John Upton

Bridge S-curve added to Capitol agenda

Caltrans officials will be grilled about the Bay Bridge’s deadly S-curve and recent eyebar repairs during a joint state senate hearing scheduled Jan. 12 in Sacramento. The hearing was scheduled last month by three lawmakers to discuss the falling of steel pieces from a recent repair to a cracked eyebar – which is a load-bearing rod – onto traffic on Oct. 27, which led to a nearly weeklong bridge closure. The repairs were initially installed over Labor Day weekend, when the bridge was closed to allow Caltrans to replace a piece of roadway that connects the Bay Bridge with Yerba Buena Island. The roadwork related to a multibillion-dollar effort to construct a...

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Port poised to keep fish guts out of Bay

A construction contract to improve drainage at Fisherman’s Wharf to help keep fish guts out of the Bay is poised to be approved by the Port of San Francisco. The Port secured $1.8 million earlier this year in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to pay for the drainage project, which Dolphin Club members and other users of Aquatic Park have long sought. Fish slime, scales and entrails are presently hosed off Pier 45 by fishermen into the Bay, where they create pollution problems. The drainage improvements will instead see that waste flushed into the sewer. Port of San Francisco commissioners on Tuesday are scheduled to approve a $1.4 million construction contract with...

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PG&E set to lose years-old bid to poach Ferry Building customers

Ferry Building tenants will continue to use hydroelectric power produced by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, after a judge indicated that Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. will lose its legal bid to poach the electricity customers. The SFPUC uses PG&E’s infrastructure to sell electricity from Hetch Hetchy Dam and other power sources to municipal customers, while PG&E enjoys a near-monopoly on electricity sales to companies and residents in San Francisco. Under an agreement reached between the SFPUC and PG&E in 1997, the SFPUC provides electricity to tenants of the Ferry Building, which is owned by the Port of San Francisco. When the agreement was reached...

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UCSF expansion making Mission Bay a Biotech giant

The expansion of a multibillion dollar hospital in Mission Bay will continue to transform the once desolate southlands of San Francisco into a hotbed of scientific innovation and patient care. The UCSF Medical Center’s new Mission Bay Campus is being built on 43 acres of land that was donated by The City and developers. Roads, sewers and other infrastructure were provided by developers, and a school, library, police station, firehouse and 6,000 units of housing have been planned for the fast-growing neighborhood. The donations were part of an effort to provide a life science-focused research anchor for a surrounding redevelopment project while discouraging the university from...

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Busy week of shipyard hearings

Redevelopment plans for the shuttered Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and surrounding land will be discussed in separate meetings at City Hall this week. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency is set to approve Lennar Corp.’s proposed design for the third and fourth blocks of homes scheduled to be built at the shipyard. Those blocks, which will be less dense than the first two blocks planned to be built, will contain 159 units. Also Tuesday, redevelopment commissioners are set to approve $430,000 worth of infrastructure improvements to the public housing at Hunters View, which will be rebuilt as part of the shipyard redevelopment project to include market-rate homes. On...

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Redevelopment projects could employ more locals in southeastern San Francisco

The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency is preparing to ensure that its development partners hire more local workers for projects in the southeastern corner of The City. The agency, which is preparing to spend $2 billion on construction projects over the next 15 years in southeastern San Francisco, sets minimum local hiring goals for projects that it funds. “The current local hiring goal of 50 percent on agency projects is rarely met,” Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Fred Blackwell wrote in a memo to agency commissioners. “Over the last 18 months, redevelopment project sites have experienced a number of labor disputes resulting in picketing, work stoppages and...

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Shipyard homebuilder fined for dust violations in Arizona

A homebuilder that was fined last year for improper dust management practices at a southeastern San Francisco construction site will pay $183,000 after committing similar violations in Arizona, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. Lennar Corp. agreed to pay a $38,425 fine and provide $144,094 towards an environmental project in a settlement agreement with the EPA, according to the agency. The settlement related to dust violations at a handful of homebuilding sites in Maricopa County near Phoenix between November 2003 and January 2005, according to a statement issued by the EPA. Last year, the Miami-based homebuilding giant was fined $515,000 by the Bay Area Air...

