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2020
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2019
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2018
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2017
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2016
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2015
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2014
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2013
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2012
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2011
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2010
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2009
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2008
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2007
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November 2007 (PDF)
Now you can make
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D7 Neighborhood News Sources Westside Observer, Ingleside Light, and West Portal Monthly pose tough questions
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Openness applies to wrongdoing as well. When taxes pay for investigations ... taxpayers deserve to know which City agencies break rules ..."
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Breed and her allies asserted that placing housing on public parcels would save massive amounts of time two years later—still no publicly revealed plans...
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General Manager, who has been charged with corruption. That’s the bad news. A new report about expected capital costs is out, and costs are up 42%. That’s even worse.
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For almost two decades, “pay-to-play” has pervaded our “City Family” with bribes to obtain millions of dollars in public contracts. Presently, criminal charges have been filed only against powerful non-elected officials.
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It has taken a pandemic to help all of us process just how critical schools are to our children and our communities.
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Preston accused the Marina Times of being “an entity that has proven time and again that they are a mouthpiece for disinformation ... on par with the likes of Breitbart News and Tucker Carlson ..."
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...even if he and his wife did donate $75 million ... his net worth is $101.2 billion as of November 2020 ... that’s no reason for Zuckerberg’s name to despoil the good name of SF General Hospital."
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"Seven acres of artificial turf that is so toxic nothing can live in it... Toxins from tire crumb can enter the body through inhalation of particulates, fibers, and volatile organic compounds."
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While I was repeating over and over “wear a mask...wash my hands... he was creating spaced learning for the alternative universe. Don’t wear a mask... And I am not even going to touch whether he washed his tiny hands
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Since people tend to like money, to varying degrees, I was surprised by the lack of websites about “How much your neighbors or countrymen give to charity.“
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The Dept. of Public Health Lacks Transparency. Deaths surged 76% and the media went quiet. Why the lack of stories?.
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Water, Fish, and You.
...In super dry years, no way there’s enough water. You will be forced to ration fifty percent, that is, you get half rations of water.
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In District 7, despite Joel Engardio accruing the most first place votes for supervisor, the third place candidate, Myrna Melgar, employed ranked choice voting to win.
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"SFPUC Watchdog or Lickspittle? From the first meeting of the RBOC, SFPUC operatives and aligned city-family loyalists injected themselves into the business and governance of the RBOC."
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Once a “benefit” district is formed and the assessments pour in, private firms are hired ... The disgraced former head of DPW, Mohammed Nuru, was personally involved ...
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... to allow restaurants to increase indoor dining capacity from 25% to 50% ... cases stood at 11,275 confirmed cases ... Another 3,048 COVID cases occurred ..."
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... public officials would not steer the ship of modern electricity. Public officials were corrupt, or corruptible. ... here the state Public Utilities Commission, would review, and ensure fair treatment.
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His approach bears the fingerprints of first-lady-elect Dr. Jill Biden ... President-elect Biden: “You’re going to have one of your own in the White House.”
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... we are down 37% in vehicle burglaries, 27% in assaults, and 36% in robberies. We are currently up 24% in vehicle thefts and 8% in home and commercial burglaries.
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...a patronage network ... including former Willie Brown special assistants” - In return, these former City employees provide access to City department managers.”
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After being hired in 1998 as a deputy district attorney , she rewarded her benefactor by running against him ... she raised $563,000 for her campaign ... signed under penalty of perjury a Department of Election form agreeing to a $211,000 campaign expenditure limit.
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...the largest job, almost a billion dollars, has not gone well. The so-called biosolids digesters are tanks half in the ground, half above, that digest solids in sewage — the heart of the operation. Since the contractor has begun, his pre-construction services have increased in cost by a factor of 18 times.
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Since March 2000 voters passed three parks bonds totaling $800.5 million in principal and interest. If this new bond passes, the $239 million parks portion will cost approximately $470 million in principal and interest, pushing park bonds to approximately $1.3 billion
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... the new regime under Interim Chancellor Gonzalez abruptly ... returned to the previous agenda structure, with very limited public comment — and only near the beginning of the meeting — reservation is now required in advance as well.
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Déjà vu: Controlling Pay-to-Play Donations
In October 2009, former Supervisor Chris Daly proposed an Ordinance that prohibited department heads and employees from steering donations to “Friends of…” non-profits that raised funds for their departments ...
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"Our beloved Golden Gate Park ... natural environment is being replaced by concrete and artificial turf. Two and half million dollars are being spent so dogs can run around?"
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"There is an obvious power grab designed to attack Lowell’s long-term academic status, that provides a unique service to a unique student population, just as School of the Arts does.”
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I agree that we should not celebrate those who represent the worst in our society. But there is true historical value to recognizing leaders who have made our world better—and recognizing them warts and all.”
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Inside City Hall’s Web of Corruption
DPW’s subaccounts at the Parks Alliance amassed $990,000... donated by 8 contractors who received $572 million from DPW plus 7 companies that obtained 218 building permits from the Department of Building Inspection (DBI)
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If LHH was too small for 160 units, how is it now suddenly big enough for up to 375 units?”
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" ... the cleanup reports need to be available to the public. Skipping these steps will result in future lawsuits and the city will be ultimately held accountable, making the taxpayers liable”
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Prop. A's — $960 Million Oversite?
Problem is, the Bond Oversight Committee has held only one meeting in 2020 ... Then COVID detonated. Unfortunately, CGOBOC never figured out holding remote meetings accessible to the public.”
