Category: Action

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As S.F. pivots to mandatory drug treatment, DPH cuts counselor training at City College

by XUEER LU : Missionlocal – excerpt

End of free mental health training part of shift in CA towards housing, treating worst addiction cases

At his inauguration, Mayor Daniel Lurie promised to dedicate his time in office to tackling the city’s drug use and mental health crisis, even in the face of the city’s looming budget deficit.

In practice, cuts to programs that help tackle that crisis are coming anyway. Among them: City College’s Community Mental Health Certificate Program, a one of a kind 18-month program, training frontline mental health workers to use their lived experience for peer counseling with a chance to be licensed by the state.

The city’s Department of Public Health recently announced that its funding will end after its current five-year $2.15-million contract comes to an end. If it can’t find funding elsewhere, its last class will graduate in June 2027… (more)

Let me get this straight. SF just spent 14 million dollars on 25 sobering up chairs, but they are cutting 2.15 million to educate mental health workers. What are they going to do? Strap troubled people into the chairs? How long will they sit quietly while coming down? Who is running this outfit?

 

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Please Help the landowner of the four undeveloped lots at 1230 – 1240 Twin Peaks Blvd. donate his property

The lot owner would like to donate the property to either the city, the RPD and/or a nature conservatory.  He does not want to sell the property and have it developed for housing units.  He has asked the surrounding neighborhood, Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association (MTHOA) to take the lead in helping him donate his property.  To sign the “Donate the Land” petition contact: Midtownterrace.org

If the property were to be donated, it would remain in its natural state and probably be planted with California native plants.  The landowner would also donate $50,000 towards property maintenance.

This property is at the gateway of the Panorama Drive side of Twin Peaks Blvd.  If the donated lots were kept in a natural state, they would greatly compliment the entrance of the new Promenade that is being built on the top of Twin Peaks.

Twin Peaks is the second-highest natural point in San Francisco (922+ feet), surpassed only by Mount Davidson.  Unofficially the number two (2) tourist destination by volume, Twin Peaks is a premier, world-famous attraction renowned for offering the best 360-degree, panoramic views of the City and Bay.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE:If the landowner cannot donate his property, it will be sold to a developer. This will lead to prolonged construction, an unattractive building, public safety issues, parking problems, traffic congestion, noise, quality of life concerns for surrounding residents and increases in crime. Please Contact: MidtownTerrace.org and Myrna Melgar 415-554-6516 or MelgarStaff@sfgov.org

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S.F. supervisors, past and present, arrested at SFO anti-ICE protest

By  Marina Newman : missionlocal – excerpt

Board President Rafael Mandelman and congressional candidate Supervisor Connie Chan among those arrested at May Day protest.

San Francisco city officials, including Board President Rafael Mandelman and Supervisor Connie Chan, and a California state senator were arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Friday during a May Day protest against conditions for airport workers and federal immigration agents’ presence in airports across the country.

The airport workers’ union picketed for higher wages and fully funded healthcare. Activist groups who joined the protest on Friday decried Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence at airports…

Chan, Mandelman and other city and state officials, including state Sen. Josh Becker and former supervisor Jane Kim, blocked the street to the international terminal, holding a banner in support of the union…

At 1 p.m., approximately one hour after Chan and other city officials were arrested, the San Francisco Police Department released a statement saying that there are “no arrests or reports of injuries at this time.”…(more)

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Break up PG&E?

By Sam Maslin : sfchronicle – excerpt

We should first try fixing the California Public Utilities Commission

As we gear up for the 2026 election season, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is in the crosshairs. Tom Steyer is running for governor and loudly vowing to “break up” the electric utilities. Meanwhile, in the San Francisco congressional race to replace Nancy Pelosi, all three major candidates — Scott Weiner, Saikat Chakrabarti and Connie Chan — support a takeover of the city’s electric system.

Politicians and voters have every right to be upset at PG&E. Rates have gone through the roof as the company has presided over a string of deadly failures and costly outages. But moves to take over the grid should give us pause. San Francisco City Hall, with pressing challenges and its own history of mismanagement, seems ill-equipped to launch an electric utility, and advocates of municipal power are often unrealistic about what would be involved. There are better ways to get the electric system we want.

Here’s the thing: The large investor-owned utilities are already publicly controlled. As state-sanctioned monopolies, they are comprehensively regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has the responsibility to approve their actions. So if we’re unhappy with the utilities, why don’t we just try regulating them better?

