This past offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays were often scrutinized for various plays they actually made or didn't make. One of those moves was the failure to re-sign star third baseman and fan favorite Matt Chapman. When he finally signed a three-year contract worth just $54 million with the San Francisco Giants, the fan base became even angrier because the Jays couldn't match such an offer. Ultimately, Chapman was the best third baseman available in free agency and the perfect example of a player who could provide elite offense and defense at the same time for any team.

But after seeing Chapman's rocky start to his tenure with the Giants so far, it turns out the Jays finally got it right. In 37 games this season, he has posted a paltry .204 batting average along with a .595 OPS, 18 runs scored, 4 home runs, and 14 RBI. Additionally, his 4.6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is his best since 2020. So it appears that his offensive regression that we saw with the Jays in 2023 was actually a taste of what was to come for Chapman would come.

To add insult to injury, his Gold Glove-caliber defense this year with the Giants was anything but elite. In fact, he was difficult to watch at times as this type of erratic fielding became more and more the norm for him.

CHANGE 48

April 24th @Mets at @SFGiants

T4 Harrison Bader reaches third base on an infield single off Matt Chapman and advances to second base on a throwing error by Chapman. It was originally a two-base throwing error

Change 2 for SF#LGM #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/RP93Jh7rzA

— MLB Scoring Changes (@ScoringChanges) April 30, 2024

As of Tuesday night, Chapman had already committed 6 errors in just 102 chances, for a fielding percentage of .941, easily making it his worst defensive season of his MLB career.

As much as the Jays have struggled so far in 2024, at least the so-called Chapman replacements on the team have performed solidly for Toronto so far. Overall, the Blue Jays' starting third baseman had a .244 batting average with an OPS of .690, along with 15 runs scored, 3 home runs, 14 RBI, 3 stolen bases and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.5 :1. Defensively, they committed just four errors and had a respectable fielding percentage of .960.

Looking closer at the players, Ernie Clement and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have received the most starts at the hot corner. Statistically, Clement posted a solid .271 average with a .760 OPS with 10 runs scored, two home runs and 6 RBI in 28 games, while Kiner-Falefa also held his own with a .260 average and 9 runs scored one Home run and 10 RBI in 35 games played. When we also factor in Justin Turner, who played a few stints at third and was more or less Chapman's replacement on offense, it's clear to see that the Jays made the right choice. Turner currently leads the team in batting average (.282), on-base percentage (.357), OPS (.821), doubles (8), RBI (16) and is second in hits (31), runs scored (16). ). Home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.472). Without Turner, who knows where the Jays would be right now.

As disappointing as the 2024 season has been for the Jays with all of the recent negative backlash, they can rest assured that they did at least one thing right, and that's not re-signing Chapman to a multi-year deal. It's hard to imagine, but if that were the case, it could have been even worse. Going forward, let's just hope that the Jays can make a few smart moves now and somehow salvage the season before it starts to spiral out of control.

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Two of the most heavily used bike lanes in San Francisco intersect in the city’s Mission District, at Valencia and 17th streets, where there’s a taqueria, a police station, an upscale furniture store and a famous sex shop. 

One set of lanes cuts east-west, from the giant rainbow flag in the nearby Castro across the Mission into Potrero Hill. As with most bike lanes, these flank the parking lane, are generally unprotected from cars and, for the most part, don’t offend anyone. The other, running north-south through the ever-trendy neighborhood, has lately become a cultural flashpoint, a fight on par with the conflict over tech shuttle buses. 

Four months ago, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency relocated the north-south bike lanes along Valencia between 15th to 23rd streets from the sides of the street to the center, zipping them together for the span of eight blocks before unzipping them again. In the process, several dozen parking spaces were eliminated, too.

On that section of road, plastic bollards and firm barriers separate cyclists from vehicular traffic, with a buffer zone on either side. In itself, this “cycle track” configuration might be little more than a procedural tweak by a city that’s always tinkering with its streetscape, from lane-narrowing “road diets” to mileslong rapid transit projects for buses.

But something about this change in this place just hits different, as they say, perhaps owing to its perpetual popularity as a destination and its convenience as a through route. Here, solo drivers, Ubers, Lyfts, robotaxis, cyclists and delivery vehicles are ceaselessly jockeying for asphalt across Valencia’s 82 feet, 6 inches of width. 

Kevin Ortiz, co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club, spoke during a protest this week criticizing Valencia Street’s center-striped bicycle lanes. | Source: Courtesy Roger Rudick/Streetsblog

Grumbling about this eight-block stretch has been building since summer. But the anger erupted Tuesday when several dozen small business owners occupied the street, chanting and holding signs calling on the city to remove the lanes, as Streetsblog first reported. 

The protest came just a few days after the bar and live-music venue Amado’s closed, with its owner claiming that sales dropped 80% after the bike lane was installed and created a hassle for musicians due to a lack of parking.

Opponents have seized on the bike lane as more evidence that the city runs roughshod over the small businesses that fill its coffers with tax revenue and give it character. But how does moving a bike lane by a few feet destroy a business? 

More Than Just a Bike Lane

Walk down Valencia, and it’s impossible to miss the pink-and-white signs in the windows of many shops that read, “This Bike Lane Is Killing Small Businesses and Our Vibrant Community.” 

