As the Recreation and Park Department works to climb out of an era of service cuts, operations remain hampered by severe staffing shortages, officials said Wednesday.
Department head Phil Ginsburg said that despite the budget challenges, the park system is being spared service cuts in the next two fiscal years.
“We are not actually reducing our programs and services,” Ginsburg said. “Quite to the contrary, we have figured out strategies to grow.”
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Many people working in the shadows of City Hall to land government contracts, obtain permits and sway decision-makers could soon be forced into the public eye.
Permit expeditors and attorneys doing routine business with city departments can operate with little public scrutiny under The City’s existing regulations, but City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu announced a proposal Tuesday to expose more of the inner workings of City Hall.
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A condo conversion proposal headed closer to approval Monday after tenant advocates partnered with key members of the Board of Supervisors to counter an initial version whose author now opposes the legislation as amended.
Supervisor Mark Farrell first introduced legislation to allow tenancy-in-common owners to pay a fee to bypass the lottery that allows 200 condo conversions a year. Board President David Chiu amended the proposal last week with the backing of tenant advocates.
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As Mayor Ed Lee is drafting his proposed two-year city budget, questions are being raised about whether San Francisco should advance plans for four separate public safety communication systems totaling about $270 million during the next five years.
The debate over the investment comes as The City is attempting to turn around a long-troubled technology history, rife with wasteful spending, duplicative efforts and outdated software.
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A proposal to create no-protest zones around women’s health clinics such as the Planned Parenthood site in the Mission district advanced to the full Board of Supervisors on Thursday.
Supervisor David Campos has gained enough support from his colleagues to ensure its passage at the full board May 7. The law would prohibit anyone from standing within 25 feet of the entrances, exits and driveways of such facilities; in 1993, The City adopted a law that created an 8-foot “bubble zone” around anyone who is within 100 feet of such facilities.
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New bars along Lower Polk Street were banned Tuesday as The City attempts to mitigate the rowdy nightlife scene that has increased there in recent years.
While the legislation was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors with little debate, the proposal had inspired a spirited back-and-forth among community members and bar owners about the proper character of Polk Street and how best to address the impacts of the popular nightlife scene.
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A proposal to allow for more than 200 condo conversions each year took an unusual turn Monday as tenant advocates who have long battled the idea celebrated a plan supported by key members of the Board of Supervisors.
For years, condo-conversion proposals have collapsed amid political fighting, but the board is now closer than ever to approving legislation that would allow tenancy-in-common owners to bypass The City’s lottery system by paying up to $20,000 a unit to convert into a condo.
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San Francisco’s publicly funded employment programs remain “too fragmented” and pressure is mounting to make improvements as the technology industry booms and the local economy improves.
The City spends tens of millions of dollars annually on employment programs, but inefficiencies and lack of job placements have plagued the effort. These employment programs are seen as crucial efforts to help those struggling as housing prices and other cost-of-living expenses increase in San Francisco.
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San Francisco committed this week to boost its open-data movement, but the impact of the decision will depend on the information released and how tech companies and advocates put the information to use.
After admittedly falling behind in the open-data movement, the Board of Supervisors approved legislation this week that officials say will put The City back on the frontier.
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The head of San Francisco’s public housing was let go Tuesday and the moment was seized upon by city officials to promise a new day for the long-beleaguered agency that houses about 41,000 people.
The six-member Housing Authority Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to terminate Henry Alvarez’s contract ahead of its June 12 end date. Alvarez, who has a salary of $210,500, had been out on medical leave since February.
Alvarez has become the latest Housing Authority director to leave the post amid political controversy and allegations of poor leadership.
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Supervisor Scott Wiener’s effort to change how The City handles an environmental appeals process was slowed down Monday as a competing measure is being introduced today.
The proposed changes to the appeals process related to the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly called CEQA, have sparked tensions at City Hall, creating divisions among labor unions, community groups and housing advocates, and filling up supervisors’ inboxes with hundreds of emails from residents on both sides of the conflict.
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A plan to create a bike lane on Polk Street has led one city transit official to call parking supporters’ behavior “offensive.”
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The Police Department has since 2010 routinely required business owners to install surveillance cameras in order to receive permits to sell alcohol, but suddenly the Board of Supervisors has begun voting against the condition.
On Thursday, a board committee approved two liquor licenses, but not before shooting down the surveillance requirement at the urging of Supervisor Scott Wiener.
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Rent control could be part of a deal to allow the owners of thousands of housing units to convert them into condominiums by paying a fee.
A new report by the City Controller’s Office has suggested imposing such a mandate on the 2,269 units in 700 buildings that are involved in the proposal.
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When crime cameras for San Francisco’s streets were first installed in 2005, city officials hotly debated the privacy concerns. Now a debate has erupted over surveillance cameras in bars as more liquor licenses are being approved under the condition that bar owners film customers coming and going.
Supervisor Scott Wiener objected to the surveillance requirement added to two liquor license applications before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/joshua-sabatini?page=1
