Facing seemingly insolvable performance challenges from its kitchen ventilation system, Bridges Restaurant & Bar, Danville, Calif. was ready to outlay upwards of $20,000 for a new rooftop make-up air system.

Instead of exiting through the dual exhaust cooking hood, smoke and food odors wafted into portions of the 3,300-square-foot dining area raising complaints from patrons seated at tables near the kitchen.

The 24-year-old, independently-owned Bridges is popularly known in the San Francisco area for its casual-elegant dining and also as the famous location for actor Robin Williams’ comedic multiple costume changes in the 1993 Hollywood movie, “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Because of its upscale image and popularity, the vexing dining area cooking odors were bad for business and affected the overall guest experience, according to Kevin Gin, executive chef and a member of the restaurant’s investor consortium.

Furthermore, drafts from the existing make-up air HVAC system were drawing smoke and grease, that should have been contained within the cooking exhaust hood, and depositing them onto the diffuser, walls ceilings and other kitchen surfaces requiring more than $1,000 annually in maintenance labor and cleaning compounds.

Besides odor infiltration and maintenance costs, the drafts from the air conditioning supply over the food prep area was prematurely cooling prepared hot entrees while employees in other kitchen areas were uncomfortably hot.

Finding a Low Cost Solution
A large HVAC retrofit outlay seemed imminent until an arranged meeting between Gin and an HVAC ventilation product manger attending a Bridges-held 25th anniversary dinner for the nearby Food Service Technology Center (FSTC), a San Ramon, Calif.-based commercial foodservice equipment performance test lab funded by Pacific Gas & Electric. Nick Paschke, product manager at textile HVAC ductwork manufacturer, DuctSox Corp., Peosta, Iowa, recommended a custom textile air dispersion system designed specifically for kitchens. The ceiling-mounted device disperses airflow uniformly, parallel and in front of the kitchen exhaust hood. The fabric diffuser is an easy-to-install replacement for metal air distribution diffusers that commonly cause kitchen exhaust hood overflow.

Instead of a 5,000-cfm make-up air equipment replacement, only the kitchen’s lone conventional 3 x 3-foot supply box and four metal diffusers were switched out. Located over the food prep line to distribute air throughout the 1,000-square-foot kitchen, the diffusers were replaced with two eight-foot-long, 28-inch-diameter D-shaped KitchenSox fabric diffusers. Instead of the metal diffuser’s estimated 500-fpm airflow that caused turbulence and disruption of the cooking hood’s capture, the air is gently and evenly dispersed through the fabric into the entire kitchen area at a significantly slower 85-fpm rate. Without the previous high velocity airflow and subsequent turbulence, the dual exhaust cooking hood now efficiently performs up to its design standards and captures smoke, grease particulates and cooking odors without overflow.

CulinAire Systems, El Dorado Hills, Calif., a foodservice ventilation contractor specializing in demand ventilation controls and engineered kitchen ventilation equipment, fabricated the sheet metal plenum and metal/fabric adaptors that supply the 16 linear feet of fabric duct. The fabric duct system and metal accessories were installed by CulinAire overnight without disruption to the kitchen operation.

Without the drafts, the excessive airborne smoke, grease deposits and dirt that the return air system had once drawn onto diffusers, kitchen walls, ceilings and cabinets no longer occurs, which has expedited daily cleaning and sanitation routines.

Gin also plans annual cleaning since the fabric diffuser can be disassembled by kitchen staffers in just minutes and commercially laundered, a process that would require days to complete by an outside contractor with a metal system.

Green Mission Accomplished
By improving the air distribution and eliminating the hood’s hot air overflow into the kitchen, a considerable energy savings supplements Bridges’ green mission, which is strategically marketed among its clientele. Gin said it’s difficult to pinpoint energy savings of the new system because FSTC continually uses Bridges as a beta test site for new technology. However, Gin did estimate recent Bridges’ conservation efforts are saving the restaurant more than 20-percent in energy costs with quick investment paybacks.

For example, FSTC oversees results of Bridges’ variable speed Intelli-Hood control, which is manufactured by Melink Corp., Milford, Ohio, and won the renowned “AHR Innovation Award” in the ventilation category presented at the 2012 AHR Expo in Chicago.

Other green equipment includes:
· A Cyclone Xi 96-percent efficient hot water heater by A.O. Smith, Ashland City, Tenn.;
· A variable temperature control for more efficiently running walk-in cooler operation by E-Control Systems, Sherman Oaks, Calif.;
· High temperature/reduced water kitchen and bar dishwashers by Hobart Corp., Troy, Ohio;
· A lighting retrofit from standard bulbs to compact fluorescent;
· The highest efficiency equipment available today in fryers, convection ovens and ice machines by Vulcan-Hart Co., Baltimore, Md.; the Garland Group, Freeland, Pa.; and Manitowoc Ice Inc., Manitowoc, Wis.; respectively.

