S3 E6: Press Censorship at Manny's Cafe?

Erica explains how the owner of Manny's, a San Francisco cafe and venue well-known for hosting prominent politicians and informative discourse, asked her not to report on an event she RSVP'd to (and paid the ticket price to attend). He then mad her promise. 

Does Manny Yekutiel owe us an explanation and apology? You decide.

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Transcript

Really San Francisco?

Season 3 Episode 6

Manny's in San Francisco Censored Erica

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Erica Sandberg: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Really San Francisco, the podcast about things that happen here that are relevant to you, and beyond, because this is San Francisco.

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Erica Sandberg: always a wonderful source of fun and information to people around the globe, so welcome on in. My co-host, of course, is Richard Greenberg!

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Richie Greenberg: That's me. Welcome, everybody. And as Erica says, to listeners and viewers around the country, around the Bay Area, around the world.

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Richie Greenberg: Every once in a while, I or we receive a message, a DM, an email, something from people that happen to catch our episodes.

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Richie Greenberg: from… from all over the place, and we can look at statistics, and I do see… every once in a while, there'll be someone from Europe or Asia happens to see one of our

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Richie Greenberg: our episode. So, hello, everybody, locally, nationally, and internationally.

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Erica Sandberg: That's right. Welcome, everybody. And it is a wild world here in San Francisco, and sometimes things come at you fast and out of the blue.

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Erica Sandberg: An incident happened last night that prompted this… I can't say it's an emergency podcast, but it is one that came just after a recording that we did just recently, so we don't normally do them so close together. But this was a really interesting situation that happened. I had… I had…

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Erica Sandberg: filled out my applica- not application, but there was an event that was happening at Manny's, which is this lovely cafe, community space in the Mission District.

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Erica Sandberg: It was about what was going to happen to the Westfield Mall. So, if anybody's interested in that, that's what the draw was. It cost $15 to get in, open to everybody. It was a full house, which was really nice to see so many people engaged and interested in that.

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Richie Greenberg: Explain, what is Westfield Mall? Yeah. Why does that matter to any of us?

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, certainly. So the Westfield Mall had been one of our crowning jewels in the retail space. So it was… it's a very, very large space, home to various places around, throughout history, at the Emporium.

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Erica Sandberg: About… actually, I don't even know what year it was, but in the 80s, it did start to become this…

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Erica Sandberg: a big, major mall, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, many Anchor stores, many, many high-end stores, but also many, sort of, you know, I can't say lowbrow, but, you know, you get your Bed Bath & Beyond, not Bed Bath & Beyond, it was called Bath & Body Works.

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Richie Greenberg: That's right, yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: Right? Stores like that, H&M.

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Erica Sandberg: So really, it appealed to everybody.

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Richie Greenberg: This is the famous…

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Richie Greenberg: mall that has been mentioned over the last months and years in national news, local news, the one that finally shut down, that it's empty.

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Erica Sandberg: Well, you know, it's funny, when you say shut down, it was shut down, so it didn't just shut down. It had so many problems, and

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Erica Sandberg: as usual. As usual, what really prompted its demise was the street conditions. It wasn't COVID, it was COVID policy, it wasn't

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Erica Sandberg: Just people stopped going to stores, people stopped going to that area because it had become a hotbed of crime, and squalor and vagrancy and social issues, and it smelled.

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Erica Sandberg: And it wasn't big.

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Richie Greenberg: The looting, the mass lootings that were happening in 2020. So, as you say, and this is what's really important, is that this is, you know, the city's large mall.

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Richie Greenberg: But it mirrors any kind of large shopping center mall anywhere in America. It wasn't really that different. It had this very similar, or almost exactly the same

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Richie Greenberg: chain, national chain stores, retail, department stores. On the, lower level, that was the difference, though. That's where they had, restaurants, cafes, and they were regulated who could open there.

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Erica Sandberg: Sure.

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Richie Greenberg: So that was a little bit more taste of what was local, but this was a destination, a destination for tourists, a destination for locals, a destination for people that were in town for conferences and expositions. They would go there. You know, a huge space.

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Erica Sandberg: Over a million square feet.

