Beth Winegarner

Public land, private hands

More public park spaces in The City could be handled by private management as park leaders hunt for ways to boost revenue. Dozens of city-owned Recreation and Park Department facilities — from Coit Tower to the Japanese Tea Garden — are supported by public taxes and bonds but operated by private firms that lease them from the department in return for a cut of their profits. In fiscal year 2007-08, the department was forced to cut $6.6 million from its budget. It is expected to slash another $8.8 million in 2008-09 and is closely studying its properties to see where lease agreements could help boost cash flow, according to Rich Hillis, the department’s deputy director for...

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SFSU library delay creates headaches

San Francisco State University students will have to live without a central library indefinitely, waiting days for books and hiking to remote corners of campus for study rooms and other services. The university’s J. Paul Leonard Library was closed last fall for a planned $116 million renovation and seismic retrofit of the school’s primary library. Originally scheduled to reopen in late 2011, the project now remains in limbo until California legislators adopt a state budget and lift their hold on all state-funded construction, according to university spokeswoman Ellen Griffin. In the meantime, students must request all their books — still housed in the library building...

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Volunteers mediate schoolyard conflicts

Hillcrest Elementary School Principal Richard Zapien used to see five to seven students — facing discipline for playground squabbles — waiting outside his office after lunch every day. A year later, his office is empty. Last spring, Hillcrest lost five of its teachers’ aides — whose jobs, in part, were to keep a close eye on students at recess and lunchtime — to budget cuts. That made it more difficult to keep student conflicts at bay. Then, the Excelsior district school landed a $450,000 state grant to hire AmeriCorps volunteers and boost staff hours, all to teach kids new ways of settling differences. “Rather than an adult dealing with it, we tell...

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Bid process holds up bookings for festival

Delays in choosing which organization would produce the follow-up to last summer’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park has left the promoter scrambling to book big-name bands. Berkeley promoter Another Planet Entertainment, which produced the inaugural fest last summer, emerged the victor in a three-way bidding war, and was approved by a vote of the Recreation and Park Commission on Thursday to negotiate a three-year lease this month. However, Another Planet thought the deal would be secured earlier — then, in October, Recreation and Park Department leaders launched a competitive-bid process aimed at boosting the department’s revenue for the...

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Budget may burn fire stations

Lean budget times could force staffing-level cuts at firehouses in The City, overriding a law voters approved in 2005. Voters approved Proposition F in November 2005, requiring the mayor and supervisors to set aside funds for full staffing at each of The City’s 42 firehouses. With The City facing a $575.6 million budget gap, the need to balance the budget trumps the will of the voters, Greg Wagner, deputy director of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget office, told the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday. Wagner did not report how much money firefighter cutbacks would save. Fully staffing local firehouses cost up to $6.6 million in 2005, according to the...

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Report finds parks vacant of gardeners

Fewer than half the gardeners who water and cultivate The City’s parks were found to be at their assigned areas, according to spot checks done by The City between January and June 2008. Inspectors visited dozens of local parks and checked maintenance schedules, discovering that many gardeners assigned to those areas were missing in action, according to a City Controller’s Office report issued Tuesday. Between January and March 2008, gardeners complied with their work schedules 40 percent of the time. That increased to 54 percent between April and June. The unpredictable schedules of gardeners have been a sticking point among park volunteers for years. They often offer to...

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Free-parking areas in city parks may vanish

Free parking in five city parks could soon end under a new proposal aimed at ousting commuters and raising money for cash-strapped green spaces — but the concept may not fly when it reaches the mayor’s desk. Historically, it has been free to park in San Francisco parks. However, as Recreation and Park Department leaders dig for ways to offset $8.8 million in budget cuts in 2009-10, they’re resurrecting the idea of charging motorists a fee to park at Golden Gate Park, the Palace of Fine Arts, Marina Green, Balboa Park and Lincoln Park. “A few of those parks are being used as free commuter parking lots,” said Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell....

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Funding for homeless students drying up

As the worsening economy drives more families into shelters, public schools are bracing for an increase in homeless students, which will stretch funding for those students thinner than ever before. The number of homeless students, currently at 1,623, will likely rise this year, but the San Francisco Unified School District has made do with the same amount of state and federal funding, just less than $300,000 each year. It relies heavily on nonprofits to make up the difference, according to Tatum Wilson, coordinator of the district’s homeless programs. California school districts are required by law to provide speedy enrollment, uniforms, school supplies and transportation to any...

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Report: Teen pregnancy less likely in S.F.

San Francisco teens are getting pregnant at nearly half the rate of their peers statewide, but Hispanics give birth eight times as often as whites, according to a new report. The City’s adolescents are also less likely to be sexually active — and more likely to use condoms — than others in California, according to “A Snapshot of Youth Health and Wellness,” issued this month by San Francisco-based Adolescent Health Working Group. San Francisco teens 15 to 19 gave birth at a rate of 20 per 1,000 between 2003 and 2005, well shy of the 34 per 1,000 average reported across the Bay Area and 37 per 1,000 statewide. However, Hispanic teens in San Francisco gave...

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Beach visitors’ center will stay open, but unstaffed

Come mid-February, two staffers at the Beach Chalet, San Francisco’s only coastside visitors’ center, will be laid off, leaving tourists to pick up visitor guides — and navigate the site’s historic murals and architecture — on their own. The workers run docent tours and provide tips on amenities citywide, from hotels to museums to parks, said Rosa Robinson, who has worked in the visitors’ center for 11 years. The positions were cut to save the Recreation and Park Department $137,000 per year, which is part of $2.5 million in budget cuts made in December in response to The City’s projected budget deficit for this fiscal year. Their last day...

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Talebi addresses the state of writing in Iran

Niloufar Talebi, the founder of the Bay Area-based Translation Project, which translates Iranian literature into English, talks about the state of writing in Iran. The nonprofit group’s Iranian Literary Arts Festival is Feb. 5-6 in San Francisco. Persia was home to two famous Middle Eastern poets, Rumi and Hafiz. How has Iranian poetry evolved since their era? Contemporary literature is just as rich, but most contemporary poetry is in free verse — Rumi and Hafiz wrote in very formal rhyming structure. In addition, we now concentrate more on writing poetry of the people — social poetry, personal poetry. Are Iranian poets in Iran focusing on different subjects than...

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City’s kids-and-families czar sacked

The popular and respected director of The City’s primary agency serving San Francisco’s children and families has been fired by Mayor Gavin Newsom, officials confirmed Wednesday. Following months of rumors that Newsom planned to fire her, Margaret Brodkin, four-year director of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, said Newsom asked her to leave her post. “I don’t know the reasons behind [his decision],” Brodkin told The Examiner on Wednesday. The move leaves youth advocates fearful that as The City faces a projected $576 million budget deficit for next fiscal year, a voter-approved budget set-aside for child-related needs — one of the...

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Land deal could pave way for new 10-mile trail

A $10 million deal may make way for a vast swath of protected open space — and a new trail from the San Mateo County ridges to the open ocean — on 1,300 acres west of the Purisima Creek Redwoods. The deal could kick off this spring, if the University of California regents agree to sell the Elkus Ranch, 450 acres of rugged hillsides to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The district is also hatching plans to acquire three adjacent parcels, 240 to 340 acres each, containing farms, ranches and plenty of undeveloped land, according to Sandy Sommer, real-estate manager for the district. Ultimately, the project could lead to a “Purisima to the Sea” trail,...

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Holiday helps families pass customs across generations

As the Year of the Ox approached, Sunset district resident Wendy Dere spent much of her time in the kitchen with her mother, making lettuce cups stuffed with oysters and mushroom caps brimming with ground fish. The annual Chinese Lunar New Year arrives each year with multiple feast days, both before and after the holiday, celebrated Jan. 26 this year. As Chinese-Americans like Dere struggle to maintain the New Year’s traditions, they also look forward to the delicacies of the season — just as many Americans anticipate the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies of Thanksgiving. “Some of the foods, we only get to eat once a year, like shark-fin soup,” Dere said....

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Zoo meeting info not given to public

Daily doings at the San Francisco Zoo have been scrutinized intensely since a Siberian tiger fatally mauled a patron on Christmas Day 2007, but one of the animal park’s key decision-making bodies appears to be evading the public eye. The San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit agency that has managed the zoo since 1993, doesn’t post its meeting agendas and doesn’t provide key documents related to those meetings, an apparent violation of city and state open-meeting laws. Under its contract with The City, the society is required to follow the same rules for public meetings as the Recreation and Park Department, the zoo’s former manager. Those rules...

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Expulsion rate at SFUSD climbs

More San Francisco public school students have been expelled since August than in the entire 2007-08 school year, and parents and city leaders are questioning whether the school district is following state laws when disciplining kids. Between August and December, the San Francisco Unified School District received 81 expulsion requests from schools and expelled 16 students. The majority of cases were dismissed or referred for counseling, Ricky Jones, the school district’s director of pupil services, said Thursday at a joint meeting of members of the Board of Supervisors and Board of Education. In 2007-08, 97 students were recommended for expulsion and 11 were expelled. In...

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Balance of discipline

Blacks and Hispanics are a small slice of The City’s public school population, but make up roughly three-quarters of students who are suspended or expelled. Blacks make up 7 percent of The City’s total population and 12.5 percent of students within the San Francisco Unified School District. However, half the students who face disciplinary action belong to this ethnic group, according to district data. Another 20 to 30 percent of those disciplined are Hispanic. They account for 23 percent of school district students and 14 percent of San Francisco’s population. Leaders within and outside the school district said the numbers are troubling — and more than one...

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City extends Camp Mather run by two weeks

Folks hoping to get a reservation at Camp Mather — The City's family getaway located near Yosemite — may have an easier time this summer. The Recreation and Park Department, which owns the popular campground in the Sierras, is adding one extra week at the beginning of the Camp Mather season and another at the end, creating a 12-week run from June 6 to August 22, according to department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell. The first and last weeks come when San Francisco public schools are still in session. "Camp Mather has been so popular, we've had waiting lists," Seitz Gruwell said. In 2008, 35,000 people visited the site San Francisco has owned since the 1920s....

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Diverse crowd unites in city to watch inauguration

They came from across the Bay Area, young and old, black, white, Hispanic and Asian — a diverse crowd brought together through an event taking place more than 2,000 miles away. Thousands gathered Tuesday morning in San Francisco to watch the inauguration of the nation’s first black president, with many expressing optimism about a coming change. Crowds hugged, cheered and cried at the San Francisco Civic Center as the inauguration of Barack Obama played out on the big screen with City Hall as the backdrop. Many in the crowd felt the new president would make a big splash for San Francisco. Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting said that Democratic influence in Washington, D.C., will...

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Parents demand crossing guard at dangerous intersection

Parents at an Excelsior district elementary school are renewing pleas for a crossing guard at an intersection where a kindergartener was recently hit by a car. On Jan. 12, a Guadalupe Elementary School student was struck by a car while in the crosswalk, suffering minor injuries, according to Terri Factora, whose child attends the school. “We’re very lucky the student only had minor injuries, because we’re living on borrowed time at that crosswalk,” Factora said. “There are near misses all the time.” Three years ago, a crossing guard was stationed at Prague Street and South Hill Boulevard, two blocks from Guadalupe Elementary and one block from busy...

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Anti-gang program at odds with school

A group that works to deter kids from joining gangs said its programs at Mission High School were banished after organizers protested high suspension rates among Hispanic students. School administrators, however, said it’s a case of miscommunication. After three years at Mission High, Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth was asked to leave the school in December, when it failed to resolve tensions with school leaders, according to Principal Eric Guthertz. While HOMEY officials said those tensions arose because of underreported suspensions and expulsions, Guthertz said they had more to do with a lack of organization on the organization’s part. HOMEY officials asked...

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SFUSD weighing policy for insulin injections

Insulin-dependent diabetic students in San Francisco public schools will continue to receive the injections they need - despite a Sacramento County ruling restricting which school personnel can administer the shots. That ruling, issued in late December, forbids nonmedical school staff from administering insulin injections, overturning a California Department of Education mandate in 2007 that allowed teacher's aides and other staff to give shots if they're trained, according to CDE spokeswoman Hilary McLean. A group of educators and leaders in the San Francisco Unified School District are currently studying what the ruling means for the district, though officials don't believe it applies...

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Schools could ask Redwood City, San Carlos property owners to pay more

Surrounded by a sea of schools buoyed by voter-approved parcel taxes, two cash-strapped districts are eyeing ballot measures that would boost their cash reserves by asking local property owners to pay more taxes. San Carlos School District failed in its November 2008 bid to increase its $75 parcel tax, established in 2003, to $185 — and is planning to return to voters in May or June for another try. The Redwood City School District, which has no parcel tax on the rolls, could go to voters this year after failing to garner support for an $85 parcel tax in 2005. Neither has named a price for a future tax. While school districts receive the lion’s share of their funding...

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Girl, 14, charged with attempted murder in scissor attack

A 14-year-old San Francisco girl was arraigned Thursday on charges of attempted murder and felony assault after she attacked a classmate with a pair of scissors. The girl, whose name has been withheld due to her age, faces two felony counts in court, according to Erica Derryck, spokeswoman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She was arrested Tuesday at Marina Middle School after the fight, according to San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Students and parents interviewed at Marina Middle School, where the fight occurred, characterized the attack as a run-of-the-mill tiff between classmates, not a potential murder. They also said they felt safe at the...

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Barking up the wrong tree?

City officials could put dog walkers on a shorter leash, but some in the field say a license requirement would put Rec and Park in the doghouse. The Recreation and Park Department faces $8.8 million in cuts for 2009-10, and is exploring cash-generating options, such as charging for parking in parks or an entrance fee at the Botanical Garden. It could also revive a decade-old idea of creating a formal licensing procedure for those who walk dogs for a living, according to Rec and Park finance director Katie Petrucione. “We’ve been working toward the licensing goal, but we don’t think Rec and Park is the department to regulate us,” said Nancy Stafford,...

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San Mateo County not losing hope in fight to help homeless

Raiford Houston lived 44 of his 47 years in San Francisco and thought he had a secure union job driving delivery trucks. But when the bottom began to fall out of the U.S. economy, steady work dried up — and Houston found himself moving into a homeless shelter in South San Francisco. Before moving into Safe Harbor in December, Houston tried to hang on in San Francisco but couldn’t find work or peace of mind in the Western Addition. “It wasn’t a place where I could sit down and concentrate,” Houston said, adding that he plans to live in the shelter only long enough to get back on his feet. While concerns associated with homeless people garner headlines in...

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Local woman's life becomes a TV movie

“Prayers for Bobby,” based on the book about Walnut Creek’s Mary Griffith — and how she came to terms with her son’s homosexuality following his suicide — can be seen Jan. 24 on Lifetime. How did your family’s story become a movie? We met [producer] Daniel Sladek at a book party in Sebastopol. The fact that it’s a TV movie means it’s suitable for all viewers. It wouldn’t be fruitful if only adults could see it. It’s mostly about the validation of young people who are gay and lesbian. What happened to Bobby and how did it change you? We learned about his gayness through his brother Ed. When we found out, I went the way...

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CCSF veteran sets positive course for tough times

The City’s 74-year-old Community College District faces potentially its worst budgeting period in recent memory, yet there’s a peculiar sense of optimism in the air. Much of that optimism comes from the recent appointment of City College of San Francisco veteran Don Griffin as the district’s chancellor. Griffin began serving as interim chancellor in April, when Philip Day stepped down after 10 years at the helm, and officially took the reins Dec. 18. Griffin edged out every other candidate in the pool, in part because of his 39 years as a psychology instructor and administrator with the district. “He was everyone’s pick,” said CCSF trustee Milton...

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Next school lottery may be hectic

San Francisco’s school-assignment process is daunting enough for first-time parents, but a predicted spike in kindergarten applications and enrollment will likely lead to stiffer competition — and force the district to add more classrooms in August. After months of touring schools and grilling principals, parents must turn in their top seven school choices for 2009-10 by today, and wait until mid-March to learn whether their child is assigned to any of them. Although parents of students in all grade levels participate, it’s when students enter kindergarten, middle school or high school that the application process becomes necessary. Thomas McVeigh toured 32 public...

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BART officers carry Tasers, train same way as city police

As BART officials struggle to define the events and actions of the fatal New Year’s Day shooting at the Fruitvale station, the training of the transit agency’s 206 officers has been defined as the equalivelent of other city-based police officers. As rumors and theories circulate that the officer responsible for the killing may have mistakenly used his gun instead of a Taser when he shot 22-yeard-old Oscar Grant III, BART police Chief Gary Gee confirmed on Thursday that officers began carrying Tasers six months ago, after completing a six-hour course. Tasers are worn on the opposite side of the body from firearms in order to prevent confusion about which weapon is being drawn,...

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Yee, Ammiano, Campos call for independent agency to watch BART police

No independent oversight committee keeps tabs on BART’s police force, but that would change under a new law proposed by a trio of local and state lawmakers. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and San Francisco Supervisor David Campos said Thursday they will introduce new legislation to create an independent review committee to oversee the transit agency’s officers. The committee, which would include civil rights and community leaders, among others, would have the power to conduct separate investigations into BART police activity, and respond to public complaints about BART officers’ conduct, Yee said. The legislation was...

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School working to offer students birth control

Students at a continuation high school could get condoms on campus under a proposed program that officials hope will reverse a recent increase in teen-pregnancy rates at the school. After years of decline, rates rose nationally between 2005 and 2006, and local health leaders are seeing similar trends in California and in some schools, including Jefferson Union High School District’s Thornton High School, according to Associate Superintendent Rick Boitano. District officials are developing a plan that could, by the end of this school year, provide condoms on the continuation campus — which works with at-risk students — along with a counseling session to educate each...

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Board members leave legacy of ‘social justice’

Eight years ago, two progressives won big in the race for San Francisco’s Board of Education, leading a wave of change and liberal politics that are likely to persist as they move on to greener pastures. The newly elected Board of Education members were sworn in Wednesday, and Eric Mar, who served for eight years, will be sworn in today to the Board of Supervisors as the new supervisor of District 1, succeeding the termed-out Jake McGoldrick. Meanwhile, former trustee Mark Sanchez, who lost his bid for Tom Ammiano’s seat representing District 9, is already back at his job teaching science at Garfield Elementary Charter School in Redwood City. He plans to earn his...

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School mourns stabbing death of 16-year-old

As students returned to classes Monday, Sequoia High School officials and students grieved the stabbing death of Matthew Johnson, a student and athlete at the Redwood City school. Johnson, 16, was stabbed during an assault in Redwood City early Saturday morning and transported to Stanford Medical Center, where he died, according to police. Although medical examiners have performed a preliminary autopsy, they won’t release the cause of death until toxicology tests are finalized — a process that could take weeks — according to Coroner Robert Foucrault. “The whole faculty is numb. Everybody’s just devastated,” said Ed Huber, athletic director at Sequoia....

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Son of legendary concert promoter gears up for fundraiser

Alex Graham, the 31-year-old son of rock impresario Bill Graham will take part in a fundraising concert Jan. 10 in honor of what would have been his father’s 78th birthday. Growing up, how much did your father expose you to the music scene? Massively. I grew up in Maui and my brother David grew up in Pennsylvania, but during summer and Christmas we’d both fly to San Francisco and hang out with my dad. Practically every single night we’d go to a show [and] we’d spend afternoons in the office helping out. I spent every single New Year’s Eve with the Grateful Dead until I was 13. I got to be the Baby New Year in 1989. What’s something that most people...

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Cyclists seek to lay claim to trails

Some mountain-bike fans are pining for trails of their own in city parks, but others are taking matters into their own hands, cutting trails in remote areas that neighbors say cause erosion — and danger for the cyclists who use them. San Francisco’s park system has multiuse trails for bicyclists, however, they’re shared with dog walkers and pedestrians — a setup that makes trails less fun for everyone, according to Dan Schneider, co-founder of SF Urban Riders. Off-road cycling, including stunt cycling, has become more popular among residents, but San Francisco offers no dedicated space for them, he said. “Multiuse trails can’t have any jumps or...

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Rec centers ‘stretched very thin’

City-run recreation facilities are understaffed and keep unpredictable hours, vexing locals and prompting an edict from the Controller’s Office that the Recreation and Park Department begin keeping better track of its offerings. The department staffs 63 facilities, including recreation centers, clubhouses and playgrounds. Staffing at the facilities has dropped steadily since 2004, according to a report from Controller Ben Rosenfield. As a result, newly renovated recreation centers — such as Upper Noe Valley and Minnie and Lovie Ward — have reopened this year with fewer hours, and don’t have predictable or posted hours, according to Isabel Wade, director of the...

