nate_sf

Thanks for providing that context. I wasn’t aware of all that… it definitely explains a lot!

I believe the conversions to housing are focused on converting upper floor offices to housing, at least from this summary on the SF gov website. I'm hopeful but skeptical, as converting an old office building to housing is not easy or inexpensive, but at least it's a barrier removed. Meanwhile ground floors will be allowed to have a wider range of commercial uses. SF's zoning is notoriously complicated and unfriendly to business, dating from an era where cities tried to micromanage the mix of businesses through zoning. SF has not been alone in having done this, but in combination with unrealistic rents it creates a bunch of long-term vacant storefronts all over the city. The Castro suffers from this as well... a long-standing bias against chain stores and restaurants, combined with rents that are not viable for the independent small businesses that are intended to be attracted. That's all well and fine when the economy is good, but doesn't work when things aren't good or where there are structural changes to retail that make those old rules obsolete. So I'm glad the city government is taking action on this, at least in downtown, but it will take some time for things to sort out.

A friend of mine who works in SF government was assigned to a homeless task force team for 6 months as part of a rotation from her usual position. She told me the process of assigning people to available low-income units is unbelievably slow and cumbersome, and the result is that units sit vacant for months at a time while people remain homeless. There is a complicated pecking order and an involved process that I'm sure is well-intended and meant to be accountable, but is clearly ineffective. Now of course this is me quoting hearsay so take it for what it's worth!

Thanks, I was not aware of the SF reparations task force, I'd only heard about the state one. I'm guessing the formula is similar to the one that the state's task force came up with, but that's just a guess. And you're right, it's political so will end that part of the discussion here.

I believe you are confusing this with the California Reparations Task Force. That is a state initiative, not a SF initiative. As Cal Matters reports, the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide on reparations, and it’s unclear what they will do with the task force report. The task force report has been controversial, to say the least.

An important part of this story is that the Old Navy store is more than 72,000 square feet. That is HUGE. A Target or Walmart is in the range of 100,000 - 150,000 square feet for reference, so 72,000 is really big for an Old Navy store. Given all the changes going on in retail in the last decade, I'm surprised this store did not close years ago given that big flagship stores (as well as department stores) are a dying breed. They just don't need that much space. Gap says they expect to open a new, smaller Old Navy store elsewhere downtown. They already opened a new one in their headquarters building on Folsom Street. And this is not the first downsizing: the big Banana Republic flagship store closed, and is being replaced by a new smaller store on Geary Street. So much of this has to do with dynamics in retail that are playing out everywhere. I suppose when the new Old Navy store opens, the media will not bother to report it, since it seems they're only interested in writing about the bad stuff. But having said all that, there are problem areas downtown, but also there are areas that are doing fine. It's patchy. Market Street around Old Navy and Westfield have seen better days, but they are not as bad as the media reports would want people to believe. The blocks of Powell Street from the cable car turnaround up a couple of blocks, on the other hand, are positively dreadful. But walk a couple of blocks over to Grant Street and things are looking really good. Union Square itself looks good. A big part of the problem is that downtown employment has not come back to the financial district. Employees love working remotely, and the types of jobs downtown lend themselves to remote work. So the financial district feels very empty, and there is not the foot traffic that used to support the retailers and other businesses. I've read a number of reports that indicate that San Francisco has been the slowest of all US cities to recover from the pandemic, and that is because so many employees continue to work remotely. As for the suggestion that the city is planning to place homeless in dormitories in the vacant stores, I have not heard that. I follow this stuff pretty closely and I'd be surprised if that was true, but by all means correct me if you can cite the source.

Yes, Nima Momeni.

This kind of thing happens from time to time in this pastime, on both the client’s and provider’s side. Technology is always in the background, making surprising connections. It’s usually best to not mention it to the other party, just let it sit unless he suggests connecting once you’ve met. Some providers have public-facing social media that they use to promote themselves, so that’s different than if it’s a personal profile with friends and family stuff. If it’s promotional social media, then that’s different and I’d see no issue with connecting… that’s what it’s for. I have this, and I like it when a client connects and engages. But if it’s a personal account, best to let it lie. Worth mentioning is that another common way people may inadvertently reveal their identity is through the payment apps. When people send me payment through Venmo it more often than not shows their real name. I never say anything other than acknowledge the payment, but if someone is concerned with privacy this is something to consider.

I'm thinking it could be a change in the spam filters, and they are doing a better job of catching spam. But then wouldn't it just result in more messages going into the spam folder rather than the usual inbox? Not sure. The office I work in just installed Office365 across the network, and a whole bunch of things changed including spam messages going away. Every day or two I get an email summarizing messages that have been quarantined, and they're the usual suspects. The only difference is I don't see these spam messages anywhere, neither in my inbox or the junk folder. The only reason I know they exist is because of the quarantine message, otherwise I'd have no idea they were sent at all.

This is absolutely correct. Basically it’s the escort saying he’s not available now but will be back in the future. Of course if they froze their ad and forgot about it, maybe they won’t be back? I’m not sure whether there is a time limit on freezes. Without a freeze the ad just expires.

I’m starting with Hello Fresh this weekend. We’ll see how it goes! They show the nutritional info for each meal so I was able to identify a few low sodium choices. But I expect this will be some trial and error.

Thanks for this report. Much appreciated! And congrats on losing your lapdance virginity 😛