News

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How did the Housing Authority ignore awful conditions at Plaza East?

by Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

I just watched a hearing of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on the status of the disastrous conditions at Plaza East housing complex in the Western Addition, and some of the information that came out was stunning.

For one thing, the city’s Housing Authority, which is emerging from years of mismanagement, appears to have allowed the private, for-profit developer that built and manages the public housing to operate with almost zero oversight…Nearly every question that Sup. Dean Preston asked the public agency in advance of the hearing was referred to McCormack Baron Salazar, which rebuilt the property just 20 years ago under a Housing Authority contract. (Wow, there are a lot of white people running a company that manages public housing, which is occupied largely by people of color.)… (more)

Looks like another case of the “c” word with yet another city agency or department that is not performing.

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PG&E says its equipment may have led to 30,000-acre Dixie Fire

By Adeel Hassan, NYTimes News Service : sfexaminer – excerpt

Pacific Gas and Electric, California’s largest utility, said on Sunday that blown fuses on one of its utility poles may have sparked a fire that has burned through 30,000 acres in Northern California.

The blaze, known as the Dixie Fire, has spread through remote wilderness about 100 miles north of Sacramento, in an area close to the burn scars of 2018’s devastating Camp Fire, which itself was caused by PG&E equipment failures…(more)

What will it take for the CPUC and state officials to see that the way forward is to rely less on long-distance power lines and promote more local rooftop solar production?

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California Treasurer Fiona Ma sued for sexual harassment by former employee

By Alexei Koseff : sfchronicle – excerpt

SACRAMENTO — A former senior employee in the California State Treasurer’s Office has sued Treasurer Fiona Ma for sexual harassment and wrongful termination, alleging that she was fired earlier this year after resisting unwanted sexual advances from Ma.

Judith Blackwell, who worked under Ma for about 16 months as executive director of the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, filed the lawsuit last week in Sacramento County Superior Court.

“Plaintiff felt the work environment to be hostile as she felt her employment was contingent on her accepting Defendant Ma’s sexual advances,” Blackwell’s attorney, Waukeen McCoy, wrote in the complaint. “As a result of Plaintiff denying Defendant Ma’s advances, she was terminated from her employment.”…(more)

A little light reading after all the heavy stuff we are hearing about graft and corruption in City Hall, this is tame by comparison.

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Breed appointment triggers progressive jockeying at City Hall

By Michael Barba : sfexaminer – excerpt

‘The question is do they run against each other? Does that split up the field?’

Ever since Mayor London Breed nominated Dennis Herrera to lead the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, City Hall insiders have speculated on how the political dominoes will fall.

If all goes as planned for Herrera, Assemblyman David Chiu is widely rumored to be next in line for Herrera’s spot as city attorney. But what does that mean for Chiu’s job in the state legislature?

While nothing is certain this early on, the biggest names possibly considering a run for assembly are District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney and David Campos, vice chair of the California Democratic Party and chief of staff to District Attorney Chesa Boudin…(more)

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Two bills in the California Senate are making housing advocates upset

By Jennifer Howland : abc10 – excerpt (includes video)

Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10 would allow for more units on single-family properties...(more)

Senate Bill 9 would:
1. Preempt local zoning
2. Up to 8 units on a single family lot
3. Developers not required to pay for
    infrastructure improvements
Senate Bill 10 would:
1. Allow cities and counties to approve
    up to 14 units on a single family lots
2. Don’t have to notify neighbors
Governor Newsom signed 60 housing bills in 4 years
that lack affordable requirements, reduce CEQA
environmental protections, increase density, and

encroach upon our homes, streets, and lifestyles.

We can see the sad results now. Sacramento’s solution is
to pass more restrictive developer bills that reduce public 
input, housing options, and the power of ballot initiatives.
They do nothing to solve our problems with EDD, water,
power, infrastructure, homelessness and crime.
Call and demand they Vote NO on SB9 and SSB10.

(Or find your CA State Rep HERE).

2.  Call your state representatives offices:
Senator Wiener: (916) 651-4011
Assemblymember Ting: (916) 319-2019
Assemblymember Chiu: (916) 319-2017

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Heat waves hit low-income Bay Area neighborhoods harder due to less trees shade

By ,  and Tim Didion, Grace Manthey : abc7news – excerpt (includes video and interactive graph)

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — It may be the same sun beating down on the Bay Area, but the surface temperature it triggers during a heat wave can vary dramatically neighborhood by neighborhood. A big reason for the difference is shade and the canopy of trees that line some sidewalks but not others.