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The developer is proposing a six-unit condo development on the site of a former auto repair shop contaminated with benzene and other pollutants at levels 900 times above residential standards ...
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Audit's Unanswered Questions:
The audit fails to mention that no retaliation claims have ever been sustained by the Ethics Commission. That startling fact has been hidden by reporting only that cases are “dismissed” or “closed.”
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Taraval Crime Report
Police officers from the Tactical Unit, Specialist Team, and Taraval Neighborhood Team (TNT) served a search warrant on the 1500 block of 48th Ave.”
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Any time someone mentions a good book, I literally just go to my phone and reserve it on the App. That says a lot...”
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The federal subpoena demanded the resumes, job descriptions, and performance evaluations for “any PUC employee who earned at least $100,000” since 2010 ... Evidently, the feds are probing cronyism as well as self-dealing
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Six contenders respond to the questions that will guide the next 4 years in the district.
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The arts touch our emotional core, whether it is song or dance or drama or drawing. The arts can connect the mind and the spirit and help guide children from crisis to confidence.
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"The giveaway, linked to corrupt leadership, sacrifices precious public land for private profit ... leaves City College more vulnerable and is a significant reversal in our goal of income equality"
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That’s not a balanced budget; it’s a gaping hole she plans to solve by kicking pay-raises bargained for in good faith down the road.”
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"Assuming teachers agree to these and additional detailed conditions, school begins August 17th."
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While the FBI is investigating city bigwigs, SFPUC personnel included ... Everyone in power is complicit in forcing the rate payer to “donate”
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A photographer goes in search of life on the Avenue ... dining and browsing are available on sidewalks, parking spaces and in some stores inside within strict limitations.
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"The authors of the San Francisco Plan Bay Area 2050 are asking for public feedback on their 9-county plan to provide solutions ... "
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Our city is in big trouble. And it is not just because of Covid-19 It is because of a continued string of bad policies and decisions by City Hall over the past 10 years.
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Whether it’s protests about police violence and racism or defiance of government orders to wear a mask, the most fundamental issues of our democracy are being played out every day in front of millions of people.
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Dennis Herrera's retaliatory sewer-gate debacle, alongside the FBI's recent arrest of DPW chief ... jab at the City's anti-graft capabilities.
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City College Stakeholders File CEQA Appeal"This is NOT the time for any Project to go forward that will all but destroy the access for 70,000 college students, most of them from working class, immigrant, black or brown communities."
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"Teachers, who are already using their own money to buy school supplies are now also purchasing masks and materials in order to be prepared ..."
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"SFPUC Failed to Protect Clean Water The Beach Chalet Soccer Fields (BCSF) in Golden Gate Park used to have a permeable surface; it's called grass."
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"... your water, wastewater, and garbage rates are special taxes attached to property. ... Your great-grandchildren should not fear that they will be paying for a service provided in 2020."
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Morale was sagging. Capt. Rainsford addressed the officers and apparently referenced how the police had handled previous protests.
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...whether the discrepancy is due to President Trump wanting CMS to “slow down” the testing and positive test results...
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...the attitude of professional sports team-owning billionaires that local taxpayers must provide stadiums for their professional sport businesses ...
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a $1.7 billion deficit over the next two fiscal years which could reach over $2.5 billion per Controller Ben Rosenfield...
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Development is in trouble. If Parkmerced, which is the largest multifamily property in San Francisco is an example of the future of development in San Francisco, it is in very real trouble.
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Board of Supervisors seek solutions ... raising concerns among the public about the possibility of long-term use of parkland to address social and economic problems ...
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The SF PUC will sell over 17 acres, for approximately $11.2 million — about $640,000 per acre for prime SF real estate to a privateer for more than 90% below market rate ...
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Hopes were that recovering from COVID-19 would generate antibodies, thus conferring immunity and peace of mind. Plus, survivors could help treat newly-infected COVID-19 patients by donating their convalescent plasma. It's not that simple.
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While water and sewer bills are not taxes, they are worse. They hit ordinary people harder ... and rates are determined by cost. When costs rise, so do rates.
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There are several problems with Boudin’s boasted success with reducing the jail population...
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Life returns slowly to West Portal People are beginning to return to West Portal — and other Westside businesses are ready to make sales...
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My Mom is Not Disposable...universal testing in all group care facilities, where asymptomatic staff can begin a deadly outbreak, is now being publicly recognized. But it is slow to happen.
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Tommy refused to social distance...... Upon arrival, the two officers immediately observed Tommy was bleeding from his mouth ...
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Planning to 'streamline' CEQA? ... projects that formerly might have needed extensive review under CEQA would be approved unilaterally by Planning staff if the projects met specific requirements ...
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Where Are Our Priorities? Nursing homes are like cruise ships, and the outbreak at Central Gardens is illustrative...
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8th Grader's Petition Sparks Controversy The school district needs to take student's mental health seriously. It should discourage teachers from assigning excessive work and scheduling extra meetings.
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Nuru was not the FBI’s main target of the investigation—he was the bait to lure someone bigger.
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...suspending access to public records — even temporarily, is clearly dangerous to open government.
Check it outTaxpayer costs will exceed $5 million since the City has been paying the Keker & Van Nest law firm $850/hour to defend Herrera. They already billed the City $2,267,75, in September 2016...
Read More ...Don’t be fooled: you’re being sold insurance. Do you have a choice? Yes you do…
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