San Francisco's restaurant permitting maze is back in the spotlight: legal wine service requires six months of waiting and fees across four agencies, while stolen bottles trade openly two blocks from City Hall. Richmond, meanwhile, just voted 4-3 to reinstate the Flock camera network it disabled last fall—a reversal driven by a 33% spike in car thefts that hit immigrant shopkeepers hardest. Across California, the question is the same: who does the regulatory system actually protect?
SF makes restaurant owners navigate four agencies and wait six months to serve wine legally. Two blocks away, stolen bottles trade with impunity.
Car thefts jumped 33% after Richmond killed its Flock cameras. The people begging to bring them back were immigrant shopkeepers.
The city disabled its license plate readers to virtue signal national issues. Immigrant shopkeepers are paying the price.
California Forever just brokered the largest construction labor agreement in American history. YIMBY is winning.
The city charges property owners $362+ if graffiti isn't removed in 30 days—while taggers walk free.
San Francisco Centre's last tenants get evicted while the Chronicle pretends shoplifting and drug use had nothing to do with it.