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S.F. teachers to receive boost in pay

Money from a voter-approved parcel tax is rolling into the San Francisco public-school district this week, meaning teachers will begin seeing fatter paychecks in March. The first payment is $16.7 million, and the total earnings from the $198-per-parcel tax will total $31 million by June — more than the $28 million leaders expected, according to Leo Levenson, budget and analysis director for the San Francisco Controller’s Office. The lion’s share of that money will go toward teacher salaries. Some will also pay for technology improvements, higher salaries for some district employees and charter schools. In August, months before teachers would receive higher salaries,...

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District weighs $1m in school-bus cuts

Yellow school buses could soon become more scarce on city streets, as San Francisco school leaders examine $1 million in potential transportation cuts. The San Francisco Unified School District is determining ways to close a looming estimated budget gap of $20 to $60 million, and may have to chop bus service for high, middle and even elementary schools. After preliminary talks this month by the district’s budget committee, several proposals will head to the Board of Education for discussion Jan. 13. Although most students either ride Muni to school or are driven by parents, 4,600 of the The City’s 55,000 public school students ride district-provided buses daily,...

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All-poetry library proposed

San Francisco, often seen as a literary haven, could soon become home to the first all-poetry lending library on the West Coast — one with a decidedly modern twist. The proposed International Poetry Library of San Francisco is the brainchild of Kim Mahler, modeled on New York’s Poets House and London’s Poetry Library. Along with a brick-and-mortar poetry center in The City, Mahler plans to launch a subscriber service similar to Netflix that would lend poetry volumes to writers and scholars nationwide. Mahler is still in search of a location for her library — and has deputized some of her students at DeVry University, where she teaches, to analyze possible sites....

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Hearing today will examine legality of suit

A hearing will be held today regarding the lawsuit filed against The City by the parents of a woman killed in April by a falling tree branch in Stern Grove. Bernard and Mildred Bolton, parents of Kathleen Bolton, sued The City on Oct. 15, accusing San Francisco of dangerous conditions and negligence that led to the death. A redwood tree’s limb snapped off next to a parking lot, crushing Bolton and her car. It had been identified as a potential hazard in a 2004 report from independent consultants HortScience. Today’s hearing will focus on whether Bolton’s parents can legally accuse a government agency of negligence, according to Matt Dorsey, spokesman for the City...

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Healthy food not on students’ menu

You can lead students to the salad bar, but you can’t make than eat. As San Francisco’s public schools have transformed their cafeteria menu options — kicking out the junk food and adding fresh fruit, salads and healthier meals — officials have struggled to make those options enticing to kids. This year, leaders have added two more ideas to the menu: more food options at the beaneries — food carts that operate in conjunction with the cafeterias — and a district-wide point-of-sale payment system so kids don’t have to divulge whether they’re paying full price or getting a government reimbursement. Almost 55 percent of San Francisco...

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Giving Christmas trees second lives

Brown, dry Christmas trees may line the curbs after the holidays — but they will be green again. Trash companies in San Francisco and on the Peninsula will make good use of all those needles and boughs long after the trees are done conveying holiday cheer. In San Francisco, those pines, spruces and firs ultimately turn into electricity, while in San Mateo County they’re composted into nourishment for next year’s garden. In The City, Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Recycling will collect trees Jan. 5 through Jan. 9 and haul tons of timber to the company’s transfer station. There, workers will shred the conifers into wood chips, which will be trucked to the...

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Truancy enforcement ramps up

Parents of kids who skip class are again in the crosshairs, as the San Francisco district attorney gears up to prosecute a new batch of caretakers of truants. The stepped-up enforcement efforts are one piece of a large patchwork of programs aimed at ending chronic truancy in schools. District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office prosecuted parents in six families last summer, after their kids missed more than 50 days of classes. In all cases, the children have since returned to school, although one had to be placed in foster care to make it happen, Harris told The Examiner. The parents were given court-mandated instructions to keep their children in school and get support for the...

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Popular high school teacher dies in motorcycle crash

Burton High School students gathered Monday for an impromptu vigil in honor of one of their favorite teachers, who was killed in a motorcycle crash Friday night. Bonnie Hansen, 45, died after her red Suzuki motorcycle collided with a concrete pillar at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Street and Potrero Avenue, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office. Hansen had taught science at Philip and Sala Burton High School in Visitacion Valley for 11 years, and was popular among students for her wacky sense of humor, said Burton High School Principal William Kappenhagen. “Over the years, she taught biology, physics and health, and had all these fun toys, probably...

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Golf courses in S.F. make money

A new audit of The City’s publicly run golf courses shows that the courses earn money for San Francisco — and could add fuel to the citywide debate over whether to turn them over to private management. Supervisor Sean Elsbernd requested a Controller’s Office audit of city golf finances after an independent consultant, Leon Younger, last fall recommended privatizing the courses to boost income. Younger argued that golf play and revenues were both on the decline in San Francisco, and that “The City has never achieved success in managing public golf.” The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department owns and manages six courses in San Francisco, from...

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New program puts sixth-graders on fast track to college

While The City’s high-school seniors are just receiving their college-acceptance letters, a batch of sixth-graders already know where they'll go to college. City and school leaders launched SF Promise this year, a program that aims to guarantee spots at San Francisco State University for 700 students from the class of 2015 — currently in sixth grade — as well as financial aid for those who need it. While middle-school students are already learning the college-bound mentality, fundraising for a SFSU-based scholarship will formally kick off in February. "The whole concept is to create a college-going culture in our schools," said Hydra Mendoza, Mayor Gavin...

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Wounds from tiger attack linger

It’s been almost one year since the Christmas Day tiger mauling that killed a San Jose teenager, and while the event inspired safety improvements in zoos nationwide, the San Francisco Zoo has yet to recover from the attack. The event, and the riveting details later revealed, drew worldwide attention. A 250-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped her enclosure Christmas Day 2008, prowled zoo grounds, and ultimately killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and injured two friends. For months afterward, the story played out in the media as rumors circulated that the young men had provoked the tiger, and investigations showed flaws both in Tatiana’s enclosure and zoo...

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Taco truck refuses to say ‘adios’

A taco truck is fighting to remain in its longtime location adjacent to a public high school, despite a city law approved last year that prohibits such vehicles from parking near San Francisco schools. In September, police revoked El Tonayense’s permit to operate the truck, located on Harrison Street near 19th Street — two blocks from John O’Connell High School. However, owner Benjamin Santana is appealing the decision, saying his establishment should be grandfathered in because it has been there longer than the school. As a result, the revocation is suspended pending Santana’s appeal hearing Feb. 4, according to a report from police Cmdr. Sylvia Harper. In...

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City, golf charity could get fair share from PGA Tour

Officials are teeing up ways to make sure San Francisco doesn’t lose money hosting the Presidents Cup next fall and protects funds for a charity organization that teaches golf to local youth. Under its contract with the PGA Tour — the professional golf organization that will stage the Presidents Cup in October at city-owned Harding Park Golf Course — San Francisco will receive a $1 million gift. The Recreation and Park Department is appropriating $500,000 immediately to get Harding ready for the tournament, and expects to appropriate another $500,000 in the 2009-10 budget year to cover the remaining costs associated with hosting the event, according to Rec and Park...

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State, local leaders pursue legal fight over education cuts

State school leaders will sue California about threatened education cuts this year, and a similar lawsuit spearheaded by The City’s school superintendent may not be far behind. Mid-year state budget cuts will likely blow a $20 million hole in the San Francisco Unified School District budget and slash another $10 million from City College of San Francisco. The California School Boards Association voted a few weeks ago to sue the state for not providing enough money for public schools, according to San Francisco Board of Education Member Jill Wynns, who is also a member of the CSBA. Next fall, the SFUSD could face another $20 million to $60 million in losses — which could...

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The City may be running risk of wildfires

Neglect has left nearly a dozen wooded areas in The City thick with underbrush and aging trees, and that has some worried that the region is ripe for a devastating wildfire. San Francisco is home to several large, wooded areas — from the Presidio to the north to McLaren Park to the south. Many are dangerously overgrown. Those conditions, coupled with decreasing rainfall, unseasonably hot days and a lack of controlled burns in the area — an effective fire-prevention technique — could add up to disaster. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has deemed 11 of The City’s park areas “moderate fire hazard severity zones,” ranked only...

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Class of 2014 must meet college-prep bar

San Francisco’s Class of 2014 will earn their diplomas by taking the same courses required for admission to California’s public four-year colleges and universities. Those college-preparatory courses will become mandatory for students starting ninth-grade in 2010, following a unanimous vote Tuesday night by the Board of Education. Although the new requirements are similar to current ones, district leaders said they will leave students better prepared. “It’s going to be an expectation that the kids are absolutely capable of,” board member Hydra Mendoza said. “They’ll know what they need to accomplish, and will prevent them getting to a point in...

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Golf tour putting Park and Rec in the hole

The City will soon start rolling out the green carpet for the 2009 Presidents Cup at Harding Park Golf Course, but some park watchdogs say preliminary fiscal plans could leave San Francisco in the hole a second time. The Professional Golf Association, which hosts the Presidents Cup, pays the city $1 million each year to hold the tournament at the public course. Half of that money goes to the Recreation and Park Department to cover costs associated with the tour, and the remainder goes to First Tee, a PGA-sponsored organization that introduces inner-city youth to golf. But Rec and Park says $500,000 isn’t enough to cover its costs. The PGA Tour’s last Harding event, the 2005...

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Raising the bar for high-school seniors

While The City’s public-school leaders say proposed tougher graduation requirements will challenge high schoolers to succeed, students and counselors say they could lead to an increase in bad grades and dropouts. The new standards, which will be voted on Tuesday by the Board of Education, would require all high school students to pass a series of college-preparation courses in order to receive diplomas. Currently, those courses are optional. They are, however, required for students enrolling in University of California and California State University colleges. “That’d be hard,” said Angelo Chavez, a sophomore at Mission High School. “A lot of students are...

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Plans to move arts school revived

Moving the School of the Arts from the wilds of Miraloma Park to the Civic Center, ground zero for high-end performing arts, is back at center stage — if the school district can raise $60 million to make it happen. Founded in 1982 and backed by renowned artist Ruth Asawa, the public performing-arts school, which admits students who successfully audition, has long been located within the McAteer High School campus at the top of Glen Canyon Park. Arts supporters have for years wanted to move the school closer to The City’s arts center, saying it would allow budding performers to mingle with and learn from San Francisco’s opera, ballet and symphony stars. The San...

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Park swap forges ahead

A controversial park-swap deal in Potrero Hill that would take away land neighbors say they’ve eyed for a decade for future green space is being pushed through by one city supervisor. Under the deal, Norcal Waste Systems Inc. would give 35,250 square feet of property it owns within a park in the Bayview to The City’s Recreation and Park Department in exchange for a 50-by-628 parcel, owned by the Department of Public Works, next to the trash company’s Golden Gate Disposal site in Potrero Hill. The City would also gain $400,000 from the exchange. The Recreation and Park Commission, however, is not convinced of the merits of the deal, initially voting the plan down and...

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McLaren tree lighting kicks off City's true holiday season

The holidays won’t truly come home to San Francisco till the stately Monterey cypress in front of McLaren Lodge is lit today. Sharp-eyed guests may also spot a few cultural references on the model train parked on the Recreation and Park Department’s front lawn, including Japanese character Pikachu and multiple allusions to President-elect Barack Obama. The decorations were added by park volunteers, according to Rec and Park Interim Director Jared Blumenfeld. “It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek,” he said. “I thought people would complain, but nobody has. We already have a Christmas tree on public land, which probably has all sorts of constitutional issues, as...

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San Mateo County's new manager takes the reins

The San Mateo County manager seat isn’t relinquished lightly: It has only changed occupants four times in the last 50 years. Meet No. 5: David Boesch, 51, who has served nearly two years at the side of retiring County Manager John Maltbie. On Jan. 1, Boesch will officially step into the top job, and by all accounts he has big shoes to fill. Like Maltbie, who took the post in 1989, Boesch comes on just as the county is at the brink of recession. San Mateo County faces a $28.6 million deficit this year, which could balloon to $92 million by 2013, according to the county budget manager, if leaders don’t take quick action. Meanwhile, plans to build a new jail facility to...

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Black Friday brings in the bucks in city

The final tallies aren’t in, but it appears Black Friday in San Francisco will live up to its reputation for helping retail stores’ profit margins — even in a tough economy. Shoppers thronged stores all weekend, particularly on the day after Thanksgiving. “We were very encouraged by the customer traffic,” said Heather Almond, senior asset manager for the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Meanwhile, shoppers turned to public transit in droves in order to shuttle from home to shopping centers — well into the night — according to BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver, who rode from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday just to see how traffic was moving. “I...

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Booze tax may be boosted

The cost of alcohol across the state will increase if San Mateo County officials have their way. A 12-pack of beer would cost $3.60 more under a proposal for a statewide alcohol-tax hike officials say could raise $3 billion for drug- and alcohol-addiction prevention programs. California’s alcohol tax, which is charged on retail and wholesale transactions, has not been changed since 1992, according to Deputy County Manager Mary McMillan. “It is a good budget response ... but it actually is a really good public health response,” said Maureen Sedonaen, CEO of San Francisco-based Youth Leadership Institute. County officials recently agreed to push for a 25-cent...

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Two-thirds of city students not physically fit

Two-thirds of San Francisco public-school students failed to meet all six fitness criteria mandated by the state, according to new scores released by the California Department of Education. Students are tested in grades 5, 7 and 9 on six measures, including aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper-body strength and flexibility. Just 23.6 percent of San Francisco fifth-graders were able to measure up in all six categories during the 2007-08 tests — down from 25.7 in 2006-07 and lower than the state average of 28.5 percent, according to the CDE. Among seventh-graders, 33.7 percent met all six benchmarks, down from 34.3 the prior year but...

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Botanical Gardens seeing new kind of green

A collection of dilapidated, 45-year-old greenhouses supporting the San Francisco Botanical Garden could soon become a new kind of green. Fundraisers for the historic 55-acre garden are gathering $12.8 million to build a state-of-the-art gardening center that will support the Botanical Garden’s collection of native and exotic plants — while teaching the public the latest in eco-friendly gardening techniques. For starters, the center will be moved from its current spot — one of the lowest-elevated points in Golden Gate Park, and therefore one of the coldest — to a nearby hilltop that gets more sun, according to Botanical Garden Director Brent Dennis. Designers...

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Slight rise seen in The City’s youth population

San Francisco’s youth population held steady last year for the first time in nearly 50 years, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2007, there were 109,718 children 17 and under in San Francisco — up slightly from 109,636 in 2006, according to census data. While youth experts have held forth on the notorious youth decline for decades, they don’t agree on what the new numbers mean for the local child population. In 1960, San Francisco was home to 181,532 kids 17 and under — a number that has declined every year since, according to September Jarrett, director of policy and planning for the Department of Children, Youth and Families. “The...

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Curtain may be drawn on Palace of Fine Arts Theater

The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre’s dancing days may be numbered. The Recreation and Park Department is kicking off the hunt for a new renter to take over the 120,000-square-foot building when the theater’s current co-tenant, the Exploratorium, moves to Port of San Francisco property in 2012, according to Margot Shaub, Rec and Park’s director of property management. The theater could be ousted unless the new tenant opts to keep it. Rising rents also threaten the nonprofit theater. It has operated on a month-to-month basis since April, when the theater’s lease with The City expired. A department appraisal valued its 37,000-square-foot venue at 50 cents per square...

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Holiday vittles grow scarce as donations drop

As holidays draw near, local food banks and meal programs are being hit by a double whammy: decreased donations and more mouths to feed. Food-program leaders remain optimistic that the holiday spirit will prompt San Franciscans to give food and financial support, but early donations have been slow. Meanwhile, lines at local soup kitchens are getting longer every day. “We’re especially seeing more women, young people and seniors,” the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church said. “We’ve never seen an increase like this.” The recent economic downturn has hurt not only homeless clients, but also working-class residents, families and seniors whose...

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S.F. schools exhaust areas to cut back

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $2.5 billion in cutbacks to education would translate to a $20 million loss for San Francisco public schools — and could send district officials looking to The City for a financial handout. State cutbacks last spring already meant a $40 million shortfall for the San Francisco Unified School District’s 2008-09 budget. New proposals in Sacramento could mean another hit. A more conservative budget picture from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office could mean $10 million in takeaways from local schools, or as much as $20 million if the Legislature supports Schwarzenegger’s plan, according to San Francisco Board of...

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Burlingame police arrest Petaluma teacher in minor's solicitation

A Petaluma high school teacher is expected to be arraigned Monday in San Mateo County Court on charges that he sent electronic messages to a minor, hoping to seduce the youngster. Police arrested Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, at an undisclosed location in San Mateo on Saturday morning, where he allegedly had made arrangements to meet with the minor, according to a report from the Burlingame Police Department. Dietlin has taught history and economics at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma for the past 10 years, according to Burlingame police Sgt. Edward Nakiso. Local police caught wind of Dietlin's alleged activities after two local teens established a profile on MySpace and posted a...

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Park department to lay off employees

Eight to 15 Recreation and Park employees will be laid off to help the department cut $2.5 million from its budget, interim General Manager Jared Blumenfeld said Thursday. Mayor Gavin Newsom asked departments across The City this month to make mid-year cuts in order to close a projected general-fund deficit of as much as $120 million. Leaders are expected to deliver their proposals to the Mayor’s office by the end of the day Friday. The park layoffs will save roughly $300,000. Blumenfeld said he could not identify which positions would lose jobs until Newsom approves the cuts. Pink slips would be sent Dec. 2, and the employees’ last day would be Feb. 2. The department...

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Potrero Hill park plan booted for parking

What Potrero Hill residents had hoped would become a park will actually be a parking lot instead. A chunk of Bayview’s Little Hollywood Park — currently held by privately owned Norcal Waste — would be given to the Recreation and Park Department in exchange for an undeveloped city-owned strip of land in Potrero Hill. The swap, which heads to the Recreation and Park Commission for approval today, has neighbors feeling left in the cold. “It’s a stinker of a deal,” said Potrero Hill resident Tony Kelly. “The neighborhood has been calling it potential park space for a decade.” The Department of Public Works owns the land next to the Golden...

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Party in the park will cost $1 million

A three-day concert in Golden Gate Park will cost a promoter at least $1 million — and attendees will have to pony up, too. After garnering an $815,000 fee from August’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Recreation and Park Department officials hope to increase how much of a guaranteed fee they would receive from another three-day event. They are also looking to tack a $3 park-improvement fee onto each ticket, which this year cost concertgoers $85 for a one-day pass and $225 for all three days. The festival, which was the first nighttime concert in Golden Gate Park history, drew more than 130,000 concertgoers. Another Planet Entertainment — the agency that...

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CCSF’s former chancellor in top 10

Former City College of San Francisco Chancellor Philip Day was pulling down one of the top 10 community college salaries in the country ($382,208 a year) before he resigned in April, according to a new study from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Day resigned in April to move to the East Coast, said CCSF board member Milton Marks. Although Day received glowing performance reviews from the district, he was investigated for diverting public funds into political campaigns. CCSF may announce Day’s replacement this week. Candidate finalists include Interim Chancellor Don Griffin, Coastline Community College President Ding-Jo Currie and Stark State College of Technology President John...

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Historic home sitting empty, future uncertain

A 96-year-old historic house in the Marina district has been sitting idle since it was donated to The City a decade ago, but leaders could soon breathe new life into its old bones. Fay House, built in 1912 on Leavenworth and Chestnut streets, was bequeathed to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department in 1998. The department has since painted the house, replaced its roof, renovated the surrounding gardens and opened them to the public. But the house is riddled with dry rot, and caretakers have failed to agree on what should be done with the home or how to raise the estimated $1 million needed for repairs. Interim Rec and Park chief Jared Blumenfeld is now brainstorming ways to...

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Veteran board member heads for re-election

As ballot counting comes to an end, veteran Board of Education member Jill Wynns has turned into the Comeback Kid. Late on election night, Wynns was languishing in fifth place among 15 candidates vying for four seats on the board governing the San Francisco Unified School District. The most recent tally from the Department of Elections, which still has about 5,000 ballots to count, shows her securely in third place behind top vote-getters Sandra Fewer and fellow incumbent Norman Yee. If re-elected, Wynns would soon begin serving her fifth term — the first time any Board of Education member has done so. “It’s a relief for me,” she said. “My emotional...

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Will new playground last?

