San Francisco Public Press

City Hall

The image on the left shows a two-story Victorian building. The top floor has bay windows and is painted beige. The ground floor is painted red and displays commercial signage for Lee's Liquor Store. The photo on the right shows the sidewalk along a nondescript one-story building with gray walls and flat windows.

Without Dropping Cash Reparations Idea, SF Investigates New Housing Reforms

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors will review and discuss dozens of policy recommendations beyond a proposed $5 million payment to each qualifying Black resident — the option that captured national media attention and inspired a handwringing frenzy — when it meets March 14 to discuss the city’s draft Reparations Plan.

Its proposals are non-binding, with the committee noting in the plan that “it will be up to the community to create the momentum to ultimately get these recommendations officially codified into San Francisco law.”

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California Could Allow Electronic Recording in Civil and Family Court, Helping Poor Litigants

State Sen. Susan Rubio has introduced a bill that would allow California’s 58 trial courts to digitally record civil and family law cases, a controversial effort to address statewide courtroom staffing shortages that deprive low-income litigants of official court transcripts. Court reporters provide verbatim documentation of proceedings that are critical to filing appeals, reviewing judges’ behavior and reading back proceedings to jurors.
Family Courts Rely on Dubious Theory to Dismiss Child Abuse Claims

Disbelieving a child’s allegation of abuse based on the notion that the other parent brainwashed them into lying is a hotly debated legal tactic called parental alienation. A growing chorus of international media coverage, medical groups and judicial bodies are expressing doubts over the validity of this legal defense tactic and of its practitioners.
Plan for 82,000 Homes in San Francisco Moves Forward, Under Pressure From State

The Board of Supervisors passed a plan to build 82,000 housing units over the next eight years, maintaining city control over the permitting and building processes. Some critics said the plan does not do enough to prevent low-income residents from displacement as more market-rate apartments are built.
Research on Climate Change and Health Reveals Risks for Older Adults: A Q&A With Dr. Andrew Chang

The number of Californians over 60 is expected to climb by 166% between 2010 and 2060, according to data from the California Department of Aging. In that time period, department data projects that San Francisco’s over-60 population is expected to grow by 159% and Alameda County’s by 195%. Against this backdrop and with extreme weather events on the rise, physician-researchers like Dr. Andrew Chang, an attending physician specializing in cardiology at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and postdoctoral research fellow at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, are investigating how the biological mechanisms of aging and a warming world will affect the health of older adults.
Facing Brutal Storms, Homeless People Encountered Hurdles to Finding Shelter

Despite San Francisco officials' attempts to get ahead of storms, many unhoused people said they were having a hard time accessing shelter beds and other resources to protect them from the rain.
‘Everything Is Gone, and You Become More Lost’: 12 Hours of Chaos as Berkeley Clears Encampment

In early October, Berkeley police and city officials roused 53 unhoused residents — claiming they were harboring rodents — and seized and destroyed 29 tents and three self-made structures. People begged to retrieve personal items and work tools before the property was tossed into a phalanx of garbage trucks. Four vehicles in which people had been living were towed to impound lots. They would be crushed 15 days later, per the city’s request. While some operable cars and RVs were allowed to remain in the neighborhood, and people without vehicles who chose to stay were offered two-person tents, the overall effect of the sweep was that dozens of unhoused people had their belongings taken and their daily existence turned upside down.
Advocates Say SF Housing Plan Falls Short on Racial Equity

Housing advocates say San Francisco's eight-year housing plan doesn’t include a comprehensive strategy to build enough affordable housing, to the detriment of the plan's race and equity goals.
Public Press Reporters Win Excellence in Journalism Awards

San Francisco Public Press reporters were among the winners announced by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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