San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/2023/page/2/)
Last week’s deployment of the National Guard and California Highway Patrol onto San Francisco’s streets to crack down on drugs comes amid intense public pressure to address open air drug use and sales.
“People are fed up with it,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott at a news conference on Friday. » Read more
The state agency responsible for ensuring Uber and Lyft rides are safe failed to consistently track the number of accidents, assaults and drunk driving complaints that occur on them, according to a new study by San Francisco traffic planners.
The California Public Utilities Commission did not even consistently collect the most basic industry information, such as ride requests and miles driven, the report from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority shows. » Read more
California’s Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday night unanimously endorsed a bill that would require what children’s advocates describe as crucial reforms to ensure children are safe amid contentious custody proceedings.
Introduced by state Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, the bill — Piqui’s Law: Keeping Children Safe from Family Violence — “gives voice to the 920 children that are calling out to us from their graves,” the lawmaker said in introductory remarks before the committee. » Read more
San Francisco’s chief medical examiner delivered grim statistics last week about a recent increase in deaths related to drug use. In the first three months of the year, 200 people died of accidental overdose. That’s up significantly from the first quarter last year, with 142 deaths. » Read more
Sea level rise is forcing cities around San Francisco Bay to weigh demand for new housing against the need to protect communities from flooding. Builders say they can solve this dilemma with cutting-edge civil engineering. But no one knows whether their ambitious efforts will be enough to keep newly built waterfront real estate safe in coming decades. » Read more
This article is adapted from an episode of our podcast “Civic.” Click the audio player below to hear the full story.
Rains this winter and early spring ended the drought in the Bay Area and brought a kind of weather whiplash that put San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management to the test. » Read more
Ideas for reparations in San Francisco go far beyond a proposed $5 million payment to each qualifying Black resident — the option that captured national media attention and inspired a handwringing frenzy. The Board of Supervisors will review and discuss dozens of policy recommendations when it meets March 14 to weigh in on the city’s draft reparations plan. » Read more
Majeid Crawford’s great uncle “Cowboy” was a jazz musician who played on Fillmore Street during its heyday in the 1940s and ’50s, prompting Crawford’s father, Leslie, a saxophone player, to follow in his uncle’s footsteps. But when Leslie Crawford returned to the Fillmore after serving in the army, the “Harlem of the West” and its many jazz clubs had been razed under urban renewal, a controversial initiative to reshape core neighborhoods that San Francisco’s Planning Department later acknowledged was part of a plan to reduce the city’s Black population. » Read more
This article is adapted from an episode of our podcast “Civic.” It is the fourth in a series about the way family courts adjudicate cases involving domestic abuse and child abuse. Click the audio player below to hear the full story. » Read more
CORRECTION 3/2/23: A spokeswoman for State Sen. Rubio’s office said Rubio was planning to introduce a bill to allow California’s trial courts to digitally record civil and family law cases. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Rubio had introduced the legislation. » Read more