SAN FRANCISCO — In a city still struggling to rebound from the pandemic, officials are pinning their hopes on an unlikely hero for the beleaguered downtown: plates of cheap Swedish meatballs.

Ikea — the Swedish retail chain known for affordable furniture, an assortment of beige foods and that one time a monkey in a coat was locked inside — opened a new 52,000-square-foot store on San Francisco’s long-troubled Market Street on Wednesday. Its grand opening in the empty mall has attracted more fanfare here than the average store, with a wall of media cameras, a DJ, employees waving Swedish flags and an appearance by Mayor London Breed.

“Like any major city, we know San Francisco has challenges, but we also know that people want to be here,” Breed (D) said at a Wednesday news conference. “As a result of opening Ikea here today … [the city is] showing our resiliency and our willingness to do everything it takes to bring back business to San Francisco.”

Lately, the narrative around this city has been grim: hollowed-out office buildings, a vexing homelessness crisis, and big chain stores such as Nordstrom, Old Navy, Gap and Whole Foods closing amid frequent crime and dwindling foot traffic. But the arrival of the Swedish furniture giant has brought a bit of joy and optimism to the downtown corridor, which has been largely ditched by the tech employees who once defined the area.

Ikea “not only creates an opportunity for people to shop, but it creates an opportunity for people to work,” Breed said. “That is important and a part of the fabric of San Francisco.”

While the city’s Mid-Market neighborhood — close to the iconic Union Square and one of the city’s cable-car routes — isn’t exactly San Francisco’s most famous tourist draw (there are no sea lions, and the burritos are expensive), it’s still seen as an important indicator of the city’s overall economic health. The mall that Ikea is moving into has long been considered one of the biggest failures of the area, as city leaders and the owners struggled to attract a tenant since its construction in 2016.

Officials were so desperate to fill it that, at one point, they briefly considered turning it into a homeless shelter.

The pandemic was yet another major setback for the neighborhood, as office tenants abandoned their leases and another major mall defaulted on its mortgage. But now, the city is cautiously optimistic that Ikea will attract a steady stream of foot traffic from people buying cheap furniture or just looking for an affordable lunch. Ikea executives called the area a “meeting place” and said it eventually will have co-working spaces available as well.

Local Maria Amunategui isn’t a fan of the meatballs but is delighted to have an Ikea closer to her home.

“I usually have to go to Emeryville, and it’s 23 minutes away,” she said. On Wednesday, she came to return something she bought at a different location, not expecting a wall of cheering employees, cameras and balloons. “It’s a surprise!” she added.

City officials have been desperate to get people back downtown, where office vacancy rates have remained stubbornly high since the pandemic. Breed recently passed a tax break to lure companies to sign new leases downtown, though it’s still too early to tell whether that will make a notable difference. Officials here are also trying to capitalize on the current frenzy of activity in the AI industry, with hopes that it could usher in another tech boom for San Francisco.

The mayor even went as far as to recently declare San Francisco the “AI capital of the world.”

At least for a day, the Ikea did lure more people to the neighborhood and improve the overall mood. After the mayor cut a giant purple ribbon that said “Ikea San Francisco,” employees greeted customers one at a time from a line that stretched to the end of the block. Shoppers danced into the store as Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” blasted through speakers, many stopping to pull on complimentary Ikea T-shirts and blue bucket hats. Nearby, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey danced and waved a tiny Swedish flag.

San Francisco’s smaller Ikea is designed more for a city center than its larger suburban hubs, which can be triple the size. The new Ikea sells basics you can carry out but doesn’t stock bulkier items such as sofas, though it will let customers buy them for delivery. It has the usual showrooms made up to look like real city apartments, cramped layouts and all. There’s a Swedish food court with all of the Ikea classics, including meatballs and vegetable balls, lox, pickled things, and poached salmon. The company said it specifically added more vegetarian and sustainable options — things San Franciscans are known to enjoy.

