The City has seen a geographical shift in homicides this year, as nearly one-fourth of all killings have occurred in the Western Addition, after years when the Bayview was known as the bloodiest neighborhood in San Francisco.With 21 homicides to date in 2007, San Francisco is on pace for another record-setting year. Data supplied by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice show that more homicides have occurred in the Western Addition than in the Bayview, with three daylight shootings.
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For the second time in a year, the price of just stepping into a taxicab could increase.Five months ago, San Francisco increased the cost of the so-called flag drop, the charge at which drivers start the meter, by 25 cents — riders were hit with a $3.10 charge just for stepping into a cab. It became the second highest flag drop in the nation, only 10 cents behind the flag drop of Las Vegas cabs.
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Thousands of San Francisco businesses and residents were greeted with a surprise Thursday morning when they turned on their faucets: no water.An unforeseen combination of events led to a water outage Thursday that affected mostly the northern and eastern parts of San Francisco — from Fisherman’s Wharf to the Bayview district, including the downtown, Civic Center and South of Market areas — leaving customers with no water for about one hour.
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A proposed ban on the use of plastic bags in San Francisco’s large chain grocery stores could end up applying to smaller retail stores with a pharmacy license.Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced legislation that would ban the use of plastic bags in the estimated 54 large grocery stores in San Francisco. He and other city officials are accusing a number of large grocery stores of failing to live up to an agreement with The City to reduce plastic bag usage in exchange for The City not moving forward with a 17-cent tax per plastic bag.
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Public housing residents say security has gotten so bad that drug selling and robberies have become a way of life just outside their apartment doors.Security had to be cut back at a number of public housing sites because the San Francisco Housing Authority’s operating budget has been underfunded by the federal government in recent years, according to the Housing Authority’s executive director, Greg Fortner. This year, the amount of the shortfall was $5.1 million, Fortner said.
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Muni’s fare evaders have been costing the transit agency millions of dollars a year. Now, Mayor Gavin Newsom is considering free rides for all.Newsom has asked the Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees Muni, to examine a fare-free Muni system. The request comes as the agency struggles to boost ridership and improve reliability while at the same time faces multimillion-dollar budget deficits each year.
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After 18 months of negotiations, The City struck a unique deal with a private property owner to take care of two trees for the famous and colorful wild parrots of Telegraph Hill.San Francisco will take over the responsibility and liability for two aging Monterey cypress trees on private property along Greenwich Street where the world famous cherry-headed conures spend a lot of their time, much to the enjoyment of residents and visitors from afar.
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A city commission has abandoned the idea of reclaiming sections of Ocean Beach that were handed over to the National Park Service more than 30 years ago even as off-leash dog advocates worry the federal agency will end up forcing them to leash their dogs.
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Pet-friendly San Francisco apparently has some unfriendly dog walkers. Reports of dogs lost, verbally abused, left in poorly ventilated cars and found roaming city parks without a watchful eye are just some of the complaints The City’s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare has been increasingly receiving about professional dog walkers. In response, the commission will vote Thursday on a new set of regulations requiring a special business license and setting limits on the number of dogs pet care providers can walk at one time.
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Mayor Gavin Newsom declared a local emergency on Friday, three days after a rockslide in North Beach has left more than 100 residents without homes and area property owners with hefty cleanup costs.By declaring a local emergency, The City and those affected by Tuesday morning’s rockslide may be eligible for state and federal assistance.
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An ambitious program to overhaul The City’s public library buildings has hit a snag with construction cost overruns and delays that have now forced the postponement of five branch renovation projects. The postponement is unlikely to draw criticism as plans for the branches have also been altered to bring much grander than originally conceived improvements, in some cases newly constructed larger buildings.
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The controversial issue of extending Golden Gate Park’s Sunday road closure to Saturdays has re-emerged and battle lines are being redrawn.Citing the popularity of Sunday’s road closure in The City’s beloved and largest park, advocates for extending the closure to Saturday are hoping the latest proposal will finally become a reality after several failed attempts.
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The city agency in charge of keeping streets clean is paying a consultant $80,000 to examine its own street-sweeping program, following a report last month criticizing the department for being inefficient and nonresponsive to complaints.
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A 3.4-magnitude earthquake about two miles east of Berkeley briefly shook the Bay Area late Friday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.The earthquake, which rumbled at 3:46 p.m., apparently caused no damage in The City but was felt there. Both the San Francisco Fire and Police departments said no emergency calls came in following the quake.BART followed usual protocol and stopped trains for five minutes to make sure there was no damage, which there wasn’t, and then resumed service.
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The City’s requirement that new housing developments add to the stock of below-market-rate units may end up applying to the smallest projects as well.
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