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The Niners will try to beat the Rams for the third time this season in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, which will be played in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers)
It’s official. The Niners will travel to Los Angeles next weekend to take on the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
It will be the third matchup of the year for the two rivals, with San Francisco winning both regular season encounters. In fact, the Niners have beaten the Rams six straight times over the past three seasons. It’ll be tough to keep that streak alive, but the payoff would be huge.
The winner, of course, will play at the very same SoFi Stadium two weeks later in the Super Bowl.
Both the Niners and Rams squeaked into the NFC title game with last-second wins in the divisional round. San Francisco beat the Packers on a cold and snowy night in Green Bay, thanks to a late blocked punt and a last-second field goal from kicker Robbie Gould.
The Rams did everything possible to blow a huge lead they had built up against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers during their divisional bout in Tampa Bay. The Bucs clawed back from a 24-point deficit to tie the game with less than a minute to go. But the Rams kept their cool and managed to march down the field, powered by two long-distance connections between quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Cooper Kupp, to get themselves into position for their own game-winning field goal as time expired.
So, instead of going across country to play in Tampa Bay, the Niners will enjoy a short commute to Los Angeles, just a few months after the Giants played the Dodgers in the National League playoffs.
Can the upstart Niners punch their ticket to the Super Bowl? They’ll have to “Beat L.A.” | 2022-01-24T06:34:23Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Beat L.A.? Niners will have the chance against Rams in NFC Championship Game - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/beat-l-a-niners-will-have-the-chance-against-rams-in-nfc-championship-game/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/beat-l-a-niners-will-have-the-chance-against-rams-in-nfc-championship-game/ |
By Ben Shpigel • January 23, 2022 1:30 pm
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo waves goodbye to the Green Bay fans before heading into the locker room after defeating the Packers 13-10 in the NFC Divisional playoff game at Lambeau Field. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Robbie Gould’s kick sailed through the uprights, and as his San Francisco teammates, bundled in red parkas, scampered onto the grass Saturday night, the Green Bay Packers just stood on their sideline. They had not lost all season at Lambeau Field, not in warm weather or temperate conditions or the winter chill, but a certain finality had now descended amid the snowfall.
The 49ers ousted the top-seeded Packers from the playoffs 13-10 on Gould’s 45-yard field goal as time expired. San Francisco, the sixth seed, advances to play at the Los Angeles Rams in next Sunday’s NFC championship game.
Beyond ending Green Bay’s season, one that sparkled amid the parity of the NFL, San Francisco might have ended Aaron Rodgers’ marvelous career in green and gold. Rodgers has not won a Super Bowl in 11 years, losing in the conference title game four times, and he reconfigured his contract with Packers management last summer to allow him to switch teams.
The question for Rodgers will be whether he wants to play somewhere else. It is unlikely that another team will offer as full a roster as Green Bay’s, which was loaded on offense and defense — but not, as the Packers no doubt realized, on special teams.
Green Bay scored on its opening drive, a 6-yard run by A.J. Dillon, but not again until early in the fourth quarter, on a 33-yard field goal by Mason Crosby. At the end of the first half, Crosby had a field goal attempt blocked. Then, late in the fourth quarter, Jordan Willis blitzed through the Green Bay line to block Corey Bojorquez’s punt, which Talanoa Hufanga scooped up and returned 6 yards to tie the score at 10-10.
That blocked punt came only a few minutes after Rashan Gary, a disruptive force all game for Green Bay, stuffed Elijah Mitchell on fourth and 1 from the Packers 19-yard line.
After the 49ers stopped Green Bay and Rodgers — who completed 20 of 29 passes for 225 yards — Jimmy Garoppolo drove San Francisco 44 yards in nine plays to set up Gould’s game-winning kick. It was San Francisco’s fourth consecutive playoff win over Green Bay, dating back to the 2011 season. | 2022-01-24T06:34:29Z | www.sfexaminer.com | How the 49ers took advantage of Packers’ special teams flubs - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/how-the-49ers-took-advantage-of-packers-special-teams-flubs/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/how-the-49ers-took-advantage-of-packers-special-teams-flubs/ |
‘It’s unusual to have fire this size here on the coast at the end of January’
By Soumya Karlamangla • January 24, 2022 1:30 am - Updated January 24, 2022 5:53 pm
On Friday night, the brush fire near Big Sur began to grow, forcing hundreds living in a coast stretch south of Carmel-by-the-Sea to evacuate their homes. Wildfires hit the area in 2008, as depicted in this photo of a ridgeline above Highway 1. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
A blaze that erupted on the Central Coast over the weekend seemed to stun even those intimately familiar with California’s ongoing drought and its increasingly year-round fire season. The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office called the fast-moving fire near Big Sur surreal given the recent storms.
California saw heavy rainfall in the final three months of 2021, leading many to believe the threat of fire would lessen for at least the next few months. But the latest blaze revealed a harsh reality: The drought has become so severe that even a series of torrential storms wasn’t enough to end it.
On Friday night, the brush fire near Big Sur began to grow, forcing hundreds living in a coast stretch south of Carmel-by-the-Sea to evacuate their homes. At its largest over the weekend, the blaze reached about 1,000 acres and threatened more than 200 homes and buildings. By Monday morning, it was 33% contained, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency.
George Nuñez, a captain with Cal Fire, said he had to ask other agencies to help fight the blaze because it hit during the offseason.
“Everybody says that California has a year-round fire season,” Nunez said. “And this is just part of it.”
Last year, California endured a brutal fire season triggered by unusually high temperatures and severe drought conditions. By the end of 2021, 2.6 million acres had burned across the state, 1 million more than the annual average from the past five years, according to Cal Fire.
It is said that San Francisco’s famous sourdough was born from the air itself; that our briny fog imbued the… | 2022-01-25T03:27:19Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Heavy rains weren’t enough to stop winter fires in California - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/heavy-rains-werent-enough-to-stop-winter-fires-in-california/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/heavy-rains-werent-enough-to-stop-winter-fires-in-california/ |
By Sydney Johnson Examiner staff writer • January 24, 2022 1:30 pm
Gavin Newsom helped expand health coverage to all residents through the Healthy SF program when he was mayor in 2008. Now, Gov. Newsom is looking to expand health coverage at the state level to all residents through Medi-Cal, leaving experts wondering what that will mean for the future of Healthy SF. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
Jose Ng knows all the hesitations and hiccups that newly arrived immigrants settling in San Francisco might experience when signing up for healthcare.
As the immigrant rights program manager for Chinese for Affirmative Action, Ng helps new arrivals, mostly from China, register for programs that can help them. One of them, Healthy SF, offers health care services to uninsured people living in San Francisco—regardless of their immigration status—who don’t qualify for public insurance programs like Medi-Cal or Medicare.
San Francisco was a pioneer in offering health coverage to all its residents with the expansion of Healthy SF by former Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2008. And now, as Governor of California, Newsom has his sights set on taking the idea to the state level by ensuring undocumented Californians of all ages can sign up for the state’s low-income healthcare plan, Medi-Cal.
But that’s left some locals, policy experts and immigration advocates wondering what such a statewide health insurance plan will mean for options that San Francisco already offers.
“We really appreciate the governor taking such a bold position and ensuring all Californians can have health care access,” said Ng. “In SF, I wonder how it will play out. Will that be overlapping?”
Jose Ng, immigrant rights program manager at Chinese for Affirmative Action, helps many new arrivals settle in The City and sign up for programs like Healthy SF. The program offers health care services to people living in SF who are uninsured and don’t qualify for public insurance due to being undocumented. But its fate is uncertain with Gov. Gavin Newsom looking to give undocumented Californians the ability to sign up for Medi-Cal. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
As of Jan. 1, about 16,000 San Franciscans were enrolled in Healthy SF, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. It’s not an insurance plan, and the program’s brochure states that “Health insurance is a better option than Healthy San Francisco.” Instead, Healthy SF provides more affordable, albeit limited, health services for extremely low-income residents.
Still, some health policy experts question the locally-funded program in a world where all Californians have an insurance option.
“I’m guessing that if Newsom’s plan that everyone in our state can get coverage, if everything goes accordion to plan, Healthy SF doesn’t need to do it anymore,” said Robin Flagg, a public health policy lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. “Why should they (the city and local businesses) pay for health care if their residents can get healthcare from the state?”
One could argue that’s a success story for Healthy SF, Flagg added.
Quality of Access
But The City’s public health officials and immigration rights advocates agree that truly universal coverage is still years away, and some individuals may fall between the cracks even with a Medi-Cal expansion, such as those who make just above the income threshold to qualify.
“If this proposal is implemented, most Healthy SF participants would become eligible for Medi-Cal and therefore no longer eligible for Healthy SF,” said Alice Kurniadi, program manager with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. “However, Healthy SF would still be an option for individuals who are not eligible for Medi-Cal, namely those whose income is above the current Medi-Cal maximum of 138% federal poverty level.”
Healthy SF could remain an option for San Franciscans who are “predominantly unable to purchase insurance due to cost,” Kurniadi said. “Undocumented residents would face higher insurance costs because they are unable to take advantage of subsidized insurance through Covered California.”
Sarah Dar, Director of Health and Public Benefits Policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said her organization is thrilled at the Governor’s proposal. But, she adds, “There will definitely still be people who for a number of reasons might not be able to access or afford and still have trouble getting comprehensive health care even when these are in place.”
Others point out that increased access does not necessarily mean equitable access. Healthy SF, for example, provides limited coverage and makes it difficult for users to get access to specialized care that requires referrals. Healthy SF does not cover services including dental, vision and long-term care.
“What you hear time and time again is primary care providers become the defector specialty providers because they have clients who can’t afford and won’t get specialty care. That’s mitigating conditions that need higher care,” Maria-Elena Young, an assistant professor in public health at UC Merced who studies public health coverage programs such as Healthy SF and My Health LA down in Southern California. “With the statewide proposal, it’s full-scope medical service.”
Ng, who coordinates workshops for immigrants in San Francisco on how to sign up for health coverage, has seen some of those shortcomings and other barriers play out up close.
“There’s a lack of information and appropriate language. There are a lot of questions about what it will cover and how much it could cover,” said Ng, adding that many of the individuals he works with come from countries where there are single-payer health systems or all hospitals are run by the government. “It’s even more difficult if you’re undocumented.”
The DPH acknowledges these challenges. “Individuals may be eligible for Healthy SF and are not aware of the program or how to enroll,” said Kurniadi.
Healthcare Wars
Across the state, the battle over universal healthcare in California is currently playing out in the form of two different proposals. One, from Gov. Newsom, comes in the form of a budget allocation that would cover undocumented residents of all ages in the state’s existing public health care system beginning in 2024 and maintain the private marketplace.
The other is a bill, AB 1400, making its way through the legislature that would require creating a single-payer system that would in turn remove co-payments and private health insurance companies. Advocates for that system say that it would provide a more equitable quality of care.
Meanwhile, members from The City’s business community have been calling for revisions to The City’s public healthcare plans long before the recent proposals to extend or even overhaul the state’s health care system.
San Francisco requires employers in The City and at San Francisco International Airport to provide health insurance or health care expenditures on behalf of eligible employees. In 2006, the Department of Public Health created Healthy SF and an employer spending requirement to make health care more widely available for uninsured and undocumented residents. Companies may also choose a privately managed health benefit as an alternative to City Option, in which funds collected on an employee’s account can be used for health insurance premiums, doctor’s office visits, dental services, vision services and prescriptions.
In December, the San Francisco Department of Public Health reported that there were $104 million in unused funds in a medical reimbursement account, or MRA, a part of City Option.
“I think the program was well-intentioned, but time has proven it to be an utter failure. They should immediately return the unused funds back to the struggling small businesses that paid into it,” said Ben Bleiman, founder of the SF Bar Owner Alliance. “They should also dismantle the program and stop trying to fund sweeping progressive causes on the backs of small businesses.”
DPH officials, however, say there’s still going to be a role for the MRA programs after healthcare is expanded in California.
“SF MRA would continue to supplement participant’s existing health insurance similar to how regular FSA programs work together with health insurance,” Kurniadi said. “Enrolled participants can use their MRA to cover out-of-pocket health care expenditures, including insurance premiums.”
Dar of CIPC said programs like Healthy SF have paved the way for healthcare policy at a state and national level. But she’d like to see The City and others move beyond local bandaids to larger gaps in the healthcare system.
“While we’re glad some counties have forged ahead,” she said, “this Medi-Cal expansion will be a much more equitable way to do this and hopefully those counties can save some money.” | 2022-01-25T03:27:26Z | www.sfexaminer.com | New state proposals create an uncertain future for S.F.’s universal health care - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-state-proposals-create-an-uncertain-future-for-s-f-s-universal-health-care/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-state-proposals-create-an-uncertain-future-for-s-f-s-universal-health-care/ |
San Francisco will provide an additional $5.4 million to extend through June the Right to Recover program, which provides financial...
The new round of funding comes from The City’s General Fund and will help an estimated additional 5,400 workers who currently need financial assistance. (Shutterstock)
San Francisco will provide an additional $5.4 million to extend through June the Right to Recover program, which provides financial support for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and need help as they get tested, quarantine and recover.
According to city officials, the extension of the program, established in July 2020, is urgently needed amid a recent, unprecedented surge of COVID-19 cases related to the highly contagious omicron variant. As a result, The City has seen an increase in Right to Recover applications.
“It has allowed low-income workers and families to prioritize their own health and well-being as well as that of the public by giving them the financial support to stay home and quarantine when they test positive for COVID. This program has been a small bright light in this grueling pandemic and I’m glad we will keep it going as long as it’s needed,” Ronen said.
The program previously provided as much as $1,285 to cover 14 days of recovery. The city has since adjusted the amount to $1,000 to align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated isolation recommendation.
According to city officials, about 75% of the program’s recipients live in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, including the Mission, Excelsior, Outer Mission, Ingleside, Bayview, Visitacion Valley, Tenderloin and South of Market.
People interested in the program can contact the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s hot line at (415) 701-4817, or the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s COVID Resource Center at (628) 217-6101. Those interested can also email workforce.connection@sfgov.org or visit www.oewd.org/covid19/workers | 2022-01-25T03:27:32Z | www.sfexaminer.com | S.F. extends program supporting workers recovering from COVID-19 - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/s-f-extends-program-supporting-workers-recovering-from-covid-19/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/s-f-extends-program-supporting-workers-recovering-from-covid-19/ |
By Anita Katz • January 25, 2022 10:30 am - Updated January 25, 2022 1:05 pm
Cathy Lu’s “Peripheral Visions” references the symbols and experiences of East Asian Americans and honors women artists such as sculptor Ruth Asawa and designer and sculptor Maya Lin. (Courtesy of Cathy Lu/Chinese Culture Center)
Using the traditional Chinese garden as a focus point, Bay Area ceramics artist Cathy Lu contrasts the promises of the American dream with the realities of racism and exclusion in an insightful and affecting new exhibition at San Francisco’s Chinese Culture Center.
The show, “Interior Garden,” continues the year at the CCC, which the latest presentation in “XianRui” (Fresh and Sharp) — a series featuring commissioned solo exhibitions by artists of Chinese descent.
Lu creates work that addresses Chinese American identity, community solidarity, local history and the experiences of otherhood that people of color and immigrants live with. The daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, the Miami-raised Lu, after determining that Boston was too cold, moved to the Bay Area, where she received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Art education at the time was “Eurocentric and taught almost entirely by white dudes,” she says, but the Bay Area’s large Asian community and its creative elements mattered to her.
She studied painting and ceramics and felt more drawn to the latter. “As a medium, clay is a little more chill,” she says. “There’s more freedom. You can more easily explore different things.”
Lu cites interdisciplinary artist Christy Chan and ceramics artist Stephanie Shih as major influences.
“I want this project to provide a space for not only Chinese Americans, but also immigrants and BIPOC who have had similar experiences of being othered to have the space to engage with what it means to be simultaneously hypervisible and invisible in the United States,” says Lu, in a statement about “Interior Garden.”
The exhibition contains four primary installations, each occupying an entire CCC gallery and representing a trope of the traditional Chinese garden. Much is going on in each piece, sometimes visually and always in terms of ideas.
“Pile,” installed in the first gallery that attendees enter, revisits a monumental moment, and depicts an inspiring triumph in local Chinese American history. A mound of discarded bricks collected by Lu references the scene that existed in Chinatown during the period after San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake and fire, when officials wanted to push Chinese residents out of the area. The residents quickly rebuilt their community with readily available materials. These included “clinker bricks” — bricks that had been burned and marred by the fire, but later came to symbolize resilience and survival.
The pile also contains ceramic fruits, a frequent element in Lu’s work. The artist uses the fruits to explore cultural symbols — peaches, for example, are significant in both Chinese and American culture, but for different reasons, she notes — and how some cultural items are often compartmentalized in the mind of the public, as well as in mainstream markets.
Encircling “Pile” are porcelain traffic cones, which represent the presence of borders both in traditional gardens and in society’s treatment of immigrants and people of color.
Next up is “Peripheral Visions,” a knockout installation in which Lu references the element of waterfalls in Chinese gardens, addresses the experiences of East Asian Americans and honors women she has admired. On the wall are more than a dozen ceramic depictions of the eyes of notable East Asian American women, including sculptor Ruth Asawa and designer and sculptor Maya Lin. “Yellow tears” drip from these eyes and run, through plastic tubing, into an assortment of both bargain-store plastic bowls and pails (many of which Lu, who likes to use local products in her work, purchased in Chinatown) and high-end porcelain vases — items representing flip-side one-dimensional views of Chinese American culture. It’s hard to take one’s eyes off of this ambitiously presented, visually striking, emotionally powerful work.
“Drains,” a large pond-like piece, also involves themes of water and the experience of exclusion. It additionally inspires us to take note of the beauty of Chinese designs. The structure contains drains, each with a different attractive pattern, discovered by Lu during a visit to China. Less agreeably, the work reminds us that unpleasantness — “like bugs,” Lu says — can lie beneath drains and surfaces.
Tiles, meanwhile, bear the prints of the hands that crafted them. Lu’s high regard for the role of human hands in the making of things is beautifully evident in “Drains,” which calls for the sort of close-up viewing that the intimate setting of the CCC makes possible.
The theme of hands and their connection to the creative soul dominates the final installation, which reflects the infusion of borrowed views into classical garden design. The subject here is Chinese mythology’s mother goddess, Nuwa, who after some trial and error shaped yellow clay into human beings with her hands. “This is my vision of her arms,” says Lu of this hanging piece, in which Nuwa’s arms and hands, representing creativity and capability in the community, appear at once botanical, golden and magical.
Accompanying the primary installations are ceramic “American Dream Pillows,” inspired by the ceramic pillows that, during the Song and Tang dynasties, people believed could affect their dreams and, subsequently, their life experiences. Lu invites attendees to lie on these intriguing objects, which contain themes featured throughout the show, and consider what she calls the “possibility of reconciliation between dreams and dystopian realities.”
Looking ahead, members of the public will be able to take part in the exhibition, by — in tune with the garden theme — contributing small items of plant life.
The center also will host special programming featuring artists responding to Lu’s exhibition. Details will be posted on the CCC website.
“Interior Garden”
Where: Chinese Culture Center, 750 Kearny St., 3rd floor, S.F.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays; appointments are recommended
Contact: (415) 986-1822, www.cccsf.us | 2022-01-25T21:48:32Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Bay Area ceramics artist Cathy Lu contrasts American dream with racism and exclusion - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/bay-area-ceramics-artist-cathy-lu-contrasts-american-dream-with-racism-and-exclusion/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/bay-area-ceramics-artist-cathy-lu-contrasts-american-dream-with-racism-and-exclusion/ |
Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo lines up against the Rams in Week 18 of the regular season, in a game San Francisco won to reach the playoffs. The two teams will meet in the NFC Championship Game in Los Angeles Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers)
Matt Stafford is the better quarterback. Right? We can agree on that. Matt Stafford vs. Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t that close, really. Most teams would take Stafford in a heartbeat.
The Rams were willing to part with three draft picks, two of them future first-rounders, plus Jared Goff about a year ago in order to obtain Stafford, a 12-year veteran coming into his age-33 season after going, let’s see here, 74-90-1 as the starter in Detroit. Los Angeles knew how good Stafford really was.
The 49ers? They gave up two future first-rounders and a third in the 2021 draft so they could move up and select Garoppolo’s replacement, Trey Lance. So, yeah.
But it’s weird about Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. There’s an energy coming off Garoppolo that isn’t weighed down by his Pro Football Reference page. It’s something his own teammates seem to buy into. It is not statistical, and it certainly won’t prevent “Bad Jimmy” from making an appearance almost on cue. But it exists.
And because it is a thing, this quarterback comparison — Stafford vs. Garoppolo — is far closer than the numbers make it appear. It may not be a wash, but that’s only because the 49ers and Rams need such disparate things from their starters.
The Rams need numbers. The 49ers? At this point, they sort of simply need Garoppolo to go out there and be in control.
“Honestly, I’m impressed with his demeanor as a leader,” defensive end Nick Bosa told reporters in Green Bay late Saturday night. “A lot of people give him crap for whatever, but he’s as cool and collected a quarterback as I’ve ever had — and he is the perfect guy to lead us to where we need to go.”
Bosa spoke those words after Garoppolo completed 11 of 19 passes for 131 yards and got picked once (hey, it was a snow day) in that stunning 13-10 win that propelled the 49ers into the title game. Bosa also spoke as a guy who doesn’t actually stand in the offensive huddle. But he’s not wrong, at least not in spirit.
Stafford is the arm. You saw it in those downfield shots that just wrecked Tampa Bay in the divisional playoff game. Even at this stage of his career, the guy can sling it, and in Rams’ head coach Sean McVay’s system he is openly encouraged to try. It didn’t hurt that the Bucs just cannot stop blitzing even when it’s not in their best interests. They sent six guys on the play that found Stafford hitting Cooper Kupp for the 44-yard completion that set up L.A.’s winning field goal.
Garoppolo’s arm? Well, I don’t actually know where it is. Between the thumb injury and the shoulder sprain, it appears at times to vanish altogether. There wasn’t a single sideline throw against the Packers that didn’t look like it paused in mid-air before nearing its destination. At some point, it needed to be straight downfield and short, or bust.
But he got through. The 49ers got through. They ran for 106 yards and passed for 106. It was that kind of a game. Their defense rose up again and again, and Garoppolo’s interception — you may remember it. It killed a red zone drive late in the first half, but it wasn’t fatal. It was merely mug-ugly.
Kyle Shanahan figured out a while ago that the best way to use his quarterback, this quarterback, is to ask him not to do anything outside his wheelhouse. That’s a fascinating theory for an NFL team, in that it almost never works. It’s working now, and it allows Garoppolo’s teammates to focus on the stuff he does really, really well, like command a huddle, insist things are going to be all right, keep calm and, heck, you know the story. You’ve seen it for most of the season.
“We just find a way,” Garoppolo said after Robbie Gould’s field goal at 0:00 left Packers fans deep-breathing the frigid air. “Every week’s different. We’ve done it multiple ways. But the fight in this team is just ridiculous.”
The Rams finished the regular season ranked fifth in the NFL in passing. The 49ers were 7th in rushing. It’s pretty clear where Sunday’s game will go in terms of their respective offensive schemes, and that’s true whether or not Trent Williams is available at tackle. If you’re looking to the last game of the regular season as your guide, buckle up. Garoppolo and Stafford each threw two interceptions in that one.
Stafford put up 366 yards and the pyrotechnics in Tampa Bay, which may be obscured by the fact that the Rams blew all of a 27-3 lead before getting that final field goal as time expired.
The 49ers won in L.A., won in Dallas, won at Lambeau Field. Garoppolo was the quarterback for all of it. Is he perfect? Oh, heavens no. Perfect for this team, right now? That may be it. And that, if you’re the Rams, is the weird, scary part.
Mark Kreidler is a freelance contributor to The Examine. Read more of his columns at https://markkreidler.substack.com. | 2022-01-25T21:48:44Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Garoppolo or Stafford: Who would you rather have in a big game? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/garoppolo-or-stafford-who-would-you-rather-have-in-a-big-game/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/garoppolo-or-stafford-who-would-you-rather-have-in-a-big-game/ |
By Benjamin Schneider • January 25, 2022 11:30 am - Updated January 25, 2022 4:57 pm
A rendering of a new high-rise development at 50 Main Street near Salesforce Tower as seen from Mission Dolores Park. (Courtesy Foster + Partners)
Here in earthquake country, we prefer our high-rises not to sink or tilt. So, the more Millennium Tower settled into soft bay landfill, the more unsettled San Franciscans became.
Yet even as Millennium undergoes an expensive, complex foundation fix, a developer has proposed the tallest tower of the post-sinkage era — and it’s eager to share the engineering techniques it will employ to avoid a similar fate.
In December, the Houston-based developer Hines unveiled plans for a 1,066 foot apartment building at 50 Main Street that would be just four feet shorter than nearby Salesforce Tower, The City’s tallest structure. The Foster + Partners-designed supertall tower — a technical designation for buildings higher than 300 meters — would be the centerpiece of the redevelopment of the full downtown block that hosted PG&E’s headquarters until last year.
A scale model of a new high-rise development at 50 Main Street, in black, with the surrounding downtown skyline. (Courtesy of CPP)
“We’re still in the formative stages of design,” says Ron Klemencic, whose firm, Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), is the lead structural engineer on the project. “But there’s no question about what the foundation will be. We’re going to be on large diameter drilled shafts that extend roughly about 250 feet down to bedrock.” That technique, Klemencic says, should essentially eliminate the potential for sinking.
The roughly 40 drilled shafts, also called caissons, that will support the tower will be between six and eight feet in diameter and filled with reinforced concrete. Rather than standing on bedrock, the caissons will “socket” into it at a depth between 10 and 30 feet. The same technique was used in other recent downtown high-rises, including Salesforce Tower, Park Tower, and the stalled Oceanwide Center project. Klemencic and his firm worked on all of those buildings and more — “with one notable exception,” he adds. “We had nothing to do with Millennium Tower,” whose foundation does not reach to bedrock. (Though it has sunk and tilted a few inches, Millennium Tower is considered safe by structural engineers and city officials.)
Kevin Moore, a structural engineer at the firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger and the president of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, says MKA is “very experienced with high-rise design. They’ve done probably more than anybody else in the seismic region.” Moore is not able to comment on the specifics of 50 Main without having seen detailed plans, but he reiterated that the idea of anchoring the building to bedrock should limit sinking.
“If you talk to a baker, you’ll see that the big wedding cakes actually do have internal columns,” Moore said. Those columns “bear on the top of the table,” just like the caissons of a high-rise should “bear on something that is stiffer than the surrounding soil.”
Of course, sinking is just one of issues structural engineers need to anticipate. The 50 Main building site, set on a reclaimed portion of the Bay, is geologically complex, with layers of landfill, sand and bay mud all sitting atop bedrock.
A parking garage at 50 Main St. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, where a proposed high-rise is in development. In order to minimize concerns over sinking that has occurred at the nearby Millennium Tower, roughly 40 shafts will be drilled about 250 feet into bedrock in a technique used in other recent downtown high-rises including Salesforce Tower. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
To plan for the inevitable earthquake, Klemencic’s team is working with the geotechnical engineering firm ENGEO to build a computer model of the building and the soil layers beneath it. With this model, the engineers will simulate earthquakes of varying intensity from the region’s faults, looking at how both the ground and structure respond. The building will be designed to withstand the largest earthquake — the “maximum considered earthquake” as determined by the American Society of Civil Engineers — that local faults are capable of generating, or about Magnitude 8.0.
Wind is also a factor for a tower of this height. At worst, high-rises can cause “vortex shedding,” or differential wind speeds on different sides of the building, which can compromise its structural integrity. Other wind issues are simply a matter of comfort: If improperly designed, supertall towers can experience imperceptible swaying that can give people motion sickness. Noise can be a factor, too — as the public recently learned on the Golden Gate Bridge. To avoid these problems, a scale model of 50 Main as well as surrounding buildings is undergoing wind tunnel tests at a facility in Colorado.
Per San Francisco policy, 50 Main’s engineering plans will be peer reviewed by a team that includes geotechnical, structural and seismic and ground motion engineers. The Department of Building Inspection (DBI) solicits outside reviewers and screens them for conflict of interest, DBI spokesperson Patrick Hannan wrote in an email to The Examiner. Reviewers are contracted by The City, but ultimately compensated by the project developer.
Before beginning construction, high-rise projects must also receive shoring and excavation permits that double check the project’s plan to prevent damage to surrounding buildings.
Aside from being an epic engineering challenge, the development at 50 Main represents a major bet on downtown San Francisco, at a time when economic conditions are highly uncertain.
“Our confidence in San Francisco is as high as it’s ever been,” said Paul Paradis, senior managing director of Hines’ San Francisco office. “Many of the fundamental, attractive aspects of San Francisco have not changed: the transit, the access to recreation, the cultural resources in The City, the great companies that are located here.”
Paradis also cites Hines’ 400-unit apartment building at 33 Tehama as a strong indicator of demand for downtown San Francisco living, even post-pandemic. The building’s occupancy rate plummeted to the low 70s in the depths of the pandemic, but has now returned to full occupancy, Paradis says. Meanwhile, Hines is planning to break ground in the first half of this year on San Francisco’s fourth-tallest tower, an 800-foot hotel and condo complex next to the Salesforce Transit Center.
While the parcel at 50 Main is zoned for 400 feet in height, the project was able to reach its proposed height of more than 1,000 feet using the state density bonus, a law that allows for increased height in exchange for affordable housing. The program has become increasingly popular in San Francisco, where the local inclusionary zoning rules — the percentage of affordable units required in each project — automatically qualifies many developments for the state density bonus.
The Foster + Partners-designed tower — the firm behind Apple’s donut-shaped HQ in Cupertino and Oceanwide Center — is slated to include 808 apartments. Of those units, 164, or 20.5%, will be offered at below-market rates, with the majority reserved for households making less than 50% of the area median income. The project would also include the renovation of two century-old buildings facing Market Street, and a squat 1970s tower facing Mission. In the middle of the block, Hines is planning a 1.25 acre park.
The Planning Department has yet to officially weigh in on the project’s application. For his part, Paradis said Hines wants to “move ahead quickly,” beginning construction as early as 2023, and wrapping up by 2027. Regarding the proposed height, he said, “This is very much the building that we want to build. So it’s definitely not a negotiating tactic.”
As the project moves through The City’s approval process, engineering and design work is chugging along. “It’s great fun, for sure,” Klemencic said. “That said, it’s intertwined with this very serious layer of responsibility and commitment to public safety. And to make sure we get it right.” | 2022-01-26T04:04:38Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What does it take to build a skyscraper in S.F.? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/what-does-it-take-to-build-a-supertall-tower-in-s-f/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/what-does-it-take-to-build-a-supertall-tower-in-s-f/ |
By C.W. Nevius • January 25, 2022 7:00 pm
S.F. Police Chief William Scott speaking with outreach workers in the Tenderloin on April 13, 2021. Mayor London Breed proposed on Jan. 25 $22.5 million in funding to the fire and police departments to provide essential public safety services amid staffing shortages. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
It’s the return of “defund the police.”
You’ll remember that the far left talking point turned out to be the worst slogan since the vacuum ad, “Nothing sucks like Electrolux.”
Although the “defund” promoters meant well, suggesting millions should be taken from police budgets to fund social programs, it turned into a negative. Conservatives hammered them, claiming that they wanted to abolish police departments and allow crime to proliferate.
And at a time when people felt threatened by the pandemic, and freaked out by videos of brazen lawlessness, defunding the police began to sound like a terrible idea.
It should have been “reform the police.”
Now this confused debate is playing out again in San Francisco.
You will not be surprised to hear that COVID, among other factors like early retirements and proposed cuts to funding for police academy classes, have deeply impacted The City’s first responders, particularly the police and fire departments.
On Christmas Eve, Police Chief William Scott sent an urgent letter to Mayor London Breed. In it, he said that even before the pandemic, his department was 265 sworn officers short of the recommended level (2,171), and that now, “We are now 481 officers short.”
In response, on Tuesday of this week, Mayor Breed introduced an $22.5 million Emergency Public Funding measure. That’s $14.6 million for the SFFD and $7.9 million for the cops.
The money is strictly a Band Aid. It will be used to pay overtime hours to the existing forces. It isn’t going to be used to hire more officers, just to make sure there is enough to cover the shifts – even if it means lots of overtime.
The measure will have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. And if you think it is going to be contentious, congratulations, you are now an official S.F. pundit.
First, the measure needs eight of 11 votes to pass, not a simple majority. And Mayor Breed is pushing the supes to do this as soon as possible, even asking them to waive the usual 30-day hold for legislation.
The early handicapping is that the funding for the fire department will sail through. But the police funding may have problems. Because, as we’ve heard, for some progressives police = bad.
You will also not be surprised to hear that this whole debate can all be condensed to the Tenderloin, the infuriating open air drug market in the center of The City.
Breed’s Tenderloin emergency plan was passed by the Supervisors on Dec. 24, 2021, but only after an argumentative 10-hour debate-athon. The problem is that Breed said the quiet part out loud.
There are lots of services and treatment in her plan, but she also called for police to confront and arrest drug dealers.
Ever since then, progressives have been taking shots at the program. District Attorney Chesa Boudin and others continue to say we can’t “arrest our way”out of a drug crisis.
And you can expect progressive supervisors like Dean Preston to continue to promote using police funds to set up more treatment and counseling programs.
But residents, like Adnan Alameri, who has lived and raised three children in the Tenderloin since 1993, is unimpressed. He is all for social programs to provide assistance to the homeless and addicted, but he says there have already been lots of social outreach in the neighborhood, and “this is the worst it has ever been.”
“When you are talking about all the money that you’re going to spend on counseling and programs, well excuse me, but I have heard this crap before and nothing has been done except making it worse,” he says.
Rene Colorado, executive director of the Tenderloin Lower Polk Merchants Association, says he is “100% in favor” of social programs like the street ambassadors, who are an unarmed presence on the street, “but police are part of the solution.
“The ambassadors are not police. They are not going to arrest drug dealers. You can’t send health services to a drug dealer.”
Colorado reminds us that, although most have a general idea of how bad things are in the TL, the reality is still shocking,
He says a corner like Eddy and Polk will have as many as 20 dealers setting up shop. That’s one thriving drug market.
And with drug dealing comes violence and gunfire. Residents, especially those with children, are terrified.
“The immigrant families, through a translator, beg for more police,” he says.
And then there is the deadly toll of rampant drug overdoses.
Colorado often walks the streets with outreach workers. He said one benefit of Breed’s Tenderloin Emergency plan is when he has to “call an ambulance, they show up right away.”
And how often is he finding someone unconscious on the street, needing a life and death intervention?
“Two or three times a week is a solid number,” he says. “But I’ve had weeks where it was all five days.”
Supervisor Catherine Stephanie says she “can’t imagine people voting against” the financial measure.
“Fentanyl, heroin are causing more deaths than COVID, which we basically shut down our economy for,” she says. “We had over 700 overdose deaths in 2020 and close to 620 in 2021. And people don’t think we need to hold drug dealers accountable? I can’t comprehend that.”
And apparently, neither can members of the public. A January 2022 poll from EMC Research of 500 “high propensity voters” in San Francisco found that 74% “strongly” or “somewhat” support the emergency funding for the police. Leaving only 26% “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed.
You’d think what we need in these troubled times is an attempt to dial down the temperature a bit. Maybe get a sense of what the average person is feeling.
Or ask people in the deeply impacted Tenderloin what they think.
Colorado says he’s actually seeing some positive trends.
“One of the things I noticed is police actually making arrests of drug dealers,” he says. “I would not see that before. Also, when I am out walking around I run into the HOT (homeless outreach team) team and the crisis response team. And that’s beautiful to see.”
The point is to have those two approaches working together.
“This isn’t about we just need health services to solve everything,” he says. “Or we just need police to arrest everyone and solve everything. I mean, those extremes haven’t worked in the past 30-40 years.”
Just like defunding the police. | 2022-01-26T04:04:44Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The people – and especially the people of the Tenderloin – want to fund the police - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/the-people-and-especially-the-people-of-the-tenderloin-want-to-fund-the-police/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/the-people-and-especially-the-people-of-the-tenderloin-want-to-fund-the-police/ |
San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds reacts after hitting his 756th career home run, breaking Hank Aaron’s record during a game against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Aug. 7, 2007. Though he was arguably the best hitter of his generation, Bonds was not voted into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. (Peter DaSilva/The New York Times)
I voted for Barry Bonds to get into the Hall of Fame. And it didn’t make much of a difference.
The Giants’ controversial superstar fell short of the threshold to join the legends of Cooperstown, garnering 66% of the vote in this, his 10th and final year on the standard ballot. He needed 75% of the votes to get in.
It was a long shot for Bonds, whose amazing accomplishments were marred by allegations of steroid use late in his career, a time that saw him shatter baseball’s most hallowed records, for both home runs in a season (73) and over a career (762).
He was clearly the best hitter of his generation, before and after the allegations surfaced. At times, it looked like he was hitting with a tennis racket up there. Most games, he’d get maybe one or two good pitches to hit. And he rarely missed. He was also the first man in baseball history to hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases.
Off the field, he was an enigma and a lightning rod. He was a fiercely private and proud man who never played the game with the media. If anything, he was contentious with journalists. And that just got worse as the rumors heated up and his numbers became preposterous.
In the end, Bonds came to symbolize baseball’s steroid era, alongside the great pitcher Roger Clemens, who suffered the same fate as Bonds on Tuesday, falling short of election (65.2%) in his last year of eligibility. Once the votes were counted, the greatest hitter and greatest pitcher of the past 30 years were locked out of the Hall of Fame.
At least for now. They will get another chance with the Era Committee, a voting body (formerly known as the Veterans Committee) made up of former managers, umpires, executives and players. That will be the jury of last resort for these two men, forever tied in both fame and infamy.
The former big leaguer and longtime television pundit Harold Reynolds pointed out that players used to be eligible for 15 years before falling off the ballot. That may have proven to be the difference for these two, who have slowly creeped closer to inclusion, garnering over 60 percent of the vote last season.
“If Bonds and Clemens had another five years, I think the conversation would be different,” said Reynolds, on the MLB channel. “(Baseball writer) Peter Gammons once said to me, ‘History has a way of time changing things.’ That’s how he put it. What he meant was, over time Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens might get looked at different than right at the beginning of this thing.”
There’s some truth to that. And only time will tell the story.
For me, in the here and now, the decision was difficult at first. Then it became easy. This was my second time voting, and I did not vote for steroid-era stars in my first go-around. It just didn’t feel right putting my finger on the scale right out of the gate. Mentally, it was some version of the old saw, “A rookie should be seen, not heard.”
This year, a number of factors came into play, and I checked off many of the most controversial players of the steroid era. Here’s why.
First and foremost, Bonds and Clemens were the best I ever saw at their respective positions. Impact. Longevity. Greatness. They both had it all. Given this was their last chance on the writer’s ballot, I could not in good conscience omit them from my selections.
Well, I’m a strong believer that the Hall should honor the people who made a great impact on the game. It’s a museum honoring the national pastime. For that reason, I would also say that all-time hits leader Pete Rose should be in the Hall, despite his gambling history. And so should the man who knocked Babe Ruth off the perch, Roger Maris, despite his relative lack of longevity. You can’t tell baseball’s story without telling their stories. (Ask Ken Burns.) Same goes for Bonds, Clemens and others on this year’s ballot, including Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa. These were huge figures in the game. For better or worse.
Now, the Hall of Fame’s morality clause is often held up as the reason to keep the steroid-era players out. Voters are asked to consider “the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”
OK, the argument against Bonds and Clemens, and all the others, centers on integrity and character. We are asked to consider those factors, but not given any real guidance on how to weigh them. Baseball looked the other way for many, many years while players got bigger and stronger and records fell by the wayside. The institution, particularly under Commissioner Bud Selig’s tenure, did a horrible job policing its own players. So, now the Baseball Writers’ Association of America should right those wrongs?
I don’t think so. There’s no transparency into who did steroids, and who didn’t. Baseball failed to give us the tools to build this case. Voters shouldn’t bear the burden of righting a generational wrong. Like spitballs and gambling and greenies before them, steroids were part of the game’s fabric, once again for better or worse. Perhaps the playing field was more level than any of us know. Perhaps there was no real edge, if everyone was doing it. The only thing we really know is… we don’t really know.
Adding fuel to the argument this year was David Ortiz, the wildly popular Red Sox legend known as “Big Papi.” He had his own steroid resume, of sorts, allegedly testing positive in what was supposed to be an anonymous test botched by baseball. Selig went out of his way to exonerate Papi, when the allegations arose. But it was all pretty murky. At the same time, it was crystal clear that Ortiz could and would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Indeed, he made it, garnering 77.9% of the vote.
Before him, “Pudge” Rodriguez was voted in years ago, despite an equally checkered history of accusations. In both cases, the Hall of Fame voting block seemed to be parsing distinctions and making value judgments without a full raft of facts. At the end of the day, the same is true for Bonds, Clemens and more.
Add it all together, and it’s hard to argue that certain alleged cheaters should be held out, while others get in. It’s even more absurd when you consider the magnitude of the players involved.
I’m no newcomer to this debate. As the former sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, I had the privilege to work with a number of BBWAA Hall of Fame voters for many years, all of whom had a bit of a different spin on this moral conundrum. From hard-line rejection of anyone associated with steroids, to those who judged simply on the merits of what they saw on the field, it was a full spectrum of belief.
And I never much enjoyed the debate, myself. It was muddy water, with little clarity. But I take the honor and privilege of voting for the Hall of Fame seriously, and as such, had to vote my conscience.
For anyone who ever saw Barry Bonds swing the bat — or run the bases and play the field — you knew exactly what you were looking at.
A Hall of Famer. | 2022-01-26T04:04:50Z | www.sfexaminer.com | I voted for Barry Bonds to get into the Hall of Fame. Here’s why it didn’t matter - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/i-voted-for-barry-bonds-to-get-into-the-hall-of-fame-heres-why-it-didnt-matter/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/i-voted-for-barry-bonds-to-get-into-the-hall-of-fame-heres-why-it-didnt-matter/ |
‘Teens want to be free to make their own medical decisions’
By Sydney Johnson Examiner staff writer • January 26, 2022 1:30 am - Updated January 26, 2022 2:20 pm
Arin Parsa, 14, founded Teens for Vaccines when he was in middle school to help educate students and families about vaccines after learning of a measles outbreak in Southern California. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
When 14-year-old Arin Parsa started Teens for Vaccines back in 2019, he never imagined the kinds of conversations he would soon find himself in just months later, once the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.
Parsa, a high school freshman in San Jose, started the youth advocacy organization as a middle schooler to help educate other students and their families about vaccines after learning in middle school about a measles outbreak in Southern California that prevented someone from attending classes.
The story launched him into the intersection of science and advocacy. And soon, he was talking regularly online with teenagers distraught over parents who subscribe to conspiracy theories or other misinformation about vaccines.
“They feel sad, frustrated and isolated,” said Parsa. “There is a lot of anxiety building up with these teens.”
He’s taken his message all the way to the national level and has even spoken with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Most recently, Parsa and other student activists with ProtectUS, Generation Up, and Max the Vax have been at the helm of a statewide push in California to make it easier for youth to get vaccinated.
This month, Sen. Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill 866, the Teens Choose Vaccines Act, which would allow children 12 years and older to get federally approved vaccines without parental consent.
Under existing law, youth 12 and older cannot be vaccinated without parental consent unless the vaccine is specifically to prevent a disease that is sexually transmitted, such as human papillomavirus. States that allow individuals ages 12 to 17 to get vaccinated without parental consent include Oregon, Alabama, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
“COVID-19 is a deadly virus for the unvaccinated, and it’s unconscionable for teens to be blocked from the vaccine because a parent either refuses or cannot take their child to a vaccination site,” said Wiener. “So many teens want to be vaccinated so that they can lead a more normal life — participating in sports or band, traveling, going to friends’ homes — but they’re prevented from doing so due to their parents’ political views or inability to find the time. Unvaccinated teens also make schools less safe and threaten our ability to keep schools open.”
The bill would also make it easier for teenagers whose parents work long hours or can’t take them to vaccination appointments, which can be a major impediment to vaccine access for low-income youth.
If passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, SB 866 would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
“I am so happy about this bill; it’s a major boost to teen health,” said Parsa. “Teens want to be free to make their own medical decisions.”
Meanwhile, state lawmakers this month also put forward a bill that would require students to be immunized for COVID-19 along with the state’s existing required vaccinations for public schools.
Having some experience with anti-vaccine sentiment before COVID prepared Parsa for the sensitive and difficult conversations with other teens about how to approach parents. Often times, he said, parents don’t fall directly into the “anti-vax” camp but instead are hesitant and may be swayed by false reports.
Still, the experience has shown Parsa the realities of online harassment and misinformation up close, and he’s already received threats of violence.
“Anti-vaxxers are notorious for online bullying, and for me, it’s no exception,” he said. “It’s been a lot to see this stuff directed towards me, and it’s been ongoing for two and a half years now. It’s been demoralizing, but for me, I just keep on going. At the end of the day, it’s someone being a screen and the work we are doing is impactful. We’re going to keep fighting for public health and teen rights.”
Teens for Vaccines has a guide for youth to talk with caregivers about vaccines, along with other fact sheets about vaccine science and health and consent laws.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been helping teens who come to Reddit to share their own personal struggles,” he said. “At the end of the day, we love our parents. If the first conversation doesn’t work, our advice is to be gently persistent and you might break through.”
Teens for Vaccines has expanded to include 40 youth ambassadors across the county and, Parsa says, “We aren’t slowing down.” | 2022-01-26T23:49:35Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Local 14-year-old leads the charge for youth vaccine access in California - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/local-14-year-old-leads-the-charge-for-youth-vaccine-access-in-california/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/local-14-year-old-leads-the-charge-for-youth-vaccine-access-in-california/ |
By Erin Woo • January 26, 2022 1:30 pm
John Arrillaga turned Silicon Valley’s farmland into corporate developments starting in the 1960s. He died this week at age 84. (Shutterstock)
John Arrillaga Sr., a real estate developer who physically transformed Silicon Valley into tech office parks from orchards and became a major donor to Stanford University, died Monday in Portola Valley, California. He was 84.
His daughter, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, announced his death in a post on Medium. His family declined to cite the cause.
Starting in the 1960s, Arrillaga developed Silicon Valley’s bucolic farmland into a sprawling network of corporate campuses. At the time, the semiconductor industry was taking off in the Santa Clara Valley, with companies like Intel growing as quickly as they could find buildings to expand into.
To meet that demand, Arrillaga and his business partner, Richard Peery, bought up thousands of acres of farmland around California towns including Mountain View, Sunnyvale and San Jose. Even before they secured tenants, they created developments of low-slung concrete buildings that were cheap and easy to build.
They ultimately constructed more than 20 million square feet of commercial real estate. Many of those developments housed tech companies, among them Intel, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Google.
Arrillaga and Peery became billionaires as the value of the properties soared. Forbes pegged Arrillaga’s net worth at $2.5 billion.
As the tech industry grew and Silicon Valley’s population multiplied, some residents began voicing opposition to development. Several of Arrillaga’s projects ran into obstacles: Residents protested the height of proposed 100-foot office towers in Palo Alto and disagreed with the location of a new library in Menlo Park.
Later in life, Arrillaga also physically transformed Stanford, which he had attended on a basketball scholarship. He donated money for more than 200 projects and buildings at the university, including at least nine buildings and rooms bearing his family’s name and 57 scholarships. In 2013, he pledged $151 million to the university, the largest gift to Stanford from a single living donor.
Arrillaga was born April 3, 1937, in Inglewood, California. His father, Gabriel, was a professional soccer player who later became a laborer in a Los Angeles produce market. His mother, Freda, was a nurse.
In 1955, Arrillaga enrolled at Stanford, where he studied geography. At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, he captained the basketball team while juggling jobs to cover his expenses.
After graduating in 1960, he briefly played professional basketball — according to an article in Fortune, he was on the roster of the San Francisco Warriors for six weeks, although there is no record of his having gotten into a game — before going into commercial real estate.
In 1966, he and Peery started the real estate firm Peery Arrillaga. Their partnership lasted five decades. In 2006, they sold around half of their 12 million-square-foot portfolio for $1.1 billion to a real estate investment division of Deutsche Bank.
In 1968, Arrillaga married Frances Marion Cook, a sixth grade teacher and fellow Stanford graduate. They had two children. She died of lung cancer in 1995. In 2003, he married Gioia Fasi, a former lawyer from Honolulu.
She and his daughter survive him, as do his son, John Jr.; two sisters, Alice Arrillaga Kalomas and Mary Arrillaga Danna; a brother, William Arrillaga; and four grandsons.
Arrillaga’s ties to the tech industry became even closer in 2006 when his daughter, who is a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, married Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist and a founder of Netscape.
Arrillaga began making small donations to Stanford just after graduating. By the early 2000s, his donations to the school, primarily to its athletics department, had soared to more than $80 million. In 2006, he gave $100 million to Stanford, which was the largest sum by a single donor until he eclipsed that with his 2013 donation.
For 30 years, Arrillaga rebuilt and gave money to nearly all of Stanford’s athletic facilities, including Maples Pavilion in 2004 and Stanford Stadium in 2005 and 2006. The Arrillaga name is ubiquitous on campus, found on the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center, the Arrillaga Family Dining Commons and both campus gyms.
Arrillaga, who avoided media coverage and shunned interviews, developed a reputation for attention to detail in his construction projects.
While rebuilding Stanford’s football stadium, “he selected every single palm tree, worked out the best form for every structural element and created his own designs for the seating,” Arrillaga-Andreessen wrote in her Medium post. She added that he was known for “personally picking up every single piece of trash he saw and rearranging single stones in fountains across the campus.” | 2022-01-26T23:49:41Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The non-tech billionaire who built Silicon Valley dies at 84 - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/the-non-tech-billionaire-who-built-silicon-valley-dies-at-84/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/the-non-tech-billionaire-who-built-silicon-valley-dies-at-84/ |
Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco’s public health officer, believes the COVID-19 pandemic will evolve into an endemic that we will all have to manage together. (Mabel Jiménez)
You don’t want Dr. Susan Philip’s job.
San Francisco’s public health officer has lived at the corner of pandemic and pain for nearly two years now.
But that hasn’t stopped her. Standing alongside Mayor London Breed and The City’s Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax, Philip has authored a winning formula to keep San Francisco relatively safe from the novel coronavirus.
Has it been easy? No. Has it worked, from a public health perspective? Yes. Has The City’s conservative stance on COVID-19 hurt the economy? Without a doubt.
Philip said she is aware of all that. But she’s done her job with aplomb and conviction. She’s taken account of the circumstances. Her own family has felt the coronavirus wrath. And she sees a future we can all embrace.
As San Francisco emerges from this most recent omicron surge, seeking a path to live with this disease, Philip sat down with The Examiner to discuss her experiences and parse the key question before us: What happens when a pandemic morphs into an endemic? Here’s what she had to say.
There’s been discussion, locally and nationally, about shifting COVID strategies, acknowledging the disease may be moving from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase. Do you agree with that assessment? I think all of our work has to fall into how we view where we are and where we’re going with COVID-19. This particular term, “endemic,” I think when people ask me about that, what I’m hearing them ask is, ‘When are we going to be able to live with some normalcy even as COVID-19 is not completely eliminated?’
I think what we have been able to see clearly is that a zero COVID strategy is really not going to be possible with this particular respiratory virus. So we are going to have to figure out how to live in some balance with COVID-19, (along with) all of the other essential activities that we all need to do, (such as) school, work, being able to be social and having that connection with other people.
So, I see it more as being able to think into the future about how we balance COVID-19 risk with all of the other risks that we are continually thinking about, like flu during flu season. I do think that we are headed now into a new phase of the of the pandemic. And we don’t have a completely clear crystal ball with this. I think it’s important for San Francisco to … do this really considering the equity components and being in close, continued relationship and partnership with the communities that are most impacted, as San Francisco has tried to do throughout the pandemic.
Can you define for us the difference between a pandemic and an endemic? Sure! Initially, this was a new communicable disease. None of us had any immunity to it. We did not have any of the tools that we have (now). In 2020, we didn’t have vaccines. We didn’t have very much testing. We didn’t have any treatments out. And we didn’t know exactly what would be the best ways to prevent it. So we were very, very limited. We had to respond in the way that we did, and the rest of the Bay Area did and eventually the rest of the state and the country did, as well. Keep people as safe as possible while we learn more about the disease. Shut everything down and try to have people stay home and not do their usual activities.
That was the right decision with what we knew then. (Now) we understand more about how we can stop transmission of the virus and protect ourselves. In 2022, we have these additional tools, vaccines first and foremost among them. It’s been really dramatic to see the difference that vaccines have made, even with this huge omicron surge in cases, which are now dropping.
We had the highest peak in the whole two-year pandemic … on Jan. 9 (2,164 cases). It’s dropped steadily since then. So we’re on the back end of it. But with that very, very high peak, what we saw with all the work that San Franciscans have done … the high level of vaccinations that we have really uncoupled that huge case rate from hospitalizations.
So, now we’re moving into a phase where we have these tools and San Franciscans have done an amazing job of taking them up. That’s going to allow us to be able to move into a new phase where we are not restricted in the same ways. There’s a lot that we can do to improve our overall health and the health of The City. Using the tools we have, primarily vaccination, but also ventilation and testing. (And) you’re going to have treatments around the corner. Masks remain an important component of people’s personal decision-making around their own level of risk.
There may be something that happens in the future. So I do think that we have to continue to watch and be prepared, as the rest of the world is not as highly vaccinated. But San Francisco? We’ve put ourselves in the best possible place to be able to coexist with the virus.
What might an endemic strategy look like in San Francisco? We will have our sectors open. We will have our schools continuing in person. We will have businesses that are able to operate. We will be able to have gatherings. … I think we’ll see people who, in some situations, will want to continue wearing masks, maybe during cold and flu season. We may also continue to see people who are thinking about ventilation. And we will see what happens after omicron. We likely will not see large city-wide restrictions on sectors or activities. Those will not be needed as much because we are in a different stage of the pandemic where we haven’t seen the severe … hospitalizations and deaths that we had before. We want to make sure people are as healthy as possible.
What do you expect in terms of more readily available drug treatments? Will it change the way you and your colleagues strategize? Absolutely. Having this additional tool is going to change the calculus of our public health (and) clinical decision-making. Even people’s individual decision-making, right? It’s so exciting to see the oral treatment(s). So there’s a drug by Pfizer. Paxlovid is its name. And it shows very high efficacy against keeping people out of the hospital … at a rate of like 85 90% in the clinical trials. Very, very exciting. … If your doctor could prescribe you an oral treatment, like we can do now for the flu in some cases, that will be a game changer. People who might otherwise have an increased risk of having to go to the hospital … would have that additional layer of protection. Now, it’s not highly available yet. The supplies are not where they need to be. But we’re hearing that’s gonna keep ramping up. California is getting an allocation. Just like with vaccines, and masks and everything else, we are going to work to make sure that there’s equity in who’s able to access those (treatment) tools.
Why does it seem San Francisco has been less willing to come back to work in offices compared to other large cities? Along those same lines, do you take into account economic concerns when weighing public health recommendations? I don’t have the exact answer. I wouldn’t be able to speculate as to why why we have less people coming back in person. San Francisco probably does have a large component of its workforce that is able to work remotely. And I’m sure those considerations come into play. San Francisco has always been a relatively cautious city around COVID. Part of that is also thinking about this pivot to being able to live with COVID and assess the risk, our personal risk and our societal risks. So, there’s no perfect answer here. It’s a series of trade-offs. And there is a trade-off in not being able to interact with others or feeling worried about interacting with others. That’s why we want to keep giving that information out about how the landscape is changing in terms of severe disease.
