News
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Chinese Americans Have High Stakes in Future of S.F. City College

09.27.2012
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By Anna Challet, New America Media
Among the embattled City College of San Francisco’s most vocal supporters is the Chinese community, which recently celebrated the opening of a Chinatown-North Beach campus. But with a looming budget crisis and warnings of a loss of accreditation, the $138 million campus’s salability is frequently mentioned as one way the college could save itself. The Chinese community’s stake in the survival of City College has steadily increased in recent years, with the most recent available statistics showing overall Asian-Pacific Islander enrollment at 42 percent of the college’s student population. But necessary reforms to address financial concerns could include closing some of the college’s 11 campuses throughout the city, and the new Chinatown campus – the result of a near four-decade-long effort – could be a target. “We’re all going to hurt,” says community leader Henry Der.

News

KQED Radio Interview: Public Press Domestic Violence Report

09.26.2012
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Editors’ note: This report aired on KQED News on Sept. 26, 2012. KQED’s STEPHANIE MARTIN: A new investigative reporting series is questioning San Francisco’s record in tracking and prosecuting domestic violence cases. The investigation by KQED News Associate S.F. Public Press found the District Attorney’s Office prosecutes fewer domestic violence cases per capita than any county in the Bay Area. The report also found that police are unsure of the accuracy of at least eight years worth of investigative records.

News
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S.F. Police Listed Arrested Asians as ‘Chinese’

09.26.2012
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By Shoshana Walter, Bay Citizen
The San Francisco Police Department, relying on antiquated computer technology, routinely recorded nearly all Asians who were arrested in the city as “Chinese” until this month, department officials said. Arrest data that included the “Chinese” numbers was released to the public and sent to law enforcement agencies for at least 10 years, contributing to a skewed understanding of who was being arrested by S.F. police. The Chinese classifications baffled Asian community leaders, who said the lack of statistics about Asian arrests has made it difficult to know where to focus scarce resources and has contributed to a stereotype of most Asian groups as “model minorities” who never commit crimes. Read the compete story at Bay Citizen.

City Hall

San Francisco postpones vote on permitting tiny apartments

09.26.2012
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Apartment hunters in San Francisco will have to wait a little longer before they can get their very own “shoebox” abodes. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted to wait until Nov. 20 to consider an ordinance that would make the city’s smallest legal apartment size even smaller, by around 30 percent. It was the fourth time the board punted the legislation since its last amendment in July. Supervisor Scott Wiener, who sponsored the ordinance, said Tuesday that things were looking good for the proposal.

City Hall
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Poor Record Keeping Hinders Analysis of Domestic Violence Policing Practices

09.26.2012
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As statistics go from tick marks to laptops, police struggle to make sense of trends
The San Francisco Police Department cannot precisely measure the number of domestic violence cases it handled before 2011, because investigators in the Special Victims Unit hand-tallied monthly records, and used changing and inconsistently understood categories of crimes. » Read more

News
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San Francisco Trails Bay Area in Domestic Violence Prosecutions

09.24.2012
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Far fewer charged than across the region, even with strongly worded ‘no-drop’ guidelines
In January 2010, police in the Richmond District responded to a call from a woman who said her ex-boyfriend threw a broken vase at her, punched her and choked her, shouting “I am going to kill you!” » Read more

News
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Treasure Island residents seek answers from Navy on radioactive waste cleanup

09.20.2012
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By Matt Smith, The Bay Citizen
As Treasure Island residents express alarm about a radioactive waste investigation that’s expanded into their yards, and even living rooms, San Francisco health officials and a local nonprofit are stepping in to separate fact from speculation. Since 2003, Navy contractors have searched for and removed low-level radioactive waste at the former Treasure Island Naval Station – the underground legacy of an atomic warfare school and a warship repair facility. But recently, the Navy has had to broaden its cleanup efforts after state health officials alleged Navy contractors misidentified and mishandled potential radioactive waste sites. The island’s 2,000 residents learned of the possibly botched radioactive waste cleanup only after it was disclosed by the Bay Citizen. Some have responded with concerns about their own health, worried that illnesses such as cancer might have been caused by radiation left over from military devices or ships.

Environment
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San Francisco’s plastic bag ban expands in October

09.19.2012
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Appeal vowed over city move to expand in October from grocery, drug stores to other retailers
San Francisco’s hard-fought ban on plastic bags is scheduled to expand in October from grocery and drug stores to other retailers, bookstores and clothing stores. By October 2013 even restaurants will have to rethink their packaging options. » Read more