San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/2018/08/)
Mayor Breed rejects both moderate and progressive labels — but her voting record puts her near the middle
When media outlets and pundits have argued that local officials were politically progressive or moderate, it mostly was based on observation and conjecture. » Read more
San Francisco has until July 2019 to set up multimillion-dollar program under Proposition F
Over the past year, with housing still expensive and scarce, more than 1,600 San Francisco tenants have received eviction notices. On June 5, city voters made history, guaranteeing legal help to anyone facing eviction, regardless of income. » Read more
When San Franciscans find themselves in conflict with a landlord, renter, roommate or neighbor, they’ve always had an option to avoid legal combat: mediation. At its best, the let’s-work-this-out approach can turn an ugly disagreement into a coming-together of sorts.
So far, however, mediation has been used mainly to settle disputes short of tenant-landlord Armageddon — eviction. » Read more
A tax or lawsuits would target ‘flippers’ to save tenants and rental housing. A 2014 effort failed.
In their 2018 mayoral campaigns, former state senator Mark Leno and Supervisor Jane Kim emphasized the role of speculators in driving gentrification and displacement in San Francisco. » Read more
Oakland will vote in November; S.F. measure being planned for 2019
Is an abundance of vacant units worsening the Bay Area’s housing crisis? That’s what some politicians have suggested. Their solution: a new tax on landlords who leave residential and commercial properties unrented. » Read more
Cities would regain power to regulate rental housing if Proposition 10 passes, repealing Costa-Hawkins. But would that expand affordable housing?
Back in spring, Berkeley’s rent board jumped out in front of San Francisco on a vote that could bring the most significant change to California housing in decades. » Read more
By David Gorn, CALmatters
The word “amputation” threw a chill down Michael Rubenstein’s spine. The 67-year-old diabetic from San Mateo still winces at the thought. “They told me I’d need to cut it off right about here,” he said, sawing his hand across his left shin. Two months after that diagnosis, he’s on an exam table at the Center for Limb Preservation at UC San Francisco, his leg still whole, the threat of gangrene and amputation gone and his mood a lot less bleak and fearful. “Yeah, it turns out I didn’t need that,” he said.
By David Washburn, EdSource
It had, in many respects, become the little movement that could. After more than a decade of failed attempts at both the state and local levels to impose soda taxes, health advocates scored a watershed victory in 2014 when Berkeley voters approved by a two-thirds majority a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages sold within the city limits. It was the first city in the nation to do so. Read the complete story at EdSource.