By Chloe Veltman

If the Castro Theatre didn’t exist, then neither would Sophia Padilla.

“I always joke that I was conceived at the Castro Theatre,” said the San Francisco resident, who happened to be passing by the iconic, 100-year-old movie palace on a recent afternoon while out walking her dog.

Padilla said her parents first met in line to see a movie at the theater, 27 years ago.

“Both of them were on dates with other people, actually,” Padilla said. “They fell in love right here. And I’ve been coming to the Castro to see movies for my entire 26-year life.”

Padilla also said the Castro Theater played a role in recognizing her queer identity.

“The Castro really helped me find who I was,” she said.

San Francisco resident and movie fan Sophia Padilla poses outside the Castro Theater with her dog.Chloe Veltman/NPR

Located in the heart of one of the country’s most high-profile LGBTQ neighborhoods, the Castro Theatre, which has been owned by the same family since 1922, has long been a bastion of queer cinema and community events.

Highlights include the first ever public screening of the 2008 movie Milk about the pioneering openly gay politician Harvey Milk, the annual Frameline queer movie festival, and an abundance of drag performance nights.

“The Castro Theater is like a sacred temple for the community,” said Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board member Jesse Sanford. “It’s where we gather to laugh together, cry together, learn our history and mourn our losses.”

The venue has also hosted major film festivals like the San Francisco International Film Festival and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

But the recent takeover of the theater’s lease by Another Planet Entertainment — which operates and programs a handful of mostly music-oriented venues and festivals around the San Francisco Bay Area — has led to a struggle for the theater’s future.

“Another Planet’s plan will mean that films rarely get shown, and community events rarely happen,” said Sanford.

Conservationists push back

The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District is one of several local groups pushing back against Another Planet’s plans to refocus the venue’s programming and make sweeping renovations.

“This is a hundred-year-old theatre. You can’t just change it any way you want,” said Peter Pastreich, executive director of the Castro Theater Conservancy, a group that was formed three years ago to address concerns about the increasingly dilapidated state of the building.

Castro Theater Conservancy executive director Peter Pastreich at the Castro Theatre.Chloe Veltman/NPR

Pastreich said his group welcomes some of the proposed upgrades, such as putting in wheelchair access and a new HVAC system — as well as touching up the interior’s grand mural’d walls, chandeliers and leather-effect ceiling. He estimates renovating the theater would cost $20-30 million.

“We aren’t opposed to Another Planet or anybody else who will renovate the theater and keep it open,” Pastreich said.

It all comes down to the seating

The activists’ primary point of contention is the operator’s plans for the theater’s seating.

“The plans are to take out the seats and level the floor, which would make the theater no longer appropriate for movies,” Pastreich says.

Thousands of people — including many celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Alice Waters and Tilda Swinton — have signed the conservancy’s petition to prevent Another Planet’s renovations from going ahead.

The building is already in part protected. The City of San Francisco gave landmark status to the exterior in 1977. Now these activists are trying to get the city to expand the designation to include the building’s interior. If that happens, it will be much harder for the leaseholder to rip out the theater’s 1,400 seats and flatten the floor.

The Castro Theater’s interior.Andrew Rosas

“Changing the seating is a big deal,” said Matt Lambros, a Boston-based photographer of historic movie theaters who has written several books on the topic. “You could ruin the sight lines.”

There are a few thousand old, single-screen movie palaces like the Castro still in operation in the US today, down from tens of thousands in their pre-World-War-II heyday.

Lambros said in order for these cinemas to survive, the seating has to do more than accommodate movie-goers.

“There’s interest in restoring these places,” he said. “The issue is, you have to find something that will bring people. For the most part, unfortunately, a 1500-or 2000-seat theater showing films, that’s just not viable.”

Those who want the theater’s seating plan to remain intact point out that the Castro has hosted all kinds of non-movie events over the years.

“It is possible to have the theater be conducive to movie-going and concert-going and comedy and spoken word presentations and community meetings,” said San Francisco Silent Film Festival Director Anita Monga. “All of that is possible with the existing seats and same configuration.”

