🚀 go-pugleaf

=v= I got an amazingly dishonest flier in the mail today.
It was a piece of hard-to-recycle glossy paper with no
discernible recycled content, and addressed me with, "Dear
Fellow Environmentalists."  It was a pitch for Linda Richardson,
signed by City Supervisor Gavin Newsom.

=v= It's not surprising that Richardson is trying to run on her
green credentials, because she hasn't got anything else to run
on.  Her credentials are pretty weak, though.

  o She started off very, very well, as one of the cofounders
    of the environmentalist justice group SAEJ, fighting toxic
    pollution in Bayview Hunters Point.  Alas, her stance would
    appear to be a case of classic NIMBYism:  she lost interest
    once the threat to her own back yard was over.

  o She held a position in the city's Commission on the
    Environment.  Under Mayor Willie Brown, that Commission
    is a sham, and its more principled members resigned in
    disgust.  Richardson stayed.

  o She was rewarded with a position on the Planning Commission,
    known for its utter disregard of environmental law (and
    any other law), much to the delight of the big money that's
    been supporting Brown all these years.  Now they're throwing
    some of it Richardson's way.

=v= No environmentalist is supporting Richardson.  Every green
group supports her challenger, Sophie Maxwell, as do the other
co-founders of SAEJ.

=v= "Fellow environmentalist" Gavin Newsom is anything but --
just ask some real environmentalists sometime.  (Ask the Biotic
Baking Brigade, who served Newsom with a pie and watched it
slip right off of him, as if he's made of polyester.)

=v= I'm particularly concerned about the environmental justice
issues in this district.  As if it's not bad enough to have
toxic waste sites all around it, PG&E has a power plant that's
been polluting the air for years, and Richardson cut a deal that
allows them to extend that even longer, while building a new
plant that's supposedly going to be cleaner.  (Perversely, she
cites this deal as an "environmental" accomplishment.)

=v= This district also exemplifies the environmental justice
dimension of transportation issues.  I-280 runs through it,
bringing yet more pollution.  11 years ago, the citizens of
San Francisco voted to extend light rail into here.  Brown has
made a great show of supporting this project, but so far the
primary way to get around is by car.  (Another alternative is
to ride one of the 600 diesel buses that the Commission on the
Environment let slip by.)

=v= Richardson's role has mainly been greenwashing Brown, and
pocketing campaign funds from those who would build things in
District 10 that are no good for the community.  She needs to
be stopped.  Vote for Sophie Maxwell tomorrow.
    <_Jym_>