Muni
Why the Mission District Bus-Only Red Lanes Bug a Lot of People
Mission Local reporter Abe Rodriguez talks about the cons, and pros — easing traffic congestion and lessening air pollution — of the red bus-only lanes in the Mission District.
“Civic” Podcast
Documentary Explores What Shaped Mid-Market Street, Past and Present
The documentary “5 Blocks,” by Robert Cortlandt and Dan Goldes, explores the history, economic downturn and efforts to revitalize San Francisco’s mid-Market Street neighborhood, an area whose focal point is just five blocks. Goldes discusses what he learned in his conversations with neighborhood residents from different backgrounds, including an SRO dweller and a tech worker. “I think the thing that I found most striking was that, despite the fact that there is extreme poverty and extreme wealth, side by side, a lot of folks really want the same things … a safer, cleaner neighborhood.” — Dan Goldes, “5 Blocks” filmmaker
Community
Fillmore Revisited — How Redevelopment Tore Through the Western Addition
An excerpt from the book, “Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1978” — about how so-called urban renewal displaced African Americans from their enclave in the city.
Community
Latinos in This Liberal City: From San Francisco’s Big Strike to Gay Liberation
Years before charting the evolution and diversity of Latino political life in the city, a historian came here to become an activist. His book recalls major battlegrounds from the 1930s to the 1970s: union campaigns; civil rights organizing; elections; Great Society mobilizations; and feminist, gay and lesbian activism. Read an excerpt from “Latinos and the Liberal City” by Eduardo Contreras.
Neighborhoods
They Saved Girls and Women in Chinatown From Slavery
Donaldina Cameron captured the nation’s imagination at the turn of the 20th century. She was an early anti-human trafficking pioneer who ran a safe house for vulnerable girls and young women on the edge of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Read an excerpt from “The White Devil’s Daughters,” by Bay Area author Julia Flynn Siler.
Food Systems
State Law Cracks Down on Free Public Meals
Many city residents who are not housed or are food insecure depend on humanitarian aid from Food Not Bombs to survive. But state regulations taking effect in January jeopardize the group’s 35-year mission of sharing food outside the confines of government bureaucracy.
Economy & Business
Business Improvement Districts Use Public Funds to Pursue Anti-Homeless Agenda, Advocates Say
Nearly 200 California cities allow private organizations to manage key aspects of their downtown and commercial districts and to implement policies that restrict the rights of homeless people, according to a new report from the UC Berkeley School of Law.
City Hall
As Mayor, Kim Would Try to Expand Inclusionary Housing Citywide
District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim represents the city’s wealthiest and poorest ZIP codes. She has focused much of her political energy on inclusionary housing — programs mandating a percentage of apartments in new developments be set aside at below-market rates — and set a new standard by securing higher-than-normal affordability ratios on several mega-projects. On homelessness, she says that if elected mayor, she would treat it more like a public health crisis than an economic problem. Second in a series analyzing the mayoral candidates’ records and pledges on housing and homelessness.
Community
Candidates Say How They Would Help African-American Community
A trio of African-American organizations aimed to get some answers from aspiring local leaders at “Facing the Voters,” a candidates’ forum hosted by the Public Press and moderated by its publisher. The candidates were given the opportunity to lay out their bona fides with respect to this city’s dwindling, marginalized African-American community; some did that and some did not. First of two articles.