Another planet pushes ahead

Another Planet spokesman, Alex Tourk, said, despite his plan to remove the movie-style seating, the company is committed to honoring the theater’s legacy. “They absolutely want to continue to show film,” Tourk said. “They committed to making sure that 25% of programming would be dedicated to the LGBTQ community.”

He said the company has been shocked by the effort these groups have mounted to preserve the theater, given the company’s solid reputation as a concert and festival producer. His plan is to invest $15 million in renovating the theater.

“Another Planet will continue to work with the city to find consensus and move the vision forward,” said Tourk. “Another planet did expect some opposition,” he said. “But the level of vitriol has been beyond the pale.”

The family that owns the theater, the Nassers, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

The post A battle over seats might outline the way forward for an iconic San Francisco movie show appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Mark Addiego

Angelique Presidente

Eddie Flores

Brittany Burgo

Tom Carney

Three seats on the South San Francisco City Council are open this year but only two feature contested races.

The vote for residents in District 3, made up of the Sign Hill, Sterling Terrace, Downtown and Orange Memorial Park neighborhoods has been made simple with a single candidate, incumbent Councilmember Buenaflor Nicolas.

The vote for residents in District 1, which is made up of half of Sunshine Gardens and half of Winston Manor neighborhoods will have a choice between incumbent Mark Addiego and Angelique Presidente, a mother.

On the other side of town, District 5 voters, which include residents in Old Town, Diamond Heights, South San Francisco Industrial, Mayfair Village and Francisco Terrace, will have their choice of appointed incumbent Eddie Flores, community volunteer Brittany Burgo and retired fire inspector Tom Carney.

Whichever candidates are elected will adopt a portfolio of issues with which to grapple — envisioning a future for the city, accommodating the growing population, housing development, preparedness for an economic downturn and environmental concerns.

Known as the Industrial City, South San Francisco has redefined itself in recent years with the booming biotech industry, Addiego said, while it is important to remember the manufacturing past, it is equally important to recognize that the biotech companies are manufacturing drugs.

“This city popped up 12.5% ​​in assessed valuation year over year just recently, and most of it is the commercial development on the east side of the freeway,” Addiego said.

Presidente said the focus is on biotech and the city needs to maintain the industrial side of town.

“The residents have been here for generations and they are getting pushed out and gentrified in a sense, because of these developments and they are touting affordable housing but unfortunately none of the housing is affordable,” Presidente said.

The City Council has taken a progressive turn lately, talking about public housing, universal basic income and limiting freeways. With that in mind, Addiego said that overall the progressive turn has been positive. The universal basic income program helps approximately 160 families.

“The city might be able to work with the state on further support. Long term, there is no mechanism to keep that going so perhaps families can bring themselves up a notch during this year or two to getting some regular assistance,” Addiego said.

Over the years there was a staleness to the council that is no longer the case, he said, and the council hath a wide range of ideas that keeps him on his toes.

Presidente said the shift is good and focusing on affordable housing should be the city’s priority. However, the big businesses that have been developing in the city are bringing in more people and it causes a further imbalance in the housing crisis.

One of the bigger issues is that the city is not accommodating everybody, Presidente added.

“Our infrastructure is imbalanced, our park and rec classes that we offer are imbalanced. There are like two to three toddler classes and there are only 15 slots. We have way more than 30 toddlers in the city. We have a three- to four-year wait list for child care, how can families provide an adequate income when one person is forced to stay home because there is no child care available, that’s a problem,” Presidente said.

Addiego said the upside that comes from corporate expansions is property tax, sales tax and the hospitality industry are all boosted by these new residents.

“And that equates to a healthy $121 million budget that allows us to do what we do,” Addiego said. “Yes, I would like to have more child care for every child in South San Francisco.”

The city’s child care program is very popular and financially feasible for a lot of families in the city, he added.

Housing production is a concern for many residents in the city, Addiego said that housing production has excited a lot of people in the last 10 years but he wants to focus on the missing middle.

“There are many people that are between $75,000 to $100,000 [a year] but they can’t make sense of the current market rate of these new apartment homes,” Addiego said.

There is an item on the ballot that would allow the city to build housing, there are commercial linkage fees that take money from the expanding developers and that money can only be used for affordable housing, he added.

