A special valentine from Chicken John to anyone with a cause:
If you are activated on a topic, and need help… gimme a shout. You can acess to the tools that I have labored to build to get 700 people to a planning commisision meeting. I don’t even have to agree with you. Straight up.
Link. Straight up. Go to work. Thanks, Chicken!
Photo by Dave Schumaker.
Great!
The next time that a Formula Retail Store wants to apply for the Conditional Use Permit to move into the CBD, and it’s not an anti-hipster movement… I’ll be there side by side with Chicken and, hopefully everyone else who came out for the AA.
I saved my energy so next time, when it isn’t the ‘cool’ thing to be fighting for, I can do what needs to be done. And I’m glad someone (Chicken?) has the contact info of all these new-found activists so we can activate them next time our local economy is threatened.
It’s like the old adage… Politics is turning people out for the right cause for the wrong reasons…
Chicken John is a tool
whatever anyone says about the guy, he can mobilize a crowd. and you know, he calls himself a “showman”, not an activist.
just like many other folks out there in the SF public / political world, he’s pretty much out for his own self advancement. if only because he’s all about his own publicity….
at least he’s – mostly – honest about it.
[...] that Chicken John’s foiled American Apparel’s plans for Valencia Street, he’s looking for a new cause. Because, really, what’s an activist without a [...]
I thought this guy was in New York hiding from the SF Elections Commission.
are you kidding me? chicken john embarrassed the mission on a national level in his ridiculous mayoral attempt. i remember hearing that he skipped out on that subpoena for the finance records for his campaign and that it was just some kind of performance art show. i’m sorry if i’d take my civic responsibilities a little bit serious than that if i was running for mayor.
his support was posted on the stop american apparel blog after supervisor dufty which was basically the death knell for the company. he shouldn’t be taking credit for things that really happened without him. i was reading his interview on mother jones and this really pissed me off.
“But in the fight on Valencia Street, I’m pretty powerful. I can stop somebody from opening a chain store. And that’s a fucking great feeling.”
it was all you, chicken. my letter was just a product of your amazing community organizing skills in the eleventh hour.
chicken john…bevan dufty.
pretty fine line imho.
I think you’re mistaken. Newsom failed the city in the mayoral election. Chicken John did a fine job in the same tradition as when Jello Biafra ran and was well-deserving of my (admittedly third-place) vote.
Either is a far, far better choice than Newsom.
Oh yay a new NIMBY political machine.
This entire circus succeeded in eliciting a gigantic MEH from me. I couldn’t care less if AA made it into the neighborhood or not. I’m glad everyone had a good time though!
The big mystery for me has always been why so many people hate Chicken John. I’ve been a contributor to his Wikipedia page (for much the same reasons I have enough free time to comment on this blog here) and man, there are those that want his name wiped from history.
As a regular at the Dr. Hal show, which is quite entertaining, I know things about him, which can be quite annoying—as for instance now I feel obligated to explain things said in the comments.
Said by jto:
and T1:
He was indeed in New York, building boats out of junk to sail down the Hudson River. During the time he was there the SF Ethics Commission (the same people who in 2007 denied him matching funds on the basis that his campaign donations didn’t count if they were less than $10, more than $100, from a business, or from a resident whose driver’s license didn’t match their billing address :: citation) decided he should be the target of a “random audit.” After Chicken didn’t respond to “initial inquiries” — read: letters mailed to his house while he was across the country — they decided to issue subpoenas requesting *all* his campaign materials. Of course, because one state’s subpoena is not legally compelling in another state, as long as Chicken was in New York he could legally say “fuck ‘em.” If I were arbitrarily screwed out of $25,000+, I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same. He said, “at the very least, they’re going to have to work for it.” (:: citation ::). When he got back, he put the Commission’s “evidence” on display at Cellspace’s art gallery (Laughing Squid post). He met the paperwork requirements while still sticking it to the Man, which deserves at least a golf-clap’s worth of respect.
jto again:
True, but 2 days before Dutfy, he publicly expressed his resolve to fight it at the Dr. Hal show on the 28th — soon after the notice at 988 Valencia went up. The same day Dufty spoke out, he added the event on Facebook, which grew to 147 confirmed guests. And frankly, if there was ever an occasion when people showed up at a Planning Commission meeting because their Supe told them, I don’t know it. Also, and I can’t confirm this, but I believe that Chicken John actually brought a busload of people — literally, he drove his bus, full of people, to City Hall. And while that’s not 300 or 700 or whatever the absurd number is, it wouldn’t be a drop in a bucket either.
Phew. Good to get that out of my system. I’ve met my duties whenever someone is wrong on the internet.
Dangit… would you mind removing the first comment? It was an error which I later corrected.
Done.