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New lights to shine brightly on The City

The amount of electricity that’s used to illuminate San Francisco’s streets could be reduced under a proposed overhaul of streetlight technology. Streetlights installed in San Francisco since the 1990s have been illuminated using high pressure sodium gas, but officials on Tuesday are poised to approve the use of newer light-emitting diode technology. LED streetlights last longer, require less maintenance, use less electricity and provide whiter light than high pressure sodium streetlights. Homebuilder Lennar Corp. has proposed using LED technology in streetlights at the shuttered Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, which it is in the process of redeveloping, San Francisco Public...

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New fund to invest $7.5M in bioscience

A new Mission Bay-based investment fund plans to provide $7.5 million in startup funds to companies started by University of California bioscience entrepreneurs. The fast-growing Mission Bay neighborhood is home to a UC San Francisco campus, scores of biotechnology companies and the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences, which is a collaboration of private companies and universities that’s also called QB3. The City donated much of the campus land in Mission Bay as part of an effort to develop a bioscience hub. The Mission Bay Capital Fund will partner with QB3 to invest $500,000 apiece in 15 bioscience companies stemming from University of California research, the...

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Boutique bakery nearly ready to open

A boutique bakery is preparing to open in the Bernal Heights neighborhood after more than two years of planning and construction efforts. The finishing touches are being put on the independently-owned Sandbox Bakery on Cortland Avenue at Gates Street, and opening is scheduled for Nov. 15, according to cofounder Mike Bradford. The business is in the process of obtaining the last of its needed city permits, according to Bradford. Bradford said his wife, Mustumi Bradford, a Japanese-born, French-trained pastry chef, will oversee preparation of San Francisco-style deli sandwiches and artisan savory baked items with a Japanese flair. The couple purchased the storefront, which has housed a...

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Cell phone, cancer links scrutinized

Possible links between cell phones and cancer will be discussed Monday by San Francisco environmental officials. The Washington DC-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group recently published a report that said studies found significantly higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among long-term cell-phone users. After reading the report, San Francisco Department of Environment staff and commissioners agreed to meet to discuss its findings. The hearing is scheduled to take place Monday afternoon. “We were really intrigued by information they were finding about links to brain cancer,” said San Francisco Toxics Program Manager Debbie Raphael. Raphael said it’s...

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Produce market preparing to flourish

An $80 million planned expansion of a sprawling wholesale produce market could provide southeastern San Francisco with hundreds of new jobs and a much-sought grocery shopping and dining destination. The 27 merchants that rent space at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market in the Bayview district supply fruit and vegetables to restaurants and local grocers. A convoy of trucks arrives nightly at the market and drops off freshly harvested produce, which is sold to restaurants, hotels, catering companies, and neighborhood and ethnic grocers throughout San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area. "You can get a peach that has been picked the same day," said Supervisor Sophie...

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Proposition D would allow balloon advertising banned since 1965

A proposal to fund Market Street improvements by allowing new outdoor advertising along the corridor between Fifth and Seventh streets could see advertisements emerge that have been banned citywide since the 1960s, according to a analysis. Proposition D, which is on the Nov. 3 ballot, would allow advertisers to use wind signs, such as balloons, ribbons, streamers and “dancing inflatable men” along the stretch of Market Street if it passes. Those forms of advertising were banned in San Francisco in 1965, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Planning Department that is scheduled to be outlined Thursday to the San Francisco Planning Commission. Rooftop advertisements...

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Construction set to begin for green new city building

Construction of a new San Francisco Public Utilities Commission building is scheduled to begin Wednesday. The new building at 525 Golden Gate Ave. and Polk Street is planned to be an environmentally-friendly new digs for SFPUC staff. SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington and Mayor Gavin Newsom are scheduled to ceremonially break ground on construction of the new building at 1 p.m. “The new SFPUC headquarters will be a world-class energy and water-efficient structure that exemplifies the highest standards of sustainability and set an example for the green building movement,” SFPUC spokesman Tony Winnicker said in a statement....