Bridges’ challenges with HVAC ventilation was solved completely with fabric diffusers that cost less than ten percent of the approximate $20,000 for a new make-up air system. Furthermore, the energy savings and reduced maintenance costs offer a payback of less than one year on the air diffusion system. “This is really a common problem (inadequate cooking hood drafting) I think many restaurants suffer from and don’t realize there’s a simple, inexpensive solution,” said Gin. “We once thought replacing the HVAC system would improve our kitchen ventilation challenges, but we now realize it probably wouldn’t have remedied what was actually a ventilation problem that fabric ductwork solved.”

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The Steelers rank 28th in the NFL in both points per game (16.6) and yards per game (280.1) this season. That has come against a slate of defenses that include two games against Cleveland, which is ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, one against Baltimore (third) and San Francisco (fifth).

But the only defense ranked in the top 10 remaining on their schedule in their final seven games will be the regular season finale against the Ravens.

The Steelers have generated 181 yards rushing per game over their past three games, including 172 yards in the loss to the Browns, but have seen their passing game falter. In those same three games, the Steelers have averaged just 118.7 yards passing.

But Tomlin said his decision to replace Canada had nothing to do with the long-term development of quarterback Kenny Pickett, the team’s first-round pick in last year’s draft, and everything to do with accomplishing the team’s goals this season.

“I’ll focus on this week in terms of the development of Kenny,” Tomlin said. “We’re getting ready to play a football game and win this week. That is the only agenda here. There’s that big picture and 2024 and all of that. This organization is not wired like that.”

Tomlin, however, expressed his continued confidence in Pickett as the team’s quarterback.

“I work with him every day,” Tomlin said of what gives him faith in Pickett. “And I’ve been really transparent about him and his willingness to work. In my experience of what that tells me, this guy will do anything and everything. He works extremely hard. I just saw him a few minutes ago in the building. There’s such a thing as football justice, those guys usually get what they’re looking for. So that’s why I remained consistently optimistic about the trajectory of his growth and development.”

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The ban was enacted earlier this year

By Chris Hippensteel, Times Union

ALBANY — A group of businesses, trade associations and labor unions filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging the legality of New York’s ban on gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings — a central pillar of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for green energy. 

The first-of-its-kind statewide ban, which includes several carve-outs, was enacted earlier this year as part of the governor’s $229 billion state budget. It is slated to take effect for new buildings below seven stories in 2026, and for taller structures in 2029.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Albany, asserts that a decades-old federal statute — the Energy Policy and Conservation Act — preempts any state or local regulations on energy consumption by appliances, and thus negates the New York law. A ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor could carry ramifications for national energy policy and cast doubt over local gas bans across the country, including one in New York City. 

“EPCA reflects Congress’s decision that the nation’s energy policy cannot be dictated by state and local governments,” the petition states. “Such a patchwork approach would be the antithesis of a national energy policy.”

The lawsuit also repeats points raised by Republican lawmakers who oppose the gas stove ban, including that it could put greater strain on the state’s electric grid, financially burden consumers and drive businesses out of New York. Democrats in the state Legislature have pushed back on those arguments. 

“The ban is set to go into effect for buildings under seven stories beginning Dec. 31, 2025, but it already is causing irreparable harm to plaintiffs today,” the petition states.  

The state Department of State, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

The legislation to phase out fossil fuels in new construction came amid the release of studies that found chemicals released by gas stoves have adverse health effects, including asthma. Ensuing debates over banning gas stoves briefly became a culture-war flashpoint.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs include local, state and national trade associations representing builders, developers, plumbers and stakeholders in the gas and propane industry, as well as a collection of unions and small businesses affected by the ban. 

“Our clients are strong supporters of the state’s climate goals, but the ban puts our clients and their members at risk, for little to no environmental benefit,” Sarah Jorgensen, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said in a news release. “It poses a serious threat to the livelihoods of thousands of New Yorkers.”

The EPCA, enacted in 1975 and amended since, sets national guidelines and standards for appliances’ energy efficiency.

The plaintiffs’ argument echoes a recent ruling from a three-judge panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down a similar ban in Berkeley, Calif., citing the EPCA’s authority. It’s unclear whether that precedent will hold, however, as the city has filed a petition for a rehearing of the case with a larger 11-judge panel, and the administration of President Joe Biden has submitted an amicus (friend of the court) brief backing the city.