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Richie Greenberg: Tremendous.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, it was a very, very large space, and once… once the anchor stores closed, and they closed for a good reason, it was only…

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Erica Sandberg: I feel like everybody… nobody in City Hall wants to acknowledge the primary reason why Nordstrom did decide they're gonna cut their losses, is because they were experiencing such losses. It was bad, it really was. And at that stage, it was Mayor London Reed who was not taking it seriously. I knew so many police officers at the time who had been called

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Erica Sandberg: And they couldn't do anything, and they were rerouted, and it was just a mess. It was just an absolute mess. So that was a bad thing. So once one fell, then another fell, then another fell, and then… then…

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Richie Greenberg: Mass exodus.

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Erica Sandberg: Mass exodus. So that was a big thing. So, as of January 2026, That was it.

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Richie Greenberg: They locked the doors, everything out, and it's completely empty.

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Erica Sandberg: That's right. Went back to the bank, and now it's up for sale. So that's really what the meeting last night was about, was somebody from the city, Ned Siegel.

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Erica Sandberg: was their Office of Economic Development. There was, Lisa Huang from a design firm, and they were literally discussing ideas. Had nothing, there was nothing specific, it was open, open-ended. This is what could happen. What do you think? And they opened it up to the crowd. But before we get to that.

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Erica Sandberg: There I was, I wanted to just hear.

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Erica Sandberg: What their ideas were, what they were open to.

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Erica Sandberg: very standard… just standard, as I say, it's like…

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Erica Sandberg: milk and cookies, story, you know? Oh, this is what she said, this is what he said, this is what they wanted, end of the story, short piece. Yep. Another issue.

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Richie Greenberg: And, you know, public interest, right?

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Erica Sandberg: interest. Right.

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Richie Greenberg: That was the reason for having the discussion, the reason for bringing people together, ideas to learn and to teach, to let other people know what you've heard and what others have said.

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Erica Sandberg: That's right. So, I sat in the front, and I…

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Erica Sandberg: put up my laptop, ready to take notes, I had my recorder app ready to go, everything was easy, fine, normal, normal, right? And then…

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Erica Sandberg: about 10 minutes before it started, Manny Yukatel? Is that how you pronounce his last name?

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Richie Greenberg: Yakutiel.

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Erica Sandberg: But yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: Who, I…

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Richie Greenberg: The owner, yeah, the owner of this place. Manny's place, yeah, Manny.

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Erica Sandberg: Right. He's also running for District 8 Supervisor, since Raphael Mandelman is terming out, so…

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Erica Sandberg: Okay, so he came up to me, and he knelt.

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Erica Sandberg: very close to me, and it was crowded, so there was somebody sitting next, on both sides of me, and he… and he said.

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Erica Sandberg: Hi, I recognize you. And he said, yeah, yeah, I've been to many of these, covered many events, and he goes.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, we're not gonna have any, any press tonight.

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Erica Sandberg: We're not going… We're not… we don't…

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Erica Sandberg: we're… I'm not going to allow… Reporting on tonight's event.

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Erica Sandberg: I was… Absolutely.

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Richie Greenberg: shocked. And he said it with a smile on his face, and he was very close.

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Erica Sandberg: But the two people who were sitting next to me could hear, I'm sure. The person behind me could hear, there's nobody in front of me.

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Erica Sandberg: I was… I kind of did some sideline. I was like, What? What!

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Erica Sandberg: And he said, and he said.

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Erica Sandberg: So you're not going to report on this, right?

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Richie Greenberg: And…

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Erica Sandberg: I said, but all these people are here, are you telling them that they can't discuss what they heard tonight with their friends?

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Richie Greenberg: How many people do you think were there?

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Erica Sandberg: Oh, it was fall, it was probably about 50? Yeah, it's not a big place, it's 50.

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Richie Greenberg: So that means that 50 people, along with you, are not allowed to tell anybody what they heard or saw or what was discussed.

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Erica Sandberg: It didn't make any sense. He kept saying, this is not a press event. And I said, okay, so people…

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Erica Sandberg: I was just shocked. I didn't know what to say, but he was repeating himself. He said several times.

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Erica Sandberg: You agree to this, right? You agree. You agree that you won't be writing about this, right?

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Richie Greenberg: That just… yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: I…

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Richie Greenberg: Any sense at all?

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Erica Sandberg: It was… One of the strangest things that has ever happened to me as a reporter.

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Richie Greenberg: And not only just a reporter, but just a concerned citizen, a resident of this city, a taxpayer, someone who deserves to know what's going on. That's the whole reason for this meeting in the first place.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely, and so here we are in a room full of people. Wow. I am a member of the press, he's targeting the press, but all these other people who are there, they easily… you go home, and you share it on Facebook, and you say, oh, I heard this interesting idea, this person was a great speaker, oh, I didn't like this.

