Homicide
The San Francisco Police Department has launched a homicide investigation after a man was killed and another injured following a Mission Bay shooting last month. At around midnight on a Sunday officers were called to the 100 block of Berry Street, where they found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital for life-threatening injuries and later died. His name hasn’t been released. Authorities also discovered a second adult male victim at the scene, who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. No arrests have been made.
Craft
Last month, the Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) appointed Nora Atkinson as its new Executive Director, replacing co-founder JoAnn Edwards, who is retiring after 20 years. Atkinson previously led the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. “We are thrilled that Nora Atkinson has chosen to bring her enthusiasm and ideas to MCD,” said Board Chair Neil O’Donnell. She has a distinguished record of innovation and accomplishment that bodes well for the future of MCD with her at its helm.” In Atkinson’s nearly 10 years at the Renwick she curated This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, and Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. Since 2019 she’s served as the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge, responsible for exhibitions, acquisitions, staff, patron relations, research, and publications. Prior to that, Atkinson was the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft. Her appointment to MCD marks her return to the West Coast; she began her career as a curator at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington.
No Coffee
Philz Coffee has shuttered its facilities at 1258 Minnesota Street and moved its corporate headquarters to its roasting plant in Oakland. The company opened the now former outpost almost nine years ago on the ground floor of Millwheel North, a 39-unit condominium development. It housed a training facility for employees, corporate offices and a retail shop.
Defund then Refund
Two years ago, Mayor London Breed slashed spending on the San Francisco Police Department, cutting $120 million from SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department following social upheaval triggered by George Floyd’s murder. San Francisco’s crime rates fell seven percent last year, though there’s been heavy media coverage of what seemed like rampant store invasions and still unchecked shoplifting, perhaps more aptly called shop-looting. Now, Breed, backed by one of her mayoral race opponents, Daniel Lurie, is pushing Proposition E as the next solution, under which use-of-force reporting requirements would be met through body camera footage rather than written reports unless force involves an injury, complaint of injury, or firearm. It’d also liberate SFPD to substantially increase its reliance on public safety cameras and drones… SFPD’s core problem is a top-heavy command structure and incoherent public and political attitudes toward policing, which have damaged morale and undermined recruitment. The solution isn’t more technology, but better management, and a wholesome conversation of what we want police to do, and not do, and who or what will fill the gaps. Let’s stop bending with the winds and engage in the necessary hard homework. No on Proposition E.
International Affairs
“When I’m back in Israel, I’ll work on a Knesset resolution that calls for better leadership in San Francisco to solve the homelessness, crime, and fentanyl problems,” quipped Noe Valley resident Yoni, in response to last month’s Board of Supervisor’s eight to three vote – District 10 Supervisor Shamman Walton on the “aye” side – demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war… Now that the Board has taken care of one conflict, should we expect it to standup for others: criminal violence in Mexico, internal strife in Haiti and Venezuela, violent extremism in the Sahel? The world is a big place, with lots of pressing issues. It’s easier to focus on anywhere else but here.
No Cash
In 2019 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to require most businesses to accept cash rather than debit or credit cards only. Citing discrimination against those who don’t have bank accounts and the poor in particular, lawmakers amended the Police Code to require brick-and-mortar businesses to accept cash payments for goods and services other than professional services. However, the law is regularly ignored, including by such retailers as Jane the Baker and Bi-Rite Market. While it’s unlikely that these high-priced establishments are heavily frequented by low-income people, it’s disrespectful of them to flaunt a rule intended to maintain a semblance of equity.