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Large low-income housing project planned near Balboa Park BART

The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency is moving ahead with plans to purchase part of a bus layover terminal near Balboa Park BART station, where it will build housing for low-income residents. Agency commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to buy the land from San Francisco for $4.35 million and to loan $1.5 million to nonprofit developers Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center and Mercy Housing to construct a new building. The site is at Ocean and Phelan avenues in the Ingleside neighborhood, in an area that is being overhauled by The City to improve pedestrian access and include more housing and retail. Implementation of the plan is contingent upon the San Francisco Municipal...

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Pier 70 financing bill dies in Sacramento

Redevelopment plans for the long-dilapidated Pier 70 area have fallen victim to legislative gridlock in Sacramento. A bill that would have allowed the Port of San Francisco to raise funds for environmental cleanup efforts and other projects at the 65-acre site through the creation of an infrastructure financing district passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously but it was among the slew of bills recently vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “[A.B. 1176] did not survive the rash of vetoes,” Port Executive Director Monique Moyer told commissioners last week. “We will try again.” In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger “lamented the fact that...

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Wharf restaurants win temporary reprieve from parking changes

Frustrated Fisherman’s Wharf restaurateurs will temporarily continue operating a triangular parking lot, but the Port of San Francisco is forging ahead with a plan to hand control of the lot to a new operator, which will increase parking fees. Port commissioners were recently poised to approve a contract with a parking lot operator that would see Port revenue from the 286-car parking lot -- which is between Taylor and Jefferson streets and The Embarcadero -- more than triple to at least $97,000 per month. But a coalition of 11 surrounding restaurants that has operated the lot since the early 1980s stalled the vote by arguing that Commission President Rodney Fong should not have...

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Father David Rickey leading an effort to fix damaged church

The rector of the 142-year-old St. Peter’s Episcopal Church is leading an effort to build housing at the former site of the congregation’s Outer Richmond church, which was an unreinforced masonry building damaged in the Loma Prieta quake. What happened to the brick church when Loma Prieta struck? The Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the church on 29th Avenue and opened up some big cracks in the walls that made the structure unsafe to use. What will you do with the site? After 20 years of trying to figure out what to do, we finally made a plan for demolishing the church and building housing for developmentally disabled. There’s a wooden parish hall on the property and...

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Jim Berkland still predicting earthquakes

The geologist’s warning that a strong earthquake would strike the Bay Area during the 1989 World Series was published in the Gilroy Dispatch.

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Public warning system to support earthquake drill

San Francisco’s outdoor public warning system will be used to guide workers, residents and visitors through a mass earthquake training drill scheduled next week. The Great California Shakeout is an earthquake training exercise scheduled to take place at 10:15 a.m. on Oct 15, two days before the 20th anniversary of the deadly 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. During the training drill, participants will practice dropping to the ground, taking cover under a desk or table and holding on to something. More than 6 million people have been registered to take part in the exercise, according to a website created by drill organizers. Most participants were registered by employers planning...

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Market rate homes nixed from Hunters View project

The most radical element of a massive public housing reconstruction effort slated to start this year will be dumped due to the real estate slump. Under Hope SF — a city-led program that will draw on federal, state and local funds — market rate homes will be part of rebuilt public housing projects. Those homes will be sold and rented to help pay for reconstructing public housing units. Reconstruction of all 267 dilapidated units at the Hunters View public housing site will be Hope SF’s pilot project. However, market rate homes won’t be part of the first of three planned phases of the project because of the weak real estate market. Residents in homes affected by...

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Redevelopment Agency Commission President will step down

After serving for 12 years as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner, Ramon Romero announced Tuesday he will step down from the commission after its next meeting. “It’s been a wonderful experience,” said Romero, who currently serves as the commission’s president, during a meeting. “It’s been very trying at times.” The Oct. 20 commission meeting will be Romero’s last, he said. Romero said he is stepping down from the commission because of time commitments in his law...

