San Francisco Public Press

Public Safety

An orange traffic cone marks the edge of a flooded roadway, which fills most of the frame. There is a fence on the right hand side and leafy trees and a low grassy hill in the background.

Intense Weather Stress-Tested SF’s Emergency Response

Rains this winter and early spring ended the drought in the Bay Area and brought a kind of weather whiplash that put San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management to the test.

Early in the storm cycle, the department faced challenges communicating with the public, especially with people experiencing homelessness. Internal confusion over the forecast delayed the opening of its Emergency Operations Center until a major storm was under way. In at least one instance, flood barriers were deployed too late to prevent homes and businesses from being inundated.

Despite those missteps, the city rallied a coordinated response from its Emergency Operations Center, where multiple city agencies, along with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. representatives, gathered to discuss and act on emerging issues in real time.

News

Children’s Violent Removal From Santa Cruz Home Raises Calls to End Reunification Camps

A video showing the violent removal of two children from a Santa Cruz home has spurred calls to ban a controversial practice that pressures children to recant claims of abuse and embrace their alleged abuser.
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.

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