Agnes Caballero “was just curious” about the new store and came to do a little reconnaissance Wednesday. Weaving between aisles of bedding accessories, she said she was looking for a cabinet for her house but would have to wait for her husband to buy anything because he had the measurements.

The store also has its own teams of security guards in place to handle potential shoplifting — a common problem for the area, which has long struggled with homelessness and visible drug use.

San Francisco’s mayor told reporters Wednesday that the “area has always been a tad bit of a challenge.” Breed added, “We hope that with a lot of the people who are in this area, that many of them are being offered chances to work for Ikea and other businesses.”

Nothing comes to this part of downtown these days without its host of challenges.

In 2011, San Francisco lured a number of tech companies — including X, formerly known as Twitter — to the rough patch of downtown in exchange for a tax break. The hope was that the companies and their well-paid employees would revitalize the area, as they spend their big paychecks at the cafes, restaurants and bars before and after work. But that dream never came to fruition, in part because the city didn’t anticipate the tech industry’s cushy culture of providing food and drink perks inside the offices.

Then a Whole Foods opened in 2022 with similar hopes of luring more foot traffic to the area. But it closed just a year later, after struggling with frequent shoplifting, drug use in and around the store, and at least one fatal overdose in the bathroom.

The hype around Ikea is counter to San Francisco’s mom-and-pop culture, which often chafes at any big corporate chains opening up shop. In many neighborhoods here, any corporation with multiple other locations worldwide must get special permission from City Hall to open. But downtown doesn’t have the same legislative hang-ups, which meant Ikea could open here without going through a gantlet of approvals.

On Wednesday, the first customers were welcomed by cheering employees wearing blue and yellow shirts that said “Hej!” Each person was handed one of Ikea’s signature blue bags filled with swag, including an Ikea bucket hat, shirt and watering can.

“I think it will bring more people downtown,” said Ruby Tsang, a recent San Francisco transplant who rents a studio apartment nearby. She plans to shop at the location for furniture for her small space and stop in at other times, too. “It’s great if I want to meet someone for coffee or lunch.”

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• By Kevin Shoesmith
• BBC News

26 September 2022

Image source, Nick Hannam

Image caption,

Chimney sweep Nick Hannam said people were reinstating old fireplaces in response to gas prices

Households are bringing boarded-up fires and stoves back into use to reduce their energy bills, chimney sweeps have said.

One West Yorkshire couple said they had reinstated an old stove, unused since they moved in.

Campaign group Fuel Poverty Action said people were “resorting to all sorts of measures” to stay warm.

Typical household energy bills are being capped by the government at £2,500 a year from 1 October.

Chimney sweeping firm owner Michelle Farrelly said she had seen an increase in people seeking help to return to solid fuel.

She said one in three inquiries now relate to reinstating boarded-up fires or stoves due to rising energy prices.

Mrs Farrelly said: “It’s genuine panic. People are very concerned about how they are going to keep warm this winter. I have not known anything like it.”

The former firefighter, who runs Holderness Chimney Sweep in East Yorkshire with husband Matthew, said people were “burning anything and everything”.

She explained some wood, including material coated in chemicals such as creosote, is unsuitable for burning because it can give off toxic fumes.

Image source, Marie McHale

Image caption,

Marie McHale intends to use the multi-fuel stove to keep warm this winter

The homeowner

Marie McHale, a compliance manager from Castleford, West Yorkshire, said she and her husband recently hired a chimney sweep.

She said: “We moved into the property in late 2018. We have decided to bring the stove back into use to cut down our gas central heating usage.”

Ms McHale said she was deeply concerned about fuel hikes and rising inflation hitting weekly grocery bills.

“It’s pretty dreadful,” she said.

Weighing up the cost of smokeless fuel and wood chips against the price of gas and electricity, Ms McHale is confident they will make a saving.

She said: “At the moment, our gas and electric bill is £456 per month but we worked out we’d be paying about £800 per month this winter.

“By using the multi-fuel stove we can warm up pretty much the whole of the downstairs, reducing the amount we pay for gas.”

