The Fun Police

Ben & Sharky meet with San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee Chair (wow what a mouthful!) and Mayoral Transition Advisor Nancy Tung. We discuss the then-upcoming Mayoral appointments (which, thanks to a grumpy SD disk, took a week to post so those appointments have now been made) as well as the then-upcoming Board of Supervisors election for Board President. Sound like inside baseball? It absolutely is. This is the kind of magic our little podcast delivers. Also, now that the election is over, we're gonna try and make Fun Police episodes a bit more regularly. No promises, but that's our intention for 2025.

Bet you were just DYING to listen to us talk about four of the FIFTEEN ballot propositions on the ballot this November. If that's the case then today is your lucky day! Ben, Manny(!!!!), and Sharky come out of hiatus (and some of us came out of their shirts) to bring you this scintalicious propoalicious chit chat to brighten your week with

We do a quick analysis of the most recent election (featuring some insightful observations from our friend and former United Democratic Club president Bobak Esfandiari) before getting into an EXHAUSTIVE analysis of the state of the upcoming mayoral race. We examine the case *for* and the case *against* each of the candidates (and potential candidates... *PLURAL*) and how the heck Ranked Choice Voting will play into their strategies. This episode is super long (our longest ever!), but holy cow there's a lot of candidates!

Season 2 begins! We've got updates on what we've been up to, what to look forward to in upcoming episodes, and launch into the upcoming election season with an explainer on the 7 ballot measures on the March ballot (which you can do early voting on starting today!). Our guest host is Nate Allbee aka "The Progressive Assassin"

Today's remote recording was recorded live on site the Civic Center Carnival which was fun for us to record, but there were some challenges which we won't spoil in the description but will leave it to our listeners to discover.Today's Topic du jour is the Homeless Injunction Rally. We probably all stepped on a million landmines, so look for our dismembered bodies on future episodes of The Fun Police.

With no identifiable major topic, for today's episode we settled on a rapid-fire run through of a number of issues and topics. Spoiler alert: there's a singalong at one point.

After catching up on all our summer travels the aftermath of the Dolores Hill Bomb event is discussed with fun advocate Nate Albee. Also covered is the Chron's investigative piece on the network of dealers flowing from a small town in the Honduras and back again.

Sorry for the break! A previous show recorded live at Zuni Cafe turned out to have too much background noise to be usable (who could have possibly guessed?). Today we discuss the tragic shooting of Banko Brown, and interview San Francisco's new Drag Laureate D'Arcy Drollinger.

We recorded this episode on Monday, April 3rd, moments after learning the shocking news about legendary drag queen Heklina, a beloved figure in the nightlife scene. We carried on, as Heklina would have wanted us to, and covered the Doom Loop, and rumors about the upcoming 2023 elections

It has, as the kids say, been a minute since we dove into housing. This has been a top 3 issue in SF for many years, and while an hour isn't a lot of time, we did manage to cover a lot of ground. We also learned some things about Ben and his relationship with his mother, and it looks like Manny has been losing weight? Or maybe he was heavier before, and he is just less heavy? Hard to say.

Today's Topic Du Jour is Healthy San Francisco a policy that collected hundreds of millions of dollars from businesses for worker healthcare that never wound up helping the workers. The City now wants to move the money into the General Fund where it can be used for *anything* and the Fun Police have OPINIONS about this. Also covered: Supervisor committee assignments, and a fun idea for the whole city is explored.

Today, after bemoaning recent misfortunes that have fallen on Fun Policers, we talk about the recent election (after 17 ballots!) of Supervisor Aaron Peskin to the presidency of the Board of Supervisors. We get into the technicals, the ambiguities, the politics, and the conspiracy theories. Joining us is our good friend, and former legislative aide, Andy Mullan. Today's Fun Idea is brought to you by Tokyo.

On today's episode we look at the recent news that hundreds of employees in the Department of Public Health have side gigs they did not disclose as required under City rules. We also learn why Sharky had more fun than Manny or Ben the past week.

It's time to recap the election, and figure out who was the most right in our predictions (spoiler alert: we never got around to actually figuring that out, we just made fun of each other as usual). Also covered is a fun idea to make sure we have fun ideas.

We explore the local races and offer our predictions. Who will be the rightest? We'll know soon enough!!!! Today's fun idea brought to you by Madeline.

