News

By Annika Horn : missionlocal – excerpt

The middle-aged Latina was the only person not in motion as the typical Thursday morning buzz unfolded at 701 Alabama St. For a few minutes, she observed the Resource Hub volunteers and Color Labs technicians offering free Covid-19 testing; then, in a sudden bolt of courage, she approached someone for help.

Her husband had tested positive for coronavirus the week before, she said in Spanish, so she guessed this might be the place for advice and resources. Jon Jacobo, the health committee chair for the Latino Task Force, which launched the Hub, listened to her. He then guided her to testing and information about how to access food and economic relief.

This is what the Latino Task Force’s Community Wellness Team was designed to do: deploy care and wrap-around services to San Franciscans infected with Covid-19, in a quick and culturally appropriate manner. And, it’s managed to do this without funding from the city – a predicament that could change in the next few months, with a promise of at least $450,000 for one Mission organization to deploy covid community outreach and care.

This model – one that other community based organizations have adopted – was the brainchild of the Latino Task Force and University of California San Francisco doctors, who deployed and fine-tuned it during three joint mass testing campaigns…(more)

 

By Carly Graf : sfexaminer – excerpt

Legislation introduced Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting would make it harder for individual members of the public to delay city projects through the appeals process.

“Our response to the pandemic has shown that San Francisco is capable of great things when we don’t get in our own way,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement, where she said the current system is “designed to fail.”.

Supervisor Matt Haney joined Breed to sponsor the legislation, describing it as “common sense” reform…

Under the new legislation, appellants are free to file an appeal, but they must gather 50 signatures from San Francisco residents or from five members of the Board of Supervisors.…(more)

The photo attached to this article shows one person crossing the street and no cars on the street. Most of the photos we have seen show no one using he “slow streets. It is getting ready to rain an the weather will be too cold for much outside dining or other activities. Are we expected to continue to drive long distances out of the way to get anywhere so the streets are clear for no reason? Please post your comments on the source.

 

Leading Public Health and Scientific Experts to Advise the Transition on COVID-19 Response

WASHINGTON – Today, the Biden-Harris Transition announced the formation of the Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, a team of leading public health experts who will advise President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, and the Transition’s COVID-19 staff. The Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board will be led by co-chairs Dr. David Kessler, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. Dr. Beth Cameron and Dr. Rebecca Katz are serving as advisors to the Transition on COVID-19 and will work closely with the Advisory Board.

“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” said President-elect Biden. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”…(more)

By Joshua Sabitini : sfexaminer – excerpt

To better protect renters and track vacancies in San Francisco, a city supervisor wants to require landlords to report detailed information about their rental units annually to the Rent Board.

Under legislation introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Sandra Fewer, the Rent Board would be required to maintain an inventory of all rental units, giving The City a clearer picture of what rents are actually like in San Francisco and the number of vacant units.

Beginning July 1, 2022, owners of these units would have to provide annually information about each of their units, including the business contact information of owner or property manager, unit address, approximate size, approximate rent, housing services included in the rent such as water or parking, whether unit occupied or vacant and the date when occupancy or vacancy began. The requirement does not apply to owner-occupied units… (more)

by Joshua Sabitini : sfexaminer – excerpt

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sf-challenges-pgs-power-moves/

Some people think that Hetch Hetchy power is free. It never was, but It just got a lot more expensive. There is a ghost in the machine and it has sprung a big surprise on San Francisco.

By Joe Eskenazi : missinlocal – excerpt

Mission Local has obtained a purported Sept. 11 letter from former San Francisco HR manager Rebecca Sherman, in which she expresses sorrow and outlines a long-running forgery plot culminating in a Black MTA worker being given a bogus $514,000 discrimination settlement Sherman allegedly crafted out of whole cloth.

I am writing this to you because I made a terrible decision that I followed with a series of additional terrible decisions, and I have created a giant mess,” reads the opening line of the email from Sherman to Katie Porter, the deputy city attorney advising the Department of Human Resources.

“I shouldn’t have gotten into this to begin with, and should have, at so many points along the way tried to make this right. I resigned this morning and will fully cooperate with whatever the process is from here on out.” …(more)

Board of Supervisors Intends to try to implement some changes by shifting power at City Hall. Many suggestions have come from the City Controllor and the Ethics Commission. This should be an interesting meeting to watch.

Thursday, October 1, 10AM – agenda and docs
Government Audit and Oversight Committee
1. Rent control at Midtown Park Apartments
2. Administrative Code – Selection of Contractors From a Pre-Qualified List and Under As-Needed Public Works Professional Services Contract Reform. 200787
3. Budget and Legislative Analyst Performance Audit – Operational Overlap on Sewer Repair Between Public Works and the Public Utilities Commission. 200686
4. Administrative Code – Mayor’s Selection of Designees in Matters Regarding Contracting and Other Matters. 200949
5. Hearing – Investigations Into Public Corruption. 200279

On the other hand, it appears last year’s Health Care Master Service Plan is on hold during the pandemic, leading one to believe there is no plan.

Thursday, October 1, 1PM – agenda and docs
Planning Commission Meeting
3. Health Care Master Service Plan – continued indefinitely, but one may comment on continuance on this 2019 plan

by Benjamin Schneider : sfweekly – excerpt

State Senate candidate Jackie Fielder wants California’s Indigenous tribes to play a much larger role in wildfire prevention, as they did before colonization.

As skies finally begin to clear following a week of smoke that can only be described as hellish, many Californians are probably thinking, how can we prevent this from happening again?

Yes, California, the U.S. and the world need to begin drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But, as SF Weekly recently reported, in terms of what the state can do to reduce the intensity of wildfires in the near term, the consensus is clear: California needs to burn off a lot more fuel in controlled fires.

A recently approved program to limit the environmental review process for prescribed burns and vegetation management will help, but money and labor remain major obstacles. California will need to get creative to actually achieve its fire management goals.

That’s where a new plan by San Francisco State Senate candidate Jackie Fielder could come in. Fielder, a lecturer at SF State and leader of the recent campaign for a public bank in the city, has proposed an Indigenous Wildland Fire Task Force that would give Indigenous tribes a more central role in wildfire prevention. Building off tribes’ millennia of experience with “cultural burns,” the plan would establish new opportunities for collaboration among researchers, state, local, and federal regulators, and Indigenous communities; expand cultural burns beyond existing tribal lands; and provide new leadership and job opportunities for Indigenous people and others…(more)