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Erica Sandberg: And you share it.

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Erica Sandberg: You become the citizen journalist when you do that. You just do. You may even go and write a sub-stack about it. You may…

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Erica Sandberg: write an email, a long email, whatever it is, right? You share that information.

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Erica Sandberg: So… Yeah.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, otherwise, this would have been, like, held…

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Richie Greenberg: in a office somewhere with just those people who were there, and they would just talk privately.

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Erica Sandberg: I wouldn't.

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Richie Greenberg: And they wouldn't be on a stage.

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Erica Sandberg: Exactly.

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Richie Greenberg: Welcome back.

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Erica Sandberg: And I've been… you and I have both been to many events where it was… it was that way. It's… Right. And we'll continue to. Held at a private residence, or a club, and it was… tonight is going to be off the record.

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Erica Sandberg: Okay, no big deal! That's what it is!

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Richie Greenberg: And I think in situations like that, they would even announce that in advance, especially, you would… you signed up, this was open to the public, anyone could go, and you said, what, it was $15 or something to attend?

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Erica Sandberg: I paid my $15. There was nothing. It was totally open to the public. It was not a curated crowd, nothing to do with this. On the invitation of the event page, had absolutely nothing about, and when you come, please be prepared to put your phones away, not record, and not report on this.

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Richie Greenberg: But that was not the case.

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Erica Sandberg: That was not the case. Right. So this came while I was there, to me, directed to me. For why? I have no beef with Manny, I don't know the people on the stage, I know…

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Richie Greenberg: Have you ever even met Manny?

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Erica Sandberg: Yes, sure!

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Richie Greenberg: You have met him. Okay, in person, alright. Okay. Yeah, me too, but yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: So…

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Richie Greenberg: I don't know.

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Erica Sandberg: So…

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Richie Greenberg: Maybe we should ask Manny, maybe we should have Manny come on and give us a rebuttal and an answer to this, because that doesn't make any sense at all.

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Erica Sandberg: I have had so many people reach out to me, because I did write about it on… on X. I didn't even write about the event. I'm like, the event was a non-event.

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Richie Greenberg: It was, it was just that kind of… it was that kind of…

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Erica Sandberg: I'll break the silence. I'll break the silence.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: Buildings for sale.

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Erica Sandberg: They're looking for ideas. The new, the new… whoever it is that purchases the building will be able to do what they want with it.

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Richie Greenberg: That's the story, right? That's what was discussed.

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Erica Sandberg: That was discussed. Okay, sorry, I spilled the…

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Richie Greenberg: He's me.

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Erica Sandberg: Build the beans!

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Richie Greenberg: Manny, we're sorry that we have broken the silence, this order, right? He ordered you, he ordered you to not talk about it.

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Erica Sandberg: So…

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Erica Sandberg: When I came home, I really… I was… I was kind of… I was really ruminating about it, like, what does this all mean? Why? Why would you do that? Why would you tell a reporter? Not me personally, we don't… we're not friends, we don't…

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Erica Sandberg: socialize or anything, but why would you block any kind of reporter, whoever it may be, acrimonious or friendly, it doesn't really matter.

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Erica Sandberg: Reporting on something very basic.

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Richie Greenberg: The only reason I could see would be if something was brought up, someone brought up something that was highly…

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Richie Greenberg: Controversial, it was not supposed to be said, leaked.

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Richie Greenberg: You know, something like that.

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Erica Sandberg: Perhaps. So, let me ask you, Richie, what would you have done in that circumstance? I did close my laptop.

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Erica Sandberg: Closed it up. I sat there and I listened, and I was only half listening. I was thinking, this is just so peculiar. So what would you have done?

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Richie Greenberg: Well, I probably would have done what, what you did. Well, first I would have, I would have,

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Richie Greenberg: I would have pushed back at Manny's… at Manny, I'm sorry, Manny, you could tell. I would have said, you know, I would have said something in Hebrew to him, and said, try and get that going. It's like…

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Erica Sandberg: with the…

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Richie Greenberg: You know, basically I said, so what's up? I'm like, what's going on? It could even be slangy, like, what's wrong with you? But, you know, something like that. And then I would have continued, but…

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Richie Greenberg: I would have just wondered, I would have asked him, I said, are you asking me to leave? Are you throwing me out of this?

