Category: Update

By Sarah Wright : sfstandard – excerpt

This week, Mayor London Breed is jet setting across Europe on an all-expenses-paid trip with one goal: Bring European travelers to San Francisco.

Footing the bill is San Francisco International Airport, who’s paying for Breed, her staff, and various leaders at SFO and SF Travel, the city’s main tourism lobby, to tour several European cities. During the 10-day, $25,000 tour, Breed will visit London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris, meet with airlines, airport and local leaders to pitch San Francisco as a prime destination and gateway to California.

Why is Breed going to Europe?

San Francisco’s travel recovery is lagging behind other major cities—and a lack of international travelers is partly to blame…(more)

Maybe she needs a break from these stories? Board of Supervisors Question Evolution of Tenderloin Emergency

ByTim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

The developers got a sweet deal, and now want to make low-income residents pay for the ferry service they need to sell high-end condos.

The announcement was pretty low-key, and hardly anyone in the news media paid attention: A special meeting of the Joint San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board and Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency Board set for March 8 was cancelled.

I suspect most San Franciscans have no idea what the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency is, or what is does, or why the Board of Supes, which is also the CTA, would be meeting with that entity…(more)

DEADLINES:  https://sfelections.org/tools/cscal_jun22/  

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

Critics—and there are plenty—say the plan would undermine LGBT, Black, and progressive representation on the board.

The San Francisco Redistricting Task Force just published its first draft of a map for new supervisorial districts, and the general response I am hearing is: Huh?

Or better: WTF?…

A whole lot of changes that seem more political than necessary…

… (more)

I sat in on about 5 minutes of the public meeting last week and that was all I could stand of it after two of the committee argue over which map to start with. These people do not appear to know what they are doing or are following orders to disrupt the system, in my opinion.

By Frances Dinkelspiel : berkelyside – excerpt

Since not all admitted students enroll, Cal will now have to tell 5,000 high school seniors there’s no place for them at Berkeley in the fall.

The California Supreme Court has turned down UC Berkeley’s request to postpone a drastic cap on enrollment for the fall, meaning that Cal will need to cut its incoming class by 3,050 students next year. This means 5,000 fewer high schoolers will be offered admission this month than the university had hoped…

On Aug. 23, 2021, Alameda County Judge Brad Seligman ordered UC Berkeley to toss out the EIR it did for the Upper Hearst project and start anew. He also ordered the enrollment cap.

UC Berkeley appealed that decision first to the Court of Appeal and then to the California Supreme Court. Both appeals were denies.

The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the matter in the coming months. No date has been set yet.

UC Berkeley has not yet started to do a new EIR on the enrollment increases, according to Cal officials…(more)

We hope the case will be published soon so we can review the comments and reasoning behind the decision.

By Bay City News : sfexaminer – excerpt

‘We are long overdue to reform our refuse rate setting process’

San Francisco voters in June will decide whether to reform the way garbage collection rates are overseen after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the ballot measure.

The measure would establish the City Controller as the refuse rate administrator, requiring the official to monitor waste collection expenses, revenues and rates.

The measure would also replace the City Controller with a ratepayer advocate to serve on the Refuse Rate Board in an effort to remove conflict of interests connected to the role as refuse rate administrator, city officials said.

In April, the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office reached a $100 million settlement with Recology, the company contracted by The City to handle waste collection, over excessive charges to customers.…(more)

sfstandard – excerpt

More than 800 Homes Remain Unfilled as Thousands of Unhoused Sit on Waitlist

https://youtu.be/-OYXrmZ2m9Q

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

The mayor met with top hotel executives just as she was planning to deploy more cops to the neighborhood.

I know I’m not the only person who’s been wondering why Mayor London Breed suddenly decided in December to declare a State of Emergency in the Tenderloin.

The problems in that neighborhood have been going on for years. The city, including the Mayor’s Office, hasn’t done much about it. But all of a sudden, Breed decided that something dramatic had to be done.

The San Francisco Business Times this week offered a suggestion as to what’s going on:

Just before the holidays, the CEOs of the two companies with the most hotel rooms in San Francisco took a cross-country field trip here to meet with Mayor London Breed on the state of city streets. The meeting took place fresh off the blitz of high-profile burglaries in Union Square.

The CEOs, Jon Bortz of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and Thomas J. Baltimore of Park Hotels & Resorts, described the previously undisclosed meetings in separate earnings calls within the last week. Collectively their companies own 14 hotels and 5,278 rooms in the city…(more)

RELATED:

Police chief has to back down, agrees to let deal with DA’s Office stay in place

SF Democrats overwhelmingly vote to oppose Boudin recall

By Adam Beam, AP : sfgate – excerpt

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won’t deliver any water to farmers in the state’s major agricultural region — a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

“It’s devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But unfortunately we can’t make it rain.”

The federal government operates the Central Valley Project in California, a complex system of dams, reservoirs and canals. It’s one of two major water systems the state relies on for agriculture, drinking water, and the environment. The other system is run by the state government…(more)