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State officials have announced a temporary "pause" in discharges, but San Franciscans must remain united to save Laguna Honda at full capacity.
Remote Meeting via Webex Event
Click Here to Register or Join Meeting
Health Department Agenda PDF
HELP WANTED The Westside Observer seeks a free-lance writer to cover news around West Portal, Taraval and the greater Westside. Modest recompense.
Despite these commitments to ensure safe and minimally-stressful transfers ... it did not fully grasp the number and complexity of LHH patients. So, LHH was “pigeon-holed into rules applying to standard nursing homes.
Check it outWestside Fire Response
Mayor Breed remains blissfully silent on the need to extend adequate fire protection to approximately half the City, even though she has knowledge of Fire Department needs having been a fire commissioner in 2010.
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Supervisor Myrna Melgar rallied Supervisors, passing two urgent Resolutions — before the Board went out on summer recess. She achieved this victory!
Check it outDead Trees of LaPlaya
D5 gets $50,000 for tree planting. D8, $246,000 for sidewalk gardens and street trees. And that's it for the entire City. If there is a climate emergency you wouldn't know it from San Francisco.”
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There is a need for a routine and consistent review of this facility. Programs that exist here are rarely audited, and when they are, the list of improvements required is long and important.
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“A successful man or woman is one who thinks up ways of making money faster than the government can take it away from him or her.”
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Children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent—and face the most harm because their community lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school.
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As of July 11, just 623 patients remain at LHH, compared to 681 in May. Most have been transferred to San Mateo nursing homes. Three went to homeless shelters.
Check it outWill District 7 Join the Progressives?
Banished D7's western precincts voted 76% in favor of the recall. Acquired Inner Sunset voted 61% against the recall, the future is in flux.
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Carving Up LHH Patient Towers into Two Uses, “Cohorting” Different Patient Populations in Each Tower? A Disaster for SF's Health Needs
Check it outWest Virginia v EPA
Power plant emissions formed black soot on windows and doorways in their homes and triggered asthma attacks, headaches and nosebleeds in their children. Residents led the successful fight that ultimately closed the PG&E Hunters Point power plant in 2006
Check it outTrouble in Outer Sunset
...the farmers market gets: 2000-6000 visitors per weekend. Whereas if the area were ceded back for Saint Ignatius’s parking needs they would serve about 60 cars...
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It began in 2016 with an op-ed by a parent and writer, Lisa Lewis. School started at 7:30 — her son strugged each morning. He came home exhausted.
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LHH was given 6 months to correct its deficiencies. A follow-up inspection found persistent - and seemingly worse - drug and contraband use, despite LHH’s Plan of Correction.
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Both consultants provided “preliminary assessment reports” of their initial recommendations. Only HMA’s “preliminary assessment report” has been made public.
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A cheap shot at the academic-based school that highlights SFUSD failures does not solve the problem.
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in the near-term, methane is 80 times more potent than CO2 as a contributing factor to global warming.
Check it outCulture of Silence" and Cover-up Plagues LHH Management
Crises like COVID-19 and the one at LHH have “unmasked a society that does not value the aged and disabled.” Dr. Palmer noted
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MTA management ignored two reports in 2011 that would’ve saved hundreds of millions on an essentially useless transportation project.
Check it outDPH's “Flow Project” Comes Home to Roost
Everybody involved knew that adding “unstable” adults brought disarray and danger to Laguna Honda's seniors. Most folks just went along. Now they’re surprised?
Check it outSea Level Rise and Toxic Groundwater
The report concludes groundwater “may” become contaminated as sea level rises. In fact, Shipyard groundwater was documented as“contaminated” where thousands of homes are being constructed.
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“It seems preposterous to put a library on a congested thoroughfare when there are better places that are safer for pedestrians to use,” one community member said.
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People are frustrated and spurt out the word “segregated” That's because SFUSD has failed to prepare all ethnicities for a rigorous academic high school.