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Hugo Hotel demolition plans starting to take shape

A demolition team will be sought early next year to tear down the Hugo Hotel, an iconic vacant building at Sixth and Howard streets that had furniture attached to its exterior walls in the 1990s by an artist. After hearing an eminent domain case, the San Francisco Superior Court recently ordered the owners to sell the blighted building to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency for $4.6 million. Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Fred Blackwell told commissioners during a public meeting Tuesday that the agency plans to “aggressively pursue demolition” of the hotel and seek bids from demolition crews early next year. The fire-damaged building, which has not yet been...

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Shipyard redevelopment will provide holiday reading material

Specific details of the biggest building project planned in The City will be outlined in November, and residents will be able to provide their feedback on it during the holiday-dominated month of December. The City is preparing an environmental impact report for the 770-acre planned redevelopment of the shuttered Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and surrounding land, including the current 49ers stadium site. The state-mandated report will outline the expected environmental and social impacts of the project and provide the clearest picture ever published of the future of San Francisco’s formerly-industrial southeastern pocket. A draft of the report – which is the version of an...

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Green museum welcomes green party guests

Environmental wonks will party Thursday evening in the nation’s most environmentally-friendly museum. The Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit energy-efficiency consultant that works with San Francisco, is holding a symposium in The City “to discuss the most challenging questions of our time,” according to the event website. On Thursday evening, after the first day of the symposium, Rocky Mountain Institute staff will party at the California Academy of Sciences to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the rebuilt super-green museum. Tickets to join in the fun cost...

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UC San Francisco set to open first Mission Bay clinical service

A university campus that’s helping drive growth of the biotechnology-focused Mission Bay neighborhood will open its first clinical service on Friday. UC San Francisco, which is building a hospital and expanding its new medically-focused campus in the booming waterfront redevelopment area, is set to open an orthopedic institute for research and patient treatment. Surgeons and specialists at the institute will treat musculoskeletal problems and sports injuries for outpatients. “We’re bringing all the expertise in musculoskeletal care into one setting,” said Dr. Thomas Vail, who is heading up the 120-employee facility. “We’re trying to make it less...

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Official to discuss plans for Candlestick Point

Arc Ecology executive director Saul Bloom will discuss building plans on Candlestick Point State Recreation Area and the shuttered Hunters Point Naval Shipyard at 7:30 p.m. today at CounterPulse, 1310 Mission St. Entry is free. Does The City still plan to buy 25 percent of the state park for developer Lennar Corp. to build on? Through advocacy, we reduced damage to the park as best as we could and came up with a deal preserving 90 percent of the park. California has been holding a fire sale and, unfortunately, The City offered up Candlestick. Nobody in the state was going to oppose a multimillion dollar sale of state lands. What wild animals live at Candlestick Point? Rabbits, ground...

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Century-old Glen Park cottage to be demolished

A 103 year-old cottage in the Glen Park neighborhood is scheduled to be torn down Tuesday. The historic building was ruled by the Department of Building Inspection to be unsafe to anybody who is adjacent or who enters the building, according to department spokesman Bill Strawn. The emergency ruling that the long-vacant building at 533 Laidley Street can be demolished because it’s unsafe was made by department deputy director Ed Sweeney because the roof has collapsed and the building has been infested by termites, according to Strawn. San Francisco Planning Commission Chairman Ron Miguel said he visited the property and agreed with Sweeney’s ruling. “I walked two...

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Planning commissioner says he was offered bribe – then changes mind

When is an offer of a gift from a developer to a city official a bribe? Planning Commission Chairman Ron Miguel has apparently changed his mind about the definition of the word “bribe” since last Thursday. Miguel on Monday said he “spoke out of turn” when he used the word “bribe” during a Thursday evening commission meeting after voting with colleagues to deny an application to demolish and construct residences in the Outer Richmond. “There was an item before us today in which I was offered a bribe, which I turned down,” Miguel said at the end of Thursday’s meeting. “I just wanted it made quite public that anyone who’s...

