One
of my readers let the cat out of the bag.
One of my readers exposed the deeply covered secret that I alone exposed last March: that the second largest business in San Francisco is education. I begged my readers to keep this fact a secret because in the perverse anti-commerce world of San Francisco and most big cities, big healthy business will be taxed, harassed and driven out of town for ideological reasons. My own quote: " If the City politicians had this data they would inadvertently set out to destroy this industry, with their ideological blindness."
It is nine months later and the Planning Commission of San Francisco asked the District Attorney to take legal action against the biggest and fastest growing private educational institution in San Francisco (the Academy of Art University with 16,000 students).Of course the Academy of Art University has done something that is downright criminal (I'm joking). It has taken a condemned (for the high cost of earthquake retrofitting) church, unused for 15 years, and used earthquake protected sections of the church for classrooms and study space. It has also taken warehouse space unused for decades and converted that to classrooms. It has done the same with an auto dealership.
I can only blame myself for this tragedy of a successful business being harassed. If I hadn't identified the commercial importance of education to San Francisco's vitality this might never have happened.
I hope the University can spare the $2 million in bribes it will take to payoff the S.F. politicians and straighten out this mess.