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41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
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The moderates only need to flip one district from the progressive side of the aisle to preclude the veto power of the Board of Supervisors, since the mayor appointed moderate Supervisor Matt Dorsey ... the Redistricting Task Force handed moderates a perfect set up to do just that.
Check it outCalifornians Asked to cut water by 5%
If a mandatory reduction is ordered, there will be a “floor” or minimum allocation per person so that those who have conserved, and now conserve, will not be penalized.
Read More ...Graft, deception, double-dealing, fraud
...competence erodes as conscientious employees get marginalized and lackeys are promoted. This consolidation promotes impunity. Betraying the public trust is normalized.
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Boudin's famed "puppy killer" strikes again
Boudin and the judge circumvented diversion rules because violent criminals are “not eligible” for diversion programs. Why did Boudin send someone to drug diversion if they weren’t arrested for drugs?”
Read More ...
Changes in San Francisco’s 11 supervisorial district boundaries caused even the Chronicle and Examiner suggest returning to at-large supervisors; unfortunately, it seems legally impossible to this observer.
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One of the greatest discoveries when our family moved to West Portal was a library so close even our 3-year-old could walk to it! We would go to story hour and bring home bags of books.
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Despite the fact that discharge is not legally required (yet) at Laguna Honda, all patients and their families are being interviewed for discharge and this is causing a lot of stress.
Too bad no one saw this coming......oh, a group of doctors from Laguna Honda did.
Read More ...Addicts Housed with Frail Elderly—What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
State Health inspectors diagnosed “Substandard Quality of Care.” Records showed the disarray was more dire than LHH publicly disclosed.
Check it outBreed's Policing Numbers Don't Add Up
You can flood the Tenderloin with officers, but if you do not have the officers to sustain the effort, you will not see sustained results.
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If you don't take academic success into account, what would happen to those students who do not meet basic proficient levels
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HP Biomonitoring was awarded a $50,000 grant from CalEPA to create a live and virtual “Community Window on Environmental Exposures””
Check it outGUEST OP-ED
They would have us believe he’s responsible for the statistical rise in crime that’s occurred since the pandemic. Research, however, suggests otherwise...
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Over time, those special interests have proven adept at using the same “peoples protections” to further their own interests. Recalls are expensive, and a few of San Francisco’s bitterest billionaires buy low-turnout elections when they disagree with the voters...
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41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
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Drum roll please. They have raised about $29,000!
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From Prop A to Prop H there's more on the ballot than the DA Recall.
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Knowing that either way he rules, an appeal is likely, Alameda Court Judge Frank Roesch weighs the evidence.
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...there are issues that can unite us.. We all want to support our educators who have been doing the hard work every day despite a pandemic and political feud.
Check it outInternational Dark Skies Week
In Pittsburgh a new ordinance makes it the first major American city to adopt lighting standards addressing light pollution.
Check it outA great beginning that ran into WWI
36 Garden Residence neighborhoods were planned only St. Francis Wood was actually built.
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Could the motivation behind all of this be to create such a god-awful divisive plan and create so much anger that the voters would just throw up their hands and get rid of it altogether?
Check it outMedicaid & Medicare threaten payments...
Medicaid or MediCal covers 96.5% of LHH patients, the City’s General Fund – aka tax-payers – would then foot the bill. The deadline is April 14th.
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Taylor minced no words … the results of her 1995 investigation displeased health officials and influenced her decision not to publish significant findings, “I was convinced there was something there
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Each student is tutored three times a week primarily outside of school time via an online, collaborative learning platform that offers intervention through guided reading lessons, gamification, and assessments.
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A catastrophic rate disaster shows SFPUC's ingenious ability to evade culpability. They take full responsibility for lowering the water usage...
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Chair Townsend's Solution to African-American Population Decline Will Likely Result in a Lawsuit Redistricting's latest map has everyone on edge, scrambling to find out who their new Supervisor will be.
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Three new Board of Education commissioners were appointed last month by Mayor London Breed who promises implicitly that SFUSD will somehow conquer a budget deficit of over $125,000,000.