In terms of how do I think about the overall impact of health orders and our health policies? I do think about that. I do think that, holistically, we’re thinking about health broadly. We’re thinking about mental health and physical health. People need to have their employment in order to be healthy, have food, have all the essentials for living. I do think about the economic impact. There were very difficult calls early on to have to shut things down because that’s all that we could do.
Moving on to schools. You’ve been a strong proponent of in-person learning throughout the pandemic. Do you see an end to mask mandates in schools anytime soon?
The mask mandates come from the state. When there is a state order or state guidance, we locally are required to follow it. So we could be more strict than the state, and San Francisco has done that in a lot of instances. But we can’t be any looser. So we couldn’t say, ‘You know what, schools, you don’t need to wear your masks any longer.’ We’ve got to keep it in place, as long as the state does.
I understand that parents feel very, very strongly about masks. We have tried, and have advocated with the state, to remove (the mask mandates) where we can, such as outdoors. We don’t think that children need to wear masks outdoors any longer. But, as vaccination rates go up among kids who are (ages) five to 11, we can rethink masking indoors, as well. There are some parents and students who would feel nervous about being in school with others who were unmasked. We have to acknowledge our overall goal. We want to keep kids in school. And I think we’ll have to balance the tools that we have to keep them there. Right now, masks have a place, especially during the (omicron) surge.
How do you manage COVID exposure personally? Most of us are making decisions on a daily basis weighing risk and reward. What’s your process on that? Do you go out to restaurants? I would go out more, but COVID response has taken up most of my time. I have come in person to work throughout the pandemic. I never stopped doing that, so I take public transit and do all those things. I don’t have underlying medical conditions and I’m not at a generally high risk for COVID. So, I wear my mask. I don’t wear it outside. My children both go to school and they tested positive for COVID. I did not. I think that’s OK. We want children to be able to go to school. I knew that was a risk. For most of us, we’re going to have to put this into balance with all the other things that we do every day. I can sympathize and empathize with people who are experiencing this. Everyone has probably known somebody with COVID because it’s so prevalent right now. There should be no stigma with this. People didn’t do anything wrong to get COVID.
You’ve had one of the toughest jobs imaginable during this pandemic. Can you tell our readers maybe one high point during this period of time? And one low point? Do you have any touchstones that you can look back on? What a good question. I think the high point is just really thinking about how well this city has done for its residents. In so many ways, I think we’re up to the challenge. I think that the the residents in San Francisco are so informed and so willing to understand the science. I’m very proud. … The low point is just that I am human. … It’s tiring to be doing this for two years. And I have not been able to see my family as much as I would like during this time because of work. But I know that other people have have had all these challenges also. So I think that the good and the bright spots, and what we’ve been able to do in San Francisco, so much outweighs any of the concern. I’ve really been proud of how we’ve used our policies, our health orders and our resources as a city to protect some of the most vulnerable. A lot of a lot of great work by a lot of people I’ll never know. But I just feel comfort in thinking about the ways in which people big and small kept themselves and their neighbors safe through this pandemic.
Well said, Dr. Philip. Thank you for your public service, and for your work throughout the pandemic. Thank you for taking time for The Examiner.
Well, thank you so much for your time! | 2022-01-26T23:49:47Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What happens when a pandemic becomes endemic? S.F.’s top health official weighs in - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/what-happens-when-a-pandemic-becomes-endemic-s-f-s-top-health-official-weighs-in/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/what-happens-when-a-pandemic-becomes-endemic-s-f-s-top-health-official-weighs-in/ |
In 2021, the number of hate crimes against members of the AAPI community jumped by 567 percent to 60 victims, police said Tuesday. (Shutterstock)
San Francisco police on Tuesday said the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased nearly six-fold in 2021 compared to the previous year.
In 2020, San Francisco police counted nine people who reported being targeted for hate crimes motivated by anti-Asian bias.
In 2021, that number jumped by 567 percent to 60 victims, police said.
The 2021 numbers are preliminary as the California Department of Justice is continuing to review last year’s hate crime data across the state.
“In fact, one perpetrator investigated and arrested by our Taraval Neighborhood Team was charged with 31 hate crime enhancements alone — more than half of last year’s cases. Hate crimes represent one of SFPD’s highest clearance rates for any crime category, and we hope that sends a forceful message to would-be hate criminals considering any kind of bias-motivated attack in our city — San Francisco will hold you accountable,” he said.
Supervisor Gordon Mar authored the 2019 Crime Victim Data Ordinance, which required the Police Department to issue quarterly reports with detailed crime victim data. Mar has said he authored the ordinance in response to growing fears within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community of being targeted for violent and property crimes.
Mar said the latest numbers affirm what he already suspected.
“During the pandemic, we have witnessed many high-profile and shocking incidents of racially fueled attacks on Asian community members in Chinatown, the Southeast neighborhoods, and the Sunset District,” he said. “This is a crisis and requires a crisis-level response. Addressing hate crimes and ensuring public safety for all must be a top priority for the entire city.”
The latest preliminary numbers also showed other types of hate crimes saw increases in the city last year, including those against African Americans, Jewish people, and the LGBTQ community.
Last year, eight people reported being victims of anti-Jewish hate crimes, compared to five the previous year.
Anti-African American hate crimes also increased from 11 in 2020 to 14 in 2021.
Hate crimes against LGBTQ people also slightly increased from 10 in 2020 to 15 in 2021. Both numbers, however, are a sharp drop from 2019, when 34 people who identified as LGBTQ reported being targeted for a hate crime. | 2022-01-26T23:49:53Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders have increased six-fold in S.F. - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/crimes-against-asians-and-pacific-islanders-have-increased-six-fold-in-s-f/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/crimes-against-asians-and-pacific-islanders-have-increased-six-fold-in-s-f/ |
Part I. The era of Republican mayors, 1912-1964
By Lincoln Mitchell • January 26, 2022 5:30 pm - Updated January 26, 2022 6:57 pm
George Christopher, a moderate Republican and the 34th mayor of San Francisco, served from 1956 to 1964, following a continuous line of Republican mayors starting in 1912. (Wikimedia Commons/S.F. Public Library)
For much of the country, San Francisco has become a catchword for the excesses of woke progressivism. Indeed, many San Franciscans take great pride in The City’s progressive tradition. There is some truth to S.F. as the City on the Progressive Hill, but the reality is much more complicated.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time in San Francisco before somebody tells you, as if it were a great or conspiratorial insight, that The City is not as progressive as it seems.
The truth is that while S.F. today is more progressive than the rest of the country, its vaunted progressive tradition is tempered by a more conservative history and by moneyed interests that, from the Gold Rush to the tech boom, have had tremendous influence on the politics and governance of The City.
The lack of institutional memory is the sine qua non of San Francisco in the 21st century, so a little history is essential.
From 1912 to 1963, San Francisco was governed by Republican mayors. Some, like George Christopher, were moderate Republicans, and all were able to get some support from labor. But these Republican mayors — along with the boards of supervisors that, with the exception of one woman, were entirely white and male — always guided San Francisco to please the downtown business and real estate interests which kept them in office.
From a policy perspective, this meant that while other cities were developing social democratic infrastructure in the form of affordable housing, public hospitals and other programs, San Francisco lagged behind. The starkest contrast is with New York City, which under the stewardship of Republican Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and several Democrats, constructed affordable housing, sometimes in partnership with labor unions, developed a network of public hospitals and built the City University of New York into a top network of public higher education that today includes an excellent law school and several PhD granting programs as well as undergraduate programs serving diverse students. The difference in size between the two cities is relevant, but other than Mayor Angelo Rossi securing New Deal money and projects, it would be tough to identify any major progressive accomplishments in San Francisco city government from the 1920s through the mid-1960s.
There were, to be sure, progressive movements, leaders and events in San Francisco during these mid-century years, such as: the general strike of 1934; labor leaders like Harry Bridges, the longtime radical head of the International Longshoremen’s Association; the demonstrations at the the House Un-American Activities Committee meeting in 1960; the early rumblings of the Beatniks movement; or the successful efforts to resist major freeway construction. But these occurred outside of, and frequently in opposition to, a more conservative government that was oriented toward business interests and tempered by the social conservatism of the heavily Catholic city.
San Francisco’s racial history in the middle of the 20th century is also hardly that of a progressive standard bearer.
It was not until 1964, the same year that San Francisco hosted the Republican Convention that nominated the far-right Barry Goldwater, that Willie Brown got elected to the Assembly, becoming the first non-white person to win an election in 20th-century San Francisco. Terry Francois, also African American, had been appointed to the Board of Supervisors earlier that year. Brown is now in his late 80s and is living proof that San Francisco politics was an almost an entirely white operation not so long ago. By 1964, Chicago, New York, Detroit and even Los Angeles had elected several people of color. This is more than just an historical quirk; the exclusion of non-white politicians helps explain why residential segregation were and remain so strong in San Francisco.
The deep history of often violent racism against Chinese going back to the late 19th century is also an integral part of San Francisco’s past. For many non-Chinese Americans, San Francisco has long been known for its picturesque Chinatown, Chinese cultural influence and excellent Chinese food. But residential segregation, lack of political representation and discriminatory laws are also essential parts of the history of Chinese Americans in not-so-progressive San Francisco.
The first six decades of the 20th century may seem like a long time ago, but not when one considers how they still define San Francisco.
Restricted housing covenants in many parts of the western half of The City help explain why African Americans in San Francisco have long lived primarily in the Western Addition and Bayview-Hunters Point. The poor transportation infrastructure and greater pollution in the latter area also has its roots in policies that for decades largely ignored the needs of San Francisco’s Black communities. The housing crisis of today is, in part, a delayed result of The City’s failure to build good affordable housing for working people decades ago.
The inability of San Francisco to develop a progressive governance infrastructure in the middle of the 20th century has made it difficult for progressives, including the rare progressive mayor, to achieve their goals in the years since. The City has succeeded in passing laws that ban various forms of discrimination and create environmental and employment protections, but San Francisco has struggled to catch up in other areas — from affordable housing, to community health programs, to public works. These kinds of projects are expensive and continue to encounter resistance from a business community that is still very powerful in The City.
So when someone tells you that San Francisco is absurdly progressive or actually more conservative than many know, turn to them and say: Until the 1970s, formal and informal political power in San Francisco was located in the Financial District, Pacific Heights, St. Francis Wood and a handful of other affluent neighborhoods and the extent to which that has changed is highly debatable.
“Why San Francisco is more conservative that you think” is a four-part Examiner series running weekly online and in print. Author Lincoln Mitchell has written numerous books and articles about The City and the Giants. Visit lincolnmitchell.com or follow him on Twitter @LincolnMitchell. | 2022-01-27T04:52:05Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Why San Francisco is more conservative that you think: A 4-part Examiner series - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-that-you-think-a-4-part-examiner-series/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-that-you-think-a-4-part-examiner-series/ |
Niners receiver Brandon Aiyuk celebrates a reception during San Francisco’s Week 18 victory over the Rams. The two teams meet in the NFC Championship Game Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers)
Playing the Rams, it’s like fighting your little brother.
You know his strengths and weaknesses. How he cheats. Where he hides. And how to make him cry.
Best of all, you know how to win.
That’s the situation for the Niners this Sunday, who travel to SoFi Stadium in lovely Inglewood to take on the Rams for the third time this season, and the seventh time in the last three campaigns. The big difference? This one’s the NFC Championship Game. The winner will play in the very same stadium two weeks later in Super Bowl LVI.
And wouldn’t that be grand. Keeping the Rams from playing a home game on Super Sunday would be the ultimate #BeatLA moment for San Francisco fans, still smarting from the tragic ending to the Giants-Dodgers playoff series a few months back.
But before we get to planning our Super Bowl menus, let’s consider the matchup at hand. Forget fighting your little brother. This might be more like fighting your twin brother. The two teams mirror each other in so many ways.
The Rams have an absolutely fearful defensive lineman in Aaron Donald. The Niners counter with Nick Bosa.
Los Angeles features receiver Cooper Kupp, complimented by Odell Beckham Jr. San Francisco sees your superstars and raises you Deebo Samuel and George Kittle.
Offensive head coaching genius? Sean McVay vs. Kyle Shanahan.
The Niners have one clear edge. Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo looks like he should be starring in Hollywood movies. The Rams’ Matthew Stafford looks he just got off the bus from Detroit.
The teams run similar schemes, they know each other well and there won’t be many surprises on Sunday. It’ll all come down to executing the plan. What’s separated the two in recent matchups has been physicality. The Niners have beat up on the Rams, winning six straight and now going for seven.
Shanahan knows that past results are no indication of future performance, so he’s preparing as usual.
“You know each other so well. When you’re going against a team, like us going against the Rams or them versus us, there’s not much to soak in,” said Shanahan, during preparations this week in Santa Clara. “We knew what the tape was going to look like before we turned it on. And they are the exact same way. So when you have something like that, I think it makes for a little bit more fun of a football game, because it’s truly what it’s about.
“It’s just a football game and everyone’s going to go out there and a lot is on the line. We’re going to play as hard as we can. They’re going to play as hard as they can, and we are going to see who makes the most plays and who makes the least mistakes.”
A lot of that will depend on Garoppolo, who has done just enough to keep the team moving forward in the playoffs, and just enough to keep the other teams close. As always, he’s the mercurial X-factor. Perhaps the level of familiarity with the Rams will help? Hard to say. What do you think, Jimmy?
“Well, I think you always go back and watch the prior games. That’s kind of where it starts and then you kind of just take it from there,” said Garoppolo, after practice. “The games that they’ve played recently you take into account, but there’s a lot of football that they’ve played throughout this whole season, so you don’t want to bog yourself down and be too overwhelmed with all the stuff.
“We know these guys as well as possible. Playing them for a third time now, nothing will really surprise us, I wouldn’t say.”
Nobody will be surprised to see Garoppolo running for his life on a few plays. The Rams defensive line is truly fearsome, featuring stars like Donald and Von Miller. For you old timers, this brings back memories of Rosey Greer, Merlin Olsen and Jack Youngblood.
One thing to keep in mind on that topic. Shanahan is as good as any coach we’ve seen using misdirection to keep a defense honest. If the Rams simply pin their ears back and go for Garoppolo’s throat, they’ll likely find themselves looking sideways at Samuel scampering around the end. Getting the ball out of Jimmy’s hands quickly will be another imperative.
“As far as maneuvering in the pocket, I think that kind of just happens naturally. You always have an awareness for where Aaron (Donald) is pre-snap, but after that, you’re trying to read the defense and just react as the pocket allows,” said Garoppolo. “Kyle is aggressive in nature, so our game plan usually dictates that a little bit. You’ve just got to feel the pocket and you never want to go into the game saying, ‘I have to throw it in two seconds. I have to throw it in three seconds.’ It’s more of a feel thing. As the game goes, you get a feel talking to the O-line on the sideline, how they’re feeling about it, all that stuff. And it all is played into consideration. But if you get the ball out, it makes everyone’s job easier.”
Despite all the similarities and familiarities, the Niners do seem to have another giant, legitimate advantage. A more loyal and rabid fan base … that likes to travel.
We all saw what happened during that Week 18 Niners victory, where SoFi Stadium turned red and Stafford had trouble calling plays, the Niners fans were so loud. Then we saw it in Dallas. And again in Green Bay. And despite the Rams’ ham-fisted attempts to limit ticket sales to San Francisco fans this week, you know we’re going to see plenty of Montana and Rice jerseys in the stands Sunday. I’m guessing a Lott.
“The Faithful? They travel tremendously,” said Garoppolo, remembering that game in L.A. three weeks ago. “When you can get your fans behind you like that on a road game and we knew it before the game even started. There was a lot of red, you could see it. But once we started making plays and they started getting loud, it just changes the momentum of the game. And you could feel it on the sideline. It’s not something that you could really put your finger on, but you could feel, you could hear it. And our team responds well to that. So hopefully the Faithful will be out there loud and proud.”
Get ready for Round 3 of this family feud. Winner takes the milk money. | 2022-01-27T04:52:11Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Niners vs. Rams: It’s like fighting your little brother - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-vs-rams-its-like-fighting-your-little-brother/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-vs-rams-its-like-fighting-your-little-brother/ |
By Carly Graf Examiner Staff Writer • January 27, 2022 2:00 pm
Lion dancers surround firecrackers exploding to scare away evil spirits at the kickoff ceremony for Lunar New Year at Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square in February 2019. Lunar New Year festivities for the Year of the Tiger will begin February 1 with cautious optimism following the cancellation of events in 2021. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
This year was supposed to mark the triumphant return of Chinatown’s Lunar New Year celebrations after in-person festivities were cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the Year of the Tiger – which signifies strength, courage, power and big changes – will begin with cautious optimism.
February 1 marks the official beginning of the new year according to the lunar calendar, but the holiday season lasts for over a month. Families decorate their homes with flowers symbolizing togetherness and prosperity and fruits representing good luck. They purchase ingredients for iconic dishes such as chicken and Peking duck and schedule eight-course banquet meals that bring entire families together.
Festivities culminate with the parade, which this year takes place on February 19. Droves of people will come out to follow the colorful, vibrant display of Chinese culture from its starting point at Second and Market streets to Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue.
But businesses that hinge on their ability to bring people together indoors continue to be hurt almost as badly as they were in the worst of the pandemic.
Reservations for the eight-course Lunar New Year menu at Far East Cafe, a storied Chinatown banquet hall, used to be booked up nearly two years in advance. Bill and Kathy Lee, the father-daughter duo who run the restaurant, would serve a full house of hundreds of people every night around the holiday.
This year, the Omicron surge has forced them to revert back to a takeout-only menu. The Lees have also cut the restaurant’s hours, operate six days a week instead of seven and go for hours without having even a single customer walk into the door some days.
San Francisco’s Lunar New Year celebrations are also rooted in Chinatown’s efforts to introduce its cultural customs and traditions to others in order to stave off persecution and discrimination. That reminder is particularly poignant against the pandemic backdrop when people wrongly blamed the Chinese community for COVID-19 leading to an uptick in xenophobic rhetoric and behavior.
He also wrote a letter to the governor espousing the virtues of Chinese immigration and criticizing his policies as antithetical to the democracy Bigler said he was trying to protect: “You argue that this is a republic of a particular race—that the Constitution of the United States admits of no asylum to any other than the pale face. This proposition is false in the extreme, and you know it. The declaration of your independence, and all the acts of your government, your people, and your history are all against you.”
Lunar New Year grew from there, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce began leading the event in 1958, helping it become the world renowned cultural experience it is today.
“We are hardworking people. For the whole year we wait for a big return or all the hard work that we do,” Lau said. “I’m not talking just about big profits or a lot of money. Togetherness, prosperity and peace are what we are all praying for. And right now, good health, good health, good health.” | 2022-01-28T01:28:54Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Chinatown community optimistic but ‘very nervous’ as Lunar New Year approaches - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/chinatown-community-optimistic-but-very-nervous-as-lunar-new-year-approaches/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/chinatown-community-optimistic-but-very-nervous-as-lunar-new-year-approaches/ |
By Jessica Wolfrom Examiner staff writer • January 27, 2022 1:30 am
Assembly District 17 candidates (from left) Bilal Mahmood, Matt Haney, David Campos and Thea Selby. The victor of the upcoming race to represent the eastside of San Francisco will face challenges such as transitioning to clean energy as well as effective water and land uses. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
It’s one issue all four Assembly race candidates can agree on: climate change is an urgent and existential threat to Californians.
Confronted by worsening wildfires, rising seas, dwindling water supplies and a need to rapidly reduce carbon emissions to stave off the worst impacts of global warming, there will be no shortage of environmental challenges for the next District 17 Assembly member, who will represent a half-million San Franciscans on the eastern side of The City.
Whatever the outcome of the race, policy experts say the environmental stakes for this seat are high. As the world’s fifth-largest economy, California is looked upon to set the standard for environmental codes — everything from placing limits on tailpipe exhaust to establishing net metering rates for rooftop solar.
“An effective Assembly member can change the world,” said Laura Feinstein, sustainability and resilience policy director at the nonprofit SPUR, citing former Assembly member Fran Pavley who co-authored the 2006 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Act which established emissions targets for the state. “That was a landmark — the first really big climate bill in California that became a model in the state and for the rest of the world.”
How the candidates will go about solving this crisis if sent to Sacramento, however, is another story. While all the candidates say they support a Green New Deal and are committed to reducing carbon emissions, their plans differ in scale and scope.
Former Supervisor David Campos wants to invest in infrastructure and job programs that reduce planet-warming emissions, a pitch similar to that of Supervisor Matt Haney, who also wants to roll out rebates and subsidies to help residents shift to battery-powered cars and electric home energy systems.
Bilal Mahmood, an entrepreneur who has made climate change a hallmark of his campaign, has pushed for a carbon tax to fund zero-interest loans in order to accelerate decarbonization, while City College trustee and public transit advocate, Thea Selby, sees the route to cutting emissions paved through clean transit, including high-speed rail.
Feinstein said the most urgent issues facing the next Assembly member will be accelerating the transition to clean energy and addressing the water and land-use issues in the Bay Area. She also emphasized prioritizing justice at every step of the way to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of environmental benefits reaped by any future policies.
“The state is looking to get to zero emissions by 2045. That means that almost all our energy will need to be renewable,” she said. “We need to be thinking about how to make sure it’s affordable across the board for everybody and that those industries generate as many good jobs that people can raise a family on as the fossil fuel jobs that are being phased out.”
While many environmental advocates agree the candidates will have a net positive impact on climate policy, others point out that so far, their proposed plans are thin, promises are theoretical and some track records on climate are unproven.
All AD17 candidates have said they would support a state-level Green New Deal, a policy that would dramatically reduce emissions while addressing other social issues such as job creation and reducing economic inequality. But such a bill has failed in the Assembly before. It remains unclear how any candidate would resuscitate the measure if elected.
“The Green New Deal isn’t a coherent policy at this point,” said Daniel Tahara of the Climate Emergency Coalition. “Not to say it’s not visionary and inspiring, but like, concretely, how does that apply to California? Concretely, how does that turn into policy? Most of the candidates are pretty thin on details.”
Others are less concerned with the fine print and instead emphasize the need for leaders who will stand up to well-moneyed agendas and fossil fuel lobbyists. “We have an opportunity to send a real champion to Sacramento who’s going to stand up to those super-powerful interests,” said Hunter Cutting of the Sierra Club, which endorsed Campos.
“It’s not like we’re sitting around waiting for some wonk to come up with the right policy… A 50-page policy manual is not what’s missing here,” Cutting said. “Climate change is a political issue. There’s no scientific mystery with climate change — we know exactly what to do.”
Still, questions remain about how any policies at the state level will trickle down to constituents in District 17, which encompasses much of The City’s eastern shoreline, an area where sea-level rise is projected to inundate neighborhoods like Hunters Point, Mission Bay, the Dogpatch and Candlestick Point.
Bradley Angel, executive director of the environmental justice nonprofit Green Action, said he’d like the next Assembly member to prioritize cleaning up toxic material buried along the shoreline and on Treasure Island, which he says is an increasing threat to the health of residents and the Bay as waters rise.
“There are going to be impacts from climate, even if we do get to zero emissions worldwide,” said David Wooley, executive director of the Center for Environmental Public Policy at UC Berkeley, citing flooding from sea-level rise and “heat events that San Franciscans aren’t usually used to.”
But, Wooley noted, this Assembly race is especially important because California is on the precipice of change. “There’s massive momentum here,” he said. “Done right, this could be a moment of re-industrialization of California. We have all these opportunities to bring auto manufacturing back, battery manufacturing, battery materials. There’s a whole series of industries that could be driven by progressive climate policy.”
California’s Assembly members have been at the crossroads of major policy issues before. In the early 2000s when then-Assembly member Pavley and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez set out to co-author AB 32, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Act, powerful lobbying campaigns organized to oppose it. Many doubted California could grow its economy while reducing its dependence on oil, gas and coal.
But today, emissions have decreased while the state has grown its population and GDP — without many Californians even noticing. “If you look back 10, 20 years ago, the law of California was so different,” said Feinstein. “Change happens without you noticing and then all of a sudden you realize there’s been a lot of change.”
Tags: climate change, Climate Change office, Climate crisis, environment, Environment Bills, environmental bill, Global climate action | 2022-01-28T01:29:20Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The climate challenge facing S.F.’s next Assemblymember - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/the-climate-challenge-facing-s-f-s-next-assemblymember/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/the-climate-challenge-facing-s-f-s-next-assemblymember/ |
Opinion: Congressional effort to regulate Big Tech has unintended casualties
Antitrust bills will impact small, minority- and women-owned businesses
By Julian Cañete Special to CalMatters • January 27, 2022 1:30 am
Congress is considering five antitrust bills that seek to regulate many aspects of tech’s ability to operate in and drive America’s economy. (iStock)
By Julian Cañete
As Californians, we’re no strangers to the outsized impact the tech sector plays in our state’s economy. Nearly 2 million people are employed by the tech sector, resulting in an economic impact of more than $520 billion annually to California’s economy.
Businesses, large and small, rely on this tech to run their business, order supplies, accept payment and communicate with customers.
Now, Congress is considering five antitrust bills that seek to regulate many aspects of tech’s ability to operate in and drive America’s economy. It is critical that members of the California Congressional delegation — the nation’s largest — not lose sight of the fact that any regulation targeting the biggest global tech companies will undoubtedly spill over and impact small, minority- and women-owned businesses.
For small business owners, particularly those owned by Latino, African American and Asian businesses owners, technology represented a lifeline that enabled us to keep the doors open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today these businesses, and the consumers who shop at them, rely more and more on the digital tools to keep the lights on and the customers served than we did prepandemic.
On behalf of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, which represents the interest of more than 800,000 Hispanic business owners in California, we are concerned about a package of bills pending before the House of Representatives: HR 3460, HR 3826, HR 3849, HR 3816, and HR 3825. This legislation, often referred to as the “basket of antitrust bills,” would have a detrimental impact on California’s technology sector as a whole, hurt California’s economy and negatively impact Latino business owners — large and small — who increasingly rely on technology to meet their needs.
For California businesses, workers and consumers, passage of this package would suppress wage growth and negatively impact consumers. For example, HR 3816, the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, would result in separate rules for online marketplaces than those governing brick-and-mortar businesses, creating a highly inequitable landscape for many small businesses, especially for African American, Latino, veteran- and women-owned small businesses already struggling.
Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the Latino community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics and Latinos are 1.7 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than our non-Hispanic white counterparts, as well as 4.1 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 and 2.8 times more likely to die from COVID-19. Additionally, we’re over-represented in the service industry, which has borne the brunt of coronavirus closures and struggles to this day to recover.
In spite of these sobering facts, Latino businesses and business owners have a positive story to tell. We have become the fastest-growing small business owners across the United States. We are entrepreneurial. We are community focused. We help drive California’s economy.
The California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce is concerned about the antitrust legislations’ unintended consequences — impacts that could deliver a harmful blow to Latino business owners and consumers and ultimately to the state’s recovery, when both can least afford it.
It’s disturbing that members of Congress, most of whom possess little tech expertise, proclaim the need to “ensure competition” and “end monopolies.” When they offer “solutions” to this multifaceted issue, we should all take pause. Overly simplified statements may generate headlines but attempting to control a cutting-edge, incredibly innovative sector of our economy — one that is the envy of the world — must be undertaken carefully.
Business owners, workers and families understand the importance of ensuring a competitive playing field — it’s a hallmark of America and it’s what has helped Latino entrepreneurs thrive and prosper. But the five antitrust bills Congress is now considering will have wide-reaching consequences throughout the Golden State and across the country.
Every member of the California Congressional delegation should understand this conundrum: How do you regulate a fast-paced, innovative industry that changes more quickly than the legislative decision-making process? Proceed with caution if you decide to proceed at all.
Julian Cañete is the president and CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and has also written about lawmakers committing to small, minority-owned businesses, a proposal that would overturn policy that saves Californians’ auto insurance and creating pathways to postsecondary education. | 2022-01-28T01:29:26Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Congressional effort to regulate Big Tech has unintended casualties - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-congressional-effort-to-regulate-big-tech-has-unintended-casualties/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-congressional-effort-to-regulate-big-tech-has-unintended-casualties/ |
By Guest Commentary • January 27, 2022 4:30 pm - Updated January 27, 2022 5:04 pm
The Public Utilities Commission is planning for the connection of 42,000 megawatts of new renewables by 2031, but no transmission upgrades to get that power to the urban areas where it is needed. (iStock)
By Marti Walicki
Fortunately, California is on a strong foundation to do its share. The state has excellent solar and wind resource potential. We have targets in place to reach a zero-carbon future by 2045 as codified in SB 100. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued proclamations and executive orders to urge our energy agencies to accelerate our path to zero-carbon. | 2022-01-28T01:29:32Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: California’s electric grid is not ready to meet climate goals - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-californias-electric-grid-is-not-ready-to-meet-climate-goals/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-californias-electric-grid-is-not-ready-to-meet-climate-goals/ |
Rookie wing has too much potential to let him go
Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga has played well so far this season, raising doubts that Golden State would be willing to part with him before the upcoming NBA trade deadline. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
One question that has hovered over the Warriors all season is whether they should keep their young players and let them develop. We’re namely talking about Jonathan Kuminga and Jonathan Wiseman here.
The other option would be trading them for established veterans who could help the Warriors’ chances of winning a title this season, with the two names floated around the most being the Pacers’ Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. As the Feb. 10 trade deadline looms ever closer, it’s never been clearer what the Warriors should do.
The best move the Warriors can make is no move at all, because keeping Jonathan Kuminga needs to be a priority for the Warriors.
Kuminga’s potential has been obvious from the start. He stands at 6’7, weighs 225 pounds, has a 6’10” wingspan, and can fly over opponents, run by them or simply power through them. Now that Kuminga is putting it all together, it’s clear he should be a part of the Warriors’ future.
As for Wiseman, the 7-foot former No. 2 overall pick could certainly bring the Warriors some size and athleticism on the front-line, and could develop into the first true center to really be able to play at the pace we’ve come to expect from Steve Kerr’s Warriors. However, he’s missed the entire season, and doesn’t appear to be coming back any time particularly soon. There’s no guarantee he’ll be able to make an impact this season, even after the trade deadline. Trading a talented young player before he’s really found his footing in the NBA and has spent nearly a year in street clothes is the definition of selling low. For that reason, he should stay put at the deadline, as well.
That said, let’s focus on why Kuminga should stay.
First of all, he fills a positional need. Ever since the Steve Kerr era began, big wings who can guard multiple positions have been key pieces of his rotation. The Warriors have always been at their best when going with “death lineup” type groups, featuring Draymond Green playing center. One of the keys to making those lineups work is versatile wings. Over the years, 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, Shaun Livingston, Kevin Durant and now Otto Porter and Nemanja Bjelica have all played that role. Kuminga has the potential to fill that role.
Kuminga is too big for fast players and too fast for big players, which is exactly what you want out of the wing/big hybrid the Warriors love so much. Just as importantly, Kuminga understands how the Warriors play basketball, which involves a lot of cutting and passing and very little isolation and one-on-one play. In Kuminga’s 22-point performance against the Mavericks Tuesday, five of his eight field goals came without the rookie taking any dribbles, and he took a grand total of six dribbles on his other three field goals. If that’s not playing with efficiency, I don’t know what is. Kuminga knows how to work off the ball, is always looking for lanes to run and dunk through and knows how to find space beyond the arc for an open spot-up opportunity. When he does put the ball on the floor, it’s generally for the purpose of a straight-line drive to the rim against a slower player or a quick post-up against a small one stuck on a switch.
Myles Turner, an elite shot-blocker with the size of a true center and three-point range, and Sabonis, a tremendously skilled power forward, could theoretically both be good fits for the Warriors. But given Golden State’s long-time need for versatile wings and ability to play dynamic, fast basketball, adding two players who only have the speed to play the frontcourt might present a fairly dramatic adjustment to the Warriors’ style in mid-season.
Kuminga is also shoring up his weaknesses. After shooting a less-than-ideal percentage from three-point range in November, Kuminga has shot 41.2% from deep in December and 40.7% from beyond the arc in January. Defenses have to respect him from three-point range, which is a scary proposition when it comes to someone who can attack the basket like Kuminga. Even his free throws are improving. After shooting 61.5% from the line in November and 53.8% in December, Kuminga is making 76.3% of his shots from the charity stripe in January. He’s still not making much of an impact on the glass, and has only blocked six shots all season, but he hasn’t kept the Warriors from being the best defensive team in the league. Under the tutelage of Kerr and the (extremely) vocal Draymond Green, it’s reasonable to expect improvement in those areas. Oh, and Kuminga’s 20th birthday is in August.
Finally, Kuminga makes sense from a team-building standpoint. The Warriors already have the highest payroll in the NBA. Among active players, only LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have played more career regular-season minutes than Andre Iguodala. Iguodala, Otto Porter, Bjelica, Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Gary Payton II will all be free agents after this season. If the Warriors were to trade for Sabonis and Turner, they’d owe them a combined $36,500,000 both this season and next season. Then they’d owe Sabonis $18,500,000 in the 2023-24 season. (Turner’s contract runs out after 2023.) In contrast, the Warriors have control over Kuminga’s rights until the end of the 2024-25 season, and he’ll be owed between $5 million and $7.6 million over those seasons. Since the Warriors are going to need to spend actively this season to keep their free-agents or replace them with new ones, saving money by keeping Kuminga makes a whole lot of sense for the franchise going forward.
So that’s it. Kuminga is too talented, fits too well with Steve Kerr’s longtime vision for the Warriors, and has too reasonable of a contract to let go, meaning the best move the Warriors can make before the deadline is no move at all. | 2022-01-28T01:29:39Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Warriors need to keep Kuminga at the trade deadline - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/warriors-need-to-keep-kuminga-at-the-trade-deadline/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/warriors-need-to-keep-kuminga-at-the-trade-deadline/ |
By Isabella Grullón Paz • January 27, 2022 5:00 pm - Updated January 27, 2022 5:27 pm
A portion of the 523 acres of redwood forest in Mendocino County. (Photo by Max Forster/Save the Redwoods League)
Tucked away in Northern California’s Mendocino County, the 523 acres of rugged forest is studded with the ghostlike stumps of ancient redwoods harvested during a logging boom that did away with more than 90% of the species on the West Coast. But about 200 acres are still dense with old-growth redwoods that were spared from logging.
The land was the hunting, fishing and ceremonial grounds of generations of Indigenous tribes like the Sinkyone, until they were largely driven off by European settlers. On Tuesday, a California nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving and preserving redwoods announced that it was reuniting the land and its original inhabitants.
The group, the Save the Redwoods League, which was able to purchase the forest with corporate donations in 2020, said it was transferring ownership of the 523-acre property to the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, a group of 10 native tribes whose ancestors were “forcibly removed” from the land by European American settlers, according to a statement from the league.
The tribes will serve as guardians of the land in partnership with the Save the Redwoods League, which has been protecting and restoring redwood forests since 1918.
”Fundamentally, we believed that the best way to permanently protect and heal this land is through tribal stewardship,” said Sam Hodder, CEO of the Save the Redwoods League. “In this process, we have an opportunity to restore balance in the ecosystem and in the communities connected to it.”
For more than 175 years, members of the tribes represented by the council did not have access to the sacred land they had used for hunting, fishing and ceremonies.
“It is rare when these lands return to the original peoples of those places,” said Hawk Rosales, an Indigenous land defender and a former executive director of the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council.
“We have an intergenerational commitment and a goal to protect these lands and, in doing so, protecting tribal cultural ways of life and revitalizing them,” he added.
As part of the agreement, the land, known before the purchase as Andersonia West, will be called Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ (pronounced tsih-ih-LEY-duhn), which means “Fish Run Place” in the Sinkyone language.
“Renaming the property Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ lets people know that it’s a sacred place; it’s a place for our Native people,” Crista Ray, a board member of the Sinkyone Council, said in the statement. “It lets them know that there was a language and that there was a people who lived there long before now.”
According to the statement, Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ is a vital addition to conserved lands along the Sinkyone coast, which is about five hours north of San Francisco. The newly acquired land sits west of the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and north of the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness, another protected area, which was acquired by the Sinkyone Council in 1997.
The council’s goal, Rosales said, is to connect and expand the redwood forests in the area, which are ecologically and culturally linked, to repair “components of an ecosystem that has been fragmented and that has been threatened” by colonial settlement.
Redwood trees are not the only endangered species in the forest. The land is also home to coho salmon, steelhead trout, marbled murrelets (a small seabird) and northern spotted owls — all listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Since 2006, the Redwoods League had been in conversations with a California logging family who had owned the land for generations. Hodder said that after years of building a relationship with the family, the league was able to purchase the land in 2020 for $3.55 million. The money for the purchase was donated by the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. as part of its program to mitigate environmental damage.
The Redwoods League still retains an easement on the property.
“Our goal is to just make sure that we are adding to adding capacity and support for the council as they advance their own stewardship and restoration goals,” Hodder said.
This is the second time the Save the Redwoods League has donated land to the council. In 2012, it transferred a 164-acre property north of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, known as Four Corners, to the Sinkyone.
To Rosales, the importance of piecing together these culturally important lands is not only the conservation of nature but also allowing tribes to have a stronger connection with their ancestors.
”The descendants of those ancestors are among us today in the member tribes,” Rosales said. “There are families that trace their lineage to this place, essentially, and the surrounding vicinity. They are connected to their ancestors, and this is a way of reaffirming that.” | 2022-01-28T01:33:15Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Redwood forest in California is returned to native tribes - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/redwood-forest-in-california-is-returned-to-native-tribes/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/redwood-forest-in-california-is-returned-to-native-tribes/ |
By Rachel Straus
While ballerina prodigies abound, the precociously talented female ballet choreographer is a genus yet to be discovered. Which begs the question: Given that women make up the bulk of ballet’s workforce, why do so few female choreographers land significant contracts with big ballet companies?
The story of the British-Swiss choreographer Cathy Marston, whose “Reconsidering Mrs. Robinson” will see its world premiere by the San Francisco Ballet Feb. 1-12, provides some answers.
Marston, now 46, came up through London’s prestigious Royal Ballet School, whose parent company has a history of promoting male choreographers from within. Though Marston won two of the school’s choreographic competitions, she was not offered a contract to join the Royal Ballet as a budding choreographer.
“There were people,” Marston said in a recent phone call, “who felt that it wasn’t as easy to take a young woman into the company because she has to dance on pointe, and it’s obviously quite difficult work.” A young man with choreographic talent, Marston added, can perform less physically demanding character roles: “They fit in easier.”
Marston departed London in 1995 for a full-time contract with a Swiss dance company, but she kept her ties to the Royal Ballet, returning to showcase one small work annually. In 2002, she had her first critical success with “Facing Viv,” a one-act ballet based on the tormented relationship between the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife Vivienne. Describing Marston’s 13th work, Dance International magazine pronounced her “a rising star,” whose storytelling capacity mined the inner worlds of complex characters.
The Royal Opera House director Deborah Bull then made Marston its first associate choreographer. But the title was misleading: It was not a full-time contract, and she was not given the opportunity to make a large-scale ballet for the 100-dancer strong company on its main stage until 18 long years later.
Which leads us to Marston’s newest commission, “Reconsidering Mrs. Robinson,” for another one of the world’s top companies, the San Francisco Ballet. As Marston’s title indicates, the ballet reconsiders the infamous female character in the 1967 movie “The Graduate.” Mrs. Robinson — a wealthy, middle-aged, booze-swilling, San Francisco housewife — coldly seduces Benjamin, the just-graduated son of her suburban friends.
“I am often drawn to characters,” said Marston, “who somehow live beyond their original source. People know the name of Mrs. Robinson and what she represents. I love challenging that expectation.”
Marston’s ballet does just that. Created with the dramaturg Edward Kemp, 32 dancers and set to an original jazz-inflected score by Terry Davies, “Reconsidering Mrs. Robinson” goes beyond the concluding moments of the film, when Benjamin rides off into the sunset after having captured the heart of none other than Mrs. Robinson’s daughter.
Marston’s inspiration for choreographing more than what the story provides hinged on an important discovery. In 1963, the year that the novelist Charles Webb wrote “The Graduate,” Betty Friedan’s “Feminine Mystique” — about the unfulfilled lives of American housewives (“the problem with no name”) — hit bookstores and sparked second-wave feminism. Marston imagined a life-changing event for her character: “What if Mrs. Robinson read about Betty Friedan’s concept called ‘the problem with no name’ and thought, ‘I am going to leave my husband’?”
Marston’s ballet imagines a future for Mrs. Robinson in which the “problem with no name” affects large numbers of American women, represented by 18 female corps dancers. “We see them,” says Marston, “in their past lives being perfect housewives. Then we see, in increasing numbers, their lives breaking down. It’s not the usual revolution, but there is a revolution. They group together, hand on shoulders.”
Marston’s ballets shine the spotlight on under-investigated female characters from literature and history. Her ambitions can also be understood in terms of her loyalty to the syntax of classical ballet. While Western history’s most lauded female choreographers, such as Martha Graham and Pina Bausch, have shirked ballet, Marston has remained faithful to its key traditions, such as the expressive and ethereal qualities of female pointe dancing, whose shoe remains the most identifiable symbol of ballet. But like Graham and Bausch, Marston is reaching beyond ballet to develop her choreographic voice. While working for two decades in Europe, she absorbed the aesthetics of modernist theater, known for distilling complex narratives and underscoring the quotidian gesture.
Unfortunately, none of Marston’s 75 works have entered ballet companies’ permanent repertoires, and that is not surprising. Those works continue to be the 19th-century full-length story ballets, such as “Giselle,” “Coppélia,” “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty,” with their narrowly drawn set of aspirations for their female characters. In the wake of the #MeToo movement of 2017, those ballet narratives have been criticized as sexist and conversations about ballet companies patriarchally bound culture have surfaced.
With this shakeup, Marston has become an asset and a means to remedy a long-standing problem. In quick succession, San Francisco Ballet in 2018, Joffrey Ballet in 2019 and London’s Royal Ballet in 2020 commissioned Marston to choreograph big ballets with full ensembles. To date, she has made more than 75 works for companies across five continents and served as the artistic director (2007-2013) of the chamber-size Swiss company, Ballet Bern.
Marston credits activists like Dance Data Project founder Elizabeth Yntema and former Guardian dance critic Luke Jennings for working to demand change in the ballet world. The Dance Date Project recently reported that among the 72 largest ballet companies, only 29% of its resident choreographers are female and only 36% are artistic directors.
Marston, however, doesn’t see herself as a spokesperson: “I’m here to make the work and to make good work.” Still, Marston said she is encouraged that “more women are creating and leading companies,” like Tamara Rojo, a former principal dancer of The Royal Ballet recently named as San Francisco Ballet’s first female artistic director. In 2023, Marston will take the helm of Ballet Zurich, having earned her position by becoming that rare thing: an experienced female ballet choreographer.
Marston calls “Reconsidering Mrs. Robinson” her “first American ballet,” and admits it has been a rocky ride. The pandemic delayed the premiere by almost three years. “The dancers,” nonetheless, “have really stuck with it,” said Marston, who intermittently worked with them over Zoom. “I feel it has only gotten better through that brewing rather than growing stale.” The same could be said of Cathy Marston’s remarkable choreographic career.
“Reconsidering Mrs. Robinson”
Where: S.F. Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F.
Tickets: (415) 865-2000, tickets@sfballet.org
The popularity of an Emotional Support Animal has grown rapidly in recent years, with pet owners claiming their furry friends… | 2022-01-28T19:59:23Z | www.sfexaminer.com | ‘Remembering Mrs. Robinson’ makes dance history at the SF Ballet - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/remembering-mrs-robinson-makes-dance-history-at-the-sf-ballet/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/remembering-mrs-robinson-makes-dance-history-at-the-sf-ballet/ |
By Carly Graf Examiner staff writer • January 27, 2022 2:00 pm - Updated January 28, 2022 11:50 am
Lion dancers surround firecrackers exploding to scare away evil spirits at the kickoff ceremony for Lunar New Year at Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square in February 2019. Lunar New Year festivities for the Year of the Tiger are scheduled to begin Feb. 1. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
This year was supposed to mark the triumphant return of Chinatown’s Lunar New Year celebrations after in-person festivities were canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the Year of the Tiger — which signifies strength, courage, power and big changes — will begin with cautious optimism.
Feb. 1 marks the official beginning of the new year according to the lunar calendar, but the holiday season lasts for over a month. Families decorate their homes with flowers, symbolizing togetherness and prosperity, and fruits representing good luck. They purchase ingredients for traditional dishes such as chicken and Peking duck and schedule eight-course banquet meals that bring entire families together.
Festivities culminate with the parade, which this year takes place Feb. 19. Droves of people will come out to follow the colorful, vibrant display of Chinese culture from its starting point at Second and Market streets to Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue.
Businesses that hinge on their ability to bring people together indoors continue to be hurt almost as badly as they were in the worst of the pandemic.
Reservations for the eight-course Lunar New Year menu at Far East Cafe, a storied Chinatown banquet hall, used to be booked nearly two years in advance. Bill and Kathy Lee, the father-daughter duo who run the restaurant, would serve a full house of hundreds of people every night around the holiday.
This year, the omicron surge has forced them to revert back to a takeout-only menu. The Lees have also cut the restaurant’s hours, operating six days a week instead of seven, and go for hours without having even a single customer walk into the door some days.
San Francisco’s Lunar New Year celebrations are also rooted in Chinatown’s efforts to introduce its cultural customs and traditions to others to stave off persecution and discrimination. That reminder is particularly poignant against the pandemic backdrop when people blamed the Chinese for COVID-19, leading to an uptick in xenophobic rhetoric and behavior.
He also wrote a letter to the governor espousing the virtues of Chinese immigration and criticizing his policies as antithetical to the democracy Bigler said he was trying to protect: “You argue that this is a republic of a particular race —that the Constitution of the United States admits of no asylum to any other than the pale face. This proposition is false in the extreme, and you know it. The declaration of your independence, and all the acts of your government, your people, and your history are all against you.”
Lunar New Year grew from there, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce began leading the event in 1958, helping it become the world-renowned cultural experience it is today.
“We are hardworking people. For the whole year we wait for a big return on all the hard work that we do,” Lau said. “I’m not talking just about big profits or a lot of money. Togetherness, prosperity and peace are what we are all praying for. And right now, good health, good health, good health.” | 2022-01-28T19:59:29Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Chinatown community optimistic but ‘very nervous’ as Lunar New Year approaches - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/chinatown-community-optimistic-but-very-nervous-as-lunar-new-year-approaches/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/chinatown-community-optimistic-but-very-nervous-as-lunar-new-year-approaches/ |
By Jeff Elder • January 28, 2022 10:00 am
Amy Errett, creator of the popular hair-care product line Madison Reed, is featured in the new book, “The Gaingels 100.” (Richard Morgenstein photo)
San Francisco tech leaders are featured in a new book and e-book that came out this week profiling entrepreneurs and founders around the world from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual communities. “Gaingels 100” is a handsome collection of portraits and mini bios that includes San Francisco tech entrepreneurs:
Amy Errett, the creator of the popular hair care product line Madison Reed.
Andrea Barrica, whose religious conservative upbringing inspired her to create O.school, a shame-free sexual wellness company.
Chris Wang, whose online mental health community Shimmer works to address the lack of mental health services for queer people and people of color.
George Arison, CEO of Shift and a pioneer as an openly gay founder taking a company public.
Errett’s hair coloring company has an online interface that provides free video chat consultations with hair coloring experts and lets you book online appointments at dozens of locations nationally, including five in the Bay Area and one in Hayes Valley.
A seasoned venture capitalist, Errett was inspired to create a better hair-coloring company when she discovered all the unhealthy chemicals in the products her wife was using. Madison Reed is greener, and its free online video consults help customers wherever they are before they ever come into a location.
She named Madison Reed after her daughter because “I hope she can learn from the values the company is trying to instill,” Errett says in the book. “I’ve always spent my life being focused on being confident, being comfortable in my skin and being out.” Nice…
How much do electric cars really save you? Depends on the market. San Francisco electric vehicle owners save an average of $1,140 per year, according to new data from Arcadia, a tech company that uses data to help utility companies and consumers to lower energy costs. That puts us in the lower 25% of major markets, behind the savings in Charlotte, N.C. ($1,734), but way ahead of the savings in New York City ($825). Arcadia points out that high electricity costs can be offset by charging your car at the right time. That boosts savings here from 49% under gas prices to 73% under gas prices. Tesla, BMW ie, and Mustang Mach-E drivers, take note…
Facebook – oh, sorry. Meta is opening a new park down on the peninsula this weekend. The 2.2-acre public park adjacent to the tech giant’s Menlo Park Meta campus opens to the public on Saturday. The park includes a large plaza space with benches, public art, a sloped grass lawn, walking paths and a pedestrian and bicycle bridge connecting the Belle Haven neighborhood with the Bay Trail. the company will reveal the park’s name on January 29. I think it would be cool to name it after Menlo Parker Abraham Maslow, co-founder of Humanistic Psychology. Something tells me that ain’t gonna happen…
Electric ships will be one of the coolest electric vehicles discussed at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference next week at the Four Seasons Hotel. Personally, I’m glad to see any conference back in town. One question on electric boats: Is it dangerous to have an extension cord in the water like that? In all seriousness, cutting the carbon emissions from more boats in the bay would be huge. Did you know? The Alameda company Zero Emission Industries is making a vessel called the Sea Change, which the company says is the first fuel cell vessel in the U.S., and the first commercial fuel cell ferry in the world…
Finally, a computer programmer turned lingerie model appears to have won her battle to get her identity back from a sex doll that stole her name and appearance several years ago. Israeli model and Instagram influencer Yael Cohen Aris posted two weeks ago on the photo-sharing app that “A sex doll named ‘Yael’ is being manufactured and sold to all over the world, by many sellers based in different countries. The name of the doll is not a coincidence, it was developed from me, it was connected to my identity and carries my image.” The U.K.’s Daily Mail reported the Chinese company behind the doll, Iron Tech, says it will change the name of the doll, which resembles Aris right down to a small beauty mark by her mouth. Aris served in a tech unit of the Israeli Defense Forces programming computers for four years. They say your biggest enemy is yourself, but I bet she never imagined her biggest foe would be lookalike like this.
Instagram influencer Yael Cohen Aris posted two weeks ago about a sex doll with her first name and very similar appearance. The maker told The Daily Mail it is changing the doll’s name. (Instagram screenshot) | 2022-01-28T19:59:35Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The City’s LGBTQIA tech entreprenuers shine in new book - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-citys-lgbtqia-tech-entreprenuers-shine-in-new-book/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-citys-lgbtqia-tech-entreprenuers-shine-in-new-book/ |
By James Salazar and Melanie Velasquez Examiner staff writers • January 28, 2022 1:30 pm
Assembly District 17 candidates (from left) David Campos, Matt Haney, Thea Selby and Bilal Mahmood sat down with The Examiner and answered our questions. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
Last week, The Examiner Editorial Board asked the four main candidates running for Assembly District 17 to come in and share their positions on a variety of issues that are important to voters. Here are selected remarks from Bilal Mahmood, entrepreneur and scientist; David Campos, chief of staff at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office; Thea Shelby, San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees; and Matt Haney, District 6 supervisor.
(Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
I really do think we need to return San Francisco to be a beacon of hope for the middle class, people trying to break into the middle class, immigrants, migrants, parents, children, LGBTQ+, everyone who’s trying to make it in our city and have a better life.
The Green Production Board (a proposal to assess the resources available to California to set production targets for clean energy) will have the authority to cut red tape and make the permitting aligned so (business) can get the technology necessary to move forward. The second then is the Climate Public Bank. It will have the authority to deliver up to $100,000 in zero-interest loans, funded by a carbon tax, to every individual to retrofit their house, buy an electric vehicle, buy an electric bike or for small businesses to transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
We need to boost universal COVID testing, make it free and make it available. We’re still not thinking out of the box in terms of how to solve this fundamental problem. There are other countries that have adopted … a system where you identify the outbreak in seven days, identify the source in one day, and control it in seven days. That is the standard across different countries. We do not do have that anywhere in the country. We need to bring that system here.
We can boost funding for going after organized cartels. Second, we need to boost funding to the Attorney General’s office to go after doctors who are illegally prescribing fentanyl. That gets into the supply chain issue of that component. The second then is how we solve it at the individual level. These are the DMI (Drug Market Intervention) programs that I talked about, boosting funding for those types of programs that from an evidence-based approach have actually solved this problem in other cities.
You have the real-time personalized care teams as part of the built-for-zero plans, integrated case management teams across public-private partnerships that then can guide individuals to the second step, which is: What are their actual issues? … a (combination) of all these different components helps them get the services that they need, and personalized treatment to them.
I pushed for by-right development (when a development proposal strictly conforms to zoning and building codes and qualifies for construction without requiring discretionary approval) if a housing project or a transit project is able to pass all the permits necessary to be approved by planning commissions. Elected officials are not scientists that know an environmental review process. So there should be by-right development in the case of transit projects and housing projects to actually ensure that there can be progress.
We have 27 different Bay Area transit agencies that do not talk to each other, do not interconnect and have inconsistent fares. We need to solve that component, so we’d pass that to a single administrative body on top of the 27 different Bay Area transit agencies to ensure there’s good governance across all of them. Second, we would leverage that to actually build more transit. One of the problems is there’s not enough communication between the different counties.
I am running for this office because I believe the person who represents San Francisco in this seat has to be a change agent, someone who pushes the state to finally address the inequities underlying society. Because if we do not address them after we go through a pandemic, then we will never address them.
Build Back Better provides a good foundation for recovery, but we need to add more to it. I actually think California should do two things. One: add its own resources and its own money to the plan. Two: inject an equity lens in the implementation of the plan. We should do more to create economic opportunity in this state and especially for folks who were not able to work during the pandemic.
Inadequate access to health care has been the reason why so many communities have been disproportionately impacted. Everyone has been impacted, but communities of color, the poor have been impacted in a way that has been just decimating and devastating. … There’s a study that looks at the generation of Latinos 22 to 54. They’re eight times more likely to die from COVID than their white counterparts. If that’s not a call for action on health care, what is?
(California) has to see (homelessness) as the human tragedy that it is. Having someone who has been a champion for programs that think outside the box, that have proven to be effective at the legislative and executive level, is an important experience to have. And one thing I would push for is for the creation of more programs at the state level.
When people talk about expediting housing, it has led mostly to more luxury housing being built but not enough of a focus on building the affordable side of the equation. And that’s something that I want to emphasize, that I want to bring in. On that front, government has an important role to play. I don’t believe the market, if left to its own devices, will build the level of affordability that is needed for California.
Part of the job of a legislator is to be an advocate for your city and to bring back resources. This is not a new role for me. It’s something I did because I was very active in regional government. And I specifically was a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which is a 20-plus-member body that oversees transportation funding for the nine-county Bay Area. And in that role, you have to be able to bring back resources to agencies like Muni, but you have to do more than that.
As a supervisor, you’re kind of like a mini mayor of your respective district. That requires attention to detail and interest in everything that happens. And, quite frankly, it requires getting up in the morning, walking around your neighborhood seeing if the trash was picked up, seeing if the sidewalk was steam cleaned — just looking at all those things in a way that hasn’t happened in a place like the Tenderloin.
I am the only woman in the race. I’m also the only parent in the race. I’m also a small business owner. And finally, I am a City College trustee. One of the reasons I’m running now is to make sure education actually stays in the forefront. And many (people) are community college goers, Black and brown people, disadvantaged people, low-income people. I’m also running because I want to make sure small businesses can recover from COVID. Lastly, I’m running because I want to make sure we meet or exceed climate goals.