We should be asking much more of the five members of the commission, who are appointed by the governor. As a developer of solar and energy storage projects in California, I have seen firsthand how our regulators have failed to produce effective energy policy or to provide even a modest check on the utilities.

The truth is, the commission has not been meeting the moment…

Now’s the time for a fresh start. Leadership is turning over at the commission, and we’ll soon elect a new governor who will appoint new regulators. As voters, we should be asking pointed questions and demanding better results.

Can we unpack the rate increases? How are costs categorized, and do we agree? What returns are utilities receiving on their investments, and are they appropriate? Are there more cost-effective solutions to grid challenges that aren’t being considered? How can we empower communities to develop the next generation of energy assets?…

Let’s organize with our neighbors — using existing groups and forming new ones. Let’s take a hard look at utility profits and, in this era of budget cuts and hard choices, insist that they do belt-tightening just like the rest of us. Let’s increase the pace of energy development and fight for the right to develop local resources to prevent future blackouts, just as PG&E has.

We should be unabashed about these goals with the incoming governor’s administration. We want a transformed utility system and intend to work effectively across the different stakeholders to effect real change. Of course, we can always keep a city takeover in our back pocket…

Ultimately, there isn’t one solution to our energy woes. The grid is a large, multilayered system, and we have to do many things at scale to ensure that we have the energy we need over the coming years. But having regulators who recognize the urgency of the situation is a must, and right now, we don’t.

So we can keep talking about a long-term breakup with PG&E, but let’s recognize that we have the opportunity to demand better outcomes now… (more)

Sam Maslin is CEO of Eddy Energy, a developer of community energy storage projects, and the president of the Noe Valley Democratic Club in San Francisco.

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Keep Crocker Real

 

By Keep Crocker Real released files this week. A lot is at stake. We need to hear your voices. Thursday, February 19, at 10:00am, City Hall, room 416. It’s item 9 on the agenda:

 

 

SYNTHETIC TURF PROGRAM – POLICY AND PROTOCOLS
You can documents on our website: keepcrockerreal.com/files

While you still can consider visiting Hummingbird Farm on February 22, from 11:00am to 2:00pm. where we will hang artwork from our If Nature Could Talk event on the 100+ trees Rec & Park intends to cut down. (We won’t damage the trees.) This is a great way to pay tribute to the historic trees and wildlife that will no longer be around if the “renovation” plan goes through unchanged.

If you want to learn more about the harms of plastic, author Judith Enck’s is giving a talk at the Commonwealth Club titled, The Problem with Plastic on Thursday, February 19 at 5:30pm.

This fight for a better neighborhood park isn’t over yet. We look forward to meeting and working with you soon. keepcrockerreal.com

Calmatters has a number of articles on various attempts made by state legislators to stop the installation of Astroturf. If any of these legislators are still in office, one might contact them to find out how you may help them bring the matter forward again.

Key  Legislative Actions and Trends

  • California SB 676 (2023): Signed into law, this allows cities and counties to restrict or ban the installation of artificial turf on residential properties. It effectively reverses a 2015 law that had prohibited local governments from doing so to encourage water-wise landscaping. This is why Rec and Park is holding hearings on the matter now.
  • California AB 1423 (2023): Proposed legislation that aims to ban the manufacturing and sale of artificial turf containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
  • Colorado SB24-081 (2024): Prohibits the installation of artificial turf containing intentionally added PFAS on state property starting January 1, 2026.
  • Local Bans: Certain municipalities, such as Boston, have implemented prohibitions on installing new artificial turf in city parks.

Environmental and Health Concerns Driving Legislation

  • Chemical Exposure: Studies have found PFAS, lead, and BPA in artificial turf materials, which can leach into the environment and be ingested or absorbed by users.
  • Microplastics: Turf breaks down into microplastics that wash into water sources.
  • Environmental Impact: Artificial turf creates “heat islands,” reduces biodiversity, and prevents soil aeration
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California’s blockbuster legislation faces rocky rollout

By Sam Dillon : msn – excerpt

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/californias-blockbuster-housing-legislation-faces-rocky-rollout/ar-AA1W4Md0?ocid=socialshare

There is a bit of a disconnect between theory and results with the Wiener bills. Art by sfbluecomics.

Commentary:  How long can you hold a citizenry hostage to a crisis? 

