By Joel P. Engardio -- Baby boomers changed everything because they were never content with the old rules of sex -- or career, or parenting or retirement. Now senior citizens, they are beginning to face a final taboo harder to break than sex ever was. Death has a lot of room for improvement.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- When it comes to things that evoke absolute feelings of love or hate, Airbnb is in the same league as Donald Trump, LeBron James and cilantro. In San Francisco, forces against Airbnb clash with those who swear by the polarizing innovation. There is a solution, but not everyone will like it.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- David Traylor attacked a tourist in a crack-fueled schizophrenic episode. But he isn't psychotic, in jail or dead today thanks to San Francisco's Behavioral Health Court. He is medicated, has a home and a job. Yet homeless and mentally ill people who haven't committed felonies are left to suffer as they scream at commuters and use the sidewalk as a toilet. Why don't we treat people who can't take care of themselves before they become violent?
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Legislative aide Gary McCoy proved that the human spirit can survive some very dark places when there is a path to realize its full potential. Yet McCoy also proves that simply throwing money at social services is not what saved him.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- What do Groundhog Day, the boogeyman, Whack-a-Mole and the phrase “like sand slipping through your fingers” have in common? They illustrate San Francisco’s perpetual housing crisis.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Large Catholic and Asian populations on the westside are less inclined to embrace issues like marijuana dispensaries or LGBT rights accepted by the rest of San Francisco without question. So it’s a profile in courage that Assemblymember Phil Ting doesn’t just give lip service or stay neutral on LGBT issues when he needs westside votes to keep his job.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- “Sometimes when you put people together the sum is worse than the parts, which is the best way to describe the old board of trustees,” said Rafael Mandelman, president of City College's new board. “We can’t afford to have factions pitted against each other like before. My role is to keep folks working together and focused on saving the college.”
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- At first glance, this is another sad eviction story in the ongoing saga of San Francisco’s overheated housing market: An elderly Latino couple living in the Mission for 50 years versus millennial newcomers seeking a hip neighborhood. Yet what kind of story is it if the Spanish-speaking grandparents are the ones doing the evicting?
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Now that I have both a column and a voting record as a new member of the Democratic County Central Committee, everyone wants to know if I’ll adjust my views for maximum votes. If only it were that simple.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Even in San Francisco, a city synonymous with social justice and LGBT pride, the intersection of race and sexual orientation/identity can be complicated.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Everything I know about women’s prisons I learned watching the Netflix hit “Orange is the New Black.” So it was tempting to ask Vicki Hennessy – a candidate for sheriff who began her career in 1975 guarding the women’s jail in San Bruno – how real the show is.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- As we celebrate marriage equality, it is worth remembering the setbacks and lessons learned on the way to the Supreme Court's historic ruling. How we persevered will help us in the work that remains to ensure a perfect union for everyone.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- A flood of previously unengaged residents easily connecting with City Hall through technology could transform San Francisco into a place of true progress. Yet change of that magnitude is scary for everyone invested in the current balance of power.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- It’s easy to forget that hippies and gays were originally despised as invaders and displacers when they first arrived in San Francisco. Does this mean a time will come when tech workers are celebrated in The City’s folklore?
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- If Netflix wants to produce a “House of Cards” based on San Francisco politics, the race to win Chinatown has plenty of plot points.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- For a nation that prides itself on democracy, we sure make voting inconvenient and confusing. But what if there was a promise of voting nirvana on the other side of the madness?
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- My mom wouldn't go to my recent wedding, but the Supreme Court is hearing a big case this week that could make same-sex marriage legal nationwide by July. A personal take on what this means for families still divided.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- If San Francisco is able to solve its housing crisis and become a city where middle-income families can survive, we might celebrate the day Eugene Lew, 78, learned how to use a MacBook computer in the Apple store at Stonestown Mall.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- Are show tunes the best way to reach Americans on the fence about gay marriage? One San Francisco family – a gay couple, their adopted daughter and a goldendoodle – hopes their story will win over the remaining hearts and minds.
Read MoreBy Joel P. Engardio -- San Franciscans don’t fear social media because it merely wastes time or reduces privacy. They’re scared of being pushed out by highly paid tech workers who move in, drive up prices and alter the community’s character. As long as these fears persist, there will be voters in San Francisco to fight against market forces and politicians to cater to them.
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