to the hard facts on CCA and public power.

The big lie in this week's editorial concerns the cost of CleanPowerSF. Most reasonable people would expect that electricity from cleaner and more local sources would come at a premium, and independent analysts have concluded that this will certainly be the case with CCA. As we explained in a January cover story, the city controller's office estimates that CCA would drive up city residents' power bills by 24 percent -- and predicts that this burden would fall disproportionately on the city's poorest residents.

San Francisco sports bars have turned their backs on the California Redwoods

​We've talked about the United Football League's business plan, personnel, and ghastly, ghastly uniforms. But with tonight's debut game between the hometown California Redwoods and the host Las Vegas Locomotives, we'll finally get to see whether the UFL can produce watchable football.

Actually, that all depends on your definition of the word "see." Because if you're hoping to catch the 6 p.m. kickoff at any local sports bar, you're out of luck.

SF Weekly called more than a dozen San Francisco watering holes to see if any of them planned on showing tonight's game. Not a single one did. And it's not snobbery over expansion football teams wearing fluorescent uniforms or scheduling conflicts with tonight's Major League Baseball playoffs that'll keep the Redwoods-Locos game off San Francisco sports bars' dazzling array of televisions. Unfortunately, the UFL games are broadcast on a TV channel no sports bar in the city gets.

Andy Wright

Wayne Fenton and Breadstick

​As documented in this week's SF Weekly cover story, Too Cute to Shoot, a former army tank commander named Wayne Fenton recently spent $400 and a whole lot of time and energy rescuing a one-eyed, starving sea lion named Breadstick. (Meanwhile, as the story explains, there's a full-fledged sea lion infestation going on in San Francisco Bay and elsewhere up and down the West Coast).

Anyhow, Breadstick, who had been shot in the eye, washed up in Monterey Bay where Fenton and his visiting German wife found the creature. They eventually helped load the runty yearling into a rescue kennel, which a volunteer then transported to the Marine Mammal Center's hospital in Sausalito. There, Breadstick underwent eye removal surgery and feasted on fish smoothies until she was healthy enough to be released back into the wild.

Joyce Goldschmid

Warren Hellman

​The recent announcement that banjo-plucking leveraged buyout king Warren Hellman will toss $5 million from his family fund into a nascent partnership with KQED, the Newspaper Guild, and the U.C. Berkeley School of Journalism elicited a storm of responses from the ever-shrinking pool of professional ink-stained wretches in the Bay Area. On the one hand, there were orgiastic attempts at cheer-leading. On the other extreme, Hellman's use of cheap or free student labor supposedly makes him the Simon Legree of the journalism plantation. 

Perhaps our most visceral reaction to the fledgling Bay Area News Project has nothing to do with the nuts and bolts of its funding structure and journalistic scope. Forbes really hit it on the head when, in its interview with Hellman, it noted "Don't you just hate it when your profession becomes a hobby for rich people?" Worse, don't you hate it when your profession becomes a charity case? Will report for food!

Still, several elements of the nonprofit's amorphous structure raise some red flags with us -- and we called several media ethicists to get their take, too.

​Fed up with what they see as chronically lax regulation of San Francisco's nightclub industry, a group of neighborhood activists has started a Web site, residentscentral.com, that its members hope will help rally support for reform of the city's Entertainment Commission.

The Entertainment Commission, a board of political appointees, has been criticized for being too cozy with the clubs it is supposed to regulate. Three of the five sitting commissioners have direct financial ties to the nightlife industry; two of them are club co-owners. (Click here to read our July cover story on the commission's ethical challenges.)

The residents' group hopes to encourage and coordinate neighborhood input on a proposed reform of the city's police code that would change how the commission operates. The legislation has been a sore subject of contention between Board of Supervisors President David Chiu -- whose North Beach district is home to some of the city's most violent clubs -- and Entertainment Commissioners, who are loath to agree to the stricter oversight measures Chiu has suggested.