Tighter security will remain in place for the 101st running of San Francisco’s Zazzle Bay to Breakers race this Sunday morning, as police on Tuesday pledged to “enforce fun.”
The 12-kilometer costumed scamper across The City had devolved in past years, at least among some, into a festival of sloppy drunkenness and public urination, prompting race organizers last year to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on alcohol. That and a ban on floats will remain in place this year as an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 celebrants take to the race course.
Read More
San Francisco is stepping up its efforts to bring the Warriors back to The City, with a proposal to build a state-of-the-art arena in time for the 2017-18 NBA season.
On Friday, Mayor Ed Lee hand-delivered a letter from himself, local and state legislators, and city business leaders to Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob. It asked the team to consider the waterfront as “a spectacular opportunity” for the franchise and fans.
San Francisco and the team have had informal discussions since December.
Read More
The long-planned expansion of San Francisco’s largest wholesale produce market, a hub for fresh food in The City, may finally be taking root.
The San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market, which rents space to nearly 30 wholesalers and distributors, has been a mainstay on Jerrold Avenue in the Bayview District for decades. It is a source of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers and other goods from local and regional farms to restaurants, groceries, hotels and specialty retailers throughout The City.
Read More
Travelers in areas where the Tour of California cycling race is slated to speed through town today should expect delays and detours between 10 a.m. and noon.
The eight-day race will bring dozens of top cyclists to town — at least for a few minutes — on the second leg of the competition. The route begins in the Marina and passes the Golden Gate Bridge and Ocean Beach before heading down the Peninsula.
Read More
Authorities have identified the victims of two separate shooting homicides that took place in The City on Friday night.
Georgio Joseph, 24, of San Francisco was shot in the 100 block of Broad Street in the Oceanview neighborhood at about 7:30 p.m. Friday, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Joseph was found in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Read More
The mid-Market Street area has long been troubled by empty storefronts and homelessness, especially the few blocks directly east of San Francisco’s vacant SF Mart building.
But Thursday afternoon, construction workers on the building’s three upper floors were busy installing work stations, filling in walls and ceilings, and building out a sunny rooftop deck.
Read More
On June 5, California voters will be asked to make legislative careers shorter and cigarettes more expensive.
Under a proposed measure billed as term-limit legislation, politicians would be allowed to spend fewer total years in the California Legislature, but craft longer careers in either of its houses.
Proposition 28 would limit legislators elected after June 5, 2012, to a lifetime maximum of 12 years in office, rather than the current 14 years.
Read More
Business-friendly Mayor Ed Lee celebrated the 18th annual Bike to Work Day on Thursday morning by biking from Golden Gate Park to City Hall with a coterie of local business leaders in tow.
City officials, along with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, celebrated San Francisco’s efforts to accommodate and attract new bicyclists with the standard messages of health and environmental sustainability. But this year’s speakers also thanked local businesses for adding bike parking and encouraging cycling.
Read More
Legislation enshrining limits to the Police Department’s engagement with federal anti-terrorism activities was hailed Wednesday by city officials, police and members of the Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities as a victory against racial profiling and for transparency.
Read More
Mayor Ed Lee’s effort to remove Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff “is an unprecedented political prosecution that has nothing to do with the will of the people,” Mirkarimi’s attorneys said in their opening legal filing to the Ethics Commission on Tuesday.
In March, Lee suspended Mirkarimi from office for official misconduct after Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment of his wife, Eliana Lopez. The couple had denied prosecutors’ allegations that Mirkarimi committed domestic violence against his wife Dec. 31, just days before he was sworn in as sheriff.
Read More
A local nonprofit says a new model based on a cooperative living arrangement could help save some low-income residents from eviction or foreclosure.
The San Francisco Community Land Trust is starting small, having bought only two properties since it formed in 2003 — a 21-unit apartment building in Chinatown scheduled for demolition, and a home near Alamo Square that was headed for a foreclosure auction last month. The group is now looking to add another home in the Western Addition.
Read More
A new federal report on last year’s hillside house fire in Diamond Heights that killed two firefighters noted the steep landscape, ineffective analysis of the situation and poor communication among responders as contributing factors to the fatalities.
The June 2, 2011, fire at 133 Berkeley Way killed Lt. Vincent Perez, 48, and firefighter-paramedic Anthony Valerio, 53. The Fire Department had determined the cause of the blaze to be accidental.
Read More
Two shootings Saturday injured four people, including a girl, in the Mission district, though police said the incidents appeared unrelated to nearby Cinco de Mayo festivities.While revelers partied in Dolores Park throughout the day, police were called at 5:30 p.m. to Mission and 19th streets, three blocks from the park, were two men were found shot.“It was away from any Cinco de Mayo activities,” police spokesman Sgt. Daryl Fong said.
Read More
A portion of the long-planned and long-delayed housing development in the Bayview-Hunters Point shipyard area could open to families by 2014, the developer said Thursday.
Construction on the hilltop area in Hunters Point overlooking the shipyard — the initial phase of the massive 702-acre project — is expected to begin later this year, Lennar Urban President Kofi Bonner said. If all goes as planned, families could begin moving into some 300 to 400 homes about 18 months later, Bonner said.
Read More
As tech startup Airbnb announced plans to add hundreds of local jobs at its new San Francisco headquarters, Mayor Ed Lee said the issue of whether the company must pay The City’s 14 percent hotel tax remains a topic for discussion.
The online service — which connects people around the world who have spare rooms with travelers looking for short-term places to stay — said it would move its headquarters next year from its current 35,000-square-foot office space at 99 Rhode Island St. to a 169,000-square-foot space a few blocks away at 888 Brannan St.
Read More
URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/ari-burack?page=4