What we need is affordable housing. And one of the ways we’ve done it before, and this hasn’t been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the federal government used to build affordable housing. And at least this one individual who has worked in housing for the last 30 years, in affordable housing, thinks that’s what we’ve got to go back to. We need to also go back to ownership. … We need affordable housing that can be owned. We have had messed-up housing policies where especially Black and brown people have not been able to buy. And I think we should be pushing hard to get affordable housing so that we can build the wealth. We all believe we need more transitional housing in addition to the supportive services. We need to do more outreach to the people who are not in the linkage center.
If people are doing things they shouldn’t be doing, then we need to hold them accountable through the district attorney, through the police, through the attorney general. There are pilot programs for 911 calls where domestic violence experts and social workers and mental health experts come on. This is being done in some cities in California. …We need to look at it here in San Francisco.
COVID 19 and small businesses
We need to do some sort of commercial rent control. I would be interested in furthering that for a short period of time. I have seen my own business and other businesses with rent spikes and I am afraid sometimes merchants don’t have the benefit that our residents have of being able to have that stable knowledge that this is what my rent is going to be. That’s one thing I’d like to see if we can do.
Climate and transportation
One thing I’ve been working on the last three years is creating a coalition of people, 95,000 members strong at the moment, called Voices for Public Transportation. Our reason for being is to put a measure on the ballot in 2024 for about $100 billion which will be a transformative, regional transportation measure that will help to hopefully start the change in Northern California. One of the first things I would do is sponsor the authorizing legislation. The other big thing I’m so excited about is that there is $4.2 billion just sitting there. We voted on this in 2008, and we said we’re going use this as our down payment for high-speed rail. We had $10 billion and spent all but $4.2 billion. We could not get the Assembly to appropriate those dollars. I hope to use my knowledge and my ability to educate to get us the billions of dollars the federal government can now match. We may be able to not only finish up the Central Valley portion, but also have the first high-speed rail in America.
We have some very serious challenges as a state right now. And it is critical that San Francisco send somebody to Sacramento who can fight for real solutions. I’ve served as the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee (for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors). I’ve been on the front lines throughout COVID. And over the last few years of some of the biggest challenges that we’re facing, whether it’s mental health, drug addiction, housing, homelessness, street safety, public safety, I’ve been able to deliver real solutions and results. This is an opportunity to potentially represent San Francisco for over 12 years, to make a real impact on these big issues.
The governor put together a task force on homelessness and the No. 1 recommendation from that task force was that every county should have to have a plan that has accountability to address homelessness in their county. That means the number of beds that they have to build, treatment facilities, number of shelters, supportive housing, and then actually have a public right of action where the attorney general or others could come in and actually have accountability … I’m going to introduce that bill to ensure there’s a public right of action to make sure every county does their part on homelessness. We need to allow paramedics and pharmacists to prescribe treatments and lower the barriers to access; getting people enrolled in treatments that can get them off of fentanyl and other opioids. We do need shelter as a pathway to housing. We need to get to at least a transitional shelter placement for everyone. That then helps us transition them more permanently off the streets.
Somebody steals 30 times and we never do anything about that. That was not the promise of criminal justice reform. We are at a really critical stage where we have to fulfill that promise by actually making sure people have effective consequences. They get real help, investment in collaborative community courts. I’m looking at our probation and parole system to make sure it’s working more effectively, the savings that came from Prop 47 (certain drug possession and theft offenses reclassified as misdemeanors) have to go into actual results. We have many people who need help. They’re coming in and out of our courtrooms. So that has to be the frontline response for our social safety net, to make sure that they stop (coming into court).
Our hospital system is still strained, our public health system is still strained. Funding can support for staffing, for backup. We still don’t have enough tests. We need support from the state to make sure we have adequate testing. Some of the responses we had earlier, like eviction protections, like rent forgiveness, we’re going to have to look at extending some of those and continuing some of that level of support. We already have to start to prepare to prevent the next pandemic.
The No. 1 issue is the emotional, social and mental toll that this past year and a half has taken on young people. It is our responsibility to provide wraparound services to have more nurses and social workers in schools, to have that outside support, additional after-school and before-school and summer programming.
Responses were edited for clarity. | 2022-01-29T01:59:04Z | www.sfexaminer.com | We interviewed every candidate in S.F.’s assembly race. Here’s where they stand on key issues - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/we-interviewed-every-candidate-in-s-f-s-assembly-race-heres-where-they-stand-on-key-issues/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/we-interviewed-every-candidate-in-s-f-s-assembly-race-heres-where-they-stand-on-key-issues/ |
By Marc Sandalow • January 28, 2022 3:00 pm - Updated January 28, 2022 4:08 pm
Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement from the Supreme Court on Jan. 26, 2022, graduated from Lowell High School in 1955, where he was voted “most likely to succeed.” (Courtesy of Lowell High School)
Growing up on Kittredge Avenue at the foot of the University of San Francisco, Stephen Breyer couldn’t possibly have imagined the trajectory of his career.
It’s not that an understanding of copyright law and intellectual property — hallmarks of his legal career — would have been beyond the imaginary grasp of a boy, even one smart enough to have tested into Lowell High School. And it’s not that he couldn’t see himself pursuing a career in law. His father was general counsel for San Francisco Unified School District, and his grandfather had been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
It’s that the questions he would grapple with as a legal scholar, such as whether computer software is subject to copyright law, were unthinkable in an era when dictionaries defined computers as “one who computes.’’
In the 1940s, when Breyer was a kid, the Bay Area’s biggest technological breakthroughs were the new bridges that connected The City to Marin County and the East Bay. Bill Hewlett and David Packer were still decades away from producing calculators, let alone computers, and neither Steve Wozniak or Steve Jobs had been conceived.
Yet it was those formative years — digging ditches for PG&E, serving salads at Camp Mather, advancing from Boy Scout to Eagle Scout and voted “most likely to succeed” in his high school graduating class — that Breyer said he developed “a trust in, almost a love for, the possibilities of a democracy.’’
Breyer became fascinated by copyright law as a young professor at Harvard Law School, which he attended after graduating from Stanford. He was fond of quoting the 19th-century British poet, historian and member of Parliament Thomas Babington Macaulay who wrote that copyright was “a tax on readers for the purpose of giving a bounty to writers.’’
Breyer also understood that the application of American jurisprudence needed to be flexible to reflect contemporary circumstances, even those that lawmakers may never have envisioned.
“If I’m applying the First Amendment, I have to apply it to a world where there’s an Internet, and there’s Facebook, and there are movies like… ‘The Social Network,’ which I couldn’t even understand,’’ he told law students in 2010.
Much fun is made of old people’s tech ignorance, particularly Supreme Court Justices. Breyer himself once said he had no idea what kind of smart phone he owned because he could never remember the password to open it.
Yet Breyer immersed himself in the world of technology and spent a career trying to apply centuries-old principles of copyright law to a technology that didn’t exist when he was born.
As far back as 1970 — a decade and a half before Apple introduced the first personal computer — Breyer wrote in the Harvard Law Review that applying strict copyright codes to computer software might stifle the advancement of technology.
“The law should allow individuals and small groups to store copyrighted material in computers and to use it for research purposes without obtaining permission from the copyright owner,’’ he wrote.
Breyer’s seminal article, “The Uneasy Case for Copyright,’’ shows remarkable foresight as well as how little was understood about the future.
At one point, he wrote of the possibility of computer printers — not ones that might allow individuals to print their own copies of copyrighted material, but ones capable of producing “printing plates directly from a typed manuscript, eliminating the cost of retyping copy on…a linotype machine.’’
Nonetheless, he concluded that “computer programs should not receive copyright protection at the present time.’’
Such thinking was evident 40 years later in the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision rejecting Oracle’s claim that Google had unfairly copied 11,500 lines of computer coding in creating its Android platform.
Writing for the majority, Breyer distinguished between “implementing’’ and “declaring codes” to determine that Google’s use of Oracle’s Java Script program was “fair use.’’
“Just as fair use distinguishes among books and films, which are indisputably subjects of copyright, so too must it draw lines among computer programs,’’ he wrote, displaying a knowledge of computer programming that would humble most law school graduates.
Breyer said it took him nearly a year to write the opinion in the Google case and compared his study of computer lingo to learning Latvian.
San Francisco has changed as much as anyplace during Breyer’s life. Lowell (for the moment) no longer admits students based on tests. Camp Mather has been closed for two years due to a global pandemic. His childhood home on Kittredge Avenue, valued at $12,000 in the 1940 census, is now worth over $2 million.
Breyer’s ability to apply traditional concepts to evolving circumstances has enshrined his place in legal history. And his San Francisco story reminds us how the future is often beyond our wildest imagination.
Marc Sandalow is associate director of the University of California’s Washington Center. He has written about Bay Area issues from Washington for nearly 30 years.
By The San Francisco Examiner Editorial Board | 2022-01-29T01:59:16Z | www.sfexaminer.com | In 1940s San Francisco, Stephen Breyer developed ‘a trust in, almost a love for, the possibilities of a democracy’ - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/in-1940s-san-francisco-stephen-breyer-developed-a-trust-in-almost-a-love-for-the-possibilities-of-a-democracy/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/in-1940s-san-francisco-stephen-breyer-developed-a-trust-in-almost-a-love-for-the-possibilities-of-a-democracy/ |
Thousands of The Faithful have arrived in Southern California ahead of NFC Championship Game against the Rams
By Al Saracevic • January 29, 2022 1:30 am
The 49ers hosted a Los Angeles invasion party in downtown Los Angeles Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game. The Faithful showed up by the thousands. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
LOS ANGELES — The line stretched around the corner, through the square, down the sidewalk and then further down the street.
To be honest, I couldn’t see the end of it.
That was the scene in downtown Los Angeles Saturday, where thousands of Niners fans gathered to rally around their team ahead of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Rams. It was a remarkable show of force for a fanbase that was told to stay away.
Apparently, no one was listening.
Folks were blowing horns, waving flags, wearing sombreros and lucha libre masks. It was a kind of nutty, like a Sourdough Sam fantasy. (And, yes. The Niners’ miner mascot was on hand, taking selfies and scaring small children.)
The whole thing was happening across the street from the arena formerly known as Staples, in the heart of The City’s rejuvenated events district. A giant statue of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looked over the scene in horror.
Niners officials told me they hadn’t really done anything to promote or market the gathering. It just spread organically. So much so, people waited in line for over three hours to get into what appeared to be the world’s largest sports bar.
When Jesse Mendez finally got into Tom’s Watch Bar, he marched through the crowd waving a flag and shouting at the top of his lungs. The Faithful responded in kind and the party was on.
“It’s crazy! We’re all here to support our team,” said Mendez, a 51-year-old San Jose native who’s part of the “408 Faithfuls” fan club. “We went to Dallas. We went to Green Bay. We’ve expanded our reach to every place the Niners play.”
Like everyone else following the team, Mendez heard the Rams didn’t want their own fans to sell tickets to Niners fans. That strategy appears to have backfired spectacularly.
“Seattle does the same thing every year,” said Mendez. “And it works up there. I knew it wasn’t going to work down here because L.A. doesn’t have the fanbase. Rams fans still got creases in the jerseys they just bought at the gift shop!”
Ouch. That one’s gonna leave a mark.
Courtney Haynie, 37, was one of the many fans on hand who hails from Los Angeles. She had been standing in line for nearly three hours and still wasn’t that close to getting into the party. But that didn’t stop her from smiling and chatting about her team.
“My boyfriend’s a diehard Niners fan,” she said. “He couldn’t come, so I came to represent.”
Jose Valazquez, 46, traveled to L.A. from San Rafael. I asked him why the Rams seemed so concerned with a fan invasion.
“It’s fear,” he said. “When you try to prevent real fans from trying to come out. It says something about you as a city. It sucks.”
David Semillo, 37, arrived in Los Angeles with a towel that said “Levi’s South.” The Stockton man explained that, “It’s just something in the culture of The Faithful. We’ll go anywhere.”
Where they ended up was Los Angeles, where you don’t really see many Rams jerseys around town. Maybe it was moving to St. Louis for 12 years. Maybe it’s sharing a stadium with the Chargers. Maybe people still love their Raiders here. Whatever the case, the Rams have some work to do.
It was always said that Los Angeles cared more about their college football, cheering on the Trojans and Bruins with gusto. We’ll see on Sunday what kind of NFL town it’s become.
I asked Niners’ legend Eric Davis what he thought of the crowd that had amassed in the City of Angels. He wasn’t surprised.
“Niners fans have always done that. It’s always been one of things,” said Davis, who was there glad-handing the fans. “Even back when we were playing in Anaheim, it was always red. That’s just a part of it.”
“I also think there’s a ton of Niners fans in L.A. This is a legendary franchise. Because of that, you have fans all over the country.”
True that. As I walked out of the party, I could hear fans chanting, people shouting and clapping, Niners fans one and all.
The invasion was successful. Sourdough Sam is the King of L.A.
‘Mrs. Robinson’ makes dance history at San Francisco Ballet
The Niners and Rams know each other well. And they look alike, too. | 2022-01-30T00:23:42Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Niners fans invade Los Angeles. Sourdough Sam declared king - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-fans-invade-los-angeles-sourdough-sam-declared-king/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-fans-invade-los-angeles-sourdough-sam-declared-king/ |
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19) walks off the field with a towel over his head following a 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
LOS ANGELES — Championship games usually go one of two ways. They can be embarrassing blowouts that expose one team as an obvious inferior. Or they can be instant classics, pitting two worthy opponents in a gripping drama.
Sunday’s affair in Los Angeles was great theater… until it ended in tragedy.
After trading big plays, blown chances, costly gaffes and defensive stands for 60 minutes, the Rams emerged victorious over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 20-17, ending San Francisco’s magical late-season run that fell just one game short of a trip to Super Bowl LVI.
It was a season of ups and downs, with many writing off the Niners early on, when they started out with a 3-5 record. But the team never quit on itself, rallying around head coach Kyle Shanahan to win their last game of the season, against these very same Rams, to qualify for the playoffs. They went to Dallas and beat a very talented Cowboys team. They travelled to Green Bay, where they ended the Packers’ season.
But the Cinderella story ended on SoFi Stadium Sunday, not too far from Tinseltown itself.
This game had plenty of plot twists, with the Niners receiving the benefit of good luck and better bounces for the first three quarters. Early on, a tipped pass was intercepted by San Francisco’s Jimmie Ward in the end zone, stopping the Rams first big scoring threat. Two horrible passes from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo fell to the turf harmlessly, just barely avoiding game-changing turnovers. The Niners downed a punt at the three-yard line. And they benefited from a generous spot on what seemed to be a crucial fourth-down stand late in the third quarter.
San Francisco 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt (3) juggles a near interception in the fourth quarter. The play proved to be critical as the Rams went on to tie the game and then take the lead with less than two minutes to play. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
The momentum and the mojo, however, changed undeniably in the fourth quarter, when Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford dropped back and unleashed a long pass downfield that was way off target. Niners cornerback Jaquiski Tartt back-pedaled, awaiting the sure interception. But it hit him in the hands, then the face and he fumbled it way. A sure-thing turnover lost, Tartt laid there on the ground, facedown, agonizing over the botched play. It would’ve given the Niners a chance to grow their lead and cement the win.
Off we went to the fourth quarter, where the two teams found themselves locked in a 17-17 tie with less than two minutes to go. The Rams drove down the field, setting up Matt Gay to kick a 30-yard field goal with less than two minutes to go, sealing San Francisco’s fate. The Niners got the ball back with 1:49 to go, plenty of time to march down and score a game-winning touchdown, or tie the game and force overtime. But the dream ended quick.
The season effectively ended on an absolute circus play that found Garoppolo scrambling for his life deep in Niners territory, Rams defenders draped all over him, desperately looking to unload the ball. Then he did. A truly unfortunate shovel pass was tipped in the air, then picked off by the Rams’ Travin Howard. The Rams took a knee and the celebration was on.
It could very well by Jimmy G’s last pass for the Niners, who are expected to move on from the popular field general this offseason. That would be said. He’s been a class act throughout his tenure and deserved better. But this is the NFL. Which usually means “not for long” for most players.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54) holds back tears following the Niners 20-17 loss. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Now, the Niners head back to Santa Clara to ponder a lot of couldas, wouldas and shouldas. Tartt will forever replay that drop in his mind. So will everyone else.
After the loss, Deebo Samuel sat on the Niners’ bench alone with a towel over his head. The man who emerged as the NFL’s newest superstar this season sat on the bench alone, finally raising his head to watch the Rams celebrate. It was heartbreaking to see him there, getting consoled by staffers. His teammates had all walked off the field, but Deebo just sat there, staring out in space, clearly haunted by what could’ve been.
Out on the field, the Rams were making snow angels in the confetti. | 2022-01-31T05:18:56Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Niners’ Super Bowl dreams dashed in heartbreaking fashion - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-super-bowl-dreams-dashed-in-heartbreaking-fashion/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/niners-super-bowl-dreams-dashed-in-heartbreaking-fashion/ |
By Al Saracevic • January 30, 2022 8:30 pm
Despite a great season that saw the Niners almost reach the Super Bowl, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, shown here in the NFC Championship Game loss against the Rams, may have played his last game for San Francisco. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
LOS ANGELES — Long after that awful final possession. Hours after the Niners squandered their chance at the Super Bowl. Deep in the bowels of SoFi Stadium, where the concrete corridors housed both winners and the losers, that’s where you could find the human side of football.
In a sport that more often dehumanizes, that’s where you can see the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and girlfriends of the San Francisco 49ers, waiting for their loved ones to emerge. Win or lose, your family is always there for you.
There was the Kittle clan, huddling up to offer their solace from heartbreak. It was a beautiful scene, with the whole family gathering for a group hug and a quick cheer. Nick Bosa limped up, like most every football player does after battle. He was immediately engulfed by the Kittles. These young men may have lost a big game. But they survived to fight another day. Mothers appreciate that more than you know.
Off to the side, Jimmy Garoppolo stood in the hall, wearing a smart checkered suit, tilting a rolling suitcase to the side. He didn’t have any family waiting for him. He looked just as much the banker as the quarterback, perparing to fly home from another business trip. And, to be frank, this was a business trip for all of them.
The NFL is a brutal business, that cares little for sentiment of schmaltz. As nice as it is to find pockets of humanity deep below these billion dollar buildings, you’re never far from the cold, harsh realities of the NFL.
This was likely Jimmy Garoppolo’s last business trip for 49ers Inc.
The embattled quarterback has been mired in speculation and scrutiny ever since the team traded half the farm to draft Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft last April.
The fans clamored for the rookie to play. The media parsed out Garoppolo’s every move, openly speculating whether he’d lost his touch. It was really a circus, early on this season, reaching peak crescendo after the team fell to 3-5. You’d think Garoppolo had robbed a bank.
Instead, he never lost his cool, rallied the team around him and got three points away from the Super Bowl. In the process, he likely made himself millions in future contracts.
But the one he has with the Niners has only one more year on it. The team would have to pay him $27 million to stay. If they trade him or release him, they’d only be on the hook for about $1.4 million. That’s a huge swing, and a financial game-changer, for a team trying to work magic in the NFL’s salary cap system.
Instead of paying Garoppolo, the team is expected to let him go and use that money to sign emerging superstar Deebo Samuel to a fat extension. Bosa also needs to get paid. And the team needs to bring in new talent, as every squad does, every offseason. The Niners need Jimmy’s money for operational flexibility.
That leaves Garoppolo the odd man out. His teammates love him. The fans respect him. The team appreciates what he did since signing in 2019.
But the league has no room for sentiment. Jimmy Garoppolo is a goner. And he knows it.
Asked how he dealt with the drama all season long, he smiled his Jimmy smile and said, “I don’t know. Lot of good people around me. Lot of good people in this organization. Surround yourself with good people and things will take of themselves.”
Asked if he felt the emotions of the moment after the game, he grew serious.
“They hit pretty hard in the lockerroom. I think these next couple of days, they’ll settle in a bit. It’s one of these things,” said Garoppolo. “You have to think about the good things. We’ll see what happens in the coming days and weeks.”
Good luck, Jimmy. Let’s remember the good times. | 2022-01-31T05:19:08Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Was that the last we’ll see of Jimmy Garoppolo? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/was-that-the-last-well-see-of-jimmy-garoppolo/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/was-that-the-last-well-see-of-jimmy-garoppolo/ |
1974 masterpiece in re-release with one-week screening at the Embarcadero Cinema
By Jeffrey M. Anderson • January 31, 2022 1:30 pm - Updated January 31, 2022 4:07 pm
“The Conversation” was released on April 7, 1974. Critics noted the film was an uncanny yet unintentional response to the Watergate wiretapping scandal. (Image courtesy of Rialto Pictures/American Zoetrope)
Starting Feb. 4, city dwellers will have a rare chance to see one of the quintessential San Francisco movies on the big screen. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 masterpiece “The Conversation” plays at the Embarcadero Cinema for a week, through Feb. 10.
Made, incredibly, between Coppola’s first two “Godfather” films, “The Conversation” begins in Union Square, looking quite different then than it does today. An average couple (Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest) wander around the square, talking about seemingly nothing. Nearby, sound expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) records them.
Later, as he tweaks and adjusts the recording, Harry begins to feel that something sinister is going on and becomes obsessed with learning more. Unfortunately, someone now seems to be watching Harry.
Harry starts the film as a paranoid, solitary character, wearing a weird translucent raincoat with his droopy mustache and unstylish glasses. His apartment, located, according to reelsf.com, at 700 Laguna St., is a barren place. He owns no telephone and only uses payphones (remember them)? And when a neighbor leaves him a birthday present, his reaction is not surprise or gratitude, but rather rage that she entered his apartment.
Coppola, in a 1999 interview in Scenario Magazine, which analyzed the screenplay, said he shot Harry’s apartment as if with a surveillance camera. “That’s a motif of the film; you see him, and then he just walks out of the frame. The camera doesn’t follow him. Then he walks back in. [We wanted] this theme of intrusion on personal privacy to be constantly present.”
Meanwhile, Harry’s assistant Stan (the great John Cazale, who also played Fredo in the “Godfather” films) wants nothing more than Harry’s appreciation or friendship, but never gets it. Another wiretapper, the obnoxious “Bernie” Moran (Allen Garfield) can only get Harry’s attention by secretly recording him and playing it back. Not even Harry’s kinda-sorta girlfriend Amy (Teri Garr) knows much about him.
Harry’s workshop (1616 16th Street) is also the ultimate in paranoia. It’s a huge, unoccupied warehouse space, with Harry and Stan socked tightly into a little cage at the far corner.
Another key scene is set at, of all things, a wiretapper’s convention, which Coppola said was the real thing; only a few extra touches were added. The sequence was shot inside the St. Francis Hotel, on the mezzanine level, and in the Colonial Room.
Also in the cast are two huge stars in small roles, Robert Duvall, as the mysterious “Director” who hires Harry, and up-and-comer Harrison Ford as the Director’s assistant. (Ford chose to play his character as gay, which must have been a daring choice at the time.) Their office was located at One Embarcadero Center, and some of the backgrounds still look the same. A security desk was placed right in front of one of the structure’s famous spiral staircases, which is still there.
Coppola found inspiration for the film in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow Up,” released in 1966, about a photographer who believes he has inadvertently taken a picture of a murder. Coppola wrote “The Conversation” soon after, but couldn’t find anyone interested in producing it.
But after the massive, world-changing success of “The Godfather” in 1972, Coppola found he had a great deal more clout, and Paramount agreed to make the film.
Following the shoot in San Francisco between December of 1972 and February of 1973, Coppola was forced to go to work preparing “The Godfather Part II,” leaving “The Conversation” in the hands of the genius sound man and editor Walter Murch.
With an entire year to tinker with the film, Murch perfected some of his groundbreaking layering techniques, and turned in an intricate, precision film.
It was Murch who realized that there was no satisfactory ending for the film.
“You do not see or hear or know anything that Harry Caul does not also see or know or hear,” said Murch in an interview in the same issue of Scenario. “This was especially tricky, because at the end, we were obliged to indicate what actually happened, but only insofar as Harry understood it. We couldn’t simply jump into the third person at that point and wrap it all up.”
His discovery of a particular line reading that changed the nature of the mystery saved the film’s ending, kept Harry’s point of view and leaves everything off with a tingling bit of ambiguity.
Murch also received the gift of having the music score — performed on a single piano by David Shire — finished before shooting even began, which is far from standard practice. “Usually, the final score comes at the last moment and it’s spray-gunned onto the movie,” said Murch.
“Francis played the music for the actors — that way they knew what they were acting against,” Murch said. “We also ran the piano through a synthesizer, and the amount of processing depended on what was happening in the scene. If the music will be doing this, I can go out on that limb. You could take more risks.”
Of Murch, Coppola said, “He really was a collaborator on the film. He didn’t work on the script with me, but in the final cut he made a big contribution.”
“The Conversation” was released on April 7, 1974. Critics responded to how timely the film seemed, especially tied to the news of the day, about wire-tapping and the Watergate break-in.
“I remember we were shooting, and the news on the break-in happened. We said, ‘Hey isn’t this weird? This is sort of what we’re about.’ But I didn’t approach it that way,” Coppola said.
The film received critical acclaim. It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and received three Academy Award Nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Design. Ironically, it competed against Coppola’s heavily-nominated “The Godfather Part II.”
Yet it had very little impact on the box office, grossing only $4.2 million against a $1.6 million budget. By comparison, according to the-numbers.com, “The Godfather Part II” grossed $57.3 million, while the top earners of the year were “The Towering Inferno” and “Blazing Saddles,” both breaking $100 million.
Yet “The Conversation” has endured, and its themes of technology and privacy have only grown more relevant.
“It’s probably the best of all my films,” Coppola said in 1999. “But I don’t see my own films. When my films are done, it’s like they’re really done.”
Where: Embarcadero Cinema, 1 Embarcadero Ctr, S.F.
Tickets: $12.50 -$16
Contact: (415) 352-0835; www.landmarktheatres.com | 2022-02-01T01:52:22Z | www.sfexaminer.com | With its themes of technology and privacy, Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation” grows more relevant - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/with-its-themes-of-technology-and-privacy-francis-ford-coppolas-the-conversation-grows-more-relevant/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/with-its-themes-of-technology-and-privacy-francis-ford-coppolas-the-conversation-grows-more-relevant/ |
Volunteers Cricket Miller and Kevin Feng plan how to cover their assigned route for the homeless point-in-time count on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed The City’s homeless count, typically done every two years, but it is expected to take place at the end of February. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
On the laundry list of San Francisco’s challenges, its homelessness crisis is perhaps the most pressing.
Yet officials can’t even grasp the scale of the crisis they face because they don’t know how many people are currently experiencing homelessness. The bi-annual census count of people living on the streets or in shelters has not been taken since January 2019.
Cities that receive federal funding are required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct the point-in-time count — an in-person headcount of the homeless population on a single night in January — every two years.
The County of San Francisco received $44.5 million in federal funding grants in 2019, second in the state only to Los Angeles.
It was canceled last year due to COVID-19 concerns, and San Francisco just decided to postpone it again until February 22, citing ongoing health concerns around the Omicron variant.
Hundreds of volunteers span The City counting every person they see on the streets, as well as those sleeping in parks, vehicles and shelters. It’s widely considered to be an under-count, but is used as a helpful barometer of changing trends, the demographics of the population and how much funding should be directed towards homelessness services.
“It is an important tool to note changes from year to year because it follows the same methodology here and across the country,” said Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness. “We can see trends, for example, increases and decreases, and changes in geographic areas of The City.”
This year’s point-in-time count will be particularly illustrative as it tries to capture the chaos that has characterized the pandemic.
According to the 2019 count, there were 8,035 people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, the highest number since 2013.
Officials say they believe even more people have been forced into homelessness due to layoffs, housing insecurity and the general hardship posed by nearly two years of COVID-19. The forthcoming census count will help to determine whether these numbers have indeed spiked.
“We have heard anecdotal reports of increases in unsheltered homelessness, and we look to the 2022 PIT count to confirm or refute that assumption,” according to a spokesperson for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
Local policymakers also hope to use the count to glean how effective pandemic-era emergency response measures have been at mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing homelessness.
When congregate shelters were deemed unsafe due to viral transmission, The City mobilized to create safe sleeping sites, open shelter-in-place hotels and to identify other options for people so they did not have to resort to sleeping outside.
Because the point-in-time count includes detailed information on where everyone identified is staying, it should shed some light on how these interventions have affected homelessness patterns.
Of the over 8,000 people experiencing homelessness in 2019, 5,180 of them were unsheltered with the largest concentrations gathering in Districts Ten and Six, which together include SoMA, the Tenderloin and Bayview-Hunters Point. Almost 85% of the remaining 2,855 individuals considered to be sheltered were residing in emergency shelter locations while the rest were in transitional housing or other specialized programs.
Friedenbach said that while “it’s hard to say ” what to expect out of the 2022 results, she believes there will be an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness overall. But she anticipates a smaller fraction of that total will be living on the streets thanks to shelter-in-place hotel rooms.
Finally, the count includes detailed data gathering about age, race, sex and other factors alongside questions about drug use, medical history and past interactions with services.
All together, this information helps to paint a picture of San Francisco’s homeless population. It should also guide officials in charge of spending over $1 billion on homelessness services during this current two-year budget cycle.
While the count will be conducted on February 22, results won’t be available until the summer. | 2022-02-01T01:52:28Z | www.sfexaminer.com | A crucial factor in understanding S.F.’s homelessness crisis - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/a-crucial-factor-in-understanding-s-f-s-homelessness-crisis/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/a-crucial-factor-in-understanding-s-f-s-homelessness-crisis/ |
By Soumya Karlamangla • January 31, 2022 3:30 pm - Updated January 31, 2022 4:36 pm
A person holds a pro-single payer sign during a health care rally in front of San Francisco City Hall on Jan. 15, 2017. (Shutterstock)
Editor’s note: Assembly Bill 1400 was pulled from Monday’s agenda and not voted on by members of the assembly. According to the bill’s author, Ash Kalra (D- San Jose), the legislation was pulled because “we did not have the votes necessary for passage and I decided the best course of action is to not put AB 1400 for a vote today.”
For years, the single-payer health care movement has found traction in California.
In 1994, a proposal that would have replaced private health insurance with a government-run system made the ballot, although it failed to garner enough votes. In 2017, a similar overhaul passed in the state Senate. The following year, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a campaign pledge to create the nation’s first single-payer system at the state level.
Now, yet another such proposal is being put to the test in the Golden State.
Assembly Bill 1400 would create CalCare, a publicly financed health care system that would provide coverage to all Californians, similar to the way that medical treatments are delivered in Britain or Canada. The bill must garner a majority in a state Assembly vote Monday to have a chance of survival.
The proposal from Assemblyman Ash Kalra, a Democrat, would create a nine-person board to govern CalCare and would eliminate the fragmented ways in which California residents currently receive health care — and the co-pays and deductibles that often go along with them.
If enacted, the changes would make California the only U.S. state with a single-payer health care system. Vermont approved one in 2011, but the plan fell apart before it was implemented.
There’s an asterisk next to California’s big plans, though. A.B. 1400 doesn’t include any information about how the state’s new health care system would be financed.
A recent legislative analysis estimated it could cost between $314 billion and $391 billion annually. Supporters say that price tag, while high, would still be lower than what employers and Californians currently pay for private insurance.
Still, the state would need funding to get the system up and running. And the details for how California will come up with that money aren’t included in A.B. 1400 — they’re in a separate, accompanying bill that has yet to come up for a vote.
That bill, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11, proposes a tax hike on businesses, large companies and the wealthiest Californians to fund the single-payer system.
It faces many obstacles to approval. It would need to pass the Senate and Assembly and then go before voters, something that Kalra said was not likely to happen before 2024, The Los Angeles Times reported.
In other words, no matter what happens Monday, supporters of single-payer health care in California still have a long road ahead of them. | 2022-02-01T01:52:34Z | www.sfexaminer.com | California’s single-payer health care proposal faces crucial vote - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/californias-single-payer-health-care-proposal-faces-crucial-vote/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/californias-single-payer-health-care-proposal-faces-crucial-vote/ |
By Jeff Elder • January 31, 2022 11:30 am
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, has been a leader in the fight to establish net neutrality. (Photo by Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner, Illustration by Matthew Petty)
The issues, which often play out in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, seem clear-cut. Social media companies should protect consumers’ privacy. Ride-sharing companies should pay drivers fairly. And, in the latest wave of new tech, electricity-churning cryptocurrency companies should protect the environment.
The problem is timing, says state Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who won a key regulatory court battle last week. “You don’t necessarily perceive everything at the beginning,” Wiener told The Examiner. “If you regulate too early, you can get it wrong, so it’s helpful to wait and see how things play out.”
But some seemingly clear-cut issues take years to play out, due to vast amounts of tech cash. That has been the case with “net neutrality,” the granddaddy of modern tech regulatory struggles, which has been debated for more than a decade.
On Friday, San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld state legislation written by Wiener to enforce net neutrality — the effort to prevent telecom and cable companies from selling more prominent access on the internet to wealthy interests. Cable companies that sell wifi, for instance, should not be able to give their customers faster streaming service on their own websites than they do on the rival Netflix’s site.
The legal victory, in which judges from both parties ruled California can enforce net neutrality under state law, was widely watched and could lead to new national regulation to finally nail down the issue. The ruling also brings into sharp focus the difficulty of addressing important issues of tech as they emerge, and before the high-stakes legal wrangling takes over. As a former San Francisco supervisor and now a state senator representing The City, Wiener has been deeply involved in the struggle to regulate tech. Sometimes, he believes, even common sense reform can be arduous.
Almost everyone agrees the issue of net neutrality should have been firmly resolved long ago. Eighty-six percent of Americans believe consumers should have access to all websites without paying to visit some or getting faster service on others that have paid for better access, according to a 2018 University of Maryland poll.
“I don’t care if you are a mega Q-anon person or a Democratic socialist, no one wants big telecom companies telling them where they can or can’t go on the internet,” Wiener said in an interview with The Examiner. “Everyone wants the ability to make that decision for ourselves.
“And so this is absolutely the big telecom and cable companies versus everyone else.”
So why is net neutrality still being settled in the courts? The answer, watchdog groups say, is Donald Trump. The former president’s FCC chairman, former Verizon attorney Ajit Pai, dismantled federal net neutrality laws established by the Obama administration. Big money from Pai’s former industry then poured in, washing away the principle of equal access to all websites.
Telecom and cable companies spent $235 million to lobby federal lawmakers in 2019-2020, and $82 million on net neutrality lobbying alone, the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause found last year.
“I was elected in November 2016. I wasn’t planning to introduce that neutrality legislation because we had federal net neutrality protections. It wasn’t necessary. And it wasn’t until Trump’s FCC eliminated those neutrality protections that I decided we need to take action as a state,” Wiener said.
Wiener’s bill, SB822, prevailed in a bruising 2018 election, survived court battles in 2019 and 2021, and prevailed in the appeal effort rejected by the court last week. And while even more legal wrangling could still lie ahead, it will be difficult to overturn Friday’s ruling by three judges on both sides of the political aisle. The law’s success could lead to President Biden’s FCC nailing the issue down at the federal level once again.
“This is a very strong ruling by a panel that includes judges appointed by presidents of both parties,” Wiener said. “Obama’s FCC crafted strong net neutrality protections, and Trump’s yanked it away. So we really need Congress to act. Ideally, we would have federal legislation creating very strong net neutrality protections for the whole country.”
Consumer watchdog groups give Wiener credit for his work on net neutrality. “Senator Scott Wiener showed that he has principles of steel by taking on the industry and winning such a profound victory for the public interest,” Evan Greer, director of the nonprofit Fight for the Future told The Examiner in an email.
The Ninth Circuit case was supported by attorneys general in 18 other states in a brief urging the court to uphold the state law, which the nonprofit Electronic Freedom Foundation called “the gold standard” of legislation.
The internet service providers said they are “disappointed and will review our options. Once again, a piecemeal approach to this issue is untenable and Congress should codify national rules for an open internet once and for all,” the industry groups America’s Communications Association, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, National Cable & Telecommunications Association and USTelecom told The Examiner in a joint statement.
But if net neutrality has finally turned a corner, what about the other issues that are also high stakes, legally thorny, and difficult to legislate with the perfect timing Wiener believes would be ideal?
For instance, the data sucked up by social media cannot be restored to private citizens. Wiener believes that was a mistake by lawmakers. “It should have been regulated better earlier on,” Wiener said. “We definitely, I think, did wait too long on privacy, for sure.”
And the latest tech issue to sweep into the court of popular opinion, cryptocurrency, is unfolding fast. “We’ll see how it plays out,” Wiener said. “My issue is first of all, the mega carbon emissions that it generates in terms of all the servers that have to be used is just unacceptable.”
A recent study found that Bitcoin, the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency, uses more electricity than the country of Argentina, as computers crunch numbers to encrypt the blockchain coding that cryptocurrency relies on.
“Cryptocurrency may end up playing a really significant role in our society, but there is a lot of enthusiasm by people who don’t necessarily understand the risks, and that is concerning to me,” Wiener said.
Still, Wiener said, the victories in tech regulation are important, even if – as in the case of net neutrality – it takes years.
Wiener praised progress in the struggle to bring open-source voting technology to San Francisco. After 15 years of failure to explore the technology, which was uncovered by an Examiner investigation, The City is finally taking steps to free itself from a near-monopoly and take charge of its own voting machines. Next fall, a pilot program will begin using a nonprofit’s transparent technology, sought by three mayors and urged by a grand jury.
“I’ve long been a strong supporter of open source voting and it’s been slow going. I’m glad that there’s continued leadership to try to make it a reality.” | 2022-02-01T01:52:53Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Why is it so hard to regulate big tech? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/why-is-it-so-hard-to-regulate-big-tech/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/why-is-it-so-hard-to-regulate-big-tech/ |
By Sydney Johnson Examiner staff writer • February 1, 2022 9:30 am - Updated February 1, 2022 9:51 am
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is an FDA-approved medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
While the number of overdose deaths declined in San Francisco’s most recent tally, other indicators of progress reveal The City is still far from getting a grasp on its most urgent health crisis.
There were 50 fewer overdose deaths linked to opioids, cocaine, or methamphetamine in 2021 compared with 2020, when overdose deaths reached an all-time high of 700, according to data from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The past year marked the first decline in overdose deaths since 2018.
But other recent city data show overdose reversals are climbing while substance use treatment admissions have been on the decline for years. The simultaneous trends point to a complicated picture of limited treatment options during the pandemic, a deadlier drug supply that requires fast-acting reversals, and a growing number of individuals treated each year with addiction medications outside publicly-funded programs.
The findings come at a time when San Francisco is pouring renewed attention and resources at a long-brewing crisis and public discourse over what strategies are helping. A new Tenderloin Linkage Center that opened in January appears to highlight the challenge. In its first week, the center connected just 3% of guests to treatment services, while other proposals for sobering centers, safe drug consumption sites and supportive housing supply remain held up in bureaucratic delays.
Mayor London Breed recently announced the decrease in overdose deaths, praising prevention strategies that have been implemented over the last two years, including a Street Overdose Response Team, an overdose prevention program in SRO buildings, an overhaul of San Francisco’s mental healthcare system, and adding 150 overdose reversal medicine stations across shelter-in-place sites for the homeless.
“We must look ahead and build on the progress we have,” she said. “We know that we still have a long way to go, but we must act aggressively to ensure that every resident receives the support and services they so desperately need.”
Moving ahead may be the only choice, but it’s not a simple one. And those tasked with examining The City’s drug overdose data say it’s too soon to know which specific interventions might be helping.
“It’s hard to say on a case-by-case level, and to attribute [the decline in deaths] to any one intervention requires a big sample size and very, very complicated analyses,” said Dr. Phillip Coffin, Director of Substance Use Research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, who authored a recent report on The City’s substance use trends. “I couldn’t do that scientifically with the data sets we have currently.”
What is clear, Coffin said, is that San Francisco is now leaning in to fight an overdose crisis that’s much different from where The City was even just prior to the pandemic’s onset.
As deaths have dipped, overdose reversals have skyrocketed from 2,600 in 2019 to more than 6,000 in 2021, according to data from the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education or DOPE Project, which is part of the Harm Reduction Coalition and funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
The growing number of reversals is possible due to a broader effort in San Francisco to increase the distribution of naloxone, a short-acting opioid antagonist.
Broadly, overdose trends in San Francisco signal that “interventions work, but we are starting on a much higher baseline,” said Coffin. “We have such a larger place to start with that impact feels less satisfying, but it’s equally important because every single life matters.”
Bigger problems, tougher solutions
For individuals who survive a drug overdose, what happens next isn’t clear.
Opioid treatment has increased each year in San Francisco since 2018, but the overall number of admissions to treatment programs for other substances in San Francisco has dropped from 10,273 in 2015 to 6,707 in 2020, according to the city report.
“Honestly, it’s a little bit discouraging,” Coffin said, referring to the decline in substance use treatment for meth in particular. Out of the 650 drug overdose deaths in 2021, 348 involved methamphetamine, according to city data.
Lockdowns in 2020 made it more difficult for many people to stay connected with treatment programs. But other challenges have been creeping up since 2015, including a more potent and deadly drug supply and an increasingly unaffordable housing market. The decline was also likely related to an increasing number of people receiving buprenorphine, an opioid treatment medicine, outside The City’s treatment programs, Coffin said.
“The reality is the drug trend is changing and people’s conditions are not changing,” said Gary McCoy, director of policy and public affairs at HealthRight360. “People use more when there is more stress. The numbers were really small in San Francisco before 2019, but we didn’t have this deepening of poverty and the added challenge of fentanyl.”
Laura Guzman, a senior director at the Harm Reduction Coalition, emphasized that getting people in the door, even if they aren’t ready to accept services, is part of a long and very personal process of changing behavior.
“You might have folks seeking treatment for opiates, but that does not change the reality that people are still on the streets using drugs, and poor people are impacted the most,” Guzman said. “We can’t prevent all people from overdoses, but we can create conditions for people to live and change their lives.”
Life at the linkage center
One of the primary intervention strategies that have come under the microscope recently is a new Tenderloin Linkage Center in United Nations Plaza. The multi-story building and fenced-off outdoor area intend to act as a navigation center primarily for individuals who are experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders. Organizations such as HealthRight360 and The City’s Homeless Outreach Team are on-site to connect people with services such as housing opportunities or drug treatment.
In the first week since the center opened on Jan. 18, only 33 out of 1,180 individuals were successfully linked to other health and social services.
At the same time, three overdoses were reversed and zero lives were lost, according to a city report released last week detailing elements of Mayor London Breed’s Tenderloin Emergency plan, which launched in December and allowed The City to bypass certain zoning rules to open the linkage site swiftly.
Breed’s delivery of the emergency plan was notably brash. She described the open-air drug sales and use in the Tenderloin as “bullshit” and said drug users outside would be pushed into treatment or face jail time.
Recent reports, however, have confirmed that substances are being consumed on-site and overdose reversals have taken place at the linkage center, showing a more complicated response that is actually playing out on the ground.
News that drugs are being used at the center has since sparked backlash, with some addiction experts pointing to how it could be triggering for individuals who are seeking treatment. Others argue it’s a necessary part of getting people who struggle with addiction through the door.
The City is simultaneously working on a supervised drug consumption site and sobering sites, which are slated to open this year.
“The lack of spaces for people to be in SF has been a huge problem for overdose prevention efforts, whether it’s a drop-in center of a safe consumption site or sobering site, any of these things is a huge value for overdose prevention,” said Coffin. “The best way to prevent overdose deaths is for people not to use in isolated settings. The vast majority of deaths are from people using alone.”
The strategy has already been implemented and saved countless lives in countries such as Canada and Portugal, which decriminalized personal possession of drugs and offered supervised consumption sites as just one part of a broad and progressive approach to keeping drug overdoses low.
The U.S. federal government has not yet approved overdose-prevention centers that allow drug use, but the idea is already in action in places like New York City, which opened a safe consumption site last December that has so far had zero overdose deaths. Rhode Island recently passed a law that will allow people to use illegal drugs in a supervised environment.
“We should be throwing everything we have to this crisis,” said McCoy. “There will be many solutions.” | 2022-02-01T21:08:45Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Are S.F.’s overdose interventions working? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/are-s-f-s-overdose-interventions-working/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/are-s-f-s-overdose-interventions-working/ |
By Ida Mojadad Examiner staff writer • February 1, 2022 9:30 am - Updated February 1, 2022 10:48 am
Amelia Garibay volunteers with Faith in Action to help tenants address housing issues in Redwood City. Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Amelia Garibay, born in Mexico and a Redwood City resident of nearly 40 years, has heard too many stories of poor housing conditions in the area from people she knows.
Her mobile home neighborhood, where she shares housing with her son, his wife and their three children, has faced significant flooding during rainy periods. Little was done until she started going trailer to trailer gathering signatures and demanding improvements. This eventually led to a meeting at the City Council in 2016 and improvements were made.
Garibay, 65, now volunteers with the Redwood City office of Faith in Action, a faith-based organization that often works with immigrant communities. She says there’s still pressing work to be done. That’s because low-income tenants are already living in crowded conditions. And, partly because many don’t speak English, they often are afraid to ask for repairs, whether it’s roofs, plumbing or pest infestations. At the same time, they face rent increases.
“This situation isn’t healthy for anybody,” Garibay said in Spanish through a translator. “There’s a lot of need in the community. And my heart can’t take it.”
Faith in Action organizer Nani Friedman said a major campaign had been pushing early in the pandemic for an eviction moratorium in San Mateo County and continuously pressing for extensions.
Volunteer Carmen Sanchez reached out to low-income residents early in the pandemic to explain their rights under the eviction moratorium. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Volunteering takes many forms. Carmen Sanchez made outreach calls informing people of their rights and options while operating a day-care center, whose clients were often essential workers, during the pandemic. Other volunteers traveled to Washington, D.C., in December to push for federal immigration reform, though, once again, that did not come to fruition.
The organization continues to advocate for rent and eviction relief. Now it wants a registry to track data on rent increases and the creation of a rental relations office to mediate disputes with landlords as part of Redwood City’s anti-displacement strategy.
“Community leaders in Redwood City have been … deeply organizing in the immigrant community,” Friedman said. “It’s all happening in Spanish.” But that approach means their work is often less noticed or credited in the English-speaking community, she said.
In 2019, the organization worked to pass Assembly Bill 1482, which caps rent increases at 5–10%, depending on the local inflation rate, and limits evictions to those deemed to have just cause. The criteria include failure to pay rent, breach of lease or illegal activity and if the landlord wants to move in — in which case, relocation assistance is required.
The group also pushed for a relief fund to help undocumented immigrants who faced lost wages but were ineligible for unemployment. Faith in Action, Mission Asset Fund, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and Samaritan House raised more than $16 million dedicated to those immigrants.
But many people remain in crisis. One Redwood City resident, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said told The Examiner in Spanish through a translator that she is facing increasing pressure from her landlord for back rent that she cannot pay. She borrowed from family members when her work hours were cut dramatically, but they are no longer able to help pay her $1,900 monthly rent.
She was able to pay one month on her own but when omicron hit, her hours were cut again. Her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 at school and could not isolate in their studio, spreading it to her and her son.
“I just have some money for food and other things,” she said. “The pressure from the landlord has been super hard. He says he doesn’t want to be waiting anymore. My story is very similar to many others.”
The tenant is waiting on rental aid from the state program, Housing is Key, which protects people from eviction until the end of March unless the issue is revisited. She and others are calling for more eviction protections, anti-harassment protections, a rental registry and an office to mediate issues with landlords.
Redwood City’s anti-displacement plan strategy proposed adopting just-cause protections under AB 1482, setting eligibility for relocation assistance and establishing minimum lease terms. There were also recommendations to establish a dedicated housing preservation fund, support community land trusts and provide resources to rehabilitate mobile home parks.
Diana Reddy, Redwood City vice mayor and longtime tenant advocate, said she agrees anti-harassment policies are needed, as is data to better understand the situation beyond anecdotes. But when it comes to a rental registry, Reddy said such a function already exists at the Fair Oaks Community Center, where people go when they have housing issues. In an effort to remain “realistic,” she instead supports boosting funding to the department.
“The housing staff is already completely overwhelmed,” Reddy said. “Redwood City has really stepped up. As a council member, I need to be clear about what I can do.”
The latest iteration of the city’s anti-displacement strategy document said developing a rent registry would be costly and staff-intensive. Both this idea and the creation of a rental relations office would require more research and community input, planning staff told The Examiner. The ideas will likely be raised again with the City Council later this spring.
But tenant organizers with Faith in Action believe city officials are reluctant to think boldly while their voices are not heard at the federal level.
“We need decent, dignified and healthy housing,” Garibay said. “What we want is people to know who we are and what we do. We want the city of Redwood City to listen to us.”
imojadad@sfexaminer.com
Tags: Bay Area News, Peninsula, san francisco news | 2022-02-01T21:08:52Z | www.sfexaminer.com | South Bay immigrant community pushes for better housing - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/south-bay-immigrant-community-pushes-for-better-housing/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/south-bay-immigrant-community-pushes-for-better-housing/ |
Lily Mojekwu and Steve O’Connell stayed through COVID and fell in love with The City
By Jean Schiffman • February 2, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 2, 2022 12:37 pm
The San Francisco company of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
When the stage play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” originally opened in San Francisco in late 2019 and then was forced to close down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, two out-of-town actors decided to remain here rather than head home.
Their tenacity has been rewarded.
Pre-COVID, Lily Mojekwu and Steve O’Connell were stage and screen actors in Chicago who got cast for the West Coast engagement in San Francisco — the only place in the United States outside of New York City where the show can be seen. Hired as members of the ensemble as well as understudies for Hermione and Ron, they planned to continue with those roles when the show reopened, which they assumed would be in a few weeks.
O’Connell, who’d signed a 15-month contract, determined to stay and wait it out with his wife and kids, as did Mojekwu and her significant other, a beagle mix named Hudson.
Six hundred and sixty-two days later, the show finally has reopened, and Mojekwu and O’Connell, to their delight, have found themselves in the principal roles. They star as the married couple Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley who, with the eponymous Harry Potter, saved the wizarding world in J.K. Rowling’s wildly popular seriesand are now married and in their late 30s with kids of their own — kids who themselves are entering Hogwarts.
Lily Mojekwu, who stars as the grownup Hermione Granger, became a San Francisco resident during COVID. (Photo courtesy of Curran Theater)
Mojekwu, who has worked with just about every prominent theater in Chicago from Steppenwolf to the Goodman and has appeared in several TV series, gave up her Chicago apartment to come to San Francisco.
“I wanted to immerse myself in the experience,” she says. “I love it here. My dog loves it here.”
The two explored every possible park and beach during the long hiatus. She took photos, kept a diary. She spoke so little to anyone other than Hudson that one day she was able to count the exact number of words she’d spoken that day, and to whom.
“Now I’m sliding back into speaking words to people onstage and for other people, in the audience,” she says.
For O’Connell, the weather alone made living in the Bay Area a no-brainer. Like Mojekwu, he’s worked with many Chicago theater companies, such as Victory Gardens and Chicago Shakespeare. He also appeared in a recurring role on “Empire,” worked on other TV series and recently made his feature film debut.
Although the Bay Area does not offer nearly as much theater work as Chicago, both actors say the decision to stay was the right one in part because of the challenges of their current production.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” — based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne (who wrote the script) and John Tiffany, and directed by Tiffany — was originally a two-part epic. For this production, it’s been reconfigured as a one-part play and is the first of the Harry Potter franchise to be staged live. (The original two-parter has played not only on Broadway, where it is still running, but also in Europe, and has won assorted honors.)
For the actors, it is particularly challenging.
“I’ve never done magic before!” exclaims Mojekwu. “We learned the basics starting in 2019. It takes awhile and I keep getting better and better at it.”
She adds she came to the show as a clean slate, never having read the Potter books.
For Chicago actor Steve O’Connell, the weather alone made living in the Bay Area a no-brainer. (Photo courtesy of Curran Theater)
O’Connell, on the other hand, is a longtime fan, one of those people, he says, who lined up at Borders the day each new book came out. (“Well, maybe not the midnight line.”) How did he separate his approach as an actor from preconceived ideas acquired while reading the books and watching the movies?
“The process always starts with the script,” he says, “which is wonderful, and gives clues as to how these people are as adults… . I thought beforehand there might be some residual [impressions] from the movies I might be trying to imitate, but that didn’t happen at all. Once I was in the room with my fellow actors and working on the script, it became about playing with the people in the room with you.”
Mojekwu initially read the books but did not watch the movies. “I have an idea of how Hermione operates in the world,” she explains. With any role, she asks herself how she’s like the character, finding ways to humanize her as much as possible — especially with characters who are larger than life, like the smart, fearless and independent-minded Hermione.
Both actors feel they’ve hit the jackpot, performing such beloved roles in this beloved play in this beloved city. Mojekwu describes the experience as “robust, athletic, thrilling.”
“There are jewels in a career, and this is one of them,” she says.
Where: Curran Theater, 445 Geary St., S.F.
When: Through Sept. 4, 2022
Contact: www.harrypotterplaysf.com | 2022-02-02T21:20:29Z | www.sfexaminer.com | ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ reopens with Chicago-turned-San Francisco actors in the lead - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-reopens-with-chicago-turned-san-francisco-actors-in-the-lead/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-reopens-with-chicago-turned-san-francisco-actors-in-the-lead/ |
By James Salazar Examiner staff writer • February 2, 2022 9:00 am - Updated February 2, 2022 10:55 am
The University of San Francisco is weighing taking over the San Francisco Art Institute. (Photos by Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner and James Chan/Special to The Examiner. Illustration by Kevin N. Hume)
The University of San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute, two prestigious Bay Area institutions of higher education, said Wednesday they have signed a letter of intent to explore the possible integration of their operations and academic programs.
Approved by trustees from both sides, the agreement calls for a period of due diligence that would ultimately lead to USF acquiring the Art Institute’s undergraduate and graduate art programs as well as the latter’s historical buildings, art and film collections and other assets. The financial terms of the proposed deal have not be disclosed.
If successful, the newly established program will be known as the San Francisco Art Institute at the University of San Francisco. Throughout the past decade, the two institutions have discussed possibly integrating and, at times, faculty members collaborated on exhibitions, programs and initiatives in and out of the classroom.
Chinyere Oparah, the USF provost and vice president of academic affairs, said, “Arts education is foundational to the creative, rigorous mindset our students need to create a more just and sustainable world. We look forward to bringing the USF and SFAI faculty together to explore a transformed and expanded vision for the arts.
“The vision for SFAI@USF will be the product of close collaboration and open dialogue about how to bring together the arts and social justice in impactful ways that benefit our students, promote cultural equity and support artistic experimentation locally and globally,” she added.
Both institutions are seamlessly woven into The City’s fabric. USF was established as San Francisco’s first university, while SFAI is among the nation’s oldest and most well-regarded contemporary art schools. However the institute has been in financial free fall due to a lack of endowments, high real estate costs and a reliance on income from campus rental properties, which was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a letter of intent in place, USF and the SFAI agree to a merger that would recognize the history of both programs while simultaneously creating opportunities for future artists under a combined entity. The period of due diligence will be used to review and assess finances, the physical assets at the Art Institute’s Chestnut Street campus on Russian Hill, the process of academic accreditation for the program and other matters, such as student employment.