Check it outWestside Public Safety Forum
What had Taraval Station done about the unprecedented rise in burglaries in 2021? There were 620 — a 29% increase over the previous year.
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District 7 reclaims Forest Knolls, Twin Peaks, Midtown Terrace, the Woods and Miraloma Park from District 8 as well as all of Lakeshore and Merced Manor from District 4, but loses ground entirely in the Inner Sunset.
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Lowell high school's merit-based admission policy is perfectly legal. We’ve looked at the language of the law, the history of the law and the intent of the law. We've done our homework.
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The Assembly District 17 Run-Off
Haney garnered 34,174 votes compared to Campos’ 33,448 votes — a difference of only 726 votes. The April 19 run-off election couldn’t be a tighter race.
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As additional funding for supportive housing services through programs like Project Home Key become available, radical reform of board and care programming and funding will be necessary to maintain and expand this crucial resource.
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Coastal Commission Takes a Wrong Turn — City Defers
The Port will spend billions to protect Bayside property but not a dime to protect Ocean Beach.
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SF has had some surprising changes since the current lines were drawn in 2011 — they could change which Supervisor represents us.
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Civil rights laws have been enacted to protect people who are being denied equal access and opportunity. The closure is a violation of the ADA and California disability rights laws.
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The PTA can be traced right to San Francisco and the founding of the Mother’s Clubs in 1897. It has become the largest child advocacy organization in the nation.
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Donald Trump, disregards 42,000,000 Ukrainians by lauding Putin’s “genius” in invading Ukraine. I urge readers to divest themselves of any reverence or respect for Trump, a draft-dodger, who could demolish the Republican Party.
Check it outLabor Union Sues City for Corruption and Retaliation
Why does the FBI manage to unearth City Hall corruption, while our watchdog agencies; the Controller’s Whistleblower Program, Ethics Commission and City Attorney’s Office cry “What happened?
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When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground Old African Proverb.
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… instead of looking seriously into what could be done to solve the coupling problem … henceforth the trains operating in the subway would be only one and two cars long.
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A short respite or calm before the storm?
... SFPUC says 50% rationing could be required. Environmental groups contest that judgment. But if anything like that threatens imminently, you can bet costs will rise and fast. Rates follow.
Read More ...
One of the most important parenting roles is to model the behavior you want your children to follow. If you bully, your children will think its ok.
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Limit plastic used in wrapping done by on-line shopping? Since the pandemic, online shopping has created 29% more waste in landfills which can end up in our oceans
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More than 40,000 housing units that are sold but never occupied has soared in the past five years, suggesting that letting developers build freely doesn't really help the crisis.
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Hint: the software is not the problem
The Health Dept. continues to flout the open records laws. Our seniors deserve better.
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... infant mortality rates in BVHP (were) twice as high as the rest of San Francisco and one of the highest in the state, a cluster of infant deaths were detected in the shipyard region.
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The failure to properly prepare all students, particularly Black/African American students, is the main culprit. While the lottery may increase diversity, it also increases the number of students at Lowell who are struggling.
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His Dell laptop stopped working after a BIOS update. Does he deserve a refund?
Read More ...
Newly unearthed public records show that the developers paid more than $1.3 million during 2020 to Brown and two partners
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In 2020 SF was paying $59.70 per garbage bin to Recology while San Mateo ratepayers (under competitive bidding) $24.93 per month...
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...an ever-growing disparity between our community and others — 73% of our Pacific Islanders live in low-income housing, the unemployment rate is nearly 22%.
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... the efforts to clean up the Tenderloin are pushing homeless, especially the mentally ill and drug addicted, into other neighborhoods and making the problem worse all over the City
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If they want to override the current cost criteria ... jack up the rates ... they must seek voter approval. The SFPUC has not done that ...
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Most contractors lagged in delivering community benefits and submitting required progress reports. And, once a contract ended, undelivered benefits were not recoverable. SFPUC had no policies to monitor compliance.
