My favorite passage from this article:
Among the more techno-libertarian element of conservative San Francisco, you might even run into some questions about what "conservative" really means.
"San Francisco is the most conservative city in America, by far," says Auren Hoffman, chairman of the 527 (nonparty political fund raising) group Lead21. "It is the most closed to change, the most closed to innovation, the most closed to new ideas. Not only is the city not a good innovator, it's not even a good copier. Ideas that have worked well in New York, in Los Angeles, in Chicago, and in many other cities get rejected out of hand in San Francisco. "
Hoffman, founder of a consultancy called Stonebrick and a technology consultant for Newsom's 2003 campaign, barely fits into a traditional pattern of conservatism. "The city of San Francisco does very little to help street people get on their feet," he says. "The city will spend millions of dollars doing job training to get somebody an entry-level job at PG&E, which is the closest thing to jail you can find in the job market. Why not issue get-out-of- regulation-free cards to encourage people to start their own businesses, even if it's something as simple as selling their artwork on the sidewalk or selling sodas in the financial district?"
Posted by Matt Bruce at January 24, 2005 10:46 AM