Presidente argues that the city has upped its ante on housing development in the past few years to keep up with the state’s housing mandates.

“We had 10 years to deal with this problem and all of the sudden now we are scrambling to do it,” Presidente said.

If there is an economic downturn, Presidente feels like the city isn’t prepared.

“We have all our eggs in one basket, if something happens with biotech, all our eggs are counting on them,” Presidente said.

On the flip side, Addiego feels the city is in a good position if there is an economic downturn.

“We have $50 million plus in reserves,” Addiego said, adding the reserves are there for the unique occurrences.

In the next four years, Addiego wants to see more affordable housing. For Presidente, she wants to see more transparency with the residents.

District 5 has unique issues: all the candidates agree on affordable housing, traffic and parking issues, and a need for a community space whether it’s a park or community center.

Carney said failing infrastructure was an issue, Flores would like to see an affordable housing waitlist database for residents and Burgo would like to see a community grocery store in the district to cater to the growing community and a balance of development and needed resources.

Flores believes, in the next 20 years, the city needs to address the housing-to-job ratio he said creates an imbalance. He also mentioned the city’s 20-year General Plan that includes a climate action plan and a child care master plan.

“All essential elements in order to move us forward in the next 20 years,” Flores said.

Carney believes that the biotech industry has been highly beneficial to the city, however, the future growth of the city depends on the quality of the schools.

“What we are missing out on is we don’t have close collaboration with the school district, our schools are some of the worst schools and bottom of the pile in state scoring,” Carney said.

In the next 20 years, Burgo believes the current issue is there isn’t a balance and it will take city officials to come together with varying perspectives to figure out a plan to maintain a more equitable city.

“Our city is really great and could actually probably expand more on the industrial side I don’t think we need to lose it, I think right now, we need to have a place close by that we could get our goods and resources and I think … how we maintain it is a process which I think needs to be addressed,” Burgo said.

The City Council has made progressive turns lately with a universal basic income program and discussions of public housing, and Carney said the government shouldn’t get involved in building housing because it is not a good use of taxpayers’ money.

Flores said that the city has been leading the charge with more than 1,000 affordable housing units in the pipeline and more to come.

“We are going to do our part with affordable housing because the community is asking for it,” Flores said.

Burgo is involved with Friends of Old Town, a community volunteer group proud to lead the charge on issues including a community park and completing surveys to inform and give the residents a voice.

“When the FasTrak express lanes project was fairly new, we got the community together to one, inform them that, hey this change is going to happen and two, get their thoughts on hey how can we afford to take the freeway now what are we going to do? And the FasTrak express lane people got back to us and are going to start a financial aid program,” Burgo said.

The city is continually growing and there is a need to make room for more residents while accommodating the existing people, with that in mind, Burgo said the city does its best to accommodate the residents and businesses and the pandemic helped push the city to focus on financial needs and programs.

Flores said many families have been in the city for 30-plus years and add to the cultural richness, however, it is important to accommodate and accept new families who want to make the city their home.

“Understanding that everyone has needs,” Flores said. “Balancing the issues and understanding we can all move forward as a strong community.”

Carney argues the council is not willing to listen to residents. He feels there is a rift between the residents and the City Council. People don’t show up for council meetings, they aren’t heard or listened to and community benefits are not well publicized in both English and Spanish.

“The community doesn’t feel like it’s got a voice,” Carney said. “We work for the residents, and being on City Council is not about self-glorification, it’s about taking care of the residents. And the residents should be involved every step of the way.”

Carney and Burgo both believe that the city housing development is sufficient and the community needs to digest what development has already taken place.

Burgo said state mandates should be better communicated with residents about what the city needs to build. Having a conversation about where the best location should be for more housing development is another issue she would like to see addressed.

Flores argues that the city will continue to build affordable housing to accommodate the community.

“While progress has been made in affordable housing, much more work is needed,” Flores said.

In the event of an economic downturn, Flores said the city is not in deficit spending and has strong reserves and is able to provide historic wage increases to its workforce.

