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Democratic Club Splits From Engardio Over Great Highway

The Chinese American Democratic Club, one of the city’s oldest political associations for Chinese Americans and a vocal opponent of closing the Upper Great Highway to cars, voted on Thursday to withdraw support of Supervisor Joel Engardio. The supervisor faces a recall attempt brought by constituents angry over his co-sponsoring last fall’s successful ballot measure to close the highway, which runs along the Pacific shoreline in his district.
San Francisco’s Sanctuary City Legacy

San Francisco has a long history of providing refuge to people in marginalized communities.
Thousands Across Bay Area Mobilize Against Mass Deportation

Ever since President Donald Trump’s inauguration this year, thousands of residents and officials across the Bay Area have been showing support for municipal and state policies that protect undocumented immigrants. Communities from San Mateo to Dublin have held protests each week in response to the Trump administration’s promises of mass deportation and threats to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities.
Toxic Waste Cleanups Take Longer in Marginalized Communities

Toxic site cleanups take longer in marginalized communities, according to a new Public Press analysis of more than 20,000 sites of varying size across the nine-county Bay Area. In areas that scored high on a national index of socioeconomic vulnerability, the median cleanup took more than 450 days longer than in the least vulnerable areas. Many factors, including the type of toxin, the nature of the site and the complexity of the cleanup, could affect how long a remediation takes and explain some of the differences. But in a subset of more than 12,000 cleanups of comparable complexity, the disparities were even more pronounced. Experts warn that prolonged exposure to contamination as a result of slow cleanups can increase the risk of illness for nearby residents.
Advocates Fear Fremont’s New Homelessness Ordinance Will Force Domestic Violence Victims to Stay With Abusers

With Fremont passing an ordinance that many say is one of the nation’s most stringent on homelessness, advocates for domestic violence survivors say the tough law criminalizes vulnerable community members — and advocates are concerned that they themselves could be punished for helping to those living in cars or encampments.
Landlord-Tenant Spat Persists in Tenderloin Building Where Resolution Seemed Possible

San Francisco's largest residential landlord has withdrawn an offer of rent reductions for tenants of a Tenderloin building who have been on rent strike and negotiating with the property owner for more than a year, tenant organizers say. The landlord is moving to evict six of the seven remaining striking tenants.
Advocates Win Fight to Keep Chinatown-SOMA Bus Connection

After months of pushback from Chinatown community leaders, a compromise has been reached on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's proposed bus service cuts. The revised plan will allow the 30S bus route to run slightly south of Market Street.
California Supreme Court to Hear Court Reporter Shortage Case

In a move hailed by legal advocates of low-income litigants, the California Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case on whether to allow electronic recording in family court hearings. “We are incredibly grateful the Supreme Court has agreed to consider our case addressing trial courts’ inability to provide a verbatim record of what happens in thousands of court hearings every day, resulting in devastating effects to low-income litigants, including survivors of domestic abuse,” Jennafer Wagner, director of programs at the Family Violence Appellate Project, wrote in an email to the San Francisco Public Press.

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