June 25, 2019
Good Tuesday!
“It’s not going away anytime soon.”
Usage of the synthetic painkiller Fentanyl on The City’s streets has surpassed prescription pills and heroin as the cause of opioid overdose deaths. In 2010, six overdose deaths were attributed to fentanyl. Preliminary numbers from the Public Health Department put the number at 57 for 2018. Thirty-nine overdose death were likely caused by heroin and 53 by prescription opioids.
PG&E Corp., which owns Pacific Gas and Electric, plans to pay nearly $11 million to 12 of its executives. Due to its role in sparking recent devastating wildfires throughout Northern California and filing for bankruptcy protection in January, the utility must receive approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern DIstrict of California to hand out the money. The utility previously reneged on a similar plan to award performance bonuses in 2018 as it faced opposition but won permission to pay $235 million to 10,000 employees earlier this year. San Francisco Chronicle
"PG&E is burning our homes."
Protesters laid 85 pairs of black shoes, each containing a rose, in front of PG&E headquarters, where they protested the utility during its first 2019 shareholder meeting. Eighty-five people died in the November Camp Fire, which was caused by the company’s equipment. SFGate
Transportation Roundup
Mayor London Breed has formed a transit performance working group to review and advise Muni service as the national search begins for a new transit chief to replace former San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin. San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area Rapid Transit has obtained $300 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation, one-fourth of the $1.2 billion it’s expected to receive for adding 300 new trains and expanding capacity for crossing the San Francisco Bay from 27,000 to 39,000 people per hour. San Francisco Chronicle | San Francisco Examiner
San Francisco can now collect parking taxes from drivers using University of California and California State University parking lots, the California Supreme Court ruled last Thursday. San Francisco Chronicle
The proposed new ferry service to the Chase Center is gaining momentum as ferries enjoy a commuter renaissance in the Bay Area. San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed former Berkeley and Palo Alto city auditor Harriet Richardson to be BART's first inspector general, a position created to independently audit and investigate the agency’s finances. Curbed San Francisco
The Stockton fire chief slated to join the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management was arrested last week on suspicion of domestic violence. Following a June 15 domestic violence report, Erik Newman was booked into Stanislaus County Jail. No word from City Hall on how the department will respond.
District Attorney George Gascón will not charge police officers Kevin Endo and Tess Casey for killing 21-year-old Jehad Eid during a shootout inside Amazon Barber Shop on March 21, 2018. The investigation determined that the officers were returning fire when they shot and killed Eid. San Francisco Examiner
Gascón isn’t done with politics just yet. On Friday, he confirmed that he may run for district attorney in Los Angeles after announcing that he would not seek re-election when his term expires at the end of the year. San Francisco Examiner
After reviewing its $695.7 million budget for next fiscal year, the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee reduced the Police Department’s proposal to increase overtime and eliminated $1 million funds to provide officers with Tasers. Budget Analyst Harvey Rose recommended a full cut of the $2.4 million in overtime spending increase. San Francisco Examiner
On Wednesday, the Department of Police Accountability released more than 1,000 pages of documents relating to the officer-involved shootings that killed Alex Nieto and Amilcar Perez-Lopez. The records reveal that the DPA did not sustain allegations of wrongdoing against the four officers. The Office of the District Attorney declined to press charges. San Francisco Examiner
Not taking action against clergy members said to sexually abuse children. Refusing to release clergy abuse files to the public. Ignoring requests by activists and survivors to access investigative files.
In Sen. Kamala Harris' seven years as district attorney, her office failed to proactively assist in civil cases against clergy sex abuse.
“It went from Terence Hallinan going hundred miles an hour, full speed ahead, after the Catholic Church to Kamala Harris doing absolutely nothing and taking it backwards hundred miles an hour,” said Joey Piscitelli, a sexual assault survivor found to have been molested as a Catholic high school student in Richmond, California.
Harris’ presidential campaign ignored multiple requests for comment from The Intercept.
“Bar owners that serve minors, attorneys that mishandle client funds, and real estate agents that engage in fraud can all lose their licenses.”
Candidate for District 5 supervisor and tenant attorney Dean Preston is calling for San Francisco to create an Office of Landlord Licensing to prevent landlords who systematically abuse tenants and violate housing laws from continuing to collect rent — and potentially to strip them of their status as San Francisco landlords.
A new analysis shows that close to 98% of asylum-seeking families assigned to San Francisco's immigration court attended every hearing, the highest rate in the U.S. The results contradict a recent assertion by the acting Homeland Security secretary, who told the U.S. Senate that 90% of people miss their asylum hearings. Ninety-nine percent of those with lawyers attend all hearings. KQED
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were scheduled to target 2,000 families immigrants in major cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. The raids, initially planned for June 23, have been delayed by President Donald Trump for two weeks at the request of Democrats. San Francisco Chronicle
South of Market
On Thursday, the $1 billion 5M mixed-use housing project broke ground after a three-year legal battle over the gentrification it could cause the area. Brookfield Properties and Hearst Corp., owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, will develop four acres of parking lots and vacant buildings at 5th and Mission streets into two new towers with two parks and renovated historic buildings.
Castro
Today, the Board of Supervisors is expected to ratify legislation forming the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Cultural District, a city-funded entity that will strive to preserve the unique heritage of the neighborhood. The effort to form the cultural district began in 2007 under the guidance of then-District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy.
Civic Center
"I love to be in your cold, horribly run city — but, from the heart, I love you and never change." John Mulaney, the comedian who headlined San Francisco Clusterfest over the weekend, told the crowd on Saturday night that The City's seal should be swapped with “a guy going back for his sweater.”
Mission
La Cocina, a small business incubator that has helped more than 50 chefs kickstart restaurants, will release a new cookbook called “We are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream” to tell some of their stories. Most of the culinary entrepreneurs who have participated in the program have been low-income immigrant women.
Noe Valley
Despite protests from park patrons, the Recreation And Park Commission voted 4-2 to reduce the Upper Douglass Dog Play Area’s hours to 7 a.m to 9 p.m., taking an hour from the morning and evening open hours. The action was taken to appease neighbors who complained about barking dogs and spats with dog owners and walkers.
Financial District
Four Seasons hotels purchased the 155-room Loews Regency Hotel, which occupies the top 11 floors of the 48-story 345 California Center. The chain’s second location in The City, it will be known as the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero and will undergo a renovation.
Tenderloin
This summer, a Pit Stop — a staffed temporary public bathroom — located at Hyde Street and Golden Gate Avenue will be open 24/7 for three months as part of a pilot program to gauge how much demand there is for keeping other Pit Stops open for longer. District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney said he intends to put forth legislation requiring The City to operate bathrooms that are accessible at all times.
Mission
Dozens of activists marched up Mission Street to City Hall to present a petition with 7,234 signatures in support of urging The City help the Mission Economic Development Agency purchase the 105-year-old historic Redstone Labor Temple with a $1 million gift. They want to preserve the building as a hub for artists, community organizations and nonprofits.
Phil Matier: Kaiser’s Partnership Deal for Warriors Arena Plaza Could Hit $295 Million
Denise Sullivan, S.F. Lives: From Miles to Melville: The Scene at Glen Park’s Bird & Beckett
Joe Eskenazi: The Cost of *One Stitch* at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital? $3,300.
Carl Nolte, Native Son: Saga of Two Ships — One New, One Very Old — Both Fine Sausalito Vessels
This edition was curated and written by Alex Mullaney and edited by David Mamaril Horowitz.The newsletter is designed by Marquee and published on Proof.
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