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Q&A: Candidates for San Francisco district attorney

Third interview is with Sharmin Bock
One of the more important and most overlooked races in San Francisco is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now, Gascon is running for a full four-year term, but faces stiff competition from four other candidates. Previously, we spoke with Bill Fazio and David Onek. Today, we feature Sharmin Bock, a San Francisco native and longtime prosecutor in Alameda County, known especially for her work on child sex trafficking. Bock sat down with Jason Winshell and Hank Drew from the San Francisco Public Press.  

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Growing pot should be treated the same as growing grapes: Q&A with lawyer David Owen

David Owen was a freshly minted lawyer when he decided to open up a marijuana-focused land-use law firm in San Francisco. The former legislative aide to then-Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin had been involved in the early days of the city’s cannabis regulation development. Since opening his firm, Owen has represented SPARC, a high-end medical pot dispensary, and helps local pot cultivators navigate conflicted legal waters. In light of regulation problems in Southern California and San Jose, Owen talked about the challenges of being a medical marijuana attorney as San Francisco’s once forward-thinking regulations have become “stagnated” over the past six years.

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Upscale medical cannabis club aims to change image of industry

The San Francisco Patient and Resource Center in the South of Market area resembles an art gallery where customers in sports coats and skirts suck THC vapors from plastic balloons and feast on cannabis-laced caramels.

The medical cannabis dispensary at 1256 Mission St. was designed by Larissa Sand of Sand Studios in the South Park neighborhood with the intention of luring new customers in this evolving area, which includes the new Federal Building just two blocks away.

Tracking of medical pot data, key aim of state program, varies greatly by county

San Francisco hands back applications to cannabis card users

San Francisco is among the most active cities in California in easing access to medical marijuana, having issued more than one-third of the 47,828 cannabis cards in the state. But unlike surrounding counties, San Francisco has a long-standing practice of handing back the paper applications for cards and not recording the names of patients or the doctors who give them the required recommendations.

Supes on: the budget — ‘The lowest-income workers took the greatest hit in this budget,’ Dist. 11 Supervisor John Avalos says

‘We wanted to make sure there was equity in how the budget was approved.’

Supervisor John Avalos, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, addresses coalition building, community organizing, his fight to save key social services, his closed-door agreement with Mayor Gavin Newsom and his frustrations with the budget process.

Supes on: the budget — ‘Our side allowed the mayor to get what they wanted,’ says Mirkarimi

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi recently spoke with The Public Press about government waste and the need for budget process reform.

While “delighted” that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was able to “extract” $45 million from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget, Mirkarimi said he was still unhappy with the budget process as a whole. He said he would like to see the budget changed to a two-year cycle from the current one-year cycle or at least have the budget submitted before June 1.