After years of struggling to build a new playground at Peabody Elementary School, volunteers swooped in and built a new one in just one day. The project is the latest from playground-construction nonprofit KaBOOM!, which has already installed play sites at Crocker Amazon and Balboa parks. Peabody’s Parent-Teacher Association worked for 10 years and raised $25,000 to rebuild the school’s aging play structures, but it was never enough, according to Principal Willem Vroegh. They struck pay dirt when their proposal to KaBOOM! — which covered the costs from top to bottom — was granted. “The kids are thrilled,” Vroegh said. Students pitched in to pick...

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Pilot program may open more schoolyard playgrounds on weekends

One year after 11 public schools began opening on weekends to provide neighbors access to their playgrounds and basketball hoops, leaders are exploring where — and whether — to expand the number of open schoolyards. The pilot project, launched in December with much fanfare by San Francisco Unified School District leaders, Supervisor Carmen Chu and Mayor Gavin Newsom, quietly provided bonus play space through June and relaunched when school started in September. Although some initially feared the move would expose schoolyards to the vandalism seen in San Francisco’s public playgrounds, participating schools so far say the extra traffic actually keeps campuses safer,...

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Schools could ask voters for $531 million

Voters may still be reeling from last week’s election, but public school leaders are already eyeing new measures to boost funding — including up to $531 million in bonds — next November and beyond. The first measure is slated for the November 2009 ballot, when the San Francisco Unified School District hopes to renew a parcel tax that pays for safety upgrades in classrooms. The second includes two bond measures expected to go before voters between 2010 and 2013, according to district officials. San Francisco property owners have been paying the $32.20-per-parcel Mello-Roos tax since it was adopted in 1990, according to David Goldin, school district facilities director....

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School funding takes a back seat

Schools in The City could take a serious hit if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes good on his proposal, announced Wednesday, to slash $2.5 billion from K-12 and community college districts statewide. The San Francisco Unified School District and City College of San Francisco are still reeling from $3 billion in statewide education cuts last summer, which required the school district to take nearly $20 million of The City’s rainy-day fund for public schools. “Any further cuts would be catastrophic,” said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. “Midyear cuts are particularly challenging because we are in contractual agreements with the majority of our work...

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School district poised to revamp lottery system

As parents in The City prepare to run this year’s school-assignment gauntlet, public school leaders have unveiled plans for a revamp of the controversial lottery. The San Francisco Unified School District officially kicks off school assignments for fall 2009 on Saturday, when it hosts the districtwide enrollment fair for parents to get the inside scoop on local schools. The fair, along with tours, is the first step in choosing seven preferred schools — and waiting to find out if their child is assigned to one of those picks when enrollments are announced in March. The labyrinthine process took heat last summer from the civil grand jury and Supervisor Carmen Chu, and led 23...

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Two secure seats in San Francisco school board race, but election is close

Voters favored new perspectives over veteran experience on the San Francisco Board of Education, giving only one of two incumbents a clear win in the race for public schools’ governing body. Norman Yee, first elected four years ago, took a handy lead in Tuesday’s election, while Sandra Fewer, a parent organizer for school-watchdog agency Coleman Advocates, ran a close second, according to early results. The race for the last two seats remained tight between immigrant-rights advocate Barbara Lopez, special-education advisory board member Rachel Norton and veteran board member Jill Wynns, who was first elected in 1992. Wynns was trailing in fifth place at press time,...

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Voters want JROTC allowed in schools

San Francisco voters said they would like to see a popular military-based high school program march back into public high schools. In a controversial 2006 vote, the San Francisco Board of Education ousted the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, which is now slated to be shut down at the end of the school year. Although Tuesday's vote does not require the school district to reverse that decision, many candidates for the Board of Education said they would consider bringing JROTC back if Proposition V...

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Voters decline to decriminalize prostitution

Voters rejected a measure that would have decriminalized prostitution. Proposition K would have prohibited police from using resources to investigate and prosecute sex workers. Opponents said prostitutes are often exploited women and children, and ignoring prostitution laws would have made enforcing rape, extortion and battery laws more difficult. Additionally, funding for The City's rehabilitation program for prostitutes — partially funded by fees from clients who have been arrested — would have dried...

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Millions may go to S.F. schools

San Francisco school district officials hope to turn state sanctions into a silver lining and bankroll their own planned overhaul of schools. The California Board of Education will vote Wednesday and Thursday on penalties against the San Francisco Unified School District, including a new state- mandated curriculum and hiring outside consultants to train teachers in the new curriculum. With those penalties would come $2.7 million in grants to get the job done. SFUSD leaders are hoping to take advantage of the potential changes — and the funding that comes with them — to implement their own “strategic plan” aimed at boosting test scores and academic achievement...

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Fate of city's public golf courses still hangs

The fight over the future of San Francisco's golf courses will continue for several more months, as members of a task force charged with making a decision on how - or whether - to fund the facilities in the future said Wednesday that they needed more information. Golf advocates and those who wish the park land could be used for other purposes packed the last scheduled meeting of The City's ad-hoc Golf Course Task Force. Golfing has declined 50 percent at city courses in the past decade, leading The City's golf revenues to decline, according to a report created for the Recreation and Parks Department by an outside consultant, Leon Younger. Although the report said leasing the six...

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Who's afraid of the big bad cat?

Nancy Mangini still vividly remembers the first time she saw a mountain lion in Woodside, while delivering a prescription from her husband’s pharmacy. “I parked in the driveway, and it just came loping down next to the car,” Mangini said. The second time — about four years ago — she was walking at dusk in Edgewood Park and looked out across the valleys, only to find she wasn’t alone. “I could see a very large feline walking along the ridge, and I thought, ‘This is probably not a good place for me to be,’” Mangini said. In both instances, the sight was “rather thrilling — it reminds you that you are indeed in the...

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Soccer players want golf courses converted to playing fields

The City is starved for sports fields, say local athletes who plan to tell city officials tonight that the solution is to chop up some city-owned golf courses. For years The City has struggled to pay for the upkeep and management of its public golf courses, and in the last year a study was conducted and a task force convened to decide the future of the grassy facilities. While the 2008 study from consultant Leon Younger recommended privatizing the majority of San Francisco’s golf courses as a way of helping them boost revenues, a separate 2004 study by Younger for The City — not related to golf courses — said San Francisco needed to nearly double its playing-field...

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District adopts disaster-prep course for teens

Public school teens will be able to earn credit starting in the fall for learning to save lives, a course that was approved Tuesday night by the school board amidst accusations that the new course was unveiled to derail voter support for a popular military-based program for high school students. The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program is slated to end in June of 2009 as a result of a controversial vote by the school board in 2006. Last week, board members Jane Kim and Norman Yee introduced the 9-week disaster-preparation course last week as a JROTC alternative - just weeks before Proposition V -- which urges the board to bring back JROTC -- goes before San Francisco...

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Police focusing efforts on Mission

With a new report showing an increase of homicides this year in the Mission district, public-safety leaders are introducing new ways to quell the violence. Among the five “zones” the Police Department targeted in March for concentrated resources — the Tenderloin, Mission, Western Addition, Bayview and Visitacion Valley — only the Mission saw a jump in homicide rates, police Capt. John Goldberg told the Public Safety Commission on Monday. Homicides in the Mission increased from nine between Jan. 1 and Oct. 18, 2007, to 12 during the same period this year, Goldberg said. The new statistics come as Supervisor Tom Ammiano, whose district includes the Mission, is...

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Nonprofit's new director ready to help S.F. schools

Ellie Rossiter, the new executive director of the San Francisco chapter of Parents for Public Schools, a nonprofit that aims to get parents involved in strengthening schools, has jumped into the role as the school district moves forward with a new strategic plan and a possible change to the controversial student-assignment system. What are the barriers to getting parents more involved in their children’s school? I think parents are really stretched right now. These days, with budget cuts, parents are called upon to do a lot in the schools, and that means investing a lot of their time. But economically, parents are required to work and that makes it very difficult for them to continue...

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Contamination found in children's sandbox

Noe Valley parents and tykes waited more than two years for their local recreation center and playground to reopen, and are now waiting even longer to use the sandbox after it was found to be contaminated with paint thinner. The new facilities reopened Sept. 6 after a two-year, $11.2 million renovation. A week later, the sandbox was fenced off after parents and Recreation and Park Department staff discovered an odor emanating from the sand, officials said. Inspectors soon confirmed the substance in the sand was paint thinner, according to Alexandra Torre of Friends of Upper Noe Valley Recreation Center. “Department of Public Works tested the sand, and it was found not to be...

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Science academy helps nearby attractions

Overflowing crowds from the newest museum in The City are increasing foot traffic at some city-run attractions but detracting from others. Since opening less than a month ago, the museum has welcomed 142,000 visitors, exceeding the 90,000 predicted between opening day Sept. 27 and Oct. 19, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Stone. Many visitors have also explored nearby attractions, from the de Young Museum to the Japanese Tea Garden, giving officials at those sites a chance to rethink what they offer. Meanwhile, officials at the San Francisco Zoo said the academy’s opening was a major attendance drain in September. “Our attendance has seen a decline since...

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Proximity pondered in school assignment

As school district leaders prepare to overhaul the controversial student-assignment system, the majority of candidates for Board of Education seats say the distance between home and school needs to be a bigger piece of the puzzle. The complex process used to assign students to San Francisco public schools has long vexed parents — and has gone through a number of changes, though none were made in the 2007-08 school year. Both the civil grand jury and Supervisor Carmen Chu have recently called for the district to put more emphasis on placing students in schools close to where they live. Although some parents, especially in Chu’s Sunset district, would like a better shot at...

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Board finds JROTC sub

The latest alternative proposed for The City’s public schools to replace an ousted high school military program could begin training students in emergency preparedness, CPR and disaster response as early as next fall. The new 2.5-credit class would run students through disaster drills and first aid, and call upon students to train their peers, families and others, instilling leadership skills in the process, according to its sponsors, Board of Education members Norman Yee and Jane Kim. The class — called Student Emergency Response Volunteers, or SERV — was approved Tuesday at the board’s curriculum-committee meeting. If approved by the full Board of Education next...

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Teen survives suspected gang-related stabbing

An East Palo Alto teen was in stable condition Sunday after being stabbed repeatedly in the torso Saturday night. The 16-year-old Hispanic boy was walking with friends on Whipple Avenue near Arguello Street — possibly on their way to or from a party — when a group approached the teen from behind and stabbed him several times, according to police reports. When officers arrived, they found him laying in the street. “At first, his wounds appeared quite serious,” said Redwood City police Sgt. Ashley Osborne. “But once we got him to the hospital, we found that his injuries are not life threatening.” After the attack, the suspects fled on foot, according...

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Storied Coit Tower turns 75

Since the day it was built, Coit Tower has stood as a lightning rod of inspiration and controversy due to its size, murals, maintenance and even the trinkets for sale inside. The City’s white tower was raised on Telegraph Hill in 1933, funded by an $118,000 gift from resident Lillie Hitchcock Coit — amounting to one-third of her estate — according to descendant Michael Coit. The tower officially turns 75 on Saturday. A formal celebration by The City is scheduled for Oct. 25. Although visitors from around the world flock to the monument to enjoy the views, it’s often what’s inside Coit Tower — a series of 26 murals created in the 1930s — that...

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Welcome to the Peninsula's next boom

First, it was computer chips. Then, it was DNA sequencing. Now, San Mateo County’s brightest minds are turning to alternative energy — and many are banking on the possibility that the end of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels will be born in the Peninsula’s backyard. From electric-car maker Tesla Motors to LS9, the firm hatching biodiesel from bacterial waste, millions of dollars in investment money has flowed in the direction of the county’s latest booming industry: clean tech. Clean tech is less about a specific field and more about revamping the way energy is created and used, and industry experts say it can be tough to nail down exactly what...

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Bludgeoned man’s widow goes on trial

For the family of Victor Bach, bludgeoned to death on Halloween in 2003, the trial of his widow on fraud and embezzlement charges is long overdue. Jury questioning begins today in the trial of Kathleen Bach, who was indicted by a San Francisco grand jury on 25 counts of fraud and embezzlement in August 2006, according to the District Attorney’s Office. If convicted, she could face 12 years or more in jail. Although a San Francisco police investigation into Victor Bach’s homicide led authorities to discover that someone had pilfered $1.9 million from an estate he had managed — and eventually led to his widow’s arrest — his killer remains at large, despite a...

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Guns showing up on campus

A 14-year-old International Studies Academy student was arrested and faces expulsion after he brought a gun to school last week — the second firearm found on one of The City’s public school sites this month. Administrators found a gun in the student’s backpack the morning of Oct. 7 and called the academy’s on-duty police officer for backup. School officials confiscated the weapon; the student ran away but later returned to the school and was arrested and taken to Juvenile Hall, according to a report from San Francisco police Capt. John Loftus. Principal Bill Sanderson was not available for comment. District spokeswoman Gentle Blythe said Sanderson told her,...

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BART employee dies after being struck by train

A BART track inspector who had worked for the railway for seven years was struck and killed by a train Tuesday morning while on the job. Concord resident James Strickland, 44, was inspecting a length of track at Chateau Court in Walnut Creek at 9:30 a.m. when a train traveling 70 mph struck him from behind. Medical examiners pronounced him dead at the scene, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson. Strickland and another inspector were performing routine checks on the San Francisco-bound trackway when the accident took place. He was facing the way trains on the line would normally approach, but trains were running in both directions because another work crew was performing...

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Board of Education to question member’s junket

Board of Education member Jane Kim is asking for a $642 reimbursement from the school district for a trip to Las Vegas for a hip-hop convention — a reimbursement which may violate board policy barring payback for trips to political events. Kim said the August trip — to the National Hip-Hop Political Convention — had little to do with partisan politics and more to do with sharing information on programs that engage youth at risk of violence, as well as finding ways to get youth involved in voting. “Many of our board members attend other conferences. It’s important for us to do a diversity of conferences,” Kim said. While the convention paid for her...

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Rink may add holiday cheer to Union Square

Union Square, one of The City's most popular shopping destinations, could be transformed into Rockefeller Center West this year if plans to install an ice-skating rink during the holidays are approved this week. Willy Bietak Productions, a former operator of the long-running holiday ice rink at Embarcadero Center, hopes to bring a temporary skating rink to the square this year. Although Union Square has hosted skating in the past, this would be the first time in years, said Gina Eggleston, spokeswoman for the Westin St. Francis Hotel. "We're very excited about having it. It will change the whole atmosphere of the holiday season, and the way the economic times are going now, it...

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Rec and Park director out, Environment director in

If the parks look a little greener this fall, it may be because the director of The City's environmental programs has been asked to keep an eye on San Francisco's recreation spaces and programs - following the departure of an unpopular department head who previously held the job. Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a temporary shuffle within City Hall to fill the position of Recreation and Park General Manager after Yomi Agunbiade announced Sept. 10 that he was stepping down from the job. Agunbiade was named temporary director in 2004 and appointed to the permanent position in July 2005. On Wednesday, Newsom tapped Department of the Environment Director Jared Blumenfeld to temporarily oversee...

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‘Green’ schools drawing outside funding

The City’s public schools are pushing harder than ever to go green — but the greenbacks to pay for it are mostly coming from outside the district. The San Francisco Unified School District recently unveiled its new director of sustainability, Nik Kaestner, whose task will be expanding gardens, rainwater catchments and other eco-friendly ideas to more schools, and locating grants, rebates and other dollars to fund them, since district funds are scarce. Also, Kaestner’s $90,480 salary is being paid for by outsiders. Half is from the Public Utilities Commission and half is from in-kind contributions from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office, Kaestner told The Examiner on...

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Hungry mountain lions roam

More than a half-dozen mountain lions recently spotted in local parks and semi-wild areas are most likely looking for their next meal, wildlife officials say. Residents have reported eight sightings of the big cats since late August, including two that were spied entering Edgewood Park on Aug. 21 and two more that were reportedly walking along a trail Sept. 30 on San Bruno Mountain, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. Another was reported at Wunderlich Park on Friday, but none were reported during the weekend, said Sgt. Art Martinez of the Sheriff's Office. Although there has been a rash of mountain lion sightings this fall, the felines are active year-round,...

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Man injured in possible gang-related shooting

Police are looking for two suspects who allegedly shot a man several times early Sunday morning near a busy stretch of SoMa nightclubs before fleeing. Two Hispanic men bumped into each other while walking along the 200 block of 11th Street shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said. One lifted his shirt to reveal a gun in his waistband, then raised the gun and fired several times, hitting the victim in the stomach, arm, buttocks and other areas, Williams said. The victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition late Sunday, according to police. The shooting took place in front of a club, though Williams...

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JROTC may hinge on election

San Francisco’s embattled high school military program could still have a fighting chance, depending on who is elected to the Board of Education this November. Two years ago, the school board voted to phase out the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and it is now scheduled to end its run in The City’s public high schools in June 2009. However, the November ballot includes a nonbinding measure asking residents to support JROTC. Voters will also be asked to choose between 15 candidates vying for four open seats on the school board. Several of the candidates told The Examiner that if Measure V passes, they would move to keep JROTC, including challengers...

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Next Rec and Park chief faces uphill climb

No matter who winds up being the next leader of The City’s Recreation and Park Department, operating the agency and its 200-plus facilities won’t be a walk in the park. Embattled General Manager Yomi Agunbiade has endured a lot of criticism during his four-year tenure on the job. As he prepares to step down and a committee begins its search to find his replacement, a number of major and ongoing projects loom. The Recreation and Park Department is in the midst of rolling out a $185 million park-improvement bond greenlighted by voters in February. It also is determining the future of its public golf courses — and Candlestick Park, should the 49ers move the team to...

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Park smoking may be doused

Smokers in parks may soon waft away as the city looks to become the latest on the Peninsula to snuff out smoking in green spaces. So far, more than 30 cities statewide have told smokers to butt out of their parks or outdoor spaces, including San Francisco, Belmont, Burlingame and Pacifica. The Redwood City Parks and Recreation Commission is cooking up a similar ban that could be forwarded to the City Council later this fall, according to parks Superintendent Chris Beth. As with many city-based bans, it started with a conflict between residents, according to Beth. “I was working at a Music in the Park event and someone came up to me because another person refused to stop...

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Lowell student elected to SFUSD board

Maxwell Wallace, a 17-year-old Lowell High School senior, was elected by his peers to represent students on the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education this year. Were you surprised your peers picked you? Obviously it’s a great honor, but I think they made the right decision, because I have qualifications. I was an intern with [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s office for a summer and I worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign. What have students said they would like the board to do this year? They want improved quality in the school lunches. Also, the recent [San Francisco Unified School District] satisfaction survey came out and it showed students don’t...

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City sued over Stern Grove tree death

The family of a woman killed by a falling redwood branch in Stern Grove last April is suing The City on the grounds that the tree was a known hazard, attorneys for the family said Tuesday. Resident Kathleen Bolton was loading her car in the grove’s concert meadow parking lot April 14 when the branch fell onto the car, crushing it and killing her. Pleasanton-based HortScience described the tree as, “in decline, with extensive dieback of large branches and significant structural defects which cannot be abated” in a January 2004 report commissioned by the Recreation and Park Department. “This tree had been in this condition for a very long time,” said Doris...

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Public golfing greens may be privatized

The City’s public golf courses could earn significantly more money if they were turned over to private management, according to a long-awaited study that critics say is based on faulty fiscal and demographic information. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department operates six golf courses, ranging from the carefully manicured Harding Park — which hosts the PGA Tour — to the scruffy Lincoln Park, which boasts views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Golfing has declined 50 percent at these courses in the past decade, leading The City’s golf fund — used for golf-related revenues and expenses and managed by the Recreation and Park Department — to lose...

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Budget weighs on lead removal

The Recreation and Park Department knows that nearly 140 of its facilities are contaminated by lead, but it says a tight budget means it will be years before cleanup is completed. City agencies are required by the Department of Public Health to remove lead from buildings constructed before 1978. Recreation and Park fell behind, and in 2003, the department was required to step up its efforts and report quarterly to the Board of Supervisors on its progress, said Karen Cohn, a children’s health manager at DPH. At the same time, DPH lobbied for an annual allowance of $200,000 to help Recreation and Park continue cleanup. However, “$200,000 doesn’t really do...

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City, Walgreens throw first punches in legal fight

Walgreens’ legal fight to continue selling cigarettes at stores in San Francisco places the drugstore chain’s financial interests ahead of the health of The City’s residents, the City Attorney’s Office argued in a brief filed Thursday. San Francisco became the first city in the nation to ban cigarette sales at pharmacies when the Board of Supervisors approved the legislation sponsored by Mayor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 5. Walgreens filed a lawsuit against The City on Sept. 9, which will be heard Sept. 30 in California Superior Court, the day before the law is scheduled to take effect. “There is no legal basis for granting such a request,” City Attorney...