In that brief, the Biden administration contends the ruling is overbroad, and wrongly strips states and localities of their long-held authority to pass laws regarding health and safety. The administration argues that just because gas appliance bans may have “indirect” effects on the usage of products covered under federal law they are not preempted by the EPCA.

In the Berkeley case, the city also argued that it wasn’t regulating appliances’ energy efficiency, but the type of fuel they use — a rationale the trio of judges discarded. 

“We are in full support of a green economy, but we should talk about how to transition without ruining lives,” Jimmy Russo, president of the Plumbing Contractors Association of Long Island, said in the plaintiffs’ statement released in conjunction with the court filing. “Our message to the lawmakers who passed this bill without thinking of our 600 members and their families on Long Island: enough is enough.” 

New York’s ban was one of several measures passed in the state budget aimed at bringing the state closer to its ambitious emissions-reduction goals. Also among them was a “cap-and-invest” program that will require businesses to pay for emitting greenhouse gasses beyond an ever-decreasing threshold.

Gas appliance bans have taken off in cities across the country — including San Francisco, Denver, and Seattle — as well as in Washington state. In response, a number of Republican-controlled states have advanced legislation preventing municipalities from passing their own bans.  

A ban on gas stoves in new construction in New York City is set to take effect later this year for buildings below seven stories.   

If the court sides with the plaintiffs and shuts down New York’s ban, it could open others across the country to similar challenges, strengthening the precedent set in the Berkeley case. Officials in Washington have already voted to delay that state’s rule mandating electric heat pumps in new construction following the Berkeley ruling.

Food & Water Watch Northeast, a group championing the New York legislation, called the lawsuit “an archaic assault,” and urged the governor to stand strong against it. 

“New York’s landmark ban on fossil fuels in new buildings is a victory for our communities, health and climate,” said Alex Beauchamp, a regional director of the group, in a statement. “Efforts to reopen this done and dusted issue amount to nothing more than a last-ditch effort to keep fossil fuels relevant in a changing world.”

The Gas Free NY coalition, which represents several organizations that supported the ban, also decried the new litigation in a statement Thursday. 

“It hasn’t even been two weeks since fossil fueled flooding completely shut New York City down, marking the end of a summer defined by extreme heat and toxic orange skies,” the group said. “Don’t believe the wealthy fossil fuel industry’s lies – lives, livelihoods, and wallets are already hugely impacted by climate change, and the All-Electric Buildings Act is critical to protecting all of these for New Yorkers.”

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SAN FRANCISCO — In recent years, international attention has been focused on San Francisco’s Tenderloin and the immense challenges there. There is homelessness, which surfaced acutely decades ago. There is the drug dealing and drug abuse that has exploded on neighborhood sidewalks in recent years claiming a record number of lives.

While San Francisco has tried to tackle all of that there is one byproduct of those larger challenges which is a tremendous challenge in its own right. That is the trash, food, furniture, bicycles and whatever else winds up on city sidewalks during the overnight hours. Someone has to clean it up.

“At times it feels like, you know, our efforts are for none,” said John Mello, operations manager with the Tenderloin Community Benefit District. “‘Cause we will knock out this block and someone will come back and dump it right back out on us. Almost seems like a thankless job. Because, look at it!”

At daybreak in the Tenderloin Mello’s job doesn’t so much get underway, as it picks up where it left off.

“The trash is all over the place,” he said. “It’s enormous.”

The Tenderloin Community Benefit District is just one of the groups mobilized against this neighborhood’s blight.

“We do pressure washing,” Mello explained. “We do graffiti removal. We do trash pick-up. We do loose garbage, debris, pan and brooms.”

On another corner, San Francisco Public Works crews are starting their day.

“We have animals and pets and pedestrians and all that,” said Al Matus, describing who he’s trying to help.

Matus, a San Francisco native, is among those who get up every morning and tackle a wave of trash so relentless it can overwhelm the storm drains.

“Especially during the rainy season all this debris can flow down into the catch basins. So we have to make sure all that is taken care of so it doesn’t flood,” Matus said.

Over the week of Sept. 22, city crews collected more than 36,000 pounds of trash in the Tenderloin. That’s only what Public Works crews hauled away and doesn’t include what was picked up by the Benefit District workers or Urban Alchemy. It’s just one average week.

The trash never stops.

“So we try to collaboratively work with everybody we possibly can,” Mello said of the challenge. “Because it’s a group effort to keep this place clean because not one agency, you know, not 10.”