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Site catalogues city’s history

Anyone with a picture of San Francisco history or a story about The City can contribute it to a growing Web site. Nearly 1,300 pages of articles, photographs, videos and audio files have been published on FoundSF.org since it was created earlier this year, according to co-founder Chris Carlsson. The content-rich Web site is the result of a collaborative effort between Shaping San Francisco, a history project started in the mid-1990s by Carlsson and others, and the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. Most of the documents were published on the Web site by project volunteers and part-time officials, but Carlsson said he hopes more members of the public will begin adding their...

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Rail depot spot disputed

Bullet trains expected to reach San Francisco by 2020 should stop at the rebuilt Transbay Transit Center instead of elsewhere in The City, a letter from a state agency says. Attorneys for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which plans to spend $2 billion to rebuild the transit center at First and Mission streets by 2016, recently demanded in a letter that the California High-Speed Rail Authority stop reviewing alternative locations for a planned San Francisco bullet train terminal. “Several laws approved by the Legislature and the voters require the San Francisco terminus of [high-speed rail] to be located at the Transbay Transit Center,” outside counsels Andrew Schwartz...

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North Beach Branch Library demolition debated

The North Beach Branch Library has enough historical significance to be spared from pending demolition, but it should be torn down anyway, city planning officials said. The building was designed by the now-defunct Appleton & Wolfard architecture firm and built on a city park in the late 1950s. The San Francisco Public Library plans to demolish it and build a larger branch by 2012 on a nearby triangular parking lot. But today, the recently formed San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to consider whether eight branches designed by the firm, including the North Beach building, should be up for historical designation. The commission advises the Board of...

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Firm wins bid to dispose of San Francisco’s trash

San Francisco’s waste is expected to begin being dumped in Yuba County once The City runs out of space at the Altamont Landfill. The City has been sending its waste to the landfill since 1988, but its 15 million-ton quota is expected to be filled by 2014. San Francisco-based Recology, formerly known as NorCal, won a bid to dump The City’s waste elsewhere once space runs out at the Altamont Landfill, the company announced. Recology proposed hauling San Francisco’s waste by rail to a landfill it owns 140 miles northeast of The City on Ostrom Road in Yuba County. The company is also currently working to build a new dump in Winnemucca NV. Winnemucca Mayor Di An Putnam...

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Bed-bejeweled building likely to make way for new housing

The furniture-studded Hugo Hotel in South of Market neighborhood could be razed and replaced with a new building, after a $4.6 million verdict was reached Thursday in an eminent domain case. The 144-room hotel at Howard and Sixth streets has been vacant since the 1980s, when a fire tore through its interior. An artist bolted furniture to the building’s walls in the late 1990s, an installation intended to temporarily reduce the building’s blight until it was torn down or renovated. But throughout this decade, the owners have opted not to sell, rehabilitate or demolish the century-old building, and the furniture has faded along with the patience of government officials. The...

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Transbay Transit Center to become a work of art

Five artists are in line to divide $3.5 million in government funds to help turn a bus stop into an art gallery. Ned Kahn, Julie Chang, Timothy Hawkinson, Jenny Holzer and James Carpenter were selected to receive funds to create artwork that will provide a visual connection between ground-floor stores, a first level bus stop and a rooftop park planned at the new Transbay Transit Terminal. The existing terminal at First and Mission streets is scheduled to be torn down and replaced by 2015. Officials hope to eventually extend rail from King Street to an underground station at the new terminal. Transbay Joint Powers Authority directors are scheduled to approve the selected artists this...

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49ers Team President Jed York intercepts a legacy

Jed York was flying from his home in Youngstown, Ohio, to watch a divisional playoff game when the hardened training of his famous grandfather delivered its first big result. The trip would ultimately be disappointing: Minnesota wide receiver Anthony Carter and kicker Chuck Nelson both broke NFL postseason records as the Vikings defeated the York family’s 49ers 36-24. But en route to California, York demonstrated the indoctrinated fortitude that, 18 years later, would provide him with the conviction to help his family finally decide to tear the 49ers away from San Francisco. As the private jet cruised westward, a circle of gin-playing businessmen sat around a table in the back of...