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LitQuake director helps festival write new chapter

Literary agent Elise Proulx is also the executive director of San Francisco's LitQuake, which runs this year Oct. 3-11. How has LitQuake evolved since its beginning? In 2002, it was a two-day festival and we only had a few events at the library and nearby venues, and to us it seemed like frantic activity. Now it’s around 20 times bigger. What’s the best thing about the festival? Everyone’s always complaining about the publishing industry, about how few people read books and tolling the bell of disaster. It’s great to do something where I’m encouraging people to read, meeting writers and thinking about literature. What makes our writers — and literary...

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Voting concerns loom with election nearing

Elections director John Arntz is always nervous when election season looms, but in November he’s anticipating the largest voter turnout in San Francisco history — and those voters may be using new voting machines that still have not been certified by the state. Sequoia Voting Systems, the maker of the machines San Francisco intends to use this November, submitted its ranked-choice systems to Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office late this summer and testing of those systems is complete, according to Bowen spokeswoman Kate Folmar. Following a public hearing on the test results Sept. 26, the earliest Bowen could certify the machines for use is Oct. 6 — the same...

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Crane crash rattles Pac Heights

When a crane fell in Pacific Heights, it was definitely heard. A telehandler, which is part crane and part forklift, toppled Tuesday morning when its one-man crew was unloading six olive trees. The accident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on a hilly portion of Lyon Street near the corner of Broadway, just outside the gates of the Presidio. Crews on scene reported that the machine toppled down Lyon when the operator tried to lift the first tree off the delivery truck. “I just heard the boom when it fell, and then heard the man shouting to call 911,” said Rosalnd Hill, who works as a housekeeper in a house on the corner of Lyon and Broadway. She called for help, then went...

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Recreation and Park shakeup may have been final straw

A decision by the head of The City’s Recreation and Park Department to fire a popular manager may have been the reason he was pushed out of a job, officials said Thursday. Following months of rumors that his job was in jeopardy and closed-door talks with Mayor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night, General Manager Yomi Agunbiade announced Wednesday that he was stepping down from his post. Just days earlier, Rhoda Parhams, director of the department’s capital division, told staff she would be leaving, according to spokesman Elton Pon. Agunbiade had taken steps to remove her, a department staffer confirmed. Jim Lazarus, vice chair of the Recreation and Park Commission, believes...

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San Mateo County fights to protect its elders

On Oct. 6, 2007, a 57-year-old Foster City man took the sharp end of a claw hammer, hit his 81-year-old father on the head and left him to bleed on the floor for an hour before calling paramedics. The father survived. On Aug. 25, Jayantibhai “Johnny” Patel pleaded no contest to a charge of elder abuse with great bodily harm. He faces up to five years in prison. Prosecutors said the son launched the attack because he believed his father would not qualify for admission into a rest home unless he had been hospitalized first. Patel will be sentenced Nov. 7. “[Patel] wanted to render him unconscious in the hope that he could go from the hospital to a care facility...

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Recreation and Park director steps down

After months of criticism and rumors that his job was in jeopardy, the embattled head of The City's Recreation and Park Department, Yomi Agunbiade, is leaving the troubled department. Mayor Gavin Newsom's office met privately with Agunbiade Tuesday night, according to Jim Lazarus, vice chair of the Recreation and Park Commission. Agunbiade then reportedly told Recreation and Park staff Wednesday morning that he was stepping down from the job, according to Isabel Wade, executive director of the Neighborhood Parks Council, a city parks-advocacy group. Commissioners were not informed of the decision or the reason behind it, Lazarus said. Newsom has asked Agunbiade to remain in his...

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Percentage of S.F. seniors passing exit exam falls

When The City’s public high school students received diplomas a few months ago, hundreds did not graduate because they had not passed the state’s exit exam — a larger percentage than the previous year. Education officials noted that for the first time special education students were required to pass the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, in order to graduate — a mandate that sunk local and state graduation rates. Among San Francisco 12th graders scheduled to graduate in May 2008, 90.6 percent passed the exit exam, compared with 93.8 percent in the Class of 2007. However, 48.7 percent of seniors in special education passed; without them, the overall...

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Fewer California 12th graders pass exit exam

Fewer California high school students in the class of 2008 passed the exit exam than seniors who graduated in 2007 or 2006, according to new data from the California Department of Education. Since 2006, high school students have been required to pass the California High School Exit Exam to graduate. Among seniors in the class of 2008, 90.2 percent had passed the exam – which is first administered when students are in 10th grade – before graduation ceremonies last spring, according to the CDE. That’s down from 93.3 percent of seniors in the class of 2007 who had passed the exit exam by May 2007, and 91.2 percent of seniors in the class of 2006 who had aced the test by...

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San Francisco’s preschool program ahead of schedule

San Francisco’s free preschool program is expanding so 4-year-olds in every ZIP code can get a leg up on kindergarten, Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce today. The program, called Preschool for All, was launched after voters passed Proposition H in November 2004, an annual set-aside that provides city funds for public schools along with a universal preschool program. San Francisco’s Preschool for All program started in 2005 with 1,000 4-year-olds and will now accommodate 4,800 of The City’s 6,000 4-year-olds, according to Nathan Ballard, spokesman for Newsom’s office. The program rollout — providing a free half-day preschool for all 4-year-olds,...

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Diversity may be hurting S.F. students

San Francisco may have a diverse student population, but instructors struggle to understand and teach based on cultural differences, according to a new survey released this week. Last spring, the San Francisco Unified School District polled parents, teachers, administrators and faculty at every school for a survey dubbed the “Satisfaction Survey 2008,” whose results will be revealed to the Board of Education tonight. The results are used to shape the district’s plan to improve students’ performance and educational experience at every school. About 36 percent of principals and vice principals said their teachers lacked the cultural knowledge they needed in order...

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Tree plan shaping street scene

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s promise to plant more than 5,000 trees this year has taken root, according to a new report, but questions remain about how The City will maintain its existing forest. Newsom pledged two years ago to plant new trees throughout The City and this year 5,167 were added, 4,280 on public streets, according to a new report from The City’s Urban Forestry Council. San Francisco has roughly 700,000 trees — including 106,000 on public streets with room for 120,000 more, particularly in low-income neighborhoods — according to the report. But 51 percent of San Francisco’s trees are young — with trunks less than 6 inches in diameter —...

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Supes take aim at zoo overhaul

As a proposal to turn the San Francisco Zoo into a rescue center heads to a vote Tuesday, Supervisor Bevan Dufty is looking for other ways to bolster the future of the facility and its animals and Mayor Gavin Newsom has come out against the rescue plan. Supervisor Chris Daly introduced a plan to convert the zoo into an operation that would focus on rescuing exotic animals from dangerous wild or private situations. On Aug. 7, a Board of Supervisors committee voted 2-1 in support of the proposal, with Daly and Supervisor Tom Ammiano backing the concept. Dufty voted against it. The full Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday. Conditions at the zoo have remained...

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City schools fall shy of federal benchmarks

A seven-year growth streak on state test scores wasn’t enough to save San Francisco’s public school district from a potential complete overhaul or takeover by the state. Although local test scores keep climbing, they’re not climbing fast enough by federal measures that require every school and every group of students — from Hispanics to special-education children — to reach proficiency in math and English by 2014. This year, 50 percent of The City’s public schools met the federal Adequate Yearly Progress targets, or AYP, required under the No Child Left Behind Act — less than the state average of 52 percent, according to the California...

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California students show gains on standardized tests

More California students taking state standardized tests met state and federal assessment benchmarks in 2008 than in 2007 — despite the fact that the federal bar is higher than ever. This year, 53 percent of all schools in the state met the state’s Annual Performance Index, or API, growth targets on a vast array of tests, including the California Standards Test and the California High School Exit Exam. That’s up from 45 percent in the 2006-07 school year, according to data released by the California Department of Education today. The state’s API ranking — a number between a low of 200 and a high of 1,000, with a target goal of 800 — rewards schools...

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Old parks could get new perks

Sweeping plans for some of the Bay Area’s most famous coastal areas could bring historic streetcars to Fort Mason, hotel facilities to Alcatraz and signs so hikers will no longer get lost at Land’s End. Caretakers for the region’s national coastal parks — including 16 sites in San Francisco and seven in San Mateo County — are weighing whether to spend the next 20 years boosting visitor perks at those parks, focusing on conservation or playing up park goers’ experience of history, including what it was like to be a prisoner on The Rock. Leaders with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are close to picking one of those options after sifting...

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North Beach rethinks its streets

A faction of North Beach neighbors may oppose plans to close a section of Mason Street to build a new library and park, but it is not the only potential street closure locals have up their sleeves. Plans are afoot to close a block of Vallejo Street between Columbus and Grant avenues. There, neighbors hope to install a piazza where visitors can stroll, enjoy a cup of coffee at Caffe Trieste and visit the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. Residents delivered piazza designs to City Hall in late August after many years in the dream stage, said resident Arthur Chang. “Twelve to 15 years ago, everyone said, ‘You won’t get support to close streets,’ but now we have a...

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Merchants mobilize after violent stabbing, robbery

The head of a merchant association in the normally quiet neighborhood of Glen Park is renewing his demand for a police surveillance camera at Diamond and Chenery streets after the owner of a corner market was nearly stabbed to death during a robbery Friday night. Glen Park Merchant’s Association President Ric Lopez, owner of ModernPast furniture store on Chenery Street, said he has been asking San Francisco police to install a camera at the busy corner for three years. Paul Park, the 53-year-old owner of Buddy’s Super Market on Chenery Street at Diamond Street, was beaten and stabbed, and a fellow employee was kidnapped by unknown suspects late Friday, according to police....

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Facelift slated for Bayview community hub

Quintin Johnson has been a patron at the Bayview Library since she was 5. Now, as an adult, she comes by regularly to pick out books for her children, 2 and 8. For residents such as Johnson, the library is something of a second home — and that second home is about to be rebuilt from the ground up. The Bayview branch was built in the late 1960s, a 6,000-square-foot bunker-style building on the corner of Third Street and Revere Avenue, and hasn’t changed much since, branch manager Linda Brooks Burton said. The Library Commission last week approved the $1.3 million purchase of a building next door, paving the way for a complete tear-down and rebuild in 2010, Deputy City...

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Burning Man feeling heat from economy

For 22 years, San Franciscans have been participating in the Burning Man festival, now held in the Nevada desert. But this year, the burn has competition from other corners, including many regulars’ pocketbooks. Ticket prices rose, from $280 in 2007 to $295 in 2008, while paychecks likely have not. “The cheaper tickets sold out quickly, and with food, supplies and expensive gas to get there, the costs add up quickly,” San Franciscan Christina Aburto-Vite said. Palo Alto resident Don McCasland, who has attended the annual art event since 1997, has a family wedding this year that will keep him away. He said he and fellow Burning Man friends plan to gather this weekend for...

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Park department seeking money for recreation centers

Three recreation center projects funded by voter-approved bonds have suffered significant delays and, in some cases, costly design errors, according to Recreation and Park Department officials. The department is seeking more than $2 million in damages from West Bay Builders, the company that performed major renovations at the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center in Oceanview. Although the center opened this summer, its heating system still does not work and there are ongoing problems with the new landscaping, said Rhoda Parhams, planning director for the department. Rec and Park is working with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office to require West Bay to repair the...

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Superintendent making the grade

Touring a number of schools on the first day of classes Monday, Carlos Garcia was greeted heartily by parents, teachers and principals, some shaking his hands, some actually hugging him. As the superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, Garcia had some massive hurdles to overcome when he was hired to lead the district last summer. Former superintendent Arlene Ackerman departed with the reputation of having polarized the district. Schools’ leaders said black and Hispanic students were falling further behind. “We needed someone who was a unifying force, someone who could speak to the positives about public education and yet have a clear understanding of the...

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San Francisco pays up for failed rescue

The family of a 26-year-old man who died two years ago after an off-duty firefighter tried to rescue him from the edge of a roof will receive a financial settlement from The City, after claiming the firefighter was at fault. On Oct. 12, 2006, Nick Torrico, of Seattle, climbed the fire escape to the roof’s edge of an apartment building on Powell Street and appeared poised to jump. As police negotiators at street level tried to talk to him away from the edge, San Francisco fire Lt. Victor Wyrsch surprisingly went onto the roof to intervene, authorities said. Wyrsch attempted to grab Torrico in a bear hug, but Torrico wrestled himself from the fireman’s arms and fell, the...

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Three-day music festival ends on good note

Golden Gate Park’s first foray into nighttime concerts hit almost zero sour notes. Tens of thousands of music fans swarmed the park’s polo fields throughout the weekend to take in the sounds of Radiohead, Beck, Steel Pulse, Ben Harper, Primus, Broken Social Scene and dozens more. And by Sunday afternoon, fans had reveled without any arrests or major episodes of drunken misconduct, according to police and event organizers. “We had some minor things, such as some fences broken down and people jumping the fence, but there were no huge problems,” said Sgt. Wilfred Williams, spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department. The massive crowds caused few headaches...

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High school assistant principal appears in court

A Galileo High School assistant principal accused of helping operate two brothels in San Jose appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Thursday, but did not enter a plea. Gerald Courtney, 57, was arrested for allegedly setting up leases for two apartments in San Jose where prostitution took place, San Jose police Sgt. Mike Sullivan said. Police also believe Courtney posted online advertisements for the prostitution business, while his accomplice, Hsiu Hwa Chou, served as the operation’s madam, Sullivan said. Chou, along with two women accused of prostitution, was also arrested Aug. 7. No students from the San Francisco Unified School District were involved in the...

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Overtime battle not quite over

City agencies notorious for paying employees time-and-a-half say a new law aimed at curbing overtime spending will not reduce the need to have some workers clock more than 40 hours per week. A city employee cannot earn more than 30 percent of his or her salary in overtime per year under the new law, unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 5. However, the rule does not cap overtime spending per department — and exceptions can be made in emergencies or situations where an employee’s specific skills are needed, Deputy Controller Monique Zmuda said. “If, in the Coroner’s Office, all the physicians have already put in their overtime and there are...

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Assistant principal charged in prostitution ring delays plea

A Galileo High School assistant principal accused of helping operate two brothels in San Jose appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court today for the first time since his Aug. 7 arrest, but did not enter a plea. Gerald Courtney, 57, was arrested by San Jose police for allegedly setting up leases for two apartments, one at 1550 Technology Drive and one at 80 Descanso Drive, in mixed-use neighborhoods not far from the San Jose Airport, police Sgt. Mike Sullivan said. No minors, school officials or students from the San Francisco Unified School District were involved in the operation, police said. “Mr. Courtney has denied any wrongdoing in the matter,” according to a...

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3-Minute Interview: Raj Patel

The author of “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle of the World Food System,” will speak Wednesday at the Commonwealth Club. What inspired “Stuffed and Starved”? I wanted people to … get incensed about the fact that the forces that impoverish farmers are the same forces feeding us such bad food, especially in America. Life expectancy is shortening because of the diets we’re being fed here. What has changed in the political and food landscape since the book came out? I finished the book in 2006, when the food crisis was just beginning to blossom. Since then, it’s really hit with a vengeance. In 2006, there were 845 million people going...

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Back to school in The City: Funds stretched thin

While cash-strapped school districts around the country struggle to find or maintain funding for arts education, the San Francisco Unified School District will have money this coming school year for 14 new elementary art teachers. Public schools receive most of their funding from the state, but this money comes courtesy of San Francisco voters, who in March 2004 passed Proposition H. The measure sets aside city money for sports, arts, libraries, music and other needs for the San Francisco Unified School District. Schools have seen significant benefits from the influx of revenue. “We received a part-time librarian, which made us able to not only open our library, but teach kids...

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Back to school: The struggle to find preschool openings

While some kids are going back to school, others are taking their first toddler steps into a classroom. In recent years, the pressure on parents to find quality preschool programs for their young children has risen — there are parents who enroll their children in preschool practically before they’re out of the womb. Parents who were not proactive in getting their child into a preschool still have hope to get accepted into a good school, according to some experts in the pre-kindergarten business. In fact, just before the beginning of fall isn’t such a bad time to sign up, said Stacey Boyd of San Francisco-based Savvy Source, a free online service that connects parents...

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Back to school: Getting into college takes time, money

Although the school year is just getting started, many high school students with their eyes on college must run a dizzying gauntlet of courses, college research, entrance exams and applications to get into their choice of universities. There are “a lot of pieces that go into the process” of gaining entrance to college, said Sarah Zeigler, the associate director of Palo Alto-based Admissions Academy, a college-preparatory company that typically charges $1,000 per semester for its services. College hopefuls need to research options; participate in extracurricular activities that will impress admissions counselors; take on challenging academics that usually comes with demanding...

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Zoo may dump youth ticket price

The cost to get into the San Francisco Zoo could increase by $4 for most patrons starting in September — and could nearly triple for teens who live in The City. The zoo faces a $1.5 million revenue shortfall in the coming budget year, and is banking on a hike in ticket prices, along with more donations, to help cover ongoing operating costs. If Recreation and Park commissioners approve the proposed fees Thursday, residents would pay up to $13 to get in the door, while nonresident tickets would cost up to $15. In addition, Tanya Peterson, interim director of the San Francisco Zoo, has proposed doing away with a “youth” category for patrons ages 12 to 17 and charging...

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State schools chief: ‘A long way to go’

Although California students continue to show steady gains on statewide assessments, fewer than half of students statewide are at grade level in math and English, according to newly released results of state standardized tests. In the previous six years, California has seen its pass rates on the English portion of the California Standards Test rise from 35 percent in 2003 to 46 percent in 2008, while passing rates in mathematics rose from 35 percent to 43 percent in the same time span, according to data released by the California Department of Education. While state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said he was encouraged by the gains, he also said California...

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City students show uneven progress on state test

Approximately half of San Francisco’s public-school students are not testing at grade level in math and English — and according to newly released state test data, the gap between white and Asian students and their black and Hispanic peers in The City widened in 2008. San Francisco Unified School District officials saw the glass as half full, touting at a news conference Thursday the SFUSD’s seventh straight increase in scores on the annual test. Superintendent Carlos Garcia did express concern about what’s known as the “achievement gap” between black and Latino students and their peers. The California Standards Test is administered to students...

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Bucks from bond to boost bayfront

From India Basin to Heron’s Head Park, San Francisco’s waterfront is dotted with islands of open space. Now, a new infusion of cash will help pave the way for more than 13 miles of new trails, which could open the door for a renaissance along the bayfront. Funds from a voter-approved bond measure that become available in September will go toward a bevy of projects that supporters say could leverage private funding to boost a renaissance on Port of San Francisco land from Pier 43 to Candlestick Point. Creating public spaces along Port property should hasten San Francisco’s waterfront renewal, said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director at the San Francisco Planning and...

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Chu pushes for overhaul of assignment system

District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu will urge the San Francisco Unified School District to completely revamp its school-assignment process — especially with an eye toward sending children to their neighborhood schools — at a hearing today. Chu’s district includes the Sunset district, where some of the highest-demand schools, including Lowell High School, are located. The district ran an “instant lottery” Wednesday night for the parents of 23 incoming kindergartners who learned two weeks ago that they’d been bumped from Spanish-immersion classes at Flynn and Alvarado schools. A competing group of kindergarten parents, still waiting for one of their...

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The Peninsula fights a big battle against a little moth

For farmers throughout San Mateo County, the much-ballyhooed light brown apple moth is living up to its reputation as a pest — though not in the usual way. Much has been made of the pint-size insect, primarily because major citizen protests erupted after hundreds of residents in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties reported health problems after state and federal agriculture officials conducted an aerial spraying program last fall to keep the moths from mating. In June, officials announced that they would shelve a plan for additional spraying in California. Instead, state officials will try to control the invasive pest with a program that releases sterile moths in an attempt to...

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Advocates on hunt for recycling center home

Controversial plans to build a recycling center in a city-owned park could be tabled in favor of building on another site within the Sunnydale public-housing project, Housing Authority officials confirmed Tuesday. “We have identified viable locations within the property, and we will definitely find a location soon,” Housing Authority spokeswoman Gloria Chan said. She said her group is working with residents to pick out a spot. However, the Housing Authority has not yet completely tabled the John McLaren Park notion, she said. Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval introduced a resolution Tuesday that would force the Housing Authority and the Recreation and Park Department to show...

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San Francisco school board battle is on

The race for San Francisco school board may just be getting underway, but several candidates are eyeing the possibility of closing schools or charging for bus service to save the district money if the state’s economy worsens.Four of seven seats on the board are up forgrabs this November. Incumbents Eric Mar and Mark Sanchez intend to run for the Board of Supervisors, leaving room for at least two new faces, while Jill Wynns and Norman Yee aim to hang on to their seats.San Francisco Unified School District leaders patched a......