Yasmin, a Middle Eastern restaurant that already endured arson and a legal imbroglio with its landlord, has one. So do two auto shops, businesses with something of a direct interest in car culture. Ditto for Curio and Amado’s, restaurants and live-music venues that serve alcohol.

“Everybody’s focused on the bike lane, but it’s really about a bureaucracy,” said Bill Dickenson, who sits on a steering committee of the San Francisco Small Business Coalition, which organized Tuesday’s protest on Valencia. “The SFMTA is a government agency that has gone rogue in many ways.”

Several businesses along Valencia Street have posted signs in their windows that read, “This Bike Lane is Killing Small Businesses and Our Vibrant Community,” with a QR code for the San Francisco Small Business Coalition. | Source: Astrid Kane/The Standard

In Dickenson’s view, the powers that be have pit cyclists against small businesses unnecessarily, and it’s a canard that the center-running bike lanes are part of a flexible pilot program that can be tweaked based on public input, which is the city’s current position. The transit agency giveth, and the transit agency will never, ever taketh away.

“It’s not a pilot!” he told The Standard. “There were millions and millions in there, and the [San Francisco] Bike Coalition kept pushing for more infrastructure. This is a misuse of public funds. A ‘quick-build’ would be chalk and paint.”

An April 2023 planning document appears to put the cost at $590,000, funded by several previous ballot measures, but SFMTA confirmed to The Standard that $1.5 million had been spent so far, with the total amount yet to be determined.

From the perspective of Valencia merchants, the past three years have been an unending nightmare of public-health restrictions, rising costs and a likely permanent reduction in people eating out. Now the same city government whose transit agency radically altered Van Ness Avenue to the consternation of merchants there and whose Department of Public Works has a multiyear corruption scandal has rammed through a project nobody seems to want. 

Asked if he and other small-business owners would prefer the previous bike lanes or no lanes at all, Dickenson demurred. But he claimed many people are unhappy with the current configuration, like senior citizens now forced to circle the block while trying to find parking near the corner grocery store. Or residents who live just off Valencia and are finding more cars parked on their streets these days. 

When pressed, Dickenson said he merely wants something that’s better-designed. Ticking off features, he described something much like Valencia’s previous iteration.

“Something with two directions on either side that allows public-safety first responders to move the way they used to, that allows cars to pull out,” he said. “Why did they put the curbs in there? A sixth-grader can look at this and say this doesn’t work.”

The center-striped bike lane—technically a cycle track—is part of a pilot program by the SFMTA that is subject to community feedback. | Source: Gina Castro/The Standard

Voicing a fairly widespread belief, Dickerson said he believes ride-share companies like Uber paid the city to remove parking spaces to free up room for pickups and dropoffs.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Uber told The Standard, “The SFMTA regularly reaches out about issues impacting safety and efficiency around the city. We did not discuss the removal of parking spaces.”

For its part, the transit agency says it’s heard business owners’ concerns and has restored some of the 70 parking spaces that were removed.

“We temporarily adjusted the type and duration of many of the loading zones on Valencia Street between 15th and 23rd streets and on several side streets (18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd) to create more general parking availability in the neighborhood,” SFMTA spokesperson Stephen Chun told The Standard in a statement. 

From October until this month, Dickenson was the interim operations director of Amado’s, the now-closed bar. But the bike lanes weren’t the only challenge for that longtime home for underground music and performance this year. In June, Amado’s suffered a flood, resulting in $500,000 in damages. A crowdfunding campaign that aimed to raise $50,000 toward repairs has garnered just half that.

Asked how many Amado’s patrons drove to a venue with, at most, a handful of parking spaces on the block, Dickenson responded with statistics about an unspecified competitor’s bottom line in the period during and after Covid. 

A cyclist passes Amado’s, a recently shuttered bar and music venue at 998 Valencia St., whose owner attributed its closure to the new bike lanes. | Source: Gina Castro/The Standard

“We reached out to a number of businesses and—I won’t name them—but one well-known business owner has a restaurant on Valencia and a restaurant somewhere else in the city,” he said. “The other place saw a 3% dip, and Valencia saw a 50% reduction when the bike lane went in.”

Already a Compromise

Despite the business owners’ complaints, study after study shows that bike lanes typically yield positive economic outcomes for businesses along their corridors. 

During Covid, when Valencia Street was temporarily pedestrianized, Yelp’s data concurred. But the idea that bike lanes are bad for business has entered the cultural bloodstream, seemingly as axiomatic as the erroneous belief that homeless San Franciscans mostly come from somewhere else. 

Pedestrians enjoy wide open space on Valencia Street in 2020, when it was closed to vehicles on weekends under the city’s Slow Streets program. | Source: Paul Chinn/SF Chronicle/Getty Images

The transit agency could strengthen its case by releasing promised metrics on the Valencia Street pilot project, but Chun said that it’s going to be a while.

“The data-gathering started later than anticipated,” he said. 

This opacity is clearly infuriating to small-business owners. But it is also a challenge for advocates who want to know if cyclists are using the street less or if drivers are zooming through intersections. 

“It’s incredibly frustrating that the SFMTA hasn’t given us the evaluation data they promised us at quarterly milestones,” said Claire Amable, a Tenderloin native and the director of advocacy for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. “We’re four months in, and we were supposed to get it at three, six and nine months.”

