Category: Update

By John King : sfchronicle – excerpt

Look past the obvious attractions along San Francisco’s bay waterfront, and Hyde Street Pier has long had its own cult appeal.

Tucked between Fisherman’s Wharf and Aquatic Park, it’s an 1,100-foot-long structure lined with historic vessels from as far back as 1886. Visitors can board ships that carried grain from California to Europe, and crossed the bay before today’s bridges were a gleam in anyone’s eye.

At some point this spring, however, four of the floating landmarks will set sail for Vallejo for at least several years — and the century-old pier itself will be torn out and totally rebuilt, a project that may not be complete until 2027.

“There’s going to be disruption, we know that,” said Dale Dualan, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, which manages the pier and nearby Aquatic Park. “But this is an opportunity to preserve these resources for future generations.”.

Though the $102 million project was approved by Congress in 2022, many basic details remain vague — such as what the new pier will look like, or when construction will begin and end. Nor is it clear when the historic vessels that line the pier will depart, or if all will return once work is complete…(more)

by Garrett Leahy : sfstandard – excerpt

A shuttered San Francisco diner has sat empty for over eight years, despite long-standing plans to develop it into luxury apartments.

The Lucky Penny diner, next to a Trader Joe’s at 2670 Geary Blvd. in Laurel Heights, was a favorite for late-night hospital visitors and University of San Francisco students, as it stayed open around the clock.

After it served its last patty melt on Christmas Eve in 2015, plans emerged in 2018 to demolish the diner and erect a building with 101 luxury apartments, dubbed the Laurel, by developer Presidio Bay Ventures.

But it’s 2024, and the Lucky Penny remains a shell of its once-bustling self.

Ex-cop Dominic Yin, who runs the family trust that owns the land and building, blames city red tape and swelling labor and building costs brought about by inflation for the delay.

“Take whatever the price [for development] was and double or triple it,” Yin said, declining to share how much construction would cost currently.

A 2019 building permit for an eight-story building with apartments and a street-level commercial space pegged the cost at $25 million. The Planning Commission approved the project in January 2020…(more)

By Yujie Zhou : missionlocal – excerpt

Chino Yang recently wrote a rap — a diss track, to be specific — about his frustration with anti-Asian hate, the current state of San Francisco and Mayor London Breed. Within days, the Asian rapper found himself the focus of condemnation from San Francisco’s African American leaders and the subject of a media frenzy.

The reaction to Yang’s rap criticizing Mayor Breed was as much about the messenger as the message, said Kyle Shin, 26, a fifth-generation Chinese American in the city who is also a rapper. Generally, he noted, Asians are perceived as reserved, the “model minority.”

That model minority may be turning on Breed. Interviews with small-business owners and leaders in the Asian community indicate that many are unhappy with the mayor and ready to support another candidate in the November election…

“I see people that are mad at London Breed, you know, don’t trust her at all,” said Albert Chow, president of the neighborhood association People of Parkside Sunset and owner of Great Wall Hardware on Taraval Street.

“I know there’re a lot of people that aren’t very happy with what’s going on now with the politics,” added William J. Barnickel, president of the Outer Sunset Merchant Professional Association and a commissioner on San Francisco’s Veterans Affairs Committee. While Barnickel is not Asian, most of his association’s members are.

David Ho, a Chinatown organizer and political consultant, said that the community now sees the mayor as responsible for the public-safety issues that have been there for years. Previously, the mayor and others could blame former District Attorney Chesa Boudin…

“Maybe this time we can point at the mayor, ‘You better do your job,’” added Sean Kim, vice president of Richmond District’s Geary Boulevard Merchants Association and owner of Joe’s Ice Cream. For small businesses, Kim said, it is dangerous to do business in San Francisco now. “But we don’t see any accountability, so we are not happy.”…

“I’m really glad to see Chino Yang speak up, and we have to support him,” said Kim, who also noted the chilling effect the aftermath of the incident would cause. “This kind of incident gives signal, ‘Oh, any other Asian small businesses, you better be quiet, otherwise you will be targeted.’”…

If not Breed who?

