Mayor Ed Lee will announce a citywide summer youth job program today that is expected to offer more than 5,000 positions within private businesses and city government.
Lee will roll out San Francisco’s Summer Jobs +, an initiative that builds on The City’s ongoing youth job efforts and responds to President Barack Obama’s January challenge for more youth employment nation wide.
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Restaurant owners in San Francisco will no longer have to worry about city controls dictating the number of chairs they put out or if they can toast a bagel or serve ice cream in a cup or cone.
Supervisor Scott Wiener’s legislation streamlining land-use controls for eating and drinking businesses was widely praised and approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors in an 11-0 vote.
It reduces the 13 definitions for eating and drinking establishments to three: restaurants that serve alcohol, restaurants that don’t serve alcohol and bars.
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Calling it an unprecedented citywide effort, Mayor Ed Lee has asked The City’s department heads to create more summer youth employment positions, and he intends to turn to private businesses to do the same.Lee met with department heads Thursday afternoon at City Hall and passionately discussed his vision for the creation of more summer jobs for youths, and he requested the officials draft specific job plans. He is expected to announce details soon about an aggressive summer youth job effort.
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Suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s official misconduct proceedings before the Ethics Commission will begin in three weeks unless a Superior Court judge rules in his favor just days before then.
The Ethics Commission has scheduled April 23 for the first of what is expected to be a series of meetings on Mayor Ed Lee’s suspension of Mirkarimi on charges of official misconduct. The commission ultimately must advise the Board of Supervisors whether to permanently oust the sheriff, a move that would take the votes of at least nine of the 11 members.
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If The City opted to modify its business payroll tax instead of switching to a gross receipts tax, it would be easier to administer, but not be as equitable nor act as a job creator, according to analysis by the City Controller’s Office.
Mayor Ed Lee and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu have advocated a new city tax system because they say the payroll tax penalizes job growth and discourages companies from remaining in The City.
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A neighborhood group battling the proposed increase in the number of live events at the Nob Hill Masonic Center struck an interim agreement Tuesday, but the fight is far from over.
A special permit granted by the Planning Commission to allow the venue, operated by Live Nation, to hold an increased number of events was appealed by the Nob Hill Coalition.
The Board of Supervisors voted 11-0 on Tuesday to reject the appeal after the parties agreed to an interim settlement until a debate over an environmental impact report is resolved in the coming months.
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More time was granted Tuesday for property owners in eastern neighborhoods to pay a fee to become legal if business uses became illegal under land controls adopted in 2009. These land-use controls, which became known as the Eastern Neighborhood Plan, were intended to strike a balance among conflicting demands from the housing, industry, office and technology sectors. Land-use conflicts heated up during the turn-of-the-century dot-com boom, when tech firms began pricing light industry out of The City and blue-collar jobs began to vanish.
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Protection against FBI surveillance for people not suspected of criminal activity in San Francisco was approved Tuesday, but the years-in-the-making effort could be shot down by a mayoral veto. As in other cities, the Police Department has a contract with the FBI for involvement in the Joint Terrorism Task Force. But the relationship has faced criticism. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California says the public needs more access to task force activities.
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Relief may be on the way for San Francisco business owners who serve food or alcohol and must navigate complex regulations dictating whether bagels can be toasted or ice cream served in a cone or cup. Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced legislation that would simplify the planning code by condensing The City’s definitions of restaurants from 13 to three.
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In the race to prepare The City’s waterfront for the 34th America’s Cup, the Port of San Francisco is proposing to eliminate the usual competitive-bidding process for $17.1 million worth of construction work.The waiver is necessary, the Port says, because the standard process of three to four months would not leave enough time for work to be done for planned August events.A competitive-bidding process, which is required under city code, is meant to ensure The City receives the best deal for the best work. The Board of Supervisors will vote on the waiver Tuesday.
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Mayor Ed Lee may soon find himself once again wielding his appointment power and impacting San Francisco’s elected offices. In November, Lee first appointed District 5 Supervisor Christina Olague after former Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi won as sheriff. Lee then appointed Vicki Hennessy to sheriff after suspending on official misconduct charges Mirkarimi, who is fighting to prevent his permanent ouster.Now Lee could find himself in a position where he would appoint two more people to elected posts — before the voters have a say.
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Big oil and eco-conscious San Francisco may sound like the strangest of bedfellows, but The City is on the verge of signing a contract with Shell Energy North America to launch a public-power program.The City has proposed partnering with Shell for the summer launch of CleanPowerSF, a public-power program designed to deliver greener energy than PG&E, but at a higher cost. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission underwent two competitive bidding processes before selecting Shell, which also runs a similar program in Marin.
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After months of sometimes-heated debate, San Francisco's public-financing program for mayoral and supervisorial candidates is finally about to change.In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Arizona legislation, finding that tying disbursement of public-finance dollars to third-party spending violates the First Amendment. That ruling encouraged San Francisco to modify its similar program.
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Corporations might no longer be able to use apartment units like they are hotel rooms.Board of Supervisors President David Chiu introduced legislation Tuesday that would protect rental housing from short-term corporate uses, otherwise known as “hotelization.”Chiu said the proposal closes a loophole in city law by prohibiting corporations from signing leases with property owners that are longer than 30 days, but then allowing out-of-town employees to stay short-term.
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Ray Hartz frequently gets under the skin of city officials with his challenging comments during meetings, but recently the San Francisco resident might have crossed the line when criticizing the Public Library Commission’s choice last month to keep Jewelle Gomez as president.
“I know 12 people who would f----- bury him if I could walk out of here today,” Gomez said of the gadfly whose public testimony she thought was threatening, according to a city audio recording that picked up her private conversation moments after the Feb. 2 meeting adjourned.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/joshua-sabatini?page=19