The bicycle coalition hears feedback from its members, who seem to be evenly divided on the current state of Valencia, and the organization has offered suggestions for improvement while allowing the fire department to maintain emergency access. Amable says bike lanes are most successful when everyone embraces them but notes that the existing configuration on Valencia was the product of a protracted back-and-forth.

“This design was already a compromise based on merchant feedback from 2020,” Amable said. “It was presented as the only solution by the city because it preserved the most parking options, and SFMTA recently converted loading zones back into parking spaces, which we hope alleviates merchant concerns. But the answer is not more cars, but more people-centered spaces.” 

No Amount of Parking Can Solve the Problem

John Oram, a tech worker and sometime blogger known as Burrito Justice who came up with his own “Burrito Plan” for Valencia Street, sees a simple explanation for the business owners’ grievances.

“They based their business on double-parking, and now, they can’t do that. As soon as somebody double-parks, it blocks traffic,” he told The Standard, adding that since the changeover, some opponents have shown their hand. “Every single complaint about the bike lane, the next thing they say is, ‘Oh, I have $200 in tickets.’”

To him, Valencia Street’s primary issue is one of scarcity, with too many types of users competing for too little space. 

“There’s no number of parking spots you can add to solve this problem,” Oram said. “We’re in a city, and by the way, there are several 200- to 300-parking spot garages right off Valencia.” 

In 2022, Oram penned an opinion piece for The Standard, outlining his Burrito Plan as an “equitable way to distribute the three main road users—cars, pedestrians and cyclists—that involves minimal disruption and low-cost barriers.”

It called for converting Valencia to a one-way street, with bike lanes moved to one side and fully protected, and the remaining space allotted to ride-shares, delivery vehicles and people running errands—the users who shout, “I’ll just be here for a minute!” when parking enforcement turns around the corner. 

Over the summer, the cycle track’s buildout was criticized for being slow and haphazard, but some brave riders used it despite the warning signs. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

“In study after study, time after time, city after city, in any dense area, business owners grossly overestimate the number of people who are driving,” Oram said. “Who says, ‘Oh, I’m going to drive to Valencia because parking’s really easy’? It’s always been difficult! It’s just a little more noticeable 1702069577.”

Even as many locals push back on the idea that the city is in a doom loop, they’re quick to suggest the city seems to be creating one in the Mission. As Oram wryly noted, the cry that “Valencia is dead!” may be a poor marketing strategy, and some merchants seem intent on alienating the potential customers who are pedaling past their establishments twice a day. 

It’s worth noting that most of the major streets that parallel Valencia have been reconfigured in some way. Folsom Street was narrowed and restriped a decade ago, South Van Ness Avenue not long ago went from four lanes to two, with pocket lanes for easier left turns. For its part, Mission Street got mandatory turn-offs and “red carpet” lanes meant to give packed buses the right-of-way—and small businesses hated that, too.

Valencia Street is one of several major north-south thoroughfares in the Mission District whose layout has been remade in recent years. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

Why Do People Hate Cyclists So Much?

People hate bike lanes, at least in part, because people hate cyclists. And in fairness, many cyclists give non-cyclists more than a few things to hate. They pedal against traffic. They blow red lights. They wear expensive-looking Lycra jerseys that feel like flashy overkill on city streets. The stereotype skews toward six-figure-earning, middle-aged neckbeards mansplaining about derailleurs. And there’s that eternal whiff of superiority embodied by those “One Less Car” signs sometimes taped to the backs of bike seats, which manage to pack eco-smugness and a grammatical error into three syllables. It should read, “One Fewer Car,” if you want to be like that.  

At the same time, San Francisco is home to many physically fit, environmentally conscious people, plus the city charter’s explicit transportation policy is to prioritize alternatives to driving. And, whatever elitism may cling to cyclists, it’s simply true that every ride in a San Francisco bike shop will be cheaper than any new car at the dealership. 

Ostensibly, the changes to Valencia were largely undertaken for the benefit of cyclists. Several riders The Standard spoke with seem to appreciate the rejiggering of a heavily trafficked, high-injury corridor. In particular, the terror of being “doored” has been minimized.

But just as it’s possible to lament how all cars look alike while mocking the Cybertruck, it’s possible to be a daily cyclist while hating the Valencia Street cycle track, which was so haphazardly installed that pranksters installed guerrilla signage. 

Valencia’s current configuration has received mixed reviews from riders, including Sohan Murthy, right. | Source: Gina Castro/The Standard

Even fully built, many riders dislike the new layout, with its awkward flow, overdesigned signals and a general feeling like they need to crane their necks in an owl-like, 270-degree fashion in order to make a left. When ambulances use it—and it’s pretty hard to argue they shouldn’t—it’s difficult to get out of their way safely. 

“I’ve still seen some crazy stuff, like a car hopping over and doing a U-turn, or swerving in here,” said Sohan Murthy, a West Oakland resident who was riding to a friend’s house. “I don’t know if this is better than before.”

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SEATTLE — Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. is recognized as the man who perhaps more than anyone else has helped make the Home Run Derby a top event. Not only does he hold the records for most appearances (8) and most wins (3), but he also provided the folklore moment that made the derby a must-see spectacle when he scored from the warehouse Camden Yards beat behind right field in 1993.

But when it comes to mythical presences in the home run derby, the all-time champion could be another former Mariner founder — one who’s hit a total of 117 home runs over his 19-year career and, well, never actually competed in the derby .

