San Francisco State is sending rugged wheelchairs to assist thousands of people injured in the earthquake in Haiti.
The university’s Whirlwind Wheelchair program, which has existed for more than 20 years, designs and builds rugged, low-cost wheelchairs for developing countries.
Whirlwind’s factory in San Juan del Rio, Mexico is now producing a rush order of RoughRider wheelchairs, which are ideal for people in Haiti who now have lasting mobility impairments.
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San Francisco’s job’s initiative has helped to employ more than 1,500 job seekers since July, according to the city’s Office of Small Business.
JOBS NOW!, a subsidized employment program funded by stimulus dollars, allows the city to reimburse the cost of 100 percent of the wages for any worker employed through the program until September 30, 2010.
Employers are required only to pay for payroll taxes, any fringe benefits that employees typically receive, and supervision of participants.
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Sheridan Elementary School students are sending off a $400 check to help victims of Haiti’s earthquake.
Students at Sheridan, 75 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced lunches, placed collection jars in every classroom to raise money after a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti earlier this month.
The school will be sending a check to Doctors Without Borders early this week.
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Last year, All American Boy, a longtime clothing fixture in the Castro, closed its doors, and in December, Upper Market’s landmark home decor store Earthtones started its going-out-of-business sale. On the other side of town at Union Square, merchants have been shuttering at the peak of the recession.
Last year, San Francisco lost more than 9,899 businesses compared with 6,100 in 2008, according to San Francisco’s Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector.
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The budget deficit for San Francisco public schools grew $30 million in recent weeks, and district officials are blaming the governor.Initially, San Francisco Unified School District officials thought the budget shortfall would be $83 million during the next two years. But after analyzing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state budget proposal, they now say the SFUSD is $113 million in the hole — a figure that’s 25 percent of the operating budget.
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City Attorney Dennis Herrera is suing property owners of a Tenderloin apartment building, saying the tenants have been living in a building infested with cockroaches and no heat, according to the city attorney’s office.
Herrera filed the lawsuit today in San Francisco Superior Court against the owners of 850 Geary St. According to the complaint, the owners have ignored more than a dozen violation notices and abatement orders since 2005.
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The budget deficit for San Francisco public schools grew by $30 million in recent weeks and district officials are blaming the governor.Initially, San Francisco Unified School District officials thought the budget shortfall stopped at $83 million over the next two years. But after analyzing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state budget proposal, district officials now say the SFUSD is $113 million in the hole — a figure that is 25 percent of the district’s operating budget.
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The amount of money San Francisco has received from online hotel-booking sites has increased to $54 million, according to the City Controller’s Office, but it can't spend it.
Last summer, the city collected $35 million from two online hotel-booking companies, including Expedia and Hotwire. Priceline and Travelocity have also paid back taxes totally close to $6 million. The four companies filed a lawsuit against the city asking for the money back. That lawsuit is still pending in court, officials said.
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San Francisco Unified School District wants to make its schools even greener.
At a school committee hearing Tuesday night, commissioners signed off on plans to establish a green-schools advisory committee that would create more standards and policies to make schools healthier and more environmental.
The school committee’s recommendation will go to the full board for approval. The advisory committee would include members from the Public Utilities Commission as well as the Department of Environment and school officials.
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Ever since the state made it illegal to send and receive text messages while driving, Mark Bosler has broken his habit of reading messages while behind the wheel.
“It always did seem like a terrible idea,” said the 28-year-old San Francisco resident.
Yet one year since the ban was enacted in California, law enforcement officials claim sending and receiving text messages while behind the wheel is still a rampant problem among drivers — and they have the statistics to prove it.
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The growing popularity of street food sales has prompted local health officials and community leaders to address ways to help these nomadic vendors thrive – legally.
On average as many as 60 food vendors operate in San Francisco throughout the week, selling everything from burritos and hot dogs to crème Brulee and curry, according to Caleb Zigas, operations director at La Cocina, which has been working to help food entrepreneurs succeed.
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The vice president of the San Francisco SPCA has more than 20 years of animal-sheltering experience. She’s serving as regional spokeswoman for the Purina One mobile unit.
What is the Tour for Heroes? More than 63,000 pounds of Purina One dog and cat food — equaling 11,000 bags of food — will be given out to help pets in need. Each stop will feature adoptable dogs and cats from area shelters.
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Californians for High Speed Rail is upping the ante with a grassroots effort to bring together proponents of the bullet train.
The nonprofit group, which was founded in 2005, on Wednesday will begin its statewide organizing effort to create stronger collective support group for the high speed rail project.
This is in response to this year’s growing opposition to the bullet train proposal, the group said. Voters in 2008 passed a bond measure to begin building the high speed rail train, which will zip passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a few hours.
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Expect 20 minute delays on BART for the next hour while crews repair a cover board that came off the electrical rail near the Transbay Tube in West Oakland.
Richmond-bound passenger coming from San Francisco will likely have to transfer trains, as BART is limiting service in the Transbay Tube, said Linton Johnson, BART spokesman.
Crews are working on it now, and it should be repaired in the next 15 minutes.
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San Francisco Police arrested a 40-year-old man in connection with the Dec. 29 beating and robbery of a man in the Richmond District.
Police said they arrested Charles Ryan of San Francisco on suspicion of beating and robbing a 60-year-old man as he was getting out of his car after pulling into his garage on the 100 block of Ninth Avenue.
According to police, Ryan hit the man several times, causing serious facial lacerations. He then demanded the man’s personal possessions and ran off, leaving the victim in the garage bleeding profusely.
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