On any given block you can find residents putting up their own fight and the city says it’s trying to stop some of the trash inflow with outreach to those who may be piling on the problem without knowing it.

“Residents who live in single-room-occupancy hotels where there might not be sufficient garbage service for them, some of those people try to do the right thing by putting the garbage bags, tying it up, putting it outside … hoping it gets picked up,” explained  Rachel Gordon with San Francisco Public Works.  “But what happens then is that people come through at night or, sometimes, during the day, open the bags and spread all the garbage everywhere. It makes a big mess on the street.”

Another problem is that these pickups are full after about an hour’s work and currently have to drive out to Recology on the Peninsula. So the city is getting some larger dump trucks that can offload the pickups in the middle of town.

“So the trucks don’t have to go and spend an hour back-and-forth going there,” Gordon said of the plan. “They can keep on the streets to keep cleaning.”

For the Tenderloin, trash and litter have become a generations-spanning challenge, just like the larger issues facing this neighborhood. All of these things intersect and the people trying to keep the sidewalks clean are in the middle of all of it.

“There’s somebody sleeping over there,”  Khaled Shehadeh with SF Public Works said, pointing to a person under a blanket. “We’re not just going to go disturb them and move them.”

Some public works crews are tied directly to encampment resolution teams. That involves things like determining the legal number of bicycles someone can have on a sidewalk and making sure batteries and other kinds of hazardous waste don’t go out with trash. Every cleaning crew works around similar issues. In this case, someone claimed what looks like trash as their belongings.

“Bags, paper bags ripped apart,”  Shehadeh said. “But there’s nothing we can do. We have to respect her wishes. She says that’s hers so we can’t clean it up.”

“It is very complicated,”  Mello said of the situation. “It’s very complicated. It’s just what the Tenderloin is right now. Hopefully we can, all here together, make it better.”

“Being brought up here in the city and everything,” Matus added. “For me, it’s not just work, it’s a little more personal than that. So I go about my day, go home and feel like I put in a day’s work and it keeps me satisfied and keeps me going.”

More from CBS News

Wilson Walker

Wilson Walker joined KPIX 5 in July 2007. After 10 years producing newscasts, Wilson became a Multimedia Journalist (MMJ) in 2012, meaning he shoots, writes and edits all of his own stories.

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With the unprecedented wildfires in Canada and the increased likelihood of future wildfires across North America, experts at Buro Happold offer advice on minimizing indoor pollutants and effective HVAC system strategies for AECO professionals.

To protect against smoke ingress and reduce the impact of particulate matter (PM2.5), Justin Schultz from Buro Happold’s San Francisco office and John Rozeluk from the Los Angeles office present building owners with solutions aimed at reducing health risks for building occupants. Both engineers have extensive experience in building decarbonization and sustainability, as well as planning for the impact of wildfires and smoke throughout the United States

Forest fire season considerations

The current recommendation for wildfire season is to use high levels of agitation for ventilation. This is now taken into account in new buildings and renovations in order to offer energy-efficient and cost-effective solutions. Obstacles to maintaining a healthy indoor environment include (i) clogged filters in air handling units (AHUs) and (ii) fresh air intakes polluted by smoke.

Possible interventions and sample scenarios by Buro Happold’s experts include:

Unavoidable central air recirculation

When air recirculation cannot be avoided or sufficiently reduced, building owners should consider exhaust air scrubbers and high-quality filters called high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters with a MERV 15 rating. The Minimum Efficiency Report Value (MERV) indicates the effectiveness of an air filter in reducing particles and pollutants in the air.

Mixed mode ventilation

A mixed-mode ventilation system is suitable for natural ventilation in most cases. In the event of poor air quality due to forest fires, a local mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR) can be used to supply fresh air.

Local changes to central systems

If only local changes are possible on a centralized HVAC system, building owners can consider changes in the space, e.g. B. the formation of discrete partitions to allow horizontal air supply.

Displacement ventilation / UFAD

Displacement ventilation or underfloor air distribution (UFAD) introduces air at low levels with a unidirectional airpath to exhaust vents higher in the interior. This flushes clean air over the occupants and extracts pollutants from the ceiling.

“We need to build resilience and responsiveness into our designs and constructions to be able to respond appropriately to anything that might happen.” During the pandemic, we’ve tried to increase the volume of outside air and reduce circulation, which is the opposite of what we need to shut out wildfire smoke and filter out particulates. Also, keep in mind that the energy required to push the air through HEPA or MERV 15 filters is very high, although most days a MERV 13 filter will suffice. Architects and engineers need to think about how to design ventilation systems that can be switched from a normal usage mode to settings better suited to specific crisis conditions. This balances healthy air quality with overall energy use and operating costs,” says Rozeluk, responding to a query from The Construction Specifier about the role architects and engineers can play in mitigating the impact of wildfires on indoor air quality. He added: “We should also look at ways to control the air pressure inside a building so that in the event of a wildfire you can prevent air from entering through the typical openings and passageways in the envelope, thereby reducing the ingress of smoke-borne particles.”