Nick Hannam, owner of Wakefield-based Cosysweep, reported a similar picture.

He said: “I am getting lots of phone calls.

“Before, fires and stoves were decorative. Now people are bringing them back into use because of the high cost of gas.”

Alex Leonard, owner of Hull-based Leonards and Airlievac, said: “We are taking bookings a month in advance with people saying they are opening up, and using, fires again.

“They are doing so because of the high cost of gas. A lot of people are going on to solid fuel to save money on gas.”

He urged people to hire a National Association of Chimney Sweeps (NACS) member to carry out checks bringing fires and stoves back into use.

“It’s possible that a cap has been put on the chimney,” he said. “You could have a bird nest or a dead bird in the flue.”

Image source, Getty Images / Richard A Lock

Image caption,

Many households are turning to solid fuel to heat their homes, say chimney sweeps

A spokeswoman for campaign group Fuel Poverty Action added alternatives to switching on central heating “should be unnecessary”.

The government has confirmed households will be given a one-off £400 discount on their fuel bills from October.

Further payments of £300 to pensioner households and £150 to disabled people will also go ahead.

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For some, having a large blank wall in a home might be soothing, but others feel the need to fill such spaces with a showstopper like original art, or maybe a gallery wall or a beautiful piece of furniture. But what about a wall of … plants?

Vertical gardens, essentially landscapes installed on walls with watering systems built in, were once rarely found outside of larger corporate and public building spaces like Google, Symantec or Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Over the past few years, that’s changed as more and more residents have started installing “living walls” in their homes.

David Brenner, founder of Habitat Horticulture and who is known for creating massive living walls at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, said his work is now spent busily installing outdoor and indoor dramatic living walls at homes throughout the Bay Area, as well as other settings like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Residential projects have included everything from installing gardens as high as 16 feet tall to creating small, dramatic walls at the end of a pool area. One Los Altos client tired of staring at concrete in his basement lightwell hired Brenner to create a lush green-on-green mini jungle. Another resident in Mountain View asked him to install a vertical garden that hangs from vaulted ceilings over an open-plan living area.

Natural landscapes are his inspiration

Brenner got his inspiration to create living walls while studying horticulture at Cal Poly. He spent his junior year abroad as an apprentice in the London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, studying tropical plants that naturally grow on rock faces. That’s when he began to think about plants that grow in unusual ways.

His imagination was sparked the first time he saw a vertical garden in Europe. When he got back, his patient parents let him practice building them on the walls of his childhood home in San Jose. A few years later, Brenner started his company and began experimenting, helping to restore a moss wall in San Francisco’s Academy of Science’s basement and later installing a fresh living wall in the museum’s piazza. Brenner said his minor degree in psychology has helped him connect with clients and analyze the innate connection between humans and plants.

“I try to design in a way that’s a little more something you find in nature,” Brenner said.

There’s usually some “rhythm” or “movement,” with repetition and textures to lead the observer’s eye over the piece. While most indoor walls aren’t more than a few inches deep, Brenner uses texture and a “hierarchy of plant depth” to create dimension. With every project, he tries to include one plant he hasn’t used before, whether it’s Japanese maple, ferns, geraniums or colorful heuchera. Plant walls, he said, “open up so much more joy in life,” creating a multisensory experience.

Plants are her paint, walls are her canvas

Like Brenner, Amanda Goldberg, founder of Planted Design in Emeryville, has always been passionate about plants, but she came at her life’s work from a different direction. She studied industrial design in college, and found herself “always finding ways to make plants more functional. I also was getting excited about integrating them with shelving.”

During her undergraduate years at Syracuse University, Goldberg built a glass-topped desk installed with plants underneath as a class project. Later when studying for her master’s degree in entrepreneurship, she focused on creating functional designs with plants.

“I’ve really always liked 3D objects,” she said.

Integrating all of her interests, Goldberg founded Planted Design less than a decade ago. The company’s warehouse is a plant-filled makerspace where reclaimed or hardwood frames are fabricated for vertical garden projects. Plants for these gardens are chosen for their shallow roots, compact growth, or leaf color. The roots tend to grow inward and then downward.