I’m referring to Ichiro, the sultan of the slap, who mesmerized teammates and opponents alike with his daily display of strength in slap training. He hit home runs after home runs into right field pitches, a practice he says helped build his momentum for the night’s game. Throughout his career, baseball people swore that if Ichiro ever competed in the home run derby, this little one-hitter would dominate the giants.

“I would bet my entire year’s pay on him to win,” Mariners relief player JJ Putz told me during the 2007 All-Star game in San Francisco when Ichiro hit the only inside-the-park home run in the All-Star game. Story scored was named the game’s MVP. “You saw him hit 12 straight shots in batting practice. And not just when he scratched the wall, but seven or eight times in a row when he banged the hit It Here Café out of the windows. But he says he doesn’t want to disrespect the big power hitters.”

These big power hitters – with Julio Rodriguez as an encore – will converge on T-Mobile Park in less than two weeks for the 39th Home Run Derby, which has become as hyped as the All-Star Game itself – maybe even more more so.

“The Home Run Derby has in some ways perhaps taken on greater importance than the game itself,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said Friday. “The level of competition, there’s a certain strategy behind it, the biggest stars are out there. … Certainly they’ve been doing this for so many years, there’s a lot of history involved.”

And the Mariners have made their distinct mark on the Derby over the years, from Griffey’s escapades to Rodriguez’s breakthrough performance last year, who hit 81 total home runs at Dodger Stadium in an amazing display of strength. He didn’t win—Juan Soto beat Rodriguez in the final—but J-Rod became a household name among baseball fans

Looking back, back, back, back (to steal Chris Berman’s trademark at the derby), it wasn’t all glory for the Seattle thugs. In his very first Derby appearance in 1990, Griffey laid a goose egg at Wrigley Field: zero home runs, as hard as it is to imagine.

“The wind was pretty good (from right to left field),” Griffey, who was leading the competition, later told reporters. “I was a little nervous.”

Back then, players were given 10 “outs” — every swing that didn’t result in a home run. Once you reached 10, you were eliminated. That (and the fierce Wrigley Wind) explains why Ryne Sandberg won the 1990 Derby with just three homers. That’s a little taste of today’s world, where the shift to timed appearances instead of outs (and, some suspect, improved baseballs) saw home runs increase in 2015.

Bret Boone also scored a big fat zero in the 2003 derby in the White Sox’s US Cellular Field, much to his chagrin. He hit 35 home runs for the Mariners that year, but after teammate Ichiro ceremonially handed his bat with a bow, Boone failed to hit a single ten swing from his BP pitcher, former Marine player Dave Valle. In fact, Boone suffered utterly on his third cut.

“People look at you, you look at them. You have to go over to do an interview and you feel so stupid,” Boone said in retrospect this week 20 years later. “I can’t replace how it feels to be the player who actually shot to a clean sheet. I’ve only heard about every city I’ve been to in the second half of the season. I got annoyed by my teammates.”

Valle was popular as a derby pitcher – with left-handers, including this year’s winner Garret Anderson, who used Valle. So did Jason Giambi when he put on a spectacular show in 2001, the last time the game was played in Seattle. Right-hander Boone wanted to bring Mariners coach John McLaren to Chicago to pitch him, but McLaren had already booked a vacation. So Boone Valle alone asked about his reputation without ever getting along with him.

“Val threw a cutter, which comes into play for lefties. But the editor goes away for me,” Boone said. “So I made every pitch. I hit the doubles on the left field line. I think this is not the right game. It’s not a doubles derby. It’s definitely not a swing and miss derby.”

Boone, who two years earlier had put on a solid derby show with three home runs including an upper deck shot after receiving a standing ovation from the Safeco Field crowd, had a reciprocation ready for those who were grieving him.

“I said, ‘Listen, get invited to one before you have an opinion.'”

Ichiro was invited year after year, but he never accepted – except once. It was 2008 when the game was played at Yankee Stadium with its inviting right porch.

“That was the first time I was actually there,” Ichiro said through interpreter Allen Turner last week. “But before that, I kicked home plate in Oakland and hurt my finger. That’s why I didn’t take part in the end.”

When Ichiro’s near-derby moment was passed on to Boone, he immediately said, “I think he would have won it. He would have put on a show. We saw it every day in batting practice. If you had a pitcher who could put it.” Where he wanted, he was like a robot. He could meet her at will. So yeah, if Ichiro were there I’d definitely call him a favorite.”

I finally got the chance to ask Ichiro this question: Does he think he would have won?

“If it had been the rules from back then, I would have had a chance. But under today’s new rules, where you have to hit over 450 feet to get 30 seconds more, I wouldn’t have been good at it.”

Ichiro then casually mentioned that he once competed in a home run derby at the Peoria Sports Complex in 2002.

“Mike Cameron took me aside one day and said, ‘You have to come with me.’ Then he put me on a golf cart and we went to the field.”

As Ichiro recalled, he feuded with Padres catcher Wiki Gonzalez and hitter Pete Incaviglia, who was at the San Diego camp that spring as a non-squad player. A small article in the San Diego Union-Tribune I found online confirmed his memory – except that a third Padres player, Xavier Nady, also attended. The article also confirmed Ichiro’s proud statement that he won the derby.

“I still have a small trophy I won from that,” Ichiro said.

