Archive for July, 2010

Mayor Gavin Newsom may still hold the keys to Room 200, but the way things are shaping up, he’ll gladly hand them off to his successor.

Good vibes abound as City Hall celebrates the passage of a balanced budget.  However, warning signs remain for future years.

Mayor Gavin Newsom puts on his Social Worker Outreach hat and does some retail, one-on-one hard-selling of transitional housing to some homeless Transbay Terminal holdouts.

SF Weekly takes an in-depth look at a local organization that has added a new twist to its protests, the success they are having, and what it all might mean for the City’s labor laws.  Seriously, who couldn’t use a little BBQ on the picket line?

The Examiner covers the cost of growing old in San Francisco, as well as the limited housing options for the city’s senior population which is projected to double in the next 20 to 25 years.

Candidates vying to represent Districts 6, 8, and 10 on the Board of Supervisors engaged in an extensive Q & A session about HIV/AIDS in relation to afforable housing, prevention and education, and employment last week.  Read this Bay Area Reporter article to learn how the candidates measured up on awareness and innovation.

Message to all Recreation and Parks employees: if you get hurt, keep on working.  What may sound like cruel, intensive labor is actually the City’s plan to reduce workers’ comp claims.  Aflac!

A slew of Golden Gate Bridge upgrades may force bicyclists and pedestrians to be a little nicer to each other when traveling across the landmark.

Today, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will try to push forward legislation increasing the valet tax rate in San Francisco.  According to estimates, the move will likely generate tens of millions in city revenue.

SFpark has released its much awaited parking app so we can get real time parking information hopefully before you want to bang your head against the window after circling the block twelve times and the driver of a Dodge Stratus cuts you off to the spot you’ve been eyeing for 20 minutes.  And that ain’t pretty.

The Chron gives us the skinny on Proposition G, including who’s for it, who’s against it, and why your vote matters on November 2.

The City explores the idea of using modified shipping containers to house mini restaurants and shops on an empty Hayes Valley lot.

Downtown San Francisco will get its first medical marijuana facility, despite concerns about its proximity to two childcare centers.

With a lawsuit still pending, Stow Lake is making way (for now) for a new operator, new boats, and new cash money for improvements.

Mayor Gavin Newsom calls Board of Supervisor meetings “political theater,” offering to wear a luchador mask at the Tuesday meetings if Proposition C is approved in November.  Supervisor Chris Daly, one of the measure’s biggest proponents (not to mention one of Mistermayor’s biggest rivals) tells us that the calls to have Newsom attend meetings isn’t personal, but what the people want.

Given the difficult economic times and child care services around San Francisco waning, members of the Archdiocese of San Francisco are up in arms about newly proposed legislation that would give the Board of Supes control over the closure of the city’s child care centers.

You say vacant storefront, I say…….computer?!?  The Mayor’s Office of Workforce and Economic Development is looking into the idea of tracking chronically vacant storefronts digitally and connecting them with potential business owners.

The unemployment rate in San Francisco inches upwards after local census workers conclude their censusing and jump back on to the Craiglist job boards.

The City takes a look at the preservation of Van Ness Avenue’s potentially historic, auto-centric buildings.

Much to the dismay of one Chronicle columnist, the revised plans of the Transbay Tower no longer include the same level of public accessibility like it once had.

The Rec & Park Commission turns two facilities over to a private operator after City College had trouble making rent payments to run their programs at the sites over the last few years.

Despite being billed as a Jazz Preservation District, Lower Fillmore may lose out to the Mission on a new jazz club considering opening a venue in San Francisco.

Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier introduces legislation that would require background checks on any would-be parking lot operators in San Francisco.