Author Archives: Public Press staff

By Tay Wiles, Mission Local “Crackheads aren’t selling crack any more because it’s easier to steal phones,” San Francisco Police Commission President Thomas Mazzucco said last week. In the first two months of this year, 335 cellphones were reported stolen to San Francisco police, and about half of all robberies in the city are now […]

By Heather Mack, Bay Nature It’s well-known that San Francisco is a city of dog owners. And since few urbanites have yards or the time to adequately exercise their pets, someone has to (so to speak) let the dogs out. Professional dog walkers make their moolah off of pent up pooches. San Francisco’s decision to […]

By Tay Wiles, Mission Local San Francisco could become the first city in the country to limit the number of tobacco retail permits by district if a local youth development group finds a champion at City Hall. Over the past five years, San Francisco’s Youth Leadership Institute has collected data and drafted a proposal to […]

By Alison Hawkes, Bay Nature Head out to one of the Bay Area’s national parks this summer and, whether you notice it or not, those parks will be suffering from the Washington deficit debacle. The $85.4 billion sequester, as it’s called, erased 5.1 percent off the top of park budgets, which translates into fewer staff, […]

By Christy Khoshaba, Mission Local Your Democratic Party affiliation, $43,000 annual income and ’96 Honda Civic — they’re all public information. And your mug shots? Yes, those are public, too. Whether you’re convicted or not, sites can archive those photos – forever. Personal information can come from voter registration files, real estate records and DMV […]

By Scott Shafer, KQED News Fix On Valentine’s Day last month, about a dozen gay and lesbian couples showed up at San Francisco City Hall. They wanted something they knew they couldn’t have: a marriage license. The protest, organized by Marriage Equality USA, happens every year. And every year the couples are turned away. Thom […]

By Mary Rees, KALW Crosscurrents Last fall, I went to Fifth and King streets in San Francisco, just under the on-ramp to Interstate 280. A group of tents inhabited the space then. The ground around the tents was swept, and bicycles stood in neat lines. Residents, such as Jessica Prater, knew one another and felt […]

By Tay Wiles, Mission Local Mission Local sat down recently with District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener to talk about issues affecting San Franciscans and Mission residents.  Mission Local: You recently introduced legislation on pedestrian safety. Why is walkability important to the average citizen? Scott Wiener: Having walkable neighborhoods, people get to know their neighbors. It […]

By Erica Hellerstein, Mission Local On March 14, after weeks of uncertainty, Adobe Books pulled off a last-minute feat of survival. One day before the deadline of midnight on March 15, the secondhand bookshop hit $60,000 in its all-or-nothing Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign to save the store, which has been struggling due to substantial rent hikes […]

 By Peter Schurmann, New America Media Antonino Musco never planned on settling in San Francisco. The native of Sicily, who studies digital media at City College of San Francisco, says he just “stumbled into the city.” Now, with the college facing possible closure, he and the other 1,100 or so international students there may have […]