Economist.com Cities Guide: San Francisco Briefing - July 2005

News this month

Home-grown al-Qaeda

A father and son are among five men being detained as part of an FBI investigation into a possible al-Qaeda terrorist network operating from the Farooqia Islamic Centre in Lodi, 30 miles south of Sacramento. Umer Hayat, 47, and his son, Hamid, 22, both American citizens, were charged with lying to federal investigators about Hamid’s alleged training in a Pakistani terrorist camp. Authorities claim that Hamid travelled repeatedly to Pakistan in 2003 and 2004, spending a total of six months at a camp near Rawalpindi. His father was arrested for initially denying his son attended such a camp, before admitting he knew about the trips. The other three men in custody are being held on alleged immigration violations. One is the cleric who runs the Lodi centre. All five have denied links to terrorism.

The investigation has created an uproar in northern California’s Muslim community. Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan’s prime minister, has criticised the probe, insisting there are no such camps near Rawalpindi.

Deep Throat unveiled

One of the biggest mysteries in American politics was solved in early June when a 91-year-old man from Santa Rosa revealed that he was “Deep Throat”, the anonymous source who brought down Richard Nixon. Mark Felt, the FBI’s second-in-command during the Watergate scandal, admitted to Vanity Fair that he supplied information to two Washington Post reporters that helped end Nixon’s presidency in 1974. “I wasn't trying to bring him down,” Mr Felt said about Nixon. Instead, he claimed that he was only doing his duty.

Mr Felt had been fingered in other reports, but long denied the connection. He was prompted to reveal the truth by his family, and his announcement has proved lucrative. Tom Hanks, a film star, has agreed to pay $1.5m for the rights to the story.

Puffing rights

Two women from northern California say they will continue to use marijuana for medical reasons, despite losing their Supreme Court challenge against a federal ban on marijuana. Angel Raich, a cancer patient, and Diane Monson, who says marijuana helps fend off back pain, sued the US government, saying that California’s medical marijuana law gave them the right to smoke the drug.

But the court ruled by a margin of 6-3 that the US government can continue to prosecute people for possessing marijuana under federal law, even if they have permission from a doctor, as allowed by the laws of 11 states, including California. The court’s ruling does not actually repeal California’s law, and federal authorities admit they are unlikely to target individual patients and small suppliers.

Bad dogs

Two recent attacks by pit-bull terriers in the Bay Area, one of them fatal, have re-ignited the debate about dangerous dog breeds. Nicholas Faibish, a 12-year-old, was killed on June 3rd while he was left alone with his family’s two pit-bulls. His mother had shut him in the basement and ordered him to not to go into the apartment with the dogs until she returned.

While prosecutors consider charging her with child endangerment, a task force formed by Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, has recommended that all pit-bulls be spayed or neutered. The new attacks, which include one on a woman in the North Bay town of Rohnert Park, follow three other serious pit-bull assaults in the area since 2001.

Green goals

After a five-day UN World Environment Day conference in San Francisco, the mayors of 68 international cities reportedly came away confident that they could contribute to improving the global environment. Fifty of the mayors, including Mr Newsom, who helped host the event, signed an agreement outlining 21 goals. These include increasing renewable energy sources, affordable public transport and green spaces, and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and landfills. The mayors argued that environmental reform often starts at the local level, which gives them the power to make a difference.

San Francisco officials are already considering borrowing ideas from other delegates, such as Chicago’s programme to plant trees and other flora, and London’s congestion charging.

Catch if you can

July 2005

Midsummer Mozart Festival

July 14th-24th 2005

This annual series of concerts, founded in 1974, is the only music festival in North America dedicated exclusively to Mozart. It offers the opportunity to catch some of the Bay Area's most talented musicians—look out for Robin Hansen, a violinist, and Victor Romasevich, a violist, who will perform Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat major. Other highlights include appearances by Seymour Lipkin, an accomplished pianist (performing the Concerto in B flat major), and Christina Major, a talented soprano.

With eight concerts to choose from in four different venues (most of them outdoors), and a series of pre-concert talks by the musicians, this is one of the region's better classical musical festivals. Book well ahead, and take a picnic hamper.

Midsummer Mozart Festival. Tel +1 (415) 627-9145. See the festival's website for schedule and locations.

More from the San Francisco cultural calendar