The Day the Sky Turned Orange
Publisher’s View: Vote
Voting is the heart of democracy, an opportunity for citizens to choose their leaders, and adopt or reject new laws and tax measures. According to Thomas Paine, “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery,… Keep Reading
New Coalition Seeks to End Homelessness
RescueSF wants to end homelessness in San Francisco, not in the next 10 years, but now. The coalition of neighborhood associations and concerned individuals plans to accomplish that goal by calling for a set of common solutions to be implemented throughout San Francisco, and the Bay Area. “In the past when we talked to district… Keep Reading
State Ballot Initiatives
Proposition 14: Borrowing for Stem Cell Research Funded by Silicon Valley real estate developer Robert Klein, JDRF International – a nonprofit that funds diabetes research – and Open Philanthropy Project, this measure would authorize the issuance of a $5.5 billion bond to fund stem cell research. In 2004, voters passed Proposition 71 to create the… Keep Reading
City College of San Francisco
The politics of the City College Board mirrors the dysfunction of the institution itself. Virtually the only people who seem to want the trustee job are those looking for a stepping-stone or who can’t find anything better to do with their time. Despite nonstop travails, including nosediving enrollment and continuous near bankruptcy, one trustee, whose… Keep Reading
Money for Jackson Park, a New Street Cleaning Department, Non-Citizen Commission Eligibility on Ballot
Measure A, the “2020 Health and Recovery General Obligation Bond”, would dedicate $487.5 million of borrowed money to provide health care services to those without homes, renovate parks, and improve streets. According to the San Francisco Department of Elections, $207 million would be invested “…in facilities that provide treatment and permanent supportive housing for… Keep Reading
Sheriff Oversight, Police Staffing, Business Taxes, and Commercial Districts on Ballot
Proposition D, Sheriff Department Oversight and Inspector General Proposition D would amend the City Charter to create an independent Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board (SDOB), with an Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG would investigate complaints against the Sheriff’s Department and in-custody deaths and recommend new policies. The SDOB would hire the Inspector General, evaluate… Keep Reading
Community Calendar: October 2020
The Community Living Campaign: Turning Strangers into Neighbors and Neighbors into FriendsCLCs Community Connectors are organized around a group’s needs and interests, offering ways to meet neighbors and link with local resources. The mantra, “turning strangers into neighbors and neighbors into friends,” summarizes the program’s goal. During shelter-in-place CLC offers many activities on Zoom, including… Keep Reading
Proposition K Would Authorize, but Not Pay for, Affordable Housing
Under Article 34 of the state Constitution, voters must approve low-income housing developments before they can be built. Proposition K, authored by District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, would authorize “the City and County of San Francisco to own, develop, construct, acquire, or rehabilitate up to 10,000 affordable rental units in the City…” The measure,… Keep Reading
Teenage Voting, Transfer, Parcel, and Sales Taxes on Ballot
Proposition G Would Grant 16- and 17-Year-Olds Right to Vote Proposition G would allow those aged 16 and 17 to vote on local candidate races and ballot measures, with passage requiring 50 percent plus one. “The amendment could be expected to increase the number of registered voters for municipal elections by up to approximately 1.5… Keep Reading
Ten Candidates Vie for Four San Francisco Board of Education Seats
Ten people are running to fill four seats on the San Francisco Board of Education: Alida Fisher, small business owner; Paul Kangas, private investigator; Jenny Lam, board incumbent elected last year; Matt Alexander, co-founder of the June Jordan School for Equity; Michelle Parker, who has children in public schools; Kevine Boggess, education policy director at… Keep Reading
Measure Would Tax “Overpaid” Executives
Proposition L, the “Overpaid Executive Gross Receipts Tax,” would add a duty to companies whose executives earn 100 times or more the median salary of the rest of their San Francisco workforce. District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, the measure’s lead advocate, estimates that the tax would generate between $60 million and $140 million annually for… Keep Reading
Potrero Annex-Terrace Residents Cope with COVID-19