In a statement, SFAI Board of Trustees Chair Lonnie Graham said, “We were foremost impressed by USF’s profound commitment to social justice and especially by its deep understanding of the power of the arts to be a significant pillar of change in the world.
“USF has shown the depth of its commitment to be a major force for change in legal systems, social programs, education and technology. This union would create an innovative confluence of the arts and academics to advance a curriculum that reinforces the value of the arts in changing the world,” Graham added.
Current Art Institute students who complete degree programs at USF would receive the same academic and co-curricular services as USF students. Both sides anticipate the review will be completed by the summer so that integrated operations may begin in the fall. Additionally, USF and SFAI faculty will collaborate on curricular redesign and development to ensure the program reflects the academic vision and mission of both institutions.
Once the financial review has been completed, the letter of intent calls for USF to assume control of the Art Institute’s property and assets on Chestnut Street, which include the Anne Bremer Memorial Library, the Diego Rivera Gallery and the artist’s famous mural, “The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City,” professional exhibition space, extensive film labs and studios and a rooftop amphitheater. | 2022-02-02T21:20:42Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Examiner Exclusive: USF plans on acquiring financially strapped Art Institute - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/usf-plans-on-acquiring-financially-strapped-art-institute/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/usf-plans-on-acquiring-financially-strapped-art-institute/ |
Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, seen in a Jan. 9 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, continued to perform well in January, proving his versatility by averaging nearly 18 points on 48.7% shooting from the field and just over 40% from three-point range while remaining a solid threat on defense. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
The Warriors had an up-and-down month. After starting January with a 5-6 record, they managed to end the first month of 2022 on a six-game win streak. They’re currently in striking distance of the Suns for the best record in the West.
The fact the Warriors have been able to handle an injury to Draymond Green, who has been out of action since Jan. 5, perhaps the worst shooting slump of Steph Curry’s career and the re-integration of Klay Thompson into the lineup has been impressive. Let’s take a look at how the Warriors’ key players did in the first month of the new year. (Note: All grades will be given on a curve relative to what is usually expected of the player.)
Steph Curry: As mentioned above, Curry was mired in an almost unthinkable shooting slump through January. He finished January shooting 38.5% from the field and just 32.9% from beyond the arc, which is almost unthinkable for the career 47.3%/42.9% shooter.
Still, the news wasn’t all bad. In the absence of Green, Curry stepped up his passing. He averaged 7.3 assists per game, which is his high for the year, and managed to do so while keeping his turnovers as low as they’ve been all season.
He also hit a walk-off game winner against the Rockets on the 21st, was voted to be a captain of an All-Star team and finished the month in style with a 40-point, 9-assist dismantling of the Rockets. Even a “bad” month by Steph Curry’s standards is a pretty good month.
Klay Thompson: To the surprise of nobody, Klay has had some growing pains since returning to the lineup. He shot just 40.6% from the floor and 32.9% from three in January, which are lower than you’d expect from a career 45.9%/41.8% shooter but is about in line with someone trying to get his timing back after missing over two full seasons.
Thompson’s playmaking has been a pleasant surprise. He’s averaging 2.7 assists per game, which is just off his career high of 2.9 assists per game, and he’s doing it while only playing 23.4 minutes per game. He’s seeing the floor well, creating angles for his teammates, and even delivering some flashy passes we haven’t previously seen from him.
His attempt to add more of a mid-range game to his arsenal has had mixed results. But he’s moving well, has been solid on defense and his shot still looks as pretty as ever. He hasn’t missed a free throw yet this season, which is a bonus.
Andrew Wiggins: Another solid month for the Warriors’ other All-Star starter. Wiggins has turned himself from the volume scorer he was in Minnesota to a versatile wing that stretches the floor. The trade the Warriors made to get him is looking like a bigger and bigger steal with each passing day.
The 26-year old put in another rock-solid month of work in January, averaging 17.5 points per game on 48.7% shooting from the field and 40.2% shooting from beyond the arc. He’s remained a disruptive presence on the defensive end, and averaged .8 blocks and 1.3 steals in January. Wiggins is continuing to streamline his game to fit what the Warriors need out of him. Simply put, he’s been a godsend.
Jordan Poole: One question upon Klay’s return was what would happen to the wings who would have to spend more time on the bench, chief among them Poole. So far, Poole’s “demotion” from the starting lineup to the bench has been more mental than anything. With Thompson still on a minutes limit, Poole only played an average of three fewer minutes per game in January than he did over the course of the season, and his averages remained almost exactly in line with where they’ve been all season. A good show of professionalism from Poole.
Jonathan Kuminga: It’s still a bit boom-and-bust for Kuminga, who will follow up games where he looks like a star with multiple nights in the single-digits. For example, after his 22-point performance on 8-9 shooting against the Mavericks, Kuminga scored a combined 9 points on 4-15 shooting over the next three games.
But his flashes of brilliance are spectacular. Kuminga’s athleticism is always going to be a constant. He’s getting comfortable from beyond the three-point line (and at the free-throw line.) He knows when to cut for a thunderous dunk or catch a guard on a switch and overpower him in the post. He’s even showing improved playmaking, although that was admittedly a bit of a low bar to jump for him. He averaged a grand total of seven assists in 2021. He could still stand to make his presence as a rebounder and shot-blocker a bit better known, but it’s impossible to not see superstar potential.
Grade: Incomplete, but exciting
Those were the major notables for January: Gary Payton is still giving the Warriors phenomenal defense, energy, and efficiency from within the two-point arc, but his three-point shot seems to be regressing. He shot just 26.9% from deep in January, which is more in line with the rest of his career than the 46.9% he shot in December. Otto Porter Jr. is giving the Warriors 24 minutes of efficient basketball a night, just like he has all season. Kevon Looney has done fairly well as a center on a team that doesn’t really believe in centers. Andre Iguodala has been out with a hip injury since the 20th, and it’s hard not to worry when a 38-year old player starts sitting out games with a hip issue.
Overall, even though the Warriors had to face some adversity in January, they were able to get through it thanks to their depth and understanding of Steve Kerr’s system. The team is still a threat to finish the season with the league’s best record.
John Krolik is a freelance contributor to The Examiner
L.A. flooded with a sea of red for NFC Championship Game
Pregame notes: Trent Williams will play, Bengals advance to the Super Bowl | 2022-02-02T21:20:48Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Grading the Warriors for the month of January - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/grading-the-warriors-for-the-month-of-january/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/grading-the-warriors-for-the-month-of-january/ |
By Melanie Velasquez and James Salazar Examiner staff writers • February 2, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 2, 2022 2:37 pm
Bay Area fans of the Winter Olympic games will have quite a few regional athletes to cheer on as they compete in Beijing. (Peter Kovac/Shutterstock)
Though the Niners’ quest for a sixth Super Bowl championship has ended and the NBA All-Star Break is still on the horizon, there’s no shortage of Bay Area sports figures to root for.
Just six months after the Tokyo Games, thousands of athletes will spend the next two weeks going for gold in China as the 2022 Winter Olympics begin this Friday. Though they’ll be competing across the globe, some of these Olympians are closer than you might think. Whether they train on the ice or snow, here are the five Bay Area athletes and one alternate who will be representing Team USA in the 24th Winter Olympic Games.
Nina O’Brien (Alpine Skiing) – San Francisco , CA
(U.S. Ski & Snowboard)
Born and raised in The City, O’Brien is a first-time Olympian who specializes in slalom and giant slalom. O’Brien, 24, has also competed in the American World Cup as an alpine skier. Her best season came in 2020-21 when she placed a career-best ninth in slalom and earned a top-10 finish in the giant slalom at the World Championship. When not in the snow, O’Brien is studying economics and learning German at Dartmouth College and maintains the tradition of Dartmouth student-athletes and alumni competing in every Winter Olympics since the modern Games began in 1924.
Karen Chen (Figure Skating) – Fremont, CA
(U.S. Figure Skating)
Fremont figure Skater Karen Chen will represent Team USA in figure skating at this year’s Winter Olympics. Chen, 22, started ice skating at the age of four and began competing at the age of six. She won bronze twice in 2016 and 2017, competing in the Challenger Series U.S. Classic, and she also won silver in the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships. This year’s Games marks Chen’s second outing as she competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and placed 11th.
Vincent Zhou (Figure Skating) – San Jose, CA
Born in San Jose and raised in Palo Alto, Zhou, 21, will be a figure skater for Team USA in the men’s singles competition. A child of Chinese immigrants, Zhou’s skating journey started at the age of five after he attended a friend’s ice skating-themed birthday party. He competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games, where he became the first person to successfully land a quadruple Lutz jump at the Olympics. He placed sixth in the individual category. Zhou is also a 2019 World bronze medalist, a 2017 World Junior champion, and a U.S. silver medalist in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Alysa Liu (Figure Skating) – Richmond, CA
Alysa Liu, 16, is the youngest on Team USA’s Women’s Figure Skating roster. Despite recently contracting COVID-19 and being unable to compete at the US Championship free skate, Liu still earned a spot on Team USA. Liu comes from Richmond, California and trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With many feats to their name, Liu became the youngest skater to land a triple axel at an international competition at 12, and the youngest woman to win a US Championships title at 13. If that isn’t impressive enough, Liu is the only woman in the world to land three triple axels in a single competition. Liu, who has already completed high school, is ready to take on their first Winter Olympics.
Joanne Reid (Biathlon) – Palo Alto, CA
(Nico Manzoni/Nordic Focus)
Reid is no stranger to the Olympics; she grew up in Palo Alto with a family history of other Olympians. In 1980, her mother, Beth Reid, won bronze in speedskating, and her uncle, Eric Heiden, won five gold medals in speedskating the same year. Reid, 29, participated in cross-country skiing at the University of Colorado-Boulder where she received a degree in applied mathematics. Despite being a Winter Olympian, Reid’s bio on Team USA says her favorite place to travel to is the American southwest because she loves the heat. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be her second appearance at the event.
Nic Taylor (Bobsled) Alternate – Hayward, CA
(Matthew Troy/USA Bobsled)
Growing up in Hayward, Nic Taylor began his bobsled career later in his athletic career. He transferred from City College of San Francisco to CSU Northridge where he joined their track and field team. Post undergrad, he decided to try bobsledding and started training for the team. Taylor, 34, eventually became an alternate on the bobsled team for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Olympian is one of many titles Taylor holds. He recently earned a doctor of chiropractic degree from Life University on top of his two Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Engineering. Taylor is married to three-time Olympic medalist, bobsledder, Elana Meyers Taylor. The couple have a one-year-old son named Nico.
Owner of famed sandwich shop says S.F. is so broken it needs Batman
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By Erin Woo | 2022-02-03T03:00:58Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Meet the Bay Area athletes set to hit the ice and snow at the Olympics - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/meet-the-bay-area-athletes-set-to-hit-the-ice-and-snow-in-the-olympics/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/meet-the-bay-area-athletes-set-to-hit-the-ice-and-snow-in-the-olympics/ |
California law requires traffic accident on a California street/highway or private property be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles using the SR-1 Traffic Accident Report form within 10 days if there was an injury, death or property damage more than $1,000. (Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock)
By Christopher B. Dolan and Allison Stone
During my commute to work I sometimes see people involved in car accidents. I hope it’s never me, but how should I prepare myself if I’m ever involved in a car accident?
— Remi P., Bay Area
Thank you for your question and reaching out, Remi. Being involved in an accident can be scary, stressful, and overwhelming. It is important to do your best to stay calm and remember the following tips.
Make sure you are safe: The priority is always your safety. Only exit your vehicle if is it is safe to do so. If you are in the middle of a lane or intersection, turn on your hazard lights to alert other drivers to slow down.
Call the police: Regardless of whether it is a major or minor accident, report it and have the accident documented and a report created.
The police will come to the scene to help make sure the parties exchange information and will make a report. Even if you think the accident is minor, reporting the accident to the police ensures a record is created, which often provides key evidence in a personal injury claim.
Keep in mind that in some areas and instances, officers may not respond to a minor collision. In the situation where an officer does come to the scene, usually the officer will provide you with an information card which contains what you will need to obtain the report. But regardless, always make sure to get the officer’s name, badge number and contact information including what department s/he works for (police department, sheriff’s department, etc.), and if there is a report number.
Obtain contact information from all drivers: Get all identifying information, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, driver’s license numbers and insurance information for any driver involved in the collision. If the collision involves multiple vehicles, obtain all the above information from each driver.
In addition, get all the vehicle information including the year, make and model, color, license plate number and vehicle identification number (VIN) for each vehicle involved. Get the driver’s insurance company’s name, the insurance policy number and the insurance company’s phone number.
Ask for physical copies of the driver’s registration and VIN number to ensure accuracy. You can simply take photos of the documents with your phone to make the process of collecting this information easier. If the driver’s name does not match up with the vehicle’s registration or insurance, ask the driver what their relationship is to the vehicle’s owner.
Obtain contact information for all passengers and witnesses:
Be sure to get all identifying information, including names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of any witnesses, as well as other passengers in any vehicles involved in the collision. These individuals will often have important information that you are not aware of. See if any witnesses will provide you with details about what they saw and heard before they leave the scene.
Take photos to document the scene: Use your cell phone camera to take pictures and video of the scene. This includes taking multiple photos of your vehicle, the other vehicle(s), the scene, any traffic lights or street signs, visual obstacles, skid marks, broken glass, and other items on the roadway. Do your best to photograph everything from multiple angles. Get photos that show the position of the vehicles relative to each other and relative to the street/freeway. This is necessary so a person who was not at the scene can look at the photos and understand what occurred, and how the vehicles came to their point of rest, and re-create the collision if need be. Also, photograph any visible physical injuries such as bruising, cuts, abrasions, bleeding, etc.
Avoid discussing fault: Regardless of how the accident happened, you should refrain from apologizing or admitting fault for the collision. The insurance company and/or lawyers will collect multiple statements and documents before they come to a determination of fault. Do not to argue with the other driver. Simply limit communication to exchanging information.
Seek medical attention if needed: If you were badly injured, call 911 immediately. If someone is taking you to the emergency room before police or paramedics arrive, leave your contact information with someone at the scene.
When the paramedics arrive, let them examine you.
Remember, due to shock and adrenaline, you may not realize you have been injured. It is human nature to say, “I’m OK” or “I’m fine,” but your injuries may not reveal symptoms immediately and injuries can take several days to present themselves. To avoid having your words used against you later, you can say, “I’m shaken up, I do not know if I am injured and will be seeking medical care and treatment if necessary” or something to that effect.
If you do not go straight to the emergency room from the scene, see your own doctor as soon as possible because you may have injuries that become apparent later.
Your health is paramount. Sometimes injuries from accidents can last a lifetime. Your health and medical care should be your priority regardless of who is at fault in an accident.
Document medical and accident-related details: Keep track of your medical appointments (doctors’ names, their specialty and visit dates) and medications. Also keep a record of days missed days from work.
Report the accident to the California Department of Motor Vehicles: California law requires traffic accident on a California street/highway or private property be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles using the SR-1 Traffic Accident Report form within 10 days if there was an injury, death or property damage more than $1,000.
Christopher B. Dolan is the owner of Dolan Law Firm, PC. Allison Stone is a Senior Associate Attorney in our Los Angeles Office. We serve clients in personal injury cases throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California from our offices in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. Email questions and topics for future articles to: help@dolanlawfirm.com. Each situation is different, and this column does not constitute legal advice. We recommend that you consult with an experienced trial attorney to fully understand your rights. | 2022-02-03T15:01:05Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What to do if you are involved in a traffic accident - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/what-to-do-if-you-are-involved-in-a-traffic-accident/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/what-to-do-if-you-are-involved-in-a-traffic-accident/ |
S.F. must use harm reduction strategies to beat meth, fentanyl addictions
By Gil Duran • February 3, 2022 1:30 am
People line up outside the new Tenderloin Linkage Center at 1172 Market St. on Jan. 19. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
In a bold policy shift, San Francisco’s new Tenderloin Linkage Center at 1172 Market St. now allows clients to use drugs in a fenced-off area adjacent to the facility.
The center offers food and showers to people suffering from addiction, homelessness and mental health. It also helps connect them to health care and treatment — all without requiring them to quit drugs first.
“We don’t want them to die,” said Vitka Eisen, executive director of HealthRight 360, a nonprofit helping run the site. “First and foremost, you have to prevent death if people are ever going to take positive steps toward their own health.”
The policy has sparked some criticism, but it’s a step in the right direction. It shows city officials are serious about addressing the fentanyl overdose epidemic that has killed more than 1,350 people here over the past two years. Allowing drug use in a controlled environment may seem outrageous to some, but it’s better than letting people wallow in open-air drug markets on the streets. The new approach moves drug users out of public spaces and closer to help.
Evidence suggests this harm reduction approach can work.
In 2001, Portugal decriminalized drug possession and funded more resources for substance abuse treatment.
“Heroin addiction rates, H.I.V. infections and overdose deaths declined there, while youth drug use rates stayed the same as in comparable countries with no policy change,” wrote Maia Szalavitz, author of “Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction,” in the New York Times. “American politicians would be singing hosannas if U.S. crime and drug use rates ever fell to the low levels now seen in Portugal.”
Given the rising intensity of the overdose epidemic in the United States, it’s long past time for a new strategy. In 2020, over 58% of Oregon voters supported a measure to decriminalize drug possession and fund treatment programs. Decriminalization proponents plan to run a similar measure in California.
In the meantime, cities are leading the way. New York City opened up overdose prevention sites in December. They have already helped to prevent dozens of deaths. San Francisco plans to open a similar facility this spring. Critics of the approach complain that it enables drug use. Yet they don’t seem to have any solution besides jails.
“Criminalizing people who use drugs is a failed social policy that we’ve tried for decades,” said Eisen. “It swelled the prison population … largely focused on incarcerating Black and brown people. It’s time to do something different and new and that has a strong body of evidence behind it — which is meeting people where they are, building connections and relationships and then helping them toward their next steps.”
A harm reduction approach is necessary because treating drug addiction as a crime does not work. If it did, the United States would have conquered addiction long ago. Besides, drugs also flow into our jails and prisons. Overdose deaths in the nation’s state prisons increased by 600% between 2001 and 2019, according to the Bureau of Justice Studies.
Jailing drug dealers may satisfy a visceral desire for punishment, but new dealers hit the street before their predecessors are even booked. And if we can’t keep fentanyl and meth out of prisons, what makes anyone think we can keep them off the streets?
The best solutions — strategies that don’t shame, punish or exclude people — upset those who favor criminalization and stigma over compassion and science. Harm reduction is controversial because it challenges the moral framework instilled in many of us at a young age. This worldview holds that addiction and poverty are shameful moral flaws to be cured with cruelty and punishment. It prescribes harsh disciplinary measures to force people to change their behavior or face severe consequences.
But it just doesn’t work. Even in countries that impose the death penalty for drug offenses, people continue to use and sell them. For example: Since 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has prosecuted a violent war on drugs. This policy has resulted in an estimated 12,000 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.
Duterte’s summary executions ended many lives, but the drug problem persists.
“Shock and awe definitely did not work,” the head of drug enforcement for the Philippine National Police told Reuters in 2020. “Drug supply is still rampant.”
Lesser forms of criminalization and shame can also prove deadly by driving people away from help and deeper into addiction.
“Criminalization supercharges addiction stigma, and stigma is one of the biggest obstacles to recovery,” wrote Szalavitz.
The Tenderloin Linkage Center, created as a result of Mayor London Breed’s emergency declaration due to crime and drug deaths, marks the beginning of a new era in The City’s efforts to address addiction.
“I ran a massive operation to save lives under COVID command, but we haven’t had the same response to fentanyl overdoses,” said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, noting overdoses have killed more city residents than COVID has.
Despite some loud Twitter criticism, Carroll said the community feedback has been mostly positive so far.
“Having a place where people can come as they are is not easy,” she said, acknowledging potential public skepticism.
Strategies rooted in compassion and evidence won’t satisfy anyone’s desire for harsh consequences, but they could provide a marked improvement over the status quo. Hopefully, San Francisco’s harm reduction plan will save lives, reduce crime and provide a strong rationale for California voters to embrace a Portugal-style model of decriminalization and increased care.
@gilduran76
Tags: Fentanyl, Meth, opioid addiction, San Francisco | 2022-02-03T15:01:10Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Yes, the Tenderloin health center allows drug use. Here’s why that’s good news - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-yes-the-tenderloin-health-center-allows-drug-use-heres-why-thats-good-news/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-yes-the-tenderloin-health-center-allows-drug-use-heres-why-thats-good-news/ |
By Jeff Elder and Benjamin Schneider • February 3, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 3, 2022 11:34 am
Relations between San Francisco’s police chief and its district attorney erupted in a public feud on Wednesday evening, based on testimony in the trial of a police officer accused of using excessive force.
An investigator in the District Attorney’s Office claims she was pressured by assistant district attorneys to withhold evidence and mislead police. Those accusations led Police Chief William Scott to terminate an agreement between the police department and the District Attorney’s Office on how they investigate excessive use of force cases against police officers.
An exclusive look at the 123-page transcript of testimony in the January 27 hearing reveals very serious allegations about the culture and inner workings of the District Attorney’s Office, which has seen nearly 60 attorneys leave in the past two years. The police chief’s public response has brought relations between the DA and the police department to a breaking point, at a time when crime in The City is a serious concern to citizens and the district attorney is facing a recall.
In the testimony, investigator Magen Hayashi said she was pressured to remove evidence of an alleged domestic violence incident from paperwork in a trial in which a police officer, Terrance Stangel, is accused of using excessive force.
“Were you instructed to remove exculpatory information from the warrant?” asked the attorney for the police officer.
“Yes,” replied Hayashi, the district attorney investigator.
“Who instructed you to remove exculpatory information from the arrest warrant?” the lawyer asked. In response, the investigator named an assistant district attorney.
“What information did he instruct you to remove from the arrest warrant?” the lawyer asked.
“A significant amount of information, from the 911 callers” reporting the domestic violence, the investigator said. She added that an assistant district attorney “wrote a comment on the side saying to remove it, that it was not relevant information to the case.”
That information was therefore hidden from the police, Hayashi claimed. The evidence would have helped the defense of the police officer accused of using excessive force, the investigator claimed, because it showed he was responding to a domestic violence incident. A judge disagreed, finding there was no compelling evidence removed.
Hayashi said she feared for her job if she did not remove her account of the evidence from the paperwork, part of a pattern of intimidation.
“I was threatened by attorneys three different times that if I didn’t agree with their warrant they would report me to D.A. Boudin and that we were looking at termination possibilities,” Hayashi testified a week ago. “My lieutenant assisted me with this because it was such a severe problem, and he was fired.”
Hayashi said there was “an understanding” in her department that the DA’s office withholds information about investigations into alleged excessive force incidents involving police from the police department.
“If I did have information, I was – I was told that I don’t share it. That occurred at multiple times in my tenure,” she said. “When investigators or someone would call to ask for information, if I didn’t know I’d ask the attorney, and there were different attorneys that said the same thing, that would say, ‘Tell them we don’t know. We don’t have any plans’ or ‘no comment,’ something to that effect.”
At one point in the proceedings, the transcript shows an argument erupted in court. Nicole Pifari, the attorney for the police officer on trial, claimed the DA’s legal team attempted to intimidate Hayashi in the courtroom after the judge left to take a break. Pifari was questioning Hayashi as part of her defense of the police officer. Hayashi’s testimony about pressure to suppress evidence led the DA’s defense team to yell at and seek to intimidate Hayashi and her attorney when the judge was out of the room, Pifari told the judge.
“After the Court exited the courtroom,” Pifari told the judge, attorneys for the DA’s office “started yelling at… began to yell at counsel for Ms. Hayashi telling him to do his job.”
“Okay. Let’s not yell, OK? Thank you,” judge Teresa Caffese said, according to the transcript of the testimony.
An attorney for the DA’s office responded that “For the record, [the attorney for the investigator] was yelling too.”
It’s important to keep in mind that this testimony was given in defense of the police officer on trial for excessive use of force. Judge Caffese rejected a motion to dismiss the case, and said the evidence that the investigator said she held back was not relevant to the case.
But Chief of Police Scott’s response to the testimony is noteworthy. Scott could have reached out privately to Boudin about the testimony, and what it meant in relation to their memo of understanding, the agreement Scott abruptly terminated on how they handle investigations into police misconduct.
Headlines on the press release cited “court revelations that prosecutors withheld evidence in investigations” and “evidence that D.A.’s office systematically concealed information and evidence”.
The DA responded at a press conference on Thursday that his office is investigating the allegations made by Hayashi. “If someone in my office is pressured to do something improper, that’s not OK,” he said. “I am not aware of one iota of evidence… that could possibly suggest that it is ever acceptable, under any circumstances to be less than 100% truthful and candid in affidavits.”
Boudin also pointed out that his office’s memo of understanding with the police department has contributed to a decrease in excessive use of force cases by police officers. He criticized Scott’s decision to “unilaterally” terminate the agreement, and vowed to continue investigating police misconduct cases.
Boudin declined to comment on the specific excessive force case in question, but did say, “We did not make mistakes under my leadership in this case, and that’s what the evidence will show.”
And a police commissioner supportive of the DA blasted the police chief’s public response to charges made in the testimony as “propaganda” and “tampering with a jury.” Police Commissioner John Hamasaki, a civil rights and criminal defense attorney, confronted the chief at a commission meeting Wednesday evening. Scott called the accusations “extremely insulting and disappointing” in a heated exchange.
The events raise key questions for both departments. How will Boudin look into the investigator’s allegations into pressure to suppress evidence? How will the two departments cooperate, especially as Boudin prepares for June’s recall election? And perhaps most interesting, why did the chief of police choose to send out a provocative press release about testimony the public might never have discovered otherwise?
Answers to those questions are speculative, but it is worthy to note that Boudin’s department has gone through previous defections, and is under pressure. As a reformer elected amid calls to defund the police, Boudin may see a crackdown on police misuse of force as a chance to win support in the recall election. The San Francisco Chronicle reported 59 attorneys have left Boudin’s office, more than 40% of the lawyers on staff.
The police department, meanwhile, faces several incidents of alleged police misconduct, including the fatal shooting at the airport, and needs support of the police officers’ union in order to crack down on a perceived crime wave. Also hired as a reformer, Scott may be fighting back against Boudin’s investigations into his officers’ conduct.
One thing is clear: Relations between The City’s two top crime fighters have never been worse at a time when there is plenty of high-profile crime to fight. | 2022-02-03T21:02:33Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Exclusive: The courtroom drama behind SFPD and Chesa Boudin’s most recent feud - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/exclusive-the-courtroom-drama-behind-sfpd-and-chesa-boudins-most-recent-feud/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/exclusive-the-courtroom-drama-behind-sfpd-and-chesa-boudins-most-recent-feud/ |
Following claims of numerous delays and obstructions for nearly 70 projects, The City finds itself preparing to sever ties with Pacific Gas & Electric and look to create its own municpal energy utility. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
It isn’t the first time San Francisco’s leaders have gone head to head with utility giant PG&E, but it could be one of the last.
A longstanding battle between San Francisco and PG&E deepened this week over what The City says are unnecessary and costly delays to nearly 70 projects, including the construction of medical facilities, affordable housing units and even restrooms for Muni operators. PG&E denies the claims.
Now, after years of tense debates and legal challenges over the use and ownership of The City’s public power, officials are signaling they’re ready to sever ties with PG&E for good.
“The only option left for us is to do whatever we need to do to municipalize completely an energy utility in San Francisco and gain complete independence from PG&E,” District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen told the Examiner.
The mounting tensions spilled over at a Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting this week, where leaders arrived fresh off a victory from a Federal Appeals Court. The court last week sided with San Francisco over the utility giant’s refusal to connect some city projects to the grid.
At this week’s meeting, city officials and representatives from PG&E sparred over new requirements to install expensive equipment to keep the lights on, which the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) estimates will cost more than $1 billion.
“If the City does not install the equipment, PG&E would take control over providing power to stoplights, street lights, wifi networks, and bus shelters that the City currently powers,” the SFPUC noted in a statement. The City has filed a complaint opposing PG&E’s demands with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Still, it’s unclear how San Francisco could completely cut ties with PG&E, one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States. Even if the City purchased its electrical equipment, it would still rely on the utility’s natural gas services until it is phased out entirely to meet The City’s net-zero emissions goals.
But the case points to a larger schism between PG&E and San Francisco, as The City works to recover from the pandemic by opening more parks, museums, and homeless shelters, while electrifying its transit and building sectors.
“PG&E’s actions have delayed construction at some of the most critical projects in The City during a worldwide pandemic and increased costs by an estimated $18 million over the past three years,” said Ronen.
PG&E argues that its longstanding relationship with San Francisco has resulted in piecemeal policies and inconsistent regulations that complicate its ability to streamline projects and services. “There is no other city or utility in the United States that provides the kind of service that San Francisco receives from PG&E,” said Aaron Johnson, vice president of PG&E’s Bay Area Region. “We have a patchwork system of rules and regulations that have been enforced in some instances and granted many, many exceptions in others.”
That’s due in part to the utility’s unique relationship with San Francisco. PG&E traces its history and dominance across Northern California back to the Gold Rush Era when three brothers began laying gas pipes in The City’s streets. Over the decades, PG&E expanded its portfolio to include electric, solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear power, and gobbled up competitors along the way, fashioning itself as one of the largest investor-owned energy monopolies in California.
So perhaps it’s unsurprising PG&E says its long-established infrastructure is not available for purchase. “PG&E has had the privilege and honor of serving residents of the City and County of San Francisco for more than 100 years,” said spokesperson Jennifer Robison. “PG&E’s assets in San Francisco are not for sale.”
But this wouldn’t be the first time The City has tried to wriggle free from its dependence on PG&E. In 2019, PG&E shot down The City’s $2.5 billion offer to purchase its power lines and other electrical infrastructure.
The rejection hasn’t deterred Dennis Herrera, general manager of SFPUC, who recently petitioned the state’s regulatory body to come up with a valuation of PG&E’s local equipment.
“PGE has one goal here: Stymie competition and put San Francisco out of the public power business,” said Herrera, who called the recent court decision a clear victory for fairness.
The SFPUC is both a customer and competitor of PG&E, which can make for a tense working relationship. While SFPUC operates two clean power programs – CleanPowerSF and Hetch Hetchy Power – it relies on PG&E’s distribution system to get the power it generates into homes and businesses, a service that costs about $20 million a year, paid by local ratepayers.
But really, the fight comes down to money. “The city asks us to provide them a retail level of service at wholesale prices,” Johnson said. “That is primarily the essence of the dispute.”
The brewing battle comes at a moment of intense scrutiny for the company. PG&E has just emerged from five years of criminal probation for poor maintenance of pipelines that caused the San Bruno gas explosion, which killed eight people. Given that the company can’t go to prison for a crime, PG&E was instead placed on probation and hit with a $3 million fine.
During that time, PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 Camp Fire that leveled the town of Paradise, and it’s also facing charges for the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County and the 2020 Zogg Fire in Shasta County.
“In these five years, PG&E has gone on a crime spree and will emerge from probation as a continuing menace to California,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote in a report reviewing his oversight of the utility during its probation.
“We call PG&E serial killers here,” said Mary Kay Benson, an environmental activist who has been working to serve the growing number of homeless fire survivors in Butte County, noting that PG&E is also to blame for last year’s massive Dixie Fire, which burned nearly a million acres.
All of this is playing out while San Francisco departments like the Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) are finding their projects hamstrung, stalled or incurring exorbitant costs.
MTA is working to electrify its fleet of buses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a commitment redoubled in The City’s Climate Action Plan. MTA depends on PG&E’s infrastructure to install charging stations for city buses and said it will be unable to move ahead if PG&E can’t deliver.
“If we don’t have a successful and reliable partner, it will put billions of dollars at risk – and the climate goals The City has set for itself,” said Jonathan Rewers, Acting Chief Financial Officer at SFMTA.
Even if San Francisco leaders win the battle over who owns the power lines, the push to rapidly shift buildings and transit to electric power in order to address worsening impacts of climate change will test the existing grid and electric infrastructure in San Francisco. If PG&E remains in the picture, it will mean The City will become even more dependent on the utility’s services.
“It’s a catch 22; we want to move towards greater electrification, which places more reliance on PG&E. And the only fix at this point is to municipalize completely,” said Ronen. “We’re going to need to do whatever it is that we need to do in order to gain our independence – and we will.”
A map of the various City projects that The City claims are facing delays due to PG&E. (Courtesy San Francisco Public Utility Commission)
Tags: climate change, Electricity power market, energy sector, environment, PG&E, Politics | 2022-02-03T21:02:39Z | www.sfexaminer.com | S.F. leaders want to cut ties with PG&E—again - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/s-f-leaders-want-to-cut-ties-with-pge-again/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/s-f-leaders-want-to-cut-ties-with-pge-again/ |
By Al Saracevic • February 1, 2022 5:30 pm - Updated February 3, 2022 12:01 pm
Inmy Chi, manager of Sai’s Vietnamese Restaurant, stands outside the longtime spot on Washington Avenue on Tuesday. She got her wish to keep doors open. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
It’s not so often that David beats Goliath. And it rarely involves an amazing bowl of soup.
But that’s how it went down in San Francisco Tuesday. Let me walk you through a feel-good story, step by step.
It started when I stopped at Sai’s Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch, a favorite pho spot for Examiner hacks located near our offices in the Financial District. While waiting for my usual bowl of broth-y goodness, my co-worker mentioned the place might have to move. She’d read about it on SFGate.com.
I noticed the sign on the wall: “Dear Valued Customers, Our landlord has given us a 30-days-notice to vacate this premise. We’ve been asking the landlord to extend the lease until we can find a place to relocate but no luck. We have been so honored have served you for the past 37 plus years. …. Since the news, our family has been devastated. We don’t know what the future holds for us. …”
Imagine that. After 37 years of paying rent, you get 30 days to get out. It ain’t right.
I spoke to the restaurant’s manager.
“We got an email from our landlord asking if we wanted to renew the lease on Jan. 5. And then, on Jan. 20th, we emailed back and requested a lease…,” said Inmy Chi, 46. “They didn’t respond to us. We kept calling and reaching out. And, then, finally, they got back to us a few days later and said they wanted us out in 30 days. … We’ve been here for 37 years. Our whole family has been here for 37 years. We know our customers, by heart, by their orders, by what they do. We would like to be around this area. … I just feel very lost right now.”
Oof. That’s a hard story to hear. Right on the Lunar New Year, no less. Who is this landlord anyway? Turns out it’s a major corporation called SHVO. They own the Transamerica Pyramid among other major assets worldwide. Their portfolio is valued at $8 billion.
I couldn’t believe it. There should be a law about this kind of thing. Well, turns out there kind of is.
I called Supervisor Aaron Peskin to see if he was doing anything about the situation, which first came to light last weekend in a story posted by KRON 4 News.
“I literally just left there,” said Peskin, when he picked up the call. “It’s all resolved. I was just with Inmy Chi. … It’s over. The property owner has relented and said she can stay and they’re going to work something out. In the future, when they get closer to developing that property, they’ll help them relocate.”
Now that’s public service. Super Supe to the rescue.
“In all fairness to the landlord, SHVO really didn’t know about this. It was the property manager. We’re going to make this right,” said Peskin. “They hadn’t even applied for a building permit for the project. They’re still a couple of years from turning a shovel.
“I went in and told her she doesn’t need to leave at the end of the month.”
SHVO got back to me Wednesday, saying they had never evicted Sai’s but the lease was expiring and could not be renewed long-term.
“We have been in touch with the family’s representatives to let them know that the restaurant can continue to operate while we provide resources to help find a new permanent space,” a spokesperson said via e-mail. “We regret the miscommunication that occurred and remain committed to helping ensure a seamless transition.”
Turns out, Peskin was trying to get the place a “legacy business designation,” which is available to San Francisco shops that’ve been here for over 30 years. They have to be nominated by a member of the Board of Supes. I don’t understand it all too well, but once businesses receive the designation, it helps landlords and tenants procure city funds to keep everyone happy.
Once that was on the table, so to speak, the whole thing got resolved pretty quick.
“It was my Lunar New Year mitzvah,” quipped Peskin.
Mazel tov! Chúc mừng năm mới! … Now pass the Sriracha.
Editor’s note: Welcome to The Arena, a column from The Examiner’s Al Saracevic. He explores San Francisco’s playing field, from politics and technology to sports and culture. Send your tips, quips and quotes to asaracevic@sfexaminer.com. | 2022-02-03T21:02:46Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Beloved Vietnamese restaurant rescued from eviction - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/super-supe-to-the-rescue-peskin-saves-beloved-vietnamese-restaurant-from-eviction/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/super-supe-to-the-rescue-peskin-saves-beloved-vietnamese-restaurant-from-eviction/ |
By Ruqayya Ahmad and Asantewaa Boykin Special to CalMatters • February 3, 2022 1:30 am
The CRISES Act, Assembly Bill 118 , signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, and funding in the governor’s proposed budget can facilitate the development of community response models for mental health. (iStock)
By Ruqayya Ahmad and Asantewaa Boykin
Instead, it’s time to tap into our imagination, our ability to think of a better world, one different than our own reality, one where white supremacy and patriarchy don’t exist, and racial justice and equity prevail.
Today, too many people are being denied the ability to maintain their own mental health and well-being. Instead, those who experience mental health challenges are often left to deteriorate until they end up in crisis.
Thanks to a wave of new state and federal resources coupled with a focus on meeting the mental health needs of our communities, California has the opportunity to create a transformational new model. The CRISES Act, Assembly Bill 118, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, can facilitate the development of community response models for mental health.
California should view this as a chance to leverage millions of dollars from other sources to support these groundbreaking models, not as a limited scope program.
We urge Newsom to lead the development of a statewide, racially equitable, fully funded alternative community response system for those experiencing mental health crises. | 2022-02-03T21:02:58Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: New model needed to meet mental health needs of our communities - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-new-model-needed-to-meet-mental-health-needs-of-our-communities/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-new-model-needed-to-meet-mental-health-needs-of-our-communities/ |
By Teresa Moore • February 3, 2022 10:00 am - Updated February 3, 2022 12:17 pm
The term BIPOC gained prominence as an alternative to “people of color” during the summer of 2020 when millions of Americans turned out for Black Lives Matter demonstrations. (Shutterstock)
BIPOC means well, but I want it to go away.
An acronym standing for “Black, Indigenous and People of Color,” it apparently first appeared on social media in 2013 but lay dormant until the summer of 2020 when it took off like, cringe, a virus. America was already deep in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that didn’t stop millions of people of myriad ethnicities from taking to the streets to demand an end to extrajudicial police killings of Black people and justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among so many others.
Not unlike the great civil rights movement leader Fannie Lou Hamer, who risked her own life and body time and again because she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired” of living under Jim Crow, Black Lives Matter demonstrators put their bodies in the streets and their health on the line for months.
This was also the summer that gave us Juneteenth as a national holiday, spawned a run on hiring searches for diversity, equity and inclusion personnel, and launched “racial reckonings” on how race and racism are covered in dozens of newsrooms.
Social media and websites were full of ways to support Black businesses, Black nonprofits and causes ranging from abolishing the police to raising money to support mental health care for Black journalists. There were so many entry points for people who wanted to show they’d been paying attention.
And then came BIPOC.
When I first started encountering BIPOC in my usual lefty nerdish media sources, I was confused: Weren’t Black and Indigenous people already “people of color”? Redundant language makes me crazy. Was this another iteration of the verbal tic that makes people being interviewed say things like, “This is cheap and inexpensive” or “This is scary and frightening”? Once you notice it, you’ll start hearing this kind of thing everywhere.
Also: Why was BIPOC separating Black people in particular from other people of color when Black people were the original “people of color,” dating back to the 18th-century term for free people of mixed African and European ancestry in the French colonies in the Americas?
I remember wandering a nearly empty street, ranting about this on my cell phone with my friend J., another Black academic. “It’s just another way to divide us up,” she replied. Nobody asked us if we were down with the rebranding. We were both annoyed at what seemed like a solution to a problem that hadn’t needed solving. BIPOC was a “New Coke” of a word.
The explanations behind the campaigns for BIPOC didn’t make this new team name any more appealing. In a June 2020 New York Times article by Sandra E. Garcia on the origins and meaning of the term, one scholar said the emphasis on “Black” was meant to “account for the erasure of Black people with darker skin.” I don’t know any Black people who, upon hearing “people of color” as it has been used over the past 60 or so years, have thought about the phrase needing a corrective for colorism, bias based on the lightness or darkness of someone’s complexion.
The more common and thoughtful rationale for BIPOC was that it was meant to highlight the specific discriminations Black and Indigenous people have suffered in this country as distinct from those faced by other … people of color. Another scholar Garcia interviewed, McGill University art history professor Charmaine Nelson, noted the importance of recognizing the differences in how Africans and Indigenous people suffered under colonialism in Canada. Explaining why it was necessary to elevate Black and Indigenous, she told Garcia, “To conflate everything in one is to erase, which is the very nature of genocidal practice.”
Nelson is calling on us to take a deeper look at the painful and complicated history of colonization, an enterprise that currently is most closely identified with “The 1619 Project.” The seeds planted in the summer of 2019 by the first iteration of “The 1619 Project,” a special edition of the Sunday New York Times Magazine, bloomed in the summer of 2020 as people throughout North America and Great Britain tore down public monuments to men who had destroyed the lives of millions of Africans and Indigenous people through colonization, war, theft and enslavement.
While I can appreciate the added weight BIPOC gives to descendants of stolen people (enslaved African Americans) and descendants of those people whose lands (and also children) were stolen (Indigenous peoples), unless the discussion is about those situations, I don’t see how it is productive to make a point of relegating other nonwhite groups to an undifferentiated appendix.
Before the summer of 2020, we had the summer of 2018 when more than 4,000 mostly Latino families were separated at the southern border, and the summer of 2019 when a white domestic terrorist set out to kill Latinos and took 23 lives at a shopping center in El Paso. Since the early weeks of the pandemic, Asians have suffered dramatic increases in violent racist attacks here and around the country, culminating in the murder of six Asian women working in spas around Atlanta.
Given widespread and ongoing racist violence, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to start sorting and ranking racist pain through the use of a new acronym, even one with good intentions.
I also have a practical problem with BIPOC: It isn’t really succeeding in getting people to think more carefully about all the different people behind those initials.
I hear BIPOC being used when people really mean “Black” or when they are falsely equating situations that don’t affect most other kinds of people of color. For example, last fall I heard a speaker give a sermon about how the BLM movement drew huge numbers of people into the streets to fight for “justice for BIPOC people.” The speaker is someone who knows better but got caught up in trying to be inspirational and “inclusive.”
I understand this urge to be inclusive. Sometimes, when I am facing a classroom with more Asian and Latino than Black students and discussing a situation involving Black people, I find myself sliding into references to “people of color.” I’m not always good about checking myself, but noticing has made me work harder to be specific. Terms like “anti-Black racism” and “anti-Asian hate crimes,” not to mention “anti-Latino” and “anti-immigrant” as well as “anti-Muslim” and “anti-Semitic,” force attention to specific situations requiring specific interventions. It is also worth acknowledging when subsets share a mission, as in the work Black and Indigenous advocates are doing to raise awareness of missing Black and Indigenous women and children.
Recognizing the limitations of “people of color” primed me to be more wary of BIPOC.
In an article for Vox, “Why the term ‘BIPOC’ is so complicated, explained by linguists,” Constance Grady writes, “An in-group will develop a new label for itself as part of a way of talking about the experiences members of that group hold in common. And then out-groups will begin using that language in a flat, unspecific way.”
There can be a kind of unthinking performativity to how people deploy these terms. I worry that BIPOC will go the way of LGBTQIA* — a well-meaning acronym that often elides that each of those letters represents specific histories, cultures and concerns. I hear younger people referring to the LGBTQIA response to the AIDS crisis or the Castro as the LGBTQIA mecca. They are trying to get it right, but they aren’t aware of the history or the points of connection and departure among those groups.
Similar to those who want the “B” and the “I” in BIPOC to shine a light on the specificity of those people, I think LGBTQIA* people deserve a string of spotlights for their own histories, heroes, struggles and cultures. Here’s a little spotlight for Q: the first documented mention of BIPOC was a 2013 tweeted shoutout to “#GrindToronto #BIPOC #Toronto” by GRIND, identified on Twitter as “celebrating sex positivity, the joys of safer consensual sex, in a queer space for BIPOC* (Black, Indigenous and people of color) in Toronto.”
My bet is that GRIND’s intended audience knew and appreciated that use of BIPOC. The trouble is trying to mass market a complex phrase with no user manual.
By Ruqayya Ahmad and Asantewaa Boykin Special to CalMatters | 2022-02-03T21:03:04Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Why I want BIPOC to go away - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-bipoc-is-like-new-coke/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-bipoc-is-like-new-coke/ |
Built to Spill has been going strong for 30 years, thanks to the band’s humble, virtuosic frontman
By Will Reisman • February 3, 2022 10:30 am
Built to Spill plays two shows at the Fillmore, on Feb. 11 and 12, 2022, and is slated to release its first album since 2015 on indie rock label Sub Pop. (Photo courtesy of Doug Martsch)
“There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” the sophomore album from Built to Spill, is generally considered an indie rock masterpiece.
A coming-of-age treatise with songs about young love, social anxiety and familial ruptures, the album holds up music-making as an accessible, attainable dream — not something that’s merely for “rock stars.” Indie taste-making outfit Pitchfork labeled the album the 24th best recording of the 1990s, conferring its beloved status.
Yet Doug Martsch, the mastermind behind that album and Built to Spill’s only full-time member, has a decidedly different opinion about the seminal release.
“I find that record unlistenable,” said Martsch, who also described feeling “horrified” when listening to Built to Spill’s early track “Sick and Wrong” on the radio. “I just really prefer our later records to those early ones. My voice just doesn’t sound natural or right at all. It’s pretty painful to revisit those ones.”
The complete lack of hubris for those cherished early records is typical of Martsch, a virtuoso musician who is revered by guitar geeks and indie rock fans (as well as by lots of dads), but who seems to wonder what the big deal is about his band. From his nondescript performance attire (lived-in pants and t-shirts), minimalist stage antics and just general approachability, Martsch is pleasantly humble — a rebuke to the perception that artistic geniuses must also be egomaniacs.
Martsch’s low-key presentation style has helped Built to Spill maintain stability during the band’s 30-plus years of existence, a marathon stretch that has included constant shifts in musical taste and frequent overhauls of the group’s lineup.
This year, Built to Spill will embark on a lengthy tour with two new members — bassist Melanie Radford and drummer Teresa Esquerra, who both joined in 2019, but who have played only a handful of live dates. The band will play two shows at the Fillmore on Feb. 11 and 12, and is slated to release its first album since 2015, its first with legendary indie rock label Sub Pop.
Martsch said that most of the material for the upcoming album was written during the sessions for 2015’s “Untethered Moon.” Despite the vast changes that have happened since that time (global pandemic, attempted presidential coup, Prince dying), Martsch said he wasn’t concerned with the music feeling out of touch.
“Not only are we not really topical lyrically, but we are not really musically topical,” said Martsch. “Our records could have been made at any time. We’re not like a current band that follows any kind of musical trends.”
While some may view Built to Spill’s inattention to trends as a sign of failure, the band’s timeless quality is actually what makes it unique and special.
During a three-album run in the 1990s that began with “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” (the album is amazing, despite Martsch’s misgivings) and that continued with “Perfect From Now On” and “Keep It Like a Secret,” Built to Spill took its listeners on a thrilling tour of its capabilities, creating songs that ranged from lovably heart-worn and accessible to daringly ambitious and vast in scope.
All the music from that era sounds as rousingly relevant today as it did 25 years ago And because of that, Built to Spill inspired countless bands to pursue indie rock that could be both pure of heart and musically proficient. But note, for a genre that prizes emotional accessibility over technical prowess, Martsch stood out as one of the few legitimate guitar gods; anyone who has been gratefully lost in the blissful guitar mist of “Carry the Zero” — the group’s most beloved song — understands that Martsch’s common man sensibilities belie a singular talent.
The secret might be out on his otherworldly abilities, but don’t expect the Built to Spill frontman to suddenly adopt a Jagger-esque stage persona. Martsch started the band as a low-stakes endeavor, and he has kept that same approach throughout his multi-decade career.
“I basically began Built to Spill as a hobby,” said Martsch. “I just never knew that anyone outside of my group of friends and my family would ever be interested in the music I was doing. I’ve been doing this for so long that I sometimes forget how surreal it is for me to have made a career out of this. But yeah, it’s been pretty unbelievable.”
Where: The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd, S.F.
When: 9 p.m., Friday, Feb. 11 and 9 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 12
Contact: (415) 346-6000, www.livenation.com
By Teresa Moore | 2022-02-04T02:10:51Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Revered guitar geek Doug Martsch readies for The Fillmore - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/revered-guitar-geek-doug-martsch-readies-for-the-fillmore/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/revered-guitar-geek-doug-martsch-readies-for-the-fillmore/ |
By Benjamin Schneider • February 4, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 4, 2022 2:02 pm
Political action committee Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, including donor William Oberndorf, is the Chesa Boudin recall campaign’s largest donor. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
Amid the tidal wave of money pouring into this year’s school board and district attorney recall campaigns, one PAC, and one donor to that PAC, are having an outsized impact.
The political action committee known as Neighbors for a Better San Francisco is the largest single contributor to both campaigns, giving nearly half a million dollars to the recall of three school board members and nearly $1.8 million to the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Neighbors’ largest donor, by far, is William Oberndorf, who contributed over $600,000 to the PAC in 2021. The San Francisco-based hedge fund manager and philanthropist is a major charter school proponent and gave over $1 million to Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s PAC in 2020.
Oberndorf and fewer than two dozen other individuals and corporations raised nearly $2.5 million for Neighbors for a Better San Francisco in 2021, according to filings with the California Secretary of State. In addition to Oberndorf, major donors include Shorenstein Realty, venture capitalists Steven Merrill and Jason Moment, and investment banker Paul Holden Spaht, Jr. The two recall campaigns account for the vast majority of the group’s spending.
The group’s $1.78 million contribution to the campaign to recall District Attorney Boudin represents more than two-thirds of the $2.6 million pro-recall committees have raised so far in the lead up to the June 7 election, according to San Francisco Ethics Commission data. Neighbors’ contributions were funneled in part through third-party organizations, including Stop All Asian Hate and the Common Sense Voter Guide.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the recall is being driven by a dark money PAC that itself is funded by a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals,” said Julie Edwards, campaign manager for the effort to keep Boudin in office.
By receiving the majority of its money from the Neighbors PAC, the campaign to recall Boudin was able to shield the identity of its donors during the signature gathering phase of the campaign, Edwards said. That’s because campaign committees require disclosures every two weeks, but PACs only provide disclosures twice a year. (Real Justice, a PAC supporting Boudin, has raised $130,000.)
Edwards said she believes the recall campaign would not have been able to afford the nearly $1 million it spent on paid signature gathering without contributions from the Neighbors PAC. The campaign to recall Boudin did not respond to a request for comment.
In the last month, Neighbors has injected $458,000 into the campaign to recall School Board members Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga. At the beginning of January, The Examiner reported that the pro-school board recall campaign had raised $1.1 million. That figure is now more than $1.8 million, according to the Ethics Commission. The School Board recall election, along with the state Assembly primary, will be held in just two weeks on February 15.
Neighbors for a Better San Francisco is described on its website as being “a civic-minded group of San Franciscans committed to improving public safety, public education, and quality of life for our city. We are dedicated to supporting and empowering pragmatic, responsible, and neighborhood-focused leaders and organizations.” The group did not respond to a request for comment.
Neighbors was also a major player in the 2020 local and state elections. The group raised and spent around $3 million that year, according to filings with the California Secretary of State, funding failed campaigns against Supervisor Dean Preston and his real estate tax, Proposition I. The group also funded campaigns in favor of Proposition A (a city bond for parks, homelessness, and drug treatment), Measure RR (the Caltrain funding measure), and California Proposition 16 (to reinstate affirmative action), among other ballot measures.
In 2020, crypto entrepreneur Chris Larsen was one of Neighbors’ largest donors, giving $300,000. However, he’s now fundraising against the group, contributing $100,000 in support of Boudin.
In 2021, Neighbors’ biggest donor was William Oberndorf, whose $602,000 contribution, split evenly between cash and stocks, was more than twice as much as any other donor. That figure is on top of the $300,000 he contributed to Neighbors in 2020.
Oberndorf and his wife, Susan, have been major political donors for years, funding Republicans and Democrats. The couple have contributed nearly $8.5 million to state-level races and PACs since 2006, according to filings with the California Secretary of State, including more than $3.5 million to a pro-charter school PAC supporting Antonio Villaraigosa for governor in 2018.
At the federal level, Oberndorf’s giving skews Republican: In 2020 Oberndorf gave $1.5 million to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s GOP Leadership Fund. He has also contributed thousands directly to other Republicans in the House and Senate, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Oberndorf did not respond to a request for comment.
RecallCampaignAd | 2022-02-05T00:37:26Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The Republican billionaire behind S.F.’s recalls - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-republical-billionaire-behind-s-f-s-recalls/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-republical-billionaire-behind-s-f-s-recalls/ |
By Carly Graf Examiner Staff Writer • February 4, 2022 9:30 am - Updated February 4, 2022 3:26 pm
The Tenderloin has just 12 acres of park space, including Sergeant John Macaulay Park, for a population of nearly 40,000. That leaves less than one acre of open space for every 1,000 residents of the neighborhood, which includes large numbers of seniors, people with disabilities and families with young children. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
There are just 12 acres of park space in the Tenderloin, even though it has a population of roughly 40,000 and is home to large numbers of seniors, people with disabilities and families with young children, according to the Trust for Public Land.
The local nonprofit calculates that there is less than one acre of open space for every 1,000 residents in the neighborhood compared with the citywide rate of nearly seven acres per 1,000 residents.
“We know that well-being in general is deeply tied to being outdoors and having access to run and exercise,” said Hunter Franks, who operates the Inviting Space program at the Tenderloin Community Benefit District. “We think it’s pretty integral to the neighborhood to not only steward the space that we do have but try to champion for more space, either temporarily or permanently.”
These conditions have always persisted, but the pandemic shone a light on how this imbalance has serious consequences on the community’s well being. Residents are now leading efforts to expand or make permanent pandemic-era programs that sought to remedy the status quo.
“The people of this neighborhood need and deserve open, accessible and beautiful open spaces just like any other,” said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the Tenderloin. “We’ve had to be creative and determined to create more open space in the Tenderloin.”
Lack of open space is not the Tenderloin’s only challenge, and arguably far from even it’s most pressing.
Fentanyl has flooded the streets. People experiencing homelessness continue to suffer in the open, and public drug dealing and substance use have become commonplace.
Mayor London Breed instituted a controversial emergency declaration in December 2021 that gave her office and the police force more authority to move people off the streets. She also opened a linkage center designed to connect drug users with services.
To some, calls for better access to parks and other open space might seem trivial in light of these deep struggles. But Franks says there’s a “natural progression” between the two when thinking about the Tenderloin’s future as a healthy, viable place for residents who call the neighborhood home rather than a bonafide containment zone.
“A lot of folks don’t think of it as a residential neighborhood, but the truth is that it certainly is,” he said.
Community activists who want to improve the livability of the neighborhood hope to tap into the Tenderloin’s rich, albeit often unheralded, legacy of fighting for its own future.
Best known for its strip joints, brothels and liquor stores, the Tenderloin of the 1970s was where some would go for a taste of life on the wild side. Many more lived the harsh conditions of the neighborhood where, in 1976, 40% of The City’s overdoses and nearly 25% of its homicides occurred.
This very paper called it “hell at your doorstep” in an edition around that time.