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3-Minute Interview: Anya Fernald

The executive director of Slow Food Nation was on hand for the planting of the vegetable garden — named for the wartime Victory Gardens — at City Hall. Food grown in the 10,000-square-foot plot will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank until the garden shuts down at the end of September. What makes Slow Food right for the Bay Area? We live close to some of the most productive agriculture in the world. At the same time, we have urban food deserts a few miles away from those......

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3-Minute Interview: Jon Weiss

Weiss, 46, worked for the Ringling Brothers circus for 26 years before joining Circus Vargas this year as its host. Circus Vargas will raise the big top at AT&T Park Aug. 13. Did you always want to be a circus performer? I went to Ringling Brothers clown college in 1981. I thought I’d do it for a year, but I fell in love with it. And then I started doing human cannonball in 1987. Isn’t the cannonball the thing nobody wants to do? Yeah, because it’s one of the most......

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Business-tax proposal could raise $1.1 billion

State legislators may suspend a business-tax deduction to pump an additional $1.1 billion into California’s coffers — a proposal that small businesses fear could hurt their bottom line.Currently, businesses that lose money one year can take a tax deduction in the next year they turn a profit. Under the proposal from the Assembly Budget Committee, that deduction would be tabled for three years — but could be claimed in year four.Although the proposal would affect all businesses in California, smaller firms say it will hit them the hardest.Ninety-nine percent of......

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Doors open for those who served

When Kendra Stewardson returned to San Francisco from her post as a helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam, she — like many veterans — hoped for a hero’s welcome.Instead, she was refused a disability pension, and taking care of her terminally ill mother left her penniless — and eventually homeless."I looked in my checking account and said, ‘Girl, you’d better buy a sleeping bag,’" she said.After 18 months sleeping on city sidewalks, Stewardson walked through the doors of Project Homeless Connect, founded by Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration in 2004, and within hours......

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Sunday is libraries’ new fun day

The prayers of San Francisco’s library advocates have finally been answered.Seven San Francisco library branches will be open an extra day starting this year, restoring Sunday service in several neighborhoods and offering seven-day access in three of The City’s most remote communities. Along with San Francisco’s main downtown library, only seven of The City’s branch libraries previously had permanent Sunday hours.Although all libraries are open Saturdays, library advocates have clamored for years to have more branches open on both weekend days.......

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School's out, but drill is still audible

While students are away for the summer, construction crews are digging, hammering and drilling away at campuses across San Francisco, launching $29 million in bond-funded improvements.The work represents the last of a $295 million bond approved by voters in 2003, as well as the start of a $450 million bond approved in 2006, said David Goldin, facilities director for the San Francisco Unified School District. Many projects that kick off this summer will continue into the fall and winter — and some well into next year.The construction this summer will......

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3-Minute Interview: Anya Fernald

The executive director of Slow Food Nation was on hand for the planting of the vegetable garden — named for the wartime Victory Gardens — at City Hall. Food grown in the 10,000-square-foot plot will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank until the garden shuts down at the end of September.What makes Slow Food right for the Bay Area? We live close to some of the most productive agriculture in the world. At the same time, we have urban food deserts a few miles away from those farms,......

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High school dropouts up

High school students in San Francisco and San Mateo counties are dropping out at much higher rates than educators previously thought, according to new data released by the California Department of Education on Wednesday.San Francisco’s historic dropout rate, which has fluctuated between 1 percent and 2 percent per year in the previous decade,is closer to 5.2 percent per year — 21.2 percent for a four-year period, compared with 24.2 percent statewide, according to the CDE.On the Peninsula, where one-year dropout rates ranged from 1.3 percent to 2.2 percent this decade,......

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Keeping track of dropouts streamlined

An exhaustive tracking system unveiled today will provide the first accurate dropout rates for San Francisco and statewide schools. Until now, students who left a school were often counted as dropouts even if they transferred to another district or passed the California High School Proficiency Exam, according to Keric Ashley, director of data management for the California Department of Education. Starting......

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Macy’s roof fire cues evacuation

Noontime Macy’s shoppers and diners at the Cheesecake Factory in Union Square found their lunch plans interrupted Monday when a rooftop electrical explosion forced an evacuation of the building. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., a power surge caused rooftop electrical equipment to flash and spark, said Mike Morris, battalion chief with the Continued...

 

San Mateo is hit by rash of nighttime home burglaries

A rash of rare nighttime burglaries has San Mateo police asking residents to keep their houses secure — even when they’re home. Houses on the 500 block of Fairfax Avenue were targeted during the early-morning hours of Friday. In all three cases, residents discovered that motion-sensing lights and security alarms were tripped. In two cases, residents heard rustling noises in their back yards and found gates open or window screens damaged, according to police. Nothing was stolen, police said. Although police......

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Heat wave won’t bring blackouts

Despite high temperatures, San Francisco is expected to avoid the type of blackouts it had in the summer of 2006.In San Francisco, heat-related electrical use hasn't been enough to cause outages, according to Suzanne Gautier, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.While much of the Bay Area has scorched, San Francisco’s temperatures have remained in the 70s and......

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Special-ed students drop scores

A requirement for special-education students to take the California High School Exit Exam this year caused overall pass rates on the exam to drop both locally and statewide, according to an analysis from school district experts Wednesday.The exam was created by state lawmakers to create a benchmark of achievement for California’s high school graduates. California began requiring high school students to pass the exit exam in order to graduate in 2006, and special-education students were given the same requirement this year. A......

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Paying up for not hanging up

More than 100 Bay Area drivers, unable to resist chatting on cell phones while driving, were cited during the first week of July after the hands-free cell phone law went into effect. Drivers in California are not allowed to talk on cell phones without using a hands-free device. Drivers under 18 are not allowed to drive and talk on a phone at all. Across the Bay Area, California Highway Patrol officers handed......

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The City’s hospital bill: $887.4 million

An $887.4 million bond measure to pay for retrofitting and new construction at 93-year-old San Francisco General Hospital would cost homeowners an additional $289 in property taxes on a home priced at $500,000, according to a report by the Budget Analyst’s Office.For years, city leaders have discussed putting a funding measure before voters to raise the needed funds for the hospital rebuild. During his re-election victory speech in......

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Diplomas behind bars offer students second chance

A pioneering charter high school for adults housed within San Francisco County jails won approval this week to triple its size, a move that could bolster its ability to graduate inmates and reduce rates of recidivism.Five Keys Charter High School, founded in 2003, was the first charter high school in the United States to open its doors within a......

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Vote tallying could present another fiasco

With the November election four months away, San Francisco’s new voting machines have not yet received state approval — a problem that left The City hand-counting ballots last year.San Francisco signed a $12.6 million contract in December to purchase the new electronic-voting machines from Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems in December.Secretary of State Debra Bowen gave San Francisco conditional approval to use its previous machines from Election Systems & Software to tabulate ballots last fall, necessitating a hand-count that resulted in a final tally not being available until December.The situation led......

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Fewer classrooms, fewer grade levels mean fewer pupils

Fewer than half of elementary and middle school students who need summer school to keep up are actually attending classes this summer — a result some officials say may be due to cutbacks that make the program less accessible. After the San Francisco Unified School District’s summer-school reimbursement from the state was slashed 16 percent, the district ended summer classes at six schools — reducing the total locations to 16 out of The City’s 111 public schools. Additionally,......

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Fireworks for Fourth may fall under fog

Sunny, warmer days should prevail in San Francisco and on the Peninsula through the Fourth of July weekend, but evening fog could threaten fireworks displays in some coastal areas. Barbecuers and game-goers can rest easy: Daytime highs are expected to range from the mid-60s to lower 70s in San Francisco, while in San Mateo County temperatures will rise into the 70s and even the lower 80s in some of the warmest......

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Supervisors eye options for funds

San Francisco youth programs could see an additional $3.25 million due to a healthy bump in property tax revenues, but somesupervisors would like to see those voter-allocated dollars go to other needy programs in future years. Initially, the new funds — which come from the voter-approvedChildren’s Fund, a mix of property taxes and general-fund dollars for youth programs — includedrevenues for Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to spend $1.5 million on bank accounts......

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Supervisors eye options for funds

San Francisco youth programs could see an additional $3.25 million due to a healthy bump in property tax revenues, but somesupervisors would like to see those voter-allocated dollars go to other needy programs in future years. Initially, the new funds — which come from the voter-approvedChildren’s Fund, a mix of property taxes and general-fund dollars for youth programs — includedrevenues for Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to spend $1.5 million on bank accounts for babies born in San Francisco and $375,000 on vouchers for sixth-graders to visit museums. Supervisors overturned those......

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Same-sex marriage measure defended

A Florida-based legal firm filed a motion in San Francisco court Monday defending a November ballot initiative opposing same-sex marriage — apparently without collaborating with the initiative’s supporters.Liberty Counsel’s motion, filed in California Supreme Court, aims to block a motion filed June 20 by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, the ACLU and Equality California.While the earlier motion sought to remove an upcoming ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage from the November ballot, Liberty Counsel’s motion seeks to keep it there, according to founder Mathew Staver.If the initial measure......

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Funds sinking alongside enrollment

Declining enrollment at San Francisco’s public high schools will leave the secondary school campuses with about $2.4 million less in per-pupil funding next year.Districtwide, enrollment is projected to drop by 348 students in the 2008-09 school year, according to budget documents adopted by the San Francisco Board of Education this week. While most elementary schools are expected to swell with students, middle schools — and especially high schools — are expected to see fewer faces come August.While new parents may stick close to San Francisco while their children are young,......

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City to cut school funds in exchange for services

An annual allocation of city funds approved by voters for San Francisco’s public schools was reduced by $1.75 million and replaced with an in-kind amount of city services, it was announced Thursday at a Board of Supervisors meeting.Passed in 2004, Proposition H provides city funding for sports, libraries, art, music and other needs for the San Francisco Unified School District. The district is scheduled to receive $30 million in......

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School credit taken from JROTC

San Francisco public schools will no longer give students physical education credit for participating in a high school military program following a heated 4-3 vote Thursday. The decision trumps a 3-3 vote last week on the same resolution to end giving gym credit to students who participate in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Nearly 20 percent of students in the program, polled last December, said they enroll because they don’t......

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Lottery for school assignment comes under fire

San Francisco’s public school system should abandon the complicated school assignment lottery system that attempts to diversify student populations and return to giving families preference at neighborhoods schools, according to a report scheduled for release today.The civil grand jury report revives a long-standing debate about how to best assign students to schools. It suggests an overhaul that would redraw boundaries, resulting in neighborhood schools that pool from a larger area with students of different ethnicities, according to Continued...

 

Agencies reach pact to help foster youths

Schools have been slow to implement sweeping legislation passed four years ago to protect foster youths’ educational rights, but a new agreement between 27 San Francisco offices and schools is aimed at making schooling smoother for kids in foster care.Assembly Bill 490, which took effect in January 2004, requires schools to do everything they can to make sure foster youths stay in the same school even when they change families, and to transfer students’ records within two days when they must......

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Group unveils playground mosaic

On Saturday, the Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon and Excelsior will unveil an installation at Crocker Amazon Playground. More than 500 volunteers contributed to the works, which span 600 square feet of space. "We wanted to bring people together to do something to beautify the park," said Linda Harte, president of the advocates’ steering committee. The event takes place at Geneva Avenue and Moscow Street from 2 to 5 p.m.......

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Academy-cuts plan met with force

As San Francisco struggles to reduce its high homicide rate, some city officials want to take potential officers off the streets in an effort to save millions of dollars.The City is facing a projected $338 million budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1 — and Supervisor Jake McGoldrick urged the San Francisco Police Department’s top brass to cancel two......

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Cost-saving effort trims police force

Nearly 90 officers filing papers and answering phones in The City’s police stations could be replaced by civilians in a cost-saving measure originally approved by voters in 2004.Under The City’s charter, the San Francisco Police Department must be staffed with at least 1,971 sworn officers, but Proposition C allows the department to identify jobs that can be performed by civilians, such as clerical or information-technology tasks, according to Deputy Controller......

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Changing world gets dads more involved

As traditional family roles change, fathers are participating more and more in their children’s schools — and as they do, bake sales are giving way to barbecues and camping trips.Stan Goldberg, 65, has parented two generations of children. He has two adult children, ages 40 and 41, and a 6-year-old daughter who attends public school in San Francisco. That’s given him time to see how things have changed."Forty years ago, men were glued to the television on Sundays," Goldberg said.These days, thanks in equal parts to video-recording devices and to......

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Public places receive revitalized faces

New slides, swings and climbing equipment stand in the sun at Rolph Playground in the Potrero neighborhood, waiting for the first children to come out and play. The park’s new tennis courts also remain locked up until Rolph opens June 28. The Potrero Del Sol Park across the street, which will offer The City’s first skate park, also is close to opening. "I used to come and lay on the grass [at Potrero Del Sol]," said Continued...

 

Businesses not sold on new help center

Although The City has recently expanded its small-business center with voter-approved funding, some entrepreneurs say they remain frustrated with how difficult it is to open up shop and make ends meet. When Pet Camp owner Mike Klaiman volunteered to upgrade his pet-care businesses with additional fire-safety measures, it took several trips to City Hall — and plenty of money from his own wallet — to make it happen, he said. In November, voters approved spending $750,000 to expand Continued...

 

Slain teen had ties to area where he was gunned down

The 15-year-old shot and killed in front of Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School on Tuesday was a former Visitacion Valley resident and "good kid" who was in the process of turning his life around, his uncle told The Examiner on Wednesday."He wasn’t in no gang — he was just a 15-year-old kid trying to find his way," said St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Ishmael Burch, the......

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Teenager killed in shooting near Bayview school

A 15-year-old was fatally shot midday Tuesday across from a high school campus in Bayview while students were inside taking their final exams.A single black suspect, age 17 or 18, shot the younger boy on Somerset Street, directly across from Philip and Sala Burton High School on Mansell Street about 12:30 p.m., San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said. The campus......

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Cherished music fest in danger of having to seek out new digs

Organizers of a long-running music festival held each year on San Francisco-owned land near Yosemite say they may have to pull up stakes and move next year if they can’t soon finalize a lease with The City.The Strawberry Music Festival, with concerts featuring acoustic music acts each Memorial and Labor Day weekend, has called Camp Mather its home for 26 years, according to general manager Theresa Gluzinski.Although a renewed lease was due last November, festival organizers say they’ve been told by Recreation and Park Department officials that an agreement might......

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Fashion becomes funds for felines

Thousands of hurt and sick animals come through the San Francisco SPCA’s doors each year needing extra medical care. The City’s branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sees roughly 3,700 animals each year, and caring for them takes $500,000 annually, according to President Jan McHugh-Smith. Much of that money pays to neuter, feed and shelter animals. However, about 20 percent of the animals come in with serious ailments or......

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Ethnic studies enlists as JROTC reserve

A new ethnic-studies program that will be tried in two high schools this fall should replace San Francisco’s controversial Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program, a school board committee heard Monday.The board of education voted to end JROTC in November 2006, wanting to sever the district’s ties with the military, which subsidized about half of the program’s $1.6 million cost that year. The board also created a task force to identify......

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School may have to say ‘No thanks’ to $9M

A San Francisco charter high school may have to reject $9.1 million in state facility funds — provided for campus renovations for an Excelsior district site the school hoped to occupy — because the school district says it doesn’t have enough money to cover the remaining renovation costs. Leadership High School, founded in 1997, vacated its home at 300 Seneca St. in 2006 and is sharing space with Continued...

 

Music festival could sing loud for city coffers

A three-day music festival in Golden Gate Park in August, which is expected to draw 110,000 people, could be a financial boon for The City, organizers said Thursday.Forty percent of the tickets for the event, which are $85 for one day and $225 for three days, have sold to out-of-town buyers, according to Gregg Perloff of event-organizer Another Planet Entertainment."I live in Continued...

 

Prosecuting parents of truant kids could begin this month

As San Francisco’s public schools celebrated some success with bringing truant students back to school, District Attorney Kamala Harris said she’s ready to start prosecuting the parents of chronically absent children.Harris pledged last October to punish those whose kids repeatedly skip school. No cases have yet come to trial, but Keith Choy, director of the district’s "Stay in School" program, said he’s been......

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Upgrades on table for Bierman Park

Sue Bierman Park, named for the former supervisor killed in an August 2006 car accident, could soon see $1.8 million in upgrades following a vote today.The 5.3-acre park was founded as Ferry Park but renamed in 2007 after Bierman, who was a member of the Planning Commission in the 1950s and 1960s before her election to the Board of Supervisors in 1992, where she served until 2000.The first phase of improvements to the park, which Rec and Park and planning commissioners will consider today, would include further demolition of old......

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Proposition D: Diversity tracking passes

San Francisco will be tracking the ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability of every board and commission member following the passage of Proposition D on Tuesday.Until now, The City required the makeup of all advisory boards to be as broadly diverse and representative of The City’s population as possible, but The City didn’t keep track of how diverse they were.Now, the task of keeping tabs will fall to the Commission on the Status of Women, which will provide a report on......

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Proposition H: Contractor cash denied

Contractors bidding on development deals in The City are forbidden from contributing money to local political campaigns, and now city politicians are forbidden to accept money from them, following the passage of Proposition H. The proposition would extend penalties to the officials and candidates who accept contributions, in addition to the contractors. Political contributions to local officials running for office are not forbidden if a number of requirements are met, such as not bidding on a project more than $50,000.......

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Proposition B: Benefits delay approved

City employees hired after Jan. 10, 2009, must work 20 years before they can cash in on full retiree health benefits following approval of Proposition B, which was introduced by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd. Until now, city workers needed to clock five years before gaining access to employer-funded retiree medical insurance. Additionally, new hires will contribute 2 percent of their gross salaries to help pay for those benefits — a move aimed at offsetting The City’s looming $4 billion debt on medical insurance for retirees.......

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Proposition C: ‘Moral’ loophole closed

City workers who are enrolled in San Francisco’s Employees’ Retirement System, and who are convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude while on the job, will forfeit their ability to receive employer contributions to their retirement benefits following a majority voter approval of Proposition C Tuesday. Although this rule has been included in the San Francisco charter since 1966, it didn’t apply to all city-offered retirement plans — just some of them. Prop. C was written in order to fix those discrepancies, and cuts off the city’s matching contributions to......

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Assailants are free despite a reward

Witnesses to the Jan. 12 slaying of Terrell Rogers have not come forward, despite a $250,000 reward offered by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice nearly one month ago. Rogers was gunned down in a parking lot across the street from Sacred Heart Preparatory High School during halftime of his daughter’s basketball game, according to police. Rewards......

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JROTC still marching strong

The group tasked with finding a replacement for San Francisco's controversial Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program is close to naming an alternative — more thana year and a half after school board members voted to end the military training curriculum. After passing up on leadership programs offered by police and fire organizations, the JROTC task force will offer new options before the San Francisco Unified School District’s curriculum......

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Should schools be too cool for pools?

San Francisco public school students, weighted down with the requirement of learning to swim before they can graduate high school, could see that mandate and others lifted from their load.The City’s school board recently agreed unanimously to eliminate drivers education as a requirement for a diploma. Now, student trustees Nestor Reyes and Jason Siu say they’re combing through the class schedule to find......

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Grass-roots neighborhood fixes grow out of city grant program

A half-million dollars in grant money will be up for grabs this summer for residents hoping to spruce up their corner of The City.Ever since voters approved the Community Challenge Grant Program in 1990, businesses have paid 1 percent of their payroll taxes toward the grants, which have provided roughly $6.8 million in the last eight years, according to program leader Lanita Henriquez.Those funds have gone toward new trees on 24th Street, hanging flower baskets on Mission Street, gardens in the......

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Competition for summer jobs heating up

For some teens, summer may be freedom from schoolwork and responsibilities — but for others, it’s all about working.Students lined up Wednesday at CareerLaunch, cosponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District and Gap Inc., to start their searches for summer jobs.The chance to hone their résumés, try their hand at interviews and fill out applications gives first-time workers the confidence they need to secure a job, according to......

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Race disparity at juvenile hall prompts search for solutions

When Shawn Richard was sent to The City’s juvenile hall decades ago, he found it stifling. But these days, many kids in Bayview-Hunters Point say it’s better than the streets."[The streets] have gotten to the point where kids are fearing for their lives every day," said Richard, director of Brothers Against Guns, a youth-diversion program in Bayview. "They say they go back to juvenile hall because they feel safer."With data and anecdotal evidence showing a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic youths in The City’s detention halls, the Juvenile Probation......