Asked how COVID-19 was affecting Potrero Annex-Terrace residents, Bee replied, “Not much, it’s always been hard here…” Life at Annex-Terrace wasn’t getting harder. It’s always been hard. Bee knew someone who had the virus, and worried about how it was transmitted. She planned to get tested at the Potrero Hill Health Center, Wisconsin Street and… Keep Reading
Black Households Could Get an Additional $6,000 Each in Services Under Proposed Budget
Last month, Mayor London Breed floated a two-year budget in which $120 million would be shifted from the San Francisco Police and Sheriff’s departments to programs intended to benefit African Americans. Under the initiative $40 million a year would be redirected from SFPD, $20 million annually from the Sheriff’s Department. “We are listening to the… Keep Reading
Voters Asked to Approve Caltrain Sales Tax
A 1/8 cent sales tax to fund Caltrain will appear on San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara county ballots this November. It took the San Francisco and Santa Clara Boards of Supervisors until just before an early August deadline to be included in the fall vote to reach an agreement to strip the measure… Keep Reading
COVID-Negative Shelter on the Embarcadero
The Embarcadero Shelter Access for Everyone (SAFE) Navigation Center has operated as a COVID-negative congregate shelter since June. San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) had considered converting it to “post-COVID” accommodation last spring but pivoted to the more urgent need to offer refuge for people experiencing homelessness who tested COVID negative. Last… Keep Reading
Parents Hope Online Learning Works
Last month kindergarten through twelfth grade students started the academic year online, with San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) campuses off-limits until the Department of Public Health (DPH) deems in-person learning safe. After a summer of near house arrest, students are now entering their sixth month of distance learning, which started last March, when schools… Keep Reading
Anchor Brewing Company Appoints Potrero Hill Native Thomas Riley to Brewmaster
Last month Anchor Brewing Company appointed Thomas Riley as Brewmaster. Riley, who has worked with the 124-year-old company for 36 years, is its fourth Brewmaster since 1965. Riley is now responsible for beer production and brewhouse management. Riley grew up in Potrero Hill, where Anchor’s brewhouse has been operating for more than 40 years.… Keep Reading
Art Anything but Invincible in Summer Exhibit
In June, Minnesota Street Project galleries opened Invincible Summer, a group exhibition unlike anything they’d offered before. Each gallery has installed a piece in the building’s atrium or upstairs catwalk, effectively turning the viewing rooms inside out. The result is an exhibition that can be visited safely in a well-ventilated communal space, while many of… Keep Reading
Community Calendar: Senior Spotlight, September 2020
FOOD St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal ChurchSt. Gregory’s food pantry is open Saturdays, noon to 2 p.m. for 94107 and 94110 zip code residents, identification isn’t required. For more information or to volunteer: 415.255.8100; www.thefoodpantry.St. Gregory, 500 De Haro Street, enter on Mariposa Street. Potrero Hill Neighborhood HouseProject Open Hand’s senior lunch program at the… Keep Reading
Obituary: William Reid Passes at Age 92
Long-time Potrero Hill resident, artist, and former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) graphic designer, William Wallace Reid, died July 16 from kidney failure. He was 92. Reid was born on New Year’s Eve 1927, in St. Louis, Missouri. Sketching by the Mississippi River waterfront as a boy, Reid watched riverboats paddle by, pulsing with live… Keep Reading
Spanish Flu 1918 vs. Coronavirus 2020 by Simon Stahl
Potrero View Celebrates 50 Years
New Commercial Real Estate Remains Robust in Potrero Hill and Mission Bay, Older Storefronts Suffering
The commercial real estate market in Potrero Hill and Mission Bay has so far been largely immune to COVID-19’s economic disruption. Vacancies remain low, office rents are rising, and tenants are signing leases for newly constructed retail storefronts. Life science spaces with research laboratories have a waitlist. “It seems almost impossible when you look at… Keep Reading
Psychotherapists Cope with Rise in Anxiety, Depression
The public health crisis, combined with economic, political, and social turbulence, has prompted a rise in anxiety and other mental health disorders. Last spring, as the number of COVID-19 infections rose, so did demand for antidepressants. “Zoloft prescriptions climbed 12 percent year-over-year to 4.9 million in March, the most ever in the U.S.,” reported Bloomberg… Keep Reading