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Richie Greenberg: This, this gathering, because that would have, of course, much worse

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Richie Greenberg: repercussions. But if not, then my mind, my ears, I'm… I'm seeing, I'm listening, just like you. You went through this, this discussion, you heard everything, and you're still able to talk about it, whether you had your laptop up there or not.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, as I have been told, it's perfectly legal for him or anyone else to say, hey, I don't want you to report on it. You can say that, right?

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Erica Sandberg: But it's not enforceable.

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Erica Sandberg: Right? He can choose never to have me back again.

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Richie Greenberg: That's fine, he can definitely do that, it's his… it's his business.

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Erica Sandberg: But…

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, that's not serving any good purpose.

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Erica Sandberg: So it's a very.

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Richie Greenberg: It's strange.

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Erica Sandberg: Right. I wonder if there was anyone…

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Richie Greenberg: In the audience that didn't want you to be there. You know, why… why… why would that…

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Erica Sandberg: Or on the.

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Richie Greenberg: No, I'm… I don't understand.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, I don't either. So, on the panel, right, you did have, Lisa Huang from this design firm, and she was very jovial, and she had some

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Erica Sandberg: it was… it was a very pos… for her, she was definitely presenting this sort of positive, oh, the sky's the limit, and it was… it was actually quite sweet. Do I agree with everything? No, but neither… the whole audience was filled with acrimonious people who were like, I don't want… I want it to be this, I want it to be that. That's… that's what it's about.

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Richie Greenberg: Is that what it was like? Was there that kind of back-and-forth banter?

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Erica Sandberg: Not in a mean-spirited way. It was just like, I think it should be a college, I think it should be a labor, for, like, a place for union, a union hall. I mean, like, there were so many ideas. It should be a swimming pool, whatever, right? People had ideas.

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Richie Greenberg: Or, what did London Breed want to do? She wanted to tear the whole thing down for a couple of blocks in the perimeter, right? Just tear everything down, bulldoze it, and make a soccer stadium.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely. And that's what this whole thing was about.

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Richie Greenberg: Did that come up? Did that come up, the soccer stadium?

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Erica Sandberg: not come up.

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Erica Sandberg: It was primarily a… you could tell the direction that Ned was going in, which is mixed use, mixed use. It needs to be 24-hour, place, so residential, and business, and theater, and, you know, that type of thing. And I think that was the… that's what the…

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Erica Sandberg: mayor's office is hoping is going to happen. But, you know, we don't know. It's really… it's whoever buys it. So, we're gonna find out.

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Erica Sandberg: So…

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Erica Sandberg: really, in the end, the content of the presentation was extremely sparse. There wasn't a lot there. If you want to write about, people had ideas.

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Erica Sandberg: okay, fine, that takes half a paragraph. People had ideas. And that's it. So, but what concerns me… is…

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Erica Sandberg: There has to be an openness. There has to be an approach of being candid, and not squelching reports. I mean, you should be… you should be grateful.

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Erica Sandberg: happy! And he… Imani could have come up to me and said, hey, I'm really glad that you're here, I wish… I wish, you know, the standard were here, or…

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Erica Sandberg: Richie Greenberg were here, whatever!

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: It's open. It is a positive thing to have this gorgeous open door when it comes to reporting. So, deeply, deeply disappointing.

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Richie Greenberg: And when you go to Manny's website, it says that it's a place for discussion, a place for learning, says nothing about who's allowed and who's not allowed.

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Richie Greenberg: You know, just someone sitting there and learning and then telling someone else, as we said, that is the learning that is disseminating information. And by saying to one person, we don't want you to be talking about it, that completely goes against…

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Richie Greenberg: What the spirit of what Manny is saying his place is for.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely. So, is he skittish? Was it your…

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Erica Sandberg: Even if it weren't his decision, even, let's just say, and I'm just speculating here, it doesn't really matter, there's no, there's no, I don't have any ground to say this is what happened, but let's just say one of the panelists said, you know what, I want this to be closed, I don't want any stories to be written about this.

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Erica Sandberg: then Manny would have said to them, I understand what you're saying.

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Erica Sandberg: But this is an open meeting. This is a community meeting. People go and they're going to be writing about it. They're going to be telling their friends, they're going to be talking to their partner about it.

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Erica Sandberg: Right? And then their partner could say, oh, I'm gonna be writing about it. So, you can't stop information. So, in my…

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Erica Sandberg: opinion. I certainly think if it did come from a different source, if he were told by one of the panelists, by the mayor's office, who knows what, to say.

