Boston Shopping Guide

Banned in San Fran: A Guide to What the City Has Rejected

Handguns:  A measure passed by city voters in 2005 banned the possession of handguns for private use. It also prohibited the manufacture, sale, or distribution of any type of firearms within the city limits of San Francisco. The National Rifle Association immediately sued to have the ban overturned, and in 2008, after a series of decisions and appeals, the California Supreme Court decided the ban was unconstitutional .

Circumcision: Activists have gotten enough signatures on a proposed ballot measure banning the practice of circumcision to add it to this fall's election. The proposed ban quickly became the subject of controversy by critics who said it would be an institutionalized form of antisemitism . Last week, a coalition of Jews and Muslims sued the city's elections commission to have the measure removed from the ballot before the election. "There are anti-Semitic overtones to the initiative ... that adds to the perception of threat by the Jewish community," attorney Michael Jacobs said.

Plastic shopping bags: In 2007, the city's board of supervisors successfully passed the nation's first ban on plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and large chain pharmacies. Unlike some of the other bans that have received snickers from the rest of the country, this one worked well , reducing the number of bags consumed in the city by about five million a month in its first year. Now, Portland, Oregon, Boston, and other cities have also instituted their own bans.

Smoking: While plenty of cities and states have prohibited smoking indoors, San Francisco was at the vanguard of that movement. Since California banned smoking in most indoor public places in 1994, and in bars and nightclubs in 1998, San Francisco has gone much further. The most recent extension of its citywide smoking ban, passed in March 2010, prohibits lighting up at ATMs, pretty much any line in which you're waiting, outdoor seating at cafes, and some semi-enclosed bar patios. The ban passed the board of supervisors unanimously, and anti-smoking activists are eager to expand it even further.

What if Catherine Greig Turned in Whitey Bulger - Boston Magazine ...

Seriously, let’s consider this. It could have happened. I say that only because of the FBI’s official version of events: The tip that led the feds to Whitey came from a woman living in Iceland . This woman apparently saw news coverage of the PSAs about Catherine Greig that the FBI launched last week. The Icelandic woman at one time presumably lived in L.A., noticed that Greig looked a lot like a woman she once knew from Santa Monica, and called the FBI.

Very few people believe this story. A woman in Iceland has better intel than the FBI, whose L.A. office was only a couple miles from Whitey’s apartment? Attorney Harvey Silverglate thinks the FBI’s protecting an informant with this Iceland account.

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