Just another artifact from the Mariners’ Home Run Derby pantheon.

(c) 2023 The Seattle Times

Visit the Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Robert Milton began his day, as he has done so many times over the past three decades, by filling a garbage truck with garbage.

Discarded sofas. mattresses Whole blocks full of abandoned trash. He has seen everything.

“As fast as we pick it up, they put it down,” he said. “It’s a never-ending fight.”

Behind him, a group of cleaners from the city’s contracted garbage truck company Recology and the city’s public works shoveled piles of trash that clogged the streets near the intersection of Jennings Street and Egbert Avenue.

In recent years, San Franciscans have weathered a deluge of garbage.

Complaints to 311 have increased; Public works contracts have risen and Recology staff have collected millions of pounds of illegally dumped rubbish each year. In some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, city sanitation workers have increased their collection services. The board increased fines for dump-and-run scoffers.

But other efforts failed. The number of subpoenas has dropped dramatically since 2019, and years after the city announced it would use license plate-reading cameras to catch trash scoffers in hard-hit neighborhoods, the devices are nowhere to be found.

And the garbage keeps coming.

In 2022, the city received over 200,000 complaints about its garbage disposal — more than four times more than a decade ago. In 2012, the city received around 45,000 complaints.

San Francisco Public Works defines illegal dumping as leaving trash, trash, or discarded items on public streets. It can be something as innocuous as a bookshelf on the sidewalk, or bags of trash next to a public bin — or dumping vast amounts of construction waste in deserted areas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, complaints about illegal garbage disposal mounted in many Bay Area communities, and cities across the country reported increases in garbage collection. That was due to the shift to remote work, which led to more personal garbage in homes, and homeowners finally getting around to making long-overdue renovations and remodels.

In some parts of the city, garbage is everywhere. Residents call the city’s 311 customer service number an average of 14,000 to 17,000 times a month to complain about abandoned trash, according to a Chronicle analysis of four years of call data. Public Works internal data shows that abandoned waste disposal orders for its packer trucks peaked in 2022 and have declined slightly this year.

Complaints about illegal dumping at 311 are generally filed under the “street and sidewalk cleaning” category and include calls about bulky items, liquids, and other loose debris on the street. Data does not include duplicate cases where multiple calls are made regarding the same illegal dumping incident.

Part of the increase in 311 complaints could be due to the complaints system being easier to use, public works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon said, admitting she didn’t want to downplay the challenge of illegal landfills across the city. Nonetheless, complaints of illegal dumping now make up a larger share of all 311 complaints, rising from just over 25% before the pandemic to almost 35% afterwards.

“People are devastating our city,” she said. “How do we get away from this?”

A recent report from the city’s Controller’s Office concluded that high-traffic commercial corridors are hotspots for illegal dumping compared to residential areas. Data from the report shows that San Francisco’s commercial zones were dirtier overall than residential streets and sidewalks.

In 2022, the Central Waterfront neighborhood had between 1,300 and 311 illegal landfill reports per 1,000 residents — the highest in the city among neighborhoods with more than 500 residents. The mission followed with 730 reports. Another area with many complaints was Portola, particularly on roads near the intersection of Interstate 280 and Highway 101. One intersection — at San Bruno Avenue and Bacon Street — had more than 700 complaints between 2019 and 2022.

“People throw it out there because they know someone else is taking care of it,” said Alex Hobbs of the Portola Neighborhood Association. “It’s a common thread of complaints with pretty much everyone I speak to in the neighborhood. … It really hurts civic pride.”

Another area that drew hundreds of complaints last year was 12th Avenue and Clement Street in Inner Richmond. After a house burned down in the area, debris landed at the intersection for months before finally being removed, residents said.

In the Mission or the Haight, city workers often see litter when tenants move out, and they or their landlords dump the contents of the apartments outside.

Bayview Hunters Point is a common landfill, Gordon said. Many blocks are filled with warehouses and there is hardly any traffic on the street after dark or on weekends.

“There aren’t many eyes all the time,” Gordon said.

Trash mockers often leave couches and trash bags along Carroll Avenue — a six-block strip of asphalt. Its east end lies between a waste disposal company and Grand Roofing, where Michel Mikery worked for nearly 20 years. Over the years he’s watched the heaps of rubbish just by the side of the road.

“It’s very difficult,” he said. “Customers are afraid to come here because they think it’s not safe.”

As garbage problems mounted, Public Works has pumped millions of dollars into its Bayview operations. Gordon said crews have switched from crossing the neighborhood twice a week to five days a week. She estimates that illegal garbage disposal in Bayview costs the city $1.9 million annually.

On Monday, for example, Milton and his crew would start their morning at Jennings and Egbert’s and then spend hours zigzagging the streets surrounding the neglected Candlestick Park. Milton has worked on the cleaning crews of these streets for years, and the burly 51-year-old knows every landfill in the area.

Egbert, Gilman, Carroll – he’s rattling around with the dumps in quick succession.

They often pick up most of the trash from areas near homeless camps, where area residents leave their old belongings, he said.

“People see homeless camps and use them as landfills,” he said. “Who will bring a bedroom furniture to his camp?”

Recology responded to more than 100,000 of those 311 calls last year, said Robert Reed, a company spokesman, and in the process collected £8.8million of left behind or illegally dumped rubbish – A Down by around £2million since the peak of the pandemic.

