It’s ironic that the site of a longtime fast food restaurant — where predictable food was served with predictable haste — has become an emblem of City Hall’s incredible slowness and indecision. The McDonald’s that stood at Haight and Stanyan streets for five decades attracted violent crime and open-air drug sales, and it had to […]
The average BART rider may not know the term “transit-oriented development,” but when trains enter Oakland’s MacArthur Station, they see it face-to-face. A seven-story building with lime-green accents covers land that five years ago held parking lots. It’s part of a 385-unit apartment complex being marketed as “sleek and modern with a retro vibe … […]
Airbnb, long a flash point for controversy in its hometown, has achieved detente with San Francisco at the cost of slower growth — while pursuing other expansions that could stir new issues. San Francisco is not alone in reining in Airbnb. Cities from South Lake Tahoe to New York to Paris are cracking down on […]
The price of oil rose on Friday after the U.S. said it had destroyed an Iranian drone near the Persian Gulf, where a lot of the world’s oil is shipped through. Stock markets were largely stable as investors monitor earnings and the ongoing trade talks between China and the U.S. Energy prices were ratcheted higher […]
San Francisco would restrict future office development if the city fails to meet its affordable housing goals under a proposed ballot measure. The measure would reduce the amount of office space allowed by a percentage equal to the city’s shortfall in approving affordable housing, based on state-mandated goals. The advocacy arm of South of Market […]
Three California Assembly members have introduced legislative language that would put Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to address the wildfire crisis enveloping the state’s electric utilities into action. The proposal includes a special fund to rein in the massive wildfire liabilities that electricity providers are exposed to — a worsening problem that already drove Pacific Gas […]
California lawmakers appear increasingly willing to advance every response to the housing shortage that does not entail building housing. The latest example is legislation by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, to cap rent increases across the state, which the Assembly took the remarkable step of passing Wednesday. The bill, AB1482, would limit annual rent increases […]
If President Trump follows through on his plan to impose an escalating tariff on all imports from Mexico, the impact to California’s economy would be huge. California exports more goods to Mexico than from any other state, accounting for 17% of all the state’s exports, according to the California Chamber of Commerce. And the value […]
When Paul Wickboldt moved to the Bay Area from Boston more than two decades ago, he settled in Walnut Creek for the same reasons many families choose the suburbs: good public schools, safety, a backyard for the kids to play in, and the pleasure of knowing his neighbors. “There’s a different level of anonymity that […]
The sprawling Fremont campus where Tesla makes its cars will take the brunt of the company layoffs, Tesla said in public notices filed with the state of California. The electric carmaker will terminate more than a thousand positions from its workforce in Northern California, as part of an announced round of layoffs affecting more than […]
Employees who are required to stay “on call” before the start of a possible work shift — phoning their employer two hours before the shift to learn whether they’re needed — are entitled to be paid for that two-hour period regardless of whether they’re called in to work, a state appeals court ruled Monday. In […]
Despite millions of dollars spent on new bike lanes and other transit improvements, people still favor cars when it comes to commuting in and around San Francisco, a new report by the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency concludes.
Gig worker or employee? California will wrestle with that question this year with efforts under way in Sacramento to either codify or limit a groundbreaking state Supreme Court decision issued in April. The ruling, in a suit brought by delivery drivers at Dynamex, made it harder for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors. It […]
San Francisco has more drug addicts than it has students enrolled in its public high schools, the city Health Department’s latest estimates conclude. There are about 24,500 injection drug users in San Francisco — that’s about 8,500 more people than the nearly 16,000 students enrolled in San Francisco Unified School District’s 15 high schools and […]
Under Peskin’s proposal, owners of commercial properties in Neighborhood Commercial Districts — areas where stores and services are clustered — that are vacant for more than six months would face a fine of at least $250 per day. And while storefronts are the visible face of the long-term vacancy problem, Peskin wants to target residential […]