Progressive supervisors see Breed’s decision to step down as Board President before she is sworn in as mayor as an empty gesture to progressive supervisors. 

Breed steps down at a time when moderate supervisors hold a majority on the board, as Supervisor-Elect Rafael Mandelman has yet to be sworn in. The progressive supervisors had hoped to elect one of their own to the position.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a lawsuit against a real estate speculator for repeatedly doing construction work without permits. Ashok Gujral, a developer and investor, has been accused of receiving permits for minor work on 7 residential buildings in SF, but then conducting major renovations in violation of city law. The move saved Gujral in permitting fees and other costs, which the city says was designed to maximize profits upon reselling the buildings.

Police Chief Bill Scott requested the Board of Supervisors to not cut funding for more officers, as budget analyst Harvey Rose recommends slashing 100 positions over two years. The recommendation to cut hiring new officers directly opposes outgoing Mayor Mark Farrell’s two-year city budget proposal, which would plan to hire an additional 250 additional police officers over four years.

These proposals only add fuel to the debate about how many officers San Francisco should have, as the city is currently on track to meet its goal.

Three Golden Gate ferries are running against the baseball season clock, needing repairs before the 2019 season. Repairs to the three ferries were approved for $4.8 million, and will leave Golden Gate Ferries with four ferries in service. As the company shuttles passengers directly to AT&T Park, the repairs are notably running against a tight timeline.

Also, I’d like to note it’s an even year, and the Giants might make it into the World Series...?

The officer identified in the North Beach shooting, where an officer shot a fleeing suspect in the back, has a past in excessive force. Two years ago, friends and family members of Officer Joshua Cabillo cited cases of misconduct and excessive force in an attempt to get Cabillo removed from the force.

Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, defended Cabillo’s character and noted that it’s not uncommon for officers to fire their weapon multiple times in their careers.

Mayor-elect London Breed will serve as President of the Board of Supervisors through the June 26th meeting, where at the conclusion of the regular agenda, the Supervisors will elect a new President.

Mayor Farrell announced Wednesday that there will be a significant increase in police presence in the Civic Center BART station to curb drug use and prevent the homeless from lingering in the hallways. 

The partnership between BART police and the SFPD plans to dedicate 500 police hours each week - the equivalent of 12 officers working full time - to make the station safer and cleaner for commuters.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s ballot measure to protect San Francisco’s sanctuary laws counters Angela Alioto's proposed measure, which would roll back protections for some immigrants in the City.

PG&E is on the hook for $2.5 billion for its role in sparking many of last year’s Northern California fires that killed 45 people and destroyed 8,800 structures.  The financial penalty will increase if PG&E is found to be at fault in the Tubbs Fire, which remains under investigation.

The Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee voted unanimously to amend Senator Scott Wiener’s net neutrality legislation by stripping the bill of key provisions that would have created the nation's strongest protections against discriminatory internet practices.

SEIU Local 1021, the union that represents thousands of public service employees throughout San Francisco, is demanding the City collect data on the hiring, firing, and promotions of its African American employees.

SF Weekly dives into the controversy around taser use, the history of the debate in San Francisco, and the decisions that still need to be made in order to implement the new taser policy within the SFPD.  Proper training for all officers remains a top priority.

San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing has set goals to reduce youth homelessness by half and end family homelessness by 2023. 

DHSH is asking the City to help identify new funding sources to address the ongoing underfunding of programs and services, which presents significant obstacles in the fight against the City’s chronic homelessness problem.

California’s Supreme Court voted 5-1 against reinstating a San Francisco law that required landlords to wait ten years after evicting tenants before renovating or rebuilding the units.

The federal government has given the go ahead for the long-awaited Geary Bus Rapid Transit project through approval of the environmental impact study.  The SFMTA says the project is now on the fast track to begin construction.  

The Building Trades Union’s proposed citywide project labor agreement remains in negotiations as some department heads and small businesses push back on the potential impact on small businesses seeking construction contracts with the City.

The SF School Board unanimously approved a resolution from the Student Advisory Council that supports the City’s law requiring a 600 foot buffer zone between schools and dispensaries.

Eskenazi dives deep into the myriad of challenges Mayor-elect London Breed will inherit when she steps into Room 200.

The SF Police Officers Association will be meeting with the police commission behind closed doors to discuss the commission’s taser policy, after the POA-backed ballot measure was rejected by voters in the primary.  It is speculated that the union wants to loosen the restrictions on when officers can use tasers as a situation with a suspect escalates.

Gavin Newsom joined his former opponent Antonio Villaraigosa at an event in downtown Los Angeles, much to the dismay of Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox who released a statement criticizing the show of Democratic unity after a bitter primary that saw Newsom and Villaraigosa pitted against each other.  

Villaraigosa endorsed Newsom on election night and has said that a vote for Cox is akin to a vote for Trump.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen has proposed a ballot measure for November that seeks to provide protections for San Franciscans impacted by Trump’s immigration policies.  The measure would require city departments to conduct audits to ensure no local funding is being used to support ICE raids and report back to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors.

The measure protects the City’s sanctuary status and is co-sponsored by Supervisors Norman Yee, Katy Tang, and Sandra Lee Fewer.

Senator Dianne Feinstein is whipping support for her “Keep Families Together Act” which would bar ICE agents from separating immigrant children from their families at the border, unless there is evidence of child abuse or trafficking.

Currently 49 Democratic Senators support the bill.  True to form, no Republicans have broken ranks to support the measure, despite the fact that a handful of moderate senators have spoken out against the policy. 

The Board of Supervisors has approved new labor contracts with the police and firefighter unions.  The contracts grant a 3 percent wage increase per for the next three years for both unions.  This translates to an increase of $31M in the City’s budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1st.

Critics of the proposed retesting of the Hunters Point Shipyard say the methods set forth in the proposal will not adequately detect the extent of the site’s contamination.

A look into one of Supervisor-elect Rafael Mandelman’s key campaign promises to get San Francisco’s vulnerable homeless youth off the streets.

The San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services is putting $400,000 into training personnel on how to better serve LGBT seniors.

The trainings for workers at senior centers, home care programs, public transit, or Meals on Wheels, and the like, will focus on the specific needs of LGBT seniors who are more likely to live alone and less likely to have children.

On Tuesday, the SFMTA Board of Directors unanimously approved increasing fines on e-scooter companies for violations of the City’s new pilot program.  Permits have not yet been granted for the program - the increase from $100-$500 per fine is addressing concerns from the SFMTA Board members that the $100 fines were too low to be effective.