Breed will have the benefit of incumbency, but she is facing a burgeoning field: Daniel Lurie, nonprofit founder and the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, pulled papers in September, joining District 11 Supervisor Safaí. Former District 2 supervisor and acting mayor Mark Farrell is reportedly exploring a run, and supporters of Board President Aaron Peskin have urged him to throw his hat in the ring…(more)

By J.D. Morris : sfchronicle – excerpt

San Francisco reduced the number of homeless tents on its streets by about 17% last year in the months after the city ramped up encampment sweeps in response to a court ruling, Mayor London Breed’s office said Thursday.

The city counted 609 tents in July, prior to receiving September guidance from a federal appeals court that local officials said empowered them to take a more assertive approach to clearing encampments. In November, after San Francisco had begun incorporating the court guidance, the tent count dropped to 508, Breed’s office said.

The initial July tent figure was the highest since October 2020, when the city counted 703 tents. And the November tent count of 508 was the lowest since June 2022 when there were 492 tents, according to city data.

However, the number of tents tends to fluctuate and it’s unclear from the data whether the court guidance was behind the drop…

Under an injunction in place since December 2022 — which San Francisco is challenging in court — the city is restricted in its ability to remove homeless tents from streets and sidewalks without providing shelter and from enforcing certain laws against public camping. The city has still been able to remove tent camps, after giving 72 hours’ notice, to ensure access for disabled people and first responders. The injunction also allows for sweeps to be conducted for health and safety reasons, and it permits the city to force encampment residents to move temporarily for street cleaning.

But after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released guidance in the case in September, the city said it could begin enforcing anti-camping laws against people determined to be “voluntarily” homeless, which means they “declined a specific offer of available shelter” or already had access to shelter…(more)

By Adam Shanks : sfexaminer – excerpt

Greg Wagner accepts his appointment as the new San Francisco city controller by Mayor London Breed

Greg Wagner is poised to be the next San Francisco controller.

Wagner’s appointment — which was announced by Mayor London Breed on Wednesday and still requires approval by the Board of Supervisors — will fill the vacancy left by outgoing Controller Ben Rosenfield.

The controller, who serves as The City’s chief financial officer and auditor, will be key to The City’s navigation of a daunting array of financial challenges in the coming years. Though the job typically has a low public profile, its occupant is often thought of as an unsung hero to those within city government…(more)

• By Erin Roach : sfexaminer – excerpt (includes audio)

The SF Recreation and Park Department plans to build a 235-slip harbor near Marina Green.

In the song “Big Yellow Taxi,” Joni Mitchell famously sings, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?.”

The Marina Green waterfront — an iconic symbol of our city — will soon be gone if the Recreation and Park Department goes through with a plan to build a 235-slip harbor at that very location, and most San Franciscans are unaware of it.

This ill-conceived plan is the result of a legal battle between The City and PG&E. Instead of cleaning up PG&E’s toxic waste and rebuilding Gashouse Cove in the East Marina as the lawsuit stipulated, RPD worked out a deal with PG&E in which it would relocate half of the east harbor,leaving Gashouse Cove to silt over.

But there may be time to stop it if supervisors Ahsha Safai, Aaron Peskin and Connie Chan successfully pass their Gashouse Cove Project ordinance in the coming weeks.

If you, too, don’t want to see the Marina Green waterfront become a parking lot for 40-foot yachts, write a letter of support to your district supervisor and the mayor today…(more)

Contacts for Supervisors are here: https://wordpress.com/view/discoveryink.wordpress.com

By Erica Sandberg : city-journal – excerpt

The Way Out, a new nonprofit program for drug addicts, is challenging the city’s culture of permissiveness.