Irrigation, obviously essential for plant survival, is surprisingly simple, involving either hand-filling built-in trays or troughs with fresh water, or drip systems with emitters set on timers. Designers assess whether the wall has access to electricity or plumbing before deciding which type of irrigation system to use or whether to include lighting.

Goldberg uses pressure-treated wood for the non-visible parts of her frames, with reclaimed or hardwood for the visible parts. Brenner often uses waterproof plastic layers for interior walls before mounting a special felt fabric with holes to put the plants into. Exterior projects must take into account temperature, sunlight, and other environmental factors. Indoor ones need carefully chosen plants that can thrive without nightly drops in temperature, drastic changes in lighting or lower humidity.

Planted Design’s largest living wall is a 1,400-square-foot outdoor plant sculpture that follows a fence line. It starts with strawberries and fragrant flowers, goes into a “whole succulent swirl,” Goldberg said, then colorful flowers then a grassy meadow, ending by the home’s pool and outdoor kitchen.

“What I’m most inspired by is not doing the same thing twice,” she said. Price is also a substantial barrier to entry, so she doesn’t foresee living walls being something people could buy in a kit at a big box store.

Goldberg also creates dramatically colorful moss walls, which are portable works of art using moss. They are maintenance-free, as glycerin is used to “fill” the plants where sap would be. No watering necessary. Inside homes, common plant choices are hearty vibrant pothos, which grow as vines in tropical areas, or bromeliads, which produce large red and orange and pink flowers. Ferns and palms are other go-to plants. Many vertical gardens, Goldberg said, can be flexible, using a plug-and-play approach where potted plants can be removed and replaced. Each plant’s roots are wrapped in a special felt material before being put into a pocket. Water is circulated using a lower trough from which water is pumped up to reach all of the plants.

Most vertical gardens weigh only about 7 pounds per square foot, so generally interior walls do not need to be retrofitted before the frame is mounted. A basic Planted Design living wall starts at approximately $175 per square foot, with design, installation and delivery added after that.

For outdoor spaces, Goldberg loves bringing in flowering plants that will attract bees and butterflies, or even things like edible strawberries. The schemes are laid out on a computer, with swirls of color planned to look as natural and organic as possible.

“We see plants as our paint and walls as our canvas,” she said. “I am huge on color. Rainbow is my favorite color.”

This story originally appeared in Embarcadero Media’s Fall 2022 Home & Garden Design magazine.

Wait. There’s more …

Discover a new growing trend: Peninsula eateries filled with lush floral decor.

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Daphne Longsword

A South San Francisco woman who was employed as a baking teacher at the county’s Maple Street Jail was arrested Tuesday, June 6, for bringing drugs with her.

The woman, Dafne Araceli Largaespada, 41, was hired to teach nonviolent inmates to hone their cooking skills to improve their chances of getting a job after release, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.

The drugs were discovered by an alerted correctional officer, but her actions and how she brought them into the country are part of an investigation and cannot be released, according to the sheriff’s office.

Anyone who may have information regarding this case is asked to contact the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. If you wish to remain anonymous, use the anonymous tipping hotline at (800) 547-2700.

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The Market Tavern restaurant is located where Rosewood used to be, on the corner of School and Oak, according to a poster on the glass door. The menu features unique appetizers like roasted olives and furikake fries with “bulldog” sauce, signature soups and salads, sandwiches, and entrees like braised ribs and skirt steak. And of course there’s a full bar. They also offer wood-fired pizza and a kids’ menu. Market Tavern began as a collaboration between San Francisco chef Nicholas DiArenzo and restaurateur Phillip Wong. Together they opened a restaurant at Lincoln Center in Stockton, which enjoys great popularity. The space in Lodi used to be a men’s clothing store (The Toggery). It was later repurposed and opened as Hazel’s Restaurant in the mid-1990s upon completion of the downtown revitalization project. In 2002 it became Rosewood and was owned by the same people who own Wine and Roses. The property was purchased by Lincoln Properties LTD last year for $1,133,000.

