“Civic” Podcast
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Homelessness: Why Some Called for an Oversight Body for a City Department

09.23.2019
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San Francisco supervisors recently tabled a proposal that would have put the formation of an oversight body on the city ballot. This body would have overseen the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Sam Lew from the Coalition on Homelessness explains the rationale for such an entity. “It’s one of the largest departments with no oversight. And so what we’re really asking for is that there is accountability.”

Community
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Fillmore Revisited — How Redevelopment Tore Through the Western Addition

09.23.2019
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Book chapter excerpted and lightly adapted, with permission of Chris Carlsson and Lisa Ruth Elliott, editors, from “Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1978,” published by City Lights Books, 2011. Copyright Rachel Brahinsky.

The Western Addition in the 1970s was still a hotbed for black radicalism, a center for the Black Panther Party, the welfare rights movement, and emergent civil rights groups. » Read more

“Civic” Podcast
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A Look at Bay Area Media Coverage of Homelessness

09.23.2019
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Journalist Sylvie Sturm discusses her analysis of how journalists reported on homelessness starting with what was billed as the S.F. homeless project, annual media blitz coordinated by the San Francisco Chronicle beginning in 2016. One of the upshots of the coverage: Lots of proposed solutions, but scant attention paid to digging into the “whys” of homelessness. “The other problem, too, possibly with reporting on homelessness is that the media tends to take the government’s word on everything.” — Sylvie Sturm, journalist

“Civic” Podcast
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Top City Officials Report on How They’re Addressing Homelessness

09.20.2019
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San Francisco’s Local Homeless Coordinating Board, an advisory group lacking enforcement power, meets once a month. At a recent meeting, the top brass of all the departments that deal with homelessness — as well as others — appeared to talk about the Healthy Streets Operations Center, which responds to calls to 311 about homelessness. » Read more

“Civic” Podcast
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Kindness, 1 Pizza Slice at a Time

09.20.2019
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Andrea Carla Michaels is the San Francisco “Pizza Lady” who hands out pizza slices to the hungry and homeless. She talks about how it all began and why she keeps on feeding those in need in a city of extreme income inequality as well as of compassionate people. » Read more

Citizen's Climate Lobby

Citizen Lobbyists Want to Put Carbon Dividends in Your Pocket

09.19.2019
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Tony Sirna, strategy coordinator at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, explains how a bipartisan proposal known as the “Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act” aims to address climate change and benefit individuals and families directly.
“We estimate that 10 years into the program, a family of four would be receiving $288 a month.” » Read more

Climate Change
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Sea Level Rise in S.F. Will Affect More Than the Waterfront

09.19.2019
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Professor Kristina Hill, of the University of California, Berkeley, outlines how sea level rise is likely to affect San Francisco, the danger posed by toxic waste and how the city could adapt.
“Places that people think are not going to flood because there’ll be a levee or a wall may actually flood as that groundwater comes right up through the surface of the soil.” » Read more

Climate Change
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Moving California Toward a Zero-Emissions Future

09.19.2019
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Earthjustice’s Sasan Saadat explains how the organization is pushing for electrification of the trucking industry and why buildings are an important front for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
“We don’t ask what the costs of the status quo are.” — Sasan Saadat

This story was produced in collaboration with Covering Climate Now. » Read more

“Civic” Podcast

Accessing Services for the Homeless — Easier Said Than Done

09.19.2019
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The coordinated entry system is designed to make it easier and more efficient for the homeless to access services in San Francisco. Sam Lew, the policy director at the advocacy group Coalition on Homelessness, addresses what works, and what doesn’t, in a program that, she believes, should emphasize building relationships with the homeless as they navigate through the system.  » Read more

“Civic” Podcast

Homelessness Program Focuses on the Family

09.19.2019
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Single adults comprise the most visible category of homelessness, but families with young children are equally in need and at risk, according to Paul Monge, policy director at Compass Family Services. Monge discusses how the family services program evaluates a family’s needs so it can determine what resources and programs are appropriate. » Read more