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Cleaning up Sixth Street

People who spend their days loitering in the Sixth Street corridor could soon be shooed elsewhere. Two full-time officials will begin patrolling the street and its alleys this month. They will have two-way radios to report crimes, provide advice and clear paths for pedestrians, under a program adopted by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. Since 2005, when the agency assumed responsibility for economic development in a 70-acre area roughly bounded by Mission, Seventh, Harrison and Fifth streets, it has wooed businesses into formerly vacant storefronts. “However, the continued prevalence of homeless individuals and drugs on Sixth Street has hindered further improvement,”...

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Team unveils improvements

It remains to be seen whether 49ers fans will catch a glimpse of wide receiver Michael Crabtree trotting up and down the field this year, but one thing they can look forward to is friendly buttons on Candlestick Park staff. “Welcome to Candlestick Park,” read buttons that will adorn the uniforms of stadium staff. “How may I assist you?” Other improvements include additional pre-kickoff activities for kids, a hall of fame, a wall of helmets recognizing football programs at Northern California high schools, an expanded bar on the mezzanine level and a new pedestrian bridge. “One of the most significant offseason moves was the change of uniform colors back to...

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Plans for theater to keep historic facade intact

The entire historic facade of the vacant Harding Theater in Alamo Square would be preserved and rehabilitated under the latest proposal to build shops and condos at the site. An application to demolish the deserted theater at Divisadero and Hayes streets and replace it with a trio of four-story condo buildings was approved by city planners in late 2004, but appeals by neighbors and preservationists successfully blocked the plans. The Harding was built in 1926 as a movie theater and was later adapted to be used for live performances. It was purchased in the 1970s by a church, which covered over the original stage with boards. In November, revised plans filed by property owner Michael...

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Pelosi to oversee Japantown groundbreaking

The planned overhaul of 245 low-income and affordable apartments in seven Japantown buildings will begin Tuesday afternoon under the watchful eye of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The San Francisco politician is one of seven people scheduled to give speeches at a 3 p.m. groundbreaking event for the planned rehabilitation of Nihonmachi Terrace, which was built in the 1970s. The $25 million overhaul will introduce a number of green and energy-efficient upgrades to the buildings. All building roofs will be replaced, dual-paned windows will be installed and most of the apartments will receive new kitchen appliances, cabinets, countertops, tubs and showers. The U.S. Department of Housing and...

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Botanical Gardens to train docents in Southern Hemisphere plant life

Are you fascinated by the flora of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and other antipodean locales? The San Francisco Botanical Garden Society has put out a call for volunteer docents willing to spend 10 Saturday mornings learning about the Botanical Garden’s exotic Southern Hemisphere plant life. Classes begin Sept. 12 and each lesson lasts three hours. The course costs $75, which includes a textbook, and some scholarships are available. After completing the classes, the volunteer docents will be able to help introduce visitors to the gardens. Classes have been scheduled for the spring that will focus on the garden’s Northern Hemisphere...

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Renters rejoice: Prices falling citywide

The weak economy is proving to be a blessing for still-employed renters who were forced to beg, line up and pay skyrocketing prices for apartments just six months ago. Rents are tumbling as units are vacated by laid-off workers. “We’re running a vacancy rate which is unheard of in San Francisco,” said Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association. “I don’t know if rents have gone into a total free fall, but clearly they’re coming down.” Property owners are having a difficult time renting higher-end apartments, according to New. At the lower end of the market, apartment owners are being worn down by longtime San...

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Wheelchair-bound woman struck, killed by SUV in crosswalk

A wheelchair-bound woman was fatally struck Friday by a small SUV while she crossed a street at a crosswalk in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood, according to police. The 42-year old woman was identified by the Medical Examiner as San Francisco resident Abella Lastimosa. Lastimosa was crossing the street at about 12:50 p.m. at the 1700 block of Geneva Street, in The City’s southeast, when she was hit by a small westbound SUV, according to police spokesman Sgt. Wilfred Williams. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The death is being investigated by police, according to Williams. The crosswalk where Lastimosa was killed is not controlled by a red light or a stop sign, Williams...

