The Free Farm Stand and its supporters won. The stand will continue to give away free food to the community on Sundays from noon to 3:30 p.m. in Parque Niños Unidos. At the same time, it will coordinate with the Department of Public Health to obtain a health permit, Connie Chan, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, wrote in an e-mail.
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Posted inTransportation
Muni eliminating stops on one of its worst performing bus routes
UPDATE: 10/19/11 Muni announced more service improvements to other lines this week. Plans to improve one of the Muni’s worst performing bus lines will finally take affect on Monday. The 28L-19th Avenue bus line, which usually is packed with riders and not on-time (42 percent on-time performance in the latest Muni report), will not make stops at the Golden Gate Bridge and four stops along 19th Avenue and Park Presidio.
Posted inHealth, Homelessness, Social Justice
Empty S.F. hotels occupied in World Homeless Day protest
As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum nationwide, a band of housing activists occupied 10 vacant buildings in San Francisco on Monday. Following a late afternoon rally at the Civic Center, at least 30 members of Homes Not Jails entered the Cathedral Hill Hotel at 1101 Van Ness Ave. by cutting the gate open. Then they started occupying some of the 600 vacant units.
Posted inEnvironment
Fur seals making a comeback on the Farallones
The rocky Farallones, 28 miles west of the Golden Gate, serve as a refuge for thousands of seabirds and five species of pinnipeds: elephant seals, harbor seals, California and Steller sea lions, and the northern fur seal. At one time, fur seals may have dominated the islands, but relentless hunting in the early 19th century exterminated most of the colony and sent the rest fleeing. Biologists have spotted individual seals over the years, but it wasn’t until 1996 that the first fur seal pup was born on Southeast Farallon Island. Today hundreds of fur seals breed here, and the colony is growing exponentially. The high count for 2011 was 476 individuals, a 69 percent increase from the year before.
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics, Law & Justice
Governor signs bills to ban open carry of handguns, shark fin sales
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed bills to make it illegal to openly carry handguns and to ban the sale and possession of shark fins in California. The shark fin bill goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 while the open carry ban begins Jan 1, 2012. The shark bill has been a controversial topic in the past few months, with state Sen. Leland Yee, who is running for San Francisco mayor, calling the ban “insensitive to the Chinese culture” when the bill was introduced by Assemblyman Paul Fong in February.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Health
Medical pot industry faces big tax bill
The Bay Area’s budding medical pot industry is facing a big tax bill. The IRS has ruled Oakland’s largest dispensary can not deduct business expenses. In a letter last week, the IRS told Harborside Health Center that it can not deduct standard expenses like rent, payroll and health insurance … because it traffics drugs. Harborside’s executive director Steve DeAngelo said the dispensary now owes the federal government $2.5 million in back taxes and penalties.
Posted inMedia, Social Justice
Occupy Wall Street movement births newspaper
Last Saturday, prior to the thousands-strong march of Wall Street protestors attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which ended in some 700 arrests, the first edition of The Occupied Wall Street Journal hit New York City’s streets. Within three days, all 50,000 copies had been snapped up and distributed by volunteers throughout the five boroughs, leading to another print run Tuesday ahead of the paper’s second edition, which comes out Friday. The Journal, a 4-page weekly broadsheet funded entirely through online contributions at Kickstarter.com, is the latest manifestation of a social media-driven movement that is growing in real body numbers and gaining national momentum.
Posted inNews
Can S.F.’s next mayor save Muni?
With a $23 million deficit only two months into the fiscal year and on-time performance stuck at a measly 72.9 percent, San Francisco’s public transit system, Muni, is clearly in trouble. Riders bear the brunt of Muni’s woes as it tries to balance the budget. What do San Francisco’s mayoral candidates have to say about […]
Posted inHousing
Tenant buyouts making a comeback
As the real estate market picks up, buyouts — the practice of owners getting rid of tenants by offering them cash to move voluntarily — are making a comeback. Buyouts reached a high of 30 to 50 a month in the Mission before the crash in late 2008, a number that suggests as many as three times that citywide, according to the San Francisco Tenants Union.