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Erica Sandberg: You know, let's cut this off, right?

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: Then it's up to him to say, this is not in the spirit of what we do here.

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Richie Greenberg: Right.

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Erica Sandberg: And he is running for supervisor. He has had terrible problems in his own… in his…

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Richie Greenberg: Running that location, running.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely! There's been everything, oh my gosh, I mean, I have been to… one of the last meetings was about what happened on Julian, Street, which, the poor people who are just around the block, and they're being bombarded with crime and squalor and…

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Erica Sandberg: terrible things are happening at the Gupio project, and there was nearly a fight inside. There was a fight outside, but there was nearly a fight inside. So, things happen. It's hot. It can be hot, right? So, that's what that's for. So, it was very, very strange. Now, another thing is that Manny

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Erica Sandberg: because he is Jewish, and the whole Palestinian thing has been erupting, and it's been a clash. And his building has had

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Erica Sandberg: Horrible graffiti written on it, and written around it on the sidewalk, and he's been accused of terrible things.

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Richie Greenberg: Yes.

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Erica Sandberg: So…

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Richie Greenberg: False.

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Erica Sandberg: Pardon me? False thing, of course. Yeah, so if anybody…

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Erica Sandberg: Is… should be aware of how important it is to have open, clear dialogue and discourse, and… and to be true.

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Erica Sandberg: To yourself, to your cause, to what you believe in.

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Erica Sandberg: That's what this is about. So, I had so many… I posted up on X, please go check it out, because it's an interesting post where I do detail more about it, but a lot of people were…

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Erica Sandberg: Direct messaging me and saying.

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Erica Sandberg: I'm a reporter, I'm a journalist, I'm an anchor, I had an anchor of a news station reach out and say, that's just shocking.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: And…

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Richie Greenberg: So, what should we do at this point? Just back up. Should we invite Manny himself to explain? Should… he could even just send us an email, shoot a message.

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Erica Sandberg: Huh.

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Richie Greenberg: anything to explain why he did that. I think we all would like to know, why did Manny Icotel do this?

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, I mean, explain yourself. You are running for supervisor.

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Richie Greenberg: That's right.

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Erica Sandberg: this thing is called your mouth, and you need to use it, and you need to use it when it's connected to your brain. Let that conversation flow, be honest, and be open, and .

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Richie Greenberg: And we, as we know, as we've witnessed over the last couple of years, the elected officials in office, once they're elected and serving, mayor, supervisors, anyone, they are not allowed to block

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Richie Greenberg: constituents, they can't block on social media, and there's been lawsuits about that. So, Manny himself is gonna have to learn very quickly that he can't just shut down conversation. He can't tell people, especially people who, like.

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Richie Greenberg: Like, you and I, who are journalists, columnists, and you can't just say to us, we don't want you reporting on this if we're there. So, he's gonna have to learn the hard way. We don't want him to. He should instead reflect on what he did, what he asked of you.

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Erica Sandberg: For sure, for sure. And I think everybody who is listening, and hopefully you're thinking about this, is what do you expect?

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Erica Sandberg: From… from… well, from the press, first of all. Do you expect there to be an open line of communication? Do you want it? Do you want to be able to trust that when people do report on an issue, they've got all the information?

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Erica Sandberg: If so, think about how they're… they're treated by the outside world. But also.

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Erica Sandberg: of course, supervisors and other city elected leaders, right? How do you want them to treat

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Erica Sandberg: journalists, and you, because you're there! You're there, you are… I have no…

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Erica Sandberg: I love citizen journalists. I love it. Ground up, you see what you see, report on, talk about it, right? Take photos. This is… this is a wonderful thing. So, you should never feel like you're being

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Erica Sandberg: squashed, or you hesitate. You should never feel like you are nervous about

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Erica Sandberg: Saying, oh, I saw this, I heard this, this is… right?

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Richie Greenberg: Yep, yeah, yeah, yep, yep.

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Richie Greenberg: Okay, so we'll see what happens. We'll post this online, and we'll see if we get any response from Manny. That would be great if he did reach out and clarify, and I look forward to

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Richie Greenberg: seeing what happens, but, Erica, wonderful chatting with you today on Really San Francisco. Look forward to another…

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Richie Greenberg: Fun-filled, riveting, informative, podcast episode soon.

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Erica Sandberg: Definitely. Thank you so much, Richie. Have a great day, everybody.

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Richie Greenberg: Thanks, everybody.