DOUBLE: Starting this week, your humble correspondent will write two columns a week in the News-Sentinel—Tuesdays and Fridays. Both will feature the usual mix of fun facts and tantalizing tidbits. Fair warning to both of my readers.

UPDATE: There have been a couple of letters to the editor regarding the old Sunset Theater site on the corner of Lodi and Fairmont asking the Clark family who own the property to finish what they had started or to clean up. Terry Cark replies, “The Sunset and Alexander sites have been cleared of all hazardous materials, the Sunset building has been painted, the marquee has been upgraded, the new Sunset letters have been made for the sign and are in storage. Drain lines have been installed and the water lines are underground. Inside the theater, the walls and floors were removed. The construction site is a blank canvas that is ready. At this time, all building permits for the site have been completed and no further work will be undertaken.” Clark says he and his family are confident that finding a solution that will keep this historic building alive is their goal.

CLOSED: Woodbridge Pizza has changed hands and is temporarily closed for renovations. New owner Noah Almager says it will reopen as the Pi Bar. The restaurant will continue to serve pizza, with an emphasis on fresh, locally sourced ingredients, Almager says. He says there will be seasonal offerings, as well as snacks and free bread. Almager says they hope to reopen in late July or early August… Have you tried Sprouts deli sandwiches in Lodi? Maybe you should. They’re big, tasty, and only cost about $6. … The Lodi Certified Farmers Market starts this Thursday at 5pm in downtown Lodi and runs through August 31st.

UNDEFEATED: A few weeks ago we mentioned how well the Lodi High Boys tennis team has done this year under the management of Jacob Neal, his first year in office. The team went undefeated in the SJC Tri City Athletic League (TCAL); However, they lost in the first round of sections to Sacramento’s Inderkum High. It’s quite an achievement for a first-year coach to pull off a 10-0 record, especially since there was reportedly not much interest in the sport prior to Neal’s arrival. Incidentally, Jacob is the same guy who approached the city to build a local tennis center, an idea that didn’t go very far but some feel it should have worked.

STOPS AHEAD: A new four-way stop has sprung up at Pine and Crescent, Elm and California, and School at Locust. Traffic at Stockton and Poplar will continue to be monitored to determine if a quad track is required there as well. New traffic surveys were conducted in selected areas of the city, resulting in new traffic stops. A recent survey in Turner and California removed this crossbreed from their list of recommended signal lights, or at least put it at the bottom, they say. The news comes as a huge disappointment to many who live in the Willow Glen area. They’ve been demanding traffic signals at this intersection for decades. Since General Mills closed, traffic appears to have decreased, so fewer signals are needed, the city says.

REMINDER: We take note of the death of retired Lodi Police Chief Floyd Williams, who passed away this past weekend. He was boss from 1982 to 1993. During his tenure, the police initiated the gang squad and bicycle patrols. The Crime Stoppers program also began under his supervision. Williams was also a man of faith. After retiring from police work, Williams became the minister of First Baptist Church in Bandon, Oregon, a small church on the Oregon Coast just south of Coos Bay. Upon hearing the news, many of his friends and former colleagues posted comments on social media. Retired boss Larry Hansen wrote: “RIP Floyd you deserve it.” David Main, another retired LPD boss, wrote: “A good man. Did an excellent job as a boss, greatly improving technology, training and professionalism.” Retired Police Captain Ron Tobeck said, “Floyd was an excellent boss and a good and faithful servant of the Lord.”

