Civic

NEW: Get nonpartisan analysis of June 2022 ballot measure at sfpublicpress.org; Honey Mahogany will run for District 6 supervisor; Pride Parade organizers & SFPD reach compromise; driverless car service permitted; Mayor London Breed’s 2-year, $28B budget. NEXT: Street patrols for every police district; reviewing beleaguered Below Market Rate housing Program; charter amendment to forfeit pensions o...

NEW: Supe reacts to mass shootings; schools step up policing; nearly $50M for city center; proposed change to city elections; city sues slumlord; SF population drops. NEXT: Update on botched school payroll; Pink Triangle returns; protest against gun violence.

HIV activists and healthcare professionals are warning city officials that while everyone is paying attention to COVID-19, rates of HIV infection and HIV related illness have been creeping in the wrong direction. We talk to Monica Gandhi, the director of the center for AIDS research at UCSF, about the history of HIV research in San Francisco, how the pandemic affected resources, and her advice for...

Recall Measure Regarding Chesa Boudin

Public Health Emergency Leave

Refuse Collection and Disposal

Behested Payments

Office of Victim and Witness Rights; Legal Services for Domestic Violence Victims

Recall Timelines and Vacancy Appointments

Building Inspection Commission

MUNI Reliability and Street Safety Bond

NEW: Laguna Honda takes another step towards closure; a drop in the city’s unhoused population; $1.3 billion shortfall in affordable housing goals; fired anti-vaccine firefighters fight back with misinformation and conspiracy theories NEXT: Resolution to change garbage rates after $23.4 million overbilling revelation; a new Department of Sanitation and Streets; proposal for gun violence trauma res...

NEW: A breakthrough in the vehicle smash-and-grab epidemic; police commissioners may ban minor traffic infraction stops; former SFPD communications director appointed to Board of Supervisors; Supervisor wants public parking lots opened to unhoused vehicle dwellers; School District rescinds nearly all lay off notices. NEXT: Supervisors ask state to help beleaguered City College; hearing on shutting...

John Muir is considered the father of the National Parks and has been honored extensively around California. But in 2020, the Sierra Club began reexamining their founder’s words. Was John Muir racist? Civic took a trip up to Yosemite to speak with Lee Stetson, a Muir historian and actor, and Sandra Roan Chapman, chairperson of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, to discuss Muir’s legacy, current eff...

NEW: Supervisors respond emotionally to possible overturning of Roe v. Wade; City College is laying off over 160 full and part time teachers; Great Highway weekend closure may be extended; U.S. Department of Justice microgrant will pay for more community policing in the Tenderloin. NEXT: Proposal for a ballot measure to create a Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing oversight commissio...

When we look at the massive wealth gap between the rich and poor in this country, what stands out most is how differently it affects white and Black populations. In part two of this series on extreme income inequality, we dive into the federal programs that helped World War II veterans acquire housing, and the resulting maps with bright red lines around Black-populated areas deemed unsafe for fede...

NEW: Redistricting Task Force approves a final map despite protests; BART reinstates a mask mandate; JFK Drive permanently closed to traffic; city-funded childcare workers getting pay raises; new pandemic recovery funding for small businesses and nonprofits NEXT: Rules Committee hearing to look into Board of Appeals president potential ethics violation; Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit performs better t...

NEW: Supervisor Matt Haney defeated former Supervisor David Campos for the 17th Assembly District seat; Redistricting Task Force approves a new supervisor districts draft map; Human Rights Commission says city is failing Asian American victims of violence; Street Crisis Response Teams divert calls to police, but more is needed; calls for a public hearing on bedraggled SFGH emergency psyche unit; p...

"Income inequality is at a crisis point in America. But it’s not the first time the country has faced an extreme wealth gap. In part one of a two-part series, we explore the Depression-era policies and programs that were meant to address wealth inequality. And we talk to Bay Area residents who were stripped of generational wealth when their ancestors were barred from opportunities to capitalize on...

NEW: Tuesday is voting day for Assembly District 17. Supervisors consider incentives to bolster lagging police ranks. Laguna Honda is again at risk of shutting down. The redistricting process could be settled in court. DA alleges bogus lawsuits are targeting hundreds of small businesses. NEXT: Proposed committee for unhoused residents locked out of shelters. Supervisors will consider a $1.5 millio...

In an episode from last Spring, “Civic” spoke with Tere Almaguer, an environmental justice organizer with PODER, which operates the Hummingbird farm in San Francisco’s Crocker Amazon neighborhood. As the state heads into another year of drought, we talked about how the drought already had an impact, and how the group has adapted to years of inconsistent rainfall.

NEW Another top city administrator resigns over dubious ethical conduct; a judge resurrects a lawsuit alleging ties between the mayor and a City Hall corruption scandal; school district deputy superintendent to resign over major payroll snafu; SF’s Ukrainian diaspora is angry and anxious; Ukrainian refugees coming to the Bay Area need homes. NEXT SF Election Commission will not remove redistrictin...

More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country as Russian forces destroy entire cities. A local aid agency is racing to get medical supplies into Ukraine and bringing refugees into the Bay Area. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, members of the Ukrainian diaspora are angry, anxious and desperate to connect with loved ones in their ancestral homeland. We caught up with a few during a sunny weekend...

First, what’s new? Laguna Honda hospital has two weeks to fix serious problems or risk closure. SF Public Press’s rent relief tracker found that requests exceed authorized funds by $116 million. New possible district boundaries are drawing furious backlash. And a new poll has uncovered a deep malaise among locals. What’s next? The Board of Supervisors urge the state and federal governments to help...

San Francisco is not alone in experiencing an alarming rise in overdose deaths. A lot of them are due to fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid. But many fatal overdoses are the result of multiple substances. In this episode, the second in a two-part series examining the factors contributing to increases in drug overdoses in San Francisco, we talk to experts and community advocates about...