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.

Construction along Van Ness Ave is about to get worse.  In addition to the SFMTA work to create dedicated bus lanes, the SF Public Utilities Commission is set to begin significant repairs to the underground utility system.  Drivers and pedestrians should expect even more street level impact and lane closures.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to delay a 75 unit market-race housing project on the site of a former laundromat in the Mission until the developer conducts a shadow study on the project’s impact on a neighboring school.

Representatives of the developer argued that the study should not be necessary as CEQA requires shadow studies for developments near parks and open spaces - not schools.  Supervisor Ronen countered that schools should qualify now that the Shared Schoolyard Program opens up school yards for public recreational use outside of school hours.

On Tuesday, hundreds blocked the entrance to the ICE field office in San Francisco’s Financial District to protest separating immigrant children of all ages from their families, and holding the children in detention camps indefinitely. 

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved renaming Ingleside’s Phelan Avenue to Frida Kahlo Way, citing the racist and anti-immigrant policies of the street's namesake James Duval Phelan.  Phelan served as SF’s Mayor from 1897 to 1902.

Rail construction costs compared
$3 billion per mile: SF Downtown Extension (DTX)
$923 million per mile: SF Central Subway
$780 million per mile: BART to San Jose
$451 million per mille: Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin line

The Navy released its plans to clean up the Hunters Point Shipyard, which was recently found to be fraudulently tested. The Navy has hired two contractors to resurvey and oversee retesting of the site, which was previously deemed clean and ready for development.

Following the release of the Navy’s plan, it was announced the state health department will test a housing development near the Hunters Point Shipyard. Environmental justice advocates and residents have been calling for a radiation testing of the area, but are weary of the type of testing won’t be enough.