As is the case now, Tenderloin residents of the seventies tended to be low-income earners who relied on fixed income and other government support programs. There were high concentrations of seniors, people with disabilities and people whose past lives included incarceration and sleeping on the street.
Once deemed by The City as powerless, those same people, plus an influx of Southeast Asian immigrant families escaping violence and warfare in their home countries, began to organize with the support of services providers and non-profits.
Together, they fought to stave off the threat of rapidly encroaching tendrils of redevelopment that wiped out and displaced communities in the nearby Western Addition and South of Market areas.
By the early 1980s, the Tenderloin became “one of the most active neighborhoods in The City,” according to author and historian Rob Waters. In his book, Reclaiming San Francisco, Waters calls it “a community with a growing sense of itself and its mission, and a growing determination to fight for its own survival as a neighborhood where low-income people could afford to live.”
This community coalition pushed for policies requiring tourist hotel developers to subsidize affordable housing; compelled the Board of Supervisors to pass a law banning the conversion of residential hotels into tourist rentals; and pushed through a rezoning proposal to limit new building heights to 80 feet, set strict restrictions on bars and call for non-profits to purchase swaths of land land in order to protect it from speculative developers, according to Waters.
With the success of avoiding tourist-centric development came the fallout of losing the resources and attention from city officials that often come with it. Basic quality of life amenities such as parks, wide sidewalks and grocery stores were focused in other neighborhoods instead. The Tenderloin became a functional thoroughfare, a way to get from one more desirable part of The City to another.
Grassroots groups have had to get creative with how they use what landlocked, largely concrete space does exist in the neighborhood to create opportunities for outdoor recreation.
St. Anthony’s Church hopes to transform the block outside of its facility into a hub of services and green space for community residents. Grassroots organizations partnered with city agencies and community members to create Play Streets, a program that closes a stretch of Turk Street to vehicles on Saturdays to give children more space to play. Alleyways have been transformed into spaces that can be used for public activity, driveways and parking lanes into community gardens and sidewalks into demarcated routes for safe passage.
“We kind of have to work with what we have,” Franks said. “But the pandemic allowed us to re-imagine those a little bit.”
Key to these efforts is ensuring any existing or newly created spaces feel safe and accessible for families, seniors and anyone else who might enjoy them.
Recognizing this as an ongoing challenge, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District created its Park Captain Program in 2020. Known as stewards, staff members clean the parks and playgrounds, keep a watchful eye over children and work to provide room in the Tenderloin where people do feel comfortable enjoying fresh air and playing outside.
TLCBD just hired 15 more park captains as well as a manager to oversee the initiative.
Haney says that while there aren’t enough parks, “the ones we do have are protected and supported to ensure they’re always accessible for families.”
Franks does caution that the long-term sustainability of the stewardship program is a real challenge, as it’s been harder to secure adequate funding to really keep people at their posts almost all day every day.
By comparison, Franks says it’s easier to find financial support for open space or park renovations.
Given the neighborhood’s fierce fight to avoid gentrification in the first place, there’s been some healthy speculation as to whether calls for green space are the latest frontier in attempts at redevelopment.
Haney points to Boeddeker Park as evidence that investment can happen without displacement.
First built in 1985 before becoming one of the neighborhood’s most dangerous spots, the roughly one acre park received a $10 million infusion of cash and extensive renovation before reopening in 2014.
Today, Haney describes it as an “urban oasis” where people can exercise, play and relax safely within a gritty part of The City.
Franks also acknowledges some people feel parks could be the first step toward gentrification, but says that the kinds of open space they hope to create are coming directly from residents’ ideas, such as dog parks and more public benches.
“We are advocating for more park space not because we just think it’s a good thing to do, but because we have heard from residents directly,” he said. “It is our job to try to facilitate that actually coming to fruition.”
The basketball courts at Boeddeker Park in April 2019. As the neighborhood struggles with homelessness and substance abuse compounded by the fentanyl crisis, better access to parks and other open space are an important piece of the Tenderloin’s future as a viable place for residents. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner) | 2022-02-05T00:37:32Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The Tenderloin faces many challenges—and a lack of open space is a big one - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-tenderloin-faces-many-challenges-and-a-lack-of-open-space-is-a-big-one/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/the-tenderloin-faces-many-challenges-and-a-lack-of-open-space-is-a-big-one/ |
Opinion: PG&E delays are costing San Franciscans time and money
Stalling commercial and residential projects thwarts the pandemic recovery
By Hans Hansson Special to The Examiner • February 4, 2022 7:30 am - Updated February 4, 2022 12:40 pm
A sign marks the original headquarters of PG&E at 245 Market St., constructed in 1923-1925. Today, simple projects such as panel upgrades or starting new service are taking six to 12 months due to PG&E delays. (Shutterstock)
By Hans Hansson
When you consider all the challenges San Francisco businesses already have to deal with — securing building permits, finding staff in the middle of the labor shortage, paying astronomical rent — these issues pale in comparison to dealing with getting service from PG&E.
Today, PG&E is holding up building projects all over town and the problem is getting worse by the day. You can blame it on COVID-19, shortness of staff, overregulation and bankruptcy. Whatever the issue, PG&E is having a serious impact on our businesses in providing the necessary power to complete projects.
Simple projects such as panel upgrades or even starting new services now take six to 12 months. To no one’s surprise, larger projects involving more complicated upgrades are taking far longer. Customer service is practically nonexistent and any customer’s ability to gauge installation time is near impossible.
Consequently, projects are left unfinished, leaving tenants and landlords on the sidelines waiting with no sign of when work will get started, let alone finished.
To further complicate matters, PG&E has regulatory measures that often are in conflict with the realities of our buildings. For example, there is a requirement to move garbage cans away from new utility installations. San Francisco has many older apartment buildings, built before the 1940s, which cannot accommodate today’s expanded garbage service needs. Most often, these older buildings have small exit corridors on the ground floor where the utility boxes often are located, along with the garbage cans.
This conflicts with PG&E’s policy that when you upgrade electrical services, you cannot have garbage cans next to new electrical panels. But several apartment buildings don’t have the space to store these large garbage bins anywhere else. Building owners will call PG&E to try to resolve the matter, but nothing happens. In the end, service cannot be provided and owners are uncertain what to do next.
In my own neighborhood, Forest Knolls, homeowners who want to upgrade electrical systems can’t do it a timely fashion. One recent renovation has been held up more than 15 months because PG&E has yet to install new power. The owners — a couple with two kids who live across the street from me — moved into a one-bedroom apartment to fix their house, as it had about 50 years of deferred maintenance. The renovation originally was scheduled for six months. Fifteen months later, PG&E is starting their power upgrade, while The City has delayed permits.
Another example: I represented a building owner who waited six months to bring in new service and finally was assigned a PG&E inspector. Things were looking up until that inspector was fired and PG&E never returned my client’s phone call to confirm a replacement. The result? Another two-month delay.
At this rate, building owners and tenants who seek major power upgrades must assume lengthy delays. Because many office building owners seek to convert their buildings to service the growing demand for life science research, they need major power upgrades and often zoning permits from The City’s planning department. This becomes a double-edged sword, with delays that can leave buildings vacant for extended periods.
The biggest problem with all of this is that there are no consequences for these delays. This is the problem with a public utility. It’s not possible for a small business owner, a commercial real estate developer or a homeowner to bill PG&E for added costs due to their delays. For commercial landlords, delays can create not only the loss of rent, but also the loss of a tenant.
One last example: I sought to bring in more power to a commercial space for a tenant’s equipment. But when the tenants learned about the power upgrade process and timing, they backed out of the deal. At a time when commercial tenants, particularly retail tenants, are needed to fill vacant storefronts, you would think there would be pressure from City Hall to require PG&E to deliver on customer service.
PG&E is a public utility and our only option. So San Francisco needs to take a proactive approach with PG&E and solve these delay issues for the sake of our businesses and homeowners. PG&E is contributing to the stalled reopening of retail businesses and the delay in completing both residential and commercial projects. The City’s leadership needs to get involved and demand changes from PG&E now.
Hans Hansson is a San Francisco native, president of Starboard Commercial Real Estate and a member of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. | 2022-02-05T00:37:44Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: PG&E delays are costing San Franciscans time and money - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-pge-delays-costing-san-francisco-businesses-and-homeowners-time-and-money/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-pge-delays-costing-san-francisco-businesses-and-homeowners-time-and-money/ |
By Lincoln Mitchell • February 4, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 4, 2022 3:54 pm
Senator Dianne Feinstein at a rally in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1970s when she became mayor after the assassination of George Moscone. Feinstein restored the power structures led by the business community, although to the outside world The City appeared taken over by the far left. (Photo by Nancy Wong/Wikimedia Commons)
San Francisco’s reputation as a uniquely progressive city is rooted in the social upheavals of the late 1960s. But it was the 20 years from roughly 1975-1995 when that image solidified in the eyes of San Franciscans and the rest of the country.
There is truth to that image. Those years, beginning with the election of Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors in 1977 and the passage of his landmark Gay Rights Ordinance a few months later, were when gay political power became a force in The City well before the rest of the country. This was also when the Republican Party became largely irrelevant in San Francisco politics and The City became a center of environmentalism and anti-war sentiment, emerging as a holdout against the country’s rightward shift during the Reagan years.
But there is much more to this progressive hits history.
When 1975 began San Francisco was still led by Joseph Alioto, a smart, charming and able Democratic mayor. Alioto was not a reactionary or a racist, but he was a creature of the same downtown business interests that had run San Francisco seemingly forever. The election to replace him was one of the most divisive and important in San Francisco history — kind of.
The mayoral runoff pitted George Moscone, the progressive Democratic leader of the state senate who had assembled a then-unprecedented coalition of African Americans, Latinos, gays and lesbians, Asian American activists and neighborhood progressives, against John Barbagelata. Barbagelata, a Republican, was a textbook angry white backlash candidate — think Rudy Giuliani or Frank Rizzo without the charm. The major middle of the road candidate, Dianne Feinstein, got eliminated in the first round.
Moscone won that race by the narrowest of margins, but had no coattails and got stuck with a Board of Supervisors that had a conservative majority led by Quentin Kopp. So his progressive ambitions were stymied from the moment he took office.
Mayoral politics are not the only way to measure San Francisco’s progressive bona fides, but during this period they reveal something different than the broadly accepted narrative of San Francisco being taken over by the far left.
Moscone was tragically assassinated after serving as mayor for only three years. He was replaced by Dianne Feinstein who quickly restored the ancient power structures led by downtown and the business community. Feinstein was then elected to two terms, while never having a meaningful challenge from the left, Jello Biafra’s colorful and fascinating 1979 campaign notwithstanding.
In other words, even in the period of alleged progressive consolidation in San Francisco, downtown was in charge.
The assassinations of Moscone and Milk set the progressive movement in San Francisco back several years. Yet during his time as mayor, Moscone struggled with the central challenge of all progressive mayors, including Art Agnos in The City a decade later or David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio in New York: the need to balance a progressive agenda with maintaining a tax base from a fickle business community whose members can move to the suburbs if they desire. The passage of Proposition 13 in the summer of 1978 only made this challenge more difficult for Moscone and subsequent mayors. Feinstein resolved this by letting the business leadership have a major say in governance, but Moscone and Agnos never quite found a way around this dilemma.
The 20 years between 1975-1995 were also the time when the Manhattanization fight, which dominated city politics from the late 1960s to the late 1980s was finally concluded — and Manhattanization won. This meant that millions of square feet of office space were built, and The City pivoted to being an economy built around finance, real estate, tourism and later tech. This created a snowball effect where business became even more powerful and the interests of the business leadership became even more dominant.
All of this occurred as national economic trends, including the weakening of labor unions that increased economic and wealth disparities, were accelerating. In other words, in 1975, San Francisco could still be plausibly described as a middle and working class city, but by 1995 The City became one of wealthy residents, poor residents and a much smaller middle class.
This meant that in the 20 years when the political vibe of today’s San Francisco was forged, the angry right-wing politics of John Barbagelata, narrowly defeated in 1975, got marginalized. But the economic side of the progressive vision, represented briefly in the mayor’s office by Moscone and Agnos, has never been realized.
San Francisco ended up with a combination of social tolerance tempered by a powerful business community that still has enormous influence over economic policy, including everything from commercial rent control — there is none — to a housing market and land use policies that have pushed thousands of poor and middle-income people out of The City.
San Francisco since 1995 has been a place that celebrates LGBT history and ethnic and racial diversity while creating economic conditions that are inhospitable to lower income people and, more recently, that have allowed tech companies like Uber and DoorDash to rewrite the economic rules and exploit low wage labor. This was the social contract forged in the aftermath of the 1975 elections and the assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk three years later. Feinstein made that economic pact happen, but no mayor since, other than Art Agnos, has sought to change it.
In this respect, San Francisco was an early leader in the working class erasure of certain American cities. Michael Bloomberg’s New York may be the most extreme example of this, but most U.S. cities today are socially tolerant and have economic policies that are still driven by business priorities and development interests. For San Francisco, that phenomenon took place from 1975 to 1995 when an outward radicalism came to cloak an inner conservatism.
“Why San Francisco is more conservative than you think” is a four-part Examiner series running weekly online and in print. Read Part I. The era of Republican mayors, 1912-1964. | 2022-02-05T00:37:50Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Why San Francisco is more conservative than you think. An Examiner series - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-than-you-think-an-examiner-series/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-than-you-think-an-examiner-series/ |
By Max Blue Special to The Examiner • February 4, 2022 5:30 pm - Updated February 4, 2022 5:53 pm
Gideon Rubin ‘s “Green Dress,” 2021. (Courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery)
The Gideon Rubin show at Hosfelt Gallery feels a bit like a haunted house. “Red Boys and Green Girls” is the London-based painter’s seventh solo show with the gallery, serving up a recent selection of the painter’s now standard fare: minimalist, oil-on-linen figurative works with faceless characters. There’s an unsettling aspect to these blank countenances, but it draws more than it repels.
Rubin’s transition away from realist painting was inspired by the discovery of a collection of Victorian photo albums at a bookshop in Hampstead in 2006. Funny, since photographs are usually equated with realism. But it was the gaps in Rubin’s own personal history — an absence of photographic records predating his extended family’s emigration from Poland to Israel in the 1930s — that inspired him. He began painting from old photographs, and sometimes on top of them, leaving the faces blank both to homage lost records and to leave room for viewers to insert their own narratives.
The source material for Rubin’s more recent pictures comes from many places, but it’s always photographic. For this show, Rubin draws on internet images, vintage magazines and film stills. As Gabriel Coxhead points out in his essay “Blurred Visions,” “In Rubin’s paintings, photography itself is the subject,” rather than the people those photographs depict. Either way, what Rubin’s really playing with is memory.
The exhibition’s title comes from two series of four paintings, in which Rubin has painted the same figure at various sizes, from about 11 by seven inches, to nearly five-by-three-and-a-half feet. In one series, it’s a boy in a red shirt; in the other, it’s a girl in a green dress. The girls and boys are turned resolutely way from the viewer, their presumably faceless faces facing the wall. The two series, hung beside each other, invoke the reproductive capability of photography and the echo of memory. At a distance, the paintings in each series look the same; up close, their differences are revealed. This is mimetic of memory too, where each return to a recollection leaves it slightly altered.
Works like “Swing,” 2021, which shows a woman teeing off, or “Night at the Window,” 2020, a large, poignant picture of a man standing at a windowsill, watching the street below, are more straightforward reproductions, but Rubin’s recontextualizations refute anyone who might try to take them at face value.
By choosing to paint photographs as he does, Rubin isn’t necessarily insinuating that the other medium is deficient: only that it deserves painterly attention. Paint, especially when used as sparingly and exactingly as Rubin applies it, accentuates the ephemeral nature of the photograph and introduces something that’s missing from all that silver gelatin and digital gloss: humanity. Photographs are stalwart. Human memories are not; they are unreliable and freighted with emotional inflection.
Many of Rubin’s paintings are small, intimate works, and the whole show includes less than 30 pieces. At first, I wanted more! But the paintings hang heavy: Absence, as Rubin well knows, is a haunting presence. It is in the gaps that his work works — between representation and reproduction, event and record — reminding that memory is nothing but the fragile ornamentation on the wall of time.
“Red Boys and Green Girls”
Where: Hosfelt Gallery, 260 Utah St., S.F.
When: Through Feb. 19, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 10am-5:30pm and Thu 11am-7pm
Contact: (415) 495-5454, hosfeltgallery.com | 2022-02-05T07:45:17Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Gideon Rubin show is a haunted house between photography and painting - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/gideon-rubin-show-at-hosfelt-gallery-is-a-haunted-house-between-photography-and-painting/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/gideon-rubin-show-at-hosfelt-gallery-is-a-haunted-house-between-photography-and-painting/ |
By Jean Schiffman • February 4, 2022 4:30 pm
Miranda Rose Hall’s “The Kind Ones” plays at the Magic Theatre through Feb. 20. (Courtesy of Magic Theatre)
Here’s a question for playwright Miranda Rose Hall, whose dark and offbeat comedy “The Kind Ones” is having its world premier at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre: “Do you know very much about pigs?”
Hogs are a major element of Hall’s surprising two-hander. Consider the script’s opening stage directions: “The dark. The sty. The sound of pigs eating. Nellie kills a pig.” Other stage directions are equally deadpan — and then there’s the tense, freighted dialogue of the 70-minute play set in a “mythic now.”
Nellie (played by Anne Darragh) is a reclusive pig farmer in Montana with a checkered past. Fitz (Kian Johnson), with equally challenging baggage, is a stranger who shows up at her farm. When he knocks on the door, Nellie promptly picks up a baseball bat. Things get increasingly, unpredictably complex.
Hall, it turns out, is not a pig expert. She grew up in Baltimore where, she says, “We had alley cats.” As with all her plays, she researched the subject of pig farming and relied on support from the theater’s dramaturgical team.
Hall is not known to Bay Area audiences aside from a production at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center. She got an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, has had her plays produced in theaters all over the country and now in Europe, won a Critics Circle Award in San Diego and lives in Brooklyn, where — just before arriving here in person for final rehearsals at the Magic — she was writing a television script for “American Rust.”
“I spent a lot of my childhood writing, and thought I wanted to be a poet,” she says in a phone chat from the Magic on the day of the show’s first preview.
Her father is a conductor, so she was involved in the performing arts early on. Then in college at Georgetown University, she noticed some of the students were reading plays aloud in a playwriting class and she thought, “Oh my god, that sounds like so much more fun than writing my sad poetry alone in my dorm room.”
Hall submitted a one-act to a college contest, and it was selected to be produced the following year.
“In theater, as you’re writing, you think about how much space you leave to others to make it come alive,” she says. “I try to write the most essential way I want it to happen and then hand it to the director, the designers, others.”
So the stage direction “Nellie kills a pig” is director Lisa Peterson’s problem. Peterson, an Obie Award winner, has directed locally at American Conservatory Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre as well Off-Broadway, and although Hall knows her, they’ve never worked together before.
Hall says she likes directors who are “kind and uptight — who are very passionate, have a good nature and a good sense of humor and are uptight about getting things right — rigorous about the work.”
Not, she adds, that Peterson is an uptight person; she’s just very rigorous and can figure out how to stage scenes involving gobbling porkers.
“The Kind Ones” began as a gift play for a woman Hall met about 10 years ago when she was working in a domestic violence shelter in Missoula, Montana. She started writing it in graduate school and developed it for about five years. Former Magic artistic director Loretta Greco seized upon the play for the theater’s Virgin Plays workshop and promised Hall that it would be on the Magic’s mainstage, handing it to now-artistic director Sean San José.
Developing it over time, Hall “threw a lot of paint on the wall to see the different ways the story could be told,” she explains. For a while there were four characters, then three, ultimately two. Hall’s a minimalist, at least as seen in this play.
But at its core “The Kind Ones” — a wry title indeed — is about a relationship and how forces from the outside world affect that relationship.
“I hope people will laugh and feel emotionally connected to these characters,” says Hall. “I hope they feel, ‘Oh my god, what just happened?’ My greatest wish is for people to reconnect to the pleasure of live performance and live theater.”
“The Kind Ones”
Where: Magic Theatre, Bldg. D, Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., S.F.
Contact: (415) 441-8822, magictheatre.org | 2022-02-05T07:45:23Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Playwright Miranda Rose Hall brings pig magic to the Magic Theatre - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/playwright-miranda-rose-hall-brings-pig-magic-to-the-magic-theatre/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/playwright-miranda-rose-hall-brings-pig-magic-to-the-magic-theatre/ |
By Benjamin Schneider • February 4, 2022 3:30 pm
A cyclist rides along a new protected bike lane on Howard Street in January 2019. A new law introduced by state Sen. Scott Wiener would allow projects that make streets safer for walking and biking as well as improve bus speeds would no longer require an environmental review, which will speed up the projects. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
Between 2006 and 2010, San Francisco had to hit pause on installing bike lanes which for a time were thwarted by environmental lawsuits. Yes, you read that right.
Complainants argued The City failed to analyze its bike plan’s impact on parking, traffic, and public transit, leaving cyclists in a lurch until the lawsuits were finally thrown out.
In 2020, the state legislature moved to prevent that scenario from reoccuring, with a law, SB 288, that temporarily exempted certain green transportation projects from lengthy, costly reviews under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Now, that law’s author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, is hoping to make those changes permanent, and expand upon them, with a new bill introduced Friday.
Under the new law, SB 922, projects that make streets safer for walking and biking, improve bus speeds or modernize light rail stations would not require review under CEQA — a process that in some cases takes years.
“Expanding public transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure puts people to work and mitigates the worst impacts of climate change,” Wiener said in a statement. “Our federal and state governments are making huge investments in infrastructure, and we need to get these projects going much faster than we have in the past.”
SB 288, which will expire in 2023 unless SB 922 is passed, has streamlined transportation projects across the state. But it has been especially significant in San Francisco, where it’s been used in concert with SFMTA’s “quick-build program” to deliver pedestrian and bike safety improvements on a timeline of months, rather than years.
Projects that have benefited from SB 288 include pedestrian safety improvements on Leavenworth in the Tenderloin and Williams in Bayview. The protected bike lanes on Innes and Evans in Hunters Point also benefited from the law.
SFMTA’s quick-build program considerably increased the pace of bike lane and transit-only lane installation since it began in 2019, creating dozens of miles of right of way reserved for cyclists and buses.
In addition to making the provisions in SB 288 permanent, SB 922 adds new categories of projects that are exempt from CEQA, including carpool lanes, bus service on freeways and bike share stations. The bill also includes labor protections and a clause that ensures the law cannot be used to add new capacity for cars. Eligible projects costing more than $100 million would be required to go through community engagement requirements, and undergo an analysis of its impact on low-income communities of color — processes previously undertaken via CEQA.
The law is co-sponsored by the California Transit Association, SPUR, the Bay Area Council, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. The bill’s previous iteration had support from many public transit agencies across the state, and faced little organized opposition.
At the bill’s formal announcement in Hunters Point on Monday, Wiener is expected to appear alongside SFMTA director Jeffrey Tumlin. In a statement, Tumlin called the bill, “A well-matched legislative initiative with our Vision Zero goal to end traffic-related deaths and serious injuries for San Francisco.”
Pedestrian safety improvements along Leavenworth Street were made possible through Senate Bill 288, which temporarily sped up projects by exempting environmental reviews, and will be made permanent through SB 922. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Tags: Transit | 2022-02-05T07:45:29Z | www.sfexaminer.com | New proposal would make The City friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-proposal-would-make-the-city-friendlier-to-pedestrians-and-cyclists/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-proposal-would-make-the-city-friendlier-to-pedestrians-and-cyclists/ |
By Jeffrey M. Anderson • February 6, 2022 7:00 pm
Christine Turner grew up in Bernal Heights to an African-American father and a Chinese-American mother, both of whom worked in the nonprofit sector. She credits her parents as an inspiration for veering toward documentary film. (Courtesy of Christine Turner)
Christine Turner’s short documentary “Lynching Postcards” — which is shortlisted for an Academy Award and is currently streaming on Paramount+ — comes with an ironic subtitle, “Token of a Great Day.”
That phrase is lifted directly off the back of one of the postcards featured, and it’s the first shocker of this powerful 15-minute film.
That some 4,000 lynchings of Black Americans occurred in this country between 1880 and 1968 is well known, but the fact that they were turned into postcards for enjoyment is, in some ways, even more disturbing.
The film offers quite a few examples of these postcards, showing Black bodies, sometimes charred, with smiling white people posing nearby, as if standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. These were the equivalent of bragging rights, with no sense of remorse or shame.
In the film, the San Francisco-born director Turner chose to show the postcards head-on, rather than the sliding, Ken Burns-style shots that are usually employed to depict archival material.
“I wanted to make the point that these are physical objects, and that people sent them through the mail to their friends and family,” says Turner in a recent phone conversation. “Oftentimes filmmakers work really hard to clean those images up and make them look pristine, but in this case I wanted to show the wear and tear.”
Working on a film and watching it hundreds of times, Turner says her exposure to the horrific images changed. “When I first started the research, they affected me one way. But when I started to work with them, that power wasn’t quite as strong,” she explains. “You’re working through the challenges of just making the film.”
One of her most inspired touches, helping to take back the power of the cards, is the idea of having Black voiceover actors reading the handwritten text on the backs. “Hearing these handwritten messages out loud is very powerful and I thought it would be a good way to end the film,” she says.
But, stuck at home during COVID, she recruited her husband to read the text for a temp track. She then realized how powerful the effect was. “It was comment on the postcard, rather than just reading,” she says.
Since production occurred during the pandemic, the eventual actors — including Darian Dauchan, Kara Young and Jimmie Jeter — recorded their dialogue remotely. They are all people from Turner’s personal life, most of them either from, or still based in, San Francisco. One, Biko Eisen-Martin, is the brother of San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin. “It was a great group of people, like a big family,” she says.
Likewise, due to the pandemic, Turner wasn’t able to film her onscreen experts — including Leigh Raiford, associate professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley — in person.
Instead, local cinematographers based in Maryland and Minnesota, as well as in Berkeley, would set up and light the shots, and then Turner interviewed the subjects via Zoom on a laptop placed next to the camera.
“That was a first for me,” she says. “You think that you can only do these things in person, but then you figure out ways to make the film. I had pre-interviewed the scholars and historians, but I have not met any of them in person, to date. I hope that will change.”
Similarly, due to the pandemic, she was never able to physically handle any of the postcards, or travel to the places in which they’re archived. She received all of them in digital format.
“They’re really spread out across the country,” she says. “I’m sure there are more to be found in private collections. There was an antiques collector named James Allen that, through his collecting, was able to accumulate a number of postcards that were put in a book.”
The originals that make up that book now reside at the Allen-Littlefield collection in Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights. “That’s the biggest collection, as far as I know,” says Turner.
Turner first encountered postcards like these when she worked as an archivist, doing research for documentary filmmakers, and working with directors like Stanley Nelson (“Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,” “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”), who co-produced Turner’s new film.
One of the postcards featured in “Lynching Postcards,” which is shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. (Photo courtesy of MTV Documentary Films)
“These postcards stuck with me,” she says. “The words on the back — ‘This is the barbecue we had last night’ — that’s something that you don’t forget. It’s almost just as chilling as the imagery itself.”
So when she was approached by Firelight Films and MTV Documentaries to make the film, she knew how to tell the story. “For me it was really important that it wouldn’t just be a film about Black victimization. What was important to me was to really highlight Black resistance, and tell the story of the NAACP and other lynching activists.”
As the film explains, activists began using the photographs for their opposite intent. Rather than showing a celebratory occasion, they began using the same photos, and re-appropriating them to show their evil and horror.
“That is what excited me about this film, and that that narrative could also serve as an inspiration and remain timely,” Turner says.
Turner was born in Bernal Heights to an African-American father and a Chinese-American mother, both of whom worked in the nonprofit sector.
She credits her parents as an inspiration, and one of the reasons she veered toward documentary. “Documentary just felt very natural to me, as a way of addressing social issues and our history,” she says.
In middle school, Turner was lucky enough to find herself in a video class, taught by a San Francisco State film student learning about filmmaking and media literacy.
After graduating from Lowell High School in 2000, she attended NYU film school and wound up staying on the East Coast, eventually settling in Brooklyn, where she currently lives with her husband and 2-year-old. Yet she still has roots in San Francisco, and is considering a possible move back.
One of her biggest inspirations was the Berkeley filmmaker Les Blank, who passed away in 2013. In film school, his 1987 documentary short “Gap-Toothed Women” was a revelation to Turner. “It opened up the possibilities of what a documentary could be, that there were all kinds of approaches to telling a story.”
She even has a treasured souvenir from Blank. “I wrote him a couple of years before he passed away, and he very kindly autographed a ‘Gap-Toothed Women’ poster, which hangs in my apartment in Brooklyn.”
Her first documentary, “Homegoings,” about a Black funeral director in Harlem, was released in 2013, and is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel. But “Lynching Postcards” is the first of her films to land on the 15-film shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. Only five will make the cut when the nominations are announced Feb. 8, but Turner is honored just to be considered.
“It’s so wild because it’s not something that ever crossed my mind in the course of making the film,” she says. “I’m so happy that people are responding to it.” | 2022-02-07T11:59:17Z | www.sfexaminer.com | ‘Lynching Postcards,’ by S.F. native Christine Turner, explores souvenirs of white terror - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/lynching-postcards-by-s-f-native-christine-turner-explores-souvenirs-of-white-terror/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/lynching-postcards-by-s-f-native-christine-turner-explores-souvenirs-of-white-terror/ |
By Carly Graf Examiner Staff Writer • February 7, 2022 1:30 pm - Updated February 7, 2022 3:01 pm
In April 1863, Charlotte L. Brown refused to get off a horse-drawn streetcar, like this Sutter Street Line streetcar pictured circa 1913, when the conductor wouldn’t accept her ticket. After she was forcibly removed by other white passengers, Brown would go on and file two lawsuits against the streetcar owner, Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company, as she fought for racial justice. (SFMTA Photo Archive)
Not all battles of the Civil War were fought on the front lines. Some were fought right here in San Francisco, where courtrooms, public schools and streetcars were the battlegrounds for racial justice.
On April 17, 1863, Charlotte L. Brown, who was Black, refused to get off a horse-drawn streetcar when the conductor would not accept her ticket and instead told her to leave. When other white passengers got involved, Brown was eventually forcibly removed from the vehicle.
It was two years before the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, and almost a century before the pinnacle of the Civil Rights Movement, but Brown would file two lawsuits against the streetcar’s owner, Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company, asserting her right to be treated as an equal passenger.
“Streetcars became the platforms on which women of color interpreted the meaning of emancipation on the northern home front,” write Judy Giesberg, a Civil War historian, in her book, Army at Home.
Racism in San Francisco
February is Black History Month, yet Brown remains largely unheralded and The City’s own history of racism is often overlooked.
“Contrary to popular belief, San Francisco was a heavily racist town,” said Emiliano Echeverria, who has written numerous books about The City’s early history. “There’s always been a lot of diversity, but tolerance, not so much. And even tolerance is just putting up with your neighbors, not really learning how to accept and get along with them.”
Diversity does not equal acceptance.
Going back to the Gold Rush Era of the mid-1800s, San Francisco was home to many Chinese, Indian and Latino immigrants. Black residents accounted for only 2% of The City’s total population, and they were “well established, literate and resolutely middle class,” Giesberg writes in her book. Many emigrated from the West Indies and enjoyed a cosmopolitan lifestyle of travel and relatively expensive clothes.
However, their civic participation was curtailed by discriminatory laws. They could not serve on juries or attend public schools. Black residents were forbidden from voting, and until just months before Brown was forcibly removed from the streetcar, they couldn’t testify in court cases involving white residents.
One of the earliest to avail herself of this new right, Brown was successful in her first lawsuit against Omnibus Railroad. Aftermany months spent in appeals court, however, she received only $500 money in damages, and no changes to public transportation law were made.
Shortly after the first court case was settled Brown was kicked off another Omnibus streetcar while riding with her father.
The two returned promptly to court and won, this time with a decisive and effectual ruling from the 12th District Court of San Francisco that deemed streetcar segregation indefensible.
Judge Orville C. Pratt acknowledged that railroad laws give transportation companies the right to make exceptions to their duty to carry passengers, such as when a person might cause danger, transmit illness or refuse to pay fare. However, the judge determined that skin color does not qualify.
“The accident of color is not legitimately embraced among the causes that justify exceptions to the rule,” an October 3, 1864 newspaper article in the San Francisco Bulletin said. “The Judge shows no disposition to lend the power of the court to perpetuate a ‘relic of barbarism,’ and he intimates that the logic of events is fast disposing of prejudices and unfounded repugnances of one class of Americans to another class.”
Though discrimination would continue, Brown’s victory gave other people the courage to take their own experiences of segregation to court. It was also seen as the “end of streetcar segregation from the day the white-owned Omnibus Railroad company paid Charlotte Brown for the injury she suffered when forced to leave the car on account of her race,” according to Giesberg’s writings.
Transit justice
Understanding the legacy of Omnibus Railroad’s discrimination – and the fight Brown waged to combat it – is essential to to understanding the full role racism played and continues to play in San Francisco’s transit infrastructure today.
Though not racist in name, urban planning and transportation policies have historically cut out communities of color from economic centers and isolate them from job opportunities, healthcare services and quality of life amenities such as parks. Governments have dumped emissions in poor neighborhoods and allowed infrastructure to crumble.
“That example forces us to reconcile with the fact that racism is everywhere,” said Josephine Ayankoya, the Racial Equity Officer for the San Francisco Municipal Transporation Agency. “It is the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, and we have to be intentional and rigorous and data-driven in the way we understand it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the relationship between public transportation and racism.
When SFMTA suspended all but a skeletal network of transit lines in March 2020, it affected low income families, many of whom are people of color, the most. They could not work from home, afford the steep fees for takeout or hop in private vehicles for trips to pharmacies and the grocery store.
Recognizing this disproportionate impact, the transit agency prioritized restoration and modifications of bus routes to best serve high concentrations of essential workers and lower income communities such as the 14-Mission, 15-Bayview Hunters Point Express and 9-San Bruno. SFMTA installed transit-only lanes to speed up Muni service in certain neighborhoods, and it experimented with increased discount programs, though never reaching an entirely fare-free pilot that was called for by many.
None of these interventions was a panacea for some of The City’s poorest neighborhoods, such as the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood and the Tenderloin, that continue to be under-served by mobility infrastructure including bus shelters, bike lanes and frequent transit service. However, they did demonstrate a recognition from officials that transportation plays a key role in achieving real equity.
SFMTA was also forced to look inward at how it perpetuates racial inequity within its own rank and file.
Employees of color at the agency are less likely to reach management roles than their white counterparts and more likely to receive disciplinary action or report feeling uncomfortable sharing feedback with leadership, according to a presentation given in a November 2020 SFMTA board meeting.
SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin acknowledged the transportation industry’s “long history of destroying Black wealth,” and his own agency’s “long and well documented history of racism, sexism and discrimination.”
Transportation officials unveiled a racial equity plan to assess past and current failures, develop performance indicators to monitor progress and create a path forward to both create a workplace free of discrimination as well as an equitable transportation service plan.
Along those same lines, as the agency seeks to hire for the growing number of operator vacancies, it will look for ways to improve treatment of the people who drive Muni buses, trains and cable cars.
Most of these operators are people of color. They’ve always faced the threat of discrimination while working in such a public-facing capacity. The pandemic exacerbated this phenomenon as people grew irascible and even violent, coupled with the tangible fear of contracting COVID-19 on the job.
“The way we invest in them and support their career growth and ensure they are supported in daily work conditions will be critical,” Ayankoya said. “They are not the buses they drive. They are people with lived experiences, people who have shown up for us throughout the most difficult and uncertain times.”
In a similar way, Brown knew that her ability to ride on a streetcar wasn’t just about getting from one destination to another. It was about challenging the racist system that it represented.
Locals to compete in slalom, hockey, figure skating, bobsled and biathalon | 2022-02-07T23:30:53Z | www.sfexaminer.com | A century before Rosa Parks, a Black woman fought for her rights on an S.F. streetcar—and won - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/a-century-before-rosa-parks-a-black-woman-fought-for-her-rights-on-an-s-f-streetcar-and-won/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/a-century-before-rosa-parks-a-black-woman-fought-for-her-rights-on-an-s-f-streetcar-and-won/ |
Warriors star driven to succeed and tell us all about it
By Al Saracevic • February 7, 2022 10:30 am
Warriors forward Draymond Green, pictured here during a January game against the Miami Heat, has used his pulpit as an outspoken player to advance his game and his brand. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Ever since he burst on the scene as a brash, young rookie, it was clear Draymond Green had something to say.
At times funny, cocky or profane, the Warriors star wowed the media from the jump, and has been the Bay Area’s best quote for a decade. So it was great to see him back behind the microphone the other day talking about anything and everything: his current injury, his journey back to the All-Star Game and his new job as an analyst for TNT’s “Inside the NBA” show.
Green moved from subject to subject seamlessly, passing out quotes and quips like so many assists. It brought back memories for this columnist, who recalls our first encounter fondly.
He was a second-round pick out of Michigan State, who seemed undersized for the skill set he possessed and the position he played. Every year, the Warriors would gather the rookies for a media meet and greet, with each player sitting at his own table. Harrison Barnes was the first pick in 2012, and he attracted a crowd. So did Festus Ezeli, chosen later in the first round.
Green, chosen with the 35th pick in the second round, was anything but a sure thing to make it in the NBA, much less become a star. So there weren’t too many people gathered around his spot. I wandered over to start a conversation and immediately sensed the confidence. He was a quick thinker. He looked you straight in the eye. And he didn’t mince words. He also had a fabulous smile and a big laugh that put you at ease.
This guy was going places, whether it was in the NBA or not.
Fast-forward a decade and we’re looking at a sure-fire Hall of Famer. NBA Champion. Defensive Player of the Year. Olympic Gold Medalist. NBA All-Star. It’s all part of Draymond’s glorious resume. And he’s still building onto that vitae, breaking new ground as the first active player to also be an analyst on the world’s most popular basketball show.
It’s a lot to juggle, but maybe not for Green.
For those who follow the Warriors, these past few weeks were tough times. Green has been out with a strained calf and back injury. The Warriors want their spark plug back. The writers want their quote machine back.
Luckily, the NBA provided the chance. Green was named to his fourth All-Star Game last week, prompting a press conference where he could hold court in a classic Draymond session. It felt like he missed us as much as we missed him.
In his usual rapid fire manner, Green covered a lot of ground:
On his troubling injury…
“This whole process, for me has been an extremely positive learning process, I’ve learned so much … about the body as a whole. I’m strengthening my core and my glutes. … I’m able to work on some things that you never really get the opportunity to focus on. I think I’ll come back stronger, I think I’ll come back faster, jump higher, due to the things that I’m able to work on.”
(Green said he’s not in any real pain and hopes to return in the next three to four weeks, back willing. That’s means he’ll miss playing in the All-Star Game.)
On being named to his fourth All-Star Game…
“It is a special thing. It’s a very special thing. Because two years ago, I had probably the worst season of my basketball career, including my first year ever playing in first grade. … I was so terrible, and I was so out of it and drained and exhausted. I made a goal to get back to playing good basketball last year (and) reestablish Draymond Green as a basketball player (and) as a brand.”
On the evolution of the home crowd at Chase Center…
I think I’ve said publicly before, you kind of expect (Chase Center to be like) Oracle. It was loud. Now we’re at Chase … it’s going to be loud. And that was just the expectation. And then you walk in here and … we sucked. So that’s probably one of the reasons it wasn’t loud. We sucked. I think now … you’re excited to know that when you’re returning to play at home, it actually feels like a home game. You can feed off that energy.”
On the looming NBA trade deadline…
“We are not a heavy trade deadline team. We have not been since I’ve been here. I can probably count on one hand the amount of moves that we’ve made.”
On the Warriors’ defensive play in his absence…
“The reality is, you establish the culture. You will still be held accountable to defend whether I am on the court or off the court. … That is how you know that you’re building a championship team. … It’s not, because Draymond is out, our defense goes to shit. No, ‘cause you’re not allowed to go to shit. Like, it’s just not how we operate.”
On getting Klay Thompson back into the Warriors’ flow…
“Nothing is natural. All of it takes some work. Since my last time playing a basketball game with Klay, the NBA is totally different. The way the game is played is totally different. So I don’t expect it to be as seamless as people may think.”
On rookie Jonathan Kuminga…
“I’ve seen Kuminga’s work ethic improve. Not that he wasn’t a hard worker. Because I haven’t been around him long enough to say whether he was a hard worker or not. But what I’ve seen is him learning how to work. And as he’s learning how to work, his game is getting better. His understanding is getting better. And I think that’s important.”
On his pioneering role as a TNT analyst, while also playing in the NBA…
“The reality is, when I’m done playing basketball, I’ll do some of that stuff. And why not work on it now? Why not get better now, if the opportunity is there? And the opportunity was there. I am extremely grateful. … I think that’s amazing. If I could open up a lane for guys to be able to do that, while they’re playing, why wouldn’t I go for it? And if I can do it, why can’t anybody else? I’m all about trying to set new paths and pave new ways when I can.”
Speak it, Draymond. We’re listening. You’ve crafted an amazing career, forged by talent, grit and guile. The question isn’t, “Why not me?” It’s more like, “Who else?” | 2022-02-08T09:06:33Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Draymond Green: The mouth that soared - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/draymond-green-the-mouth-that-soared/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/draymond-green-the-mouth-that-soared/ |
By Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters • February 8, 2022 1:30 am
Nonprofit local health plans estimate Kaiser’s expansion could strip them of up to 30% of their members in some counties. (CalMatters)
Nonprofit local health plans, which cover the majority of Medi-Cal enrollees, estimate Kaiser’s expansion could strip them of up to 30% of their members in some counties.
“Offering a statewide, no-bid contract on a silver platter to a commercial plan undercuts the local public health infrastructure while paving a path for large-scale corporate health plan expansion in Medi-Cal,” Linnea Koopmans, chief executive officer of the Local Health Plans of California, said in a statement. Her organization represents 16 local health plans, which will not have to bid for a contract because they are nonprofits.
Who will be covered
Health plans say allowing Kaiser to limit its enrollment to certain people could mean that their population will be healthier, less costly and easier to manage.
State officials, however, pointed out that Kaiser would have to serve people on both Medicare and Medi-Cal, known as dual eligibles, which are among the most complex patients because they have disabilities or are 65 and older. “So this is definitely not a low-risk population, and similarly with foster youth,” said Michelle Baass, director of the state’s Department of Health Care Services, said.
Serving the vulnerable
But Koopmans said, “Kaiser’s claims of capacity limitations rings hollow considering they have capacity for Covered California, Medicare and private industry. Apparently, in Medi-Cal they just don’t have capacity for the people with the most need.” | 2022-02-08T17:02:58Z | www.sfexaminer.com | California’s no-bid contract with Kaiser triggers concerns - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/californias-no-bid-contract-with-kaiser-triggers-concerns/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/californias-no-bid-contract-with-kaiser-triggers-concerns/ |
By Aimée Ts’ao Special to The Examiner • February 8, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 8, 2022 12:49 pm
Zaccho Dance Theatre aerialist Helen Wicks at Grace Cathedral. (Photo courtesy of Zaccho Dance Theatre)
By Aimée Ts’ao
When Zaccho Dance Theatre finally premieres “Love, a state of grace” Feb. 11-18, it will be fitting that it occurs in San Francisco’s majestic Grace Cathedral. The twists and turns involved in bringing this piece to completion during the pandemic are matched only by the two labyrinths inside and outside the iconic church.
The wait was worth it. Audiences should prepare to be awed by five aerialists climbing the 90-foot ladder soaring toward the nave or swinging on the 70-foot pendulum arcing above the stone floor, highlighted against the brilliant stained-glass windows.
Choreographer Joanna Haigood, the company’s artistic director, was in the middle of working on her latest creation when the shelter-in-place mandate hit. She had already conceived the piece as an exploration of the recent violence aimed at sacred spaces — temples, mosques, churches.
Haigood asked: “How can one religion justify the violence against another? In most faiths and practices, love is a foundational tenet. How does that get reinterpreted to justify that kind of behavior?” The longtime Bay Area choreographer started researching attacks on sacred spaces and having conversations with a wide array of faith leaders.
“Then Covid happened and I got thrown in about 50 different directions,” she said. “Trying to figure out how to save the ship here at Zaccho, it became clear that this project had to be put on hold.” Even the venue, with its apt name, couldn’t conjure up any divine intervention.
Haigood was hardly alone. Everyone in the performing arts has been grappling with how to create and perform work within pandemic-imposed limits. Haigood found herself reflecting on one of her previous pieces, “Between me and the other world,” based on W.E.B. DuBois’ “The Souls of Black Folk.”
“The piece explores the dilemma that Black people find themselves in, particularly in this country, where they are faced with this duality of identity — who you are in truth and how you are perceived by everyone else,” she said.
DuBois called it double consciousness and understood that the internal split had serious consequences for society, leading to oppression, inequities and violence. Haigood said, “The book also talks about our amazing strength and perseverance. We have this extraordinary ability to step beyond our crises, to uplift ourselves and each other to a place where we are no longer spiritually bereft and to live in our genius on all levels.”
The killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed also marked her work-in-progress. “We had this huge wave of social uprisings that were remarkable,” she said. “The piece started shifting for me. I started thinking … we really need to get back to love and to be actively practicing, discussing, exchanging, embracing the idea. Love in the form of forgiveness, which is different for everybody. It doesn’t change the outcome, but it allows people to move forward.”
“Love, a state of grace” comprises three activities as well as themes: surrender, striving and quieting. The swing is ridden by a dancer surrendering to gravity, letting go in a giant swoop, falling into another state of being. “You feel it even if you’re not doing it,” promised Haigood. “Just watching it, you’re experiencing it.”
And climbing a 90-foot ladder couldn’t be more emblematic of striving. “Love is actually work. It has to be maintained and nurtured, “ said the choreographer. “That effort gives perspective, as you’re getting higher, you are gaining more of it.”
The third theme, quieting, is symbolized by the enormous mandala created on the Grace Cathedral floor and also by a number of rituals the audience can participate in.
The action of the performance takes place in different locations that overlap in time, with the dancering rotating in using different props and spaces. Each one-hour cycle repeats twice during the three-hour show, allowing the audience to freely view whatever interests them from various vantage points.
Equally important is how the music and sound, composed by Walter Kitundu, echoes and amplifies the performance. Kitundu, a longtime San Francisco resident, currently lives in Chicago, which led to the additional challenge of collaborating via the internet.
“I think one of the things that really struck me about the cathedral is that it has a sense of memory,” he said. “If you say something in the cathedral or you make a sound, the building doesn’t really let that sound go immediately; it hangs on to it, it colors it, it shapes it. That led me to feel the building has a repository of all the sounds that have happened there.”
Kitundu restructured the score because of the limited time he had in the cathedral before the opening. Most of the music is now pre-recorded, as he gave up the idea of building his own acoustic instruments to use live in concert. Still, he is excited that Christopher Keady, an accomplished organist, will be playing a part of the score in person.
“He’ll be able to bring the voice of the cathedral, which is that wonderful organ, into the music to heighten some of the more emotionally charged moments,” said Kitundu.
For some of us art is a religion. With “Love, a state of grace,” we have a chance to partake of art as religion either figuratively or literally, perhaps even a bit of both.
Zaccho Dance Theatre’s world premiere of “Love, a state of grace”
Where: Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., S.F.
When: Friday, Feb. 11, 1-4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 12, 4-7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 17, 1-4 p.m., Friday, Feb. 18, 7-10 p.m. Performances are in one-hour cycles repeated over three hours.
Tickets: $25. Masks and proof of vaccination required.
Contact: zacchograce.brownpapertickets.com | 2022-02-08T23:41:38Z | www.sfexaminer.com | At Grace Cathedral, an aerial dance premiere to move us from violence to love - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/at-grace-cathedral-an-aerial-dance-premiere-to-move-us-from-violence-to-love/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/at-grace-cathedral-an-aerial-dance-premiere-to-move-us-from-violence-to-love/ |
By Steve Wasserman Special to The Examiner • February 8, 2022 12:30 pm - Updated February 8, 2022 2:06 pm
A page from the complete set of Captain Cook’s three voyages, which is for sale at the the 54th California International Antiquarian Book Fair Feb. 11-13, 2022. (Image courtesy of Shapero)
By Steve Wasserman
It was impossible to grow up in Berkeley or San Francisco in the over-oxygenated years of the 1960s and not fall under the spell of the archipelago of bookstores that defined the era. Rare and antiquarian bookshops were ubiquitous, many owned by ersatz bohemians who helped create the Bay Area’s cosmopolitan maritime mash-up. They often resembled hoarders unwilling to part with their treasures.
You’d enter their shops, often musty woody places with dim lighting, chock-a-bloc with mysterious tomes in leather bindings, some behind locked bookcases, others displayed within glass vitrines. You’d feel as if you had to pass some invisible test to qualify as a potential buyer of literary wonders whose value had increased as they fell through time and circumstance.
I was a precocious reader and in the mid and late 1960s hawked Max Scheer’s underground “Berkeley Barb” along Telegraph Avenue, using my meager profits to buy the books I lusted for at Moe’s, Shakespeare’s and a shambles of a secondhand shop called Creed’s. Upstairs at Moe’s was a bookstore within the bookstore. It specialized in rare and antiquarian books. I was afraid of them, afraid to touch them, afraid to acknowledge my desire to possess them.
I also felt that rare books, many printed on parchment and beautifully bound, ought to be preserved by public institutions or museums or perhaps by well-endowed research institutions like the Bancroft Library. There was something about the individual desire to possess them that felt disreputable, a runaway bibliomania hostage to the narcissism of collecting.
My ambivalence was rooted in a suspicion that the urge to collect was a sign of the avarice of a wealthy elite. Increasingly, I have thought it strange that some books gain value at the same time their contents are made available to everyone with an iPhone or a laptop.
But perhaps this is too coarse and reductive a view. Surely among the moguls there are those who desire to protect and curate the detritus of a nearly 600-year old literary culture. Surely they know, as perhaps Bill Gates knew when he purchased for more than $30 million Da Vinci’s “Codex Leicester,” a 72-page document written in the early 16th century containing Leonardo’s ideas about astronomy, botany, water, geology and celestial light, that it will always be important to get the feel of a book — the texture of its paper, the quality of its printing, the nature of its binding.
These physical aspects, as Harvard scholar Robert Darnton has pointed out, provide clues about the book’s existence as a telltale sign of a social and economic system. The texture of a book’s printed page, its layout, its typography — in addition to its contents — suggest subtle shifts in the workings of the world, as well as the sheer tactile beauty to be found in a book.
As my own library has grown to nearly 20,000 volumes, I have largely shed my ambivalence toward the rare and antiquarian, even though I am less a collector than a mad reader. I don’t yearn to possess books so precious they can’t be read except under the most special conditions. My sense of their value, whatever my misgivings about collectors, has deepened.
Now comes the 54th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, at the Oakland Marriott City Center, Feb. 11-13. After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the fair will feature an embarrassment of riches from more than 100 booksellers from the United States and around the world.
Peter Harrington of London is offering for a cool $2.2 million a singular collection of original works charting the history of climate change, including more than 800 first-edition books and maps, photographs, artwork, which taken together traces the developing vernacular, science and observations that undergird and have made possible our growing understanding of the impact of environmental change.
And for the pittance of $18,000, you can buy a 16th-century edition of the works of Chaucer, including an erotic graphic. If that doesn’t satisfy, a complete set of Captain Cook’s three voyages, printed in the 18th century, can be had for a mere $47,000. And for just over a quarter-million dollars, you can be the proud owner of the “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,” one of the first modern world atlases, containing the first Western map of Japan and China and the first appearance of maps of Peru, Northeastern Mexico and Florida, published in 1584 and, according to the seller (Sokol Books), “exquisitely colored and highlighted in silver and gold in a luxury publisher’s binding.”
According to the organizers, this year’s fair “will also include a major historical exhibit on wine and viticulture, courtesy of the library at the Shields Library, UC Davis…[including] maps, pamphlets, wine labels, wine merchant and wine auction catalogs, menus and manuscripts.” There will be special speakers to talk about “Collecting Oakland’s Activist Roots: the Black Panthers and Beyond,” asking “Why do we collect, how do we collect, what such collections mean for our understanding of the past — and how can a budding collector get started?”
For specific times and admission prices — which are quite low, ranging from $10 to $25 — visit the website www.cabookfair.com Admission is free for all students with a current valid student ID.
I confess I want to go. Perhaps now after all these years, I am both ready and worthy.
If you go, there are a few books and a film that will improve your experience immensely. They are: Erin L. Thompson’s “Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors from Antiquity to the Present” and Nicholas A. Basbanes’ “A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books,” and the superb 2019 documentary “The Booksellers,” which can easily be streamed.
Steve Wasserman is publisher of Heyday, a nonprofit independent press founded in 1974 in Berkeley, and former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review.
By Aimée Ts’ao Special to The Examiner | 2022-02-08T23:41:45Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Why would someone spend $47,000 on an old book? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/why-would-someone-spend-47000-on-an-old-book/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/why-would-someone-spend-47000-on-an-old-book/ |
The view of Nomuka, Tonga, from a surveillance aircraft with the New Zealand Defense Force during a reconnaissance flight over an area of Tonga that showed heavy ash fall from the recent volcanic eruption, Jan. 17, 2022. The Bay Area Tonga community is rallying to support their families back home. (Cpl. Vanessa Parker/New Zealand Defence Force via The New York Times)
For Anna Mahina, there was nothing remarkable about the 14th of January.
She woke up at dawn to help her son get ready for school. She went to work. She picked up her son, went out to dinner, took a shower, Zoomed with her relatives, silenced her phone, and went to sleep.
“Friday was a normal day,” said Mahina. Until it wasn’t.
On Saturday, Mahina, a Bay Area native and founder of the nonprofit San Francisco Tongans Rise Up, awoke to a stream of frantic text messages: “I’m so sorry,” some read. Then she checked the news.
What followed, said Mahina, was “the longest five days of darkness for me.”
It’s been three weeks since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in the South Pacific, sending a plume of smoke and ash soaring miles into the air and triggering a tsunami that destroyed buildings, knocked out communications, and sent violent waves across the Pacific Rim. The crushing currents burst pipelines in Peru and battered boatyards in the Bay Area. A sonic boom reverberated across the globe.
Now, many in the Bay Area’s Tongan diaspora—one of the largest outside of the Polynesian nation of Tonga—have mobilized to assist in the relief effort, dropping off goods at local churches and packing shipping containers and planes full of much-needed water, food, and medical supplies to be dispatched to Tonga’s 36 inhabited islands.
But even as phone and internet services come back online, the punches keep on rolling. Just days after the tsunami, Tonga was hit with a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. And then, coronavirus.
“It’s like one thing ricocheting after another,” said Sesilia Langi Pahulu, general manager of SF Enterprises & Logistics, a family-run company that specializes in shipping goods to Tonga.
Until recently, Tonga had largely staved off the pandemic, but as foreign relief efforts descended upon the islands, a handful of residents have tested positive, further shutting down the island’s economy.
“The stores are empty now with the covid and the shutdown. They’ve shut everything down, including businesses,” said Langi Pahulu.
Despite the increased cost of shipping due to the supply chain crunch, the Langi Family has been accepting donations and offering to cover the cost of freight, trucking, and logistics services for the first couple of ships heading from the Port of Oakland to Tonga.
The family is also working with major shipping lines like Matson Navigation and Hamburg Sud, a Maersk Company, to temporarily cover the ocean freight cost for donated food, water, and medical supplies.
