AltWeeklies Wire
San Francisco's Employment Rate is Relatively Good, but Leaders Can Create More Jobsnew
Last month, Mayor Gavin Newsom held a press conference at the upscale hot-dog restaurant Show Dogs, packed it with press and midlevel bureaucrats, showed up late, and then led an endless platitude-fest about his plans to promote jobs in San Francisco.
Don Cameron Trains Cops in How to Use Force, Then Defends Themnew
Long ago, Don Cameron set upon a path that would make him a Rosetta Stone for understanding what happens when someone gets his ass kicked by a cop. For most of us, that's a brutish prospect. But to hear Cameron tell it, done correctly, it's justified.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
02-17-2010 |
Crime & Justice
How Are Schools Handling Truancy? Ask the Kids Smoking Pot Near Campusnew
In the late morning of the first day of the new semester at John O'Connell High School of Technology, two boys stage their finely choreographed escape. While the security guard's back is turned, they scamper out the front door onto the sidewalk.
Surfers Think City's Exposed Sewage Tunnel Warning is a Bunch of Crapnew
Though less famous than its San Diego–area namesake, San Francisco's Ocean Beach is anything but unknown to surfers: Its three miles of coastline provide "a world-class surf spot," says surfer Josh Berry. However, the recent spate of storms means surfing there could soon get shitty.
SF Weekly |
Chris Roberts |
02-03-2010 |
Environment
Will a Big-Name Dem Run Away With the Attorney General's Race?new
You might intuit Rep. Jackie Speier, the frosh congresswoman from the Peninsula, doesn't like her new job in Washington, D.C. - if, before her first full term is even up, her name is appearing in a poll for another elected office.
City Hounds the Homeless For Dog Licensesnew
According to Chief George Gascón, the Police Department has flooded upper Haight Street with cops assigned to write tickets for so-called "quality of life" violations, such as off-leash or tagless dogs, jaywalking, and other minor offenses.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
01-27-2010 |
Housing & Development
Will the Parole Board See Past Lonnie Morris' Crime?new
At 59, having spent more than three decades in prison, Lonnie Morris could be the model of a rehabilitated inmate. Bespectacled, freckle-faced, and gap-toothed, he looked about as dangerous as a retired history professor.
SF Weekly |
Ashley Harrell |
01-27-2010 |
Crime & Justice
Tags: Jeanne Woodford, Lonnie Morris
Cloud Technology and the Future of Portable Musicnew
The common way to listen to music has changed relatively slowly over the years, from records to CDs to downloadable files. Downloads could go the way of the forlorn CD, felled by something even more ephemeral: the Cloud.
While Mayor Vows to Reduce Homeless Population, City Eyes Cutting Shelter Bedsnew
Gavin Newsom has earned a reputation as someone willing to make passionate statements about plans to fix up public housing, reform the civil service system, upgrade parks, or reduce homelessness, and then quickly turn away as if he'd never said anything at all.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
01-20-2010 |
Policy Issues
Unleashed: A Brutal Attack has Revived a Battle Over Canine Controlnew
In November, two police officers found 74-year-old Marion Cope sitting on the ground in Huntington Park, clutching her bleeding right leg. The officers had responded to a call about a dog attack at the small patch of public land, which sits in the shadows of three luxury hotels atop exclusive Nob Hill.
SF Weekly |
Peter Jamison |
01-20-2010 |
Animal Issues
Weed Takes Root: Marijuana's Steady Creep Toward Legalization Nationwidenew
Oaksterdam takes its name from a bastardization of Oakland, where the university began, and pot-friendly Amsterdam. Here, new growers and dispensary operators are being trained like whole legions of Johnny Appleseeds, soon to spread pot's blessings from one coastline to the other.
For Paroled Sex Offenders in San Francisco, Only One Choice: Life on the Streetsnew
In 2006, voters passed Jessica's Law, a ballot measure promising to better track people who'd committed sex crimes. Such people would be banned from living 2,000 feet from a park or school. In densely populated San Francisco, that basically means they can't live anywhere at all.
SF Weekly |
Lauren Smiley |
12-30-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Coverup Worse Than Crime? San Francisco Outspends Other Cities Fighting Graffitinew
The scenery at Warm Water Cove isn't what it used to be. The aging buildings that front the bay along this bleak patch of shoreline once teemed with bulging, bright graffiti letters. Now their only distinction is large rectangles of cream-colored paint — evidence of where the city has obliterated the work of artist-vandals.
SF Weekly |
Peter Jamison |
12-09-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Bay Area Organizations Appear to be Part of a Secretive Group with a Bizarre Radical Pastnew
Knowledgeable sources say that the Physicians Organizing Committee is one of several Bay Area front groups set up to disguise a strange political cult. Although a representative for the committee denied the link, it has shared personnel with an alleged cult front group and received a grant from a nonprofit linked to the cult.
How San Francisco's Sanctuary Sellout Hurts Undocumented Teensnew
Before: The city coddled undocumented teen criminals. After: The city punishes undocumented teens who commit crimes (and some who don't, too).
SF Weekly |
Lauren Smiley |
11-18-2009 |
Immigration
