Bay Area
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Judge orders release of documents in failed CalPERS real estate investment

09.15.2010
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A judge has ordered the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to release key documents related to a failed $100 million real estate investment in East Palo Alto. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte Wollard wrote in her ruling in the lawsuit by the First Amendment Coalition that public interest in the documents “far outweighs any asserted interest in non-disclosure” given the amount of public money lost.

Bay Area
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Is it ‘smart growth’ to build in the San Francisco Bay? Updates from the field

09.13.2010
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The Bay Area needs more homes for its growing population, but does it make sense to house 30,000 people on unstable land, in earthquake country, that’s also at high risk of inundation by rising sea waters? A massive development proposal on the fringes of the San Francisco Bay, in one of the last potentially developable areas in the region, is raising questions about the definition of smart growth. [The Public Press is developing an in-depth report for the fall print edition and the website. We are raising funds on the journalism micro-funding site Spot.us to pay for the reporting and photography on the story.]

Bay Area
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SF may soon get 2 Target stores

07.22.2010
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Officials from the chain retailer Target met with residents Wednesday to discuss plans for one of two proposed stores in San Francisco. The proposed sites include the former Mervyns storefront at Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue and inside the Metreon at Mission and Fourth streets.

Bay Area
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Oakland’s community policing program continues to face challenges

10.28.2009
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Officer Clay Burch is one part of the three-pronged approach that makes up Measure Y, in which community police are complemented by street outreach teams. PSOs and outreach teams link young people to the actual programs that help create foundations for a better life. And for Burch, improving Oakland’s toughest neighborhoods happens one building, and one person, at a time.

Bay Area
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In ‘Deep East’ Oakland, youths pegged as criminals say police harassment spurs more violence

10.07.2009
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For many, the police are here to serve and protect. The men and women in blue are those we call when we’re in trouble. And no part of Oakland is more in need of policing than the streets between the East 70s avenues and the East 100s avenues — stretching from the base of the hills to the bottom of the flatlands — or what residents call the “Deep East.” It is where over one-third of the city’s 124 homicides occurred last year. But many of the youths living on these dangerous streets don’t welcome the police as protectors — they consider them the enemy.