Category: Update

By Dustin Gardner : sfchronicle – excerpt

By Anton Troianovski : nytimes – excerpt

Wildfires are spreading. The mosquitoes are ravenous. People are shielding their windows from the midnight sun with foil and blankets.

MOSCOW — They used to ride snowmobiles in June in Russkoye Ustye, a Siberian village by the Arctic Ocean coast.

Last week, the temperature in the area hit 88 degrees.

“Nature is taking its revenge on us, probably,” Sergei Portnyagin, the village head, said by telephone. “We’ve been too bloody in how we’ve treated it.”

The climate has been warming rapidly in the Arctic for years, but even by those standards, a heat wave roasting northern Siberia for the past few weeks has been shocking… (more)

By Cynthia Dizikes : sfchronicle – excerpt

Contaminated gas stations, vehicle repair shops and parking garages have become prized development commodities in San Francisco in recent years as the city struggles with a crushing housing shortage.

But city officials have repeatedly stymied public oversight when assessing whether these chemical-tainted properties are safe for hundreds of new homes by allowing developers to bypass environmental reviews required under state law, a Chronicle investigation has found.

The California Environmental Quality Act prohibits certain exemptions for the tens of thousands of properties on a statewide roster of hazardous-waste sites called the Cortese list. “Categorical” exemptions are only supposed to go to projects with no significant impact on the environment or human health. The prohibition was designed to protect the public, construction workers and future occupants from exposure to dangerous substances, environmental lawyers said… (more)

By Laura Waxman : bizjournal – excerpt

A San Francisco ordinance aiming to standardize policies and requirements for proposed housing and development projects in a bid to expedite the environmental review process was stalled this week following community pushback.

Under the Standard Environmental Requirements Program Ordinance, introduced earlier this year, pre-determined mitigation requirements would be applied to projects that would otherwise face a longer and more intensive environmental evaluation. Currently, mitigation measures are applied on a project-by-project review basis, and streamlining the process is expected to allow mandated reviews to be conducted “roughly three months faster on average” for certain projects, said Planning Department spokesperson Candace SooHoo… (more)

https://www.rescuesf.org/

To solve the seemingly intractable problems that are rotting our city, They are implementing a strategy that combines evidence-based solutions with people-powered activism. They are setting up a series of webinars.

Margot Kushel, MD, Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and renowned authority on homelessness – Jun 18, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM RSVP

Kevin Fagan, After covering homelessness for many years, seasoned Chronicle reporter shares his insights on potential solutions for San Francisco – Jun 24, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM RSVP

David Faigman, Hastings Dean to discuss Hastings’s lawsuit to force the city of San Francisco to clean the streets and house the homeless in the Tenderloin – Jul 01, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM RSVP

By Rachel Swan : sfchronicle – excerpt

San Francisco’s transportation board has pulled back a 30-cent fare increase in a deal with two supervisors that followed months of jockeying in City Hall.

In exchange, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Dean Preston withdrew a proposed charter amendment that would have stripped power from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, including its authority to decide fares…(more)

WEAR A MASK! You can wash your hands but not your lungs.

Here is the explanation why. Please share this it with everyone.

I don’t know if you understand the fast spread of the virus. The news media, the president etc… do not explain it well.

When a person is getting sick, is slightly sick, or is a carrier exhales, they spray thousands of the virus particles go out into the air around him.

They do not have to cough or sneeze. If you are in a grocery store and walk 6 feet behind them you can still get the virus because you are following in their air space, that has thousands of his virus particles. So wear a mask and if you don’t have one make one from a paper towel by folding it, stapling the ends and stapling a piece of fine elastic to that stapled end. Or use a kerchief. Just cover your nose and mouth with something that keeps water droplets from passing through. The virus sticks to the water droplets.

Be careful when you go to a grocery store. Disinfecting the floor and counters is less important than the mask.

Please wear a mask if you must go out in public for your sake and everyone

https://sf.gov/information-construction-projects

Find out which construction projects are essential and will continue, and get information to keep construction job sites safe.

By Julie from the Exploratorium

Click the Link to view the video if it doesn’t come up on your screen:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/how-does-soap-inactivate-coronaviruses

Coronaviruses are surrounded by the same type of membrane that surrounds human cells. Learn how disrupting this membrane with soap or alcohol inactivates the virus. Find out more about the science of COVID-19 with the Exploratorium Learning Toolbox.

Respiratory Therapist – How to treat a Virus at home.