Carney emphasized that while the city is well prepared for an economic downturn, it should consider diversifying more into freight and the food industry to avoid putting all its eggs in one basket.

Burgo said the city has a potential plan but she is not sure how prepared they really are.

The post 5 vying for two South San Francisco seats | Native Information appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

If the Castro Theater didn’t exist, then neither would Sophia Padilla.

“I always joke that I was conceived at the Castro Theatre,” said the San Francisco resident, who happened to be passing by the iconic, one-hundred-year-old movie palace on a recent afternoon while out walking her dog.

Padilla said her parents first met in line to see a movie at the theater, 27 years ago.

“Both of them were on dates with other people, actually,” Padilla said. “They fell in love right here. And I’ve been coming to the Castro to see movies for my entire 26-year life.”

Padilla also said the Castro Theater helped to forge her queer identity.

“The Castro really helped me find who I was,” she said.

Located in the heart of one of the country’s most high-profile LGBTQ neighborhoods, the Castro Theater has played a prominent role in San Francisco’s cultural and social evolution for decades.

Besides hosting major film festivals like the San Francisco International Film Festival and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the venue has long been a bastion of queer cinema and community events. Highlights include the first ever public screening of the 2008 movie Milk about the pioneering openly gay politician Harvey Milk, the annual Frameline queer movie festival, and an abundance of drag performance nights.

“The Castro Theater is like a sacred temple for the community,” said Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board member Jesse Sanford. “It’s where we gather to laugh together, cry together, learn our history, and mourn our losses.”

But the recent purchase of the theater’s lease by Another Planet Entertainment, which operates a handful of mostly music-oriented venues and festivals around the San Francisco Bay Area, has led to a struggle for the theater’s future.

“Another Planet’s plan will mean that films rarely get shown, and community events rarely happen,” said Sanford.

Conservationists push back

The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District is one of several local groups pushing back against Another Planet’s plans to refocus the venue’s programming and make sweeping renovations.

“This is a hundred-year-old theater. You can’t just change it any way you want,” said Peter Pastreich, executive director of the Castro Theater Conservancy, a group that was formed three years ago to address concerns about the increasingly dilapidated state of the building.

Pastreich said his group welcomes some of the proposed upgrades, such as putting in wheelchair access and a new HVAC system, and touching up the interior’s grand mural’d walls, chandeliers and leather-effect ceiling. He estimates renovating the theater would cost $20-30 million.

“We aren’t opposed to Another Planet or anybody else who will renovate the theater and keep it open,” Pastreich said.

It all comes down to the seating

The activists’ main point of contention is the leaseholder’s plans for the theater’s seating.

“The plans are to take out the seats and level the floor, which would make the theater no longer appropriate for movies,” Pastreich says.

Thousands of people, including many celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Alice Waters and Tilda Swinton, have signed the conservancy’s petition to prevent Another Planet’s renovations from going ahead.

The building is already in part protected. The City of San Francisco gave landmark status to the exterior in 1977. Now these activists are trying to get the city to expand the designation to include the building’s interior. If that happens, it will be much harder for the leaseholder to rip out the theater’s 1400 seats, and flatten the floor.

“Changing the seating is a big deal,” said Matt Lambros, a Boston-based photographer of historic movie theaters who has written several books on the topic. “You could ruin the sight lines.”

There are a few thousand old, single-screen movie palaces like the Castro still in operation in the US today, down from tens of thousands in their pre-World-War-II heyday.

Lambros said in order for these cinemas to survive, the seating has to do more than accommodate movie-goers.

“There’s interest in restoring these places,” he said. “The issue is, you have to find something that will bring people. For the most part, unfortunately, a 1500-or 2000-seat theater showing films, that’s just not viable.”

Those who want the theater’s seating plan to remain intact point out that the Castro has hosted all kinds of non-movie events over the years.

“It is possible to have the theater be conducive to movie-going and concert-going and comedy and spoken word presentations and community meetings,” said San Francisco Silent Film Festival director Anita Monga. “All of that is possible with the existing seats and same configuration.”

