News

By Sarah Holtz : sfstandard – excerpt (published 1/4/2023)

I’ve always been a firm believer in harm reduction. The way I see it, legalizing safe consumption sites and giving people access to fentanyl test strips and Narcan (a brand name for the overdose-reversal drug naloxone) will only serve to make our community safer.

On New Year’s Eve, as I prepared to head to a house party where I figured some might use recreational drugs—and thus put themselves at risk of accidentally overdosing on fentanyl—I went out in search of test strips and naloxone. With test strips, I could help people identify if drugs were laced with fentanyl. With Narcan, I might be able to help reverse an inadvertent overdose.

I figured it’d be an easy errand. I was wrong…

I knew that local nonprofit FentCheck has an online map of sites that distribute free test strips…

The irony of striking out at the pharmacy and the hospital, only to find the potentially life-saving resource I was looking for at a neighborhood bar, left me with more questions than answers…

So I called up Alison Heller, co-founder of FentCheck. Driven by a desire to confront the FentCheck crisis, Heller attended EMT school before starting FentCheck. She told me that when she started her organization, fentanyl test strips were considered drug paraphernalia. She and her co-founder Dean Shold worked hard with lawmakers to help declassify them. …(more)

Good to know that there is a simple test and where it is available. More information on the tests may be avoid the need for so much Narcan. Detailed information on what to look for should be distributed more widely.

By Garrett Leahy : sfstandard – excerpt

The hours you get charged to park on San Francisco city streets were set to be changed this summer for the first time since 1947. But San Francisco supervisors passed a resolution last week urging the agency to delay the idea pending an “independent economic impact report.”

The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency wants to extend meter hours from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and add Sunday metering hours in select parts of the city where parking charges previously did not exist.

The transit agency claims the plan will “expand parking availability and benefit all those who live, shop, worship and work in San Francisco.”

However, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said it seemed likely the agency would agree to postpone the changes until the city’s controller can do a study at some point in September. …(more)

By Adam Shanks : sfexaminer – excerpt

People take cover on a rainy morning in the U.N. Plaza a day after the Tenderloin Center closed last December. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will question Mayor London Breed at the plaza during its next meeting…

Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors will discuss The City’s response to the opioid crisis at its epicenter.

Maybe.

In an unorthodox meeting organized by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, Breed is set to field questions Tuesday at United Nations Plaza on how The City is coordinating public safety resources in response to an alarming rise in drug overdose deaths.

The agenda for Tuesday’s regular Board of Supervisors meeting calls for a “special off-site meeting,” beginning at 2 p.m., at United Nations (U.N.) Plaza on McAllister Street. After Breed addresses Supervisors, the meeting will be recessed and supervisors will reconvene in City Hall for their usual session…(more)

By Ethan Kassel : sfstandard – excerpt

Expensive parking, smaller beer that’s hardly “cheaper” than the full-size options and seemingly unsafe public transit have all been cited as factors that have kept San Francisco Giants fans away from Oracle Park.

Fans on Reddit responded to an analysis The Standard recently did of this year’s slumping attendance, explaining their reasoning for staying home instead of going out to the ballpark—and they didn’t hold back.

“Cheaper beer? You mean smaller beer,” Reddit user LJSearles commented.

The 14-ounce domestic options, available at select Doggie Diner stands for $9 each, are cheaper than the full-size options on a per-ounce basis, but it’s far from a bargain, fans said. Other fans blamed a particularly wet spring for low attendance, while some said missing out signing big-name stars such as Aaron Judge hurt attendance numbers…

Parking Woes…

Sparse parking availability was also noted by numerous fans, with many lamenting having to pay $40 or more for a spot. However, much of the parking around the stadium is operated by third parties, as SF Giants Transportation Director Joshua Karlin-Resnick noted…(more)

By Tessa McLean : sfexaminer – excerpt

Even on a rainy San Francisco day, light floods the nearly floor-to-ceiling windows lining the walls of the Warfield Building. Exposed brick borders the windows, giving the office space a decidedly hip feel, one that echoes the urban loft vibe that was once so trendy in major cities. Market Street bustles below, but the street noise is minimal, and from the high floors, the views stretch out to Bernal Hill and beyond.

These office conference rooms could someday be someone’s bedroom, if local developer Group I can get past the city’s Byzantine permitting process and execute an incredibly rare office-to-residential conversion project, which many have billed as one of the only reasonable solutions to the city’s perpetual housing crisis. As downtown San Francisco continues to struggle to revitalize itself post-pandemic, transforming office buildings into housing has been talked about as something of a golden ticket. Not only would it help to make a dent in the city’s woefully inadequate housing supply, but it could also rejuvenate a district that desperately needs a boost, especially as more businesses continue to close…(more)

By Shanti Singh and Roisin Isner : 48hils – excerpt

SF won’t begin to meet its housing goals unless Breed commits the funding.

In the coming weeks, Mayor London Breed will present a $14 billion budget proposal that will shape the direction of affordable housing in San Francisco for years to come. This budget will choose to either invest voter-approved funding to expand the supply of affordable housing, or to scatter and spend that funding for uses not intended by the voters.

In 2020, a clear majority of San Francisco’s voters approved Proposition I, which increased taxes on the transfer of real estate worth more than $10 million. The official ballot arguments in favor of the measure explicitly stated that the new revenue should be dedicated to expanding affordable housing. Since then, Proposition I has generated more than a quarter of a billion dollars in new revenue for the City of San Francisco, and the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance to commit Proposition I revenue to affordable housing upon its passage.

Proposition I became a model for Los Angeles’ Measure ULA, which also increased taxes on large property sales and was approved by voters last year. Following its passage, Mayor Karen Bass immediately committed Measure ULA revenue towards an ambitious and innovative plan for housing preservation and production. Yet it remains unclear whether Breed will follow our sister city’s lead…(more)

By Lydia Chavez : missionlocal – excerpt

Joe Rivano Barros

After many years in which I’ve run the newsroom in tandem with Joe Eskenazi — a feat that sometimes felt like a high-wire act — Mission Local has added a new senior editor. His name is Joe Rivano Barros, and he started in April. (I know, two Joes. We haven’t yet figured that one out.)

Joe Rivano joined Mission Local right out of Stanford University in 2014 as part of the Rebele Internship program, which places young students in local newsrooms. He was terrific then — bookish, curious and thoughtful. Unfortunately for us, he was also eager for foreign adventure and left the Bay Area to work for a nonprofit in Bhutan.

When he returned, we hired him as a full-time reporter and he did superb work on the homeless, housing and political issues. At the time, we had only three reporters, all of whom covered everything — a madhouse of a newsroom in what was probably half the size of a Pacific Heights closet…

Already, Joe E. and I can see the benefits of what he brings to the job — a deep knowledge of and love for the city as well as superior editing and organizational skills. All are essential as Mission Local grows…

So, welcome Joe and if you need to get in touch with him, he can be reached at joe.rivanobarros…(more)

by Joe Rivano Barros : missionlocal – excerpt

118 residents across 114 RVs would be dispersed if the site were closed

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to oppose the planned closure of a Bayview RV site that has housed hundreds of homeless people over the last three years.

The site, located at Pier 94 and surrounded by industrial lots, is slated to be closed by the end of the year. The 118 residents currently living there would be transitioned into other forms of housing, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, which manages the site…

The vote on Tuesday simply urges the city to keep the site open. Both the city’s homeless department and the …(more)