Community members will have a chance to discuss their views about the local news with a dozen leading figures in journalism, education, business and politics at a town hall meeting produced by the Society of Professional Journalists on Thursday, March 25. Participants will talk about how the current crisis in the news industry creates opportunities for […]
Category: News
Posted inNews
SF businesses to see tax fines, neighborhood rewards
As the local economy continues to sputter, businesses in San Francisco are being buffeted by a crackdown from the under-funded city government, but also lifted by an association aimed at encouraging neighborhood firms. On Monday Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed new legislation that would crack down on San Francisco businesses with unpaid or unreported taxes. According […]
Posted inCity Hall, Labor, News
City workers decry layoffs, demand alternatives
City workers are demanding alternatives to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s hard-nosed fiscal approach as he attempts to close a $522 million projected budget gap through mass layoffs and de-facto furloughs.
As San Francisco grapples with a ballooning deficit for the coming fiscal year, Newsom laid off 17,474 workers two weeks ago, but promised to hire back “most” of them at 37½ hours per week. For the rehired, that represents a 6.25 percent pay cut — which city workers’ unions intend to challenge in court.
Toting 8½-by-11-inch “termination of employment” pink slips, angry city workers lined up at last Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee hearing to decry the layoffs and urge city leaders to explore other sources of money.
Posted inNews
Welcome to the neighborhood: SoMa (photo essay)
SoMa is growing up, literally.
The neighborhood, bordered by Market and South Van Ness streets, has seen the most recent growth in high-rise construction in the city. In the past three years, about eight high-rises were built in the neighborhood and blueprints for more, namely the Transbay Terminal redevelopment area, are reshaping the skyline.
Posted inNews
Bay Area schools face scrutiny over test scores
This week schools around the Bay Area went under the press’ microscope, as test scores and busing policies promised to reshape districts across the region. On Monday, a list of California’s lowest-performing schools was released. Among the state’s 188 lowest-performing schools, five were from Oakland, five were from Hayward and one was from San Lorenzo. The […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
The Onion ponders newspapers
From The Onion: How Will The End Of Print Journalism Affect Old Loons Who Hoard Newspapers?
Posted inNews
Welcome to the neighborhood: Western Addition’s NoPa (photo essay)
The neighborhood known as “NoPa,” or North of the Panhandle, is in the process of undergoing a transformation. The neighborhood is gaining an identity of its own, separate from its historical roots as a part of the larger Western Addition.
Posted inNews
Tourist-centered ‘sit-lie’ law follows reports of higher petty crime
Cleaning up the streets of San Francisco, whether it’s in the Tenderloin or the Haight, has risen to the top of the political agenda. This week Police Chief George Gascon proposed a new anti-loitering ordinance that would make it illegal to sit or lie on a public sidewalk. Dubbed by the local press a “sit-lie” […]
Posted inNews
Reform slate wins SEIU election
SEIU 1021 members have voted in a new group of leaders, a reformer element known as Change 1021. The reform faction won 26 of the 28 seats in contention, many with 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 margins, unseating leaders appointed by the greater union President Andy Stern three years ago when the union […]