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New school may migrate to The City

A small high school for new immigrant students, bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, could open its doors in August 2009 if it wins board approval tonight. Internationals Network for Public Schools, which runs nine college-track schools for English learners in New York and launched a 10th in Oakland last year, applied in January to open a sister school......

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School district defends safety measures

Four San Francisco students have been caught bringing firearms to class this year, and 65 carried other weapons — incidents the Public Defender’s Office says are becoming increasingly common.A 6-year-old brought a handgun to Cleveland Elementary School on May 9, the day after a 17-year-old was discovered with a loaded semi-automatic weapon during an evening class at Lowell High School. Two......

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Yellow-bus rides could cost green

Thousands of San Francisco students rely on traditional yellow buses to get to and from school every day, but the district may reduce buses or begin charging a fee in order to save money.Each day, 4,600 students — many of whom do not live in the neighborhood where they attend school — ride district-supplied buses, according to SFUSD spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. That’s not including the 1,600 disabled students for whom bus service is mandatory.It costs $20.5 million each year to provide buses, $8.2 million of which is reimbursed by state......

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Improved exam scores beat peers, trail ’burbs

San Francisco public school students continue to outperform students in other urban areas statewide on standardized tests, but they still struggle to keep up with the high scores of the neighboring districts in the Bay Area, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.The San Francisco Unified School District’s overall score — based on students’ collective performance on the tests — improved this year, bringing the district to a 764, just a few points shy of the state’s target score of 800 for all schools and districts.......

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Harbor faces stormy future

It could soon cost more to berth a boat at the ailing Marina Yacht Harbor — but a new audit of the harbor’s finances shows signs of fiscal mismanagement. Granted to San Francisco in 1935, the Marina Yacht Harbor’s east and west harbors contain room for nearly 700 boats, but sand, silt and deteriorated docks have made at least 50 berths unusable, according to harbor users. "The harbor is in terrible repair," said Continued...

 

Law designed to get bodies moving dances on to board

If the show’s over, you should get moving.Loiterers who spend more than three minutes within 10 feet of a nightclub door or line could be fined between $50 and $500 — and charged with a misdemeanor — if supervisors approve the bill passed by the Entertainment Commission on Tuesday night.The proposed law, sponsored by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, was written in response to a rash of violence outside nightclubs that killed at least six people in 2007 and 2008 and left several others wounded.Robin Kent, 44, was......

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Lowell High named among nation’s best

Nine high schools in San Francisco and San Mateo County made the grade for Newsweek magazine’s 2008 list of top public high schools in America.Schools ranked high if they had a high percentage of students who take advanced placement, international baccalaureate and Cambridge tests, according......

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Tax could beef up teacher salaries, tech

A parcel tax aimed at enticing new teachers to stay in San Francisco’s public schools also includes a bevy of funds for school technology, charter schools, "think tanks" and grants that would encourage schools to explore new ways to help students succeed.Voters will have their say June 3 on Proposition A, a $198 tax on commercial and residential parcels that would raise an estimated $28.8 million annually for the San Francisco Unified School District. It requires two-thirds approval.Roughly 71 percent of the tax revenues would boost teacher salaries, bonuses and......

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Improvement funds not being put into play

Unfulfilled promises from the 2000 Neighborhood Park Bond has left many parks advocates frustrated and questioning The City’s ability to manage money for park improvements.Those questions come as San Francisco gets ready to spend $185 million in new voter-approved park bonds. Of that, $80.1 million is destined for projects promised nearly one decade ago, including renovations to the aging Chinese and Palega recreation centers and to playgrounds and recreation centers in the Mission and Glen Park.Voters approved $110 million in park bonds in 2000, intended to help fund 69 projects......

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State’s oldest school reflects

When W. Carroll Tornroth entered kindergarten at Spring Valley Elementary School in 1918, Jackson Street was paved with cobblestones — and the school had already been in business for 65 years. "We just had the one building on Jackson, and then around the side were little bungalows with portable desks and wood-burning stoves," said Tornroth, who turned 96 in April. "We studied history, geography, reading — I learned a......

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Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park

The fresh sod on Miraloma Park’s baseball field is sparking a grass-is-greener debate between dog lovers and parents — one that may seem familiar to San Francisco residents who have been on either side of that fence. The City spent $250,000 to renovate the field, which reopened this spring, said Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, whose district covers the neighborhood that sits on the eastern side of Mount Davidson. Since then, Elsbernd has received......

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Man takes fatal plunge near Union Square

A man slit his wrists before stepping out onto the ledge of a swanky condominium near the Union Square shopping district, drawing a crowd of more than 100 witnesses before plunging four stories to his death Thursday afternoon.The jumper, a tall, medium-built white man in his late 30s or early 40s, stood on a top-floor ledge above the H&M clothing store near the corner of Powell and O’Farrell streets for nearly 45 minutes before jumping, witnesses said.Police were called to 181 O’Farrell St. at 2:25 p.m. and immediately closed off......

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Rainy-day fund offers silver lining

The jobs of 535 San Francisco public school teachers and administrators have been spared as a result of a city promise to give the cash-strapped district $18 million to $20 million.However, school officials say they’ll still have to make $13 million or more in cuts in other areas of the budget.State law requires schools to notify teachers by March 15 if they face possible layoffs; final notices are due by May 15.The allocation of the one-time funding, from San Francisco’s rainy-day reserves, was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors......

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Task force tackles asthma ills

Proposed city laws aimed at providing a breath of fresh air for asthma sufferers would result in stiffer maintenance requirements for property owners when selling or remodeling homes.The legislation, put forth by a task force charged to develop a plan to manage and prevent asthma citywide, would make upgrades to air-filtering and ventilation systems when a property in San Francisco is sold, transferred or remodeled, according to San......

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Group wants to put night life in the spotlight

San Francisco may have a reputation for rolling out the night life, but the industry is struggling, according to the sponsors of a November ballot initiative aimed at keeping events and clubs from becoming extinct.The proposed charter amendment by the newly formed SaveSFCulture Coalition goes before San Francisco’s Entertainment Commission today. It is aimed at preserving The City’s music venues, night......

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Interns’ ability to count as teachers questioned in court

A San Francisco-based civil-rights group has filed a federal challenge against the U.S. Department of Education, seeking a little truth in advertising when it comes to putting qualified teachers in classrooms.Public Advocates — the group that sponsored the 2004 Williams Settlement, which secures $800 million to ensure students equal access to instructional materials — argued recently that the U.S. Department of Education was wrong to allow school districts to classify interns as "highly qualified" teachers, spokesman John Affeldt said.Since the decision on intern classification was enacted in 2002, the number......

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3-Minute Interview: Mary Pipher

The author of eight books, including 1994’s "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls," speaks at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco today. Pipher will focus on recent events — from Columbine to Sept. 11 — and their effects on families. Her next book, "Seeking Peace: Reflections of the Worst Buddhist in the World," is due next spring. How has our culture affected families? We’re living in a culture......

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Students plod along on slow Web

San Francisco may be known as a hotbed of high-tech innovation, but more than one-third of its public schools connect to the Internet with something that more closely resembles a rutted back road than a superhighway.While 68 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District access the Internet via a relatively fast 10-megabit-per-second connection, 41 elementaries and high schools plod along on 1.5-Mbps T1 connections — barely enough for......

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Rec and Park evens the score by approving facility fee hikes

Renting a tennis court, taking a capoeira class or learning to sing in San Francisco will cost more money — part of an increased effort, city officials say, to make sure teams and programs using public facilities pay their fair share.A number of formerly free classes — including piano, voice, Pilates, "ethnijazz" dance and capoeira — will cost $1.75 to $8 per hour if the smorgasbord of new fees approved unanimously by the Recreation and Park Commission on Thursday is ultimately......

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Google asks for permission to hold party in park

Richmond district residents may be treated to the sonic stylings of U2 and Journey cover bands if Google wins approval today for a private nighttime concert in Golden Gate Park next month. Google leaders are requesting a city exemption in order to boogie downJune 11 with 1,400 members of the Internet giant’s national sales team.......

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Killer tree was flagged as danger

The Stern Grove redwood whose crashing branch killed a 50-year-old San Francisco woman earlier this month had significant structural defects and was at risk of falling, according to an arborist’s report. Pleasanton-based HortScience identified 603 of Stern Grove’s 2,600 trees — including 95 redwoods — as potential hazards, according to a report crafted for San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department in January 2004. The tree whose branch fell and killed Continued...

 

Police prepare for worst-case scenario

Gunmen will open fire inside a San Francisco Catholic high school this morning in a mock shooting designed to teach police, students and faculty how to respond to a genuine school attack.San Francisco Police will portray the gunmen at St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School, walking into classrooms in the Sunset District high school. Students will act......

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Asketh The City: ‘Where art thou, Shakespeare plaques?'

William Shakespeare may have called the moon an "errant thief," but it was likely a more earthly thief who stole two bronze plaques from The City’s Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park. Two of the garden’s six bronze plaques were stolen by an unknown suspect or suspects April 17 or 18, according to officers in the San Francisco Police Department’s Richmond......

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School asthma gains fall short of breathtaking

For the roughly one in five youths in San Francisco with asthma, getting through the school day can be like navigating a minefield of mold, dust and pollen that can trigger an asthma attack.In 2002, three children died during asthma attacks in facilities owned by the San Francisco Unified School District, said Anjali Nath, advocacy coordinator with the San Francisco Asthma Task Force. One of the children was Armani Johnson, 4, who died in a restroom in Burnett Children’s Center after complaining of breathing problems."The teachers weren’t trained in pediatric......

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Reserve to shine bright on school district

San Francisco’s public schools are in line to receive $17.9 million to $19.7 million in city funds from a "rainy day" reserve, Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce today.The San Francisco Unified School District is expecting a $40 million cut in state funding next year in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s current......

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Language-test numbers fail to keep pace with state

San Francisco students learning English are holding steady when it comes to achieving fluency — while peers statewide are showing gains, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.Students who understand little or no English, called English learners, take the California English Language Development Test yearly to keep tabs on how close to fluency they are.CELDT is a crucial part of making sure students are placed in......

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Students are ‘Beating the Odds’

San Francisco’s public school students continue to advance in reading and math on state standardized tests — part of a national trend for urban school districts, which are scoring at their highest levels, according to a study released Tuesday. The San Francisco Unified School District was among 66 urban school districts studied in "Beating the Odds," the eighth annual report on urban-school progress from Continued...

 

City urges students to bicycle to school

While San Francisco is often seen as a bikeable, walkable city, very few students ride bicycles or walk to school, according to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The City’s Department of Public Health is hoping a $500,000 grant will change that. The grant, from the federal Safe Routes to School programs, would provide funding for infrastructure and education......

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Historic lodge likely to miss out on seismic funding

Historic McLaren Lodge, both a city landmark and the headquarters of the Recreation and Park Department, will lose $7 million in California bond funding for seismic renovations. Rec and Park Project Manager Rick Thall recommended The City pull $11.9 million in funding from McLaren Lodge and a handful of other GoldenGate Park projects, including restoration of South and Middle lakes and the Children’s Playground, primarily because the projects couldn’t be finished before......

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Special-education students aim to excel on state exams

When autistic 9-year-old Audrey Norton took her first California Standards Test last year, she needed to take it throughout several days, with a blank sheet of paper covering half of the booklet so she wouldn’t get confused."It took a long time, and she gets really tired — I thought maybe we don’t want to put her through this again," said Audrey’s mother, Rachel Norton, a member of the district’s Continued...

 

School subtractions adding up

As many as 90 San Francisco teacher’s aides, who do everything from read aloud to students to score tests, will soon learn whether they will have jobs this fall.San Francisco Unified School District officials will work between now and April 29 to determine just how many aides could lose their jobs, according to district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. By law, aides must be notified 45 days before the end of......

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Sunset parents shine light on school assignment issue

Parent Roxy Xiao lives on San Francisco’s west side, a stone’s throw from some of the most popular schools in The City — but her kids were recently assigned to schools across town.Xiao’s son, Jimmy, was matched with Burton High School in the Excelsior, while her daughter, Erica, was assigned Oneida Middle School, near Continued...

 

Rookies may dominate school board in new term

San Francisco’s school board will soon be dominated by new blood, as two experienced trustees set their sights on the Board of Supervisors this November.Of the seven-member San Francisco Board of Education, three trustees — Jane Kim, Hydra Mendoza and Kim-Shree Maufas, who each won election to......

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School district searching for ways to help minority students thrive

Every time teacher Jang Wen asks his Sheridan Elementary School fifth-graders a grammar question, he adds, "discuss it with your partner."The students whisper for a few seconds before their hands shoot up. Partnered learning is one of a broad palette of strategies used at the Ocean View neighborhood school that is helping many of its students — 96 percent of whom are nonwhite — succeed when their peers throughout The City are falling behind, according to Principal Nur Jehan......

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Students concerned with safety on Muni

Harassment and violence on Muni is a serious problem, according to a majority of San Francisco public high school students surveyed.Safety on Muni was deemed a "very serious problem" by 28 percent of students and "somewhat serious" by another 30 percent, according to the survey, conducted by San Francisco-based David Binder Research.The survey of 8,144 students was conducted in February and students were polled on a variety of factors, from school food to security guards. The district’s Safe School Task......

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Vote could end drivers ed requirement for graduation

Overworked teens are asking the San Francisco Board of Education to stop making drivers education a graduation requirement, but public-safety officials say schools should require more education, not less. Jason Siu and Nestor Reyes, the two student members on the district’s school board, sponsored the proposal, which will be introduced at tonight’s school board meeting.When Reyes polled......

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Youth eco-center to sprout on Earth Day

A long-embattled, $1.5 million environmental education center will break ground in Hunters Point on Earth Day — seven years after it was proposed as the first off-the-grid building in The City. Bayview-Hunters Point residents split over the project when leaders with nonprofit Literacy for Environmental Justice proposed building it in McLaren Park. Now it’s destined for Heron’s Head Park, a wetlands area the nonprofit has restored on former brown fields in the shadow of the Pacific Gas & Electric power plant, project manager Laurie Schoeman said."Since then, the project has......

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Beer yes, vending no in Washington Park during festival

North Beach Festival revelers will be able to drink in Washington Square this summer, but vendors will be ousted from the park in order to keep their booths from killing the grass. Park neighbors have rallied against letting the festival — expected to draw 100,000 patrons this year — use the park, claiming patrons and booths trample Washington Square’s greenery. San Francisco Recreation and Park commissioners voted 7-2 Thursday in favor of the plan to move booths onto North Beach streets and make the park a "beer garden." But neighbors......

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California Academy of Sciences will be twice the price

Families looking forward to the reopening of the California Academy of Sciences this fall could be in for sticker shock when they learn that admission prices have more than doubled, and it could cost a family of four close to $100 just to park and get in the door. Adults, who paid $10 for admission to the museum and aquarium in the past, will now pay nearly $25; tickets for children older than 6 will cost $14.95, with......

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Students needing summer classes hurt most by cuts

Summer school programs and summer classes for third- and fourth-graders struggling in school are being slashed because of state cuts.Summer-school reimbursement for the San Francisco Unified School District will be slashed 16 percent this year, leaving educators with $650,000 less to teach the 8,000 to 9,000 students who attend, according to Amy Talisman of the district’s summer-school division. Classes will be offered at fewer schools, and only......

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Campus plans arise amid lawsuit talks

Updated designs for City College of San Francisco’s controversial new $122 million Chinatown-North Beach campus will be unveiled today, as attorneys continue to look for ways to settle a lawsuit filed against the community college by neighbors of the proposed site. Spending for the campus’ design team with EHDD/Barcelon and Jang has more than doubled, jumping to $13.5 million from $5.9 million, following a CCSF board vote March 18. The group will unveil updated designs for the......

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New rules brewing for festival drinking

A new plan aimed at keeping a lid on alcohol consumption at the North Beach Festival will come before The City’s park commissioners Thursday, but some neighbors still find the idea of drinking in Washington Square tough to swallow. The festival was originally held on city streets, but migrated to the park in the late 1990s, drawing the ire of neighbors — calling themselves the Friends of Washington Square — who see the park as the neighborhood’s backyard.Two years ago, complaints from the neighborhood residents nearly resulted in a ban......

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Helping homeless one home at a time

Thom McClusky stayed in a San Francisco homeless shelter for two nights before giving up and sleeping at the base of Coit Tower for more than two years. "The shelter was like jail but without the cops," he recalled. "You had to sleep with one eye open. At Coit, the only thing that bothers you is the raccoons."McClusky is one......

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Nonprofit steps in to mend park decay

Nancy Madynski has found everything from used condoms to knives while sifting through playground sand at Mission Dolores Park. Members of Friends of Dolores Park Playground sift the sand monthly — a volunteer activity aimed at keeping the playground safer and cleaner for children. But the playground’s aging wooden structures and outdated access have earned it a $1.5 million private donation that will allow neighbors, the Neighborhood Parks Council and The City to completely renovate the playground next year. "One of our girls just pinched her hand in the metal......

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Drug sales targeted near Lincoln

Police at Taraval Station have been cracking down on drug peddling near Abraham Lincoln High School, a recurring issues that has spiked again in recent months. Officers have arrested or cited four suspects who were carrying marijuana, most of them attempting to sell the drug on the streets surrounding the high school, according to police reports. Two adults were arrested on Quintara Street in late January and mid-February, and a 15-year-old was arrested March 5 at the corner......

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3-Minute Interview: David Mindell

The professor and curator at the University of Michigan and its museum of zoology was hand-picked to become the California Academy of Sciences’ dean of sciences and research collections. Mindell, who received his Ph.D. from Brigham Young University in 1986, starts his new job July 1.What personal experiences put you on the path to your current......

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City offers opt-out for gang members

A list of alleged gang members may soon be smaller, if the people on it can prove they are not involved in gang activities.Citywide, 97 people alleged to be in five gangs, including the Oakdale Mob, Eddy Rock, Chopper City, Knock Out Posse and Norteño gangs, were named in injunctions filed by City Attorney Dennis Herrera in 2006 and 2007. The injunctions prohibit those named from congregating in certain areas, from wearing gang colors and, in some neighborhoods, from being out after 10 p.m.The alleged gang members named in three......

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School turns into oasis for homeless students

Five-year-old Nikole Rogers gets ready for kindergarten every weekday morning, just like any other student. But, unlike most of her peers, she gets ready for school at one of San Francisco's homeless shelters. Nikole and her mom, Cynthia Elliott, left Modesto eight months ago after a series of home invasions in which the girl witnessed assaults on both her parents, Elliott......

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City colleges bracing for state budget cuts

San Francisco students returning to college this fall could be met with fewer course options, fewer teachers and higher tuitions, all aimed at offsetting state budget cuts. The California State University trustees in May will weigh whether to raise systemwide student fees by up to 10 percent, which would put fees at $3,039 this fall, said Paul Browning,......

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3-Minute Interview: Michael Thompkins

The psychologist, who co-founded the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy in 1994, regularly works with patients who compulsively hoard possessions, and with family and friends who want to help a loved one deal with this behavior. Last year, at least six San Francisco residents were evicted from their homes because of excessive hoarding, which can become a safety hazard.What causes people to start hoarding stuff? We don't really have good answers to that. It's definitely a mental health issue. It seems to have the most in common......

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Superintendent threatens to sue state for school cuts

The superintendent of San Francisco’s public schools is threatening to sue the state in order to force long-term funding improvements.At $7,000 per student, California ranks 46th in per pupil spending, and would slip to 50th if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposed in January is adopted by the Legislature, according to officials with the Continued...

 

JFK Drive striping stalled by court ruling

Faded striping and wide-open lanes are making for a confusing — and occasionally hair-raising — trek on John F. Kennedy Drive for motorists and cyclists alike. What exists now between Stanyan Street and 25th Avenue is a yellow center line and a white line showing the edge of the traffic lane, but both are so faded that drivers can get confused, cyclist T.J. Mitchell said. "A lot of cars......

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Youth center to move in near pot club

A youth center founded to deter Chinatown kids from gang activity, offering everything from drug-abuse counseling to computer lessons, will soon begin moving into new Post Street digs across the street from a medical marijuana dispensary.The nonprofit Community Youth Center, launched in 1971, recently won approval to renovate the building at 1042 Post St. it purchased for $4 million in December 2006, which would make room for youth programs from its scattered offices to move in, according to Continued...

 

Car-free Saturdays near

Published: Mar 20, 2008

Golden Gate Park kicks off its second summer of car-free Saturdays on April 5, and organizers are hoping for a quieter season compared with the controversy that surrounded the plan’s inception in 2007. Through Sept. 27, John F. Kennedy Drive will be closed to cars between 10th Avenue and Transverse Drive, as will Middle Drive West from Transverse to Metson Road and Stow Lake Drive between Stow Lake......

