Within weeks, two proposed San Francisco leases with big real estate firms have drawn criticism from supervisors over costs, and the debate has also revealed that a new “green” requirement can hike The City’s lease payments.
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San Francisco’s law banning the delivery of Yellow Pages is being sent to the trash can after a federal court ruled that a similar law enacted in Seattle violated First Amendment protections.
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu had authored local legislation that prohibited the delivery of the phonebooks to anyone who did not request them or who was not home to personally accept them.
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A San Francisco supervisor is calling for stricter privacy controls for transit riders using Clipper cards to pay their fares on BART, Muni and other Bay Area public transportation systems.
Amid media reports of law enforcement subpoenaing Clipper card data to make an arrest and high-tech mobile applications that can read a card’s travel history, Supervisor John Avalos introduced a resolution Tuesday calling for stricter privacy protections.
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If approved by voters this November, San Francisco’s 30-year plan to fund affordable-housing development would undergo scrutiny every five years under a proposal headed toward approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Mayor Ed Lee’s Proposition C, the Housing Trust Fund, would change San Francisco’s affordable-housing requirements and sink more than $1 billion into housing construction and housing programs for the next three decades.
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In an effort to crack down on blood-sucking bedbugs, San Francisco may soon require pest control companies to provide monthly reports of their eradication efforts and make landlords give tenants a two-year record of any such infestations.
Tenants shared horrific tales of scars and blood-stained sheets, and issued complaints about a general lack of response in eliminating the pests during Thursday’s Board of Supervisors Rules Committee hearing on legislation aimed to curtail bedbug blight.
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San Francisco’s shuttle buses for commuting tech company employees are getting on the nerves of some residents and the city officials who have to deal with complaints.
While the tension is nothing new, City Hall appears closer to proposing a solution to an increasingly common situation that can create traffic problems and delay Muni.
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Civic Center Plaza has been shut down to host large-scale events for extended periods during the past two months, prompting a San Francisco supervisor to complain about the Recreation and Park Department’s stewardship of the space.
Since last week, the plaza between City Hall and the Main Library has been closed down for preparations leading up to the Dew Tour, a skateboarding, bicycle and freestyle motocross event that will begin today.
Supervisor John Avalos called the event “troubling” since it closes down the park for what he called an “inordinate” amount of time.
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The illegal practice known as corporate hotelization could be shut down under a law adopted Tuesday by the Board of
Supervisors.
When corporations sign long-term apartment leases but then allow short-term stays, other residents complain of feeling like they are living in a hotel. The practice also takes away housing that could otherwise go to San Franciscans.
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Mayor Ed Lee defended the rules governing his monthly question time sessions with the Board of Supervisors, while also chiding the board Tuesday for a degeneration of behavior during last week’s vote to reinstate Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff.
Despite criticism that question time seldom yields meaningful interaction, Lee said a rules change could potentially turn the sessions into “a gotcha game” and “would erode the respectful dialogue that I have worked hard to develop with all of the Board of Supervisors.”
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For the first time, preliminary results of ranked-choice voting will be released on Election Night, which should help to calm nerves and lessen suspense.
In the past, the Department of Elections would wait days to run the first tabulation of ranked-choice voting, which left many guessing where people’s second- and third-place votes would go in the close races.
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After more than a decade of conversation, San Francisco voters will finally have the opportunity this November to replace The City’s tax on employee payrolls with a tax on the revenues that businesses bring in.
The 1.5 percent tax on business payrolls in excess of $250,000 has long been maligned as a “job killer” and a disincentive for companies to do business in San Francisco, the only city in California with such a tax.
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The Board of Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to approve a costly lease for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s towing operation after missing a chance to purchase the property for itself.
Last week, the board’s Budget and Finance Committee put the brakes on the deal, requesting more details. But Wednesday, the committee voted to send it to the full board for a vote, albeit without a recommendation.
Supervisors have raised questions about the deal, as has Budget Analyst Harvey Rose. Supervisor John Avalos said he isn’t sure if he can support it.
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As required by a voter mandate, the San Francisco Public Library is now re-examining its library hours.
In November 2007, voters approved Proposition D, which extended for 15 years the Library Preservation Fund, which requires that a portion of property taxes go toward library operations.
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The Board of Supervisors may have ended the official misconduct proceedings against Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, but political fallout reverberates with talk of a recall effort, a wave of media statements and the revelation of threatening text messages from a high-ranking mayoral aide.
Observers called it a significant political defeat for Mayor Ed Lee, who had expended lots of political capital during the 10-month ordeal that began with Mirkarimi’s domestic violence incident on New Year’s Eve.
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Third-party contributions opposing Supervisor Eric Mar or supporting challenger David Lee have flooded into San Francisco’s District 1 supervisorial race with less than 30 days until the election.
The huge infusion of cash has transformed a previously close fundraising contest into a lopsided spending battle in which Lee and his supporters maintain an almost five-to-two advantage over Mar. Total fundraising on behalf of Lee was $473,557, while Mar had raised just $192,969 as of Sept. 30.
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