Free “lifelong learning” classes for the community could be the first cuts as City College of San Francisco struggles to downsize and retain its accreditation, say several candidates for the college’s Board of Trustees. They spoke at a forum sponsored by New America Media. Four seats are up for election on the seven-member board.
Category: City Hall
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
City makes move to increase awareness of domestic violence
Supervisor Eric Mar Monday unveiled new efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence. Working with the Department on the Status of Women, Mar focused on working through the city’s workforce to educate the public and to help those city employees who are victims themselves.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing, Public Safety
S.F. to Appoint Earthquake Retrofit Czar to Push for Mandatory Program Next Year
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee next week plans to appoint an earthquake retrofit czar, whose job is to make sure seismic safety plans from last year don’t languish on the shelf until the next big temblor strikes. City officials hope the new manager will fast-track a proposal to require owners of thousands of buildings to retrofit, and he will be tasked with figuring out a way to assist owners who cannot pay for repairs.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Q&A: The Role That Culture Plays in the Response to Domestic Violence
Orchid Pusey, interim director of the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, says cultural differences can have a big influence on the attitudes and responses to domestic violence. She talked with San Francisco Public Press reporter Ruth Tam about the challenges facing service providers in the city. This story appeared as part of a special report on domestic violence in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Mirkarimi Case Brought Spotlight to Domestic Violence in San Francisco
As the city’s Ethics Commission debated whether Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was fit to hold his elected position this past June, the complex game of personality, politics and procedure eclipsed larger policy questions about the city’s approach to handling thousands of cases of domestic violence each year. But advocates for victims said the hearings generated wider awareness of the problem of domestic violence.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Public Safety
District Attorney to Examine Low Prosecution of Domestic Violence Cases in San Francisco
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said he is looking into why office’s prosecutions for domestic violence crimes was the lowest per capita in the Bay Area. His remarks came after a special report in the San Francisco Public Press on the handling of such cases by police and prosecutors.
Posted inCity Hall, Community, Education, Elections
Countdown to accreditation: City College makes changes despite criticism
Once lauded for being the largest community college in the nation, City College of San Francisco has recently come under fire in an accreditation crisis that threatens its future. Ever since the commission placed City College on “show cause” status in July — meaning the college might have to close if it does not improve — tensions between the board of trustees and the community have stalled progress on the ongoing crisis. City College submitted its first accreditation report last week, detailing steps it will take to meet the commission’s standards.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing, Land use
San Francisco postpones vote on permitting tiny apartments
Apartment hunters in San Francisco will have to wait a little longer before they can get their very own “shoebox” abodes. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted to wait until Nov. 20 to consider an ordinance that would make the city’s smallest legal apartment size even smaller, by around 30 percent. It was the […]
Posted inCity Hall, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
Poor Record Keeping Hinders Analysis of Domestic Violence Policing Practices
As statistics go from tick marks to laptops, police struggle to make sense of trends
The San Francisco Police Department cannot precisely measure the number of domestic violence cases it handled before 2011, because investigators in the Special Victims Unit hand-tallied monthly records, and used changing and inconsistently understood categories of crimes. This story appeared as part of a special report on domestic violence in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Posted inCity Hall, Labor, Law & Justice, Public Safety
San Francisco police chief to be nation’s highest paid, for overseeing 14th-largest force
By the end of September, when he receives a scheduled raise, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr will be the highest paid police chief in any major American city. A review of the police departments in the 60 largest cities in California and 24 of the largest police forces across the country found that Suhr’s annual salary of over $307,450 will push Suhr’s pay just beyond that of the Los Angeles chief.