San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/2012/05/)
The last time Lerone Matthis was released from the Division of Juvenile Justice in April 2008, he feared he had reached bottom.
“I was discouraged by the [diminished] prospects for a meaningful future,” Matthis recalled.
He didn’t have a place to rest his head, bathe or change his clothes. » Read more
The Public Press partners with more than 30 nonprofit news and civic organizations to expand our coverage of community issues. We feature news reporting, edited text from radio programs, graphics and photos from these partners on sfpublicpress.org and in our quarterly ad-free newspaper.
We talked about partnerships recently with Lydia Chávez, managing editor at Mission Local, a bilingual nonprofit news outlet covering San Francisco’s Mission District. Why does Mission Local share stories with the Public Press and collaborate on reporting, as it did in a story about extended Mission District bus detours? The Public Press is invaluable in getting information to the public. Even in the digital age there are simply people you don’t reach online and news should be consumed as widely as possible.
Close to 100,000 jobless Californians will lose as many as 20 weeks of federal unemployment insurance benefits by the end of May. Improvements in California’s economy and a drop in the unemployment rate will end an extension of federal benefits. At an Employment Development Department on Franklin and Turk, KALW’s Angela Johnston spoke to Little Vila, John Saunders, Maurice Gonzales and Yvette, who wouldn’t give her last name. » Read more
Muni monthly Fast Passes for adults, youth, seniors and disabled will go up beginning July 1. Each pass will increase by $2. Prices on the passes will now range from $74 to $22 depending on the type. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved its two-year budget in April, which included the increases to the monthly passes. Single-cash fares will not be affected.
Stepping inside the storefront at 3270 24th St., it’s not immediately clear what kind of business it is. The space holds two retail outlets, plus a lawyer and an electronics repairman.
This may sound like a “man walks into a bar” joke, but it’s not — it’s the business model for many Latino business owners in the Mission. » Read more
It took the United States eight years to get a man on the moon, but it’s going to take transit officials almost 12 years to get a new high-speed “bus rapid transit” system onto one of San Francisco’s busiest corridors.
The Van Ness Avenue project, which in 2006 was projected to open at the end of this year — in time for the Muni centennial — has been pushed back four more years, largely because transit planners had underestimated the time needed to complete the environmental work and project planning. » Read more
In the heart of East Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is an incongruous reminder of California’s Mexican past: 6 acres of open space in a sea of single-family homes. What was once a massive ranchero now features a Victorian house surrounded by carefully tended vegetable gardens. » Read more
They belong to a club where membership hinges on low reading and math skills, and high dropout rates. They’re some of the worst-performing schools in the state, even the country, and to shape up, the Mission’s six struggling schools took drastic measures to qualify for a share of a $45 million grant — including firing principals and replacing half the staff. » Read more
Drivers who think they will not get caught driving in a transit-only lanes in San Francisco might want to avoid driving or parking in front of a Muni bus. The city’s Municipal Transportation Agency reports that its agents wrote 3,052 citations in 2011 to drivers who travelled in dedicated bus lanes in the Financial District and Chinatown thanks in part to cameras mounted on 30 Muni buses. The year before, agents wrote 2,102 citations. Since it worked so well for two years, Muni plans to add 300 more cameras in the summer of next. The goal is to eventually have them on the entire 1,000-plus bus fleet.
Last year, California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined attorneys general across the country in declaring war against Backpage.com, a free classified website run by Village Voice Media. The officials threatened legal action if the site didn’t stop running ads for adult services, some of which have been linked to underage sex trafficking. » Read more