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Economists examined the challenges and opportunities facing three key emerging economies — India, Brazil and China — in papers being prepared for a panel discussion at the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) conference on March 30.

India at 75: Full of contradictions, full of opportunities, full of challenges

New York University’s Viral Acharya writes that India could potentially become “the next game in town” as international manufacturers adopt a “China Plus One” strategy to diversify their operations beyond China. But to do that, it must focus on developing and maintaining sound policies, he writes.

India has enjoyed a K-shaped recovery since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago: Urban India has recovered but rural India is lagging behind, Acharya writes. He notes that India’s gross domestic product remains 6% lower than the pre-pandemic trend suggests, despite a booming stock market.

“The stakes are high, for India and for the world.”

However, India’s advantages include a strong interest in entrepreneurship among top university students, a healthy banking system and what is considered the best “digital installation” in the world, he writes. To reap its benefits, Acharya recommends India focus on reforms in five areas:

• Increase its share of global trade in goods by reducing its “far too high and protectionist” tariffs, perhaps through a calibrated three-year plan.
• Breaking up its anti-competitive industrial conglomerates by betraying trust, or at least reducing their market power through legal and regulatory changes that make it economically unattractive for them to stay big.
• Ensure that India’s bankruptcy law can handle insolvencies of large conglomerates by requiring them to draw up “living wills” to plan their resolution and independently reduce the 18-24 months it takes to resolve defaulting companies .
• Restore macroeconomic balance by recommitting to reducing budget deficits and further raising interest rates to bring inflation down to the Central Bank of India’s 4% target.
• Addressing skills and education gaps, for example by establishing public charter schools to provide quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and by providing incentives for companies to bring more women into the workforce.

“Much is at stake for India and the world,” writes Acharya. “It would be nice if India could get it right in the coming decade.”

Challenges of Disinflation: The Brazilian Experience

Carlos Carvalho of Kapitalo Investimentos and PUC-Rio and Fernanda Nechio of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco write that two previous bouts of above-target inflation in Brazil suggest it could be economically costly for the country to keep its postal Induce COVID-19 inflation up to central bank target.

The Central Bank of Brazil adopted an inflation target in 1999 and faced inflation well above target in 2002-05 and again in 2015-16. In both cases, fiscal concerns were high and expectations for future inflation were off target, the authors write. The central bank has had to hike interest rates significantly to bring down inflation and restore credibility – but both times at the expense of a recession, they write.

In response to the shutdowns and economic hardships caused by the pandemic, Brazil, like many other countries, has cut interest rates and rapidly expanded government programs to support households and businesses, the authors note. But like many other countries, fiscal and monetary stimulus, among other factors, have contributed to a sharp rise in Brazilian inflation since 2021. Expectations for future inflation dissipated around September 2021 and, according to the authors, have continued to fall since the October 2022 presidential election and promises of significant fiscal expansion.

“Brazil is all too familiar with the combination of fiscal concerns and unanchored expectations in a high-inflation environment,” the authors write. “The similarities between the previous two episodes suggest that unless policy changes direction, the road to disinflation will be extremely difficult.”

They note that Brazil’s experience could offer lessons for other countries, perhaps even advanced economies like the United States and the United Kingdom, also experiencing above-target inflation. They note that even for these economies, political credibility can be questioned.

Has China’s Growth Turned From Miracle To Disease?

Eswar Prasad of Cornell University and The Brookings Institution writes that China could continue to defy long-standing predictions of economic collapse if its leaders manage to reform its institutional framework, improve productivity and strengthen its financial system.

China’s growth over the past three decades has been remarkable, writes Prasad. Its gross domestic product in 2022 was 73% of the United States’ gross domestic product, more than 10 times the 7% rate in 1990. He discusses the sources of China’s growth and its vulnerabilities. He then highlights areas where reforms are needed to allow China to continue growing, albeit more moderately than previously in its long expansion.

“The fundamentals of China’s growth appear fragile.”

According to Prasad, China’s vulnerabilities include a weak financial and institutional framework, a bloated public sector and an authoritarian government. Still, the government has maneuvered the economy around various “plausible doomsday scenarios” over the years, he writes.