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S.F. expected to exhaust landfill capacity by 2014

As trash from The City piles up near Altamont Pass, officials are searching for new dumping grounds. San Francisco has sent about 12 million tons of garbage to the privately owned Altamont Landfill since 1988, when it entered into a contract with the owner to deposit up to 15 million tons. According to city documents, San Francisco could run out of landfill space as early as 2014. Officials recently invited bids from three landfill operators interested in taking the roughly 500,000 tons of nonrecycled and noncomposted waste that city residents and businesses toss out every year, according to San Francisco Environment Department Acting Director David Assman. Bids are due in two weeks;...

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Missing sailors found in Santa Cruz

A pair of yachters were discovered in Santa Cruz early Thursday evening following an intensive 4-hour search by the U.S. Coast Guard. The men, who left a dock in Half Moon Bay in a 36-foot sailboat on Wednesday afternoon, were reported missing after the deckhand failed to show up for a job Thursday, according to Pillar Point Harbor Master Dan Temko. Capt. Steve Pruitt, reportedly of Crescent City, and crewmember Jacob Johnson hadn’t told officials of their yachting plans before they departed Wednesday, according to Coast Guard spokeswoman Charity Hoffman. The Coast Guard on Thursday afternoon searched for the men in gale conditions using a San Francisco-based helicopter and a...

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Motorcyclist plunges to death from freeway

A motorcyclist plunged more than 50 feet off of the James Lick Freeway to his death Wednesday evening after colliding with the railing, according to authorities. The southbound motorcyclist’s bike remained on U.S. 101 when he fell into a parking lot at 15th Street and San Bruno Avenue at about 8:30 p.m., according to San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Lt. Ken Smith. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Smith. It appeared as though no other vehicles were involved in the accident, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Sean Chase. It was too early to tell whether alcohol or excessive speed contributed to the accident, Chase said. “He...

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DEA raids SOMA marijuana dispensary

Federal agents raided a marijuana dispensary in SoMa on Wednesday afternoon, seizing pot, patient records, scales and other materials. Armed agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency raided Emmalyn’s Collective Cooperative at Howard and 12th streets sometime after 2 p.m., according to witnesses. No arrests were made Wednesday, Special Agent Anthony Williams said in a statement. “We believe there are not only violations of federal law, but state law,” Williams said. “As of now, we are prohibited from releasing further details of the case.” After several hours inside, about 10 agents loaded eight large plastic containers and at least six trash bags...

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Bay Area landscaper takes talent to DIY network

Ahmed Hassan, a 35-year-old Bay Area landscaper, has found celebrity as the host of “Yard Crashers” on cable television’s DIY network. What is “Yard Crashers”? I’m doing ambush-style landscaping. I approach people in hardware stores and just solicit people and find out who’s working on what at home. I’m typically looking for people who are really into it. I have them bring some family and friends around and we slam a landscape in a few days. How long have you been a landscaper? I’ve been doing nothing but landscaping since I was 15, and I learned how to work outside when I was 10 years old. I took several classes at City College in...

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Architecture is deemed art for zoning purposes

A trained architect-cum-design artist secured approval Thursday to tear down her Western SoMa house and replace it with a five-story combined dwelling, arts space and cafe. Neighbors had expressed concern that a portion of the new building, set aside as an arts space for her studio, would be used as an architectural office. As The Examiner previously reported, the homeowner said her architecture work was art. The neighborhood fought during the dot-com boom to prevent buildings in the neighborhood from being converted into offices. But the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the plans Thursday. “This is a very innovative design,” Commissioner Michael Antonini said....

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Turf battle tests limit of art’s definition

A dispute about a house may boil down to your definition of art. A SoMa homeowner has filed an application to replace her house with a five-story combined dwelling, coffee kiosk and arts space— but the plan’s arts elements are raising suspicion among alley-dwelling neighbors, partly because she’s a trained architect. The charming but deteriorating 102-year-old house is in a typical western SoMa residential enclave, where family homes are squeezed between gritty industrial buildings. The area started to fill up with live-work spaces during the dot-com boom — a trend that was slowed by city lawmakers after longtime residents complained about rapid changes to their...

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