March 14, 2019
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Mayor London Breed found The City’s next fire chief in 25-year Fire Department veteran Jeanine Nicholson. The former deputy chief of administration will become the second woman and the first openly gay leader to take charge of the department. She succeeds Joanne Hayes-White, the former chief of 15 years who will retire in May.
“This woman is tough, this woman is resilient, this woman is a leader. I am confident she will be ready to lead the department on day one,” Breed said.
Quality-of-life concerns overshadowed homeless advocacy on Tuesday, when hundreds of residents deluged two City Hall meetings to protest Mayor London Breed's plan for a homeless shelter at Seawall Lot 330, a 307-space parking lot across from piers 30 to 32. The proposal, which drew less support from homeless and housing advocates, suggests providing between 175 and 225 beds, more than any other navigation center.
The Port Commission is expected to vote on the center on April 23. Breed wants it open by summer.
+ Reporter Trisha Thadani examines why it’s so hard to build Navigation Centers across The City. San Francisco Chronicle
Charlotte L. Brown and her father, the co-founder of the Bay Area's first African-American newspaper, set legal precedent twice, paving the way toward ending streetcar segregation in California. KQED recounts the Gold Rush-era tale.
The San Francisco Police Department’s largest union separated from its consultant and former president Gary Delagnes, who previously turned SFPD into one of the highest-paid police forces in the nation. The decision followed a Facebook tirade from Delagnes calling the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi “a serial adulterer who drove his wife to a suicide attempt.”
It marked the second time Delagnes’ Facebook posting went public; in 2016, he insulted the Board of Supervisors for creating Mario Woods Day, saying it “honored a street thug who stabbed another African American.”
San Francisco leads the country in syphilis infection rates but comes in third for instances of gonorrhea, according to an examination of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2017 records.
The sales and consumption of cannabis have long been commonplace at San Francisco events, but legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will introduce the first-ever permits to regulate cannabis sale and use at events. The Office of Cannabis will sell the permits, which will initially be limited to events that have traditionally involved smoking and selling cannabis. But the permits won’t be ready before 420.
The City’s own 166-year-old Levi Strauss & Co. plans to raise as much as $587 million when it enters public markets, valuing the company up to $6.2 billion. The blue jeans purveyor reported a net income of $283 million last year, up 17 percent from 2017.
The second time might be the charm for Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, whose rejected housing density bill from last year was reincarnated and presented to a receptive Planning Department. Among other stipulations, Senate Bill 50 would increase the minimum housing height limit near rail or ferry stops, while relaxing density controls in job-rich areas and near "high quality" bus lines.
The legislation’s predecessor, Senate Bill 827, was killed off last year for applying regulations disproportionately to urban areas while granting suburbs a reprieve. This time around, the Planning Department concluded that SB 50 ameliorates those concerns.
Mission Bay
The Golden State Warriors selected 33 artists to create artwork for the Chase Center that represents basketball, entertainment and regional history. More than half are directly connected to the Bay Area.
South of Market
After a collision took the life of a bicyclist last week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will remove parking on the north side of Howard Street between Fourth and Sixth streets to improve conditions for cyclists.
Financial District
Fun fact: The top of the Transamerica Pyramid building is glass. For security, it’s not available to the public.
Civic Center
Shawn Sunshine Strickland fought the law and won. She sued the City and County of San Francisco after being prevented from protesting on the steps of City Hall because she did not have a permit. Her suit has forced The City to change its policy for permitting protests.
Mission
Despite the criticism about its expense, the Stay Over Program, which allows housing insecure or homeless students and their families at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 to sleep in the gym, has been expanded to allow families from across the San Francisco Unified School District.
Hunters Point
Fearing for the future of retail, developer FivePoint Holdings swapped its plan to build a 635,000-square-foot mall for one with a 750,000 square feet office and research space at Candlestick Point.
Potrero Hill
Aside from last year during the height of fire season, the intersection of Arkansas and 16th streets have the worst air quality in the entire city, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The area’s average monthly high on the Air Quality Index is 87.7.
Tenderloin
The Planning Department released a draft environmental impact report for its Better Market Street project, which aims to improve safety and transportation on a 2-mile stretch of the corridor. The plans call for a new F-Market streetcar loop at McAllister Street and Charles J. Brenham Place.
Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, On Guard: Cheers! Anchor Brewing Workers Vote to Approve Union
Heather Knight, On San Francisco: From San Francisco’s Front Lines — Social Worker Who Deals With Mentally Ill on How to Improve Their Lot
Robyn Purchia, Green Space: Historic March Against Wells Fargo Planned for This Week
Phil Matier: At Long Last, There’s a Deal to Keep the Raiders in Oakland This Season and Maybe 2020
If you have any feedback, story tips or cool ideas, shoot Alex an email at alex@thissanfrancisco.com.
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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