News
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Advocates push for more attention to laws that target homeless

03.31.2012
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Homeless people in San Francisco, much more than the other city residents, find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time, getting ticketed or arrested for any of more than 20 minor offenses. The city’s chronic low-level harassment of people living on the streets and in shelters amounts to a mass violation of civil rights, say advocates organizing an international day of action. San Francisco is not unique in enforcing what are often known as “quality of life crimes.”
Two North American networks of homeless advocacy organizations — the San Francisco-based Western Regional Advocacy Project and the USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants, in Dowelltown, Tenn. — hope to bring attention to what they call the “criminalization of homelessness.” They assert a that the homeless have a “right to exist” in public spaces. “Crime statistics nationally now include millions of homeless people who were sitting, lying down, hanging out and — perhaps worst of all — sleeping,” said Paul Boden, director of the advocacy project.

Media
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Rerouted bus through heart of Mission District hurts business, neighbors say

03.29.2012
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Riders and businesses in the Mission District say the rerouting of major Muni bus lines is causing confusion and hurting commerce.
The 14-Mission, 14L-Mission and 49-Mission/Van Ness, which usually travel along Mission Street, have been rerouted to South Van Ness since the beginning of March because of a repavement and infrastructure project by the Department of Public Works and Public Utilities Commission. » Read more

Arts & Culture
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America’s Cup may be scaled-down, but transportation challenges are unchanged

03.28.2012
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City scrambles to invent temporary bus and train lines for legions of yacht race spectators
A version of this  story appears in the Spring 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
The effect of a scaled-down America’s Cup plan on an ambitious transit effort is unclear as the city continues to view the expected flood of visitors for America’s Cup pre-events this August and October as a chance to experiment with new transit options. » Read more

News
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Cleaning up gas stations’ legacy in Mission District

03.26.2012
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By Noah Arroyo, Mission Local
What the Mission District lacked in rich people, it made up for in gas stations. Because the neighborhood was a major transportation corridor, “they were everywhere,” said Albert Lee, who handles many of the city’s cleanup cases as a senior inspector for the Department of Public Health’s Local Oversight Program. The legacy of that bounty is contamination. Early tanks were built with steel that inevitably corroded and leaked. Other neighborhoods, like wealthy Nob Hill, also experienced contamination leaks, but theirs came from personal heating-oil tanks, Lee said.

News
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State says lax rules might let builders use questionable licenses

03.26.2012
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The agency overseeing companies that build houses and office buildings across California has for years trumpeted its ability to sniff out phony contractors, often publishing photos of dramatic undercover police stings of unlicensed builders at work on half-finished suburban cul-de-sacs.
But now the agency, the Contractors State License Board, is looking into a problem of the state’s own making — a program that allows contractors to essentially lease out their licenses. » Read more

City Hall
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Muni chief takes aim at swollen overtime budget

03.22.2012
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City transportation director Ed Reiskin says he hopes to control Muni’s overtime spending in the next fiscal year by budgeting it at $42 million. After budgeting $32 million for this fiscal year, the actual spending is expected to reach $60 million. » Read more

News
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Bikeshare program heading to S.F. this summer

03.22.2012
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By  Jon Brooks, KQED News Fix
In August, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency will roll out a new bikeshare program in a staggered launch. The effort is part of a five-city initiative by the Bay Area Air Quality Management district to bring bikesharing to the region. The other participating cities are San Jose, Redwood City, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The San Francisco program will offer 500 bikes at 50 stations downtown, South of Market, and along the eastern edge of the city. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix. 

News
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Community leaders call for transparency in S.F. Police-FBI collaboration

03.21.2012
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By Zaineb Mohammed, New America Media
Arab American, Muslim and South Asian community leaders are urging Mayor Ed Lee to approve an ordinance that they believe could re-establish trust between their communities and the San Francisco Police Department. Recently, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors narrowly passed the Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance, intended to prevent civil rights abuses in Police Department-FBI collaboration. The measure, proposed by Supervisor Jane Kim and supported by about 80 civil rights, legal and community groups, hopes to increase transparency and restore local control over the actions of San Francisco police officers operating as members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. The ordinance is up for a final Board of Supervisors vote this week, and if it passes, it will head to the desk of Mayor Ed Lee.  
Read the complete story at New America Media.

City Hall
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How California ranks in investigation of states’ integrity

03.19.2012
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For better or worse, there’s only one California. With the largest population, third-largest area and by far the most campaign spending, it has been both mocked and admired for its independence, its powerful citizen initiative process, its far-reaching political reforms, its Hollywood actors-turned-governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, and its sometimes-wacky ideas of governance. » Read more