Transportation

Sales Tax for Caltrain Improvements to Face Three Counties’ Voters

09.25.2020
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San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties will vote on Measure RR, a one-eighth-cent sales tax to be collected for the next 30 years, whose revenue would provide critical funding for Caltrain. While supporters say the rail service is at risk of shutting if the measure does not pass, this is not an emergency measure brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, which has cost Caltrain the majority of its riders. » Read more

Homelessness
This Navigation Center in the Mission, opened in March 2015, was one of the first to serve San Francisco's homeless population. In early 2019, development began on a plan to turn the site into 157 affordable-housing units.

Surge in S.F. Homelessness Funding Could Be a Game Changer

09.23.2020
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San Francisco will soon spend previously unthinkable sums on the fight against homelessness. The massive influx of cash — nearly $600 million over the next year collected thanks to a voter initiative, combined with hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditures by the homelessness department — could be a game changer. » Read more

California
Howard Jarvis.

‘The First Angry Man’ Chronicles Rise of Tax Revolt, Legacy of Howard Jarvis

09.22.2020
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California voters this November will be considering a ballot measure that would amend Proposition 13, a 1978 measure that keeps property taxes based on the assessed value of properties at purchase, and caps the amount the taxes may increase. It spared long-term homeowners from steadily rising tax bills but slashed revenue for the state. » Read more

Homelessness
TechCrunch rented this event space on Market Street to stage its annual Disrupt conference.

TechCrunch Breaks With Event Company Over Homeless Sweep

09.17.2020
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An unsanctioned sweep of a homeless encampment in central San Francisco has cost the event company Non Plus Ultra a big customer.

The company rousted eight people in the middle of the night on Sept. 10, and – while city officials have largely remained silent – the action didn’t sit well with TechCrunch, which is renting Non Plus Ultra’s SVN West event space at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue. » Read more

Opinion
Activists join the ACT UP 30th anniversary gathering rally in March 2017 at St. Vincent Triangle Park in New York City.

Long-Term AIDS Survivors Launch Advocacy Movement

09.17.2020
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Guest Opinion

AIDS2020: Virtual, the biennial conference of the International AIDS Society, held in early July, marked a turning point for long-term HIV/AIDS survivors — and not a good one.  

Five of us in San Francisco — Paul Aguilar, Harry Breaux, Vince Crisostomo, Michael Rouppet and I — who have been on the front lines of the fight for our LGBTQ and HIV communities from the very beginning, left the event feeling sidelined and fed up. » Read more

Elections

Bond Measure Seeks to Boost S.F. Out of Coronavirus-Induced Slump

09.16.2020
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At the top of the list of local ballot measures going before voters in November is Proposition A, billed as the “Health and Recovery Bond.” Several initiatives would be funded by this $487.5 million bond, including the development of behavioral health and substance abuse services, expansion of shelters and temporary housing, renovating or developing parks and repairs to infrastructure like roads. » Read more