Another planet pushes ahead

Another Planet spokesman, Alex Tourk, said, despite his plan to remove the movie-style seating, the company is committed to honoring the theater’s legacy. “They absolutely want to continue to show film,” Tourk said. “They committed to making sure that 25% of programming would be dedicated to the LGBTQ community.”

He said the company has been shocked by all the pushback, given its solid reputation as a concert and festival producer, and its plan to put $15 million towards renovating the theater. “Another planet did expect some opposition,” he said. “But the level of vitriol has been beyond the pale.”

Tourk said even if the landmark designation for the theater’s interior goes ahead next year, Another Planet will not, at least for now, be deterred.

“Another Planet will continue to work with the city to find consensus and move the vision forward.” [Copyright 2022 NPR]

The post Struggle over seats might outline way forward for iconic San Francisco movie show appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Besides hosting major film festivals like the San Francisco International Film Festival and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the venue has long been a bastion of queer cinema and community events. Highlights include the first ever public screening of the 2008 movie Milk about the pioneering openly gay politician Harvey Milk, the annual Frameline queer movie festival, and an abundance of drag performance nights.

“The Castro Theater is like a sacred temple for the community,” said Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board member Jesse Sanford. “It’s where we gather to laugh together, cry together, learn our history, and mourn our losses.”

But the recent purchase of the theater’s lease by Another Planet Entertainment, which operates a handful of mostly music-oriented venues and festivals around the San Francisco Bay Area, has led to a struggle for the theater’s future.

“Another Planet’s plan will mean that films rarely get shown, and community events rarely happen,” said Sanford.

Conservationists push back

The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District is one of several local groups pushing back against Another Planet’s plans to refocus the venue’s programming and make sweeping renovations.

“This is a hundred-year-old theater. You can’t just change it any way you want,” said Peter Pastreich, executive director of the Castro Theater Conservancy, a group that was formed three years ago to address concerns about the increasingly dilapidated state of the building.

Castro Theater Conservancy executive director Peter Pastreich at the Castro Theatre. (Chloe Veltman/NPR)

Pastreich said his group welcomes some of the proposed upgrades, such as putting in wheelchair access and a new HVAC system, and touching up the interior’s grand mural’d walls, chandeliers and leather-effect ceiling. He estimates renovating the theater would cost $20-30 million.

“We aren’t opposed to Another Planet or anybody else who will renovate the theater and keep it open,” Pastreich said.

It all comes down to the seating

The activists’ main point of contention is the leaseholder’s plans for the theater’s seating.

“The plans are to take out the seats and level the floor, which would make the theater no longer appropriate for movies,” Pastreich says.

Thousands of people, including many celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Alice Waters and Tilda Swinton, have signed the conservancy’s petition to prevent Another Planet’s renovations from going ahead.

The building is already in part protected. The City of San Francisco gave landmark status to the exterior in 1977. Now these activists are trying to get the city to expand the designation to include the building’s interior. If that happens, it will be much harder for the leaseholder to rip out the theater’s 1400 seats, and flatten the floor.

The Castro Theater’s interior. (Andrew Rosas)

“Changing the seating is a big deal,” said Matt Lambros, a Boston-based photographer of historic movie theaters who has written several books on the topic. “You could ruin the sight lines.”

There are a few thousand old, single-screen movie palaces like the Castro still in operation in the US today, down from tens of thousands in their pre-World-War-II heyday.

Lambros said in order for these cinemas to survive, the seating has to do more than accommodate movie-goers.

“There’s interest in restoring these places,” he said. “The issue is, you have to find something that will bring people. For the most part, unfortunately, a 1500-or 2000-seat theater showing films, that’s just not viable.”

Those who want the theater’s seating plan to remain intact point out that the Castro has hosted all kinds of non-movie events over the years.

“It is possible to have the theater be conducive to movie-going and concert-going and comedy and spoken word presentations and community meetings,” said San Francisco Silent Film Festival director Anita Monga. “All of that is possible with the existing seats and same configuration.”

Another planet pushes ahead

Another Planet spokesman Alex Tourk said that despite his plan to remove the movie-style seating, the company is committed to honoring the theater’s legacy. “They absolutely want to continue to show film,” Tourk said. “They committed to making sure that 25% of programming would be dedicated to the LGBTQ community.”

