Last fall’s wildfires in the North Bay and Southern California continue to take a toll in the form of difficulties in getting insurance, housing shortages and rent hikes.
Author Archives: Michele Anderson
Michele Anderson is an East Coast transplant (Yale, BA, English) who has lived in the Bay Area since, roughly, Gov. Jerry Brown’s first stint as California’s governor. She is a happily retired lawyer (UC Berkeley, JD) and an inveterate news hack (spent many years at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she migrated from Food to News). She has been with the San Francisco Public Press as the Partnerships guru since 2011.
Posted inNews
Mayor Ed Lee Leaves a City Transfigured
Mayor Ed Lee, who died unexpectedly last week, is remembered as a dedicated public servant who leaves behind a complicated legacy.
Posted inNews
Public Press Weekly: Big-City Life — Displacement Blues
San Francisco is a great city, but many residents are leaving for more affordable cities, like Sacramento.
Posted inHealthy SF: Who Pays?, News
Public Press Weekly: Affordable Care Act — Alive and Living and (Sort of) Well in California
California appears to be successfully implementing the Affordable Care Act. Insurers are staying in the exchanges and prices are relatively stable.
Posted inBay Area, Labor, News, Technology
Public Press Weekly: North Bay Fires — Now Comes the Recovery
The destructive North Bay wildfires have been fully contained, after torching more than 200,000 acres, causing at least 42 deaths and incinerating thousands of homes and businesses, reducing urban landscapes to smoking rubble. Now the post-disaster phase is beginning: recovery.
Posted inNews
Public Press Weekly: Mapping Mother Earth
The Bay Area has its environmental challenges — drought, temblors here and there, and occasional triple-digit temperatures. But climate change has introduced a new threat: sea level rise, with tides predicted to be as much as 10 feet higher before the end of the century (Public Press). We’re doing more than wishing for a different […]
Posted inNews
Public Press Weekly: Our Polluted Planet
Air quality took the spotlight during last week’s record-breaking heat wave when the thermometers maxed out at 106°F on Friday in San Francisco. The scorcher triggered a Spare the Air Day and overworked many an air conditioner, and air-pollution watchdogs were on hand to check out any dips in air quality caused by heat and […]
Posted inNews
Public Press Weekly: Housing Crisis — No End in Sight
Want a Painted Lady? Forget about buying a Victorian home, as prices are entering the stratosphere. Creative Commons image by Flickr user Maju Rezende The housing crisis tops the legislative agenda this week as state lawmakers consider bills (KQED) that include a proposed $4 billion affordable housing bond and a measure creating a real estate […]
Posted inNews
Public Press Weekly: A Focus on Racial Unrest and California
Photo by David Andrews // Hoodline The violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., this month and President Donald Trump’s much-criticized response have highlighted the resurgence of hate groups in the United States. White nationalism is on the rise in California and right-wing groups are planning rallies in such cities as San […]
Posted inNews
David Cay Johnston: Forget Job Security in the Gig Economy
Investigative journalist David Cay Johnston and KALW-FM “Your Call” host Rose Aguilar discuss the “gig economy” at Impact HUB San Francisco. Photo by Noah Arroyo / San Francisco Public Press A recent program took a hard, unforgiving look at the so-called gig economy and how it affects freelance and contract workers. Rose Aguilar, host of […]