REVIEW: Billy Dean Adcock was a man of regular habits. When he didn’t come home from his bartending job at the Spot Club on Cherokee Lane (where Aldee Market is now located) at 4am on October 18, 1962, his wife began to worry. The police have been notified. When officers and the bar’s owner, Larry Niland, arrived, they found the club’s doors locked. But Niland discovered $260 was missing from the register that was on the counter. As usual, Adcock’s car was parked just down the road. He was almost done cleaning up for the night. According to news reports, there was no sign of a struggle and the ground safe was untouched. About 10:30 a.m. later that morning, a body was found in a ditch north of Galt near Dillard Road. It was Adcock. He had been shot. Adcock was last seen alive outside the bar by a fellow truck driver who said he saw him in the company of a man and woman. Police detectives and the FBI have developed evidence leading them to suspect 34-year-old San Quentin parole officer Thomas Teale and his companion Ruth Chapman, 39. Witnesses said they saw the couple at the club just before closing time. About two weeks later, the FBI announced the arrest of Teale in New Orleans. Chapman had been arrested in Missouri a week earlier. The pair were subsequently convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Adcock.

LAST LAUGH: Here are more words to live by. Someone posted: “Laughing at your mistakes can lengthen your life. Laughing at your wife’s mistakes can shorten time.”

Steve is a former newspaper editor and lifelong Lodian whose column appears Tuesdays and Fridays in the News-Sentinel and on stevemann.substack.com. Write to Steve at aboutlodi@gmail.com.

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A new program by the City of San Francisco to revitalize the empty downtown area to provide free rents and grant money for pop-up shops was launched Monday. Applications are now available.

Since 2020, around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco has seen a major loss of storefronts and retail locations in the city. High crime rates, overt drug use, and record numbers of homeless vagrants in neighborhoods are all major contributors to this loss. Additionally, high rents, a huge drop in foot traffic caused by businesses migrating from the city center, and many businesses relocating out of town to be closer to where owners and employees live have contributed . As a result, both chain stores and independent companies have left San Francisco, leaving a large number of vacancies.

With nearly a third of all downtown office and retail space now vacant, and similar rates elsewhere in the city, San Francisco has tried numerous schemes in recent years without success. In her State of the City in February, Mayor London Breed highlighted many areas to focus on to bring businesses back to the city centre, including improving safety and cleanliness, attracting and retaining a wide range of industries and employers, finding new uses and flexibility in vacant buildings, making it easier to start a business, increasing the workforce, making downtown a cultural and entertainment center, improving public spaces, improving transportation and focusing on the positives of the city to attract new residents and businesses.

Specifically, as part of this plan, the mayor is calling for lowering permitting costs, suspending tax hikes for businesses remaining in the city, and offering three-year tax breaks to new businesses. For the development of downtown into an entertainment hub, Mayor Breed even proposed passing legislation allowing outdoor drinking.

However, the situation has not improved. While the summer tourist season may bring more potential customers to these stores, many are still staying away due to the whole array of issues mentioned earlier. Needing more ways to attract businesses, San Francisco decided to focus on pop-up stores or short-term retail and arts locations that typically last less than a few months by launching a new program Monday.

Accepted pop-up stores, known as Vacant to Vibrant, will receive three months of free rent plus an additional subsidy of $3,000 to $8,000 to help cover relocation costs. Interested companies must first fill out an application. Once accepted, a committee will rank each one, with the highest-ranking interested property owners being cheered. Owners must apply themselves to be considered to host such a business, with areas under 5,000 square feet being preferred first. The must-haves for interested landlords include available WiFi, at least one bathroom and a ground floor apartment.

The city will foot the bill itself, with $710,000 provided by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and nonprofit group SF New Deal.

“Vacant to Vibrant is a city-funded program aimed at revitalizing the economic heart of San Francisco (aka “Downtown”) by helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural organizations activate vacant storefronts, to revitalize the area and promote economic recovery,” the Vacant says on Vibrant’s website. “As part of the larger vision of Mayor Breed’s Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco, Vacant to Vibrant will provide a glimpse of what the future of downtown with public participation can look like – innovative, creative, vibrant and diverse.”

While the program has been praised by some in the city, many others have serious doubts as to whether the pop-up locations will have any success.