“Before this whole relief effort, the primary shipments basic necessities that we take for granted,” said Langi Pahulu. Things like toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies that can be exorbitantly expensive for Tongans. “Now with the relief effort, she said, it’s the same stuff, just a lot more of it.”
Some, like the non-profit Taulama for Tongans, have joined forces with the Tonga Consulate General, interfaith groups, and the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force to fill their own containers with bedding, medical supplies, and tools like wheelbarrows, chainsaws, and shovels to help clear away the debris.
Others, like the Palo Alto-based grassroots organization Anamatangi Polynesian Voices, are working with the United Parcel Service (UPS) to fill a Boeing 787.
“I cannot even begin to describe what they must be feeling,” said Leafa Taumoepeau, Taulama for Tongans’ executive director. “It seems like they’re caged in… There’s the tidal wave. There’s the volcano that erupted. There’s the aftermath of the eruption and there’s dust everywhere, which makes it very, very difficult for them to breathe. And then, during all that, there’s covid. Covid couldn’t have picked a worse time.”
What the next few months will hold is still uncertain. Tonga does not have a municipal water system and instead largely depends on rainwater stores, which are now laden with ash and debris from the eruption. That pollution has also fouled the air, continuing to blanket houses, farms, and businesses in a thick sooty layer.
But once the dust clears, the damage will remain. “It’s not going to be over in a year, or two years,” said Taumoepeau. “It’s going to be really long term.”
And while the relief efforts are just beginning in earnest, another hazard looms on the horizon. Climate change poses an extreme threat to the future of island nations like Tonga. Last month, several groups urged President Biden to assist Tonga by providing humanitarian aid in the recovery efforts but warned of worse events to come.
“Tonga has been witnessing rising sea levels and land erosion, and villages were already at risk long before these events took place,” it said. “We urge you to make the climate crisis a priority this year and take significant action to address it.”
Still, said Taumoepeau, Tongans will overcome. “I still believe that we’re a people that fight. Fight for what is important to us – and that is God, our country, and our families,” she said. “Even though we are going through this, I am sure that Tongans everywhere will be up in arms and fight.”
Taumoepeau’s coalition will be collecting donations until February 17th at The Church of Jesus Christ & Latter-Day Saints Culture Hall in San Bruno. The Tonga Consulate General in San Francisco is also accepting monetary donations. | 2022-02-08T23:41:52Z | www.sfexaminer.com | A crisis continues: Bay Area Tongans rally for their families back home - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/a-crisis-continues-bay-area-tongans-rally-for-their-families-back-home/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/a-crisis-continues-bay-area-tongans-rally-for-their-families-back-home/ |
The Warriors have been a hot streak. Looking ahead to the playoffs, the Chicago Bulls may be one of the teams they meet in the NBA Finals. The Warriors point guard Stephen Curry is pictured playing against Chicago earlier this season. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Well, the Warriors are officially back on track. They have the second-best record in the league, and they’re closing in on Phoenix for the top spot in the NBA. Draymond Green’s injury remains a concern, but he’s expected back in three to four weeks. Other players have stepped up in his absence. Steph Curry appears to have his shot back. Klay Thompson is looking more and more like his old self every day.
That said, it seems like as good a time as any to look ahead to the playoffs. Here are the teams the Warriors should be paying extra-close attention to as the season winds down:
The legitimate title contenders
As mentioned above, the Suns hold the league’s best record, and have been fantastic of late. Chris Paul is doing an excellent job leading the team and is still one of the league’s best point guards in his 18th season. Devin Booker has turned himself into a star. They have a seemingly endless array of long-limbed players who can knock down open threes. DeAndre Ayton is a true seven-footer with athleticism and touch – the kind of player who can give the Warriors’ undersized front line serious problems. They also have the third-best offense in the league, and are second only to the Warriors in defensive efficiency. The chances of a Warriors-Suns Western Conference Finals certainly seem high at this point.
The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks are looking strong, as well. Giannis Antetokounmpo is still an all-around force. Khris Middleton is a perfect running mate for him on defense. And Jrue Holiday provides just the right mix of playmaking, scoring and on-ball defense. The only real concern for them is that their starting center, Brook Lopez, underwent back surgery in December. It seems highly unlikely he’ll return this season. Bobby Portis has done a good job in Lopez’s place, providing toughness and a nice three-point stroke, but he isn’t the defensive anchor the seven-foot Lopez was.
Finally, there are the Chicago Bulls, who are getting amazing seasons out of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, who at points in their careers had all been considered one-dimensional scorers. Chicago is currently missing starting point guard Lonzo Ball, who now features a dangerous jump shot, and starting shooting guard Alex Caruso, due to injuries. When those two are healthy and on the court together, they absolutely suffocate opposing backcourts. They are the backbone of Chicago’s defense.
Don’t count them out
It’s tempting to write off the Lakers, who are currently sitting in the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference and have generally had a miserable time of things this season. The Lakers took a huge gamble by trading multiple role players who can defend and make outside shots for Russell Westbrook, a mediocre defender who happens to be one of the worst volume jump shooters in the league. It’s backfired so far.
Westbrook appears to have lost a bit of his legendary athleticism, the team is hurting for depth and LeBron James and Anthony Davis have both lost time due to injury. More importantly, there just doesn’t seem to be any chemistry between Russ, James and Davis, as the latter two have typically thrived with shooters instead of high-usage/low-efficiency playmakers around them.
Still, Russ has been known to go on hot streaks, and James and Davis have shown they can take over a game (or a series) at any given moment. Even as the Lakers continue to struggle to stay at .500, it feels wrong to write off LeBron James and his 10 Finals appearances before everything’s said and done.
The Brooklyn Nets are another “superteam” having an unexpectedly rough go of things. They’re currently occupy the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Durant has been on the bench with a sprained MCL. Kyrie Irving has only played in 12 games this season because of his refusal to get vaccinated. Joe Harris, one of the best shooters in the NBA and the highest-paid Net outside of their “big three,” has been limited to 14 games because of injury. With those three players in and out of the lineup, the Nets are essentially James Harden and an island of misfit toys. That hasn’t looked like a winning formula. Still, Durant and Irving can definitely both take over a series, as can Harden. Kyrie might even decide to get vaccinated before the playoffs start.
Finally, there are the Philadelphia 76ers, who are sitting at No. 5 in the Eastern Conference, despite Ben Simmons having sat out the entire season. If Philadelphia can find a team to trade for him (which is looking increasingly unlikely), or Simmons decides to end his holdout and return to the club, they have enough talent to win the whole thing. Joel Embiid is playing at an MVP level. There aren’t a lot of teams these days with an answer for a dominant center.
I wouldn’t be covering all my bases if I didn’t mention the Grizzlies, who are 37-18 behind Ja Morant’s superstar-making season, or the Jazz, who have been struggling lately but still have the No. 1 ranked offense in the NBA with Rudy Gobert anchoring their defense.
THE MOUTH THAT SOARED
Warriors star Draymond Green is driven to succeed—and he told us all about it | 2022-02-08T23:41:58Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Who are the Warriors top competitors for the NBA crown? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/who-are-the-warriors-top-competitors-for-the-nba-crown/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/who-are-the-warriors-top-competitors-for-the-nba-crown/ |
By James Salazar • February 8, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 8, 2022 4:05 pm
(Photo courtesy of Alan Wong)
Swapping jackets and blue jeans for goggles and bathing suits, a group of veterans enjoyed a Saturday morning swim at the outer Sunset’s Sava Pool, all without having to shell out an entrance fee. The discount comes courtesy of an ordinance that eliminates the price of admission to popular Recreation and Parks facilities in The City for veterans and active members of the United States Armed Forces who reside in San Francisco.
Authored by Supervisor Gordon Mar,who represents District 4, the ordinance, which passed last December, aims to support the mental and physical health of veterans by giving them access to locations such as swimming pools, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Botanical Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers and the Goldman Tennis Center. Veterans also receive a 50% discount for Camp Mather and wedding fees.Upon a certification of funds by the Controller, the discount would expand to all veterans and active members.
“Our veterans have made enormous sacrifices for our Country and are deserving of recognition and respect for their patriotism and service,” said Supervisor Mar. “This law is just one small way we can help support their mental and physical health as they work to reintegrate into civilian life.”
Members of OneVet OneVoice, a local nonprofit organization that provides resources to those who have served through pathways such as healthcare, housing, employment and education, backed Mar’s efforts to make popular park attractions more accessible to the community. However, some members feel that the San Francisco Recreation and Parks department needs to do more in publicizing the measure.
According to the Board of Supervisors’ website, the ordinance was enacted on January 21. A day later, Alan Wong and Hanley Chan, two veterans, tried using their free admission waivers to access Sava Pool, but they were held up at the entrance by staff who were not yet made aware of the law. After being shown a copy of the ordinance, the staff on duty let both men enter the facility. OneVet OneVoice organized a February 5th rally to promote the law to other vets and active service members. They also wanted to ensure the law’s implementation by the Recreation and Parks Department.
“We’re swimming at Sava Pool today to pave the way and ensure that all veterans are informed about this new law and can access our swimming pools and park facilities,” said Wong, who worked on drafting and passing the law through the Board of Supervisors as an aide to Supervisor Mar. “I’m here to fight for the veterans that have disabilities, injuries, and (post-traumatic stress disorder). They served their country and deserve to be recognized and supported when they come back home. I don’t want any of them to be held up like I was.”
Courtney Ellington, OneVet OneVoice’s chief executive officer, joined her members during their brief rally outside of the pool because it was important to stand “in solidarity with my fellow veterans” as her role requires her to “serve veterans everyday that need this law,” said Ellington.
Supporters whipped out their swimming gear and were welcomed into Sava Pool without incident by the staff and lifeguards. Chan, the San Francisco veterans affairs commissioner, said, “I’m glad that this time (the Recreation and Park Department) got it right by informing their staff and letting us in. I don’t want to see any veteran prevented from using this law because the information wasn’t put out.”
Supervisor Mar’s ordinance comes at a time when the local government is looking to remove the price of admission to popular park attractions for other San Franciscans. Just last month, Mayor London Breed proposed legislation that would amend The City’s park code to waive fees for admission by San Francisco residents to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers. City residents currently pay $7 apiece for adult tickets to the Conservatory of Flowers and the Japanese Tea Garden, while nonresidents pay $10.
Known as the “Gardens of Golden Gate Park” proposal, Breed’s piece of legislation also seeks to combine admission, education and outreach programs at the two gardens and the San Francisco Botanical Garden, an attraction which is already free to city residents. At this time, the ordinance is pending committee action from the Budget and Finance Committee.
While it remains to be seen what will become of Breed’s plan for greater San Francisco residents, veterans and service members within The City can take advantage of the wealth of facilities now at their fingertips. “The veterans community is proud to have rallied and organized to pass this ordinance,” said Ellington.
Tags: parks, veterans | 2022-02-09T05:17:50Z | www.sfexaminer.com | New S.F. law gives military veterans free admission to popular park attractions - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-s-f-law-gives-militaty-veterans-free-admission-to-popular-park-attractions/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/new-s-f-law-gives-militaty-veterans-free-admission-to-popular-park-attractions/ |
By C.W. Nevius • February 8, 2022 3:30 pm - Updated February 8, 2022 4:26 pm
Scott Lawrie, 42, landed a dream job as a writer for a national, late night television show and then worked for a wildly successful YouTube celebrity. Now, he is a dog groomer in San Francisco. (Shutterstock)
An unprecedented number of workers have packed up and quit their jobs. Over 47 million resigned last year.
You’ve heard the rationale. COVID has created terrible worker shortages, employers are desperate for staff, and workers who were stuck in low-paying or unpleasant jobs now have options.
They can quit with the knowledge that there are plenty of job openings, often for a better placement. That makes sense.
But there’s an interesting subset to the great resigners. These are the workers, often millennials and Gen Z folk, who have good jobs with good salaries and have still decided to walk away.
And, it seems, many of them are not coming back.
Some 14 million potential workers between the ages of 20 and 34 are “not considered part of the workforce,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In other words, they weren’t working and they weren’t looking for work.
The easy conclusion is “burnout.” Sure, you say, of course they left those high-pressure, high-paying jobs. The hours were probably crazy and the work/life balance was likely nonexistent.
And that may be true in some cases. But if you ask someone like 35-year-old Jeff Sun, who left a successful startup in the hospitality industry, he’ll say he didn’t mind the hours. And he actually enjoyed the job.
But Sun, who attended both Yale and M.I.T., says the pandemic has given him time for some healthy introspection.
“I felt like, my whole life, I was kind of on this path,” he said. “It was laid out in front of me and I just walked the path. I had never really taken the time to understand: What are the things I enjoy? What are the things that give me energy?”
And that is why, six months ago, Sun resigned from his tech job and now spends his days …
… throwing pottery at a San Francisco studio.
Or consider 42-year-old Scott Lawrie. He went to the University of Missouri, studying at one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country. He moved to New York City and landed a dream job as a writer for a national, late night television show. (He’s asked us not to name it, but believe me you’d recognize it.)
And he followed that with an even trendier job. He worked for a wildly successful YouTube celebrity. (Again, Lawrie requested privacy, but the YouTuber has over one million subscribers.)
And he quit both of those jobs and is now …
… a dog groomer at a local pet store.
“I think sometimes people see these life shifts and think, ‘Oh man, he must have really burned out,’” Lawrie said. “But really I don’t know that I could have found a better job in New York. It’s just sometimes that’s kind of an amazing time to walk away.”
Now, we should say something right away. Both Sun and Lawrie, without being prompted, acknowledged they are both coming from a position of entitlement. That having the wherewithal to take time off to follow your bliss is not available to everyone.
“This is 100% a position of privilege,” Lawrie said. “I know that is not a reality for so many individuals. The ability to have saved up money, have health insurance and a fallback plan is not lost on me.”
“I know not everyone can do this,” Sun said. “But I think more people can do it than they think. I think a lot of people have worked their entire life and haven’t thought about doing something different. They kind of assume that has to be their life.”
Sun made a conscious decision to leave his cushy job, knowing that he could take time off.
Lawrie is more of a fearless leap. He moved to New York without a job, and worked in a clothing store until he got a break. Then he moved back to San Francisco without prospects and spent some time doing food deliveries on his bicycle. Then he was hired for the YouTube job and he was back making serious money.
And then, one day he told his then-partner he was going to become a dog groomer.
His partner’s response: “Really?”
“Look,” he said. “We have two very nervous dogs who are technically seniors. If I hate it, at least I learned how to groom them. And if I love it, ta-da, that’s the next step.”
Although leaving his job was a dramatic step, Sun says not a lot of people told him he was making a mistake.
“It was more like wonderment and amazement,” he said. “People were like, ‘That’s so brave of you.’ Or ‘I always wanted to do something like that.’ And I totally get why it is scary. I was scared too.”
Once out of the workforce, he needed another outlet. On a whim he took a suggestion from his partner to take a pottery class.
“And I loved it,” he said. “You are literally creating a physical object. I envisioned it and I created it. Because in our current day jobs, it feels like everything is being done in the abstract, right? You’re just a piece of the puzzle rather than seeing the entire puzzle.”
So is Sun on his way to becoming a full time potter?
Nope. In fact, he wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t done with the business world. He’s still getting calls from recruiters and he’s listening to their pitches.
But now, he feels, he’s got a better perspective.
“The compensation doesn’t motivate me as much any more,” he said. “Or the job title. I’m not going to try to make it work because it would be a good salary or a career opportunity. I know what makes me happy.”
Lawrie turned to caring for pets in part because of the death of his mother in 2019.
“One of the things that has actually helped with grief is intense physical labor,” Lawrie said. “It prevents your mind from getting stuck in a rut. I very much enjoy taking care of the animals.”
It has been a bit of a wild ride. Among other things, he’s been “bit in the head by a chow-chow and had to get 12 staples.” He’s been given pinkeye by a “client” and been nipped by a chihuahua.
But he says he does enjoy interacting with the pet parents.
The other day a woman came in and they fell into conversation. Gradually she began to open up and talk about the stresses at her job.
“And she started to ask me about what it was like to do my job,” he said. “And she intimated that she might be thinking about doing it.”
Lawrie knew the deal. Both he and Sun say they know others who are stepping away from their high-powered jobs.
“I put her in contact with someone,” he said. “And we will see what the journey will be like.”
But we know one thing.
The quest continues. | 2022-02-09T05:17:56Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Why are some people leaving their high-salary, high-powered jobs? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-are-people-leaving-their-high-salary-high-powered-jobs/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-are-people-leaving-their-high-salary-high-powered-jobs/ |
Plus: A world premiere at the Magic, a smash musical at the Rep and stories from Toni Cade Bambara
By Jean Schiffman • February 9, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 9, 2022 10:59 am
Nellie (played by Anne Darragh) is a reclusive pig farmer in Montana whose life is interrupted when a stranger (Kian Johnson) shows up at her farm. (Photo by Jay Yamada/Magic Theatre)
‘The Kind Ones’ at the Magic Theatre
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated theater event of the month is the Magic Theatre’s world premiere of nationally lauded playwright Miranda Rose Hall’s “The Kind Ones.” It’s the first mainstage production with new artistic director Sean San José at the helm. The enormously popular theater artist (actor, director, writer, cofounder of the ensemble Campo Santo) has all the creds anyone could possibly need to lead this nationally known, 55-year-old new plays theater during these difficult times. San José, a native San Franciscan who grew up in the Mission district, first appeared on the Magic’s stage back in 1990 — where in fact he’d seen his first professional play.
Hall’s offbeat comedy is only 70 minutes but packs quite a punch. A two-hander, it features a tough Montana farmer (played by Anne Darragh) and a stranger (Kian Johnson) who shows up unexpectedly at her door. Lisa Peterson directs.
Through Feb. 20. Magic Theatre, Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., S.F. $20-$70. magictheatre.org. (415) 441-8822
Dan Hoyle as one his characters from “Talk to Your People” at Alameda Beach. (Courtesy of Dan Hoyle)
‘Talk to Your People’ at The Marsh
For his latest solo show, the writer/actor Dan Hoyle of the esteemed Hoyle dynasty (his father, Geoff Hoyle, is a beloved San Francisco solo performer) interviewed far fewer than for past solo shows.
On the advice of a colleague, he sought out ordinary, liberal-minded white folks — in parks, at the beach, in his Oakland neighborhood, wherever, to discuss race, power and privilege, winnowing the interviewees to seven composite characters that he’ll inhabit, in his usual fluid and empathetic way, for “Talk to Your People.” The show was created with longtime collaborator Charlie Varon and includes a few songs that Hoyle wrote.
“In my career I’ve mostly amplified ‘under-understood’ people in stories that would not be heard otherwise,” he says. He’s created shows based on his travels in Nigeria, for example, or to the Bronx. But with the pandemic, he couldn’t go anywhere, so he pointed his listening and observational skills to Oakland, his home. The characters he has created for this show are neither Proud Boys nor “super-super woke people” — they’re folks just messily trying to get it right in our troubled world. “My experience in 20 years of doing this work is, people’s identities are complex and overlap a lot of different categories,” Hoyle observes. “That’s what theater does: ‘Check these people out! Isn’t this a trip, and aren’t they also hilarious?’ and now we have a view inside their world.”
The Marsh, 1062 Valencia St., S.F. Feb. 11-April 16. $25-$35. themarsh.org. (415) 282-3055
Eddie Ewell as Moses in “Pass Over” at Marin Theatre Company. (Photo by Kevin Berne)
‘Pass Over’ at Marin Theatre Company
Marin County’s oldest professional theater opens the new year with a play and a playwright that have gone national. Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s “Pass Over” has performed elsewhere in the country and been made into a movie of the same name by Spike Lee (you can see it on Amazon Prime). The movie was also filmed as a stage play at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in front of a live audience.
Nwandu was inspired by Samuel Beckett’s famous 1953 play “Waiting for Godot” and by the Book of Exodus, influences that clearly can be seen in the architecture of the characters and their relationships and their circumstances. But here, the two main characters, Moses and Kitch (played by Edward Ewell and LeRoy S. Graham III respectively) — who are trapped on a city block and longing to “pass over” to the Promised Land — are Black. Their Promised Land is an imagined heaven of weed, women and caviar, among other yearned-for pleasures. Theirs is a bleak world of deafening gunshots, the “po-po” (police), hunger and fear, the struggle to survive. The two who intrude upon their despairing solitude are white.
Like the Beckett classic, “Pass Over” is brutal, poignant, funny. The ending, in the Spike Lee film, is horrific. But Nwandu wrote a different ending for this latest version, seen in the 2021 Broadway production.
Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Through Feb. 20. $25-$60. marintheatre.org. (415) 388-5208
Toni Cade Bambara (1939-1995) in an undated photo. (Wikimedia Commons)
Word for Word features Toni Cade Bambara
If you prefer to listen to theater in your own safe bubble, Word for Word’s podcast is the way to go. This stellar company, whether in the flesh or not, is highly focused on the word — the literary word.
February’s program comprises two short stories by Toni Cade Bambara from “Gorilla, My Love,” her 1992 collection of 15 stories — some of which appeared in various publications as far back as the 1950s — exploring a variety of characters in New York and rural North Carolina. Bambara, who died in 1995, was a prolific writer of African-American fiction. The two stories chosen by Word for Word are: “Raymond’s Run,” set in Harlem and narrated by a girl, a competitive runner, who cares for her disabled brother and finds she has a special mission; and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird,” also narrated by a girl, whose farm family is unexpectedly approached by a film crew.
Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe directs both, with a cast that includes prominent local actors Rotimi Agbabiaka, Margo Hall, Lisa Hori-Garcia and others.
Posts 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, zspace.org/pod.
(Photo by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory )
‘Swept Away’ at Berkeley Rep
I’m re-evaluating my lifetime stance as a theater lover who’s not crazy about musicals. After seeing “The Band’s Visit,” and now the world premiere of “Swept Away” — I’ve decided if the music’s great, I’m willing to overlook many flaws.
In this new musical directed by Michael Mayer — with book by John Logan — the music, culled from the Avett Brothers folksy canon, is terrific. The story is set in 1888; a whaling vessel out of New Bedford capsizes in a storm at sea, and four crew members end up in a lifeboat. Drifting, they face unnerving existential questions.
The sailing ship set is an added attraction. Ahoy, y’all.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Through March 6. $37-$186. berkeleyrep.org. (510) 647-2949 | 2022-02-10T04:04:35Z | www.sfexaminer.com | February theater picks: Dan Hoyle gets local, ‘Waiting for Godot’ gets an update - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/february-theater-picks-dan-hoyle-gets-local-waiting-for-godot-gets-an-update/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/february-theater-picks-dan-hoyle-gets-local-waiting-for-godot-gets-an-update/ |
The 29-year-old music festival is known for musical diversity and ascending local acts
By Melanie Velasquez • February 9, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 9, 2022 2:59 pm
Artists scheduled to play Noise Pop include, from left to right, Jeff Tweedy (Sammy Tweedy), Arooj Aftab (Diana Markosian), Alex G (Tonje Thilesen) and King Woman. (Courtesy of Noise Pop)
With COVID cases going up and down, the past year has been a huge question mark for music festivals. But February brings hope. The 29th Noise Pop Music & Arts Festival hits San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley venues Feb. 21 for a week of indie musicians, craft beer, contemplative film screenings and mosh pits.
If Outside Lands is the Beyoncé of Bay Area music festivals, then Noise Pop is Solange, the quirky younger sister who makes the same impact, just for a different crowd of music lovers.
Noise Pop is an alternative sibling for several reasons. Instead of taking place in one location, the shows are spread across amazing venues like Great American Music Hall, Bottom of the Hill, The Chapel, Rickshaw Stop, Swedish American Hall, Cornerstone and 1015 Folsom. The festival is also musically diverse. With outspoken house music artist Azealia Banks as the headliner, along with Alex G, The Drums and Jeff Tweedy, Noise Pop guarantees multiple genres.
Who puts on this festival? Noise Pop is not just a festival; it’s also a company that promotes independent musicians by putting on shows and by collaborating with venues around the Bay.
“We are a lot of things these days,” said Noise Pop president Stacy Horne. “At our core, we are an event production company and promoter and champion of independent music for 29 years. We see ourselves as continuing to change and evolve with the current tastes and always be presenting new and upcoming and exciting artists.”
It all started in 1993 when Kevin Arnold, the founder of Noise Pop, presented a few weekend shows in San Francisco at the now closed Kennel Club. The first Noise Pop festival in 1993 had five names on its bill. As the years went by, Arnold and co-founder Jordan Kurland added more acts, more locations and more creative elements like visual arts and film. The festival has hosted big artists who were once small — Ty Segall, Grimes, The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse and Sleater-Kinney, to name a few.
Noise Pop also has become a staple in the local independent music scene by hosting the 20th Street Block Party and the Treasure Island Music Festival. Twenty twenty-two is the year of expansion, as Noise Pop aims to grow its white label business producing and promoting on behalf of other client events while continuing to put on its own shows.
At this year’s main event, there will be 117 artists playing, 67 of them local, and an expected attendance of 15,000. James Lopez, the talent buyer for the company, says, “We’re still a hyperlocal festival.”
Behind the scenes, Lopez gets over a thousand artist submissions — with sounds ranging from deconstructed club music to the boom of the hyperpop genre to underground, experimental pop.
“It’s a process to review each one for the festival,” he says. “And it’s not necessarily strictly indie rock either. We try to make sure that we’re focusing on emerging sounds that are really speaking to people right now, or telling a story that might not be heard.”
Diverse genres can lead to a diverse audience. Historically, the music industry has put marginalized identities on the sidelines. Lopez keeps diversity in mind when looking for artists and praises the Bay Area for doing a good job in terms of hosting diverse crowds.
When booking acts, he says, “There are all a lot of different elements. The first one is that they’ve really got something kind of fresh. They’re still playing out live and really engaging with the communities and are really putting it on for that micro scene. It needs to have that independent crossover.”
Among this year’s artists, Noise Pop president Horne is excited about King Woman and Papercuts, whereas Lopez is enthusiastic about Arooj Aftab, Azealia Banks, Experimental Housewives and Tyler Holmes. Along with the headliners, I’m keeping my eye out on Bali Baby, Foie Gras, Buzzed Lightbeer and Thank You Come Again — and, note, I was a DJ for three years and music director for KUSF, University of San Francisco’s beloved college radio.
So if you’ve ever felt like the alternative sibling, this may be your festival. Hold on to your phone and drink your beer far from the pit. Noise Pop will host the new sounds you might have been missing.
Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival: Feb. 21-27. See the full schedule and find festival badges ($179-$399) and individual tickets ($13-$35) at noisepopfest.com.
mvelasquez@sfexaminermediaco.com
Tags: live music, music festivals | 2022-02-10T04:04:41Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Noise Pop hosts the new sounds you might be missing - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/noise-pop-hosts-the-new-sounds-you-might-be-missing/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/noise-pop-hosts-the-new-sounds-you-might-be-missing/ |
By Benjamin Schneider • February 9, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 9, 2022 1:54 pm
Bilal Mahmood, candidate for California’s 17th State Assembly district, brings home his message with voters at UN Plaza on Wednesday. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Outsider candidate Bilal Mahmood needs three things to have a realistic chance of making it through Tuesday’s state Assembly primary election, San Francisco State Political science professor Jason McDaniel has observed.
“He would need a Chronicle endorsement, a London Breed endorsement and a Scott Wiener endorsement,” McDaniel said.
On Sunday, Mahmood notched one of the three, when the Chronicle editorial board made him its preferred pick for the Assembly seat recently vacated by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. While finishing in the top two is still a tall order against a pair of much better-known candidates, this late endorsement represents the biggest validation yet for a surprisingly strong insurgent campaign.
The Chronicle endorsement, combined with endorsements from groups such as YIMBY Action, and strong fundraising numbers also signal dissatisfaction with incumbent politicians and the current orientation of the Board of Supervisors, McDaniel said. “If incumbents are on the ballot right now, it would be a pretty good time to be somebody who could craft a message as an outsider.”
And that’s exactly what Mahmood is hoping to do in this campaign.
”We are reaching a lot of people who are undecided, who are upset at the political establishment,” Mahmood said as he canvassed the UN Plaza Farmers Market on a sunny afternoon last week. “Our city is not doing their job, especially the Board of Supervisors, and the state has the ability to take top-down approaches to affect things like homelessness, climate and transit.”
The other candidates in Tuesday’s special primary election — which is combined with the school board recall — include Supervisor Matt Haney, former Supervisor David Campos and City College Board trustee Thea Selby. If no candidate wins an outright majority, the top two vote-getters will move on to a general election on April 19. The winner of that election would then have to compete once again in the regularly scheduled primary in June and general election in November.
What voters want
In a confusing election year, Mahmood is trying to keep things simple. The startup founder walked the farmers market stalls, introducing himself to voters with a breathless pitch.
“I’m a scientist by training, I’ve worked for President Obama, I’ve worked in the public and private sector, my parents immigrated here 35 years ago and I’m trying to fight for San Francisco to be a beacon of hope for the middle class,” he said to several voters, before shifting his tone and concluding, “But I just want to hear what matters to you.”
The answer to that question, Mahmood says, is remarkably consistent. “They say homelessness, safety and housing.”
On homelessness, he talks about “built for zero,” a strategy to connect every homeless individual with shelter that has shown promise in a handful of small cities. On housing, he touts his YIMBY Action endorsement, and bashes the “obstructionism” of the current Board of Supervisors.
On safety, he highlights his willingness to go against the progressive party line and get real “accountability” for criminals — though he emphasizes he hasn’t taken a position on the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Climate is another pillar issue for Mahmood. He teamed up with Saikat Chakrabarti, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff and the architect of the original Green New Deal legislation, on a Green New Deal plan for California that envisions new financial and industrial tools for the energy transition.
Critics describe Mahmood’s big plans as naive to the inner workings of Sacramento. His “built for zero” homelessness blueprint, for instance, was pioneered in Rockford, Illinois — a place that doesn’t share much in common with California’s big cities. Critics also say his leading qualification can be a bit misleading: Mahmood only worked in the Obama Administration for a year as a junior analyst at the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
In fact, Mahmood hasn’t been particularly engaged in local and state politics until recently, having sat out several nonpresidential elections during his adult life. Most of his career has been in scientific research and tech, a resume that includes leading the data analytics startup ClearBrain to acquisition by the company Amplitude. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, ClearBrain was estimated to be worth about $12.6 million by the startups rating analysts at PitchBook Data before the acquisition.
Mahmood has parlayed that financial success into his campaign, contributing $500,000 of his own money, including a $100,000 contribution just last week. He readily acknowledges his campaign wouldn’t have gotten off the ground otherwise.
But the candidate is not the campaign’s only supporter. Mahmood has raised nearly $400,000 in addition to his own contributions, according to the latest filings with the California Secretary of State, almost as much as his more established rival, Campos.
That support, along with the Chronicle’s endorsement, could be read as “a reflection of a move against the progressive governing majority on the Board of Supervisors,” McDaniel said, especially on the issue of housing. While endorsing a political upstart is unusual for the Chronicle, pushing for the YIMBY-backed candidate is consistent with the paper’s recent positions on housing issues.
Notably, Haney has been working hard to take the pro-housing lane in this race, calling for massive increases in housing production, and supporting market rate developments that a majority of the Board — and Campos — disapproved of. But that wasn’t enough for YIMBY Action or the Chronicle editorial board, which wrote it is “difficult to picture (Haney) becoming the force for transformational housing policy that Chiu was.” (The Examiner editorial board, which is separate from its newsgathering operation, endorsed Haney in the race.)
But in low-turnout elections like this one, nuanced differences in housing policy, or any policy disagreement, tend not to be the deciding factor for most voters, McDaniel said. The Chronicle endorsement “most likely cuts into Haney’s potential base of support and might lower it a few percentage points,” McDaniel said, but it’s still “unlikely” Mahmood finishes in the top two.
Political consultant Jim Ross agrees. “If he were a product, and he went from zero to 20% market share in three months, that would be a remarkable story. In politics, that’s third place.” | 2022-02-10T04:04:47Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Momentum builds for ‘outsider’ Assembly candidate - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/momentum-builds-for-outsider-assembly-candidate/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/momentum-builds-for-outsider-assembly-candidate/ |
By Kevin N. Hume Examiner photo editor • February 9, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 9, 2022 2:14 pm
Photo by Tigran Demurjian
Homelessness in San Francisco stirs many emotions. It’s no secret that many cannot bring themselves to look at the men and women suffering on our streets.
S.F. native Tigran Demurjian, 22, decided to confront these emotions head on by going out with his camera and taking photos of homeless people.
“It’s easier to pretend that it isn’t happening, that a wealthy society like ours isn’t allowing such widespread misery to occur at its doorsteps,” Demurjian said in an email. “Worse, it’s easy to become frustrated and angry, to think of unhoused people as a distinct Other, as ‘the homeless.’ I’m ashamed of these feelings.”
Demurjian began his photo project in 2018 with the intention of helping folks to see homeless individuals in a new light. “I hope to make us look at our neighbors just a little bit longer,” he explains on his website.
“My photography is an attempt to bring myself and others face-to-face with the very real humans experiencing this tragedy,” he said. “It’s an attempt to combat that numbing feeling, because a true solution to this problem will be born of our collective empathy, not of apathy or contempt.”
Demurjian likes to wander the streets of The City. When he encounters someone he wants to photograph, he engages them as best he can.
“Sometimes I strike up a conversation, sometimes there’s a sort of silent agreement to pose for a picture,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’m not always able to carry on a conversation due to the circumstances under which these images are taken.”
One man Demurjian stopped asked him for change and thanked him for “not just walking by.” Another man he met was engrossed in finger painting. The man gave Demurjian one of his paintings.
“It’s hanging on the wall of my bedroom, and it reminds me that there’s always room for art in your life,” he said.
By taking these pictures, Demurjian has been reminded that The City is a place surging with life and community.
“Beautiful things do happen on the streets of San Francisco,” he said. “You just have to stop and observe to experience them.”
The Visualist features the work of Bay Area residents who seek to understand, beautify or interact with their environment through creative mediums. | 2022-02-10T04:04:53Z | www.sfexaminer.com | The many faces of homelessness - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/the-visualist-making-a-connection/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/the-visualist-making-a-connection/ |
By The Examiner Editorial Board • February 9, 2022 11:30 am
People line up outside the new Tenderloin Linkage Center at 1172 Market St. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
The epidemic of overdose deaths in the United States reflects the abject failure of our misguided national drug policy. Our decades-long war on drugs has produced more drug users and deaths than ever. In a 12-month period that ended in April 2021, over 100,000 Americans died of overdoses, according to the National Center of Health Statistics. This was a 28.5% increase in deaths from the previous one-year period. More than one million Americans have died from overdoses since 1999.
Despite the rising death toll, leaders in the Democratic and Republican parties have clung to failed policies and ignored evidence-based harm reduction methods. Fortunately, this may finally change under the administration of President Joe Biden.
This week, the Justice Department signaled the possibility of a long-overdue shift in its stance on drug addiction.
“A year after winning a major court battle against the opening of so-called safe injection sites – safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses –the Justice Department is signaling it might be open to allowing them,” reported the Associated Press on Feb. 7. “In response to questions from The Associated Press, the Justice Department said it is ‘evaluating’ such facilities and talking to regulators about ‘appropriate guardrails.’”
Last year, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Safehouse, a Philadelphia nonprofit that had worked to open an overdose prevention site since 2018. In 2019, U.S. Attorney William McSwain – a conservative Trump nominee – sued to halt it. Safehouse won an initial victory in U.S. District Court, but a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it with a 2-1 vote.
“Judges Stephanos Bibas and Thomas L. Ambro called Safehouse’s motives ‘admirable’ but said that while ‘the opioid crisis may call for innovative solutions, local innovations may not break federal law,’” reported National Public Radio. The Supreme Court let the ruling stand, but now the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland has telegraphed a possible shift.
This is good news at a time when the rise of the synthetic opioid fentanyl has kicked the overdose epidemic into overdrive, forcing cities and states across the nation to seek more effective methods to stem the rising death toll.
Overdose prevention sites, also known as safe injection or safe consumption sites, allow people to use drugs under supervision from health workers who can also help them connect to treatment and other resources. Cities like New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco have sought to adopt the model because it has yielded positive results in other places, including Australia, Canada, Portugal and Spain. Studies show the approach can save both lives and money (by reducing the need for ambulance trips), and it can also help move drug use out of public spaces.
New York City opened two overdose prevention sites in December and has averted over 100 overdose events so far. San Francisco plans to open a similar facility this spring. On Jan. 18, The City opened a “low-barrier” Tenderloin Linkage Center that allows a form of supervised drug use in addition to providing showers, laundry service, food and connection to social services.
Here in San Francisco, the ravages of drug addiction are highly visible in the Tenderloin and SOMA. This open-air drug use makes it easy for some critics to blame California’s progressive politicians for the problem, but national statistics demolish these skewed partisan arguments. Despite the shocking street scenes and many overdose deaths here, the death rate is higher in Republican-leaning states like West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The opioid epidemic crashing on our shores has also swept through Appalachia and the Midwest, and this national tragedy does not confine itself to state boundaries or tidy political narratives.
Nor is drug addiction unique to this country. That’s why it makes sense to learn from other countries that have successfully reduced overdose deaths and drug addiction. Any evaluation of existing studies on overdose prevention sites will find support for their efficacy. This explains why Mayor London Breed, who studied the model in-depth, has embraced it.
The Biden administration’s shift toward a more compassionate harm reduction approach will help reduce stigma, empower local officials to take brave action and save lives. Saving lives should be the ultimate goal of American drug policy – because there’s no point in being on both the losing end of the drug war and the wrong side of history.
Tags: Fentanyl, Joe Biden, overdose, Safe injection sites, San Francisco | 2022-02-10T04:05:12Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Editorial: Biden administration’s drug policy shift can prevent deaths - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/editorial-biden-administrations-drug-policy-shift-can-prevent-deaths/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/editorial-biden-administrations-drug-policy-shift-can-prevent-deaths/ |
California is beyond the point of short-term solutions
By Dan Walters • February 9, 2022 1:30 am
A canal leads to one of several pumping stations on McDonald Island near Stockton. Pumping is required to support farmland in the San Joaquin Delta. (Damon Winter/The New York Times)
— Improving reliability by creating more storage, such as the long-pending Sites Reservoir, to take advantage of the periodic deluges, such as December’s storms;
— Increasing water supply by building more desalination plants, such as the one now operating in San Diego County and its twin proposed in Orange County, and more facilities to cleanse and reuse wastewater;
— Shifting more water from agriculture, which now uses about 75% of water allocated for human purposes, to environmental or residential uses. | 2022-02-10T04:05:18Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Erratic weather requires new water policy approach - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-erratic-weather-requires-new-water-policy-approach/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-erratic-weather-requires-new-water-policy-approach/ |
By Christopher B. Dolan and Taylor French • February 10, 2022 1:30 am
Collecting as much paperwork as possible pertaining to a collision is a good way to help ensure an accurate account of the incident.
I have been reading some of your articles and they are very informative. I was wondering if you can tell me what type of documents I may need if am ever involved in an accident and if I need to hire a lawyer?
— Peter L., San Jose
Thank you for your question and reaching out, Peter. Dealing with the aftermath of a car accident can be an overwhelming experience. Most likely, the last thing on someone’s mind immediately following such a traumatic event is what documents are important or even necessary to obtain in order to pursue a personal injury lawsuit. However, it is extremely important to begin gathering and maintaining the following documents as soon as possible:
Traffic collision report: If a police officer arrived at the scene of the collision, the officer mostly likely prepared a traffic collision report. This report contains important information related to the car accident, including the involved parties’ driver’s license and insurance information, descriptions of the weather and roadway conditions, statements from the parties and other witnesses, whether any traffic laws were violated and by whom, descriptions of any reported injuries or property damage, etc. If a traffic collision report was created, either a crash victim or their attorney, if they have one, will need to obtain it from the issuing law enforcement agency. The information needed to request a police report includes the date and location of the incident (this can be an approximate address or an intersection), the names of the parties involved and the requesting party’s name and address.
Medical records and bills: A person injured in a car accident should obtain all medical records and bills for any treatment related to the collision. Depending on the severity and the type of injuries suffered, the individual may need to obtain records related to emergency medical services (i.e. paramedic or ambulance services), emergency room treatment, primary care physician treatment, chiropractic care, physical therapy, pain management, pharmacy prescriptions and treatment provided by other health care specialists.
Photos and videos: The injured individual should gather all photos or videos taken of the incident scene, the vehicles involved in the collision and the injuries sustained as a result of the collision. It is becoming increasingly common for homes or businesses to have security cameras that sometimes capture car accidents, so it is important to obtain this footage if it exists. It is better to act quickly to obtain this footage as it often gets deleted within a short period of time. If a camera is found in the surrounding area, it is important for the crash victim to communicate this information to their attorney so that they can send a letter requesting that the footage be preserved.
Property Damage Estimates: If there is damage to one’s vehicle as a result of the collision, it is important to maintain copies of any repair estimates, receipts for deductibles paid and/or other documents related to the repairs. Typically, a body shop making repairs will take photos of the repairs to submit to the insurance companies, so these photos should be requested from the body shop or from the individual’s insurance company.
Records related to lost income: In a personal injury lawsuit, an individual can recover income lost as a result of a car accident. In order to recover the lost income, detailed proof of the claimed losses must be produced. For this reason, it is important to obtain proof of income via pay stubs, direct deposit records or other financial documents, as well as documents establishing how much time was missed from work due to the collision.
Communications related to the collision: Following a car accident, it is likely that the parties’ insurance companies will begin to send letters or other communications to the parties. These letters should be maintained and provided to one’s attorney. Additionally, on occasion, a party or witness to the collision will text, call or email an injured party. If this happens, these communications should be preserved as well.
While falling victim to a vehicle collision can be both traumatic and stressful, it is important to try to remain as calm and clearheaded as possible so that all necessary documentation can be obtained. Retaining an attorney will, of course, ease the strain on an injured party following a car accident, but it is still crucial to gather the above documentation in order to prevail in a lawsuit.
Christopher B. Dolan is the owner of Dolan Law Firm, PC. Taylor French is an Associate Attorney in our Los Angeles Office. We serve clients in personal injury cases throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California from our offices in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. Email questions and topics for future articles to: help@dolanlawfirm.com. Each situation is different, and this column does not constitute legal advice. We recommend that you consult with an experienced trial attorney to fully understand your rights. | 2022-02-10T12:57:00Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What are the key documents I should obtain after an accident? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/what-are-the-key-documents-i-should-obtain-after-an-accident/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/what-are-the-key-documents-i-should-obtain-after-an-accident/ |
By Lincoln Mitchell • February 9, 2022 5:00 pm - Updated February 9, 2022 9:55 pm
Charmaine’s, a rooftop bar at the Proper Hotel in San Francisco, specializes in unusual cocktails such as the “Let Me Touch Your Mind,” a coconut-rich Piña Colada layered with a Negroni. One of the major reasons San Francisco has lost some of its progressive edge is demographic. The Black and working class populations have dwindled and, with them, voter support for progressive economic policies. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
When somebody claims that San Francisco has been taken over by the progressives or that The City’s politics are far left, the question is: Compared to what? Yes, San Francisco is much to the left of white rural and suburban America, but compared to other major cities, the story is different.
Over the last decade, many American cities have moved leftward while San Francisco has slipped from its status as a progressive beacon or uniquely radical.
Some evidence: While San Francisco has been governed by moderate Democrats close to the business community for at least a quarter century, progressive mayors have been elected in New York (Bill de Blasio), Boston (Michelle Wu), Newark (Ras Baraka), St. Louis (Tishaura Jones) and other cities.
Similarly, while Nancy Pelosi has been an extremely powerful congresswoman whose strategic and tactical abilities are unparalleled, San Francisco does not have a progressive representation in D.C. comparable to New York, Boston, Minneapolis, St. Louis or Los Angeles.
The saga of District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks to how San Francisco is no longer a leading progressive city. While Boudin’s personal story is unique, he is one of several progressive district attorneys around the country. Yet only he faces a well funded police- and billionaire-backed recall. Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s progressive DA, cruised to reelection last year. Similarly, Kim Foxx, Chicago’s progressive DA, was reelected handily in 2020. Only in San Francisco is a progressive DA’s job threatened by a perceived crime wave that is part of a national trend and is worse in many cities.
The evidence that San Francisco is no longer a uniquely left-of-center city goes beyond election outcomes. During the mass demonstrations in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, there were, to be sure, demonstrations in The City, but larger demonstrations occurred elsewhere. Similarly, while Donald Trump is broadly disliked in San Francisco, he is not exactly popular in other big cities either.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, San Francisco was a groundbreaking place for gay rights and gay political power. Today, many cities, including Chicago, Tampa and even Houston, have or have had LGBT mayors. Some smaller towns, most notably South Bend, Indiana, have had LGBT mayors. San Francisco has not.
The City today does have some progressive bona fides. Its minimum wage is one of the highest in the country. Residential rent control is still stronger in San Francisco than in many other cities. Similarly, environmental policies such as banning plastic bags were implemented earlier than in most places around the country. But in other areas, such as guaranteed income and universal Pre-K, San Francisco no longer stands out.
One of the major reasons San Francisco has lost some of its progressive edge is demographic. The decline in The City’s Black population from 12.7% in 1980 to 5.2% per the 2020 census has meant that one of the most reliable Democratic and progressive voting blocks has become much less influential. The lower Black population means fewer voices advocating for progressive economic policies and criminal justice reform. Progressive district attorneys in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago are kept in office in large part by Black voters. Chesa Boudin will have to fight off a recall in a much different demographic.
For most of the last decade, San Francisco’s reputation for progressive politics has been a residue of The City’s history and culture. There is no doubt that the culture and vibe of San Francisco read as left of center. But its politics now reads squarely center, with a pro-business mayor clipping the wings of more progressive elements in The City’s legislature.
Many things about The City, from the now institutionalized LGBT political power structures, to the window signs in affluent neighborhoods signaling liberal virtues, to the ubiquity of tattoos, piercings and “other flamboyant affectations of appearance” (as described in the musical “Hair”), to small things like vegan and non-dairy options at cafes and restaurants — give San Francisco a progressive, some might say limousine liberal, feel.
These cultural traits signal progressive politics, particularly to people who are not from the Bay Area. But oat milk in your latte is not the same as a political system where lower income people have real political power and city government meaningfully pursues redistributive economic programs.
Today San Francisco is a city, like many conservative communities, that largely defines homelessness as a quality of life problem facing the housed and that has implemented very few policies aimed at addressing the economic conditions, specifically the skyrocketing and cost of living and paucity of affordable housing, that have contributed to the problem.
The disconnect between the politics and culture of The City may be puzzling. But if you want to understand San Francisco, take a look where the political power is, not what people eat or wear. | 2022-02-10T12:57:06Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Why San Francisco is more conservative than you think, part three - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-than-you-think-part-three/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/opinion-why-san-francisco-is-more-conservative-than-you-think-part-three/ |
By Robin Pogrebin • February 10, 2022 1:30 am
The SFMOMA has named Christopher Bedford its new director. (Shutterstock)
One year after the resignation of its longtime leader, Neal Benezra, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday announced his successor: Christopher Bedford, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Bedford, who will start in June, has championed diversity through acquisitions to the collection and salary increases during his tenure in Baltimore. He made the controversial decision in 2020 to sell three major works to diversify its collection but reversed himself in response to complaints from former Baltimore Museum trustees and community members. In 2019, he announced that for a year, the museum would only acquire work by women artists.
He comes to SFMOMA at a time when the institution is healing from the difficult departure of its top curator, Gary Garrels, in 2020 after he was accused of racism. Benezra publicly apologized, and the museum has since established a “Core Team” and undertaken a strategic plan focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“The SFMOMA job description struck a major chord, particularly in its demand for values-based leadership, commitment to systemic change and aspirations for diversity, equity and inclusion,” Bedford, 44, said in an email.
“These are deeply shared principles and commitments of my own,” he added. “I cannot wait to begin.”
In a letter to the staff explaining its “unanimous” selection of Bedford, the search committee said it found his track record around diversity “exceptional” and that this area “has been at the core of Chris’ work, informing all endeavors and driving systemic change across a museum’s culture and output.”
The search committee’s letter praised Bedford’s work as a curator on projects such as Mark Bradford’s U.S. Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale and Mickalene Thomas’ 2019 commission for the Baltimore Museum, which transformed the museum’s two-story East Lobby into a living room for the city, filled with the work of local artists. He also supported the major Joan Mitchell retrospective co-organized by the BMA and SFMOMA.
The new job is a step up for Bedford, who until now has run a museum with an annual budget, in 2021, of $16.9 million and a staff of 182. Its endowment, as of Dec. 31, was $197.6 million; it has no deficit.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a budget of $53.4 million, a staff of 360 and an endowment of $500 million; it too has no deficit, according to a spokesperson.
At a time when museums all over the country are trying to incorporate more inclusivity into their programming, hiring and leadership, the appointment of Bedford, a white man, is likely to meet with some criticism.
But Pamela J. Joyner, a member of SFMOMA’s board who led the search committee with the museum’s president, Diana L. Nelson, said she felt strongly that Bedford was the right person for the job.
“Chris has done the hard work and has a proven record of success in creating a more inclusive art history,” Joyner said in an email message. “Leveling the playing field takes a boldness for which he is known.”
“Though he is not a woman or a person of color, and I understand how that may be an unexpected outcome,” added Joyner, who is Black, “I believe he will materially promote the visibility and best interest of those groups based on his past performance.”
Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, who has led the charge on diversity issues, said he felt comfortable with the selection of Bedford. “While I’m disappointed that a diverse candidate wasn’t chosen,” Walker said in a telephone interview, “no museum leader is more committed to diversity than Chris Bedford.”
A person close to the job search who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal its details said that the SFMOMA position was not an easy sell to candidates, given San Francisco’s comparatively low-profile contemporary art scene and the tepid interest in art patronage among Silicon Valley moguls. The Gagosian gallery recently closed in San Francisco.
Born in Scotland and raised in the United States and England, Bedford received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in Ohio and his master’s in art history and museum studies through the joint program at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
He also studied in the doctoral programs in art history at the University of Southern California and at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. Before coming to Baltimore in 2016, Bedford served as director of the Rose Art Museum at Massachusetts’ Brandeis University, and before that held curatorial positions at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
In Baltimore, Bedford has developed a reputation as a disrupter, such as when he announced his yearlong commitment to only acquire work by female artists.
“You don’t just purchase one painting by a female artist of color and hang it on the wall next to a painting by Mark Rothko,” Bedford said at the time. “To rectify centuries of imbalance, you have to do something radical.”
Some saw the move as showmanship, arguing that female artists should be acquired by museums on a regular basis, as a matter of course.
Similarly, many saw Bedford’s decision to sell works by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol at auction — to fund acquisitions of art by people of color and staffwide salary increases — as a foolhardy move to score politically correct points. While the museum had previously deaccessioned works, in this case, “Baltimore was selling masterpieces,” Arnold Lehman, a former director of both the Baltimore museum and the Brooklyn Museum, said at the time.
How Bedford’s appointment will go over with SFMOMA’s staff members remains to be seen. Garrels, the chief curator, was seen by many there as an objectionable representative of the status quo after he was reported to have said in a Zoom meeting, “Don’t worry, we will definitely still continue to collect white artists.” Amid the uproar that followed — and despite responding that his comments were “a little bit skewed” — Garrels resigned shortly thereafter.
Bedford said he plans to learn from SFMOMA’s staff and “to take time to understand the institution.”
“I know that I am not the person that some may have anticipated or hoped for as the choice for SFMOMA’s new director,” Bedford said. “I respect those perspectives and am coming to the position with great humility.
“What I can say is that I have made the related values of diversity and equity the core of my work over the past 15 years, from collection-building to exhibition-making, staff to board growth and community engagement,” he added. “I feel strongly about bringing those values and convictions to my new role at SFMOMA. This includes ensuring that a wide range of voices are at the table.” | 2022-02-11T02:37:49Z | www.sfexaminer.com | SFMOMA names its new director - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/sfmoma-names-its-new-director/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/sfmoma-names-its-new-director/ |
Converting office buildings into apartments could revitalize S.F.’s troubled downtown district. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
“I don’t think we’re gonna see office buildings turn into another use. For one thing, all of the other rents of every other use are also down and there isn’t a promising replacement use for a lot of this space,” said Egan. “So, I do think that, in the long run, we’ll be back to having an office-centered economy downtown. But … it could take some time.”
“It’s an interesting point of view to say that government has a role to play in this dynamic,” said Manan Shah, principal and managing director with Gensler, an Oakland architectural firm that has worked on and studied such conversions for years. “There may be an opportunity present. We may be able to stimulate some portions of the market to convert. That’s a real solution.”
Most everyone else I spoke to for this column concurred. To be clear, no one is talking about converting modern high-rise offices, such as the Salesforce Tower. But there are plenty of smaller, older buildings that would make for beautiful apartments. Let’s find them.
“It does exist. Class B and Class C properties are smaller. Their floor plates are smaller. And in most cases, they’d work better for conversions. It’s been bandied about in our office,” said Robert Sammon, senior director of Bay Area research at the commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield. “There’s a lot of older product in the north Financial District that could work for this kind of thing, and maybe in SoMa. They’re beautiful buildings. We need to keep them. It’s been proven in New York City that it works.”
“This is a great solution to the (vacancy) problem. Whether it happens or not? Who knows. It’s going to take the city, developers and owners to go forward with it.”
Gensler has had particular success doing such work in Calgary. Again, government played a key role.
“The city of Calgary did in fact come through with money to help stimulate ideas related to conversion, and help motivate developers. I do think government would be helpful. Taking some of those costs and administrative hurdles away from folks. That would help getting people to consider these options.”
It’s also worked in other cities. A recent report from the Rentcafé blog, which tracks apartment trends across the country, shows that 2021 was a record year for office adaptive reuse conversions. By the end of last year, the study shows 21,000 units had been repurposed into housing, with about 40% coming from former office buildings.
The trend is expected to continue in 2022, with more than 52,700 units expected to come online.
Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles are leading the way in these conversions. San Francisco is not participating in the trend, although one might look at the ongoing conversion of the former I. Magnin building on Union Square, which will combine retail, office and residential, as a hopeful sign.
Ralph Zucker is the president of Somerset Development, a development firm based in Holmdel, New Jersey. He’s done a lot of this kind of work, including repurposing what used to be Bell Labs into a mixed-use paradise. He’s another strong believer that government holds the keys to success in these situations.
“You’re not going to reduce the cost of construction,” said Zucker. “What the municipality can do is incentivize people through the tax rate. All of the projects we’ve done have benefited from tax incentives. Those are crucial. If the city of San Francisco would want to incentivize development, and create a tax structure that was beneficial to converting commercial to residential, that would go a long way.”
So, what do you say San Francisco? Can we do this? I asked Anne Taupier, Mayor London Breed’s director of development in The City’s office of economic and workforce development. She’s on board.
““We need to be looking at all of our solutions. We need to look at any angles to promote mixed use downtown, providing clear paths for developers,” said Taupier. “We’re not going to see the 10 hours a day, five days a week office activation we’ve seen in the past. This is a great opportunity to look at mixed use downtown. But it takes enormous investment.”
“I think it’s on all of us. We need to come up with good ideas that will get past the political smell test. It’s not an easy sell to incentivize, but we should be having that conversation. I don’t want downtown to become a complete crisis, like what happened in Detroit,” she said.