He said the company has been shocked by all the pushback, given its solid reputation as a concert and festival producer, and its plan to put $15 million towards renovating the theater. “Another Planet did expect some opposition,” he said. “But the level of vitriol has been beyond the pale.”

Tourk said even if the landmark designation for the theater’s interior goes ahead next year, Another Planet will not, at least for now, be deterred.

“Another Planet will continue to work with the city to find consensus and move the vision forward.”

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The post Battle Over Seats May Outline Way forward for Iconic San Francisco Film Theater appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

United Airlines is changing its flights to and from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport. United’s Boeing 767-300s have been serving the airport since returning to JFK earlier this year. From October 5th, United’s aircraft at JFK will switch to Boeing 757-200s.

United Airlines will switch from JFK to Boeing 757-200 in October. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

Overall, more seats from JFK, but fewer premium seats

The result is that slightly larger aircraft will serve United’s two sectors to and from JFK. United’s 757-200 seats 169 passengers versus 167 passengers carried in the Boeing 767-300. But the 767-300 has far more premium seats than the 757-200. As noted in One Mile At A Time, the reduction in premium seating capacity suggests that United’s attempt to use premium transcontinental traffic from JFK is not going as well as expected.

After a six-year absence, United Airlines returned to JFK to fly only two routes – the overland flights to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). United’s main hub in New York is 33 miles west of Newark.

United is trying to secure a larger part of the lucrative business travel market for itself across the network. Last month, the airline confirmed that business travel is recovering faster than expected, reaching around 60% of 2019 levels.

The transcontinental routes between the economic centers of the east coast and the west coast are particularly lucrative. United’s problem was that many business travelers preferred JFK to Newark, and it lost market share and revenue to competing airlines. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and American Airlines all offer a high quality, premium seating product across from JFK’s west coast airports.

United Boeing 767-300 will leave JFK in early October. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

Market task or market reality?

With its Boeing 757-200 aircraft operating out of JFK, United Airlines will offer far more economy class seats and far fewer premium seats. And the remaining premium seats are less premium. United’s Polaris seats on the 767-300 have a desirable 1-1-1 layout while the layout on the 757-200 is 2-2.

Whether the change in aircraft type is a signal of surrender from United or a confirmation that there is more revenue chasing mainstream economy class passengers is a guess. But the vast majority of passengers don’t care much about aircraft types. Working up a sweat on aircraft types and cabin configurations is largely the job of frequent fliers and airline junkies.

A United Boeing 757-200 climbs out of LAX. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

The gist of United’s plane swap

United has two daily departures from JFK to LAX, UA515 departing at 8:45 AM and UA517 departing at 6:50 PM. The final 767-300 departure is UA515 on October 5th. UA517 that evening and scheduled flights thereafter are listed on United’s online flight schedules, which operate from 757-200.

The last United 767-300 from LAX is UA516, departing at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, October 4th. 200s.

United Airlines also offers two daily round-trip flights from JFK-SFO. From JFK, UA521 departs at 8:00 AM and UA523 departs at 5:10 PM. The Boeing 757-200 will fly UA523 for the first time on Tuesday, October 5th, after which it will operate both flights to San Francisco.

The 757-200 takes over from SFO heading east on the morning of October 5th. The aircraft type will debut this morning on UA520, departing at 9:00 a.m. Thereafter, the 757-200 will operate both the UA520 and the UA522 afternoon flight to JFK.

United doesn’t say much about the plane change. But despite its lackluster status, the United 757-200 fleet has its fans. While many might condemn United to pull their 767s from JFK, many more don’t get excited. Regardless of the aircraft type, the longer term question is whether United can operate its overland flights from JFK

The post United Will get Extra Seats On Flights By Transferring To Narrowbody Jets appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SACRAMENTO (AP / CBS SF) – Joe Biden won California and its 55 votes on Tuesday, adding to the Democratic hold on the nation’s most populous state.

California has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since 1992. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton surpassed Donald Trump with more than 4 million votes. The President’s trips to California during the campaign were mostly fundraising.