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Commission urges supervisors to evaluate zoo overhaul

Published: Mar 19, 2008

San Francisco Zoo leaders are being urged by The City’s animal welfare commission to make swift changes in focus and leadership to protect the park’s main attraction — its animals. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors immediately study zoo animals’ quality of life and urged zoo officials to overhaul zoo management......

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Commission: Zoo should switch focus

Published: Mar 13, 2008

The San Francisco Zoo should consider becoming an animal-rescue center, or adding a wildlife-rehabilitation clinic, according to a draft plan the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare will study today.The zoo’s 2007 master-plan update calls for the addition of a botanical garden and seaside nature trail, but animal-welfarecommissioners worry that such projects could detract from the zoo’s ability to keep animals healthy and happy, according......

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Alleged embezzlement may cost ex-CFO house

Published: Mar 12, 2008

A financial consultant who allegedly embezzled $3.5 million from the nonprofit operating a parking garage beneath Golden Gate Park will likely lose his house to pay back the money. The Music Concourse Community Partnership, which runs the garage, has secured a court judgment against former CFO Greg Colley, including the deed to his Continued...

 

Wheels are spinning in attempt to install bike racks on campuses

Published: Mar 12, 2008

Maria Morgan’s children, Maggie and Ben, ride bicycles to Alamo Elementary School every morning. But when they get there, they chain their bikes to a fence, because the school doesn’t have bike racks.Morgan approached the school about adding them, but couldn’t find a way to get a bike rack approved, an experience bike advocates say has been typical with the Continued...

 

Report: Public transit ridership up in U.S., but not for Muni

Published: Mar 11, 2008

As gas prices skyrocket, many Bay Area public-transit systems are mostly seeing more riders. Nationwide, public-transit use is up 32 percent since 1995, according to an American Public Transportation Association report released Monday. Light-rail systems saw the biggest jump — up 6.1 percent in 2007, compared with 2006, while commuter rail rose 5.5 percent. The report, however, reflects Muni’s third ridership decrease in three years, according to data from the association. Muni leaders announced this month new plans......

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Parents, students upset about public high school assignments

Published: Mar 10, 2008

The post office delivered more than letters and bills last weekend: It delivered hope and relief for some local parents, and frustration for many others whose children did not gain admittance into the public schools they wanted. Amy Graff, who launched the SF K Files blog (http://thesfkfiles.blogspot.com/) to chronicle her process of choosing a kindergarten, learned that her daughter didn’t get into any of the seven schools she picked — instead, she is assigned to Junipero Serra, a school Graff hadn’t heard of before Saturday. When she posted about her......

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City icons to dim for energy’s sake

Published: Mar 07, 2008

The lights will go down in The City this month as San Francisco participates in a global "Earth hour" to raise awareness about energy waste. The World Wildlife Fund will launch a rolling event that kicks off at 8 p.m. March 29 in Christchurch, New Zealand, working its way around the globe to 25 cities in 20 time zones, ending in San Francisco. Last year, San Francisco, along with Sydney, conducted a one-hour blackout, also to draw attention to climate change. At this year’s event, the Golden Gate Bridge, the......

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Lunch-line ID cards sweeping The City

Published: Mar 07, 2008

A system that allows students to pay for meals with a swipe of their ID card, currently being tested at four San Francisco public schools, could soon speed lunch lines and save millions of dollars districtwide. The point-of-sale system is already installed at Balboa High School, Marina Middle School and Bessie Carmichael and Tenderloin Community elementary schools. In addition......

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Parents, students cross their fingers, hoping to get into school of choice

Published: Mar 06, 2008

Parents will find out this weekend whether their children got into the public school they most wanted. The San Francisco Unified School District will send out 13,250 letters Friday to parents who were told they could apply for up to seven ranked school choices. Though many kids will likely wind up placed in one of their parents’ top picks, according to school assignment data from recent years, hundreds of parents will not receive one of their preferred......

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Nonprofit: Consultant admits to embezzling

Published: Mar 05, 2008

A nonprofit organization operating an underground parking garage in Golden Gate Park has fired a key financial consultant who confessedto embezzling $3.5 million in private donations, according to a spokesman for the nonprofit. Greg Colley, chief financial officer for the Music Concourse Community Partnership, or MCCP, reportedly confessed to taking the funds and using them to make......

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Beer-bandit arrest reveals broader operations

Published: Mar 04, 2008

A trio of DalyCity men suspected of masterminding a series of thefts of 18 tractor-trailers, loaded with such merchandise as refrigerators, instant noodles and furniture, were arrested recently but authorities said a handful of fellow bandits remain on the loose in the Bay Area.California Highway Patrol officers charged Carlos "Peru" Demartini, Etuimo "Cubano" Rodriguez and Carlos "El Guardia" Iraheta with......

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Council still searching for city manager with ‘it’ quality

Published: Mar 03, 2008

Picking the right person to lead City Hall is no small task.After more than 40 candidates and six finalists, Redwood City couldn’t find the right person to replace City Manager Ed Everett, who retired last November after 15 years at the helm. The City Council will meet tonight in closed session to weigh whether to cast its nets again and hope to find a good match this time. In Redwood......

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‘Leapers’ finally receive their opportunity for a celebration

Published: Feb 29, 2008

For most, being born on a particular day isn’t anything special, but those born Feb. 29 are often treated as curiosities or minor celebrities — or even the subjects of a seemingly lifelong practical joke. In fact, being a leap day baby is a little like being born into a secret club. That’s one reason San Francisco resident Peter Brouwer launched Continued...

 

Unlicensed driver cause of tanker spill

Published: Feb 29, 2008

A Bay Area woman without a driver’s license was responsible for the big-rig tanker crash that spilled more than 2,500 gallons of fuel on U.S. Highway 101 last month that caused part of the highway to be closed for two days, according to the California Highway Patrol.The CHP recently wrapped up its investigation into the Jan. 29 crash that transformed the traffic artery into a parking lot and forced a multitude of local, state and federal agencies to help......

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Jury finds man guilty in 2002 fatal shooting

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Kenneth Watson, a former standout football player at Hillsdale High, was unanimously found guilty by a 12-person jury of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2002 shooting death of Damon Whitney. The decision comes almost six years after Watson shot Whitney in Millbrae in retaliation for an earlier drug-money rip-off. Watson now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. After the court clerk read verdict, Whitney’s family cried out and sobbed, while Watson and his family were stoic. "I think the......

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Pink slips approved for school district employees

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Nearly 400 teachers and 140 administrators in the San Francisco Unified School District will receive pink slips March 15 — warnings that their jobs could be eliminated this summer due to budget cuts.Late Tuesday, the Board of Education approved a staff recommendation to send out the provisionary notices, in response to declining enrollment and decreases in state funding.The district faces an immediate $1 million shortfall and roughly $40 million in losses in 2008-09, predominantlyfrom state budget cuts......

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Costco expansion suit goes to court

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Residents suing Redwood City and Costco over the wholesaler’s expansion plans had their day in court Wednesday, but could wait up to three months for a decision.Attorneys representing Surlene and George Grant as well as James Rockwood, neighbors of Costco’s Middlefield Road store, argued that traffic engineers used faulty......

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Wheels are turning for toll-hike plan

Published: Feb 27, 2008

Opinions about a toll increase on the Golden Gate Bridge span great divides, but all sides will have a chance to voice concerns during a forum Thursday. Drivers who use the Golden Gate Bridge could face a $1 toll increase late this year and potentially another $1 increase during peak hours. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District raised bridge tolls in 2002 from $4 to $5 to help close a $454 million deficit. Since then, cuts to......

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San Carlos considering utility tax to halt growing deficit

Published: Feb 27, 2008

Voters could soon be asked to weigh in on a utility tax aimed at closing the city’s structural deficit, estimated at $3 million and growing. City Manager Mark Weiss has suggested a broad range of taxes and fees, but at the top of his list is a utility tax that could go before voters as soon as November. Unlike its neighbors in Redwood City, San Carlos doesn’t charge a utility tax, but council members wrestled with that concept Tuesday night. The taxes are charged on utility bills for residences and......

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Firm looks to reconnect Wi-Fi deal

Published: Feb 26, 2008

A competitive broadband provider is breathing new life into plans to launch a service providing public wireless Internet access across Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. Covad Communications tapped San Carlos as well as Palo Alto recently for Wi-Fi test networks with the hopes of expanding the plan and creating a 1,500-square-mile "canopy" of wireless access for residents and businesses from Daly City to Gilroy.The plan for widespread Wi-Fi access was initially hatched by a consortium of Azulstar Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM and Seakay, which announced in 2006 that they would......

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Homeless finding shelter in voucher system

Published: Feb 25, 2008

When Hurricane Katrina survivor Jimmie Cosey came to the Bay Area from Louisiana last December, he said he wasn’t sure what to do when he found a number of homeless shelters packed and without available beds. Fortunately, Cosey, like many other homeless in San Mateo County, received a voucher from county officials for a night’s stay in a motel, just as long as he promised to turn up the next morning to sign into a shelter. At the motel, he was able to get regular showers and meals and store......

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Budget cuts force school sacrifices

Published: Feb 25, 2008

Peninsula school districts are preparing for nasty cuts in state funding by weighing a number of equally nasty fixes, from cutting teachers to raising taxes. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008-09 budget, schools would lose roughly $800 per student in the 2008-09 school year — more than $4 billion statewide, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said. California’sprojected deficit rose last week from $14.5 billion to $16 billion, leaving education leaders wary that schools could lose even more by the time school officials have to draw up budgets in......

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Concrete wharves may aid cement firm

Published: Feb 25, 2008

The Port of Redwood City is preparing for a massive $11 million reconstruction project of its two oldest wharves, potentially doubling the shipping capacity of a local cement supplier whose material feeds construction projects across the Bay Area.The port, which opened on the Redwood City Bayfront in 1937, is the only deep-water port in the South Bay, making it the only port in the Bay capable of handling......

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Wet, windy storm on its way

Published: Feb 22, 2008

Bay Area residents face an onslaught of wet, windy weather this weekend, but the late-February storm should top off regional water supplies, officials said Thursday. Rains are expected to continue through today and Saturday morning. By lunchtime Saturday, winds are expected to kick up heavy rains and gusts of up to 60 miles per hour that could continue into Sunday afternoon, said Brian Tentinger, meteorologist with the National Weather......

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Man accused of killing police officer to stand trial in fall

Published: Feb 21, 2008

The man accused of killing East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May will stand trial Sept. 2, more than 2½ years after the deadly shooting took place near an East Palo Alto taqueria. "It’s a big relief," said Diana May, the slain officer’s widow. "I’m ready to get this trial going and get it behind us. Obviously it’s not going to bring my husband back, but I feel like I’m......

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Alleged accomplices in teen's jail break plead not guilty

Published: Feb 20, 2008

Two teens accused of helping murder suspect Josue Raul Orozco break out from a juvenile detention center pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of aiding the escape. Martin Villa Patino and Vanher Cho, both 18, are each being held at San Mateo county jail on $200,000 bail following their arraignment Tuesday. Patino and Cho were arrested Friday night on charges that they boosted Orozco up a wall after playing basketball together at the county Youth Services Center, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mark Alcantara said. They were transferred to......

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Officials: Design flaw enabled inmate escape

Published: Feb 20, 2008

A design oversight at the county Youth Services Center, from which 17-year-old murder suspect Josue Orozco escaped last week, allowed the young fugitive to flee the San Mateo facility, authorities revealed Tuesday. Orozco scaled a 15-foot wall near a basketball court at the facility after two inmates boosted him high enough to reach halogen lights installed only 12 feet......

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More students mean more facilities

Published: Feb 19, 2008

Sequoia High School is getting ready to roll out a $19 million revamp of its athletic facilities, including a brand-new gym and the return of its tennis courts as a student population boom is expected. Those courts were covered two years ago when the high school leased portable classrooms to Summit Prep Charter High School, which has since moved. In the first $4 million phase of the gymnasium plan, the courts will be restored this summer while crews reconfigure the gym parking lot and shift the softball field, according to......

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Devices doing little to slow drivers, may endanger cyclists

Published: Feb 18, 2008

Rubber devices meant to slow down reckless drivers on a steep residential street not only aren’t slowing down cars, but may pose a hazard to bicyclists, locals say. McGarvey Avenue residents have had their share of trouble, including totaled cars and dead pets, caused by speeding drivers. For two years, they asked Redwood City leaders to install something more effective than warning signs, and this winter they thought they’d finally gotten their wish. The rubber traffic chokers were installed along the sides of McGarvey Avenue near Chesterton Avenue and Fernside......

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Solving crime with a skeleton police force

Published: Feb 16, 2008

When it comes to solving crimes, this sleepy Peninsula city knows a thing or two about getting more done with less.San Carlos spends less on police services per capita than similar cities in San Mateo County and has fewer officers to go around, but its ability to find and arrest suspects hasn’t suffered. In 2005, local police cleared 55 percent of its 31 violent crimes, 21 percent of its......

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Driver in Halberstam death sentenced to five days in jail

Published: Feb 15, 2008

The UC Berkeley graduate student who caused the crash that killed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam was sentenced to five days in jail, probation and community service Thursday. Judge Mark Forcum sentenced Kevin Jones, 27, to five days in jail, to be served in a work program, as well as one year of formal probation, one year of court probation, $24,600 in restitution fees to Lewis Morris and undetermined restitution fees to Christina Pinonlara, both of whom were injured in the three-vehicle crash in Menlo Park on April 23. A......

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Police arrest four on suspicion of prostitution in sting

Published: Feb 14, 2008

Police have arrested four women at local hotels on prostitution charges and are planning future stings to root out women who are offering sexual services for money.San Carlos saw a rise in prostitution about six months ago when local police cracked down on sex workers in neighboring cities such as Redwood City, said police Chief Greg Rothaus. The suspects are......

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United worker postpones plea on gun-possession charge

Published: Feb 14, 2008

A transgender Pacifica resident, arrested last week on suspicion of bringing a revolver to her job at a United Airlines maintenance yard at San Francisco International Airport, postponed entering a plea in court Wednesday.Traci Timothy Bracken, 55, is expected to enter her plea Tuesday on charges that she was in possession of a loaded gun when she was arrested at United on Feb. 7, said Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy in the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. Bracken remains in custody in the women’s sector of the San Mateo county......

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Beef could soon return to lunch menu

Published: Feb 11, 2008

Schools could find out as soon as today whether beef is allowed back on student lunch menus following a national scare in which beef from cows linked to mad-cow disease could have entered the food supply. The California Department of Education recommended Jan. 30 that schools avoid using all beef products from the Westland Meat Company after investigators from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture found that employees in a Westland slaughterhouse mistreated so-called "downer" cows, which are too sick to walk. Although the USDA had no evidence that the cows —......

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War on apple moths moves to S.F., San Mateo counties

Published: Feb 09, 2008

State officials will battle the invasive light-brown apple moth in San Francisco and San Mateo counties this year, but for now aren’t planning the intensive aerial treatments linked to health problems. Higher concentrations of the moth — the larvae of which infest and damage the leaves of grapes, apples and other food crops — were treated with aerial pheromone sprays in Continued...

 

Clinic rescued by new site, monies

Published: Feb 08, 2008

The county-run Teen Wellness Center, a free clinic which treats roughly 2,200 students each year, has been rescued by the school district’s board of trustees and will receive a new home later this year. The Sequoia High School District’s board of trustees on Wednesday pledged up to $1.3 million to build a new, permanent site for the center, which has been housed in a large portable building on the Sequoia High School campus. The center faced closure following a state order to move the facilitiesfrom its temporary location. For the......

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OSHA fines company where 18-year-old employee fell into sulfuric acid

Published: Feb 07, 2008

The circuit-board company where an 18-year-old employee drowned in a vat of sulfuric acid in September did not have adequate protection around its chemical vats, one of 17 health and safety violations, according to a report released Wednesday. Fernando Gonzalez, 18, died at after slumping head-first into a vat containing sulfuric acid. His death kicked off a California Department of Occupational Safety and Health investigation, which found that the company did not install covers or guardrails on several chemical vats used in circuit-board production, according to a report from OSHA......

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Sequoia High School District secures funds

Published: Feb 06, 2008

Sequoia High School District leaders are celebrating the passage of a $165 million bond that will help the district bring new technology and more career-skills programs to Carlmont, Sequoia, Menlo-Atherton and Woodside high schools.Measure J received more than the 55 percent it needed to pass, becoming the fifth bond in a row approved by voters in the past 12 years, according to Superintendent Pat Gemma."This is the capstone bond that will allow the district to implement and realize its vision" to create vocational classes for its students, Gemma said. Continued...

 

Ravenswood tax up in the air

Published: Feb 06, 2008

With two of 19 precincts accounted for, Ravenswood City School District leaders were on the edge of their seats Tuesday night, with a 70.92 percentage of voters in favor of the $98 parcel tax and 29.08 percent opposing the tax. Measure M, if it wins a two-thirds approval, would continue the parcel tax first enacted by voters in 2004. The assessment helps Ravenswood pay teachers’ salaries, which were the lowest in San Mateo County before the tax, Assistant Superintendent Adam Escoto said Tuesday night. With the parcel tax, teachers new......

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Ravenswood tax up in the air

Published: Feb 06, 2008

Eichler Highlands and its neighbors said yes again to a tax for extra fire and police services.The neighborhoods are on county land and don’t receive city services. Since 1982, residents have voted to pay about $65 a year for more sheriff patrols and an extra fire truck."I’m pleased," said Cary Weist, president of the neighborhood association. "It will give this community assurances that all public safety measures are being taken."......

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Police hub proposed for Belle Haven area

Published: Feb 05, 2008

City leaders are poised to spend $2.2 million to triple the size of a police substation in the Belle Haven neighborhood, the area with the highest crime rate in the city.The Menlo Park City Council could opt Tuesday to spend $2.2 million in bond money to purchase the 3,800-square-foot space aimed at expanding police services. The site would double as a resource center, allowing residents the option of paying water bills and obtaining police reports without going to City Hall. If approved, construction would begin immediately and finish in the......

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Cameras raise students’ eyebrows, ire

Published: Feb 05, 2008

Students weren’t smiling when theyfound out they were on camera.Woodside High School was the school district’s first foray into campuswide surveillance cameras, but it received failing remarks by students, who claimed they were not informed of the installations and feared they were being policed. The school installed 15 cameras last summer, said Ed LaVigne, the Woodside High School District’s chief business official. The cameras monitor student and staff parking lots, sports fields and other areas of campus. Superintendent Pat Gemma said they are meant to keep students in line as......

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Measure M would keep parcel tax alive

Published: Feb 02, 2008

The cash-strapped Ravenswood City School District has a tough time retaining teachers, which is one reason district leaders are hoping voters will extend a $98 parcel tax that helps pay salaries for the educators. Measure M, on Tuesday’s ballot, would continue a tax voters approved in 2004 to boost pay for teachers in the district’s elementary schools. It requires two-thirds approval to pass. If it passes, homeowners would continue to pay $98 per parcel per year until June......

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Measure J’s goal: More job training in schools

Published: Feb 01, 2008

Students who are able to learn job skills in high school are less likely to drop out and more likely to pass the exit exam, studies say, which is one reason the Sequoia High School District is seeking a bond issue that would help to expand vocational programs. Measure J, on Tuesday’s ballot, would raise $165 million in bond funds to expand what’s called "career technical education," which helps high school students prepare for careers in everything from working on cars to performing tests in biotechnology laboratories. It requires 55......

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Truck company faces paying for gas spill cleanup

Published: Jan 31, 2008

The company whose tanker spilled 2,500 gallons of gasoline onto U.S. Highway 101 on Tuesday and created a commuting nightmare could be billed for the cleanup — even if the driver wasn’t responsible for the crash. Numerous local, state and federal agencies rushed to the scene after a minivan crashed into a big rig owned by KAG West of West Sacramento, causing the rear of the tanker to flip and spill gasoline onto a 200-foot section of the highway. County......

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Tanker crash caused traffic mayhem, headaches

Published: Jan 31, 2008

The region’s commuters fought tooth and nail to get home Tuesday following the tanker crash that closed U.S. Highway 101 in both directions during rush hour. For most, the commute home from Sunnyvale or Mountain View that normally takes an hour stretched to nearly three hours as they inched along the highway, dodged around the crash site and hunted for alternative ways home. Continued...

 

Gasoline spill on Highway 101 ignites traffic chaos

Published: Jan 30, 2008

A gas spill and fears of a massive explosion Tuesday shut down U.S. Highway 101 in Redwood City through early this morning, creating a commuter nightmare for drivers after a big-rig truck flipped and spilled more than 1,000 gallons of fuel. Southbound traffic on the freeway was allowed to flow again at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, but northbound lanes need to be repaved, the California Highway Patrol said. The......