Many residents may not be aware that in addition to regular garbage collection from Recology, they can also contact the company to arrange free collection of bulky items.

Milton estimates his workers could pick up 12 tons of trash from around Bayview every week, aided by a packer truck that follows them for three hours each day.

“It’s job security,” said Recology employee Hugo Santoyo, laughing as Milton’s team shoveled trash onto the back of his truck. “It’s a good, honest job. Someone has to do it.”

The city has tried to curb illegal landfills — with little success. If emergency responders can find out who dumped the trash, they will issue a subpoena, Milton said. In 2020, the board of directors increased maximum fines for garbage disposal to $1,000 per offense per day.

But the department issues subpoenas in only a fraction of illegal dumping cases — and that number has been declining in recent years, Gordon said.

A review of public works citation data shows that in 2019, the department’s staff issued nearly 17,000 warnings and citations related to illegal waste disposal. That number dropped to about 2,200 in 2020 and about 3,800 the following year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, inspectors issued about 6,600 summonses.

Gordon attributed the decline to the relocation of some employees due to the department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other staffing shortages.

In March, in response to concerns about street cleanliness, regulators voted to bolster Public Work’s street cleaning and graffiti removal efforts with a $25 million budget increase. The department’s total budget for 2022–23 was approximately $360 million.

After years of delays, the city also plans to install 10 moving license plate reader cameras in known hotspots in Bayview to catch trash scoffers. The city proposed the plan in 2020 but delayed the process to switch providers, Gordon said.

“We want to catch the perpetrators, take action against them and scare people away,” she said. “You won’t always know where the cameras are.”

They’re also examining strategies other cities have employed — in Los Angeles, for example, authorities have begun impounding cars and trucks caught in illegal dumping.

And now residents across the city have taken matters into their own hands, with groups like Refuse Refuse San Francisco holding meetings for residents to help beautify their neighborhoods.

“Even though we treat the symptoms, it works,” said the group’s founder, Vince Yuen.

On a recent Thursday, half a dozen volunteers swarmed through downtown Richmond, using grab claws to scoop up debris from sidewalks on blocks north and south of Clement Street.

“Why search the streets when the garbage is back a week later?” asked one of the volunteers.

“Why are you making your bed?” Yuen answered. “Why clean your house?”

Reach St. John Barned-Smith: stjohn.smith@sfchronicle.com, reach Adriana Rezal: adriana.rezal@sfchronicle.com

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Legislators are active on HOAs this year, and eight bills could have a significant impact on California associations. Four helpful bills were discussed in last week’s column. Unfortunately, the four bills discussed below are well-intentioned, but potentially create more problems than they solve.

The worst of the four is House Bill 572, authored by San Francisco Rep. Matt Haney. AB 572 would limit tax increases for deed-restricted affordable housing units and limit the HOA board to a maximum increase of 5 percent for those units. If the HOA needed to increase all units’ ratings by more than 5 percent, it would require a member vote to do so. This bill attempts to protect owners of affordable housing units, but it’s a terrible idea. It presents affordable housing as a distinct class of homeowners who would pay a smaller portion of their fair share of the cost of HOA than their neighbors. It would arguably override most CC&Rs, which normally specifically regulate the distribution of reviews among owners.

Assembly Bill 1033, authored by Rep. Phil Ting of San Francisco, proposes a simple but potentially problematic amendment to Section 65852.2 of the Government Code, the section on municipal approval of additional housing units (“ADUs”). The bill authorizes local jurisdictions to allow property owners (including owners of proposed developments) to convert their properties into miniature condos, allowing both the primary residence and the ADU(s) on the property to be sold to buyers. Fortunately, the bill does not say that it would override the CC&Rs for proposed developments, because if it did override CC&Rs, it would essentially allow for a rewrite of the subdivision map on which to base proposed developments. In the new condominium mini-condo scenario within a proposed development, would there now be other proposed members of a development association? Additionally, many (if not most) small homeowners’ associations ignore the Davis-Stirling Act, so it doesn’t help homebuyers create more.

Assembly Bill 1572 was authored by Rep. Laura Friedman of Burbank. This bill proposes the creation of a new subsection 10608.14 of the Water Code that would ban all property owners (other than single-family homes) from using potable water on “non-functional lawns” beginning in early 2029. For larger homes, this could mean extensive plumbing and landscaping costs to irrigate green belts or other common areas that are considered “non-functional”. This could also mean major problems and costs for the HOA and the community in areas where treated water is not currently available.

Senate Bill 403, authored by Sen. Aisha Wahab of Fremont, would outlaw discrimination on the basis of “caste,” defined as “a person’s perceived position in a system of social stratification based on inherited status.” In North American culture, caste is not usually recognized. This very broad definition could lead to misunderstandings and misapplications within neighborhoods. Does someone shy away from social interaction because someone else comes from a more modest background or perhaps has a more privileged upbringing? Although such behavior is superficial and ignorant, should it be illegal? It seems problematic to take a practice from another culture and try to define, understand and prohibit it in our North American culture.

The deadline for the First House to pass bills is June 2. So you have time to contact your representative and give your opinion. Visit www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov to read the bills and leave comments for the author.

Kelly G Richardson, Esq. is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and a partner in Richardson Ober LLP, a California law firm known for its community association expertise. Send column questions to Kelly@roattorneys.com. Previous columns at www.HOAHomefront.com.

