As the coronavirus vaccine rolls out and San Francisco’s commercial eviction moratorium extends at a piecemeal rate — it was scheduled to lift at the end of March but has now been extended — questions about the future of the city’s restaurant industry are becoming louder. Nonprofit food groups are offering solutions.
Category: Economy & Business
Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Housing, Public Housing in Private Hands
With Mayor’s Backing, Developer Asks to Demolish, Rebuild 20-Year-Old Public Housing
Federal officials are considering a proposal to allow a developer to tear down and rebuild a 20-year-old public housing complex in the Western Addition — a plan that does not address residents’ demands for repairs to health and safety issues in the current structures.
Posted inEconomy & Business, Labor, Law & Justice
Event Company Non Plus Ultra Accused in Lawsuit of Unemployment Fraud
Non Plus Ultra, an event company that leases the Palace of Fine Arts, Pier 70, and the Old Mint, is under fire from employees who allege it filed fraudulent unemployment claims, harassed and bullied staff, and fired them when they confronted leadership, according to a lawsuit filed March 1 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Economy & Business, Essential Workers, Government & Politics, Labor, Vaccine Distribution
Vaccinations and Hazard Pay Remain Concerns of Grocery Store Union
Grocery store workers are the latest to be eligible for vaccination. As part of our “Essential Worker” series we spoke with Jim Araby, director of strategic campaigns for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 about how they are trying to get their 28,000 members vaccinated and why they are fighting for hazard pay during the remaining days of the pandemic.
Posted inCoronavirus, Economy & Business, Government & Politics, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Law & Justice, Public Housing in Private Hands, Renters at Risk
Despite Pandemic, New Wave of Court-Ordered Evictions Displacing Poor Tenants
After an eight-month pause, court-ordered evictions in San Francisco have resumed, and they’re coming down hardest on some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. The Sheriff’s Department has conducted evictions at 33 addresses across the city since November 2020, according to documents obtained through a California Public Records Act request. More than half — 18 — involved tenants in permanent supportive housing.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Economy & Business, Government & Politics, Health, Homelessness, Housing
70 Hotels Could House the Homeless, if San Francisco Buys
More than 70 hotel owners have said they are willing to sell their properties to San Francisco, and now is the perfect time to buy some of them, homelessness activists said at a press conference Wednesday.
Posted inCoronavirus, Economy & Business, Health, Housing, Law & Justice, Public Housing in Private Hands
Hundreds of SF Renters Threatened With Eviction During Pandemic
Landlords have tried to force hundreds of San Francisco renters from their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. From March 1 to Dec. 31, 2020, landlords filed close to half the number of eviction notices as in the same period a year earlier, even as state and federal moratoriums on pandemic-related evictions remain in effect.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Economy & Business
SF Poised to Work on Blueprint for Creating a Public Bank
Jackie Fielder, co-founder of the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition, talked with “Civic” about a proposal that would create a working group to chart a path toward a public bank in San Francisco.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, California, Economy & Business, Labor
‘Deluged’ With Calls From Jobless Constituents, Chiu Pushes EDD Reform
Nine California legislators have proposed a slate of reform bills that would try to address some of the biggest obstacles to getting unemployment benefits to those who are eligible for them. Among them is Assemblyman David Chiu, who represents California’s 17th district, which covers much of the eastern part of San Francisco, and discussed the proposals with “Civic.”
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Economy & Business, Government & Politics, Health, Homelessness
FEMA to Retroactively Fund All Shelter-in-Place Hotel Costs
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will retroactively reimburse states 100% of the cost for shelter-in-place hotels, dating back to January 2020, the White House announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after the Biden administration pledged to fully fund hotels used to house homeless people over 65 or with compromised health going forward. Previously, municipalities were responsible for 25% of the costs.