A word of warning to the serial junk dumper of Bernal Hill — the neighbors are on to you.
The wee hours of Wednesday morning marked the fourth time in recent months that a dump truck has quickly rolled up the peak, dumped a load — in a handicapped parking space, no less — and rolled back down into obscurity. All in a matter of 10 minutes.
And then, over the weekend, the hill experienced three additional brazen dumpings; one ended with a pile being set ablaze. On Sunday morning, a trail of household filth could be seen leading to a charred mass of hot garbage.
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As modern-day pirates and subterranean thieves with electrical expertise drive San Francisco’s illegal metal trade, The City is moving to crack down with new regulations for both suppliers and buyers of the pilfered loot.
The price of copper peaked last summer, when metal bandits made up to $4 per pound after ravaging underground utility infrastructure, knocking out power and costing more than $20,000 in repairs on at least one occasion.
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Employees of a janitorial services firm never received health care benefits required under The City’s Healthy San Francisco program, and now the company must pay $1.3 million to cover the past medical expenses of 275 current and former workers.
Calling the decision by an administrative hearings officer a “groundbreaking case,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office said Friday that the ruling sends a message that the health care policy has teeth.
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Rarely does a week go by at City Hall these days without the announcement of another local tech company’s expansion — a development that always makes Mayor Ed Lee visibly gleeful.
When Lee took office in January 2011, The City’s unemployment rate was a staggering 9.5 percent. By this March, it had dropped to 8.1 percent, and much of the improvement is attributable to the tech industry.
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California’s ban on force-feeding water fowl to create foie gras takes effect in July, but that’s not stopping 35 notable San Francisco chefs and a total of 100 around the state from attempting to keep the French delicacy in high-end restaurants.
The group is petitioning state lawmakers to strictly regulate the process of obtaining the enlarged livers rather than outlawing it. But state Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said last week that the Legislature has more important matters afoot to rethink the ban, which became law in 2004 and included an 8-year grace period.
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In the strongest crackdown on Occupy San Francisco tactics since the movement began in September, District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that some demonstrators will be charged with misdemeanors and felonies — a far more serious punishment than the citations they normally receive when arrested.
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The Occupy movement’s frenetic commemoration of May Day got plenty of attention as Bay Area demonstrators came out in droves to spread the message that income disparity has created a nationwide crisis. But fallout from the labor holiday could provoke backlash from otherwise supportive observers.
Click on the photo to see more photos from the protest.
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Drawing on Occupy Wall Street tactics, Local 1021 of the Service Employees International Union is increasing pressure on Mayor Ed Lee as its contract negotiations head into arbitration.
The mayor is attempting to close a $170 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year and has been renegotiating 27 labor contracts that will weigh heavily on The City’s fiscal future.
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Endangered Mission blue butterflies will be released today atop Twin Peaks, which ecological studies have shown to be a suitable habitat for the insects and their eggs.
A new batch of butterflies will fly free in the hills, after a successful introduction of 22 pregnant females in 2009, according to The City’s Recreation and Park Department. The department also helped release a group of 60 males and females on Twin Peaks last year, according to Recreation and Park spokeswoman Connie Chan.
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Pandemonium could reign Tuesday as the Occupy San Francisco movement conducts actions across The City in honor of May Day, internationally observed as a celebration of labor rights.
The movement appears to have called off its earlier vow to shut down the Golden Gate Bridge from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. But Occupiers still vow to join bridge workers who are unhappy about their wages and benefits. A “bike cavalry” and buses from both San Francisco City Hall and Oakland are expected to show up at the toll plaza of the bridge during the morning commute.
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The America’s Cup and San Francisco are now officially partners in what organizers hope will be a complete overhaul of the sport that will “blow away all the stuffiness” from an activity that has traditionally appealed only to the wealthy.
Click on the photo to the right to see more images from the America's Cup event.
Those were the words of star sailor Sir Russell Coutts, the Olympic gold medalist and perennial America’s Cup winner, who stood alongside Mayor Ed Lee and the America’s Cup trophy on Friday at the future site of the finishing line at Pier 27.
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The Tenderloin’s well-documented poop problem is often blamed on a lack of public restrooms. But some of the very groups concerned about sidewalk droppings would rather have the perennial mess than more toilets attracting illicit drug use and prostitution.
Now, a nonprofit group and an alternative bathroom maker have what they think might be an answer: monitored translucent plastic restrooms connected to parklets, the portable seating areas put in place of parking spaces around The City.
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A documentary about a play that recasts Jesus Christ as a gay man has unsurprisingly drawn the ire of Christian groups, but prominent LGBT politicians plan to stand behind the film when it’s shown this weekend at the Castro Theatre.State Sen. Mark Leno, Supervisor Scott Wiener and gay-friendly theologians say they plan to show up to defend the rights of filmmakers to display their work.
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The Mission district’s fortress of bondage fetish pornography has become well-stitched into the welcoming fabric of San Francisco, but some in the outside world don’t think it’s so acceptable.
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It could take months and plenty of money, but owners of a beloved 100-year-old restaurant in Chinatown say they’re going to consider reopening, despite being hit with a litany of health code violations including uncleanly food practices and a pervasive rat problem.
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