$4 toast is the last straw - motivates group to protest affordability issues in SF [View all]

[Liberal_in_LA]

$4 toast prompts housing petition

Everybody has their own "Holy cow, I can't believe life in San Francisco is so expensive!" tale of woe. For Eddie Kurtz, it was reading about a $4 piece of toast.

Venture Beat recently published a blog post titled "$4 toast: Why the tech industry is ruining San Francisco," citing a $4 piece of toast at the Mill on Divisadero. Kurtz, political director for the Courage Campaign, cited it as an example of an increasingly unaffordable San Francisco that motivated his group to launch a petition calling on Mayor Ed Lee to do something.

Of course, the petition is really about pushing the mayor to fight for affordable housing, not affordable toast, but it's all linked in the realm of this city is crazy expensive.

"It feels like there's a widening sense that this is out of control," Kurtz said. "It feels like there's just a widening gap, and regular people who often don't think about these things are having sticker shock about trying to find an apartment and pay the bills."

The petition reads, in part, "Sign on and tell Mayor Lee: San Francisco became one of the greatest cities in the world because it valued the working class. Unless you change course, our vibrant, diverse city will become a memory."

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/4-toast-prompts-housing-petition-4962002.php