This is a good idea. Free of charge. Let’s take the long view here, San Francisco. Plan for a future that includes a vibrant downtown. | 2022-02-11T02:37:55Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Opinion: Office vacancies? Turn them into homes - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/opinion-office-vacancies-turn-them-into-homes/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/opinion-office-vacancies-turn-them-into-homes/ |
By Mark Kreidler Special to The Examiner • February 10, 2022 1:30 pm - Updated February 10, 2022 6:09 pm
Baseball owners locked out their players in December. Commissioner Rob Manfred, pictured here in 2019, was asked about the lack of progress. “Phones work two ways,” he replied. (Ben Solomon/The New York Times)
The Giants have legitimate questions. Here’s one: How does a team go from Buster Posey to Joey Bart/Curt Casali and not drop off the cliff? Another: If you win 15 fewer games than last season, are you still a wild success?
The answer to that second question, by the way, is yes — but only if you can actually get on the baseball field to play baseball games in this sport we call baseball. Weirdly enough, that’s where we’re stuck.
I’d love to have spent the winter debating Kris Bryant’s value or trying to guess what Brandon Crawford regressing to the mean even looks like. Instead, we’ve had a steaming platter of owner obstruction with a side of delayed spring training. If this is how MLB’s brain trust thinks it’s going to climb out of a two-year pandemic-dug ditch, then — wait, that can’t be it. Nobody’s that daft.
The last two weeks have been darkly instructive, though. The owners put forth a transparently insincere effort to “negotiate” with the MLB Players Association by asking for federal mediation, then portrayed the union as louses for saying no thanks. After that, they waited another week-plus to make a new proposal, when they know full well that they’re still at the midpoint of negotiations.
It’s incredible: Despite routing their own product in each of the last two contracts, the owners want to wring yet more from that product — that is, from the players. They’re trying to steal second with an eight-run lead in the ninth inning. It’s genuinely nonsensical.
I’ve covered a few of these — more than a few. There have been several baseball labor disputes in which “Both sides make valid points!” was a fairly reasonable take. This is not one of them.
This time, what the players are asking is, in fact, reasonable. They’re asking, for example, that their average salaries stop going down when profits are up. Their average salary has decreased in each of the past four years and is essentially flat over the past decade, while MLB revenue has shot up 20% during those same years.
In fact, it took a global COVID emergency to interrupt one of the all-time winning streaks by any group of sports owners ever: 17 straight years in which every single year marked a new all-time high in revenue for MLB.
The players would like the owners to quit rewarding teams for tanking. Recognizing that franchises have functionally gutted the middle class of MLB veterans in favor of using young, lowest-paid guys (often in order to lose), the players would like those rookie-level salaries to go up meaningfully, since the future free-agent payday many of them dream of isn’t likely to happen.
The players have said yes to the universal DH and yes to expanded playoffs, both requested by the owners, and they withdrew their own proposal to get players to free agency faster.
The owners, meanwhile, locked out their players in December, then went 43 days before making a counter to the most recent union proposal. “Phones work two ways,” Commissioner Rob Manfred replied when asked to account for that inexplicable lapse. Thanks for your service, Rob.
It seems almost impossible the owners of any business coming out of a two-year pandemic would purposely choose to choke out their own product, but then again, this is baseball. It’s incredibly different. Sports leagues just are. In other businesses, people work to make a product. In sports, the players are the product. And yet the very owners of these teams get confused on that point time and again.
There are not always two equal sides to a story. In this case, the MLB owners 1.) Declared a lockout to “jump-start” negotiations; 2.) Subsequently failed to make a proposal for six weeks and now will have made exactly two offers in 11 weeks; 3.) Have evinced almost no interest in doing anything that would prevent tanking; 4.) Refuse to meaningfully adjust the luxury tax, which serves as a de facto cap on spending; 5.) Refuse to meaningfully adjust rookie salaries; 6.) Have brought forth not a single good-faith attempt at adjusting a labor relationship that has become badly imbalanced; 7.) Said they wanted mediation when they really didn’t; 8.) Sit perfectly willing to sabotage their own industry, if it comes to that.
I made up those last two, since we can’t know the minds of owners who don’t deign to speak to their own fan bases and who hide their books even as they demand to be believed about finances. But we do know this: The owners have always had the ability to end the lockout. Like this: “We’re lifting the lockout and opening camps, in order for players to be fully ready for the regular season, while we continue to aggressively negotiate.”
That won’t happen. So, you know, conclusions will be drawn.
If little of this makes sense to you, it’s my fault — I forgot to mention the background. Several years ago, after Bud Selig called it quits as commissioner, the owners appointed in his place a man with no palpable interest in baseball, a man, Manfred, whose lifetime calling and passion is labor law.
Manfred earned his bachelor’s degree at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, his law degree at Harvard and his negotiating chops at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, a firm long known for its anti-union and union-busting tactics. Don’t let the earnest comments fool you: He means business, and he works for the owners, not the game.
That’s fine, in theory. The commissioner, after all, is hired and paid by the owners. But when Manfred says, as he did the other day, “I see missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry,” he’s a little too on point. This is, to him, industry. The game comes second. | 2022-02-11T02:38:01Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Baseball’s owners are ruining the Giants season - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/how-baseballs-owners-are-ruining-the-giants-season/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/how-baseballs-owners-are-ruining-the-giants-season/ |
The Warriors’ have been hot lately, putting together a nine-game winning streak that showcased some of the basketball we’ve seen all season. What did we learn? Plenty.
First of all, Steph Curry’s shot is back. After going a combined 3-23 from beyond the arc in consecutive games against Dallas and Utah, Curry has gone 27-59 (45.8%) from deep. We knew the best shooter of all time would find his stroke again, but it’s nice that it happened sooner rather than later.
Curry also stepped up his playmaking in the absence of Draymond Green. Over the eight games Curry played in the win streak, he averaged 8.4 assists per game, a significant uptick over his season average of 6.3. The Warriors are still at their best with Draymond playing point forward and Steph free to fly around without the ball hunting for a spot of free real estate from beyond the arc, but this winning streak showed the Warriors can still be deadly when their main scoring option is also their best playmaker.
Klay Thompson is back, and he doesn’t look like a player who missed over 900 days. Thompson played six games during the winning streak, and has steadily looked more and more like the All-Star player he was before he suffered his injuries. He shot 44.7% from beyond the arc during the streak, which is even better than his career average of 41.8%. His performance against the Kings on Feb. 3, when he scored 23 points on 8-11 shooting and 7-9 shooting from deep, with a season-high seven assists mixed in, was an absolute statement game. He followed that up with some clutch late-game shots to close out the Oklahoma City Thunder, showing he’s ready to be a part of Steve Kerr’s closing lineup again.
It’s fantastic the Warriors have been able to put together a winning streak like this without the services of Green. However, with only 27 games remaining in the regular season, and Green’s injury timetable still unclear, it is a bit concerning that he’s yet to play a game with Steph and Klay. Klay and Draymond have enough history together that they should find their old rhythm before too long. Still, both of them have extremely distinct playing styles, and the Warriors will be at a disadvantage if they have to start what will be a very tough journey through the Western Conference Playoffs before the two of them have enough time to get in sync with each other.
Speaking of players the Warriors might not be able to incorporate into their lineup before the playoffs start, James Wiseman still hasn’t touched the floor this season. The young big man has a ton of talent, gives the Warriors size they don’t have anywhere else on the roster and could give them an extra dimension. However, he often looked lost in his rookie season, and he might not have the time to get up to speed and into the rotation before the playoffs start.
Also, size continues to be somewhat of an Achilles’ heel for the Warriors. The Jazz didn’t have Rudy Gobert in the lineup the other night, but the 7-foot Hassan Whiteside (who also sports a 7’ 7” foot wingspan) was able to beat up the Warriors inside in his place. Whiteside finished the game with nine points on 4-5 shooting, 17 rebounds, five offensive rebounds and seven blocks. The Jazz outscored the Warriors by 35 points in the 29 minutes Whiteside was on the floor. If Wiseman can’t prove he’s ready before the playoffs start, the NBA’s true giants could give the Warriors some problems.
Finally, it looks like the Warriors are indeed going to stand pat at the trade deadline. That means Jonathan Kuminga will be around for the foreseeable future. With Green out, Kuminga has slowly carved out a solid spot for himself in the rotation, and has found some consistency of late. Through the month of February, Kuminga is averaging 16.3 points per game on 55.6% shooting from the floor. He’s only shooting 23.5% from beyond the arc. He does have room to improve, and likely will for a long time, which is frankly more exciting than anything else. He’s the kind of player that inspires dreams of greatness, and his production has been getting closer and closer to his potential all season long.
The Warriors are still behind the Suns in the standings, and Draymond’s injury status remains an area of concern. Still, as the All-Star break and the playoffs loom closer, the Warriors have to feel good about where they’re at. | 2022-02-11T02:38:07Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What we learned during the Warriors’ winning streak - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-we-learned-during-the-warriors-winning-streak/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-we-learned-during-the-warriors-winning-streak/ |
By Johnny Funcheap Special to The Examiner • February 11, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 11, 2022 12:59 pm
A San Francisco heart sculpture in Union Square, made for and sold from a previous art auction to benefit San Francisco General Hospital. (Photo courtesy of San Francisco General Hospital Foundation)
‘Hearts in San Francisco’ sculptures at Ferry Building
What’s 400 pounds, takes up to six weeks to create and helps raise critical funds to support health care in San Francisco? It’s “Hearts in SF,” those huge 6-foot-wide artist-designed heart sculptures that are part of a benefit for San Francisco General Hospital. For the first time, all 20 hearts (four large, six table-top size and 10 miniature) are on display at the same location in and around the Ferry Building until the end of the month. After Feb. 28, all the hearts sold at auction will go their separate ways with just a few large hearts making a final appearance at Union Square through October. On view through Feb. 28, Ferry Building Marketplace, One Ferry Building, S.F., Free. sfghf.org
A pickle ball gathering at The Crossing at East Cut. (Courtesy of The Crossing)
Valentine’s Day outdoor festival at The Crossing
An entire 3+ acre block of SOMA that served as the site of Temporary Transbay Terminal from 2010 to 2018 has transformed itself into a community pop-up, “The Crossing.” The site will be open for about two years until construction of affordable and market-rate housing begins. So let’s have fun at the two new soccer fields, pickleball courts, a beer garden and a bunch of fun free events like, “A Jazzy Valentine’s All-Ages Happy Hour.” Join in for free cookies, Valentine’s card decorating, a five-piece swing band, free hot chocolate and a free flower and chocolate truffle for the first 100 guests who RSVP on Eventbrite. Monday, Feb. 14, 4-6 p.m., The Crossing at East Cut, 250 Main St., S.F., Free. eastcutcrossing.com
(Courtesy Nerd Night S.F.)
‘Nerd Nite’ is back
This is your brain on beer. Learning is so much more fun when you’re drinking with friends. That’s the premise behind “Nerd Nite,” an informal TED-style lecture event in 100+ cities at bars, pubs and concert venues. Three experts give 20-minute talks on amusing and fascinating topics often mixed in with DJs, trivia and a fair amount of cursing. After a four-month COVID/holiday break, Nerd Nite brings the geeks back for its return to San Francisco. This month you can learn about S.F.’s only public glass-making studio, hear how scientists are researching social harm and ecological change and champion the progress of Google’s multiracial employees, while drinking. Wednesday, Feb. 16, 8:00 p.m., Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St., S.F., $10 adv, $15 door. sf.nerdnite.com
(Courtesy Chinese New Year Festival & Parade)
Chinese New Year Parade, fireworks and street fair
Let’s try this again! S.F.’s Chinese New Year Parade, the largest celebration of its kind outside of Asia, is finally back and with some fun new changes for 2022. After spending the day exploring Chinatown during the Community Street Fair, find a comfy spot along Kearny to get a view of all the gorgeous floats (although fewer than previous years), the colorful costumes and the grand 288-foot golden dragon that takes a team of over 180 people to carry it. Among this year’s new parade additions is the first-ever Lucasfilm-approved Star Wars contingent. It’s all capped off with a short fireworks show from Union Square. Parade: Saturday, Feb. 19, 5:15-8 p.m., from Market & Second to Kearny & Jackson, S.F. Street Fair: Saturday, Feb. 19, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 20, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Grant Ave. from California to Broadway, Washington, Jackson & Pacific between Stockton and Kearny, S.F. Free. chineseparade.com
S.F. Beer Week 2022
Want to just focus on the beer without all the learning of Nerd Nite? It’s time for S.F. Beer Week. There are 250+ events as part of the 10-day festival, including some that cost $95 to attend. But we’ve hunted through the calendar to find a dozen of the best free and cheap doings: Buy a pint and get a free pinball party at Outer Orbit (Feb. 16-17), drag queen karaoke at Laughing Monk (Feb. 18), a “Beers for the Sunset” beach cleanup with Seven Stills (Feb. 20) and on the final day of the festival, $5 full pours at Old Devil Moon or whatever’s left until the Beer Week taps run dry (Feb. 20). Feb. 11-20, multiple venues, S.F., many events free, but prices vary. funcheap.com
By Joshua Rotter | 2022-02-12T05:26:07Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Fun, free, cheap: What to do in San Francisco this week - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/fun-free-cheap-what-to-do-in-san-francisco-this-week-8/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/fun-free-cheap-what-to-do-in-san-francisco-this-week-8/ |
Legendary indie rock experimenters The Microphones play one last time
Phil Elverum brings his band and sound to Noise Pop for another long goodbye
By Will Reisman • February 10, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 11, 2022 3:46 pm
Phil Elverum formed The Microphones in 1996 when he was a teenager. He ended the band in 2003, but has revived it four times, including for the Feb. 23 show at Swedish American Music Hall. (Photo courtesy of The Microphones)
In the finale of The Microphones’ 44-minute magnum opus, “Microphones in 2020,” Phil Elverum whispers softly, “There’s no end.”
Since the song tracks the rise and resurrection of The Microphones — Elverum’s recording project that specialized in a beguiling combination of frail folk musings and violent bursts of white noise — that coda could mean the band will have yet another incarnation.
The Microphones was formed in 1996 when Elverum was a teenager and the recording project was used for some of his most beloved creations, including 2001’s high-water mark, “The Glow Pt. 2.” He ended the band in 2003 and occasionally revived the moniker for live performances, but for nearly two he eschewed releasing music under the name — that is, until the single track “Microphones in 2020.”
Despite the hints of rebirth in the song, Elverum insists he is finally, unequivocally putting the Microphones to bed and closing that chapter with a series of send-off performances.
“The idea was to put this on the shelf and close it up,” said Elverum, who will play two Microphones shows at the Swedish American Hall on Feb. 23 as part of the Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival. “The idea for Microphones in 2020 was just to be a punctuation mark, a way to look back, do a survey of it and then end it.”
If “Microphones in 2020” is indeed a final look back, it will amount to a much-appreciated treasure for fans of the band and a dramatic conclusion to a revered endeavor. Elverum takes the listener on an encyclopedic musical journey, describing the wonderment he felt first listening to artists like Sonic Youth, Red House Painters and Tori Amos — and seeing the post-rock group Stereolab play a single note for 15 minutes straight.
Within that song journey are gentle interludes, capturing memories of driving in the rain from his parents’ house and basking in a fire of smoky driftwood. This “portrait of the artist as a young man” approach reveals The Microphones’ early creative process as well as Elverum’s epiphany to end the band in a remote cave in Northern Norway.
Elverum said the impetus to revisit The Microphones and write an origin song was partly motivated by the brief revival of the What the Heck Festival, an annual gathering in his hometown of Anacortes, Washington that once acted as a showcase for his group. The 2019 rendition featured Elverum’s closest musical companions from the Pacific Northwest and inspired him to restart The Microphones, while also raising the question of what the project would look like.
“It was this interesting exploration, of kind of stepping into this old costume from 20 years ago,” said Elverum, who will perform “Microphones in 2020” (and only that song) for his live shows alongside guitarist Jay Blackinton. “I wanted to play as The Microphones, but I didn’t want to play old songs. The idea was to write a new song with an old mode, but I didn’t have any kind of master plan. I was just asking, who is this 23-year-old kid? What is he made of? And then I just kept writing and writing from there.”
That Elverum plumbs his young and not-so-young psyche should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his work. In 2018 and 2019, Elverum released “A Crow Looked at Me” and “Now Only,” two albums that explored in devastating detail the aftermath of his wife’s sudden death. Issued under his Mt. Eerie signature, the albums offer poetic glimpses into the grief and sorrow facing Elverum and his young daughter. Elverum said that he longed to write about something other than his wife’s passing, but that he had to stay authentic to himself, and ignoring that pain would be false.
Now six years later, Elverum said his wife’s death is “not the first thing he thinks of in the morning. … I wrote two pretty deep albums about her and my experience with death and loss. And that seemed like a lot. So, I felt like it was time to write about something else. And so yeah, I guess I ended up singing about my own self.”
The painstaking attention to detail that he brought to those two albums as Mt. Eerie is mirrored in “The Microphones in 2020,” a song that ultimately is a celebration of self-reflection and self-acceptance.
Elverum knows the past will never leave us, but with the completion of this project, he is turning his attention to the future.
Where: Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market Street, S.F .
When: 6:30 p.m., and 9 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 23 | 2022-02-12T05:26:14Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Legendary indie rock experimenters The Microphones play one last time - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/legendary-indie-rock-experimenters-microphones-play-one-last-time/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/legendary-indie-rock-experimenters-microphones-play-one-last-time/ |
By Melanie Velasquez • February 11, 2022 12:30 pm
California College of the Arts employees on strike on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
They say they’ve had enough of being both the starving artist and the underpaid teacher.
So now, after two years of fruitless negotiations for what they call a fair contract and higher wages, the staff at the California College of the Arts (CCA) is on strike — the first at a private university in California since 1976.
Delays and filibustering at the bargaining table have dogged negotiations the college and its staff since it unionized back in 2019. The staff, including instructors and adjunct faculty in solidarity, finally struck earlier this week alleging illegal and unfair labor practices, unlivable wages for the lowest-paid staff and the lack of a fair contract since the last one expired in June of 2020.
“I’m done pretending that these structures work in a way that is equitable,” said Elizabeth Travelslight, an adjunct instructor for Critical Studies in science and math. “And I think the administration is really confused, and has a lot of illusions about the institutions they run. They don’t understand the impact of low wages on staff and adjunct faculty,”
The President of CCA, Stephen Beal, is paid a salary of $580,224 according to IRS Form 990 released by ProPublica. That’s more than Mayor London Breed or any other Bay Area school administrators except for Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President of Stanford.
Meanwhile, the lowest-paid staffer make less than $40,000 a year according to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021.
CCA is a private art university with a campus in San Francisco. It expects to close its Oakland campus soon in a move to consolidate into one location. According to the school’s website, tuition is $53,856 with the full cost of attendance, estimated at $79,981 for first- and second-year undergraduate students and $81,705 for upperclassmen.
Negotiations for the new contract started pre-pandemic in October 2019 and the bargaining teams have met 30 times since then. But both sides of the picket fence have different versions of the story.
For the school’s position, Ann Weins, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for CCA, points to a “fact-checking” page on its website, which says “the CCA team has remained ready and willing to come to the table as often as needed to achieve a final (collective bargaining agreement).”
Striking staffers see it differently.
“They like to brag that they’ve done 30 bargaining sessions in two years,” said Brain Woods, the Film Studio Manager for CCA, “That amounts to barely one a month and that’s not very productive. That’s the rhetoric they’re sending out; ‘Bargaining is going great. We’re making progress!’ They’ve made almost no progress. They didn’t respond to our financial compensation proposal for two years after we gave it to them.”
Weins insists there’s been progress at the bargaining table.
“The school agrees with fair compensation for our staff, with what is best for the students and the sustainable future for the college,” she says. But, she adds, “We don’t believe a strike is necessary at this time. We are concerned about taking instructional time away from our students, but we respect the right of our unionized staff to strike.”
Travelslight takes a philosophical approach. “As a teacher, I want to hold space for the administration to learn how to do better.”
In addition to their bargaining demands, the SEIU Union has an unfair labor practices complaint against CCA filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Another regarding the administration’s unilateral changes without consulting the Union is awaiting a hearing.
The school eliminated some Union jobs and replaced them with non-Union ones. Matt Kennedy, CCA Union President and 2D Studio Manager, was directly affected by this change. In 2020, Kennedy was furloughed for 18 months and was told by the school that he would be brought back whenever feasible. When that time came, his re-entrance would be conditional. He could only come back if he took a different position with lower pay. Additionally, Kennedy was one of the last employees brought back even after working for the school for nine years.
Earlier in the week, in evident high spirits, staff, adjunct faculty and students rallied earlier this week at CCA’s San Francisco campus holding signs reading “Labor justice is social justice!” and “I strike because I love my students.”
Drivers passing by the rally raised their fists and honked their horns in apparent solidarity while various staff members spoke on their experiences and students made strike posters out of cardboard with peers.
“We always say that working conditions are student learning conditions,” said Woods, the Film Studio Manager, “We want good contracts for our lowest-paid people. That’s our main ask today for [CCA] to bring up the low end, raise the floor, so that people can live in the city where they work.”
Many adjunct faculty said they were also on board with the demands.
“The pay disparity between the lowest-paid workers at these institutions and the highest-paid workers – it’s not sustainable. And it doesn’t represent the values I think we believe in as a community,” said Travelslight.
Students also have been an integral part of the strike.
Kokayi-Taylor — an animation student whose mother is an adjunct instructor — said students recently petitioned the school to have more frequent shuttle services from their Oakland campus to their San Francisco campus, since students have classes in both locations. But the administration is yet to respond to this request.
“They basically just take advantage of their staff. It’s the staff who run the school and without them, the school would be nothing. And it trickles down to us,” stated Kokayi-Taylor.
“This is an important cause, you’ll see that the students care about the staff just as much as the staff care about us and that we can’t function without them,” said one student at the rally while making a sign.
Other supporters of the cause came out in solidarity at the rally including Supervisor and State Assembly candidate Matt Haney who spoke in support of the strikers. Protestors cheered as Haney said “Shame on you, CCA!” Haney urged residents beyond the school to support CCA staff.
Matt Haney, candidate for the 2022 California 17th State Assembly district, speaking to the employees on strike at the California College of the Arts . (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
“No justice, no peace!” said the rally as strikers marched around campus. Around one hundred attendees showed up for the first day of the strike, a substantial crowd for a small, private school of 1,500 students.
The Union and other adjunct supporters say they plan on holding rallies and teach-ins until the end of the week or until their demands are met. Travelslight said they will extend the strike as long as necessary. Both, CCA and the Union said they hope to reach an agreement by Friday. | 2022-02-12T05:26:20Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Long road to the bargaining table for staff at California College of the Arts - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/long-road-to-the-bargaining-table-for-staff-at-california-college-of-the-arts/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/long-road-to-the-bargaining-table-for-staff-at-california-college-of-the-arts/ |
By Gil Duran • February 11, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 11, 2022 5:32 pm
Onnie Broussard, 41, emerges from the Tenderloin Linkage Center and finds himself standing with the mothers during their press conference Feb. 5. (Gil Duran/The Examiner)
Holding a metal chain and displaying photos of their adult children, a group of five mothers staged a small protest in front of the Tenderloin Linkage Center one recent Saturday morning. Calling themselves “Mothers Against Drug Deaths,” they rallied against supervised drug use at the center, which has become a controversial flashpoint in The City’s efforts to stem rising overdose deaths.
Their protest illustrated the escalating debate over how to best handle a fentanyl overdose crisis that’s national in scope. The Tenderloin facility allows supervised drug use in a fenced-off area as a form of harm reduction that already has prevented multiple overdose incidents. But the mothers — most of whom have adult children struggling with addiction in The City — accused city officials of chaining people to opioid addiction.
They blasted supervised drug use as “enabling” and “normalizing” addiction. Yet they also expressed support for a European-style treatment model known for framing addiction as a health issue, decriminalizing drug possession and permitting supervised drug use.
“Several of the reporters have asked us what we think the solution is,” said Michelle Leopold, a Marin County resident whose 19-year-old son overdosed in Sonoma County in 2019. “The solution has been proven to work in Lisbon, in Amsterdam, in Vienna, in Zurich. People call it the ‘Portugal model.’ It’s wrap-around services that are instrumented throughout the entire community. That is the solution.”
The statement was surprising because most of those cities allow overdose prevention sites, also known as safe consumption sites. Lisbon has even deployed vans outfitted as mobile injection sites. Zurich and other cities in Switzerland, which legalized prescription heroin in 1994, opened injection rooms as part of an effort to shut down open-air drug scenes and prevent death. San Francisco’s approach is conservative in comparison.
No one can deny the anguish of these mothers. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem too familiar with European-style harm reduction models. They expressed support for them while simultaneously protesting The City’s effort to adopt one key component: overdose prevention.
As offensive as the concept of supervised drug use may seem, overdose prevention is a moral course of action in a city where drugs kill an average of two people every day. It’s not a perfect solution, but perfection is not an option at this point.
The mothers’ own stories underscored the complexity of the opioid epidemic.
Gina McDonald, a San Lorenzo resident, said she first became aware of her daughter’s addiction after she started racking up parking tickets on Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin.
“I found the heroin and took her to Highland Hospital in Oakland and got her on Suboxone, but she then became addicted to that,” said McDonald. “So it’s been a cycle in and out of treatment. I finally had to say, ‘I can’t do this anymore. We can’t do this anymore.’ We took her car. We canceled her phone and we left her … it’s been heartbreaking.”
Her daughter is currently in a program in Alameda County. It’s her fourth attempt at a treatment program, said McDonald, adding that she herself struggled with alcohol, opioids and meth for years.
“The Alameda County sheriff picked me up on the street in the middle of a meth-induced psychosis and mandated me to treatment,” said McDonald. “It saved my life. I didn’t have an option. They put me in a psychiatric facility, which probably wasn’t the right thing to do because they didn’t know if it was drugs or I was crazy. When I woke up four days later with a clear mind I was able to make a decision.”
The idea of locking people up to force treatment was a common refrain.
“Please arrest my son,” said Jacqui Berlinn, an Alameda County resident whose son has struggled with addiction for years.
Berlinn criticized city officials for failing to provide more treatment options and said a lack of health resources, coupled with open-air drug markets, makes it impossible for her son to quit drugs. She said red tape and a lack of resources make it hard to get him help.
While she’s right that we urgently need more treatment beds and services, her son’s case also proves treatment is no silver bullet. Last year, Berlinn said, District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney helped get her son a spot at a Walden House facility. Her son agreed to go.
“He said, ‘Mom, this is going to be like jail,’” said Berlinn, explaining that COVID rules meant he had to endure a 10-day quarantine.
“This was the week before Christmas,” said Berlinn. “I told him: If you push through this, then by Christmas we’ll be together and you’ll be feeling so much better.”
He left after three days.
Another woman, a Marin resident who declined to give her name, said her son had also gone back to drugs after time in a treatment facility.
These mothers are clearly desperate to help their children, but their stories also illustrate a major flaw of abstinence-only treatment. Most people relapse when trying to quit drugs, and relapse can end in death when the drug is fentanyl. Harm reduction models account for this reality by meeting people where they are and prioritizing survival over abstinence.
A stint in jail might help some people get into treatment, but incarceration can also backfire. That’s because forced abstinence lowers drug tolerance, increasing the likelihood of overdose upon release. Drug overdoses are a leading cause of death for recently incarcerated people.
Not every mother opposes overdose prevention. Nurit Baruch of San Francisco was at the Tenderloin facility as part of a counterprotest to support overdose prevention. She said jail helped get her son into treatment, but she doesn’t believe it’s the right solution for most people.
“Jail is there because there is not another thing,” said Baruch. “Who wants to traumatize people who are already ill?”
Like the other mothers, Baruch extolled the success of harm reduction efforts elsewhere.
“I read about Vancouver, I read about Portugal and I see that they have a very good success rate,” said Baruch. “And I know it’s counterintuitive because you think ‘we’re enabling them,’ but at the same time we’re also talking to them about maybe a place where they can dry out.”
Critics of San Francisco’s effort say it’s not the Portugal model. They’re right. Portugal decriminalized personal drug possession in 2001. It has also invested heavily in treatment and in creating a system designed to compel drug users to get help. The United States is decades behind when it comes to facing the ugly reality of addiction. The City is trying to catch up by hiring hundreds of workers to expand mental health and drug treatment options, but there’s a long way to go.
The Tenderloin center is a small step forward. It has drawn some vocal detractors, but that’s no surprise. Most harm reduction measures — like needle exchanges and condom distribution programs — spark fierce opposition before gaining acceptance. The City’s realistic approach upsets these white mothers from the suburbs, but our overdose crisis is disproportionately killing Black men. We must value their lives regardless of whether they quit drugs cold turkey.
Onnie Broussard, a 41-year-old Black man who emerged from the Tenderloin center and accidentally found himself standing with the mothers during their press conference, had mostly positive things to say about the facility.
“It’s all right,” said Broussard in an interview. “They don’t have hot breakfast, though.”
He said he hadn’t seen any drugs inside but rejected criticism of The City’s approach.
“I don’t think there’s really nothing wrong with it,” he said. “How can they hurt the people if the people start working with them?”
Gil Duran is Editorial Page Editor of The Examiner. @gilduran76
Tags: Fentanyl, opioid addiction, overdose, San Francisco | 2022-02-12T05:26:26Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Mothers highlight stark reality of S.F.’s drug overdose crisis - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-protesting-mothers-highlight-stark-reality-of-san-franciscos-drug-overdose-crisis/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opinion-protesting-mothers-highlight-stark-reality-of-san-franciscos-drug-overdose-crisis/ |
By Will Reisman • February 14, 2022 1:30 pm
Chime School plays Feb. 26 at Bottom of the Hill as part of the Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival. (Courtesy Chime School)
In many ways, the four-track is a cherished and storied artifact of the indie rock world. Cheap, accessible and easy to manage, the archaic piece of recording equipment offers an entry point beyond the normal gatekeepers standing vigil at expensive studios. The four-track’s unassuming, lo-fi sound has been the trademark of seminal indie records from artists like Guided by Voice, Elliott Smith and The Microphones.
For Andy Pastalaniec, the four-track offered a conundrum. A drummer in numerous San Francisco bands over the years, Pastalaniec had long considered writing and recording his own music, but he always managed to find an excuse or an out. That is, until his girlfriend gifted him a small piece of music alchemy, making all those previous arguments moot.
“Yeah, so she gave me a four-track, and I was like, ‘Damn, I have to do to this now,” said Pastalaniec who records as Chime School and who will be playing Feb. 26 at the Bottom of Hill as part of the Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival. “I wasn’t going to let that thing just sit around and collect dust. So, I literally went out and bought a cheap second-hand guitar and forced myself to sit down and write songs.”
That foray into the four-track world turned out to be not only a present for Pastalaniec but for everyone else lucky enough to hear Chime School’s stirring debut album, which arrived last November. Taking the classic janglepop sounds of The Byrds and processing it through the ambient moods of 4AD bands and the hook-laden riffs of Britpop groups, the self-titled Chime School release is teeming with accessible and engaging tunes.
Pastalaniec originally started writing the songs in 2017, meticulously adding to the catalog over a series of years while drumming in a spate of local bands, including Seablite and Pink Films. After starting slowly, Pastalaniec steadily gained confidence as his catalog of songs accumulated.
“It always felt like something I couldn’t do — like I just couldn’t write a song,” said Pastelniec. “And so, when I finally finished a few ones, it felt so liberating and empowering. Like, holy shit, I can actually do this. I’m not saying I created a masterpiece or anything, but I was really happy with how these songs turned out.”
All the Chime School songs are built around Pastalaniec’s vibrato guitar work, a pulsing, buoyant instrument that fills each song with a sparkling, sustained shimmer. Expanding upon the blueprint first established by The Byrds (and emulated by his prior band, the Pink Films), Pastalaniec overdubbed layers and layers of acoustic guitar on top of his electric 12-string, creating a thicker, more atmospheric sound. Although The Byrds made their name by popularizing the legendary Rickenbacker guitar, Pastalaniec admits he was able to build his jangly wall of noise with a Danelectro model. (He has a Rickenbacker now.)
The result is almost like an homage to long-lost Bay Area bands like The Mantles and The Aislers Set, with Pastalaniec fusing the chaotic energy of the former with the twee-pop sensibilities of the latter. Each Chime School song feels like a breezy bike ride through the Mission District on a warm, sunny Saturday morning, a sentiment reinforced by Pastelniec’s communal lyrics, which focus primarily on neighborhood concerns like motorcycle maintenance, taking in a cup of coffee and adopting a cat.
The robust nature of the music is all the more remarkable considering that Pastalaniec played every instrument and recorded the album all by himself. (Ironically enough, the longtime drummer used a drum machine for many of the songs.) After acting as a supporting character for years in a variety of bands, Pastalaniec said he embraced the opportunity to oversee the entire creative process of his music.
“Since this was a first-time thing for me, it was almost like I was worried that my creativity would be stymied if I worked with others, because they would have to be super patient with the process,” he said. “If I was going to be experimental and explore sounds, I didn’t want to burden others with that. And once it became time to do all the mixing, we were pretty much full into the pandemic, so I couldn’t work with anyone, anyways.”
For now, the Chime School live performances are just Pastalaniec solo shows, with him playing alongside a backing track, although he said he hopes to add some band members at some point. He also hopes to string together a tour in the future, once the uncertainty of the pandemic has abated.
For now, he will continue to showcase his unique skills at local venues. Joining him at Noise Pop will be a veritable dream team of San Francisco acts, including long time indie rockers the Papercuts, lo-fi connoisseurs April Magazine and pop crooner Stephen Steinbrink.
As one of the oldest venues in San Francisco, Bottom of the Hill is perhaps the most analog of all the local sites, making it a fitting spot for a guy whose project came about because of a four-track.
Chime School with the Papercuts, April Magazine and Stephen Steinbrink
Where: Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F.
Tickets: $15/$18 | 2022-02-15T03:37:49Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Chime School songs feels like a breezy bike ride through the Mission on a sunny Saturday morning - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/chime-school-songs-feels-like-a-breezy-bike-ride-through-the-mission-on-a-sunny-saturday-morning/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/chime-school-songs-feels-like-a-breezy-bike-ride-through-the-mission-on-a-sunny-saturday-morning/ |
Bay Area artist Sonya Rapoport (1923-2015) gets a retrospective at Casemore Kirkeby
By Max Blue Special to The Examiner • February 14, 2022 12:30 pm
Sonya Rapaport’s “Quatre Heures,” 1966, is on display at Casemore Kirkeby gallery through Feb. 26, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Casemore Kirkeby)
Bay Area artist Sonya Rapoport (1923-2015) began as an abstract expressionist painter, but became a progenitor of internet art. Borrowing from anthropology, psychology, chemistry and social and computer science, she examined art and life synonymously through systems of data collection, the results of which constituted her later work.
Her seminal work, “Objects on My Dresser,” was a data-gathering process to create a visual map of the eponymous objects and their emotional, sentimental and intrinsic values. She was interested in the way art informed life, synergizing the two.
“Fabric Paintings,” first exhibited in 1967 and currently on view at Casemore Kirkeby, presents the border of Rapoport’s conceptual shift: large, abstract forms painted on patterned textile.
In a 1931 statement, Rapoport said, “I want to be an artist; not the kind who paints pretty flowers. I want to paint ideas.” In 1977, after having made the shift to conceptual art, she said, “A key to my work is in the synapse of two unlikely entities, a dissident or serendipitous pair triggered into dialogue.”
Many of the paintings feature multiple canvases stacked on top of one another, in a style reminiscent of Jasper Johns’s “Three Flags,” 1958. “Time Sands,” 1966, presents the most successful synthesis of the extant textile pattern and Rapoport’s acrylic additions. “Quatre Heures” and “Bullseye,” both 1966, each feature two canvases displayed at an angle to the other, creating a physical juncture where their edges hinge, revealing the original pattern of the salvaged textile where the backs of the canvases are visible.
With “Fabric Paintings,” Rapoport’s unlikely pairing is twofold: On the face of it there’s the dialogue between paint and textile, but also Rapoport’s own conversation with the former medium she had worked in for more than 30 years. The forms remain abstract but the textile patterns do not, an early hint at how external forces would influence her work.
I’d like to think there’s something auspicious about her attraction to the weave, when so much of her later work, deemed “netart,” would take place on the “web,” but maybe that’s just my own projection. Viewers’ projections, as it turns out, was also something that fascinated Rapoport.
“imPOSSIBLE Conversations,” 2013, exemplifies her interest her interest in social science. The piece features several collages of newspaper advertisements, headlines, slogans and black-and-white reproductions of the “Fabric Paintings,” each collage corresponding to a row and column on a large sheet of continuous computer forms. Rapoport invited friends to valuate their response to each collage, placing colored dots at different places on the matrix.
This type of interactive artmaking is indicative of Rapoport’s art-as-life attitude in more ways than one: The viewing experience completes the artwork; interrogating viewers’ experience of the work serves as the basis for another.
“imPOSSIBLE Conversations” also informs the way we engage with the rest of the exhibition: One’s own experience becomes indivisible from the experience of others. It’s the collective consciousness Rapoport taps into, the same way the textile patterns, created by an anonymous designer, affect her own painted forms, suggesting that viewing art can be as collaborative as making art. Or maybe, to borrow a concept from science, like Rapoport, a work is never truly finished until it is observed.
“Fabric Paintings”
Where: Casemore Kirkeby, 1275 Minnesota St., S.F.
When: Tue-Sat 12-5PM, through Feb. 26, 2022
Contact: (415) 851-9808, casemorekirkeby.com | 2022-02-15T03:38:01Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Viewing art can be as collaborative as making art - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/viewing-art-can-be-as-collaborative-as-making-art/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/viewing-art-can-be-as-collaborative-as-making-art/ |
By Tom Lanham • February 14, 2022 1:30 pm
The Wombats is led by Matthew Murphy, who since co-founding the Wombats in 2003 has undergone adulting life changes. (Photo by Tom Oxley)
Wombats frontman Matthew “Murph” Murphy wasn’t looking for serious life lessons when the pandemic hit, but he found them just the same.
The Liverpool native had recently married hotelier Akemi Topel and settled down with her in Los Angeles, where they were raising their two young daughters, Dylan and Kai. Maintaining grace under lockdown pressure required not only his trademark gallows-grim humor, but a humble gratitude for everyday miracles. He was reminded of this whenever he compared notes with band drummer Dan Haggis, who was living in London, sans kids.
“He was crawling up the walls, while I was cleaning up vomit and shit and trying to keep two human beings alive, because I had to,” the singer says. “So as terrible as the pandemic has been, I’m not gonna lie — It’s been amazing for me, because otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten to see my children grow up like that. I would have been on tour somewhere.”
Despite the omicron variant’s virulence, The Wombats just hit the road again, with a concert scheduled for San Francisco Feb. 21. Dry, lyrical wit and sugary pop hooks are what first set this brainy alt-rock trio apart from its post-Britpop peers back in 2007, via the hilarious hit single “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” and its equally acerbic parent disc, “A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation.”
That winning combination still colors the group’s new fifth effort, “Fix Yourself, Then the World” — and in catchy wry-worded ditties like “Method to the Madness,” “This Car Drives All By Itself” and “Everything I Love is Going to Die.” Fans continue to laugh along with Murphy and company; the album just hit #1 on the UK charts, with actual physical copies accounting for 86% of sales — a rarity in our Spotify-streaming era. The group was compelled to attempt a risky backing tour.
Murphy’s newfound maturity had been creeping up on him for a few years now. After his 2017 honeymoon in Barcelona, he started thinking deeper thoughts, feeling like everything in his life had changed. That sense of adult responsibility courses through “Fix” fables, such as “Work is Easy, Life is Hard,” “People Don’t Change People, Time Does” and a nursery rhyme-laden “Don’t Poke the Bear.” The lyricist was surprised when his words — “We’re smashing mics in karaoke bars/ You’re running late with half your makeup on” (from an Oliver Nelson remix of 2015’s “Greek Tragedy” track) — struck a TikTok nerve in 2020, inspiring the creation of over 600,000 new home-singalong videos. Another morsel of wisdom Murphy acquired — his words could be cross-generational.
“The advent of marriage and kids and moving to L.A. — whatever’s guiding me is a common theme in the new album,” says Murphy, who was fortunate enough to attend LIPA, Paul McCartney’s prestigious Liverpool arts academy. “And now I feel like there’s no utility in negativity anymore for me, or cynicism, because all the good things that have ever happened to me have come from me trying to have a positive mindset.”
To achieve this, he’s adopted a daily exercise regimen, complemented by the Wim Hof breathing technique. “It’s amazing,” he says. “In only a few minutes, you can completely oxygenate your blood, and you feel great, and very calm.”
As “Fix” began to coalesce, Murphy set one key wordplay rule for himself — not to directly reference COVID or its attendant restrictions. But one stark metaphor managed to slip out in the disco-funky “Everything I Love Is Going to Die,” which alludes to a crazy year spent “Kissing teeth-locked in a quarantine.”
“‘Everything’ was supposed to be a liberating, fairly uplifting song,” he says, chuckling. “But I just like the dichotomy of giving it the most miserable title, ever.”
Looking back on his British childhood, Murphy is at a loss to explain how he ever wound up onstage, leading his own band. “It’s certainly a question I ask myself every (tour) night around 9:30 p.m.,” he says. Ongoing work with a therapist is helping him connect the creative dots to his past.
But mainly, he’s been staying focused on the future: The Wombats will soon release 3,000 unique, carbon-negative NFTs, which boast a Rubik’s Cube blockchain game that unlocks bonus “Fix” material and a full metaverse concert from the group. A new EP will follow.
Murphy also says he never wants to live in a quiet household again. “That’s something I’m desperately trying to reverse with my kids,” he says. “My house in L.A. is just pure carnage, all the time, which I like. And at least I got Dylan to (age) two and I go Kai Kai to one without leaving home very much. Which in itself is kind of a blessing, really.”
Where: Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Ave., S.F.
Contact: www.axs.com | 2022-02-15T03:38:08Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Wombats frontman has kids, a #1 album and song-related NFTs - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/wombats-frontman-has-kids-a-1-album-and-song-related-nfts/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/wombats-frontman-has-kids-a-1-album-and-song-related-nfts/ |
Union workers rallied at the Golden Gate Bridge last week. (Shutterstock)
A group made up of 13 labor unions representing Golden Gate Bridge workers rallied at the bridge’s toll plaza in San Francisco on Friday, calling on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District for a new contract.
According to the Golden Gate Bridge Labor Coalition workers have been without a contract since Feb. 1.
Coalition officials said after 27 negotiation sessions starting in Spring 2020, and major concessions to employee health plans, the district offered a 5.75 percent wage increase over the next three years.
The offer prompted an employee walkout on Jan. 31, just hours before the labor contract expired. Since, then no new sessions have been scheduled, coalition officials said.
The coalition represents hundreds of workers, including bus mechanics, ironworkers, ferry captions and deckhands, inspectors, and construction workers.
The Friday rally included dozens of workers with signs that read things like “fair contract now” and “one job should be enough”. Supervisor Dean Preston also made appearance to show support for the workers.
“We would be engaged in labor malpractice if we accepted the district’s latest proposal. We need an agreement that will allow our members to stay at least even with the cost of living,” coalition officials said in a statement.
“Our coalition union members are hard-working professionals who are proud to serve the public through the Golden Gate Bridge District. They have worked through the hardest of times, risking their lives and their families’ lives through the worst of the pandemic.”
According to the coalition, it has voluntarily offered to change medical plans in an effort to save the district thousands of dollars per employee with the understanding the savings would be given back to employees through wage increases.
“Management has been disrespectful with their lowball proposals,” coalition officials said. “Labor deserves to be made whole and given a contract that will allow coalition members to feed their families.”
In response to Friday’s rally, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District officials said, “We are in the midst of negotiations with our labor coalition and look forward to an amicable resolution and agreement on a new contract soon.”
But, district officials noted, back in September 2021, the district agreed to a short-term agreement with the coalition that included a 2.5 percent wage increase. That agreement, however, expired at the end of January. | 2022-02-15T03:38:14Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Golden Gate Bridge workers rally for new labor contract - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/golden-gate-bridge-workers-rally-for-new-labor-contract/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/golden-gate-bridge-workers-rally-for-new-labor-contract/ |
Judge signals support for closed Great Highway, JFK Drive
‘Over the course of the pandemic, these spaces have become some of the most beloved areas in S.F.’
By Bay City News • February 14, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 14, 2022 2:39 pm
A judge affirmed The City has the right to temporarily close down streets during a public emergency. (Beth Coller/The New York Times)
A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled last week The City acted lawfully when it closed down three major roadways on the west side for pedestrians and bicyclists during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The closures of the Great Highway, John F. Kennedy Drive and Martin Luther King Drive began at the start of the pandemic and aimed to encourage walking and bicycling by creating a network of car-free streets throughout amidst a stay-at-home order.
In December, a resident along with the group Open the Great Highway Alliance filed a lawsuit against the Recreation and Park Department, the Recreation and Park Commission and Recreation and Park General Manager Philip Ginsburg alleging the trio are violating local and state laws by shutting down the roads to vehicles. The lawsuit sought a preliminary injunction to force The City to reopen the roads.
On Feb. 9, a judge ruled in favor of The City, affirming it was authorized by law to temporarily close down the streets during a public emergency.
In his ruling, Judge Richard B. Ulmer Jr. found the plaintiffs didn’t meet the requirements for the preliminary injunction and cited city data that nearly 7 million walking and bike trips were made along JFK Drive between April 2020 and September 2021, while the closed portion of Great Highway draws in some 126,000 people monthly on average.
“I am pleased the court agreed that The City was well within its authority to provide residents a safe space to recreate,” City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement. “Over the course of the pandemic, these spaces have become some of the most utilized, beloved recreation areas in The City.”
“One of the pandemic’s few bright spots was our city’s willingness to try out bold new ideas, such as allowing safe, healthy recreation on streets previously open to vehicles. JFK Drive and the Great Highway became respites from isolation, places to connect with each other and improve our mental and physical health,” Ginsburg said. “I’m pleased these streets will continue to be a source of joy while The City continues to engage with the public on their long-term future.”
Plaintiff Steven Hill said he and other plaintiffs are considering their legal options.
“I am disappointed with the judge’s ruling,” said Hill. “Respectfully, the judge misapplied the law and based his decision on unsupported and provably false data. In this very short ruling, the judge did not analyze critical issues such as whether the two-year long street closures qualify as a ‘temporary event,’ and ignored key precedent on road closures, including a critical state Supreme Court case. Moreover, the judge accepted The City’s flawed evidence without even considering the plaintiffs’ objections to the admission of that evidence as hearsay and irrelevant to the legal issues at hand.”
While both JFK Drive and MLK Drive are entirely closed to vehicles within Golden Gate Park, as of Aug. 1 Great Highway is open to vehicles only on weekdays.
According to city officials, the Board of Supervisors is anticipated to consider the permanent status of the car-free streets in the near future. | 2022-02-15T03:38:20Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Judge signals support for closed Great Highway, JFK Drive - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/judge-signals-support-for-closed-great-highway-jfk-drive/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/judge-signals-support-for-closed-great-highway-jfk-drive/ |
By Al Saracevic • February 14, 2022 12:30 pm - Updated February 14, 2022 7:27 pm
A sold-out crowd at Chase Center watched the Warriors beat the Lakers Saturday night. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Chase Center might be the prettiest basketball arena in the land.
Every last detail is top shelf, from the sweeping concourse to the beautiful grounds to the zeppelin-sized scoreboard and fancy-pants food. You half expect champagne to flow from the bathroom sink at this place.
But despite those amazing attributes, the Warriors home court hasn’t felt too homey these first couple of years. People say the place has lacked the passion we grew accustomed to in Oakland.
To be fair, since the arena opened in 2019, there hasn’t been too much to cheer about. Between the injuries and the pandemic and the lousy record the first two seasons, fans can be excused for not making Chase the place.
Perhaps Draymond Green said it best, when asked about last season’s tepid atmosphere: “We sucked.”
Well, the Warriors suck no longer and Chase Center is showing signs of life.
Fans arrive early before the Lakers playeed against the Warriors at Chase Center Saturday. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Saturday’s matchup with the Lakers was as good a game as any to take the pulse of the fan base. It’s always rowdy against L.A. And prior to that, there have only been a handful of noteworthy moments in the arena’s history, including Klay Thompson’s return against the Cavs and Steph Curry’s recent buzzer-beater versus the Rockets.
The fans I talked to were a bit dubious about the Chase Center vibe.
“This is a souped-up version of what was in Oakland and it’s not as good,” said Brad Smith, a season ticket holder from Walnut Creek. “The energy is not the same. And the people don’t support the team the way they did at Oracle (Arena).”
Kendall Porter and Lisa Lopez also have season tickets and they remain dubious, with a splash of optimism.
“I feel that Oracle was more family oriented,” said Lopez, of Martinez. “The vibe was a good vibe. Loud, always loud. You know, togetherness. Here at Chase, it’s more spread out.”
Indeed, acoustics came up with a number of people I spoke to. Bottom line? Chase is a bigger building. It may be hard to match the decibel-level at Oracle, but that remains to be seen.
“I think it’s gonna get really loud again,” said Porter, of Oakland. “I feel like Oracle was louder and had a more comfortable atmosphere. But as they start winning, I think this place is going to be like Oracle. People are going to start getting loud. It’s going to be very comfortable. And we’re going to have a big home court advantage.”
Longtime Warriors security guard Curtis Jones on-duty before Los Angeles played against the Warriors at Chase Center Saturday. He thinks the crowd is getting more involved and growing louder this season. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Curtis Jones, a courtside security guard at Warriors games for 28 years, is best known for throwing Curry the ball for his traditional pregame long-shot. He also knows a thing or two about game atmosphere.
“When I first came over, I thought the crowd was sort of relaxed,” said Jones. “They weren’t too enthusiastic, maybe because the Warriors were losing. They were a little sporadic. … So then, all of a sudden, they’re starting to win. People are starting to understand this is a basketball game.”
Jones has seen a difference since Thompson returned. When Green gets back from the injured list, reuniting the Big Three for the first time in nearly three years, Curtis expects the crowd to revert to “the standards the Warriors are used to.”
If Saturday night was any indication, we’re moving in that direction. Los Angeles came to town with a chip on their shoulder, to go with their lousy record and a lot of their own fans. That’s always been common for Lakers games in the Bay Area, even in the Oracle Arena days.
And it turned into a great game. The crowd was pretty passive early on, but picked up volume as the score tightened up in the late-going. Back and forth it went, with the Lakers holding onto a slim lead. Fittingly, it was Thompson who fired up the crowd. First he leveled the Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker with a cross body pick that would’ve been called for targeting in an NFL game. Then he connected for a key three-point play on a drive to the basket. In both cases, the crowd got loud. It wasn’t quite Roaracle level, though. I’d describe it as: “We need some more-acle.”
Klay Thompson goes up for the layup in the 4th quarter against the Lakers at Chase Center Saturday night. The Warriors star scored 33 on the night to lead the team to victory. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
When Klay tied the game with a three-pointer, we heard the first real bedlam of the evening. Perhaps of the season. Thompson proceeded to go on an absolute rampage in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points and willing the Warriors back into the lead. It was like someone had turned on the switch at Chase. Everyone on their feet, the ushers dancing in the aisles. It was starting to feel like home. The crowd had found its motivation. He was wearing a headband and a No. 11 jersey.
In the end, the Warriors prevailed, 117-115, helped along by Lebron James blowing a potential game-tying set of free throws. A lusty roar went up from the crowd. For a few minutes there, Chase was, indeed, the place.
The result didn’t really matter one way or another. The Warriors will be legitimate title contenders this Spring. The Lakers will be trying to peddle Russell Westbrook and his $47 million contract.
What mattered was that the Warriors homecourt felt cozy and warm.
Fans cheer as Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson hits a three-point basket in the 4th quarter against the Lakers at Chase Center Saturday. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
Warriors legend Chris Mullin played and watched as much basketball in Oakland as anyone. I asked him what he thought of Chase, in comparison to the Warriors’ former home.
“It feels like it’s getting close to being Oracle,” said the Hall of Famer. “It’s really the first year the team’s playing so well and the energy is starting to pick up. Very similar acoustics and dynamic, you know? So I think it’s gonna be a huge home court advantage.”
Steve Kerr feels the same way. When asked whether the Laker-game atmosphere reminded him of the Oracle days, he was a little defensive at first.
“Chase has been pretty loud this year,” the head coach said, referencing in particular Thompson’s return game back on Jan. 9. “It’s up to us to put on a good performance, to bring the most out of the crowd. I think the building keeps noise in really well. It’s much more intimate than a lot of the new arenas around the NBA. It feels great.”
I’ll buy that. Winning cures everything.
Paper streamers fill Chase Center after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday, 117-115. (Christopher Victorio/Special to The Examiner) | 2022-02-15T03:38:52Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Will Chase Center ever get as loud as Roaracle used to? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/will-chase-center-ever-get-as-loud-as-roaracle-used-to/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/will-chase-center-ever-get-as-loud-as-roaracle-used-to/ |
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, right, announced earlier this month that SFPD was terminating a memorandum of understanding with District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office over revelations in court testimony that prosecutors withheld evidence in active police investigations. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with San Francisco city officials, on Monday said they’re hoping the San Francisco Police Department and District Attorney Chesa Boudin can resolve a fractured investigative agreement during discussions this week.
Earlier this month, Police Chief Bill Scott moved to end a memorandum of understanding between the agencies that allowed the district attorney’s Independent Investigations Bureau to respond to crime scenes and investigate officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and use of force cases.
Scott moved to terminate the agreement following recent testimony by a district attorney’s office investigator in the ongoing criminal case against an officer accused of brutally beating a man with a baton in 2019. During the testimony, the investigator said under oath that she felt pressured by attorneys within the district attorney’s office to mislead police and withhold evidence from a sworn affidavit out of fear of losing her job.
Efforts to renegotiate the contract between the two agencies are set to begin this week, with Bonta, Mayor London Breed, and City Attorney David Chiu set to help facilitate the process.
“Fundamentally, the MOU is an important tool for advancing transparency and accountability, which are cornerstones in ensuring effective policing and fortification of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Bonta, Breed, and Chiu said in a joint statement on Monday.
“We appreciate our collective conversations with the District Attorney’s Office and the Police Department, and their willingness to come to the table to renegotiate the MOU. Our three offices will work closely with both parties to advance these efforts with all due haste. We are committed to ensuring that any past violations of the MOU are addressed as this effort moves forward, and to working to identify and resolve concerns raised regarding any potentially systemic deficiencies that have contributed to distrust,” the trio said.
Scott has defended his position, alleging an ongoing pattern of noncompliance with the agreement’s terms by the district attorney’s office has damaged confidence among the police department.
“I’m grateful to Attorney General Bonta, Mayor Breed and City Attorney Chiu for recognizing and responding to the significant issues of compliance that eroded my confidence in the integrity of my agreement with District Attorney Boudin’s office,” said Chief Scott on Monday.
“I stand strongly for the principles of accountability and transparency, which are foundational to all 21st century police reforms — including those involving uses of force and officer-involved shootings. But accountability and transparency must be mutually honored by both parties in agreements such as these,” he said.
Boudin has denied any wrongdoing on behalf of his office during investigations into police use of force incidents, but he said last week he agreed the MOU needs clarification and welcomes discussions.
In the ongoing criminal court case against the officer, Officer Terrance Stangel is facing battery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault likely to cause great bodily injury and assault under color of authority for an October 2019 encounter with Dacari Spiers, an unarmed Black man. The encounter left Spiers with a broken leg and wrist, as well as lacerations to his leg.
