Author: admin

By Lydia Chavez : missionlocal – excerpt

Joe Rivano Barros

After many years in which I’ve run the newsroom in tandem with Joe Eskenazi — a feat that sometimes felt like a high-wire act — Mission Local has added a new senior editor. His name is Joe Rivano Barros, and he started in April. (I know, two Joes. We haven’t yet figured that one out.)

Joe Rivano joined Mission Local right out of Stanford University in 2014 as part of the Rebele Internship program, which places young students in local newsrooms. He was terrific then — bookish, curious and thoughtful. Unfortunately for us, he was also eager for foreign adventure and left the Bay Area to work for a nonprofit in Bhutan.

When he returned, we hired him as a full-time reporter and he did superb work on the homeless, housing and political issues. At the time, we had only three reporters, all of whom covered everything — a madhouse of a newsroom in what was probably half the size of a Pacific Heights closet…

Already, Joe E. and I can see the benefits of what he brings to the job — a deep knowledge of and love for the city as well as superior editing and organizational skills. All are essential as Mission Local grows…

So, welcome Joe and if you need to get in touch with him, he can be reached at joe.rivanobarros…(more)

by Joe Rivano Barros : missionlocal – excerpt

118 residents across 114 RVs would be dispersed if the site were closed

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to oppose the planned closure of a Bayview RV site that has housed hundreds of homeless people over the last three years.

The site, located at Pier 94 and surrounded by industrial lots, is slated to be closed by the end of the year. The 118 residents currently living there would be transitioned into other forms of housing, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, which manages the site…

The vote on Tuesday simply urges the city to keep the site open. Both the city’s homeless department and the …(more)

By Thomas K. Pendergast : richmondreview – excerpt

A study on financing the expansion of the Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS) – a separate heavy-duty pipeline system designed to fight a devastating conflagration following a major earthquake – was recently released by city agencies.

The report was in response to a resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors last September which called for the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning (ORCP) to come up with a financing plan by Dec. 31, 2022, to expand the EFWS.

The EFWS, formerly known as the Auxiliary Water Supply System, was initially built after the 1906 earthquake because so many water mains and connections in the regular system were broken that there was almost no water pressure left to fight fires. A fire break was created along Van Ness Avenue and a U.S. Navy firefighting ship pumping seawater from off shore was able to stop the fires from going further west…(more)

If you live in the western side of the city, you should read this article that describes what is needed and what may happen next.

by Scott Wilson : msn – excerpt

…In a few months, altering its past path, the state will begin an experiment in what amounts to coercive compassion, an initiative that unlike today’s mental health system will force people into treatment programs instead of jail and monitor their progress for at least a year.

More than three dozen states have some version of courts designed for those suffering from mental illness, many of which fall under the criminal court system and often include jail as a key part of a sentence. No state is attempting to establish a civil court program on the scale of California’s. Estimates by the National Alliance on Mental Illness show that a quarter of the state’s 170,000 homeless residents, more than a quarter of the nation’s total, has a serious mental illness.

But in California, sharp criticism has been raised, including by medical associations and civil rights groups, that the system Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has pushed will stigmatize people with certain mental illnesses and fail to provide enough protection for them from being drawn into the proposed process. Severe housing shortages for the mentally ill — and how appealing the idea is to the homeless — are key questions that have yet to be answered…(more)

by Josh Koehn, Mike Ege : sfstandard – excerpt

Multiple polls have been commissioned in San Francisco to see who has the strongest odds to win the mayor’s race next year, The Standard has learned.
The results have not been published, and the list of candidates vary between polls—but at least one of them lists as many as seven individuals, including Mayor London Breed, three supervisors and a tech entrepreneur.

The Standard reached out to the potential candidates, their campaign consultants, political insiders and special interest groups to gauge who has a real interest in running for mayor, as well as what chances they might have to win the race to lead San Francisco…(more)

Who do you trust? Who do you trust to replace the next round of Directors of the SFMTA Board and District Supervisors? Who do you want to appoint many of the Commissioners? Who do you want to represent San Francisco? Who do you trust to write the checks appropriated by the legitimate body?

sfrichmondreview – excerpt

Shawna J. Mcgrew

https://www.sonsf.org

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: In new partnership with the City of San Francisco, Governor Newsom is directing California Highway Patrol and California National Guard to identify personnel and resources to assist the city in combatting fentanyl trafficking — strengthening law enforcement presence and public safety.

SAN FRANCISCO — Today Governor Gavin Newsom announced an agreement between the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California National Guard (CalGuard), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA) to assist the city in its ongoing efforts to address the fentanyl crisis. This agreement will lead to the formation of a new collaborative operation between all four agencies focused on dismantling fentanyl trafficking and disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city by holding the operators of large-scale drug trafficking operations accountable…(more)

by Annie Gaus :sfstandard – excerpt (video on twitter)

Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped by San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood unannounced on Wednesday for a “private meeting” with members of his cabinet, followed by a walk around the neighborhood, according to his press office.

“They discussed the state’s ongoing efforts to tackle the fentanyl crisis, homelessness, and other critical issues,” said a spokesperson for Newsom. “Following the meeting, the Governor went for a walk and spoke with community members in the area.”…

(twitter video)

The activist, who goes by JJ Smith, said he ran into Newsom during his walk around the neighborhood and he questioned the governor on his plan to address fentanyl.

“It was awkward,” said Smith, who later posted a selfie with Newsom. “He just said he’s here to work on the fentanyl and homeless situation. He didn’t give me any concrete answers or solutions.”…(more)