California
Assemblyman David Chiu

Housing, Homelessness Crises Are ‘Of Our Own Making,’ Says David Chiu

02.22.2020
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David Chiu, the state assembly member representing California’s District 17, the Eastern side of San Francisco, is running unopposed for re-election this year. He spoke with “Civic” about his recent legislative work, including his rent increase cap policy, a proposal to audit California’s spending on homelessness and a bill that would take steps toward making connections across Bay Area transit lines seamless. » Read more

From the Newsroom

A Free Press Is Taking Root in South Korea

02.20.2020
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Top: Je Kyu Ko, editor of Sisa-IN, with a papier-mâché caricature of North Korean “Rocket Man” Kim Jong-Un. Below: Speaking at the Korea Press Center in December, and a visit to Sisa-IN’s headquarters with INN director Sue Cross. Corruption of national leaders. A fragile democracy teetering between constitutional order and authoritarianism. A desperate populace leaning on journalists to hold the powerful to account.

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Complaints From Neighbors Now Driving City’s Response to Homeless Camps

02.20.2020
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For the past year and a half, San Francisco has relied almost entirely on complaints from 311 — the city’s nonemergency customer service line — to address homeless encampments, leading to a sharp increase in the proportion of encampments labeled “removed” by city workers, a review of public records shows. » Read more

Elections
Sen. Scott Wiener

State Sen. Scott Wiener: “I Push the Envelope” on Housing, Criminal Justice, LGBT Rights

02.15.2020
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In the final episode in our series of interviews with the candidates running for state senate, current State Senator Scott Wiener discusses his legislative record in areas ranging from housing policy to conservatorship to criminal justice reform.
The primary for this race happens March 3, with the final election in November. » Read more

Catherine Stefani
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Voters Will Weigh Tethering Limits on Office Development to Affordable Housing Production

02.14.2020
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San Francisco voters will be asked in March to weigh a proposal to restrict office construction in years when the city does not meet its goals for affordable housing construction, as is often the case.
For example, if the city fell 35% short of its affordable housing goal in a particular year, then it would cause the next year’s pre-existing limit on office construction — established by a city ballot measure in 1986 — to also drop by 35%. » Read more

consumer reporting
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Consumer Reporting Firms Fought for a Year to Exempt Data From California Privacy Law

02.13.2020
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Increasingly trading in unregulated data profiles, firms lobbied to blunt users’ control of personal information
Even though federally regulated consumer reports were already exempted from California’s ambitious new privacy law, the companies that sell them spent much of the last year engaged in an as yet unsuccessful lobbying effort to prevent individuals from opting out of sharing their own data from the firms’ databases. » Read more

Education
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State Bond Measure Would Authorize $15 Billion for School Construction

02.11.2020
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A California proposition on the March ballot would issue $15 billion in state bonds for facilities construction at public schools. The measure got onto the ballot after the legislature and governor approved Assembly Bill 48, which stipulated that funding be prioritized for schools with the biggest health and safety needs, like those with lead-contaminated water. » Read more

Ride-Hailing’s Dark Data
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CPUC Proposes Repealing Secrecy of Uber, Lyft Accident Data

02.11.2020
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In a dramatic reversal, the agency that regulates the state’s massive ride-hailing industry has proposed that annual safety reports filed by Uber and Lyft should be presumed public.
A San Francisco Public Press investigation published Jan. 7 found that the California Public Utilities Commission, the primary regulator of the state’s ride-hailing industry, has permitted the firms to file the reports confidentially on the basis of a single sentence inserted into the regulations as footnote 42, without prior public notice amid heavy industry lobbying. » Read more