Rear Admiral Phineas Fogg-Bottom

FROM THE DECK OF THE HMS FOGWATCH -- From the piers of Fisherman's Wharf to the shipyards of Hunter's Point, the City that I've known and loved is close to disappearing. And no one seems to be doing a bloody thing about it.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, San Francisco was a magical place. It was a shining city, surrounded by pellucid water, clear skies, and green hills. Even the fog seemed thicker then.

Drawn by San Francisco's natural beauty and spirit of tolerance, young people from around the world flocked to the City's fair shores. They came with open minds and light hearts, but also with a sense of purpose: to bring about change and make the world a better place in which to live.

This was the San Francisco I grew to love. You could smell it in the air -- revolution on every street corner, in the meadows of Golden Gate Park and the cafes of the Haight and North Beach. It was electric.

They nearly succeeded, these youthful agents of change. The old order quaked and buckled, ossified by inertia and corruption and unable to respond to the young insurgents.

But ultimately, the Powers That Be triumphed. The wave of change crested but fell short. Now, the ebb of their energy is draining from the City like a spent wave on the beach, and the exodus has begun.

Unless we act now, there may not be a single Internet dot-com left in San Francisco.

It is up to our City Fathers to put a stop to this exodus. The Board of Supervisors must immediately introduce legislation to protect and preserve dot-coms -- even B2C content pure-plays -- before the character of San Francisco is fundamentally changed forever.

Let me be the first to propose a Dot-Com Endangered Species Act designed to ensure that all dot-coms have the resources they need to thrive and continue their mission of revolutionary change. This act would guarantee each dot-com operating within the city limits of San Francisco the following:

• Full access to venture capital funding, at least through the mezzanine level;
• Stable Internet connections of at least DSL speed or better;
• Immediate rent stabilization and support to ensure that no dot-com is evicted for failure to pay rent;
• Standing lunch-time reservations at any four-star restaurant within the confines of the South of Market District.