Today we discuss the particulars of the infamous $1.7M Noe Valley toilet. What was the money for? How did it get budgeted? Most importantly: how do we fix this so it doesn't happen again? Also covered is a certain Fun Police host's sold out rock show, Manny's Sharon Stone moment, and a musical idea for the City's parklets.

The Fun Police talk to legendary legislative aide Andy Mullan about why he's leaving San Francisco, what he's learned during his time in City Hall, and one of the most difficult constituent encounters of all time. In today's fun idea we explore a hidden treasure of San Francisco.

The recent news about undated resignation letters is discussed and analyzed through the lens of three mayoral appointees - one of whom signed one of the letters. Also discussed: a pending potential collapse in the number of parklets, and the local Democratic Party (DCCC = Democratic County Central Committee), and this week we have a spooky fun idea.

The state of the D6 race between our remarkably human candidates Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Honey Mahogany is analyzed, the challenges facing policy work around people experiencing homeless is debated, and a fun idea for downtown office space is brought up

Manny returns from his multi-month sojourn to Europe, and oh boy is there an awful lot to catch up on. Fashion trends in Europe, cell phone toxicity, plus local politics including the campaign of Prop B to eliminate Prop B, and how we are dealing (or not dealing) with open air drug markets. Today's One Fun Idea is a call to inaction, can we rise to the challenge????

The challenge of good politics vs. good policy is covered with Governor Newsom's veto of overdose prevention as case exemplar. The death of the 4am bill is mourned, a few rapid fire topics are covered (Nuru sentencing, DPW trash cans), and a fun idea for climate catastrophe.

Between hot takes on TV shows and discussions of flesh eating bacteria we truly have a doozy of a Topic Du Jour today, which is https://sfstandard.com/politics/elections/backers-of-amazon-tax-suspend-campaign-following-pushback-from-small-business/ (how the Fun Police managed to find themselves in the middle of recalling.... a ballot measure)???? The DA's race is also discussed, and a fun idea for property crimes.

Android users get dissed, a political fight over School Board Commissioner Ann Hsu's remarks is analyzed (probably not wisely), and upcoming ballot measures to change the election year, and what is likely a doomed effort to bring cars back to JFK Drive (and the Great Highway) are discussed. Conor says Armand is right about something, and has a fun idea that will appeal to angry literary types.

Our hosts discuss the new incoming DA and some of the issues surrounding her new job. Also discussed is the "Night Mayor" concept, which (spoiler alert) Ben hates, and on One Fun Idea we try to remember what words are.

Newly minted Legislative Aide for Assemblymember Matt Haney and occasional guest host/political assassin Nate Albee joins us to discuss the latest happening in Sacramento politics. We also have a lengthy discussion about safe injection sites.

Sharky and Ben have a fireside chat with San Francisco Chief Economist Ted Egan at the Entertainment Summit. Topics discussed include nightlife, economic recovery, the City's budget process, and Ted's fashion choices.

San Francisco is not the only city with a wild political scene. We take a look at the Mayor's race in Los Angeles, how their DA (who is originally from San Francisco) is doing, and review a promising fun idea to celebrate Pride.

Election recap with former Mayor Breed Chief of Staff Conor Johnston.

On today's episode we talk about the conclusion to the Pride imbroglio, cover the introduction of the law to increase the time alcohol can be served to 4am, and have a long talk about the budget with San Francisco Mayor London Breed

The issue of gun control is completely solved on this podcast, and we can now stop talking about it. The Mayor's decision to join the police and fire departments in sitting out of the Pride parade is also discussed. A fun idea is suggested that could help resolve that issue too.

Political consultant Nate Allbee joins to discuss the DA recall, whether the electorate in SF is changing, the nature of policing, and a truly historical One Fun Idea.

Manny's back from Berlin, and special guest Meaghan Mitchell (SF Standard journalist) joins us to discuss the upcoming street cleaning commission, graffiti legislation, homeless point-in-time counts, D6 supervisor competition, Portola Music Festival, and a groundbreaking doubleheader in One Fun Idea.