“It’s a clear pattern where you can see some neighborhoods, especially the richer and whiter ones have a lot of beautiful trees, and in other neighborhoods there’s barely any at all,” explains ational Geographic environmental reporter Alejandra Borunda.

blowup from the interactive map (white areas excluded)

Borunda spent near two years researching the shade divide for the magazine’s July issue…(more)

SPUR is concerned about the inequity of tree canopies in some neighborhoods. They are calling it the shade divide, based on income levels. Who do they blame for this? And who is cutting the trees now for dense housing now? Who wants to infill our backyards? Not us. The question to ask is, why are they cutting them now?

A good way to add shade where there are no trees is to install solar panels. Not only can you generate power, or heat water, but, the raised panels add an extra layer of air between the roof and the raised panels, and the reflective surface of the panels reflects the heat off the roof. So you get much cooler interior rooms.

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Planning Asks Amazon to Repackage Development Proposal

By Bettina Cohen : potreroview – excerpt

The San Francisco Planning Department issued a 55-page response in April that calls for changes to a proposal Amazon submitted to develop a last-mile parcel delivery facility in Showplace Square.

The planned 900 Seventh Street facility would be three stories and 650,000 square feet, according to the Preliminary Project Application (PPA) that Amazon submitted in February.

“The letter we published is kind of a road map,” said Richard Sucre, Planning Department principal planner. “Our processes are layered and challenging for everyone.”

MG2 Corporation, the Seattle-based architectural firm that submitted the PPA for Amazon, describes itself on its website as “expertly navigating jurisdictional complexities” for clients.

Amazon has 18 months to modify its application and satisfy California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements, including transportation, noise, and air quality studies.

“We won’t accept their application until they provide everything we’ve outlined. Until the environmental review is done, we won’t move forward with approval,” Sucre said…(more)

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I joined SF’s Sunshine Ordinance Task Force to expose corruption. Instead, I’m a cog in the machine

Opinion By Kevin Frazier : sfchronicle – excerpt

I’ve always been an aspiring muckraker. Years ago, in my hometown of Portland, Ore,, I immersed myself in local and state politics, and watched the “sausage” get made as a lobbyist in the Oregon State Legislature. I was appalled at the often-questionable actions taking place behind closed doors. A state senator once told me he wouldn’t consider a bill to reduce diesel pollution on school buses because the Big Oil lobbyist “got here first.”…

San Francisco’s Sunshine Ordinance was enacted by the Board of Supervisors in 1993 with the goal making the inner workings of local government more transparent and accountable to city residents.

“Government’s duty,” according to the ordinance, “is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public.”

I joined the SOTF to be help empower citizens to better understand their local government and call out officials for non-compliant behavior. My time on the task force, however, has made clear that the Sunshine Ordinance is failing.

We aren’t exposing corruption. Instead, we’re a cog in the over-bureaucratization of democracy…(more)

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Inflated RHNA Numbers Lead to Ruin

Inflated RHNA Numbers Lead to Ruin  (video)

Presented by Art Kiesel, former Mayor, Foster City
RHNA – Regional Housing Needs Assessment/Allocations.
The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) calculates  new housing needs by region and then assigns the local Council  of Governments (MTC/ABAG) to determine the allocations for each city. But what if the numbers are wrong and the cities can’t meet the allocations?

New documents that describe the growing number of threats the state is using to override the constitutional jurisdiction of local government. Share them with your city and county councils.

Forward the docs below to your City Council or neighborhood association. Use public open time during a CC meeting to distribute and talk about your concerns re: top-down mandates.  Write about them in a Letter to the Editor of your local paper. Circulate them along with the video of the RHNA Town Hall.

3a 1 RHNA Appeals

3a 2 Consequences of Non-Compliance with Housing Laws 

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What about Water?

What about Water? (video)
Presented by Rick Johnson, retired Sr. Mgr, SF Water Department.
The legislators who push for more housing are ignoring the forecasts and consequences of drought. By 2050 California expects a population increase of 10 million people (25%) and increased occurrences of drought. Conversion of farm land to urban use and lack of water will result in decreased food supplies and increased prices. (note https://sfwater.org/ moved to sfpuc.org