Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 15.
- Silicon Valley embraces the authoritarian Middle East.
- Negotiation ends UC Berkeley protest encampment.
- And the hidden beauty of ordinary Sacramento.
Statewide
1.
When California state lawmakers don’t want to go on record opposing a bill, they are increasingly resorting to what critics say is a craven tactic: not voting at all. So far this year, at least 12 bills have died because lawmakers declined to vote. The measures included efforts to increase transparency in lawmaking and crack down on disfavored lobbying practices by utilities. State Sen. Tom Umberg, a Democrat, said it would be “appropriate” for legislators to vote. “But, you know, that is the system that we have. Should we change it? Probably.” CalMatters
2.
The office vacancy rate in San Francisco hit an all-time high of 36.6% in early 2024, up from around 5% before the pandemic. Yet another welcome trend has emerged: downtown activity after working hours has surged back to 2019 levels. That’s according to a new University of Toronto analysis of cellphone activity. “Many large downtowns struggling to bring back activity during the workweek are booming after hours,” the researchers wrote. In downtown Los Angeles, San Jose, and Fresno, after-work cellphone activity has actually surpassed that of 2019. Washington Post | University of Toronto
- On May 2, a San Francisco arts coalition launched a giant monthly street party aimed at revitalizing the downtown. An estimated 20,000 people showed up. KTVU
3.
Big Sur’s Highway 1 will reopen Friday after an Easter weekend road collapse made the vital artery impassable, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday. To fix the highway, road crew technicians were dangled in baskets by a crane and inserted dozens of steel supports into the slope under the highway. Those were then sprayed with pressurized concrete. The quick work came as a huge relief for Big Sur businesses that depend on summer tourism. L.A. Times | San Luis Obispo Tribune
Northern California
4.
Some in Silicon Valley used to shun Middle Eastern funding over concerns about human rights abuses. But the AI arms race is driving a seismic shift in the region’s prominence as tech founders and investors quietly pilgrimage to the sovereign wealth funds of the Persian Gulf states. “Everyone I talk to is either going to or coming back from the UAE,” said Andrew Feldman, an AI entrepreneur. The Washington Post wrote about “how the authoritarian Middle East became the capital of Silicon Valley.”
5.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley took down their encampment on Tuesday after Chancellor Carol Christ agreed to initiate a review of the university’s investments in weapons companies, even as she rejected calls to divest from Israel. The negotiated end of the three-week-old encampment, which peaked at more than 180 tents, contrasted with the chaotic police sweeps at campuses such as Cal Poly Humboldt and UCLA. “I’ve got a long history of Berkeley, and in my experience protests don’t end with police action,” Christ said. “They end with negotiations.” L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
- The UC system’s chief investment officer responded to protesters’ divestment demands during a meeting on Tuesday. His answer, in short: No. S.F. Chronicle | EdSource
6.
Sonoma County supervisors on Tuesday reluctantly approved a measure for the November ballot that would limit the size of factory farms, said to be the first measure of its kind in the U.S. The aim is to eliminate so-called concentrated animal feeding operations, farms that have made meat more affordable but include downsides. Critics say they harm animals, incubate disease, and degrade the environment. At the board hearing, third- and fourth-generation farmers said the ban would kill off family-owned businesses and upend the character of the region. Press Democrat
7.
In San Francisco’s dense Excelsior neighborhood, parking is a nightmare. When a driver does finally find a spot, they often discover that it is blocked by a bright orange cone. Reporter Garrett Leahy traced the illegal practice to a group he dubbed “the cone people.” During his investigation, Leahy moved a cone in front of one house, parked his car there, and knocked on the door, asking if that was OK. “No,” said Julio Gonzalez, who admitted to placing the cone for 20 years. “My wife comes home at 1 a.m. That’s her spot.” S.F. Standard
8.
Some years ago, Enoch Ku met a fellow Sacramento photographer who said there’s nothing worth shooting in the capital city. Ku found the idea egregious, he told the Sacramento News & Review: “If you think you have to travel somewhere just for a good picture, you’re missing out on the ordinary moments of life, beautiful moments of life, that are right in front of you.” That belief underpins Ku’s “Ordinary Sacramento,” an ongoing project that invites viewers to slow down and discover the beauty in the mundane. Booooooom | IGNANT magazine
- See more photos in Ku’s Instagram. 👉 @ordinaryanywhere
Southern California
9.
The 22-year-old behind the wheel in a horrific high-speed crash that left three people dead in Pasadena last Saturday was driving on a suspended license and had a pending DUI case, the authorities said. According to the police, Moheb Samuel was traveling faster than 100 mph in a Tesla filled with young people around 2:38 a.m. when the car veered off the road, went airborne, and slammed into a building. Samuel, Stefan Pfeiffer, 20, and Esrom Fessemaye, 22, died, reports said. Three others survived with severe injuries. L.A. Times | San Gabriel Valley Tribune
- See video of the crash. 👉 YouTube
10.
An incomplete list of attacks on public transit in Los Angeles over the last month:
- April 22: a 67-year-old woman was fatally stabbed on a Metro train.
- April 26: An argument broke out between three people on a bus and escalated into a stabbing.
- May 7: A knife-wielding man was fatally shot after stabbing a security guard at a Metro station, police said.
- May 13: An attempted robbery on a Metro bus resulted in two people being stabbed, reports said. On the same day, a woman was stabbed at a Metro station.
- May 14: A suspect attacked a man with a wrench and stole his cellphone on a Metro bus, police said.
Enough is enough, columnist Steve Lopez wrote recently. “The great cities of the world have great systems, and they figure out how to make them work — safely and efficiently — for people of all ages. Los Angeles has to do the same, no more excuses.” L.A. Times
11.
An obscure state park agency has been issuing roughly 17,000 tickets a year to the motorists caught committing the so-called California roll, or failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. The citations are the work of the Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority, which oversees roughly 120 square miles of Southern California parkland and has broad authority to enforce relevant ordinances, which it does with the prodigious use of automated cameras near stop signs. KTLA | Jalopnik
12.
There’s a house as skinny as a typical prison cell in Long Beach. As the story goes, in 1932, a fellow named Newton Rummonds received the 10-foot-wide lot as repayment for a $100 loan. As neighbors chattered about the worthlessness of the parcel, Rummonds set out to prove them wrong, erecting one of the country’s skinniest houses: a Tudor-style stucco structure with two bedrooms and one bath. If only Rummonds could have lived long enough to see the house’s changing fortunes. Redfin estimates its 2024 value at $630,000. Atlas Obscura
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