Manny is out of the country so our guest host today is Conor Johnston, former chief of staff for Mayor Breed back when she was a supervisor. Conor provides some perspective on the D6 candidates before having to suddenly leave with some potentially breaking news on the subject happening right as we chatted. The Fun Police tackles the not very fun subject of the SCOTUS opinion overturning Roe Vs. Wade that has been circulating this past week. To help us wrap our head around what we can actually do about it we have Lala Wu, one of the cofounders of https://sisterdistrict.com/ (Sister District) an organization that helps elect progressive Democrats in competitive districts. Today's fun idea is a "you heard it here first" for the ages! :-)

The AD-17 race is finally over. We provide all our takes on all the things, and since the winning candidate ran on a build-housing-centric message, we also have YIMBY Action Executive Director Laura Foote join us to provide her analysis as well. The fashion choices of Ben and Sharky are compared, much to Sharky's dismay, and we learn about Manny's new inamorato.

San Francisco's hotly contested redistricting process is discussed. A new song is created on the fly with Ben on vocals, and a contest we can all participate in is discussed.

The Governor's gas debit card proposal is debated, several of the upcoming ballot measures are discussed, and we get a really fun idea from a very special guest

On todays episode we analyze a possible misstep by a candidate in the state Assembly race, discuss upcoming ballot measures, eat several apples and a few bags of nuts, and sliiiiide into your dms with an exciting and truly fun idea.

Board of Education commissioners are congratulated, Manny's marathon vote on Car-Free JFK is memorialized, and the Mayor's State of The City speech is discussed. Ben has a "fun" idea that SF golfers will love.

Today we discuss a recent pagan ceremony, the Mayor's endorsement of Car-Free JFK, bar windows, and a musical fun idea for BART that reveals none of us knows what a Scandinavian country is.

It's been an intense week with the invasion of Ukraine, and like everyone else we've been doomscrolling like crazy, but life marches on and we need to keep our eyes on the here and now. We cover a residential vacancy tax ballot measure, a proposal to require businesses to accommodate flexible working hours, and analyze some of the recent messaging in the Assembly District race. Today's One Fun Idea is brought to you by Hefty, Glad, and Kirkland.

The Fun Police get together to discuss yesterday's election results. Who voted, who did they vote for, and what does it all mean?

The lingering effects of Sunday's sportsball event are discussed, the threshold for belonging to SF is established, hyper-detailed voting predictions are made for today's election (find out if we were right or wrong within hours!), and a fun idea involving flash mobs as a force for good is proposed

We talk with former Deputy Chief Jim Dudley (who now teaches criminal justice at SF State) about his 30+ career on the police force, and his perspective on San Francisco policing and politics.

The new Amazon fulfillment center is discussed, and BART Board Director Janice Li joins us to talk about Asian hate crimes, BART bathrooms, and share her one fun idea that would instantly make the City more musical.

An announced transformation of Castro Theater is discussed, downtown buildings are analyzed, several eggs are consumed, and a discussion of housing and coalition building with California State Senator Scott Wiener.

Ben confuses everyone with a sports update. Manny gives hot tips on eye care and how to not get your car towed. We talk about every single facet of the school board recall (now that the ballots are here), guest Damien Posey shares his incredible life story with us and the work he does to help prevent violence, and a fun idea for Ocean Beach is analyzed.

Some big health topics come up for our hosts. Also covered: the perennial issue of Car-Free JFK, a proposal for homeless housing hits a road block, and a fun idea for City Hall that Ben promises could actually happen.

A big movie premiere hits SF and everyone's scrambling for a spot on the green carpet. A lengthy discussion of the Mayor's Tenderloin emergency proclamation followed by some deeply flawed prognostications, and a fun idea that could actually happen!

Celebrity chef David Nayfeld (of Che Fico) joins us to catch up on hijinks from the recently completed Santacon, feast on the latest food trends, talk about perplexing Parklet pronouncements, and consider a radical idea to transform the Bay Area into the Yay Area.

Today in a Fun Police first, we have TWO guests! First up is Laura Thomas, who is the Deputy State Director, California, of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs. We talk about Safe Consumption Sites in San Francisco, and what they might mean for the lives of people addicted to opioids. We also learn that we should be learning Netherlandish. Also joining us is Dr. Jahan Fahimi, who is the Medical Director for UCSF's Adult Emergency Department. We talk about the new Omicron variant, and the importance of having a good hat game (the Dr does). And of course, we have a vigorous discussion about this week's One Fun Idea.

We continue the discussion around flash mob robberies and the impact they have had on local politics, some good news about the entertainment industry, One Fun Idea (with theme music!), and an important discussion about flossing.