In order to sustain economic progress, China should better allocate the resources of its economy to the most dynamic parts (the service sector and small and medium-sized enterprises), Prasad writes. This requires repairing China’s banking system and financial markets, and tightening regulation. China’s banks must remove non-performing loans to state-owned companies from their balance sheets. And better corporate governance and accounting standards are needed to provide stock and bond investors with information about Chinese companies.

“The foundations of China’s growth seem fragile,” writes Prasad. “…Things that must end often end suddenly and in unpredictable ways. But if the government plays its cards right, one might as well envision a brighter future for the Chinese economy.”

CITATION

Acharya, viral. 2023. “India at 75: Full of Contradictions, Full of Opportunities, Saddled with Challenges.” BPEA Conference Draft, Spring.

Carvalho, Carlos and Fernanda Nechio. 2023. “Challenges of Disinflation: The Brazilian Experience.” BPEA Conference Draft, Spring.

Prasad, Eswar. 2023. “Has China’s Growth Turned From Miracle To Disease?” BPEA Conference Draft, Spring.

disclosure

Acharya served as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from January 2017 to July 2019. Nechio served as deputy governor of the Central Bank of Brazil between July 2019 and May 2021. Carvalho was Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil between July 2016 and September 2019. The authors have not received financial endorsement from any company or person for this article, or from any company or person with a financial or political interest in this article. The authors are not currently an officer, director, or board member of any organization with a financial or political interest in this article.

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San Francisco’s 47-year-old mayor, London Breed, grew up in this city of postcard views, but much of that was not part of her youth. “I grew up in poverty,” she said. “I grew up in public housing, so I wasn’t really exposed early on to all of the beauty that you see now. I didn’t know some of these neighborhoods even existed in San Francisco.”

For this mayor who has risen from poverty, fighting the city’s inequality is one of her major challenges. In an area that’s home to many of the world’s most valuable companies, San Francisco now counts 8,000 homeless people, the fourth highest rate of any US city, and that has been made worse by some of the country’s highest housing prices.

Smash-and-grab robberies, along with car break-ins, have become their own postcard, underscored by the fact that police solve less than seven percent of those property crimes, infuriating both residents and the city’s more than $6 billion tourism industry.

Correspondent John Blackstone asked Breed, “You said yourself, many people in the city don’t feel safe here any longer.”

“Yeah, and I think that’s why we’re working on it,” she replied, “with making sure we’re able to add more police officers. We’re working on it by having alternatives to policing, to respond to people who are dealing with mental health challenges.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed with correspondent John Blackstone.

CBS News

After Breed was elected four years ago, she picked up a broom and planned to spent tens of millions of dollars a year cleaning the streets. In total, San Francisco is spending one billion city, state and federal dollars on homelessness.

“Every single morning there are people who work for the City and County of San Francisco cleaning up where you wouldn’t even know it’s the same neighborhood,” Breed said. “And even before noon, we’re dealing with some of the same challenges of the litter and the feces and the urine and some of the other issues that many of us are frustrated over.”

Those frustrations, particularly over crime, may be making this famously liberal city a little less liberal. In a recall this month, voters threw out the district attorney whom critics called “soft” on crime. That followed the recall in February of left-leaning school board members who’d focused on renaming buildings rather than reopening them during the pandemic.

On the national stage, politics here are a juicy target for critics on the right. On Fox News, conservative commentator Jesse Watters described San Francisco as “a tech mecca surrounded by a filthy moat of degeneracy, lawlessness, criminals and drugs.”

It is rhetoric with a long legacy, that was amplified in 2007 when a San Francisco Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, became the first female Speaker of the House. Republicans talked disdainfully about “San Francisco values.” On “The Bill O’Reilly Show,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, “I mean, Nancy Pelosi represents a San Francisco values ​​system.”

Blackstone asked Breed, “What are San Francisco values?”

“I think San Francisco values ​​really consist of pushing the envelope and willing to try things that may make people uncomfortable for the purpose of really turning people’s lives around,” she replied.

“But it seems to me the problem that San Francisco faces is that, for people on the right, it’s become shorthand for ‘liberal crazies.'”

“Yeah, and again, there’s nothing I can do about that, other than to make sure that we’re taking care of our city,” said Breed. “We’re cleaning it up, we’re keeping people safe, and we’re doing the things that make the people who live, work, and visit here happy.”

In December the mayor broke from the city’s often-lenient policies when she announced plans to get tough on crime: “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies , and less tolerant of all the bulls*** that has destroyed our city.”

San Francisco has been struggling with homelessness, and a rise in car break-ins and other property crimes.

