Can we have civil civic discourse in these fractious times? Manny Yekutiel, activist and owner of the eponymous cafe, bookstore, and civic events space in San Francisco's Mission district, passionately believes so.
Yekutiel opened Manny's, his "people-powered and community-focused meeting and learning place" on Election Night in 2018 to encourage civic engagement and discussion — in person. "We used to go places to engage in political discourse — the union halls, the political coffee shops of San Francisco, lecture halls, even the dinner table.
This is where we figured it out," Yekutiel said on this week's Out in the Bay. "The internet has supplanted these places and that's why I built a physical space where people can come together