CONTINUE READING: San Francisco Uber suspect Arna Kimiai surrenders to the police

“If we continue under this administration, America will be a lost cause. We’re going to lose hope, ”said Harry Rochester, 40, a San Francisco nurse who voted for Biden.

The election came under the influence of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 17,600 people in the state to date, including Alameda County’s Deputy Sheriff Oscar Rocha in July. His widow Maureen Ennor-Rocha cast her vote for Trump on Tuesday.

“This is my first election day without him so I think this might be part of my fear,” she said. “We fly the blue line flag, we believe in the protection of our police.”

Biden’s runner-up, US Senator Kamala Harris of California, made history as the first black woman to be nominated as vice president of a major political party. She is also the first California Democrat to appear on a major party presidential ticket.

It’s been decades since the Republicans were the dominant party in California. As of 1952, the GOP won nine out of ten presidential elections and the state helped send Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the White House.

But when Bill Clinton defeated President George HW Bush in 1992, a streak began that has now achieved eight direct victories for the Democrats, including Biden.

California Republicans were more focused on winning back some seats in the US House of Representatives after a string of losses two years ago. This included four districts that either wholly or partially contained Orange County, a former Republican stronghold. The Republicans only hold seven of the state’s 53 residences.

One of the toughest competitions is the 25th borough north of Los Angeles, where GOP MP Mike Garcia is trying again to stop Democrat Christy Smith after beating her for a seat in a special election in May due to the Democrat’s resignation Katie Hill was left open amid a home ethic probe of sexual misconduct. Also the 21st district in the Central Valley where former Republican MP David Valadao seeks to reclaim his seat from Democratic MP TJ Cox, who defeated Valadao by 862 votes in 2018.

Republican Darrell Issa has moved to a neighboring district to try to get back into the US home. The former longtime congressman stepped down in 2018 and now works in the 50th district primarily in San Diego County. The seat was left open when GOP MP Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty to a corruption charge and resigned.

CONTINUE READING: Fatal solo collision on Highway 4 in Antioch blocks lanes in a westerly direction

Most of the seats in the Bay Area House up for re-election on Tuesday evening were found by Democratic incumbents, who were at the top by a wide margin. San Francisco House Representative and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Oakland Representative Barbara Lee, Contra Costa County Representative Mark DeSaulnier, San Francisco / San Mateo Representative Jackie Speier, and San Jose Representatives, Ro Khanna and Zoe Lofgren, all of their races dominated from 77 percent to over 90 percent of the vote.

Anna Eshoo, another South Bay representative, led her Democratic rival Rishi Kumar by almost 67 to 33 percent.

Meanwhile, voters pondered a dozen statewide polls that could revamp property tax formulas, lift a ban on positive action, and redefine the billion-dollar business models of hail shipping companies Uber and Lyft.

The most expensive campaign involved an intense battle between companies and working groups over the future of app-based hail and delivery companies.

At stake is a 2019 law requiring companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to treat their drivers as employees in order to guarantee them benefits like overtime, sick leave and reimbursement. The companies signed Proposition 22 to try to maintain their business model of treating drivers as independent contractors.

The companies raised around $ 200 million to campaign for the measure, while the unions raised more than $ 20 million to fight it. A state appeals court has ruled that Uber and Lyft must comply with the law, which likely makes Proposition 22 their last hope.

Voters will also choose whether to increase business tax by up to $ 12.5 billion a year by triggering a new valuation every three years, with a few exceptions for smaller businesses.

Supporters have framed the debate to increase funding for schools and local governments that rely primarily on property taxes to pay for their services. Opponents have condemned the proposal as a tax hike to cut jobs amid a pandemic-triggered economic downturn.

One of the more emotional measures on the ballot is Proposition 16, which would end the state’s ban on positive action programs for hiring, contracting and admission to public colleges and universities. The democratically controlled legislature of the state put this on the ballot this year. She believed the racial justice protests since the assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis was the right time to end the ban.

MORE NEWS: Famous fashion designer Jessica McClintock from San Francisco dies

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The post Democrat Joe Biden Wins California’s 55 Electoral Votes; Bay Space Home Seats Keep With Incumbents – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.