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San Francisco Examiner
SF tenant advocates see win in Biden push for cap on rent increases
With calls for stronger renter protections growing louder in San Francisco, local tenant advocates are applauding this week’s announcement from President Joe Biden proposing federal legislation that aims to set a national cap on rent increases. Given existing renter protections at both The City and state level, the proposal is expected to offer additional protections to only a relatively small subset of renters in San Francisco. Nevertheless, winning the presidential...
Is SF affordable housing now as easy as 1234 Great Highway?
Affordable-housing advocates and San Francisco officials say they are cautiously optimistic the next major housing proposal in the Sunset district will avoid an all-too-familiar and all-too-tumultuous roller-coaster ride on its way to fruition. After years of resistance from aggrieved neighbors, an affordable housing project on Irving Street has finally broken ground this summer. Next up, The City is funding a plan to convert what is now a Motel 6 at...
Former La Cocina marketplace vendor is back with her own restaurant
A longstanding La Cocina food-hall vendor is back with her own brick-and-mortar restaurant nearby almost a year after the marketplace closed. Estrella Gonzalez opened Estrellita’s Snacks at 483 Ellis St. on Tuesday, selling pupusas and tamales just a few blocks away from the marketplace’s former home at 101 Hyde St. La Cocina is a local nonprofit that acts as an incubator for small food businesses operated by women and people...
SF Jewish Film Festival centers diverse perspectives on Israel-Palestine
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has long been a forum for expression of various points of view, including cinematic themes one might not necessarily consider pro-Israel, such as films about Palestinians. But when the film festival is held for the 44th time from July 18 to Aug. 4, it will present films about Palestinians in the politically and emotionally charged atmosphere that has prevailed since Oct. 7. On that...
Power, politics and process: Ronen resignation heightens retirement-benefits battle
A political power struggle in San Francisco City Hall escalated Tuesday when Supervisor Hillary Ronen abruptly resigned from her position as chair of the board’s Rules Committee. Ronen accused Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin of “undermining the credibility” of the board by scheduling special meetings to overturn the Rules Committee’s Monday decision to effectively block a charter amendment from appearing on the November ballot. Her announcement came as the...
Elon Musk says X leaving SF after Newsom signs gender-identity law
Elon Musk announced Tuesday he’s moving X’s headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. The tech billionaire, who bought the social-media platform then known as Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022, said in a post on X that the move was partially in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a bill that bars school districts from informing parents of their children’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression without the child’s consent. ...
Michelin-starred restaurateurs taking over Ferry Building’s Slanted Door space
A new tenant will set up shop at the Ferry Building to take over the Slanted Door’s former outpost in San Francisco’s iconic waterfront building, building officials announced Tuesday. The team behind Sorrel, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Pacific Heights, will open its next eatery at the Ferry Building Marketplace early in 2025 after it signed a 15-year lease. The Slanted Door, which shuttered at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, decamped from the Ferry Building two months ago, citing high costs associated with renovating the...
SF still losing tech jobs, but is a rebound on the horizon?
When it comes to employment levels, San Francisco’s tech industry might not have reached rock bottom yet — but it could be getting closer. The combined tech workforce of San Francisco and San Mateo counties is now smaller than it was at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has continued to shrink in recent months. Tech companies have done little hiring lately, and trends in the industry and in the economy at large could keep hiring depressed for the time being. ...
Tesla still hasn't talked to state robotaxi regulators
Tesla still lacks approval to operate autonomous vehicles in California amid CEO Elon Musk seemingly confirming reports saying the company had postponed its highly anticipated robotaxi launch. Some industry experts aren’t holding their breath for the rescheduled date, either. Both the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Department of Motor Vehicles told The Examiner on Monday that Tesla has not applied for a driverless-testing permit or a deployment permit. ...
SF overdose deaths down in first half of ’24
Drug-overdose deaths in San Francisco fell 27% in June, with The City recording fewer fatalities through the first six months of 2024 than the same time last year, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. But San Francisco’s six-month total is its second-highest since The City began recording that information in 2020, putting it on pace to record more overdose deaths than in any year but 2023. There...
