Transit agencies across the state are facing a move by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take $1 billion in transit funds as he attempts to counter California’s budget deficit, the San Francisco Examiner has reported. The timing could not be worse in San Francisco, where Muni ridership has increased 1.1 percent in the first nine months of 2009, according […]
Author Archives: San Francisco Public Press
Posted inNews
Police chief aims to fix record-keeping, ease overtime
Police Chief George Gascón made headlines in October, when he was thrown into a controversy around immigrant youth suspects — a battle he might not have otherwise taken up. But now, four months into his term, he’s beginning to take steps that reflect his priorities for the office. Just weeks after he was hired in […]
Posted inNews
Holiday season, under the radar
Dear readers, During the next few weeks, we would like to write up a short series on holiday-related events and activities — but not the typical homogenized corporate fare. We’re looking for authentic and uniquely local cultural activities that bubble up from San Francisco’s underground. Suggestions and ideas are very welcome as part of a […]
Posted inNews
Toy donations tumble in down economy
As money becomes more scarce throughout the Bay Area donors are pulling back from holiday philanthropic gift-giving. Toy drive organizers in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area say this is the worst year for donations since the drives began decades ago. The San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program has received only 40 percent of the […]
Posted inNews
SF-based chain hires holiday help from abroad
Following recent news reports, one major retailer in San Francisco has been thrust in the spotlight after hiring foreign workers for the holidays. CBS 5 first reported that the Banana Republic store on Grant Avenue – owned by San Francisco-based Gap Inc. – hired 39 new, seasonal employees from outside of the United States. Gap […]
Posted inNews
Bay Bridge traffic delays delivery of Bay Bridge report
As the Bay Bridge Report by the Public Press and McSweeney’s hits the streets today, the San Francisco Chronicle is running a front-page story on a new fix for the old east span of the bridge. During Labor Day weekend repairs, Caltrans found a cracked eyebar on the eastern span. The agency did a temporary repair, parts […]
Posted inNews
Commodity of Hope
Artist Shepard Fairey, best known as the creator of the Obama campaign’s “Hope” graphic, has seen his share of ups and downs this year. After the explosive success of the “Obamicon,” the Associated Press accused him of using the then-U.S. senator’s photo without permission of the photographer. Archivists and other contemporaries have been critical of […]
Posted inNews
Violence against transgender youth sparks outrage
The San Francisco Chronicle reported recently that the San Francisco Police Department had delayed for two years the processing of DNA found near Ruby Ordenana, a transgender woman and prostitute who was killed in 2007. In the months after Ordenana’s death, three other transgender women survived assaults in San Francisco. The police have now linked DNA in […]
Posted inNews
Supes vote to delay layoffs, but mayor vows to cut jobs
The Board of Supervisors voted this afternoon to reallocate $1.2 million in the Health Department’s budget to keep about 100 unionized nurse assistants and support staff from being laid off until after the holidays. But Mayor Gavin Newsom reiterated that he would order the department to not spend the money and that the workers would […]
Posted inNews
No child left behind, unless you’re in the military
There are tens of thousands of women in the military who are single mothers, and one local woman who refused to leave her child suffered the consequences for doing so. Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother from Oakland who had her 10-month-old taken into child welfare services after refusing to be deployed to Afghanistan last week, is […]