CBS News

Blackstone asked, “I looked at the police dashboard. The retail theft, that’s up this year. Is your crackdown on crime working?”

“I don’t think it’s a fair assessment, to take statistics and then to equate them to a major headline around San Francisco being dangerous,” she said, “especially in light of when you look at our homicide rate, in particular, and when you look at the number of cases we’ve been able to solve, and the number of people that we’ve been able to hold accountable.”

FBI violent crime statistics confirm: at least 65 other cities have higher rates of murder, rape and assault than San Francisco. But highly-visible crimes, like car thefts and shoplifting, are up nearly 17% so far this year compared to last year.

Breed said, “I don’t think numbers mean anything when something happens to you. And so, ultimately, we’ve gotta do a better job with improving how people feel in the city.”

Among the improvements the mayor is proud of is a transformed corner in a tough neighborhood. “The corner of Hyde and Turk, this used to be a notorious area where there was a lot of drug-dealing and drug-using and all kind of things going on there. You go there today and there’s a park, a brand-new park there, and kids are now using the park.”

The Turk-Hyde Mini Park was created for preschoolers in the heart of the Tenderloin.

CBS News

Blackstone asked, “Let me ask you just to explain San Francisco to an outsider.”

“Ooh, that’s a hard one!” Breed laughed. “Complicated. Unique. Beautiful. Crazy. Wild. Fun. Innovative. Challenging. All of those things and more.”

Like any other American city, San Francisco has plenty of problems, but much like any other big city mayor, London Breed is her city’s biggest fan: “I love San Francisco, even though it’s a complex city with all of its challenges, its issues . But it’s a place of beauty. It’s a place of hope. It’s a place of opportunity.”

For more information:

Story produced by John Goodwin and Christine Weicher. Editor: Ben McCormick.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Some cities and neighborhoods were able to come back to life in the past two years since the region-wide shelter-in-place order, but businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown continue to struggle.

On March 16, 2020, a region-wide shelter-in-place was ordered to try and stop the spread of COVID-19. As people stayed home, the initial lockdown turned entire cities into ghost towns.

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There hasn’t been a lot of business to go around. And now, many Chinatown businesses that survived are struggling to keep up with rent.

“We have to close the store. We cannot afford the rent because it’s too high for us,” said Mrs. Wong, who owns Dot’s Printing and Stationery.

She is specifically struggling with the back-due rent she owes. With little to no customers over the past two years, she hasn’t made enough to keep up. Now she says her landlord is demanding back rent.

“I have no choice,” she said. “They’ve forced us to retire. But we don’t want to get out of Chinatown.”

Wong has been in business on Stockton Street for several decades.

Edward Siu, the owner of Classics Tour and head of the Chinatown Merchants United Association of San Francisco, says Wong is not alone in her struggle with past-due rent.

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“It’s really a hardship to us,” Siu said. “I believe there are more tenants who are facing the same kind of problem that we are.”

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development hosted a bilingual workshop in Chinatown about the small business rent relief pilot program.

There’s a total of $2 million that will help out around 50 small businesses struggling with back-due rent from when they were closed because of COVID, according to Diana Ponce De Leon, the Director of Invest in Neighborhoods for the Office of Economic and Workforce Development .

“For those who owe back due rent due to COVID when businesses were closed, they can apply for a grant of up to 50% of back due rent, up to $35,000,” Ponce De Leon said. “There are still businesses that aren’t fully back up to operation, and they still owe rent. Hopefully it’ll help to stabilize local businesses negotiate with their property owners on back due rent to stabilize them moving forward.”

Siu is glad some struggling small business owners will get a chance to grab this lifeline. However, he thinks landlords should be more understanding of the struggles their tenants continue to face – and should be more willing to negotiate.

“The landlords should be understanding of the tenants facing the problems, no matter where you are,” Siu said.

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To learn more about the program or how to apply, go to www.oewd.org.

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SACRAMENTO – From a bird’s eye view, San Francisco appears to be a relatively easy place to draw new political maps, as its residents are densely populated on a narrow peninsula and numbered to occupy a congressional district and multiple legislative seats.

In practice, however, creating new district lines proves to be a pain as the city has many strong ethnic and cultural communities. Sometimes moving a line a few blocks can have a significant impact on a block’s voting rights.

This difficult balancing act is playing out as the California Citizens Redistricting Commission draws new political boundaries for the next decade to accommodate the population changes reflected in the recent U.S. census.

