The high-profile murder of Claire Joyce Tempongko more than 12 years ago showed just how ineffective the city was at dealing with domestic violence cases, spurring an investigation of the city’s enforcement of domestic violence policy. Now the state Supreme Court has reinstated the second-degree murder conviction of her ex-boyfriend.
Category: Social Justice
Posted inClimate Change, Environment, Government & Politics, Social Justice
California Environmentalists Decry Governor’s Raid on Cap-and-Trade Dollars
Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to divert $500 million earmarked for environmental initiatives into the general fund would hurt California communities with high pollution levels and slow down efforts to spur efficiency, mass transit and alternative energy, critics told legislators this week.
The state’s environmental officials have been developing programs to fund a range of programs in communities disadvantaged by environmental burdens. The money comes from auctions of greenhouse gas permits from the state’s new cap-and-trade pollution control marketplace.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Public Safety, Social Justice
Domestic Violence Record-Keeping Still Flawed, but Police Say Fix Is Near
Some cases were not referred immediately to Special Victims Unit
This story appeared in the Spring print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Nine months after the San Francisco Police Department fully implemented a new digitized case management system, inspectors were still finding as many as 20 domestic violence cases per month that were not immediately referred to the Special Victims Unit for investigation, said a lieutenant in charge of the domestic violence team.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing, Public Safety, Social Justice
Rent-Control Tenants May Foot the Bill for Mandatory Seismic Retrofits
Tenants in 3,000 rent-controlled buildings could potentially pay all the costs of retrofitting those structures against earthquake damage unless they receive a financial hardship waiver from the city’s Rent Board, under the provisions of a new law approved Tuesday by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors will vote again on the retrofit law on April 9, and it will need the mayor’s signature before becoming law.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing, Public Safety, Social Justice
Tenants Say Earthquake Retrofit Law Could Circumvent Rent Control
A proposed San Francisco law designed to save rent-controlled housing stock from the next big earthquake could actually displace low-income tenants, say tenant rights advocates. Building owners could pass through the cost of the retrofits to tenants in the form of monthly rent increases. Tenants’ only recourse would be to successfully declare financial hardship.
Posted inCity Hall, Social Justice, Transportation
UCSF Facing Cuts in Wake of Sequester; Free Bus Passes for Youth
Sequestration isn’t just some Washington abstraction. It’s hitting home. The automatic federal budget cuts that rolled out on Friday — known as the sequester — are going to hurt the University of California, San Francisco. The world-class teaching hospital and research center receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. According to KQED’s “California Report,” the university’s vice chancellor for research, Keith Yamamoto, said that some laboratories have already instituted hiring freezes.
Posted inCity Hall, Community, Social Justice
San Francisco to Pilot Participatory Budgeting
Residents in San Francisco’s northeastern corner will soon get a say in how a small piece of San Francisco’s budget is spent improving their neighborhood. Supervisor David Chiu announced last week that residents of District 3, which includes North Beach, Chinatown and part of the Financial District, could vote on how to spend $100,000 in discretionary funds. It’s part of a civic innovation called participatory budgeting, with the money earmarked for one-time community projects.
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, 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.