Mass confusion over the meaning and implementation of SB79, which amounts to unlimited growth near mass transit, is sweeping California’s largest cities that are targeted by the one of the most draconian bills ever devised. After turning over the Pacific coastline to developers, and blaming cities for the housing shortage, Senator Wiener, has managed to make almost everyone mad at him. Now it turns out his penchant for writing long, detailed, prescriptive bills is not playing well with the public or city officials who are charged with enforcing what has been described as developer wet dreams.

Give the anger and confusion over SB79 in his district is giving Scott Wiener’s competitors a boost. He is rumored to be considering a delay in implementation of the bill as he seeks support for his new power move to Washington to replace Pelosi. 

In his haste to divide and conquer Wiener has succeeded in dividing both his friends and foes, often referred to as YIMBYS and NIMBYS. Wiener is not enjoying a lot of support from the press either. He relies heavily on the Abundant crowd in Silicon Valley, that his constituents are being hammered by. If you were not recently laid off by a high tech firm, you may have lost your income to Waymo or been evicted from a gentrified neighborhood.

Wiener is fighting a Dead horse that is obvious to everyone but him and people are ready to fight back.

There are some gems in this article that covers a lot of the history of how we got here and where the Wiener of the world want us to go. Here are a couple of pull-quotes from the article:

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Teachers, others shocked to get SFUSD ‘assignments’ for strike day

By Joe Eskenazi : missionlocal – excerpt

On late Friday, workers were given ‘redeployment assignments’ to ‘Staff Centers’ opened because of Monday’s school closures. They’re confused.

On the cusp of Monday’s planned San Francisco teacher work stoppage, teachers were jolted to receive emails from the district telling them they had work to do.

On Friday evening, the San Francisco Unified School District emailed its 6,000-plus teachers, providing them information that they already knew — schools are closed Mondaydue to the overwhelming possibility of the first San Francisco teacher walkout in 47 years. The email informed teachers — who voted at a 97.6 percent clip to authorize Monday’s walkout — that they were receiving “redeployment assignments” to “Staff Centers” on Monday.

“In order to maintain District operations, we are opening Staff Centers where SFUSD employees should report to work,” the email states. “Staff are expected to work and report to their assigned Staff Center.” … (more)

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S.F. firefighters demand answers after Blue Shield denies cancer coverage

By Abigail Van Neely : missionlocal – excerpt

Time is of the essence, say friends and family of retired firefighter with Stage 4 cancer

Retired San Francisco firefighter Ken Jones was diagnosed with cancer last March. On Jan. 7, his insurance provider, Blue Shield of California, refused to pay for his treatment, his family said.

“Blue Shield has decided that my father’s life is not worth paying for,” Jones’ daughter Rachel said at a meeting of the San Francisco Health Service Board Thursday afternoon.

In the 17 years Jones worked at the fire department, his daughter said Jones never asked if saving lives was too expensive.

The city is responsible for negotiating its public servants’ health-insurance contracts, and the Health Service Board oversees that relationship. Jones’ family and other retired firefighters were there to ask the board to override Blue Shield’s denial…

Jones was at a clinic preparing to begin a round of chemotherapy on Wednesday when the family learned that Blue Shield was refusing to pay. Her husband’s doctor was “shocked,” Horvath added… (more)

RELATED:

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It.

Missionlocal still accepts comments.

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You may want to Oppose SB 6777

SB 6777 (Wiener rider on SB 79) passed with no opposition. We could use a little help with sending some opposition letters. It might be short and sweet and posted as a NO to have some effect.
One of the few projects Wiener supports against the will of SF City Mayor Lurie that may bring him down when he runs to replace Pelosi this year. Media is not ignoring the opposition on this one of four Safeways targeted for demolition in SF. How many other cities or states are losing grocery stores? 
One of the few projects Wiener supports against the will of SF City Mayor Lurie that may bring him down when he runs to replace Pelosi this year. Media is not ignoring the opposition on this one of four Safeways targeted for demolition in SF. How many other cities or states are losing grocery stores?

Anyone concerned about expanding on the allowances in SB 79, through a Wiener Rider bill, may want to follow the debate tonight and see if this is covered. They may also want to consider writing a letter in opposition to SB 677, the rider bill. You may just look at the attached explanation (16 pages) to figure out what he is doing now or go through the rest of the message if you have more time.
 Dr. Wahab’s summary of the bill is attached.
https://csfn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SB6777.pdf