“It’s not going to be successful,” Michelle Duggan, a building occupancy researcher, told the Globe on Monday. “Cities in the Bay Area have literally been trying to launch pop-up stores for years, but to no avail. The city lures them in, they stay there for 3-4 months, then they leave. Not many business cycles go through and few people benefit. Some of the better known ones, like San FranDisco, had a good couple of early days but quickly fell by the wayside as the city’s troubles crept in.”

“It’s good that the city is still trying, but it’s ignoring the incentives that are proven to work, like tax breaks and city programs to reduce crime and other related issues, to make them stay.” We know how to get business back, but San Francisco seems to be trying everything except the obvious solutions for long-term retail and other leases.”

Applications for the Vacant to Vibrant program are open until June 1st.

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With this update we feel like Chicken Little.

Trump Tower was blown to pieces on Tuesday, March 14th.

A video shared by TikTok users, Dronekoa caught parts of the tower breaking off and falling onto the street after high winds hit San Francisco.

“The Trump building is falling apart,” he wrote over the video.

The intense clip caught the TikTok user filming from a building next to Trump Tower as the glass windows began to shatter and fell into the streets of the city’s financial district.

“It’s glass,” said a man filming behind the camera. “Oh my god, it’s cracking! More is falling,” he said while filming a piece of glass that looked like it was headed straight for him.

“Be careful, be careful. Back, back,” he said, walking away from the window when the glass seemed to come towards the window he was looking out of.

See the original article to view embedded media.

The TikTok user titled the video “San Francisco Wind Breaking Windows”.

The video was then cut to the TikTok user in the street as firefighters attempted to bring the situation under control.

“that’s scary imagine a piece of glass flying in your face at that speed!!!” A user wrote in the comments.

“Do you ever feel like a piece of glass floating in the wind,” quipped another user, referring to lyrics by Katy Perrys Hit song “Fireworks”.

“I grew up watching Final Destination movies. This is traumatizing lol ,” added a third user.

According to ABC7 News, a local news station in San Francisco, firefighters have reported that a 43rd-story window is completely shattered, while another window is cracked.

“There’s no way to tell if a rock or object hit the window, but we’ve heard reports from people who’ve seen things flying through San Francisco.” Captain Jonathan Baxter This was announced by the San Francisco Fire Department.

Fortunately, no one was injured, but emergency services took extra precautions and closed all surrounding streets in case more glass fell from the building.

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SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cabana, the modern, mobile hospitality company with a fleet of high quality, high-tech campervans, today announced its upcoming launch into the San Francisco market, with a formal launch set to take place later this summer. With existing operations in Los Angeles and Seattle, Cabana’s San Francisco presence marks a major growth milestone for the company, and the first of several additional US expansions set to roll out over the next year.

As the desire to travel spikes––with the World Travel & Tourism Council projecting domestic tourism to reach pre-pandemic levels this year, contributing upwards of $1 trillion to the US economy––Cabana is enabling seamless and unique travel experiences by merging accommodation and Transportation with personalized, contactless trip planning. Cabana’s services are actively empowering guests to explore the road less traveled and make the most of their time on vacation.

“The pandemic has permanently shifted how people want to travel, prioritizing memorable experiences over simply taking a trip,” said Scott Kubly, Cabana CEO and founder. “Cabana’s offering––from our contactless rental process and easy-to-use van, to Cabana Guides booking your campsite for you––allows guests to focus on enjoying the journey, not worrying about the logistics. Cabana is excited to offer Bay Area residents and those visiting the city a new way to explore.”

Cabana’s introduction into San Francisco demonstrates the company’s continued momentum since launching in 2020, further solidifying the brand’s innovation and leadership in the travel industry. Cabana believes that modern mobile hospitality is the future of travel, where technology and design grant ultimate flexibility and freedom for consumers. The company continues to introduce consumers to RV or campervan vacations, with nearly 70% of customers since launch having never operated an RV prior to their Cabana experience. This announcement also comes on the heels of a successful partnership with iconic outdoor brand, Eddie Bauer, from which gear will be available to rent in the San Francisco market.

