September 24, 2019
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“It’s a number. I don’t know what the number means.”
The Giants may have beaten the Boston Red Sox 11-3 on Wednesday, but soon-to-retire manager Bruce Bochy made history. The game was the 2,000th win he led as a Major League Baseball team manager and the 1,049th during his 13 years managing the Giants. San Francisco Examiner
Fifty-five percent of the electorate approved Proposition F, a June 2018 ballot measure establishing a program to provide all tenants with attorneys when facing eviction. To date, $9 million has been secured to offer services. However, a lack of funds and trained attorneys has left some tenants without the assistance promised to them. “People passed the measure, but how do we implement it? Where do we get the money from? Housing and everything that goes along with it is such a multifaceted issue,” one proponent said. San Francisco Examiner
On behalf of the people of California, City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued travel booking companies JustFly and FlightHub in San Francisco Superior Court for allegedly using illegal and deceptive business practices. “JustFly is not in the travel business. They’re in the hidden fee business,” Herrera said in a statement. He accused the companies of charging undisclosed fees for seat assignments and cancellation fees that even airlines don’t charge. CBS
Thousands of students marched down Market Street on Friday for the global Youth Climate Strike — but maybe not as many thousands as could have, the event’s organizers claim. Youth vs. Apocalypse, a youth-led climate justice advocacy group, accused the Unified School District of prohibiting teacher-planned field trips to the demonstration. A SFUSD spokesperson said the faculty “is not authorized to lead students in a walkout,” and that protests “do not constitute an authorized field trip at any grade level.”
San Francisco Examiner
Weeks after John Rahaim announced he would leave his 12-year post as the Planning Department's director, Fort Mason Center Executive Director Richard Hillis resigned from the Planning Commission to seek the position. After a nationwide search, the commission will send to the mayor a list of three candidates suitable for the role. To be considered, Hillis had to free himself of any conflicts of interest. San Francisco Examiner
Smoke is wafting up from Proposition C, the ballot measure set for the November ballot aiming to overturn the e-cigarette sales ban. The director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said the agency will review San Francisco-based Juul’s campaign advertisements regarding health-related claims about the benefits its products offer consumers. “The statements alluded to in the letter encompass the heart of free, political speech,” a Juul spokesperson said. San Francisco Chronicle
TIME magazine's latest cover story recounts how Juul attracted children to vaping. TIME
Starting Oct. 1, the average Pacific Gas and Electric Company gas and electric bill is set to rise $4.80 for residential customers. The rate increase covers improvements to the utility’s gas transmission and storage system. It also pays for liabilities stemming from 2016 and 2017 weather-caused events but not the disastrous Northern California wildfires of 2017 or 2018.
San Francisco Chronicle
Inner Sunset
Community members, elected representatives and government officials celebrated the completion of a $21.3 million pedestrian and transit improvement project. Ninety-five curb ramps, four boarding islands for transit riders and two bulb-outs for pedestrians were installed throughout the neighborhood along with extensive underground infrastructure improvements. SFBay
Excelsior
An investor-financed 193-unit apartment complex proposal may be dashed unless the developer can get it through the entitlement process before the federal Opportunity Zone program closes at the end of the year. The developer Presidio Bay believes there is a high likelihood neighbors will be able to stall the project when it goes before the Planning Commission next month. Critics say it will increase gentrification because the rents are more than current residents can afford. San Francisco Chronicle
Embarcadero
Affordable housing developer BRIDGE Housing Corporation and construction firm John Stewart Company discovered thousands of artifacts while preparing the sites at 88 Broadway and 735 David streets for new developments. The developers uncovered parts of men's boots and buttons dating back to the 1860s and ’70s along with traces of a saloon and a sailor's boarding home. SFGate
Potrero Hill
After protest and outcry, the Department of Public Health on Friday halted its controversial plan to eliminate 41 permanent mental health beds at General Hospital to give city leaders time to develop a response strategy. “[S]adly it took us introducing legislation and direct action by front line nurses and health care workers for them to rescind eviction notices for severely mentally ill people, who would otherwise be on the street,” Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney said in a joint-statement. San Francisco Examiner
Sunset
A rare Franois' langur, or Franois' leaf monkey, was born at the Zoo on Sept. 8 to 17-year-old Kathleen and 9-year-old Jun Wan. An endangered species native to southwest China and Vietnam, the babies are born with bright orange fur that darkens with age. The Zoo will hold a contest to name the newborn. ABC
Treasure Island
The EPA scored Treasure Island 51.78 on its Hazards Ranking System, squarely putting it in the category of a Superfund site. A “basketball-sized” chunk of low-level radioactive dirt was uncovered beneath the front door of a Treasure Island home, new public records show. Details are scarce about why the island wasn't named a Superfund site nor when the contamination was uncovered.
Curbed San Francisco
Castro
Twenty-five boulders mysteriously appeared earlier this month on the sidewalk beside a Pet Food Express where there have been a number of homeless encampments. It’s unknown who placed them there or whether City Hall will take them away. However, it is surmised they were placed there to keep homeless people away.
Hoodline | KTVU
Heather Knight, On San Francisco: Another San Francisco Day. Another Assault By A Deranged Man On Our Streets
Sally Stephens: Here We Go Again — New Dog Rules In Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Willie Brown, Willie’s World: Trump Was Right About San Francisco Homeless, Of Course. Then He Blew It
Carl Nolte, Native Son: Golden Gate Bridge: The Best 1.2 Miles You’ll Ever Walk, But Save It For A Foggy Day
What I'm Reading: “We’re Getting These Murals All Wrong” from The Nation
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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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