San Francisco News: SF Giants, Mayor Lee – Mirkarimi Aftermath, No WonderCon

Catching up on San Francisco news.

The San Francisco Giants capped a glorious World Championship season with another giant parade down Market Street Wednesday. This one, which culminated with a large ceremony in front of San Francisco City Hall, wasn’t larger than the 2010 version that drew over a million people (largely due to the weather), it was about the same size. It’s becoming habit to host San Francisco sports teams in this way, but it’s been a long time between events – the last time before the SF Giant’s success was the San Francisco 49ers last Super Bowl win in 1994 for the 1993 season.

Now, with the 49ers current success and the SF Giant’s party this week, we could see another celebration in February. Does this make Market Street the new “Canyon Of Heroes”? We shall see.

Mayor Lee – Mirkarimi Aftermath

Looking back on the aftermath of the attempt by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to have Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi removed from his job after Ross’ domestic dispute with his wife Eliana Lopez, and we find a Mayor with exactly what this blogger predicted: a weakened position.

Recent polls showed that only 39 percent of San Franciscans polled believed that Sheriff Mirkarimi should be removed from office. Meanwhile, Mayor Ed Lee’s popularity fell from 69 percent to 49 percent between February and July, with only 9 percent of those polled saying he was doing an excellent job. Thus, the climate for any kind of successful recall initiative has changed; such an effort hasn’t happened because the desire to see it through just isn’t there.

Something that may be “there,” however, is the Mayor Lee, City Attorney’s drive to block Ross from overseeing domestic violence programs that are influenced by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office. Both the CA and the DA think Ross, who’s serving a three year probation for child endangerment, is operating at a conflict of interest. Ross, of course, disagrees.

District Attorney George Gascon said “It is obvious to me that we cannot trust the sheriff to do the right things, so we’re going to have to make sure that the right things are taken care of,” Gascon said after announcing the city has received a $650,000 federal grant to help high-risk domestic violence victims. Let’s see how that plays out.

San Francisco Says WonderCon Doesn’t Make Money

This entry deserves its own blog post, so it will get one. WonderCon, the annual convention that brings comic book and pop culture lovers to San Francisco was in Anaheim this year, and because Moscone Center was undergoing an expansion. But the last time this blogger checked Comic Con International was still waiting to hear from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office regarding WonderCon’s future in San Francisco. When they finally did get back to Comic Con International, San Francisco Moscone Center reps didn’t have any dates for the spring, but reportedly said they would get back to them in October with fall dates.

It’s November.

Meanwhile, Anaheim’s Convention and Visitors Bureau was fast to get out a date for the next WonderCon in 2013: March 29-31, 2013 in Anaheim. Why is it that San Francisco’s so very slow in responding to the task of getting WonderCon back to the City? Well it’s because San Francisco doesn’t see WonderCon as a money-maker. That very observation was communicated to this blogger by a high-level city official who did not want to be identified. The person said, very simply, that “WonderCon doesn’t make money for San Francisco.”

I think that’s a mistake.

WonderCon tends to draw about 35,000 to 40,000 people, but because of the overall increase in interest in comic books that’s been fueled by the rise in movies around comic book properties, the crowd numbers have trended upward for WonderCon. When WonderCon went to Anaheim, it drew Bay Area residents with it, and to the area hotels there. The same dynamic would happen if WonderCon returned to San Francisco.

Moreover, if San Francisco looked at WonderCon more favorably, it would help give it the high-level of attention it, and its patrons deserve. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee would be better off making a formal declaration that WonderCon’s an asset to San Francisco. But given what I’ve been told, that doesn’t seem to be an event one can count on.

So far, score it for Anaheim. But I don’t see why Oakland can’t fight for WonderCon, either.

Stay tuned.