Current Events > San Francisco making the move to create a public-power system and boot PG&E

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://48hills.org/2024/03/after-111-years-sf-is-finally-moving-to-oust-pge-and-create-a-public-power-system/

Since 1913, San Francisco has been under a federal mandate to provide public power to its residents and businesses. That was the deal that allowed the city to build a dam for water in Yosemite National Park. You can read the entire history here (I spent weeks in the National Archives in Washington DC collecting this data.)
But PG&E has managed, through its political clout at City Hall and its unlimited campaign funds, to block every effort to make that mandate a reality, and after the 1950s, the Interior Department stopped caring.

This is pretty interesting.

My city really needs to concentrate on getting the stores to renew their leases first. Its a damn ghost town out here

STEROLIZER posted...

My city really needs to concentrate on getting the stores to renew their leases first. Its a damn ghost town out here

is it actually? curious to hear it from someone who actually lives there, vs news and Twitter posts from people who aren't actually there.

i lived downtown in my city until late 2020, it's pretty much unrecognizable now despite the people who claim everything is great

I'm actually from SF. I agree that Downtown is pretty much dead, but other parts of the city is doing alright. There's just isn't any reason for local to go to Downtown as a local when you can get what you need in other parts of the city and online shopping.

Also the best mall in the city is on the outskirt.

pretzelcoatl posted...

is it actually? curious to hear it from someone who actually lives there, vs news and Twitter posts from people who aren't actually there.

i lived downtown in my city until late 2020, it's pretty much unrecognizable now despite the people who claim everything is great

The westfield mall & Macys are shutting down. Thats pretty much the nail in the coffin

andrewl923 posted...

I'm actually from SF. I agree that Downtown is pretty much dead, but other parts of the city is doing alright. There's just isn't any reason for local to go to Downtown as a local when you can get what you need in other parts of the city and online shopping.

Also the best mall in the city is on the outskirt.

I live a few blocks away from Union Square park myself. My BART station is Powell

andrewl923 posted...

Also the best mall in the city is on the outskirt.

Stonestown?

STEROLIZER posted...

I live a few blocks away from Union Square park myself. My BART station is Powell

You in the TLs?

STEROLIZER posted...

Stonestown?

Yes!!

Fuck the monopolistic PG&E. Increased 16% this January alone and will do so again in April.

STEROLIZER posted...

I live a few blocks away from Union Square park myself. My BART station is Powell

I'm in Dogpatch.

Arcanine2009 posted...

Fuck the monopolistic PG&E. Increased 16% this January alone and will do so again in April.

rates keep going up. electric bill used to be 50-60$. now it's 100-120$.

just to line pockets with money.

kingdrake2 posted...

rates keep going up. electric bill used to be 50-60$. now it's 100-120$.

just to line pockets with money.

Why doesnt anyone think of the CEOs for a change? They gotta eat too.

Blame landlords for charging rent as if those businesses make million of dollars of profit per month. Not sure what their end game is

BigB0ss13 posted...

Blame landlords for charging rent as if those businesses make million of dollars of profit per month

the high cost of living doesn't help around here.

average rent is 1.5k dollars a month.

need 2-3 jobs to keep apartment unless lucky to buy the house before prices really gone up in the past 8 years.

kingdrake2 posted...

the high cost of living doesn't help around here.

average rent is 1.5k dollars a month.

need 2-3 jobs to keep apartment unless lucky to buy the house before prices really gone up in the past 8 years.

High cost of rent to live there doesn't justify charging small businesses $30k/month

BigB0ss13 posted...

Blame landlords for charging rent as if those businesses make million of dollars of profit per month. Not sure what their end game is

This is about half the reason my downtown is so dead. They never reduced rent, they just write off vacancies on their taxes instead. Our skyways are completely devoid of foot traffic or locked down, and the property owners are still charging insane rent.

There needs to be a vacancy tax, full stop. Apartments AND storefronts.

kingdrake2 posted...

rates keep going up. electric bill used to be 50-60$. now it's 100-120$.

just to line pockets with money.

It is to be expected since they have to pay for lawsuits and the switch to trying to go all electric would increase the rates.

Monolith1676 posted...

It is to be expected since they have to pay for lawsuits and the switch to trying to go all electric would increase the rates.

Yeah it has nothing to do with profits

After rate hikes this year, PG&E announces nearly 25% increase in profits to $2.2B for 2023
https://abc7news.com/pge-earnings-rate-increase-2024-profits-power-outages/14458228/
https://abc30.com/pge-rate-increase-2023-earning-2-billion-dollar-profit/14483425/

pretzelcoatl posted...

This is about half the reason my downtown is so dead. They never reduced rent, they just write off vacancies on their taxes instead. Our skyways are completely devoid of foot traffic or locked down, and the property owners are still charging insane rent.

There needs to be a vacancy tax, full stop. Apartments AND storefronts.

Yup.

Good.

I doubt they'll cause as many fires.

I read the topic title as "public shower system"

seemed reasonable for San Fran