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From Motomami to Bad Bunny, sporty shapes come together in this week’s coolest looks. In contrast to the current fashion mood of “quiet luxury,” these six great looks remind us of fashion’s other great gift — offering an eternally upbeat take on vibrant colors, whimsical prints, and exaggerated silhouettes, offering a one-way ticket out of Squaresville.

Rosalia (pictured above)

Continuing to revisit her flamenco roots, this bespoke Acne Studios look was the perfect blend of frivolity and toughness, which the Spanish singer pulls well, for possibly this year’s standout performance (sorry, Frank Ocean). London-based New Zealand model Ch’lita Collins has also helped inspire the singer with her looks by recently creating official Rosalía merch.

Donald Glover attends the 202nd GQ Global Creativity Awards. Photo / Getty Images.

I don’t think I can remember ever seeing Donald in anything horrible. What I love about his personal style is that the clothes don’t support it, and the same is true in this case for this chic take on a sporty sweater from Valentino’s Fall Winter 2023 collection, worn to the GQ Global Creativity Awards 2023.

Greta Lee attends the 2023 San Francisco International Film Festival. Photo / Getty Images

An avant-garde take on flicks, this Bottega Veneta Pre-Fall 2023 ensemble was a surprisingly confident choice for the actor at this week’s San Francisco International Film Festival.

Bad Bunny performs on the Coachella stage. Photo / Getty Images

Arguably taller than Harry Styles, the Puerto Rican performer is a global superstar with a suitably extravagant approach to personal style. This patchwork medley print quilted jacket from Californian brand ERL is a great choice for Coachella 2023.

Michelle Obama on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Photo / Getty Images

On this week’s taping of The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, the former US first lady continues to show off her confidence in a pleated skirt-overlay overall from Fendi’s Fall Winter 2023 collection with Eéra jewellery. It’s a fresh take on a utilitarian classic.

Woody Harrelson visits HBO’s “White House Plumbers” in New York. Photo / Getty Images

Aside from those ubiquitous Veja shoes, which look great in blue, the rest of the look is a standout from Giorgio Armani, one that’s thoroughly languid and airy as the veteran actor attends the NYC premiere of White House Plumbers .

The post The Coolest Seems to be Of The Week, From Rosalía To Dangerous Bunny appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Many commercial tenants went to court over a pandemic rent break. A law firm from Murray Hill can now count itself among the few winners.

The New York Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in corporate and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner completed renovations on the two Rented floors of the chancellery had not been completed space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, producing 90-degree temperatures in the summer and unable to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has been based at 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to temporarily move from the 9th and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th floors when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to upgrade the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

Continue reading

The lease included four months of free rent once the company moved downstairs, and a rent loan if the renovation took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day work continued after February 2020. The rate would increase to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein returned prematurely to the 9th and 10th floors in December 2019. But the company immediately questioned whether the work was complete.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC issues,” wrote Mark Rifkin, a managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein, in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some might have accepted a substantial completion before it was finished,” he continued. “Had it been summer when we needed the air conditioning, the room would have been uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively noisy.

These problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began to spread through the city, ABS’ construction manager confirmed in an email that “many ‘existing’ elements…need to be identified and resolved”.

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to write a memo to the landlord’s construction manager calling the HVAC system a “disaster.”

In the same month, the landlord began work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to move to a more hospitable floor.

HVAC issues continued throughout the pandemic, forcing partners, employees, employees and clients to deal with a system upon returning to the office that was not circulating fresh air adequately, according to Herrick Feinstein’s Scott Mollen, the tenant’s attorney.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect failed to declare the work complete, meaning the firm was under no obligation to pay rent.

ABS responded a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-a-month lease.

In November of that year, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling that the work was incomplete and the firm did not have to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent loan, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“Many of the unnecessary fees are due to landlord litigation tactics,” the court found.

Rosenberg & Estis, representing ABS Real Estate, did not respond to a request for comment.

The firm’s late co-founder, Warren Estis, had represented ABS for most of the trial, one of his last. Estis died in April.

The post Regulation Agency Wins $2M Hire Credit score for Unhealthy HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Many commercial tenants went to court over a pandemic rent break. A law firm from Murray Hill can now count itself among the few winners.

The New York Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in corporate and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner completed renovations on the two Rented floors of the chancellery had not been completed space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, producing 90-degree temperatures in the summer and unable to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has been based at 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to temporarily move from the 9th and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th floors when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to upgrade the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

Continue reading

The lease included four months of free rent once the company moved downstairs, and a rent loan if the renovation took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day work continued after February 2020. The rate would increase to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein returned prematurely to the 9th and 10th floors in December 2019. But the company immediately questioned whether the work was complete.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC issues,” wrote Mark Rifkin, a managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein, in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some might have accepted a substantial completion before it was finished,” he continued. “Had it been summer when we needed the air conditioning, the room would have been uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively noisy.

These problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began to spread through the city, ABS’ construction manager confirmed in an email that “many ‘existing’ elements…need to be identified and resolved”.

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to write a memo to the landlord’s construction manager calling the HVAC system a “disaster.”

In the same month, the landlord began work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to move to a more hospitable floor.