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Oil, tar balls wash onto beaches

Published: Jan 29, 2008

A three-mile-long ribbon of oil washed up on Moss Beach on Monday, along with gallons of oil and sticky tar balls on beaches from San Francisco to Pacifica. Crews with the U.S. Coast Guard and the California Oil Spill Investigation Response team collected 30 gallons of fouled soil from Pacifica Beach and another 12 gallons from Rockaway Beach on Monday afternoon. Smaller amounts of oil and tar balls were found on Ocean, Montara and Carmel beaches, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Anderson. The black, sticky oil was first......

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Deadly crosswalk could be safer by year’s end

Published: Jan 28, 2008

Thanks to the efforts of one local woman, a deadly intersection where elderly locals cross the street daily could have a new four-way traffic signal by the end of the year. Locals who use the San Carlos Adult Community Center have been telling leaders about the dangerous crosswalk, where Chestnut Street crosses San Carlos Avenue, ever since patrons Margaret McEnnerny, 78, and Mariana Parise, 74, were struck by an SUV on Dec. 5, 2003. McEnnerny died of her injuries. "Cars just don’t stop. Or one lane of traffic will stop,......

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Menlo Park, Atherton look to split trains, cars

Published: Jan 26, 2008

Four downtown intersections could be overhauled in the coming years to make way for the potential influx of trains passing through the Caltrain corridor, costing Menlo Park hundreds of millions of dollars.City leaders from both Menlo Park and Atherton will begin discussion on how the cities can afford to install grade separations, routing cars either over or under the Caltrain corridor, at several crossings such as Watkins, Greenwood, Oak Grove and Ravenswood avenues. The grade separations are considered necessary, according to city leaders, to ease auto traffic if the Dumbarton......

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Foundations make up for state deficit

Published: Jan 25, 2008

Parent-run fundraising groups are mobilizing to raise big bucks forlocal school districts following the news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to slash state spending on education. Although the governor’s budget is months away from adoption, education analysts have already pegged K-12 cutbacks at anywhere from $443 to $800 per student. California already spends $1,892 less per student than the national average of $8,973, earning it a D+, according to a recent......

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Grant will help study Woodside Road fixes

Published: Jan 25, 2008

Walking downtown from the Redwood Village neighborhood — a distance of less than a mile — can feel a little like running the gantlet. To get there, pedestrians must cross Woodside Road, where at least four pedestrians have been killed in the last four years. The closest place to cross Woodside, which doubles as a state highway, is a footbridge many say is unsafe, according to Hoover School Principal Greg Land. To remedy the dangers of traversing Woodside Road, Continued...

 

Development plans for Cargill site are unveiled

Published: Jan 24, 2008

The future developer of one of the largest undeveloped plots of bayfront property is offering the clearest picture yet of what could be built on the former site of a commercial salt factory. Cargill Inc. announced plans in 2006 to redevelop its salt ponds on the 1,433-acre site at the Bay’s edge in Redwood City. The property is zoned as tidal plain and development is forbidden. Last year, Cargill announced......

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Health plans will dent Menlo Park’s general fund

Published: Jan 23, 2008

Nearly one-third of the city’s general fund will be set aside to pay off a looming debt for retiree medical benefits. Medical expenses in Menlo Park, like many California cities, have skyrocketed as the city struggles to offer benefits that keep its employees from leaving City Hall. Under state law, the city must figure out this year how to pay for $13.2 million in medical benefits for retired employees. To do......

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Mayor’s ‘Ratatouille’ rakes in Oscar nods

Published: Jan 23, 2008

Mayor Brad Lewis was awake at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to learn that "Ratatouille" — the much-lauded animated film he produced for Pixar — is up for five Academy Awards. Pixar’s tale of a rat who wants to become a chef garnered more Oscar nominations than any other film from the Emeryville-based company, Lewis said. It’s in the running for best......

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San Carlos shuttle service to be revived

Published: Jan 21, 2008

It’s beginning to look like local shuttle service could come back from the dead. Two and a half years after SCOOT, San Carlos’ popular shuttle, rode off into the sunset, residents are clamoring for some kind of replacement. "When we asked the public what they wanted to see in the future, one of the first things out of their mouths was ‘SCOOT,’" Assistant City Manager Brian Moura said. Regional sales-tax......

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Prospective police: The choice is yours

Published: Jan 21, 2008

Every police department in San Mateo County is hiring — and while that may be good news for job-seekers, it’s not such good news for police agencies trying to keep their cities safe.Police departments across the county have been hit by a triple-whammy: The oldest officers are retiring, mid-career officers are moving to jobs closer to home and newrecruits are hard to come by, in part because it’s tough to find young people with no criminal background or drug......

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Redwood City fire inspections fall behind

Published: Jan 19, 2008

The blaze that destroyed a 99 Cent and Over store on El Camino Real last February did more than gut a business — it was the second time, owner Amadeo Penas said, he lost everything he’d invested in order to open a store. For many mom-and-pop stores, the business represents a family’s life savings. The loss of the business "would be devastating," said Susan Nejman, owner of Cook’s Upholstery, a......

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Barbecue burns Millbrae home

Published: Jan 17, 2008

An evening of barbecuing went awry Wednesday, engulfing a house in flames and sending up a plume of black smoke that could be seen for miles. A resident at the house located at 13 Corte Nueva, a quiet cul-de-sac in the Millbrae Hills, told firefighters that he was attempting to light his barbecue grill outside the house shortly after 4 p.m.,according to Millbrae Fire Chief Dennis Haag. Flames flared up,......

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Creek waters creep into residents’ yards

Published: Jan 16, 2008

Residents along a dry creek bed got a surprise during the Jan. 4 storms when the creek filled up with water, overran its banks and flooded yards and garages. Brittan Creek used to flow between Howard and Greenwood avenues, from the San Carlos hills to the Bay. In the mid-’90s, the city diverted the creek underground to keep it from flooding, according to Public Works Director Parviz Mokhtari. Now, what remains between Elm Street and El Camino Real is a dry gully behind people’s homes — one that residents too......

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Residents request price for Cargill site

Published: Jan 14, 2008

More than a hundred locals who met Sunday to discuss the future of one of the largest undeveloped parcels of bayshore land only wanted to know one thing: How much will it cost to take the land back?Cargill owns 1,433 acres of Bayfront property that was used for commercial salt mining. The company announced in 2006 that it would shut down the industrial salt plant in Redwood City but then hired DMB Associates — developers known for creating large-scale communities......

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Less activity, revenue at Port of Redwood City

Published: Jan 10, 2008

The amount of construction material moving through the Port of Redwood City has dropped 15 percent, due to declines in new building across California.Roughly 660,000 metric tons of material — primarily aggregates used to make concrete — were shipped through the port between July and December 2007, according to port director Mike Giari. It is a drop from the......

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Redwood City teen found dead on tracks

Published: Jan 09, 2008

A local teenager with a history of running away from home was found dead on the Caltrain tracks just north of Whipple Avenue on Monday night. The victim was identified as 17-year-old Jose Luis Flores by San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. Flores is the first to die on the rail corridor in 2008. There were eight......

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San Carlos mixed-use plan is charging full steam ahead

Published: Jan 09, 2008

A first-of-its-kind housing and retail proposal by the San Mateo County Transit District could serve as a model for mixed-use projects in Millbrae, Colma and other cities. SamTrans and its developer, Legacy Partners, aim to build 280 units of rental housing and 34,600 square feet of commercial space on seven acres of SamTrans-owned land just south of the train station......

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Inspectors bewildered by series of homemade bombs

Published: Jan 08, 2008

A string of makeshift bombs crafted from household items have investigators throughout the county scratching their heads and hunting for suspects — possibly young ones. The chain of events became apparent Sunday after a youth kicked a two-liter soda bottle wrapped in duct tape that was left outside the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Redwood City. Hydrochloric acid splashed from the bottle and onto a nearby girl’s legs, eating away at her pantyhose before her parents washed her with water and......

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Acid 'bomb' planted on Redwood City street

Published: Jan 07, 2008

Cold weather and duct tape may have kept a makeshift bomb from rupturing suddenly Sunday morning and splashing passers-by with hydrochloric acid, fire officials said.The San Mateo County Hazardous Materials team and bomb squads responded Sunday after a youth kicked a two-liter plastic bottle filled with fluid and wrapped in duct tape, splashing its contents onto the legs of a nearby girl, according to Steve Cavallero, battalion chief with......

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Residents say bridge brings crime to neighborhood

Published: Jan 04, 2008

Residents on Ringwood Avenue west of U.S. Highway 101 say that a pedestrian bridge linking their neighborhood to the community across the highway on the east side has become a conduit for crime — one they want destroyed. The California Department of Transportation is weighing whether to spend $5.7 million to demolish and replace the aging bike and pedestrian bridge in 2011 when it begins adding auxiliary lanes on the highway, spokeswoman Continued...

 

Lawmakers mull downtown housing rules

Published: Jan 02, 2008

As housing advocates celebrate the opening of downtown’s newest all-affordable apartment complex, leaders are grappling with ways to make sure that low-income residents will have a place in downtown’s redevelopment. Villa Montgomery, the 58-unit apartment building at 1540 El Camino Real that is hosting a grand opening this month, is one affordable-housing project at the center of a debate between Redwood City lawmakers about how to include affordable units in plans that will add up to 2,500 units of housing.......

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New marina fulfills local boater’s dream

Published: Dec 29, 2007

A new marina will open its gates in January, becoming the first recreational-boating center to open in the city in decades. West Point Marina, behind the Pacific Shores Center at the end of Seaport Boulevard, looks across West Point Slough to the federally protected shores of Greco Island. By transforming the 26-acre plot — which once housed bittern ponds left over from salt harvesting — into a marina, owner......

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‘Stable’ financial picture likely to end

Published: Dec 28, 2007

Booming airport traffic, fewer office vacancies and low unemployment rates helped boost a strong county economy in 2006-07, but leaders said Thursday that a new report from the San Mateo County Controller’s Office points to the end of what has been a stable period for the Peninsula. According to Controller Tom Huening’s report, the county faces a $25 million structural deficit, caused in large part by skyrocketing......

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Grand jury critiques district

Published: Dec 20, 2007

The high school district serving students between Belmont and Woodside violated its open-enrollment policies when it allowed nearly 2,300 students to matriculate at Carlmont High School last fall — in excessof the school’s 2,100-student capacity — according to the San Mateo County civil grand jury. Rather than redistribute the additional......

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Marina housing project OK’d

Published: Dec 19, 2007

A scaled-down version of one of the most controversial projects in city history won unanimous support from city leaders, but groundbreaking could be a year or more away. Peninsula Park, the project formerly known as Marina Shores Village — the high-rise residential project overturned by voters in 2004 — includes a plan to build 796 townhouses, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-room hotel on Peninsula Marina, near Pete’s Harbor. The Redwood City Council on Monday......

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Officials eye Carlmont High buses’ tardiness

Published: Dec 19, 2007

High-school district leaders are pursuing long-term solutions to the transportation problems that caused Carlmont High School students to miss their morning classes earlier this year. Consultants for the Sequoia High School District will begin to lay out some of their ideas tonight, including using computer software to streamline the district’s bus routes, parking buses in cheaper facilities and making sure the district has enough trained bus drivers to shuttle kids to and from school. The district may also consider......

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Menlo Park could be new hub for East Bay commuters

Published: Dec 18, 2007

An unused stretch of train tracks on the Caltrain corridor could someday be home to a train station, new housing and amenities within walking distance of local office parks and the Sun Microsystems campus. As part of the Dumbarton Rail plan, which would shuttle commuters from the East Bay to Redwood City and beyond, Continued...

 

Redwood City fire chars care home

Published: Dec 17, 2007

Smoke detectors and a well-practiced evacuation plan were likely what saved the lives of seven developmentally disabled adults after their care facility caught fire Sunday. Neighbor Gloria Maldonado first noticed smoke coming from the house at 124 Alameda de las Pulgas when she stepped outside her door shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday to pick up her newspaper. Staff at the Alameda House had begun evacuating the center’s seven residents, and a......

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Grads help short-staffed fire departments

Published: Dec 17, 2007

Fire departments across San Mateo County will see some fresh faces for the holidays as 20 new graduates from the Firefighters’ Academy join their ranks. New graduates are trained in basic firefighting and paramedic work, but will continue to train on the job for a two-year probationary period, said Armando Muela, chiefof the Woodside Fire Protection District. Woodside is hiring five of new graduates. "These guys will bring us up to our minimum staffing level, which is 13," Muela said. "We’ve been using overtime to backfill the positions, but that......

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Fatigued gym to get in shape

Published: Dec 13, 2007

After more than 30 years, the Burgess gymnasium is showing signs of its age — tiny practice rooms, a failing ventilation system and not enough room for the 8,000 athletes who use it regularly. Due to its age, the gymnasium at 501 Laurel St. is slated for a major overhaul. During the next six months, city leaders will talk with gym users and residents to find out what the facility needs — and how big it needs to be. All options are on the table, including renovation and expansion or......

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Traffic-bound sea lion could be ill

Published: Dec 12, 2007

A wayward juvenile sea lion who likely clambered out of a slough near San Carlos Airport and wandered into one of the city’s busiest intersections Tuesday may have been suffering from toxic-algae poisoning, an increasingly common problem among Bay Area marine life. The pup made its way to Old County Road near Brittan Avenue before a keen-eyed local called the San Carlos Police Department at approximately 8:15 a.m. Police closed the intersection for 15 minutes while officers corralled......

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Sprinklers could be mandatory for new Menlo Park homes

Published: Dec 11, 2007

Four years after refusing to require new and remodeled homes toinclude fire-dampening sprinkler systems, city leaders are giving the idea a second look. The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is urging the city to require automatic sprinkler systems in all new houses, and in remodels of more than 50 percent of an existing house, particularly in homes with basements. All other areas in the district’s jurisdiction, including Atherton, Continued...

 

Redwood City’s history lesson

Published: Dec 11, 2007

This may be one of the oldest and biggest cities in San Mateo County, but it’s one of the last to have its very own history book. Published this month, "Redwood City: A Hometown History" is a massive, 520-page tome chronicling the history of the town, from its roots as a farming community to its 19th-century industrial foundations. The book was compiled by local volunteers, many of whom......

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Waterfront-housing boom lands in Redwood City

Published: Dec 11, 2007

Two major projects that would bring upwards of 900 new town houses to the city’s waterfront could win approval this month, though some in the city maintain that housing does not belong near the Bay. Peninsula Park, a scaled-down rendition of the high-rise Marina Shores Village project overturned by voters in 2004, includes a plan to build 796 town houses, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-room hotel near Pete’s Harbor, located a mile east from the Whipple Avenue exit.Its developers have agreed to provide 40 affordable units,......

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Battery of waste-disposal options in county

Published: Dec 10, 2007

Leaders are hatching new ways to make it easier for residents to recycle toxic trash than to throw it in local landfills.It’s been illegal since 2002 for anyone to throw away what’s called "universal waste" — trash and electronics containing heavy metals, pesticides and other poisonous material. Trash collectors in San Mateo County made it easier for residents to recycle u-waste this fall by launching curbside bins for electronic trash and now are pushing retailers to offer their own......

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County kids besting state at fitness

Published: Dec 07, 2007

San Mateo County students were fitter this year than last year and outstripped students across California when it came to a battery of physical-fitness tests administered by the state each year. California fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders are tested each year in six areas: aerobic capacity, percentage of body fat, abdominal strength, trunk strength and endurance, upper-body strength and endurance as well as overall flexibility. Kids are categorized as "needs improvement"......

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Spring launch eyed for Redwood City shuttle

Published: Dec 06, 2007

A shuttle that would help low-income residents, seniors, kids and the disabledget around town could start service next spring, after two years spent ironing out kinks that have caused other cities’ shuttle services to fail.For now, there is no regular route; riders living in Fair Oaks would be able to request a specific trip in advance, said Christine Maley-Grubl, director of Peninsula Congestion Relief Alliance, which is helping Redwood City plan the service. Planners have held off submitting a formal shuttle proposal to the city, citing an interest in developing......

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Redwood City School District aims for financial recovery

Published: Dec 05, 2007

Redwood City School District leaders faced with an unexpected $2.6 million financial shortfall are developing strategies for patching the hole in the elementary-school district’s 2007-08 budget. Although $1.8 million was cut from the district’s budget before the school year began, a decline in enrollment cost the district vital funds from the state, district Finance Director Raul Parungao said. Parungao will present a savings plan on Dec. 12 to the school board, which will likely recommend covering the shortfall with money from district reserve funds, Superintendent Jan Christensen said. Doing so......

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East Palo Alto charter school proposed

Published: Dec 04, 2007

Architects of an ambitious plan to establish a new college-prep charter high school in East Palo Alto will learn the fate of their proposal this week.Aspire, an Oakland-based charter-school group that operates eight schools in the Bay Area and more throughout California, is asking the Sequoia High School District to......

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CHW set to become sole owner of Sequoia Hospital

Published: Nov 30, 2007

A decision today could allow Catholic Healthcare West to assume ownership of Sequoia Hospital and would provide a funding plan for the $240 million retrofit and remodel of the hospital.CHW took over management of Sequoia Hospital in 1996 to help bail the 57-year-old facility out of near-bankruptcy, said Michael Papalian, president of the physician staff at the hospital. Nonprofit Sequoia Health Services maintained ownership of the hospital; operations were overseen by the Sequoia Healthcare District. The district’s board will vote today whether to invest $75 million of its own money......

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Rogue removed from Redwood City Port

Published: Nov 29, 2007

A shipping facility at the Port of Redwood City once operated by a scofflaw hazardous-waste handler is being taken over by another firm with a clean track record in Northern California. Clean Harbors, a Massachusetts-based waste handler, is taking charge at the port and at an East Palo Alto facility, both of which were operated by Romic Environmental Solutions. Romic shut down last summer after the California Department of Toxic Substances Control found it had violated numerous waste-storage laws and caused serious injury to an employee at its East Palo......

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Notification system installed at schools

Published: Nov 28, 2007

When a bathroom at Adelante School caught fire last month, students throughout the school were evacuated while an automated system called their parents to tell them what to do. It was one of the first tests of the Redwood City School District’s new parental-notification system, Connect-ED, which officially launched Tuesday. The system is used in other local schools, including ones in Hillsborough and Burlingame, to send parents word about everything from student absences to disasters, district spokeswoman Naomi Hunter said. Connect-ED, created by the NTI Group Inc., was used during......

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Menlo Park, San Carlos look to enhance their parklands

Published: Nov 27, 2007

Peninsula cities are going green the old-fashioned way — by focusing on their parks. Menlo Park leaders are poised today to greenlight a new study determining where the city’s sports and playing fields can be expanded, returfed and lighted for more hours of play. After plans to build a golf course and athletic fields at Bayfront Park fell through in 2006, the city has a shortage of playing space, particularly for youth teams, Mayor Kelly Fergusson said. While the city negotiated with golf-course developers, members of the Parks and Recreation......

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Ship comes in for ferry terminal funding

Published: Nov 27, 2007

South San Francisco and Redwood City have secured $15 million apiece to build ferry terminals, but both will need to find more money before commuter-ferry service can set sail. The funds come from Measure A, the one-eighth-cent sales tax renewed by voters in 2006 to pay for transportation improvements in San Mateo County. Theoriginal Measure A was scheduled to expire in 2008; the new one is designed to raise roughly $16 million per year for 25 years. For South San Francisco, slated to begin building its terminal this year, $15......

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Water underneath the Bay may save the day

Published: Nov 26, 2007

A pocket of groundwater underneath San Francisco Bay could provide water to irrigate local parks and landscapes — a possibility crews are exploring by digging test wells. In recent years, Redwood City has exceeded its water allotment from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, prompting city leaders to explore ways to conserve water and maximize the use of potable water. The city had been using approximately 326 million more gallons per year that it is allotted. A city task force then recommended a recycled-water pipeline, which is currently pumping water to Redwood......

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Downtown merchants hopeful despite vacancies

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Despite a number of vacant storefronts and the possibility that holiday hit movies won’t open downtown, merchants in the city’s retail core are optimistic about the holiday shopping season. This will be the second Christmas since On Broadway, the retail-cinema destination hailed as the catalyst for downtown’s revival, opened in July 2006 between Middlefield Road and Jefferson Street. While business is picking up, empty spaces remain — and very few winter events are planned to draw locals downtown, said Alpio Barbara, president of the Downtown Business Group. Cathy Oyster, owner......

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Shopping centers healthy despite battered economy

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Shopping-center owners are bracing for massive crowds Friday, even tho