“We absolutely loved our experience with Cabana, being able to be in nature but also have a totally comfy bed and warm van to stay in with our dogs,” said Cabana customer Jamie R. from Los Angeles. “I’m so sad our trip is over and hope to plan another soon.”

Cabana’s San Francisco fleet will start with 20 campervans––with projected growth to over 50 by the end of the year––and will be available to take off starting late this summer. In tandem with the launch, Cabana will offer Bay Area trips complete with campsite reservations and experiences, helping to take the guesswork out of trip planning. Expected top trip requests include wine tastings, the iconic Highway 1, Yosemite National Park, and Mammoth for lake swims, hot springs, and winter sports. Interested guests can sign up for early access––to get first choice of travel dates and $100 off their first trip––at cabana.life/san-francisco.

About Cabana

Cabana is a modern, mobile hospitality company with a fleet of high quality, high-tech cabanas (camper vans), designed to create a seamless, unique, and integrated travel experience. Cabana is revolutionizing the future of connected travel through innovative technology and high-touch trip planning. Combining passion for travel with easy-to-use technology and the most cost-efficient and operationally effective vehicles on the market, Cabana provides travelers with the convenience and technology needed for frictionless travel, empowering the explorer in everyone and creating opportunities for serendipity, wonder , and exploration.

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• The company is initially limiting the rides to its employees before opening up to the public.
• Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been operating in San Francisco, but with safety specialists in the driver’s seat.
• The company first began offering autonomous rides in Arizona in 2017.

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Google’s self-driving startup Waymo has begun operating fully driverless rides in San Francisco, the company announced on Wednesday.

The company said that the service is just for its employees at the moment, but it hopes to open the service to the general public soon. The company’s vehicles have been operating in the city for years, but with safety specialists in the driver’s seat.

“This morning in San Francisco, a fully autonomous all-electric Jaguar I-PACE, with no human driver behind the wheel, picked up a Waymo engineer to get their morning coffee and go to work,” the company said on their website.

The company first began offering autonomous rides in the East Valley are of Phoenix, Arizona in 2017. It went fully driverless there in 2020 when Waymo took human safety drivers out of the vehicles.

In addition to San Francisco, the company will now expand its fully automated services to downtown Phoenix, the company said, again initially with company employees before opening up to the general public.

“We’re particularly excited about this next phase of our journey as we officially bring our rider-only technology to San Francisco — the city many of us at Waymo call home,” Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in the announcement.

San Francisco has been the location of a number of automated vehicle trials, with California officials allowing a record number of them in 2021. Collisions involving autonomous vehicles also increased sharply that year as a result.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – BART officials said Wednesday climate change and sea level rise will pose a growing threat to the transit system in the coming decades.

The ailing transport company is trying to find money to combat the long-term but looming threat.

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“One of the predictions is that by mid-century we might see tides a foot higher than they are now. So that’s 2050, ”said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

BART engineers say sea level rise could have a number of potential effects. For example, the Embarcadero train station in San Francisco could occasionally be inundated by floods.

Other stations could be threatened by rising groundwater, which would strain the existing pumps and the aging infrastructure of the system.

“The thing for me is that we’re at the height of technology and innovation in the Bay Area, but this is an old system that is really shabby,” said BART driver Jason Caballero.

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BART has identified many of the potential problem areas, but the agency relies on injections of money from the federal government just to keep trains running.

“The devastating effects of the pandemic and the dramatic decrease in the number of passengers paying for their tickets have really turned our funding plan upside down,” Allison said.

BART drivers say they understand the transportation company’s financial plight but are concerned about the long-term costs of inaction.

“It might be better to say, ‘Let’s pretend it’ll happen in 10 years.’ And what could the BART system do in 10 years to avoid being caught wading in the BART system with pants down and knee-deep water? ”Asked rider Bianca Espinoza.

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BART officials noted that several vulnerable stations are connected to other important pieces of infrastructure in the Bay Area, such as the airports in San Francisco and Oakland. Any plan to mitigate this impact would necessarily have to be regional and collaborative.

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