Stangel is the first on-duty officer in the city’s history to be tried in court for such crimes. | 2022-02-15T22:35:30Z | www.sfexaminer.com | California Attorney General to mediate dispute between Police Chief and District Attorney - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/california-attorney-general-to-mediate-dispute-between-police-chief-and-district-attorney/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/california-attorney-general-to-mediate-dispute-between-police-chief-and-district-attorney/ |
District Attorney Chesa Boudin is calling for local and state legislation to specifically outlaw the practice of using DNA from rape kits to identify criminals. (Shutterstock)
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Monday accused the city’s Police Department of using DNA from a victim’s rape kit to link her to a separate crime.
During sexual assault investigations, victims voluntarily submit their own DNA, as well as other biological evidence such as bodily fluids, fingernail scrapings, and bite and scratch marks. The victim’s own DNA is submitted in order to distinguish it and exclude it from that of the perpetrator’s DNA.
“Rapes and sexual assault are violent, dehumanizing, and traumatic. I am disturbed that victims who have the courage to undergo an invasive examination to help identify their perpetrators are being treated like criminals rather than supported as crime victims,” Boudin said in a statement. “We should encourage survivors to come forward — not collect evidence to use against them in the future. This practice treats victims like evidence, not human beings. This is legally and ethically wrong.”
California Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Supervisor Hillary Ronen are in support of Boudin’s call for legislation.
“If survivors believe their DNA may end up being used against them in the future, they’ll have one more reason not to participate in the rape kit process. That’s why I’m working with the DA’s office to address this problem through state legislation, if needed,” Wiener said.
“There are already enormous barriers for victims of rape to come forward to report the crime,” Ronen said. “I have asked to the city attorney to draft legislation to prevent DNA evidence — or any sort of evidence from a victim’s rape kit — to be used for anything other than investigating that rape. Rape victims’ DNA should be protected at all levels of government, anywhere.”
Police Chief Bill Scott responded to the allegations, saying police officials are reviewing the matter, but said the department’s existing DNA policies are within state and national laws.
“We must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police, and if it’s true that DNA collected from a rape or sexual assault victim has been used by SFPD to identify and apprehend that person as a suspect in another crime, I’m committed to ending the practice,” Scott said. “Although I am informed of the possibility that the suspect in this case may have been identified through a DNA hit in a non-victim DNA database, I think the questions raised by out District Attorney today are sufficiently concerning.”
The allegations by Boudin come as both the Boudin’s office and the Police Department are in the middle of resolving a memorandum of understanding between the two agencies that allows the District Attorney’s Office to investigate police use-of-force incidents.
“Whatever disagreements District Attorney Boudin and I may have, we agree that this issue needs to be addressed. At the end of the day, our respective departments exist to do justice for victims of crime. The last we should ever do is discourage their cooperation with us to accomplish that.” | 2022-02-15T22:35:42Z | www.sfexaminer.com | S.F. police accused of using DNA from rape kit to link victim to a separate crime - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/police-accused-of-using-dna-from-rape-kit-to-link-victim-to-a-separate-crime/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/police-accused-of-using-dna-from-rape-kit-to-link-victim-to-a-separate-crime/ |
By James Salazar Examiner staff writer • February 15, 2022 11:30 am - Updated February 15, 2022 1:58 pm
The San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education approved the establishment of the Queer and Trans Parent Advisory Council, which is meant to give voice to LGBTQ+ students and their families. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
Of the 50,000 students enrolled in the San Francisco Unified District, queer and transgender youth now have an affinity group to make their presence visible. Last week, the Board of Education approved the establishment of the Queer and Trans Parent Advisory Council, meant to give voice to LGBTQ+ families.
The formation of the new advisory council was a long time coming, especially in an area considered to be the gay mecca of the world. Ideas for the council were introduced almost a decade ago by Our Family Coalition, a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
“For one of the major, queer-accepting cities in the world, it was kind of shameful that our school district didn’t have a body or an avenue that was direct for queer parents to provide input and feedback on how to care for our students and families,” said Rick Oculto, Our Family Coalition’s education manager.
Commissioner Alison Collins, the resolution’s author, believes QTPAC will serve “as a voice for students and families in our district that we know exist and yet may or may not be counted. I have witnessed parents and children having to advocate individually for their schools to be more welcoming and more inclusive. That shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of an individual child or an individual parent.”
In its first year of operation, the new advisory council is expected to cost $480,000, a price tag that includes salaries and benefits for a full-time liaison and a project manager. It also would cover the fabrication of gender-neutral forms and signage for more than 1,000 single-stall restrooms throughout the district that would make them ADA compliant according to state law. At the time of the council’s establishment, the district is facing a $125 million deficit for fiscal year 2022-2023.
Council proponents, however, encourage others to look beyond the price tag needed for queer and trans visiblity.
“This was a gaping hole in the essential services that should have been provided in the first place,” said Oculto. “This is not an experiment, this is not a frivolous decision. This is a manifestation of the value that should have been there all along.”
A parent identifying themself as Celestina, a queer mother to a nonbinary seventh grader, stressed the council’s importance. “Whether or not you believe in LGBTQ rights… I would really urge you to think about the fact that we all as human beings deserve to be loved and respected,” they said.
Jenny Lam said, the board’s vice president, backed the resolution and believed that the district’s road ahead should not hinder support toward students. “I think we have to acknowledge that there are tough decisions ahead for this district, for this board. We have to see things holistically.”
Advisory council membership will consist solely of SFUSD parents and caregivers, but leadership positions will be reserved for those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. The council is also free to explore possible student representation.
Members will work with LGBTQ+ community-based agencies and organizations as well as other parent advisory committees and councils to act as district family advocates. When possible, the QTPAC will promote LGBTQ+ visibility and history through recommended books, curriculum, school celebrations, classroom posters, murals and art. For transparency, the council must report to the board on a yearly basis in the month of April.
QTPAC advocates are eager to collaborate with other concils on bringing any issues to the district’s attention. “We know that those communities are not insular to other identities,” said Oculto. “They have members that are LGBTQ, they have members that have disabilities, they have members from different cultural backgrounds within them all influencing one another.”
Of the four already-exisiting advisory councils, two affinity groups, the AAPAC and the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander PAC, are identity-based, while the CAC and ELAC make learning more accessible to students in need of assistance.
African American Parent Advisory Council,
The AAPAC develops resources that allow families to actively support their children’s academic instruction and advocate for a high quality educational experience. Last month, the group held financial aid workshops, ensured that Black History Month was being acknowledged and taught on school sites and celebrated Black excellence by sharing students’ contributions in academics, sports and other extracurricular activities.
Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander PAC
The Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander PAC identifies the concerns of community members and brings these issues to the attention of school staff, administration and other community stakeholders.
Community Action Committee for Special Education,
The SFUSD’s CAC for Special Education is part of the Special Education Local Plan Area, a group of school districts, charter schools and county offices of education who provide special education and related services to students with disabilities. The organization has promoted assistive technology, understanding around the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and access programs to its students and families.
English Learners Advisory Committee
The ELAC, another council, advises the principal and School Site Council on programs and services for English and assists in the development of a school’s needs assessment and efforts to promote the importance of regular school attendance. | 2022-02-15T22:35:48Z | www.sfexaminer.com | New S.F. school district council will support queer and trans students and families - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/sfusd-advisory-council-supports-queer-and-trans-students-and-families/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/sfusd-advisory-council-supports-queer-and-trans-students-and-families/ |
Populist outrage meets millionaire money on an election day the whole nation is watching
By Carly Graf S.F. Examiner Staff Writer • February 15, 2022 10:30 am - Updated February 15, 2022 11:26 am
Alison Collins, one of the three San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education members facing a recall election, listens during a board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
Politics makes strange bedfellows. It’s a political saying – adapted from Shakespeare’s tragicomedy “The Tempest” – that feels particularly relevant to the recall election of three members of the San Francisco United School Board of Education, happening today.
Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga may be removed from their seats by not one, but several, political forces. The unlikely alliance includes: a populist coalition of parents outraged that the board focused on renaming schools rather than reopening classrooms during the pandemic; and right-of-center millionaires without substantive ties to local public education who have funneled large sums into the recall effort, which now totals $1.9 million.
Social media vitriol, fiery rhetoric and even lawsuits have headlined the recall campaign, which has lasted over a year. Yet the recall is not unique to San Francisco. Across the country, school boards have become the latest battle grounds for populist movements and moneyed political interests.
But here in San Francisco, the recall campaign is not centered around debates facing other school districts, such as textbooks, trans student participation in sports or critical race theory. Nearly half of the campaign’s $1.9 million total dollars raised have come from large donations from people who have no clear connection to San Francisco public schools, and much of the funding is sent through a slew of groups with different names and unclear roots.
Take Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a political action committee based in San Rafael, Calif. It is the single largest contributor to the school board recall campaign, providing $488,800 in funds to various arms of the recall movement. The PAC’s biggest donor is local hedge fund manager William Oberndorf, who gave $600,000 to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco in 2021. (Oberndorf also gave $1 million to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s PAC in 2020).
Retired venture capitalist Arthur Rock has also flooded numerous recall campaign groups with dollars. He gave $100,000 to Campaign for Better San Francisco Public Schools, according to filings, as well as $50,000 to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and $350,000 to the Concerned Parents of San Francisco Committee, according to reporting from the San Francisco Standard.
Perhaps the most far afield pillar of support for the recall has come from the California Association of Realtors. Citing its support for San Francisco families, the organization gave nearly $85,000 to various recall groups.
The recall movement first gained steam over a year ago as SFUSD students remained stuck in distance learning, after state and county officials gave the green light to reopen and other public education systems returned to in-person instruction.
Calls grew more intense for the removal of the three eligible board members (who had served at least a year) when the board prioritized the renaming of 44 schools for reasons of racial equity while schools were still closed. The board then voted to permanently use a lottery system for admission at Lowell High School, one of only two campuses in the school district to use a merit-based admissions system. Both decisions were later overturned by lawsuits, though the board extended the general admission lottery for Lowell High School for another year.
A groundswell of community members, largely organized by SFUSD parents Autumn Looijen and Siva Ra, set out in the spring and summer of 2021 to collect 51,325 signatures, roughly 10% of the San Francisco electorate, in favor of recalling each of the school board members. The “Recall SF School Board” petition collected north of 70,000 signatures for each school board member.
Of particular ire to recall supporters was Alison Collins, the then-vice president of the school board. A string of controversial tweets written by Collins in December 2016 were unearthed, reportedly by frustrated parents. The controversial tweets accused Asian American students of using “white supremacist thinking” to get ahead and used “house n****r” (including the asterisks) to refer to Asians.
The revelation sparked outrage, bolstered by Collins’ support for peeling back the merit-based admissions system at Lowell High School, where over half the students are Asian American.
While local politicians, notably Mayor London Breed and state Senator Scott Wiener, have endorsed recalling the three school board members, the teachers union has not. United Educators of San Francisco instead has focused on the dangers of handing the mayor power to appoint three replacements to the board and questioned the intentions of the PACs funding the recall. Cassondra Curiel, president of UESF, has suggested that the recall could lead to an influx of charter schools in San Francisco, which union members generally oppose.
Should the recall succeed, Mayor London Breed will appoint replacements for each of the vacant seats. These individuals will serve until the regular election in November. Breed’s office did not respond to questions about who might be on the short list for appointment.
“We’re looking for candidates who can get to work fast to solve those crises and also solve the equity gap that has been expanded by this crisis, and who can provide steady leadership that will give families the confidence to stay.”
Joel Engardio, a prolific organizer for the recall campaign and other movements in San Francisco, added that financial and budgeting expertise are essential for the three replacements. The school district faces a $125 million deficit as well as the need to hire a new superintendent.
Collins, López and Moliga can serve until 10 days after the Board of Supervisors certifies the February 15 election results, which must happen by Feb. 24. It’s likely certification of results will be on the agenda at the March 1 supervisors meeting.
Whatever happens with Tuesday’s board of education special election, the vote will be the first ballot recall of a San Francisco official in nearly 40 years, since then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein defeated a recall with 81% of the vote.
Joshua Spivak, senior fellow at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College, has called the San Francisco school board recall the most historically noteworthy effort to remove school officials since 1959, when voters in Little Rock, Ark. recalled three school board members leading to the integration of the city’s high schools.
The questions now are: Will San Francisco voters see the three board members’ behavior as extreme and remove them from their positions? And will the populist and millionaire forces behind the recall meet again? Already, similar forces have lined up for and against the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Meanwhile, today’s recall election is estimated to cost The City $3.25 million, as is the one scheduled on June 7 to determine the fate of Boudin. | 2022-02-15T22:35:54Z | www.sfexaminer.com | School board recall signals ‘strange bedfellows’ of San Francisco politics - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/school-board-recall-signals-strange-bedfellows-of-san-francisco-politics/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/school-board-recall-signals-strange-bedfellows-of-san-francisco-politics/ |
By Al Saracevic • February 15, 2022 9:30 pm - Updated February 15, 2022 11:01 pm
People smile and cheer as the first round of results in the SFUSD Board of Education recall election come in at a party organized by the Recall SF School Board campaign at Manny’s in the Mission on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Election Day in San Francisco. You could smell it in the air. The usual mix of anticipation and apathy.
From the polling venues in the Avenues, to the grandeur of City Hall, to the hipster election parties in the Mission District, The City’s politically engaged came out in small but enthusiastic numbers to participate in the “Consolidated Special Municipal Election.”
If that doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what will.
City Elections Director John Arntz told me he was expecting turnout to come in around 25% of registered voters, which is roughly half of what we saw in November’s gubernatorial recall election.
This, of course, blows my mind. San Franciscans are willing to spend months, if not years, debating whether we should be allowed to roller skate free of cars in Golden Gate Park. But they can’t be bothered to show up at the ballot box. To make matters worse, this was the first year that all registered voters were mailed a ballot to their homes. All they had to do was fill out a few dots and mail it back!
Must be all the empty houses we keep hearing about. Or maybe it just wasn’t that exciting an election.
But for education wonks, you couldn’t ask for anything more. San Francisco Unified School District board members Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga were all recalled following a cascade of controversies and perceived mismanagement during the pandemic. The move to rename a number of San Francisco schools, such as Abraham Lincoln High School and Dianne Feinstein Elementary School, sparked the initial outrage. The inability to get kids back in school triggered the avalanche.
For political wonks, you could ask for a lot more from this election. The eastern half of The City got to vote on the next Assembly representative from District 17, the combatants of which included Matt Haney, David Campos, Bilal Mahmood and Thea Selby. By all expectations, and if no one receives 50% of the vote, this election will be decided in yet another election, a run-off slated for April.
People vote in The City’s special election at San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. The SF Department of Elections said the turnout was low, with approximately 25 percent or voters casting ballots. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Truly devoted
Now that we’ve set the table, let’s get down to the main course.
Despite the lukewarm participation, those who made it to the polls Tuesday were of the passionate variety. What got them out?
Jay Arellano, 32, who lives South of Market, said he “hasn’t been following politics,” but “it was just about being responsible and doing the right thing.” He voted no on the recall because “the process is wasteful.” For the Assembly, he “went for my fellow Latino brother (Campos). I hope he does a good job.”
Tutone Lyles-Naranjo, who lives in the Mission, came to City Hall to drop off her mail-in ballot. “I’m thinking about freedom, baby!” she shouted as she walked down the steps. She felt strongly about “kicking the autocrats out of office.” Amen … I think.
My favorite voter of the day was Arianna Inferra of North Beach. The 23-year-old came out in support of Haney, who she applauded for his work on Prop. C, a homeless spending initiative. “He’s a huge advocate for spreading the wealth.” She warmed this hardened cynic’s heart by saying, “My grandma always said, ‘Never miss an election or your voice will never be heard.’”
Taking home the golden ballot box for “Most Inspirational Voter” was Ron Carter, a 70-year-old homeless man who is living at a shelter South of Market on 8th Street. He was recently evicted from a single-room hotel and has been fighting to open his own shelter, affiliated with the “Praise Be Found Homeless Foundation of America.”
Praise a homeless San Franciscan who found the time to vote. And shame on the 75 percenters.
Carter was pro-Haney and anti-recall, citing recent guidance he received from the NAACP on the education measure. He’s also bullish on his chances of reclaiming a permanent residence: “I’m fighting my way out. I’m doing everything I can.”
Looking for billionaires
Once the polls closed at 8 p.m., it was off to The City’s election party scene, which was dominated this year by pro-recall groups such as GrowSF, which had its own event at Teeth in the Mission.
When the early results showed a landslide for the recall, the crowd went nuts. When the organizers confessed they had spent all their money and there was no open bar, someone yelled out, “I thought there’d be billionaires here!”
Indeed, some strange, rich money has flowed into San Francisco politics of late. But GrowSF is pretty grassroots.
“I’ve lived in San Francisco for 15 years,” said Sachin Agarwal, 41, an Inner Sunset resident and co-founder of the organization, which has positioned itself a few notches toward the center of The City’s progressive political base. “I’m raising two kids here. And I want to see a city that’s growing and thriving and welcoming. More people here want people to be able to raise families in The City. And to do that we need to invest more in housing and public transportation and safety in public schools. And so we take a broad view on what it means to live in a dense, urban place.”
His co-founder, Steven Buss, 35, said, “I moved to San Francisco in 2016. It was extremely difficult to find a place to live. And that made me think it shouldn’t be so hard to live in a place with so much opportunity. I got involved in local politics pretty much immediately. And I’ve been involved ever since. … I believe that getting regular people involved in voting, and getting better information out there to people, can really turn The City around.”
I see Buss and Agarwal as the vanguard of a newly emerging voting bloc in San Francisco, one that skews more to the middle and wants common sense solutions to intractable issues like housing, education and homelessness.
Whether there’s a lasting appetite for a more moderate view in a city whose politics have been dominated by progressive ideals for years remains to be seen. But Tuesday felt like a bit of a canary in the coal mine. The problem with their vision? Coal mines don’t have district elections.
They also don’t have four elections a year, which is what San Francisco voters face in 2022. I asked Arntz whether we’re asking too much of voters.
He thinks the April runoff will draw a crowd, because “voters can focus on two candidates more easily than four.” The June election will “have local measures and people will be engaged.”
“Then you got the general election in November,” he added. “That’s always a big draw for people.”
Spoken like a true elections official.
If the scene at Manny’s, a political hotspot and cafe in the Mission, was any indication, there are definitely pockets of major engagement in The City’s complex political scene. Another group of school board recall supporters was in full swing as the numbers came in.
Speakers were calling on the crowd to help surface candidates to replace the outgoing board members. Their message to the remaining school board members?
“You’re on notice!” shouted Autumn Looijen, co-lead of Recall SF School Board, the parent group that had put on the event.
“Now you have a clear and absolutely resounding fail!” said Siva Raj, Looijen’s partner and also a co-lead of the movement. “You not only failed on your job, you failed our children! Apologize to the kids who have fallen behind! Start supporting them now!”
Hoops and hollers rang through the room.
David Thompson, a gay dad who was heartbroken to take his son out of the system he loved, took the stage and summed it all up.
“Just put a crazy queen and an angry Indian together, you don’t know what’s going to happen in this city!”
Only in San Francisco, folks. | 2022-02-16T14:02:29Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Low turnout, high impact: Takeaways from S.F. Election Day - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/low-turnout-high-impact-a-brief-overview-of-s-f-election-day/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/low-turnout-high-impact-a-brief-overview-of-s-f-election-day/ |
Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman (33) was recently cleared to participate in team 5-on-5 scrimmages for the first time since tearing his meniscus in April 2021. (Chris Victorio/Special to The Examiner)
First of all, there’s no doubt Wiseman is the most talented true big man the Warriors have had in the Steve Kerr era. The 2020 No. 2 overall pick stands seven feet tall and weighs 240 pounds. He also sports a 7’6” wingspan, has a standing reach of 9’6” and a max vertical over 12 feet.
Wiseman is more than just a body, however. He can score in the post, has an excellent handle for a big man and can run the floor extremely well. He can score in the post, and even step outside and knock down the occasional shot. Wiseman went 12-38 (31.6%) from beyond the arc last season, which is an extremely promising mark for a big man. Based on all that, adding him to the rotation or even the starting lineup would seem like a no-brainer, as the adequate but sometimes overmatched Kevon Looney doesn’t have anything resembling Wiseman’s tools.
Of course, things aren’t that simple. Despite all his talent, Wiseman still has some holes in his game, many of which are common among young big men. He’s not much of a passer and tends to be turnover-prone. Last season, Wiseman averaged 3.4 turnovers per 100 possessions, which is a disturbingly high number. While Wiseman is an eager shot-blocker, and clearly capable of getting high enough to swat any shot into the third row, he’s a bit too anxious to do so. That led to some serious foul troubles. Wiseman committed 5.2 fouls per 36 minutes, which makes it virtually impossible to give him legitimate starter’s minutes and could lead to the Warriors letting their opponents into the bonus much earlier than they’d like in quarters where they play Wiseman.
While Wiseman is capable of making shots from the post and from outside, his shot selection was a bit questionable in his rookie season. Wiseman shot 51.9% from the floor, which is below-average for a big man. He also shot 62.8% from the line. That’s not the type of catastrophic number that could lead to “hack-a-Wiseman” becoming a viable strategy for Warrior opponents, but is still well below average. Overall, his “True Shooting,” which takes free throws and the added value of three-pointers into account, was 55.2%, which was below the league average of 57.2%. That’s not what you want to see from a player whose hands are four inches away from the basket when he stands under it and reaches up.
The worst news about Wiseman is how poorly the Warriors played when he was on the floor. The Warriors were outscored by 10 points per 100 possessions with Wiseman on the floor, and were 14 points better per 100 possessions when he sat on the bench than they were when he played.
So there are some reasons for skepticism. Still, I think there are a lot of reasons to believe Wiseman can make a positive impact for the Warriors almost immediately after he comes back.
First of all, remember that Wiseman’s rookie season was essentially a trial by fire. Eligibility issues limited him to playing three games of college basketball, during which he played a grand total of 70 minutes. Going up against the best (and biggest) players in the world immediately after spending a full season not playing almost any competitive basketball is a tough ask for a teenager, so it’s no surprise Wiseman experienced such a steep learning curve. That curve should flatten out significantly now that he’s had some real NBA time under his belt, and things should “slow down” for him fairly soon.
Next, the Warriors are simply a better team than they were last year, which should help Wiseman out tremendously. Last season, the Warriors had the 20th-best offense in the league, which put more pressure on Wiseman to create his own shots. This year, they have the 10th-best offense in the league. Furthermore, they were right up at the top of the league before Steph’s slumps, Draymond’s injury and the hiccups associated with working Klay Thompson back into the lineup.
The Warriors also have the best defense in the league this season, which means Wiseman will be learning defense from the best, particularly Draymond Green, who is never hesitant to be vocal with a teammate.
They have the second-highest assist rate in the league, which means Wiseman should be living on a steady diet of lob passes, put-backs, the occasional wide-open jump shot and the other opportunities his size, speed, leaping ability and strength should create. When you look at the improvements Jonathan Kuminga, who has a similar package of strengths and weaknesses to Wiseman, has made this season, it’s hard not to be optimistic.
Based on all that, it’s very reasonable to assume that the version of Wiseman that takes the floor for the Warriors this season will be significantly better than the one we saw last year. | 2022-02-16T14:02:36Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What can Warriors expect from James Wiseman? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-can-warriors-expect-from-james-wiseman/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-can-warriors-expect-from-james-wiseman/ |
Mayor London Breed speaks at a news conference in October 2018 after appointing Faauuga Moliga to the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education. After Molinga’s recall, Breed stood by her decision, saying many in the community had advocated for him. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
After three school board members were voted out by a landslide in Tuesday’s special election, the ball is now in Mayor London Breed’s court to appoint their replacements.
“I’ve made appointments before for this city on a number of bodies including the school board. But this is probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in terms of appointments because of the significance of what this means,” Breed said in a press briefing Wednesday.
Board of Education President Gabriela López and members Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga were recalled by 75%, 79% and 72% of voters, respectively. Turnout for the special election was notably low, with only about 26% of eligible voters participating. In comparison, about 74% of voters participated in the November 2018 school board member election.
The Department of Elections will finish counting the votes over the coming week. Once the votes are certified, the Board of Supervisors will vote to approve the election results. That process is expected to take about a month.
“It’s not about politics or having a progressive, moderate or liberal idea. It’s about, ‘My kid used to be a kid that was social and fun and is now quiet and sad and doesn’t smile.’ And you as a parent feel like there is nothing you can do about that,” Breed said when pressed on the low turnout in the election and demographics of voters. “Who suffered the most? Our children.”
Breed supported the recall prior the election. Despite downplaying the politics behind it, Breed has much to gain from the outcome. She will ultimately select who fills the soon-to-be-vacant spots.
“We are going to be looking for well-rounded school board members who are focused on the schools, the children and success, who are focused on wanting to hear from different perspectives whether they are in agreement with those perspectives or not,” the mayor said.
Breed has not stated whom she might appoint but said families she has spoken to want to see someone who is focused on fixing the school district’s $125 million budget deficit, hiring a new superintendent, enrollment declines and other structural challenges.
Moliga, who attempted to distance himself from his fellow board members in the lead-up to the election, was originally appointed by Breed. On Wednesday, the mayor defended her decision.
“Faauuga had a lot of skills in working with communities on the southeast sector of The City and many people advocated for him as a voice for them,” said Breed. “I’m going to be thinking about those communities in the decision I make.”
The recall effort began during the 2020-21 school year when students in San Francisco were in distance learning due to the pandemic. Two parents started the campaign, which quickly gained favor as schools around the state and country began welcoming students back to campus while schools in The City remained closed. San Francisco’s Board of Education instead focused on renaming 44 schools and changing the admissions process to the district’s elite merit-based campus, Lowell High School.
But the recall also gained momentum from outsiders after being put in the national spotlight as debates over critical race theory and social justice issues in schools became a political lightning rod. Almost half of the $1.9 million raised to support the recall came from supporters without ties to San Francisco public schools. It also received support from billionaires like hedge-fund manager William Oberndorf and venture capitalist Arthur Rock.
Breed stood by voters’ decisions.
“The fact is, a lot of different kinds of people have been involved in the push for this recall from all walks of life. To attribute it to one group of people is not fair,” Breed said. “I met with a lot of parents, but there are a lot of parents out there who can’t be advocates for their kids. I can’t help but think if this pandemic happened when I was a kid ,when my grandmother was raising me.” | 2022-02-17T02:42:53Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Mayor Breed speaks out on school board recall: ‘Who suffered the most? Our children.’ - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/mayor-breed-speaks-out-on-school-board-recall-who-suffered-the-most-our-children/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/mayor-breed-speaks-out-on-school-board-recall-who-suffered-the-most-our-children/ |
By Sydney Johnson • February 16, 2022 1:30 pm - Updated February 16, 2022 4:55 pm
Mask mandates for those vaccinated against COVID-19 were lifted in most public places on Wednesday. But people may opt to wear masks to continue to protect themselves against the coronavirus and other illnesses. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
Masks rules have lifted, but if sidewalk scenes are any indication, little has changed just yet. At busy lunch spots, coffee shops or just strolling through bustling areas downtown, many San Franciscans are keeping a mask in tow.
As of Wednesday, vaccinated individuals in San Francisco are no longer required to wear a mask in indoor public places like restaurants and grocery stores, and businesses can choose whether to keep safety protocols in place. But the changes aren’t being met with the same fanfare as last June when statewide mask mandates were lifted. Two surges later, residents aren’t fully tossing face coverings away just yet.
“It’s strongly recommended to keep masks on when inside for the time being. I’m going to do that,” said San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip. “But we no longer have to have this legal control. It is an important step and one to celebrate, and our future direction will be in the hands of the people in San Francisco.”
As social norms continue to adapt after two years of strict lockdowns and safety policies, some San Franciscans may want to wear masks in perpetuity to protect against other common viruses like the flu or cold.
We wouldn’t be the first. After the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s, which hit parts of East Asia hard, surgical masks became a common courtesy in places such as Hong Kong to protect others from germs and sniffles.
“My recommendation to wear masks is not changing,” said Philip. “That ingrained muscle memory is not going to change either.”
Mayor London Breed echoed those realizations on Wednesday.
“People can still wear their masks. In fact, I know people will still wear their masks. And some businesses may require you to still wear your mask,” Breed said. “Please don’t get into arguments about whether you’re required to wear a mask or not. If a business asks you to wear a mask, wear a mask, or choose another business.”
Unvaccinated individuals over the age of 2 are still required to mask indoors in all public settings. And masks are still required in some settings such as in K-12 schools, health care environments and on public transit.
Masks are also a good idea for anyone who is high risk or concerned about catching COVID, Philip said. Staying up to date on vaccinations, in addition to layering protections such as wearing a mask and staying outdoors when possible, are still helpful while cases are high.
However, public health officials have signaled that San Francisco, like the rest of the state of California, has shifted its priorities away from preventing every case of COVID. The City has among the highest vaccination rates in the country at 82%. Local cases have significantly dropped since the peak omicron surge and hospitalizations, a more critical metric now that vaccinations are available and cases are milder, have started to decline as well.
San Francisco’s small businesses are now deciding whether to heed the new recommendation or continue requiring masks for customers as well as employees. And it’s not an easy call.
Places like the Booksmith, an independent bookstore in the Haight-Ashbury, recently tweeted that it would continue to require masks for shoppers and staff for the time being.
But for some local business owners like Doug Marschke, who runs two taquerias in San Francisco, getting customers to wear a mask when they aren’t eating or drinking indoors was a “losing battle.”
“We have definitely had people push back. We got training in how to deal with those people, but it’s a big ask for an entire staff to police something that’s gotten so political,” said Marschke, who owns Underdogs Too and Underdogs Tres in San Francisco. “We are just trying to make people happy with margaritas and tacos.”
Guests dining at Underdogs Too and Underdogs Tres will no longer need to wear a mask indoors after Wednesday, according to Marschke. Employees voted to keep masks on for a little while longer, however, and the company plans to reevaluate after a couple of weeks.
Marschke, who is immunocompromised, understands the lingering concerns around COVID-19 safety protocols in San Francisco all too well.
“I’ve only been able to go in (the restaurant) when we have employees there and no customers,” said Marschke, who recently had a kidney transplant. “It’s depressing, and it’s hard.”
Regardless of what guests do, Marschke will be keeping his mask on while indoors for now. His health prevented him from attending the reopening of one of his restaurants in December 2021, a year after closing due to a fire. “I’m just starting to show up now, but I’m only there without customers,” said Marschke, adding that he will be getting a fourth COVID-19 shot soon.
Restaurants and bars are still required to verify that guests are either fully vaccinated or can provide proof of a negative test to dine or drink indoors.
While San Francisco’s recent mask changes align with the state of California, individual businesses are allowed to maintain COVID-19 safety protocols as they wish, leading to some variation on the ground.
Several restaurant and bar owners told The Examiner they intend to allow customers to enter without masks but will require employees to keep them on for now. Others said it will be optional for both staff and customers.
“There will be different options and people should be prepared and have a mask with them. Businesses will determine how they want to rewire that,” said Philip. “We know the public will feel nervous — this is a shift.”
Breed made a nod to the yo-yo effect of changing mask regulations on Wednesday, noting, “Some of our regulations have been confusing. One minute you’re wearing a mask, then you’re not,” she said. “We are in this together and we have a lot to be proud of.”
Grocery stores, which have not been required to check for proof of vaccination, are now in a tricky spot under the latest mandate change.
“Most of our workers will be wearing masks, to be honest. The public is the biggest unknown, they aren’t required to show a status one way or another,” said Cody Frost, marketing and creative strategist for the Mission-based cooperative Rainbow Grocery. “We will be removing our ‘mask required’ signs at the front of the street and allowing customers to choose as they will if they want to enter with a mask or not.”
Canyon Market, a small grocery store in Glen Park, will not require customers to wear a mask before entering and staff will continue to wear them for at least another week, according to founder Richard Tarlov.
On Wednesday morning, every customer in the store was wearing a mask voluntarily.
Richard Tarlov, owner of Canyon Market in the Glen Park neighborhood. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)
“We went through this once before and what we learned about our co-workers and customers is that some people are ready and some aren’t,” said Tarlov, referring to when all mask mandates briefly came down in June 2021, prior to both the delta and omicron surges. “But there hasn’t been a peep about this. We can’t wait to come to work and not put a mask on.”
A looming question for many parents and young people in The City is what will happen now with masks in schools. California state health officials could release updated guidance on that as soon as the end of February. San Francisco health officials have not stated whether or not they immediately follow the state. However, Mayor Breed previously expressed support for removing masks in schools.
“As we begin to see that change and more people vaccinated and boosted,” Breed said, “masks may not be required in other settings like schools.” | 2022-02-17T02:42:56Z | www.sfexaminer.com | To mask or not to mask? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/to-mask-or-not-to-mask/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/to-mask-or-not-to-mask/ |
By The Examiner Editorial Board • February 16, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 16, 2022 1:36 pm
District Attorney Chesa Boudin, pictured here in 2020, blasted the SFPD for using DNA from a rape kit in an effort to link an alleged sexual assault victim to a property crime. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner). (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Monday accused the SFPD crime lab of violating the trust – and possibly the rights – of an alleged sexual assault victim by using a DNA sample from a rape kit in an effort to link her to a recent burglary.
In a case Boudin said was brought to his attention last week, a DNA sample taken from an alleged sexual assault victim in 2016 is now being used by police in an effort to charge the woman in relation to the property crime. SFPD Chief William Scott pledged to get to the bottom of the issue, and District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen and state Sen. Scott Wiener both announced plans to pursue legislation to ban the tactic. On Tuesday, Boudin’s office dismissed the case against the unidentified woman.
“I think the questions raised by our district attorney today are sufficiently concerning that I have asked my assistant chief for operations to work with our Investigations Bureau to thoroughly review the matter, and report back to me and to our D.A.’s office partners,” said Scott, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Scott committed to ending the practice, saying “we must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police.”
Boudin’s decision to blow the whistle on this issue could easily be seen as the latest escalation in the war of words between the DA and Chief Scott. But the story quickly made international headlines and the implications go far beyond petty local politics. The revelation raises serious questions about whether such policies might be widespread in other police departments.
At a press conference on Tuesday, victims’ advocates flanked Boudin as he blasted the DNA collection tactic, calling it an abuse of victims’ trust.
“We know that, historically, in San Francisco and across the state of California thousands of rape kits have gone untested altogether,” said Boudin, who later on Tuesday dismissed charges against the woman. “Now we learn that those kits that were tested have the DNA – not of the suspect or the perpetrator – but of the victim … the woman who came forward to courageously cooperate with law enforcement, to submit their body to an invasive procedure in one of their most vulnerable moments. And that trust has been abused.”
Pamela Tate, executive director of a domestic violence victim advocacy group called Black Women Revolt, called the practice a “revictimizing” of sexual assault survivors.
“It creates barriers that again will harm people that will make people not come in to get the assistance that they need,” Tate said of the practice. “It will allow rapists to stay on the street because people will continue to underreport when they have experienced rape.”
Studies have consistently shown that most rapes and sexual assaults go unreported. “Forty percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to police in 2017, but only about 25% were reported to police in 2018,” according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Victims of sexual violence have varied reasons for deciding not to report the attacks, including a fear of re-living the trauma or being blamed for the situation.
“The decision is complex,” Timothy C. Marchell, a clinical psychologist at Cornell University, told the Wall Street Journalin 2018. “Reporting can be re-traumatizing, empowering, or both. Part of healing is regaining a sense of control after having lost it in the assault. But when someone makes a report, they lose control again when systems take over.”
The notion of police saving a DNA sample for possible use against them in a separate criminal case will only make victims feel more pressure to avoid reporting their assaults.
“If survivors knew that their own DNA evidence would potentially be stored and used against them at a future date, even less survivors would come forward,” said Ronen, who said she had asked City Attorney David Chiu’s office to draft legislation to make the practice “explicitly illegal.”
The use of DNA to solve crimes has been a miraculous, and sometimes controversial, technological development. DNA has helped solve hard-to-crack murders like the Golden State Killer case, which might have remained unsolved without the use of innovative DNA methods. While the use of familial DNA and the technique known as investigative genetic genealogy have sparked privacy concerns from critics, society is generally better off using science to prosecute violent criminals who might otherwise evade accountability.
We are not better off, however, by creating yet another reason for sexual assault victims to fear contact with police. Survivors of rape and sexual assault should never have to fear that cooperation with the police might be used against them later. Chief Scott must embrace full transparency and come clean about how the SFPD uses rape kit DNA and whether it has used such evidence to charge sexual assault victims in unrelated cases.
Tags: Election 2022, San Francisco, San Francisco Police
One Ferry Building, San Francisco | instagram.com/yespudding “Banana pudding is the dish that I became in charge of for family celebrations,”… | 2022-02-17T02:42:57Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Editorial: Public needs full transparency on SFPD’s use of rape kit DNA - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/editorial-public-needs-full-transparency-on-sfpds-use-of-rape-kit-dna/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/editorial-public-needs-full-transparency-on-sfpds-use-of-rape-kit-dna/ |
Employers in certain industries must make attempt to rehire employees let go during the pandemic
By Christopher Dolan and Mari Bandoma Callado • February 17, 2022 1:30 am
As California companies begin to hire again, some will be required to attempt to recall employees who were laid off as a result of the pandemic.
By Christopher Dolan and Mari Bandoma Callado
I was laid off, along with my whole crew, when COVID first hit. I worked for a company that provided janitorial and building maintenance to a commercial building. Now, my company is hiring again. Can I reapply to my old job, or are they supposed to notify me if I can come back? I have only found spotty employment; in the meantime, I would really like to go back to my old job.
— Ray B., Concord.
Thank you for this excellent question, Ray. We are sorry you were one of the many people laid off from your position because of COVID-19.
As COVID-19 restrictions are generally being lifted, many businesses have opened back up and, thankfully, are rehiring many of the people who had been placed out of work during the shutdown. Before the pandemic, California businesses without a collective bargaining agreement were generally unrestricted in their discretion to pick and choose which, if any, employees would be recalled to work following a layoff. However, during the pandemic, many cities adopted “right to recall” ordinances that restricted employer hiring discretion after a layoff.
In April, California followed suit by enacting Senate Bill 93, which created Labor Code Section 2810.8, which requires employers in certain industries (see covered employers below) to make written offers to employees laid off because of a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., public health directive, government shut down order, lack of business, a reduction in force, or other economic, non-disciplinary reason due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This law does not expire until Dec. 31, 2024.
Covered Employers: Covered employers generally include hotels with 50 or more guest rooms; private clubs that operate a building or complex of buildings containing at least 50 guest rooms; publicly or privately owned event centers of more than 50,000 square feet or 1,000 seats used for public performances, sporting events, business meetings or similar events; airport hospitality operations that provide services related to the preparation of food or beverages for aircraft crew passengers, and to the public at an airport; airport service providers that provide services directly related to the air transportation of persons, property or mail; and employers that provide janitorial, building maintenance and security services provided to office, retail and other commercial buildings.
Covered Employees: To be protected by Labor Code Section 2810.8, an employee must have worked at least two hours per week by the covered employer, been employed by a covered employer for at least six months in the 12 months preceding Jan. 1, 2020, and be separated from active service due to a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Any employer of a covered enterprise must comply with the recall provisions regardless of its number of employees.
Employers’ Obligations to Covered Laid-Off Employees: Within five business days of establishing a position, a covered employer must offer its laid-off employees all job positions that become available for which the laid-off employees are qualified in writing. A laid-off employee is “qualified” for a position if the employee held the same or similar position at the time of the employee’s most recent layoff with the employer. A laid-off employee who is offered a position has to be provided at least five business days from the date of receipt to either accept or decline the offer. We recommend responding in writing as soon as possible and keep a written copy of your acceptance. If your contact information has changed, please make sure to update your former employer with all current contact information to facilitate the employer contacting you and avoid missing a recall opportunity.
Simultaneous, conditional offers of employment may be made by the employer to more than one laid-off employee, with the final determination of which laid-off employee gets the position determined by seniority. Seniority is based on total length of service with the employer, not on the basis of job seniority.
In the event that an employer declines to recall a laid-off employee on the grounds of lack of qualifications and instead hires someone other than a laid-off employee, the employer is required to provide the laid-off employee with written notice within 30 days. The notice must specify the length of service with the employer of those hired in lieu of that recall and all reasons for the decision.
Labor Code Section 2810.8 also contains anti-retaliation provisions and requires employers to keep records for three years. The records must include the laid-off employee’s full legal name, job classification at time of layoff, date of hire, last known residence, email address and phone number, as well as layoff notices and all communications regarding employment offers made under Labor Code section 2810.8’s requirements.
Enforcement and Remedies: The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) has exclusive jurisdiction over the enforcement of Labor Code Section 2810.8. While there is no private right of action, laid-off employees may file a complaint for a violation of Labor Code Section 2810.8 with the DLSE, and the DLSE may bring a civil action in court.
Remedies for violations include reinstatement, back pay, benefits, and interest on all amounts due and unpaid. Civil penalties may also be imposed, including $100 for each employee whose rights are violated, and liquidated damages of $500 per employee for each day an employee’s rights have been violated.
If you believe that your recall rights were violated, you may report the violation to the DLSE for investigation.
City and County Ordinances: Cities and counties may enact greater protections through local ordinances. Labor Code Section 2810.8 does not preempt right-to-recall ordinances adopted by multiple cities throughout California. Some of the cities and counties that have enacted such ordinances include Carlsbad, Glendale, Los Angeles County, the City of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Monterey County, Oakland, Pasadena, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Diego and Santa Monica.
If you believe your employer used COVID-19 as a cover for discriminatory layoffs during the pandemic, and/or you have questions about whether Labor Code Section 2810.8 applies to you, please contact an employment attorney and/or the DLSE. | 2022-02-17T13:08:52Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Getting your job back after a COVID-19 layoff - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/getting-your-job-back-after-a-covid-19-layoff/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/getting-your-job-back-after-a-covid-19-layoff/ |
By Byrhonda Lyons • February 17, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 17, 2022 9:52 am
Governor Gavin Newsom nominated Patricia Guerrero to the California Supreme Court. (Courtesy of CalMatters)
Gov. Gavin Newsom today nominated to the state Supreme Court Patricia Guerrero, a San Diego appeals court justice who, if confirmed, would be the first Latina to serve on California’s highest court.
“I am deeply honored by this incredible opportunity to uphold the rule of law and make a positive impact on the lives of Californians across the state,” said Justice Guerrero in a news release. “If confirmed, I look forward to helping instill confidence in the equality and integrity of our judicial system while honoring the sacrifices of my immigrant parents and demonstrating to young people that anything is possible in our wonderful and diverse country.”
A native of the Imperial Valley, Guerrero graduated from University of California, Berkeley and Stanford Law School before starting her legal career. She served as an attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and as a law firm partner before being appointed to the San Diego Superior Court bench in 2013.
In nominating for the high court today, Newsom said her “wide-ranging experience, integrity, deep respect for the rule of law and lifelong commitment to public service make her a phenomenal candidate to serve as our next California Supreme Court Justice.”
State Supreme Court justices are nominated by the governor and must then be confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of California’s chief justice, the state attorney general and the senior presiding justice of the Court of Appeal.
Across the state, there’s a significant shortage of Latinos attorneys and judges, considering that Latinos make up a plurality of the state population. In four majority-Latino California counties — Colusa, Kings, Madera, and Merced — there are no Latino judges in any superior courtrooms.
California has one of the most diverse benches in the country. In 2020, Newsom made history after appointing Martin Jenkins to the Supreme Court. Jenkins is the state’s first openly gay justice.
Still, California has been slow to appoint Latinas to the court, falling behind Texas, Colorado and New York, which have at least one Latina currently seated on their states’ highest courts. Nationally, 40 states have no Latino Supreme Court justices, according to a recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning law and policy institute. | 2022-02-17T21:49:40Z | www.sfexaminer.com | First Latina nominated to the California Supreme Court - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/first-latina-nominated-to-the-california-supreme-court/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/faces/first-latina-nominated-to-the-california-supreme-court/ |
S.F. agency remains one of the most under-resourced in The City—but that could soon change
By Jessica Wolfrom • February 17, 2022 1:30 am - Updated February 17, 2022 9:53 am
Last week, the Department of the Environment announced that it would be requesting approximately $3.2 million from the City’s General Fund – the first time it’s asked for such funding in nearly two decades. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
When San Francisco’s Department of the Environment was created in 1996, The City was a vastly different place.
It was a time before tech campuses dominated the skyline and when threats of a warming world felt distant and theoretical. It was a time when the word “sustainability” was so seldom used, it was deemed a term you’d have to “spell to people over the phone,” according to The City’s first environmental report.
In this context, the Department of Environment was tasked with implementing a pest management plan and adopting greener building standards.
But as summer wildfires choke the air and winter heatwaves set new temperature records across the state, San Franciscans are starting to feel the impacts of climate change. At the same time, the department has been left to confront a worsening global crisis with scant staff and little financial support from City Hall.
“This is not just some extra, like-to-have department,” said Elena Engel of the environmental nonprofit 350 San Francisco. “This is part of The City.”
Last week, the Department of the Environment announced it would be requesting approximately $3.2 million from the General Fund — the first time it’s asked for such funding in nearly two decades. The money would be used for the staffing needed to implement The City’s Climate Action Plan, a roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 by decarbonizing buildings and transportation, and improving biodiversity.
While environmental groups are rallying leadership for millions more to be earmarked for climate action, any General Fund money would significantly increase what the department historically has received.
“If we don’t fund climate, all of those other things (in The City’s budget) will be worse and require more money,” said Engel.
The request is also poised to test Mayor London Breed’s willingness to bolster San Francisco’s reputation as a climate leader with dollars and cents. Despite being viewed as one of the greenest cities in the nation, San Francisco failed to fund the department tasked to protect residents and infrastructure against rising seas, worsening wildfires and warming temperatures.
Last year, the Department’s annual operating budget was $23 million. By contrast, the mayor set aside over a billion dollars toward homelessness that same year.
“It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors,” said Francesca Vietor, the former president of the first Commission on the Environment, a body established by the Board of Supervisors in 1993 and charged with advising The City on environmental priorities.
“San Francisco and the Bay Area are very progressive — I mean, we’re environmentalists,” Vietor said. But “when you start to look under the hood, it’s like, whoa, yes, woefully under-resourced, not doing the kinds of projects that we could be doing with the innovation and commitment that we have in the Bay.”
But now, a window of opportunity has opened to fund climate policy in earnest. The mayor’s budget office expects a $108 million surplus of General Fund dollars over the next two budget years. A portion of that money, many say, should be allocated toward making progress on The City’s climate goals laid out late last year.
“We’re basically jumpstarting the mayor’s Climate Action Plan,” said Debbie Raphael, the Department of Environment’s director. “What we ultimately need to do is get off of fossil fuels in buildings, cars and trucks. That’s the bottom line. This money is going to help us.”
Humble start
The Department of Environment was created by voters in the late 90s and was originally what Vietor called an unfunded mandate, tasked mainly with public outreach, pest management and greening buildings.
“It was very small,” said Raphael. “The idea being it was a place for the public to come and weigh in on environmental issues.”
In 2000, the department had eight employees and expanded to include clean air and energy programs. A year later, it nearly tripled in size after it assumed responsibility for The City’s Solid Waste Management Program, which includes toxics reduction and recycling.
Today the department boasts over 115 employees and oversees a variety of city operations, everything from climate change to zero waste and urban forestry. But despite its widening reach and responsibility, the department stopped receiving General Fund money in 2003 due to a budget crisis that forced cuts citywide. Since then, it has cobbled together revenue from a patchwork of refuse fees, work orders and grant funding.
“I always tell people it’s a bit of a blessing and a curse,” said Raphael. “The blessing is when the economy’s really bad, and general fund departments get hit hard, we don’t generally have those kinds of setbacks. But the curse, the challenge, is that all of our revenue has some sort of nexus. It has some sort of obligation associated with who’s giving it to us.”
Even as climate scientists continue to project worsening megadroughts and rapidly rising sea levels, the department has been hamstrung in its ability to respond, beholden to the contractual, and often temporary, limits of work orders or grant funding.
In some instances, The City has benefited from targeted funding streams. For example, nearly 40% of the department’s revenue comes from Recology’s refuse rates, fees generated by San Francisco’s three-bin waste collection system. The catch is the department can only apply that money toward related initiatives, which has shaped San Francisco’s leadership in the Zero Waste and composting space.
“No other city has that kind of a record,” said Engel. “That was where the money was coming from, so that’s where the money went.”
But composting alone will not solve The City’s growing list of environmental issues. “It’s become increasingly challenging to get the work of The City done without a stable funding source,” said Raphael.
Still, signals of urgency are building among city leaders. Last year, the department received $1 million from the General Fund, requested by supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Gordon Mar and Matt Haney to conduct long-term analysis of the costs required to address climate change impacts and kickstart a Climate Equity Hub which would provide workforce training, outreach to support the transition to electric construction and technologies.
It’s a start, said Engel, but it’s not nearly enough. “In the end, we don’t have a choice. It’s just a question of how fast we move.”
Despite the financial hurdles, the department has amassed an impressive track record. Beyond leading the nation on zero waste, The City has been an early adopter of new technologies, such as rooftop solar, and was quick to ban natural gas in new construction and eliminate plastic bags and Styrofoam containers in stores and restaurants.
In 2019, San Francisco’s emissions dropped to 41% below 1990 levels, six years ahead of its initial goal, thanks in part to The City’s shift to cleaner grid-supplied electricity and programs like CleanPowerSF.
Last year, the Board of Supervisors and the mayor signed new and aggressive emissions reductions targets into law, requiring San Francisco to become carbon neutral by 2040. This means the Department of Environment must work with other departments to dramatically reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions in the building, transit and energy sectors, a process that activists argue has been opaque so far.
“Right now, what climate action we are taking across The City is hodgepodge and noncoordinated,” said Daniel Tahara of the San Francisco Climate Emergency Coalition. The City’s Climate Action Plan is supposed to be a citywide roadmap, he said, but no one is tracking results or outcomes.
Still, Tahara is optimistic the recent funding request is a sign of much-needed momentum. “If it makes it in the mayor’s budget, we’re basically good. We don’t have to fight the fight at the board.”
The mayor’s office declined to weigh in on how much it will allocate to the Department of Environment at this stage. All city departments are currently working to submit proposals to the budget office with a Tuesday deadline, said Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for the mayor.
“I’m under no illusion that $3.2 million is solving the climate crisis,” said Raphael. “This is an investment in a small city agency.” But, she acknowledged, any funding will be a meaningful step toward enacting real climate policy in San Francisco.
“If it’s just a plan on paper, then we’re wasting our breath,” said Raphael. “We need to see action, not words on a page.”
Lori Lambertson, an educator with the Exploratorium teaching a group about King Tides as the water flows onto Pier 14 on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Jessica Wolfrom/The Examiner)
Tags: budget, climate change, Climate Change office, Climate crisis, environment, Environment Bills, Environmental assessment, environmental bill
S.F. school district council will support queer and trans students and families | 2022-02-17T21:49:59Z | www.sfexaminer.com | Why aren’t we funding the Department of the Environment? - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/why-arent-we-funding-the-department-of-the-environment/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/why-arent-we-funding-the-department-of-the-environment/ |
Warriors forward Otto Porter Jr. has the requisite length and versatility to thrive in head coach Steve Kerr’s system. (Christopher Victorio / Special to The Examiner).
To play wing in Steve Kerr’s system, a player has to be versatile, capable of playing multiple positions and willing to match up against much larger opponents.
Otto Porter Jr. has been all those things and more for the Warriors this season.
The former No. 3 overall pick is contributing in a big way, overcoming a slew of injuries that limited his playing time the past couple of years. After playing 56 games in the 2018-19 season, Porter played 42 total games over the next two seasons. That’s a major reason the Warriors were able to get the 28-year old forward in his prime for such a discount. Porter’s salary last season was $28,489,239, and he’s made $125,830,399 over the course of his career. This season, he was available for a much more palatable $2.4 million, which allowed the Warriors to sign him in free agency. Finally healthy, he’s already played 48 games this season.
It certainly helps that he fits into Kerr’s vision for what a wing could and should do. Let’s look at what that means.
First off, a Warriors wing needs to play bigger than his size. Before coming to the Warriors, Porter was primarily a small forward who occasionally moonlighted as a power forward. This season, Porter hasn’t played a minute at small forward. Instead, 65% of his minutes have come at the power forward slot, and Porter has actually played center 35% of the time he’s been on the floor this year.
The next thing a Warriors wing should be able to do is stretch the floor. Porter has been a willing and able three-point shooter throughout his career, with a career three-point percentage of 40.1%. This season, a career-high 55.6% of Porter’s shots have come from beyond the arc, and he’s made 39.1% of his shots from that distance.
The last rule for a Warriors wing has to do with efficiency. Shot creation on the Warriors comes from ball movement and man movement, with Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson leading the way. They don’t operate like a typical NBA offense does, where one player will force a double-team with dribble penetration or a post-up and make the defense play 4-on-5. When they do, the wings are rarely the ones creating the shots. Extemporaneous dribbling is discouraged, turnovers are abhorred, isolation situations are to be avoided and the long two-point jumper, the most inefficient shot in basketball, should be avoided whenever possible.
Porter has taken all of these principles to heart. Of his three-point tries, 94.3% have been assisted. A career-high 78% of his attempts from inside the arc have come off of an assist. Only 9.3% of Porter’s shots have come from 10-15 feet, and a career-low 7.8% of his attempts have come from the dreaded 16-23 foot range. The rest of his shots have come from either beyond the arc or at the basket, where he shoots a tidy 73.8%.
Porter’s ability to keep the basketball secure is one of his truly remarkable skills. Porter has been as good at avoiding turnovers as any player in the league through his career, and that’s continued this season. Porter averages 0.8 turnovers per game for his career, and 1.5 turnovers per 100 possessions, which are both exceptional marks. This year, Porter has turned the ball over a grand total of 23 times in 48 games, and is averaging just 1.1 turnovers per 100 possessions. That’s off-the-charts stuff.
At its core, basketball is a pretty simple game. You can help your team in one of two ways. You can help your team have more possessions than the other team by getting or preventing offensive rebounds and creating or avoiding turnovers. Or, you can help your possessions be more efficient than the other team’s, by making shots instead of missing them while forcing the opposing team to miss more shots than they would otherwise make. That’s it. The only ways to win a basketball game are to shoot the ball more than the other team does or make a higher percentage of your shots than they do.
That’s what makes Porter so fundamentally sound, in the purest form of the word. His “true shooting percentage” is 59.4%, thanks to his efficiency-heavy diet of shots, well above the league average of 56.0%. He’s stolen the ball from the other team 52 times, blocked 23 shots and only turned it over to the other team 23 times. He’s been solid on the boards and has done a good job defending multiple positions, even when his assignment is considerably larger than he is.
One more thing a Warriors wing must do? Check his ego at the door and be ready for anything. With the exceptions of Curry, Thompson and Green, nobody’s spot in the starting lineup is guaranteed, and the closing lineup could change on any given night. Minutes will go up and down as players go through hot or cold streaks or the matchups change. Porter has been phenomenal in this regard. He’s been a true professional all season, started 13 games when the Warriors needed him to, and happily came off the bench in the other 35 games he’s played. That’s just who Porter is, and one of the primary reasons he’s fit in so well. | 2022-02-17T21:50:05Z | www.sfexaminer.com | What makes a Warrior wing successful? Ask Otto Porter Jr. - The San Francisco Examiner | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-makes-a-warrior-wing-successful-ask-otto-porter-jr/ | https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/what-makes-a-warrior-wing-successful-ask-otto-porter-jr/ |
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