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Ideally, police can stop “sideshows” before they happen with intel from undercover officers and by monitoring social media accounts that announce where sideshows will be. That was not evident in West Portal & 30th/Lawton incidents
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Why I'm supporting David Campos ...
San Franciscans can avoid spending more millions on a run-off election in March. Cast your vote for Campos. (Don’t let Ron Conway’s “dark money” buy himself another election!”)
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Ginsburg, working with the SF Bicycle Coalition and Walk SF, have banned cars on JFK Drive and the Upper Great Highway during the pandemic. Plans are being made make the bans permanent ...
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Despite City Hall corruption, Supervisors ignore Recology’s garbage monopoly...a year has passed with a minor refund of rate overcharges thanks to Controller Ben Rosenfield...
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There are procedures for closing a major highway, and that includes an Environmental Impact Report — how much more pollution would be caused by rerouting up to 20,000 vehicles a day through stop and go traffic ...?
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Drivers ... good news for you: the vast majority of streets are dominated by cars! You can drive on all the roads, which is why a radical change is necessary.
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Developers found ways to bypass environmental review of Cortese List sites granting “common sense” exemptions — evading Public Resources Code §21084.
Check it outSF Parks Alliance Records Subpeonaed
The vendor was selected on a sole source basis for a one-year term ... due to the limited time to accomodate a community event date in April 2020 ...
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A sustained campaign, led by polluting industries, real estate developers, etc, has repeatedly and falsely claimed California’s environmental law is fueling the housing crisis.
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The Board devoted more attention to changing the names of school buildings than accepting a safety coordinator to return safely to those buildings.
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My seven-year-old grandson has discovered searching for family names on google. He pridefully shared a picture of his dad ...then said he looked up other family members ...
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If they are declared private utilities, the SFPUC has a problem. The 1913 Raker Act and the 1940 Supreme Court confirmed: Tuolumne water may not be sold to non-municipal customers.
Check it out“Housing Galore—if you're a millionaire...
Two years after the 2019 Affordable Housing Bond passed—No progress status reports, or annual or quarterly reports to MOHCD or the Supervisors?
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This school board wanted to rename Abraham Lincoln, Dianne Feinstein, Roosevelt and Washington for racism and miscellaneous injustices...
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We have one coastline; we should prioritize this safe place to recreate and be with neighbors—not a redundant roadway separating the neighborhood from the coast to save drivers a couple minutes.
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On February 15 voters will have the opportunity to recapture the Board of Education ... elected officials who display lack of fealty to the law...
Check it out“Granny Dumping”
Moving physically - or mentally-challenged patients is clearly detrimental to their health...leaving fragile patients stranded, miles away from their families and friends
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..income disclosures serve to identify and deter potential conflicts of interest, pay-to-play deals and bribes ... But something was omitted – the lavish cost of the banquet at the Old Skool Café.
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Their plan—use the earthquake bond money to upgrade antiquated and fragile drinking water mains, is the reason expansion of the high-pressure hydrants cannot be completed before mid-century.
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Does the City care what your rates are? The Commission recently passed a resolution to guide Herrera. It lacks anything about keeping rates as low as possible.
Read More ...
The major “Sacrifice Zone” of cancer causing petrochemical emissions in the San Francisco Bay Area are the Martinez and Richmond oil refineries
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Homelessness is so grueling that getting high brings welcome relief. When the high wears off, a dysphoric “crash” ensues along with a craving for more meth.
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With less water in the rivers, the temperature increases, killing salmon and allowing the green scum called algae bloom that can make water toxic to humans and fish.
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You’re on your own. What are all those bright Berkeley grads at their SFMTA desks doing?
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Learning to read doesn’t happen naturally — it has to be taught. Years of scientific research have revealed a great deal about how reading develops.
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This is how red herrings work ...
You already know what you want to do. And you have already been told, loudly, that riders want — and need — all their old routes back in operation. Soon. Not months from now. Therefore, the phoney survey.
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