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No ‘rock stars’ here

Michelle Fitzhu..., Mar 17 2010 - 4:56pm

In March, the color pink is all the rage in San Francisco. No, it wasn’t the latest in summer swimwear or a flash mob singing Pink’s big hit “So What” in unison. We’re talking about the type of pink that comes in the form of a letter from your employer saying, in essence, “cutbacks are forcing us to eliminate your position.” That’s right, March 5 was Pink Slip Day in the City and County of San Francisco — and although the estimated 15,000 workers who received the notices are in a furor over the layoffs, there is a silver lining to the situation.

Bipedalism rules Sunday Streets kick-off

Vivian Morales, SF Public Press — Mar 16 2010 - 2:22pm

Take a virtual tour of the city’s northeastern waterfront ... There were no slackers at the third annual Sunday Streets kick-off on Embarcadero. Whether it was biking, Rollerblading, scootering or walking, people — not vehicles — were mobile. The northbound lane of the Embarcadero, where bumper-to-bumper traffic on a Sunday is the norm, was converted to a bidpedal and pedalers’ mecca.

City workers decry layoffs, demand alternatives

Christopher D. Cook, SF Public Press — Mar 15 2010 - 3:48pm

City workers are demanding alternatives to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s hard-nosed fiscal approach as he attempts to close a $522 million projected budget gap through mass layoffs and de-facto furloughs.

As San Francisco grapples with a ballooning deficit for the coming fiscal year, Newsom laid off 17,474 workers two weeks ago, but promised to hire back “most” of them at 37½ hours per week. For the rehired, that represents a 6.25 percent pay cut — which city workers’ unions intend to challenge in court.

Toting 8½-by-11-inch “termination of employment” pink slips, angry city workers lined up at last Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee hearing to decry the layoffs and urge city leaders to explore other sources of money.

Welcome to the neighborhood: SoMa (photo essay)

Eleanor Beaton, SF Public Press — Mar 15 2010 - 9:54am

SoMa is growing up, literally.

The neighborhood, bordered by Market and South Van Ness streets, has seen the most recent growth in high-rise construction in the city. In the past three years, about eight high-rises were built in the neighborhood and blueprints for more, namely the Transbay Terminal redevelopment area, are reshaping the skyline.

Supes, mayor agree on new tenant protections

Saul Sugarman, SF Public Press — Mar 10 2010 - 12:45am

Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to support a proposal passed by the Board of Supervisors that protects tenants from arbitrary eviction in non-rent controlled residences facing foreclosure.

Welcome to the neighborhood: Western Addition’s NoPa (photo essay)

Michael LaHood, SF Public Press — Mar 8 2010 - 2:45pm

The neighborhood known as “NoPa,” or North of the Panhandle, is in the process of undergoing a transformation. The neighborhood is gaining an identity of its own, separate from its historical roots as a part of the larger Western Addition.

Education protests — images from the street

Monica Jensen, SF Public Press — Mar 4 2010 - 6:07pm

Thousands of people, including college, high school and elementary school students, plus parents, teachers and other activists, converged in streams on downtown San Francisco to protest cuts in public education Thursday afternoon. Organizers said that more than 4,000 people marched down Mission and Valencia streets to Market, and then to the Civic Center Plaza.

Lesson in SF grade schools: protest education cuts

Anna Rendall, SF Public Press — Mar 4 2010 - 12:31am

On Thursday, San Francisco public school students as young as 5 will get a real-life learning experience about civic engagement — through protest. Students from kindergarten through college plan to convene at Market and Powell streets in the late afternoon to protest cuts to public education during a coordinated political action called the Rally for California’s Future. Several schools were planning to have students create picket signs in school. On Wednesday, students sat in the parent room at Sheridan Elementary School making signs and banners. But the school district, citing safety, put a stop to a plans for teachers to take students as a field trip.

Besides taxes, few solutions at town hall on education

Kristine Magnuson and Tabitha Harmon, SF Public Press — Feb 26 2010 - 6:55pm

The organizers of what was billed as a town hall-style meeting on education funding in the Marina Thursday said their intention was to have a conversation with the community about solutions to money woes for the coming school year. But the evening’s talk, moderated by Michael Krasny, host of KQED-FM’s “Forum,” fell short of those expectations for some parents, educators and others in attendance — as evidenced by booing and hissing that punctuated the meeting.

Embattled union seeks to blunt second year of city cuts

Kevin Stark, SF Public Press — Feb 26 2010 - 11:54am

(UPDATE: A reform slate of candidates won victory in the election. For details, see Kevin Stark's blog). wins the election this weekend at Northern California’s largest public-sector union will inherit a troubled labor local beset by internal conflict and controversial negotiations in San Francisco that cost the union hundreds of jobs this past year.

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