SFMTA says cable-car shutdown could end this week
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency crews are working to restore service to two of San Francisco’s three cable-car lines, with service indefinitely replaced by bus shuttles in the meantime. SFMTA officials suspended service on the Powell/Mason and Powell/Hyde cable car lines over the weekend due to what the agency termed a “machinery issue” in the agency’s cable-car barn that ended up affecting both lines. Bus shuttles are being provided on both lines until crews can resolve the issue, which the agency said it hopes to...
Chinatown leaders say bike-lane idea ‘blindsided’ them
San Francisco Chinatown leaders say they are frustrated by a city project that could install the neighborhood’s first-ever bike lane. The new lane is being considered as part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Biking and Rolling Plan, an initiative to revamp and bolster The City’s bicycling infrastructure, which hasn’t been updated citywide since 2009. The agency’s main goal is to create a biking network that’s accessible within a quarter-mile of every San Franciscan. ...
‘This is the year’: SF labor unions prepare for hectic elections
San Francisco is still a union town. And as long as San Francisco is a union town, labor will influence The City’s politics — but 2024 has thrown some interesting wrenches into the mix. Five prominent candidates in a tightly contested race for mayor are vying for organized labor’s support, but it appears increasingly likely that unions’ support will be splintered across the field. ...
Power tools replace pens, paper at this SF high-school internship
Woodwork and auto-shop classes waned in popularity when most millennials were in high school, but shop class isn’t dead in San Francisco public schools. In fact, research shows that Generation Z students are more interested in skilled-labor trades than their predecessors. Current students and recent high-school graduates are flocking to vocational schools more than their predecessors, so much so that Generation Z has been nicknamed “the Toolbelt Generation” for its willingness to embrace trades-job training over traditional four-year colleges. ...
X has put most of its SF HQ up for sublease
Social media company X has put about 70% of the space it leases in its San Francisco headquarters complex — including about half in its iconic headquarters building — up for sublease. Since last year, the Elon Musk-owned business has been seeking to offload two floors at 1355 Market St. totaling about 158,000 square feet, a source familiar with X’s listing told The Examiner. It recently added a third floor to the mix, bringing the total it’s put up for sublease to about 236,000 square...
SF restaurateurs say Michelin Guide nods mean 'everything to us'
Three San Francisco restaurants are among the 13 eateries joining the Michelin Guide California this month. Inspectors for the Michelin Guide announced Wednesday that Azalina’s, Hed 11 and Tiya represented The City in the tire company’s directory of the state’s best restaurants. Owners of all three restaurants told The Examiner their inclusion in the guide gave them tremendous senses of accomplishment and pride in their journeys sharing cuisine that shaped their lives with San Franciscans. ...
San Francisco Democrats back Harris — if Biden steps aside
A contingent of prominent San Francisco Democrats is calling on national party leaders to choose Vice President Kamala Harris as the candidate to replace President Joe Biden should he elect to drop out of the race. Seven members of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) signed a letter this week pitching Harris as the most viable candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump in the November election. Biden...
Emporium Centre manager, vacating tenant battle over mall conditions
American Eagle, the clothing retailer suing former operators of the Emporium Centre San Francisco over allegedly neglectful management and criminal activity at the mall, said in a letter filed in court that it would surrender its recently closed store Friday. The company, which had nearly 3½ years remaining on its lease at the giant half-empty mall at Fifth and Market Streets, alleged in a blistering “Notice of Termination” letter that it had been “constructively evicted” as a result of continuing and increased security incidents and...
$10B state climate bond’s effect on SF projects unclear
San Francisco officials and environmental advocates say a $10 billion climate bond will help The City withstand damage associated with the warming planet’s changing weather patterns, but it’s not yet clear what local projects the money will fund. Californians will vote in November on Proposition 4, a bond measure seeking to fund climate and environmental programs such as improving communities’ access to clean drinking water and protecting them from increasingly extreme floods and wildfires. ...
New at-home health-care pilot debuts at Tenderloin SRO
A new pilot program will offer around-the-clock health care to residents of a single-room-occupancy hotel in the heart of the Tenderloin in an effort to provide more comprehensive support to those who’ve struggled with chronic homelessness and suffer from a variety of medical issues. “We want to really make sure that we have all of the interventions that people need to live the best lives that they can in our system,” said Shireen McSpadden, the executive director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and...
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The San Francisco Examiner, founded in 1863 as the Democratic Press, examines politics, crime, sports and culture in The City with a focus on solutions-based journalism.
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