Misdiagnose a disease, and the results can be lethal. Case in point: San Francisco officials call the city’s drug-addiction crisis a homeless problem. Until recently, the city’s remedy has been to provide addicts with indoor spaces and drug-use gear—a strategy that has proven increasingly deadly. As of mid-December, San Francisco had 752 fatal overdoses in 2023, the highest number on record…

Two flawed schools of thought are to blame for these record numbers. San Francisco embraced California’s Housing First model, which gives the so-called homeless population unconditional, permanent housing. Meantime, the city’s Department of Public Health has leaned hard into a Harm Reduction policy rather than actively promoting recovery. Loath to stigmatize drug users, city officials are focused on developing campaigns designed to encourage safe drug use and to distribute drug supply paraphernalia, including foil for inhaling illegal fentanyl…

Now, disruption has begun. The Way Out, an on-demand, recovery-focused homeless initiative of the Salvation Army in San Francisco, is vigorously challenging the city’s entrenched approach to addiction. The Way Out coordinates the Salvation Army’s local efforts into a complete recovery system. What it offers people in need is impressive, both in the scope of services and in its intention.

First, participants receive stabilization services and drug-addiction treatment at the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center. Immediate intake is available six days a week, with plans to expand to seven days soon. Recovery begins on arrival, including detox and six months of residential care with an evidence-based curriculum…(more)

By Rick Paulas :theguardian – excerpt

Municipalities and non-profits are establishing secure lots to address the rising number of people who live in cars or RVs

Starting in October 2021, about 40 motorhomes or recreational vehicles (RVs) parked in a lot on Grayson Street in Berkeley, California, as part of the city’s first attempt at a “safe parking lot”.

According to Google Maps photos, the space had been mostly unused since 2008. But a local non-profit, the Dorothy Day House, created the Safe Parking and Respite Kickstart (Spark) program to help “alleviate the crisis of unsheltered and encampment homeless” in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.

The space filled a pressing need for those who didn’t have traditional lodging. People without stable, stationary housing could park their vehicles there for free without fear of violating city ordinances against sidewalk occupation and long-term parking. Spark provided water and toilets, and it allowed occupants to have pets and in-and-out privileges without a curfew – features that are often hard to come by on the street or in homeless shelters…(more)

By Danielle Echeverria : sfchronicle – excerpt

San Francisco Mayor London Breed joined other local leaders Saturday in Japantown to urge voters to back three ballot measures that supporters say will make the city safer and more vibrant.

The three measures, which will appear on the March ballot, attempt to address some of the city’s most visible, persistent issues — downtown’s sluggish economic recovery, public safety concerns and the drug crisis — that Breed has been focusing on ahead of her upcoming, potentially tough reelection campaign. Standing in front of dozens of supporters at Japantown’s Peace Plaza, Breed said the initiatives will face the issues head-on.

“We need to dig in, and we need to go harder and stronger and not be afraid to make the hard decisions that are going to get us to a better place,” she said.

The first of the three initiatives the leaders touted, Measure C, would waive the city’s transfer tax, which currently ranges from 0.5% to 6%, for buildings converted from offices to housing the first time they are transferred to new owners, in an effort to diversify and revitalize San Francisco’s downtown core…

The other two measures Breed and her allies promoted Saturday, E and F, have drawn more controversy.

Measure E, called the police policies and procedures measure, would cut down on the amount of paperwork officers must fill out, including after certain use-of-force incidents, with the goal that officers spend no more than about a third of their time on recordkeeping and reporting.

It would also allow the Police Department to use public surveillance cameras, drones and facial recognition technology without approval from the Police Commission, which sets policy for the agency, and would expand when officers are allowed to engage in a vehicle pursuit when they believe someone is committing a felony or violent misdemeanor, as long as it can be done safely…

Finally, Measure F would require welfare recipients with substance use disorders to enroll in treatment to continue to receive cash assistance through the County Adult Assistance Program — an idea Breed floated in the fall that received immediate pushback… (more)