San Francisco Public Press

“Civic” Podcast

Aurelia Ramirez walks by tents and debris along Folsom Street.

Overdose Deaths Swell Among SF’s Mayan Residents, Highlighting Urgent Need for Culturally Competent Drug Health Services

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Mayans have been dying of drug overdoses at elevated rates. More robust health services are needed, experts say, and providers should be culturally competent and able to communicate effectively with the these residents, who may not be fluent in English or Spanish.

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As Attacks on Asian Americans Regain Spotlight, SF Group Seeks to Soothe Community

As part of the Coalition for Community Safety and Justice, outreach workers frequently visit commercial corridors to help businesses respond to possible anti-Asian crimes and make residents feel more secure. The San Francisco Public Press tagged along for one visit.
California Program Trains Undocumented Residents to Become Therapists and Serve Those in the Shadows

The future is uncertain for California Proposition 1, which looks like it might pass by a razor-thin margin and would expand the state’s mental health and substance abuse treatment infrastructure. As votes are still being tallied, we bring you this story from news outlet MindSite News about a San Francisco organization that is filling a glaring void in the health care system.
Reporter’s Notebook: The Epidemic She Didn’t Expect to See

Mel Baker shares an excerpt of an interview with Dr. Monica Gandhi in which they discuss the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gandhi is a professor of medicine and associate division chief of HIV, infectious diseases, and global medicine at UCSF and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and author of “Endemic: A Post Pandemic Playbook.”
Proveedores de Servicios Exigen Acceso a Reclusos Latinos

La falta de programación en español es un problema crecientemente grave ya que el encarcelamiento de latinos ha aumentado desde el lanzamiento el junio pasado de una ofensiva policial contra las drogas en los vecindarios de Tenderloin y sur de Market. • Read in English: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/service-providers-demand-access-to-latinx-jail-inmates
San Francisco Proposition Results for March 5 Election

The San Francisco Department of Elections is reporting these results for the seven local propositions on the March 5 ballot. With 193,000 votes counted, here’s what we know so far.
Despite Controversy, Candidates’ Chinese Names Unlikely to Sway S.F. Voters

For months leading up to Tuesday’s primary election in San Francisco, debate has swirled around new rules allowing many, but not all, candidates to use authentic-looking Chinese names on the ballot. In the past, candidates have chosen names to communicate concepts, including political values and ethnic identity, to appeal to Chinese voters. But how much will the names actually affect voters’ decisions? Probably not much, some experts say. “Just having a Chinese name on the ballot, that’s not going to do it for you,” said Jim Ross, a San Francisco-based political strategist and consultant who leads focus groups studying local Chinese voters. “You’re not going to win or lose because of that.”
Election Money Pours in for San Francisco Judges’ Seats That Used to Go Uncontested

In California, the governor appoints superior court judges to fill seats across 58 counties. Terms are typically six years, and judges keep their positions unless they’re recalled, which happens rarely, or someone decides to run against them in a local election. Usually, judges don’t face challengers. But a pair of San Francisco judges are running to stay on the bench in the upcoming March 5 election. The last time sitting judges faced such challenges here was in the June 2018 primary election, and the challengers lost. Voters might be wondering why they’re being asked to make this decision.
What You Might Find on Your San Francisco Ballot: Party County Central Committees

If you vote in California and you’re registered with the Peace and Freedom, Green, Republican or Democratic parties, you’ll get to make some extra choices in the March 5 election that only come around once every four years — the representatives who run your party at the local level. In San Francisco, voters registered with those four parties received ballots that included candidates for their party’s presidential primary and also candidates for their respective county central committee, which the Green Party refers to as its county council. These are the people who officially run those parties in San Francisco. They decide which measures and candidates the party will endorse, and they support the formation of local political clubs. They also coordinate in various ways with their parties at the state and national levels. For this “Civic” episode, we talked with representatives from the four parties that run county committees in San Francisco, and with Theo Ellington, vice president of Northern California for Strategies 360, a political strategy firm, to give a more general overview of the system.

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