Black Friday?

How did that name originate when referring to the first official day of the Christmas shopping season. For those who just arrived on this planet, it really refers to the stock market crash and great depression which began in 1929. I don't think you could call today a depressing day unless it was the fact that people got up too early to go shopping and that there were too many of them.

Now, about a quality of life issue here in San Francisco. This is a platform that Gavin Newsom ran on when seeking the post of mayor but a lot of things in this area have gone undone. One of the most persistently bothersome things to me is the proflireration of dirty, empty, and vandalized news racks by the dozens on many streets. Many of them block access to the sidewalk from parked cars yet when I discussed with a friend the possibility of removing many of them, I was told that to do so would be infringing on "freedom of the press" rights. Well that is b.s.! How can the removal of unused news racks prevent anyone from publishing something euphamistically called a newspaper?

I do not propose the total ban of many of these worthless garbage cans which is what most have become but I do think the city should hold the owners and publishers of whatever publication liable. There should be a "use it of lose it" law. That is, the owner or publisher must maintain the rack in a neat and orderly condition and keep it stocked with whatever publication they are producing. To not do so would result in a fine and or removal and disposition of the unused and dirty racks cluttering up our sidewalks. Now, is that difficult? I think not! As it stands now these unsightly racks are a big part of much of the visual polution that resides in this city.

As for another major problem, the one of dirty sidewalks, why can't business owners or building owners sweep off their sidewalk each day and collect the garbage left there during the day and night? Doesn't anyone take any pride in their city? No, I don't expect things to as spic and span as Singapore but neither do I expect so many areas to look like a slum in progress. Again a simple law is all that is needed. Keep the sidewalk in front of your business or building clean or else the city will do it for you but bill you for the expenses. Many of these sidewalks need not only sweeping but steam cleaning and disinfecting. There are just too many black as well as brown spots and smudges out there. I wonder what I am tracking into the apartment at times. The streets and sidewalks of San Francisco have got to be the dirtiest I have encountered anywhere in this country, Europe, and Southeast Asia. I am not saying that they don't exist somewhere but a modern American city should be able to do better. What is the problem here? City government or lack thereof? Homeless people? Possibly and if so that bring me to another problem which I won't go into at the moment.