Category: Update

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)

by Mike Ege : sfstandard – excerpt

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin has called for a regional task force including federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target what he describes as a “fentanyl dealing and human trafficking crisis in San Francisco.”

Peskin issued the appeal in a press release April 13. He has sent letters to House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as regional agencies such as the BART Board of Directors and the University of California Board of Regents, urging them to work with the San Francisco Police Department…

Peskin made the appeal after asking Mayor London Breed to reschedule her policy discussions appearance before the Board of Supervisors meant for April 11 to a future meeting to be held at United Nations Plaza, considered to be the epicenter of the city’s fentanyl scourge…(more)

By Joe Eskenazi : missionlocal – excerpt

Robert Harold “Crazy Bob” Lee died on the pavement in the wee hours last Tuesday after being stabbed while he walked through an abandoned downtown street.

He was 43, a father, and while the moments after a man’s violent, senseless death are not ideal for gleaning unvarnished opinions, the heartfelt tributes emanating from his many friends and loved ones made it clear that this was a better world with Lee in it. And he deserved far better than this.

While the police insist this was the 13th homicide this year, the medical examiner provided only 12 names. This is an area in which you’d like to have everyone on the same page and police have not answered our questions about this jarring discrepancy; they are apparently very busy working on the present case…(more)

Cold dark empty abandoned streets are a good description of San Francisco’s problem. Those streets that Bob stumbled down were bereft of traffic because of city policies that cleared them. The only eyes that captured the distress and calls for help were the heartless digital ones our society has decided to trust. What is missing from this scene is a human heart and helping hand. We are losing our humanity as we quibble over priorities and process.

By Kristi Coale : thefrisc – excerpt

Among changes to help bikes and other alternatives, a safer 13th Street that also lets drivers get to local stores could be the stiffest test yet.

After the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, San Francisco tore down roughly six miles of elevated freeway, clearing room and sky and letting the Embarcadero, Ferry Building, and Hayes Valley flourish.

Now, some city and state officials are floating the idea of more removal: the elevated 1.5 mile Central Freeway, which runs east-west from Market Street to the confluence of Interstate 80 and Highway 101.

Until this long-shot dream comes to fruition, however, SF faces a more immediate reality. The streets and chaotic intersections that run under the Central Freeway are some of our busiest, most dangerous, and most important for crosstown travel — and they need to be fixed. Changes are coming; a safety upgrade is due to begin later this year or early 2024…(more)

We have two objects to removing the Central Freeway. Increased surface traffic through the Mission and spending money on anything other than improving MUNI.

Not only do we agree with Kirsti that 13th Street could use a little work, but, where are the funds to tear down freeway coming from since SFMTA is claiming they are broke and the businesses the state chose to support over all others are driving out as fast as they can?

How many more businesses can the city afford to kill? As the rate they are going, we will be lucky if we have any big grocery chains remaining in San Francisco.

This is a bad idea.

Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

Audit shows Mayor’s Office of Housing lacks transparency—and can’t explain a huge surplus

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community development is sitting on roughly half a billion dollars that could be spent on immediate housing needs, a new audit shows.

And that doesn’t count another close to $200 million in annual tax money earmarked for housing that the mayor has diverted to other uses…

In a city with a notorious lack of affordable housing, we have a department, nested under the Mayor’s Office, that does not follow reporting rules, has highly-politicized decision making, and, with an apparent balance of nearly a half billion dollars, can’t even tell us how much money is committed and how much isn’t.…(more)

By Adam Shanks : sfexaminer – excerpt

A proposed resolution that would ask California lawmakers to legalize consensual sex work has been put on hold, with tis sponsor — SF Supervisor Hillary Ronen — citing differences of opinion about which aspects of the world’s oldest profession should be decriminalized.

It’s the world’s oldest profession — and remains one of the most vexing.

That’s why San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen has delayed her proposed resolution that would ask California lawmakers to legalize consensual sex work.

Ronen now plans to hold a hearing on the subject of sex work with testimony from experts in the field, and she hopes to draft a model law that The City could push state lawmakers to adopt.

Ronen first introduced the resolution in February in a hasty response to the rampant prostitution disrupting the daily life of residents near Capp Street, which sits in her district. The conditions on Capp Street had reached a new nadir, prompting Ronen to ask The City to establish concrete barriers that would at least stem the flow of late-night vehicle traffic.

The barriers are a temporary solution to an entrenched problem, Ronen acknowledges. If California would legalize sex work, Ronen hoped, it would be regulated and safe — without late-night transactions occurring on Capp Street sidewalks…(more)

by Josh Koehn : sfstandard – excerpt

A network of “tech families” in San Francisco are forming a new political group that intends to spend up to $5 million a year—over the course of decades—to radically rewrite the script on housing, transportation, education and public spaces in the city.

Abundant SF, whose name gives a nod to a line in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1937 inaugural address, is seeking to make a sustained investment in YIMBY ballot measures and candidates who are ideologically aligned on the group’s core tenets, according to more than a dozen people who are familiar with the organization.

While other political groups backed by tech money have flexed their muscles in San Francisco, what’s novel about Abundant SF is its ambitious targets and prolonged time commitment….

Aaron Peskin, the president of the Board of Supervisors, had not heard of Abundant SF before being contacted for this story, but he seemed unconcerned by a new political player in town backed by substantial tech money.

“God bless them, they have the right to spend their money however they choose,” Peskin said. “But I don’t think there’s anything new here. All I have to say is: same shit, different name.”…

Disclosure: Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, provided initial funding for The Standard and Together SF. He is not involved in editorial decisions.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify that Abundant SF supporters also have ties to Effective Governance California…(more)

RELATED:

Michael Moritz’s strange and terrible diagnosis of San Francisco

by Joe Eskenazi : missionlocal – excerpt

Let us start with the premise that San Francisco is a city with serious challenges and an unserious government. Let us be frank: This is a poorly governed place. You could even claim it’s the worst-run big city in the United States. And long has been…

Once you get into the why, though — why is San Francisco, a place that’s so rich and so replete with smart government officials, governed so abysmally? — it gets tougher…

San Francisco’s problem is not liberalism. It’s incompetence. It’s sloth. It’s poor governance, dysfunctional bureaucracy, and casual corruption enabled by vast and steady torrents of wealth… (more)

These articles attmept to place the blame for San Franciso’s woes on the influence of big money on San Francisco politiics. Certainly money is a large factor, but, after seeing the results of a lot of investigations conducted by all of our local media, I tend to agree with Joe.

San Francisco’s problems begin and end wtih incompetent dysfunctional bureaucrats and contractors, hired and managed by under-qualified or corrupt department heads and managers. Who hired these people? Why is the transportation system run on floppy discs and why are our teachers not being paid? These are the problems we need to solve. How can we replace incompetant and under-performing management and staff?

Those wealthy people who feel compelled to throw money into city politics should do a better job of vetting the people they select to run for office. They should look for people with proven mangement skills. We should all demand more from all our city officials.