HVAC issues continued throughout the pandemic, forcing partners, employees, employees and clients to deal with a system upon returning to the office that was not circulating fresh air adequately, according to Herrick Feinstein’s Scott Mollen, the tenant’s attorney.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect failed to declare the work complete, meaning the firm was under no obligation to pay rent.

ABS responded a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-a-month lease.

In November of that year, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling that the work was incomplete and the firm did not have to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent loan, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“Many of the unnecessary fees are due to landlord litigation tactics,” the court found.

Rosenberg & Estis, representing ABS Real Estate, did not respond to a request for comment.

The firm’s late co-founder, Warren Estis, had represented ABS for most of the trial, one of his last. Estis died in April.

The post Legislation Agency Wins $2M Lease Credit score for Unhealthy HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz’ Mark Rifkin and ABS Partners Real Estate’s James Caseley (right) with 270 Madison Avenue (Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, ABS Partners, Getty)

Many commercial tenants went to court for a pandemic rent break. A Murray Hill law firm can now count itself among the few to have won one.

New York’s Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in stocks and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner failed to complete renovations on the firm’s two floors of leased space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, produced 90-degree temperatures in the summer and failed to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has occupied 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to move temporarily from the ninth and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to revamp the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

The lease included four months of free rent once the firm moved back to the lower floors and a rent credit if renovations took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day that work continued after February 2020. The rate would jump to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein moved back to the ninth and 10th floors in December 2019, ahead of schedule. But the firm immediately questioned whether work had been completed.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC problems,” Mark Rifkin, managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein wrote in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some may have assumed substantial completion before it was done,” he continued. “Had this been summertime, when we need the AC, the space would be uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively loud.

Those problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began spreading in the city, ABS’ construction manager acknowledged in an email that “many ‘existing condition’ items … need to be figured out and resolved.”

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to describe the HVAC system as a “disaster” to the landlord’s construction manager in a memo.

The same month, the landlord started work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to relocate to a more hospitable floor.

The HVAC issues lasted through the pandemic, forcing partners, associates, staff and clients, once they returned to the office, to deal with a system that failed to adequately circulate fresh air, according to Scott Mollen of Herrick Feinstein, attorney for the tenant.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect had not declared the work complete, meaning the firm had no obligation to pay rent.

ABS answered a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-per-month lease.

That November, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling the work was incomplete and the firm had no need to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent credit, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700 .00 in attorney’s fees.

“Much of the unnecessary fees were incurred as a result of landlords’ litigation tactics,” the court noted.

Rosenberg & Estis attorney Alex Estis, who represented ABS, said his legal team appreciated the Appellate Division reduced Wolf Aldenstein’s rent credit award. A lower court had granted the firm an additional $647,869, plus interest.

“We are considering further options in light of the ruling,” Estis added.

The firm’s late co-founder Warren Estis had represented ABS for most of the suit, one of his last. Estis died in April.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

This article has been updated to include comments from Rosenberg & Estis, counsel for ABS Partners Real Estate.

The post Legislation Agency Wins $2M Hire Credit score for Unhealthy HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz’ Mark Rifkin and ABS Partners Real Estate’s James Caseley (right) with 270 Madison Avenue (Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, ABS Partners, Getty)

Many commercial tenants went to court for a pandemic rent break. A Murray Hill law firm can now count itself among the few to have won one.

New York’s Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in stocks and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner failed to complete renovations on the firm’s two floors of leased space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, produced 90-degree temperatures in the summer and failed to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has occupied 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to move temporarily from the ninth and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to revamp the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

The lease included four months of free rent once the firm moved back to the lower floors and a rent credit if renovations took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day that work continued after February 2020. The rate would jump to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein moved back to the ninth and 10th floors in December 2019, ahead of schedule. But the firm immediately questioned whether work had been completed.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC problems,” Mark Rifkin, managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein wrote in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some may have assumed substantial completion before it was done,” he continued. “Had this been summertime, when we need the AC, the space would be uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively loud.

Those problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began spreading in the city, ABS’ construction manager acknowledged in an email that “many ‘existing condition’ items … need to be figured out and resolved.”

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to describe the HVAC system as a “disaster” to the landlord’s construction manager in a memo.

The same month, the landlord started work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to relocate to a more hospitable floor.

The HVAC issues lasted through the pandemic, forcing partners, associates, staff and clients, once they returned to the office, to deal with a system that failed to adequately circulate fresh air, according to Scott Mollen of Herrick Feinstein, attorney for the tenant.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect had not declared the work complete, meaning the firm had no obligation to pay rent.

ABS answered a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-per-month lease.

That November, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling the work was incomplete and the firm had no need to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent credit, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700 .00 in attorney’s fees.

“Much of the unnecessary fees were incurred as a result of landlords’ litigation tactics,” the court noted.

Rosenberg & Estis attorney Alex Estis, who represented ABS, said his legal team appreciated the Appellate Division reduced Wolf Aldenstein’s rent credit award. A lower court had granted the firm an additional $647,869, plus interest.

“We are considering further options in light of the ruling,” Estis added.

The firm’s late co-founder Warren Estis had represented ABS for most of the suit, one of his last. Estis died in April.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

This article has been updated to include comments from Rosenberg & Estis, counsel for ABS Partners Real Estate.

The post Legislation Agency Wins $2M Lease Credit score for Unhealthy HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.