As the calendar moved from 2019 to 2020 a new decade arrived, and with that we are making significant changes to the Westside Observer. For starters, we will have a new ownership group, Westside San Francisco Media, which is in the process of purchasing the newspaper, website and trademarks. They are passionate members of our staff that have worked on the Observer for many years and they are taking this news outlet into the future.
The major change that tops the list is the move to a “digital-only” format. It is the plan to publish limited page papers in February and March to announce the changes and get our readers used to thinking about us as the online version of westsideobserver.com. The team is working on a redesign to the website, and platform changes that will enable you to get your Observer information on any device you currently use.
It has not been an easy decision to end 32 years of print … but the cost of print, the environmental impacts of paper and ink, and the availability of electronic media has made this the right time to “throw the switch.”
It has not been an easy decision to end 32 years of print journalism excellence, but the cost of print, the environmental impacts of paper and ink, and the availability of electronic media has made this the right time to “throw the switch.” See the photo of the tree? Even though we don’t use redwood trees for newsprint, it symbolizes the movement away from paper and the trees and energy that will be saved by not producing 15,000 copies each month. The other “issue” with print is that it has always been a static delivery mechanism, not able to be updated until the next month when a new issue hits the newsstands.
What can you expect? A new, redesigned website and platform, bringing you the same information that you have relied on over the years, and more. Need to see what Quentin (Kopp) thinks? He will be there, as well as John Farrell, George Wooding, Kathy Howard, Patrick Monette-Shaw, Dr. Derek Kerr, Nancy Wuerfel, Tony Hall, and our other great writers and contributors. We’re working to make it more interactive, working towards a day where we can get more of your feedback and ideas in real-time.
It won’t be instantaneous and there will be ways to interact and contribute to this exciting new enterprise. Check us out at westsideobserver.com and embrace the digital age.
Mitch Bull was the Publisher of the Westside Observer for twelve years.
February 2020
The Assessor's Office announced that Monday, September 16, 2013, the filing period for a formal appeal of the 2013/2014 assessed property value will close. The period for appeals opened on Tuesday, July 2, 2013.
The appeals process as an opportunity for property owners to bring additional information to the table. However, the Assessor reports that there has been a decline in the number of appeals for the first time in over four years, with 2012/13 appeals decreasing to 5,500 from 6,399 in 2011/12. As home prices in San Francisco rise, this trend of declining appeals is likely to continue as homeowners see their property regain its base year value.
In order to appeal, property owners must complete the Application for Changed Assessment form (accessible by visiting www.sfgov.org/aab) together with a non-refundable $60 administrative processing fee and submit it no later than 9/16/2013 to the Assessment Appeals Board (AAB) at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, City Hall, Room 405, San Francisco, 94102.
The Assessment Appeals Board is independently appointed by the Board of Supervisors. The role of the AAB is to equalize the valuation of the taxable property within San Francisco. Info: www.sfassessor.org Email: assessor@sfgov.org
September 2013
By Jonathan Farrell
This coming January the Westside Observer will celebrate 25 years in print. On Sunday Nov. 6, the owners Mitch and Alice Bull hosted a gathering at Que Syrah wine bar on West Portal Ave.
"It is our way of thanking everyone who contributes to the Westside Observer," said Mitch as he addressed the gathering of about 30 people that evening. He and Alice also own and manage the Castro Courier, another neighborhood newspaper that serves the community's need for local news.
"The Examiner and the Chronicle, I have respect for them," said Mitch. "But the City's mainstream papers are not covering the real news of the local community".
In San Francisco there are at least a dozen or more neighborhood newspapers, often referred to as "hyper-local publications," all of which have been reporting important local and citywide issues that impact residents. While the continued expansion of the internet has presented a challenge for all print media, the local papers endure.
Serving local residents and merchants is the main goal of these papers and the Westside Observer strives to stand out. In the past few years since Mitch and Alice have taken over as publishers, the Westside Observer has improved the design and production quality of the paper. The Westside Observer has transformed from a simple, flat design format, previously called "West of Twin Peaks Observer" with some spot color on the front page, to a full color, eye-catching 20 page issue each month.
Phyllis Sherman established the paper in the 1980's, to give residents a voice and report about local events and concerns not reported in the Chronicle & Examiner. Sherman continues to contribute to the paper with her column "Phyllis' Findings."
Producing a paper every month is a collective effort. With the help of many people like Editor Doug Comstock, the Westside Observer reaches from the West Portal - St. Francis Wood area to the Forest Hill, Parkside and Sunset District.
"I am happy to say that our paper is doing well and not in debt," said Mitch. He is looking forward to publishing "the paper" that residents go to first to get the local news.
Jonathan Farrell is a freelance SF reporter. Feedback: farrell@westsideobserver.com
December 2011
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
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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
Younger, behaviorally-complex patients gained priority for admission resulting in the displacement of elders and women. Excluding unmanageable patients would open up beds for those who need skilled nursing care.
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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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Why is the proposed library at 100 Orizaba Avenue desirable? The proposed site has so many failings and the traffic problems are so enormous. Is there a hidden agenda with this proposed site that’s not being discussed?
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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?
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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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