Requiring San Francisco police officers to conduct regular foot patrols is gaining support among supervisors looking to cut down on the high crime rate plaguing their districts.Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has proposed legislation that would mandate for one year a police foot patrol program in his district, which includes one of The City’s highest-crime neighborhoods, the Western Addition.
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On the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy, a San Francisco supervisor said San Francisco’s embattled Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security is back on track now that the department has "competent leadership."The office came under attack in May for being unprepared for a disaster, with The City’s Budget Analyst’s Office releasing an audit saying OESHS Director Annemarie Conroy lacked experience in managing disasters, emergency plans remained incomplete and millions in Homeland Security dollars were left unspent.
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On the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy, a San Francisco supervisor said San Francisco’s embattled Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security is back on track now that the department has "competent leadership."The office came under attack in May for being unprepared for a disaster, with The City’s Budget Analyst’s Office releasing an audit saying OESHS Director Annemarie Conroy lacked experience in managing disasters, emergency plans remained incomplete and millions in Homeland Security dollars were left unspent.
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About 70 more security cameras are expected to go up around San Francisco in the coming months, with the majority earmarked for crime-plagued public housing sites, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
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Officials solicit residents’ input on proposal after CPUC funds run outWith no money left to put telephone and other utility wires underground, The City is contemplating a tax to fund future undergrounding projects.Residents have until Friday to weigh in on whether San Francisco should implement a utilities bill tax ranging between 2 percent and 5 percent. Only businesses pay a utilities tax, which is 7.5 percent of their utility bill.
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Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce today that there is now more money available to purchase additional security cameras as The City struggles to curb violent crimes.Last year, The City installed its first security surveillance cameras and to date has 33 cameras monitoring 14 locations in some of San Francisco’s high-crime neighborhoods.Another 22 cameras are in the pipeline to be placed in yet-to-be-determined locations. This year’s budget allocated about $270,000 for these new cameras.
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After years of The City translating public information for its non-English-language speakers into "gibberish," Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday a new plan for accurate translations. In the past, The City has relied on a computer software program to translate information on its Web site, resulting in garbled information, according to Newsom."To my astonishment and my dismay, I saw what we were translating on our Web sites — complete gobbledygook, complete nonsense, gibberish, an embarrassment if ever there was one," Newsom said.
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Touting the benefits of organic foods, a City Hall committee is pondering ways to ensure that schools and city facilities go organic with their food service.While The City has adopted various policies advocating more organic or sustainable food supplies in its food service, implementation is still being hashed out. The Environmental Commission has endorsed the goal of having 20 percent of all city facilities, including schools, serve locally grown and organic foods within the next seven years.
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The stolen puppy of an 8-year-old cancer patient was returned three days after the theft, officials at UC San Francisco Children’s Hospital announced Tuesday.Kyle Jackson Wetle, who is battling a potentially fatal form of cancer known as lymphoblastic leukemia, received the black and tan Chihuahua-Doberman mix puppy from his parents on July 14 as one of his wishes. His parents have referred to the puppy — which Kyle named Chemo — as his "fighting buddy."
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Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants its 5.1 million customers in California to pressure car manufacturers to mass-produce electric vehicles that can be plugged right into a standard home socket.Within the next three weeks, PG&E customers will receive in their September bills an insert asking them to sign an online petition at www.pluginpartners.org, a Web site designed by Plug-In Partners — a national group lobbying automakers to manufacture Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
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A puppy that was a gift for an 8-year-old cancer patient was stolen Saturday from the parking garage of a San Francisco children’s hospital.Kyle Jackson Wetle, who is battling a potentially fatal form of cancer known as lymphoblastic leukemia, received the black and tan Chihuahua-Doberman mix puppy from his parents on July 14 as one of his wishes.
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Billions of dollars for Bay Area transit are on the line at the polls this November, when voters will decide the fate of three transportation-related ballot measures.Proposition 1A, known as Transportation Funding Protection, would close the loophole that allows state legislators to divert revenue from the gasoline sales tax to other state needs.
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Wolf willing to return to prison in federal grand jury caseOn the day of his release from federal prison Friday, freelance journalist Josh Wolf reaffirmed his commitment to not turn over videotape to a federal grand jury even if it means returning to custody.Wolf, 24, videotaped a San Francisco protest last year in which anarchists were suspected of trying to light a police patrol car on fire. During the protest a San Francisco officer suffered a skull fracture.
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Issuing homeless people tickets for illegal camping or drinking in public is unjust, cruel and wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, a homeless advocacy group says.Between January 2004 and June 2006, the San Francisco Police Department issued 31,230 "quality-of-life" citations, according to Religious Witness with Homeless People, a group of religious leaders that has concerned itself with homelessness issues since 1993.
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A 36-year-old alleged thief tried to flee from police Wednesday night by jumping into the San Francisco Bay.San Francisco police responded to a call at 11:40 p.m. about a man having broken into a car parked along the 3700 block of Fillmore Street. When police arrived, they saw the thief inside a Chevy Tahoe, which he allegedly broke into."As the police were coming up, he sees them and he takes off running," Sgt. Neville Gittens said.The man then jumped into the harbor waters near the Golden Gate Yacht Club and started swimming out into the Bay.
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