Civic

Press conference audio: San Francisco’s Emergency Operations Center, a multi-department response to the coronavirus pandemic, has been expanded and moved to Moscone Convention Center. On Thursday morning, city officials gave a press conference about responding to COVID-19 and reviewed the stipulations of the current shelter-in-place order.

During the coronavirus pandemic, health care providers are facing shortages of the supplies and equipment they need to treat patients safely and effectively, while protecting their own health. Eric Talbert is the western regional director for MedShare, which collects and redistributes surplus medical supplies. He says MedShare is helping to get essential medical supplies and equipment to the place...

With the Bay Area under a shelter-in-place order because of the coronavirus pandemic, people are being asked to stay home. But for those without housing, that is difficult. San Francisco is implementing measures like installing public hand-washing stations and instructing people who are living on the streets to limit themselves to one person per tent. But certain plans are still unclear, and the s...

Details of the order, including frequently asked questions, are available on the San Francisco Department of Public Health website

Find details about the shelter-in-place orders here .

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: CPUC eliminates footnote that keeps ride-hailing safety data secret; SFUSD schools close for three weeks; non-essential gatherings of more than 100 banned. Coming up: City encourages remote civic engagement rather than in-person; Board of Supervisors plans...

The California Public Utilities Commission, the body that regulates ride-hailing, has unanimously voted to reverse a policy that allowed safety reports filed by Uber and Lyft to be kept hidden from the public. The commission receives these reports, but due to an obscure footnote inserted into its rules in 2013, does not release them to the public or to local government agencies. Seth Rosenfeld, wh...

You can read the San Francisco Public Press story on this issue here .

Nurses around the country gathered outside hospitals today, criticizing how the CDC and individual hospitals are handling the outbreak. The California Nurses Association, National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United issued a statement calling the CDC’s guidelines “weakened” and called employer responses “ineffective.” “Civic” spoke with one registered nurse at UCSF, outside the...

Students at San Francisco State University are grappling with conflicting directions about student housing during the coronavirus outbreak. Students who live in dormitories received an email last night instructing them to leave campus housing due to the coronavirus outbreak. This morning, the school followed up with an email saying students would not be forced to leave their dorms, but left the de...

"Waging Change" will have its San Francisco Bay Area premiere at the Castro Theatre on Sunday March 22 at 1 p.m. and will also screen in Oakland at the New Parkway Theater on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 p.m.

Voters approved a measure in 2018 that guaranteed legal counsel to every tenant facing eviction in San Francisco. But six months after Proposition F was supposed to have been fully implemented, a third of tenants facing eviction have had access to only partial representation. In a hearing before the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee, legal aid attorneys, tenant advocates...

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: City offers text alerts for coronavirus updates, homelessness department head shifts to new role, state criticizes police reform progress. Coming up: Mayor to address the Board of Supervisors on corruption, SFMTA open house, Planning Commission to learn ab...

Coalition on Homelessness executive director Jennifer Friedenbach gives her perspective on the announcement that the city will be shifting away from a complaint-based response to homelessness. City data show that that in 2019, when the complaint-based system was in place, nearly everyone who stayed in a city shelter or navigation center returned to the streets after their stay.

San Francisco is working to improve bus service and adapt infrastructure to encourage cycling and walking, but is also grappling with managing ride-hailing, parking, and congestion. Jason Henderson, a professor of geography and environment at San Francisco State University, studies the struggles for better street infrastructure across cities and says San Francisco and the region should do more to...

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Coronavirus emergency declared, City Attorney issues more subpoenas, car-free Market examined, state plans for sea level rise. Coming up: Board of Supervisors to weigh another navigation center lease, and a resolution to end a contract with street furnitur...

Assembly member Phil Ting represents District 19, having been elected to that seat in 2012. He previously served as San Francisco’s assessor-recorder. He's recently worked on legislation advancing electric cars, addressing plastic waste, reforming how criminal records are cleared and improving housing protections and production to help curb homelessness.

In January, the San Francisco Public Press published an investigation showing just how much we don’t know about the safety record of the ride-hailing industry. The Public Press recently hosted an event at which journalist Seth Rosenfeld offered the latest developments in the story. Former California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch and Glen Smith with the First Amendment Coaliti...

John McDonnell is a business and tax attorney running to challenge State Assemblyman Phil Ting for the seat for District 19. He outlines his perspectives on education, housing, criminal justice reform, and how taxation and inequality intersect.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: School district warns of staff cuts, transparency ballot measure upheld, Mayor seeks congestion pricing. Coming up: Valencia Street Bikeway open house, Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission may vote on youth navigation center, and a hearing on polic...

David Chiu, the state assembly member representing California’s District 17, discusses 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.

You can find the Public Press’ full nonpartisan voter guide here .

You can find the Public Press’ full nonpartisan voter guide here .

You can find the Public Press’ full nonpartisan voter guide here .

You can find the Public Press’ full nonpartisan voter guide here .