“It’s such a melting pot that it’s hard to draw boundaries that communities don’t divide,” said Samuel Garrett-Pate, a spokesman for Equality California, an LGBTQ advocacy group, of the San Francisco relocation. “It’s possible, it just takes hard, thoughtful work. Communities don’t live in pretty little boxes in which you can draw pretty lines around them. “

The commission has proposed few significant changes to the city’s congressional seat held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or the Senate seat held by Scott Wiener, both Democrats.

But the commission’s work card would change the city’s two assembly districts dramatically. The proposal has angered some local leaders who say it would dilute the influence of Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans, and LGBTQ residents.

Your proposal to have a working ‘visualization’ at this point could be published as a draft map next week and the Commission will seek public comments. The Commission has until the end of December to adopt its final cards.

The commission has tried to draw more Asian American majority counties across California, including the west side of San Francisco. But by moving more colored voters to an assembly district on the west side of the city, it could also create a white majority district on the east side. Both districts currently have a sizeable Asian population.

David Lee, executive director of the Sino-American Voter Education Committee, said community leaders fear the card could inadvertently reduce minority representation by cramming colored voters into a district.

“Why is the east side of San Francisco getting whiter under this plan?” asked Lee. “Some have suggested that this could be viewed as packing, trying to put all Asians into one district and thereby dilute their power.”

For decades, San Francisco’s assembly districts have essentially divided the city in half from north to south, with District 19 on the west and District 17 on the east. Both areas have elected Asian-American MPs for many years, most recently with members of the Democratic Assembly, Phil Ting in District 19 and David Chiu in District 17 (Chiu recently resigned after being appointed city attorney).

The advocates of the map commissioners would instead divide the city into two ornate L-shaped districts:

• In the south, several multi-colored working-class neighborhoods – including Bayview-Hunters Point, the Outer Mission and Visitacion Valley – would be incorporated into District 19.

• In the north, several predominantly white and affluent neighborhoods – including the Marina District, Pacific Heights, and Sea Cliff – would join District 17.

Reallocation officers have spent little time discussing these changes in their public line drawing meetings. A commission spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on concerns about the proposed San Francisco boroughs.

If the cards are ultimately adopted, the demographics of the boroughs would change dramatically.

According to an analysis by the Sino-American Voter Education Committee, white people would make up about 56% of voters in District 17, instead of 40% in the current district. District 17 would also have a much smaller percentage of Asian voters: 25% versus 34% today.

In the meantime, District 19 would become more diverse, with fewer white voters and slightly more Asians. Asian Americans would make up 49% of the district on the new map, compared to 47% today.

David Ho, a political advisor and long-time organizer in Chinatown, said someone unfamiliar with San Francisco might look at the map and believe it gives the city a more Asian-American influenced district.

He said this attitude ignored the city’s long history of electing different representatives in both assembly districts. He said it also ignores the nuanced nature of neighborhoods because it would separate Chinatown from other allied working-class neighborhoods like Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley.

The map would also break up other color communities in the city, including separating the historic Black Fillmore neighborhood from Bayview-Hunters Point, which is now home to many black residents. The map would also separate the Mission District from the Outer Mission and divide Latino voters.

“I think this card is a bit annoying for everyone,” said Ho. “This iteration is just offensive. I don’t see any group that would support this iteration locally. “

LGBTQ leaders have also raised concerns about the map as it moves two neighborhoods, Bernal Heights and parts of Twin Peaks, to District 19. These neighborhoods have a lot of LGBTQ residents and were previously grouped into District 17 with Castro and SOMA.

“We didn’t see the priority of keeping the LGBTQ community together the way we need to,” said Garrett-Godfather, chairman of Equality California.

David Campos, a former board member running for Chius’ old seat in District 17, lives in Bernal Heights and could be pulled out of District 17. The new card will not be used for this special election, but it will apply for the regular election next year for the district.

Campos said that beyond the potential impact on his campaign, he finds the proposed district lines confusing due to the impact it will have on blacks, Latinos and LGBTQ residents.

“If the goal was to disenfranchise color and LGBTQ communities, they did an excellent job,” he said. “It seems like the visualizations are as bad as you can imagine from a stock perspective.”

Dustin Gardiner is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner

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A global survey of the sector shows COVID-19 is moving to the cloud faster for nonprofits, but planning, skills and resource gaps remain.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2021 / PRNewswire / – TechSoup, the leading not-for-profit network facilitating the distribution of technology solutions to civil society organizations worldwide, today released the results of the largest global civil society research study ever conducted to understand computing practices and digital readiness of nonprofits and identify ways organizations like TechSoup can drive digital transformation of nonprofits and improve the impact on the sector.

The study, commissioned by TechSoup and supported in part by a generous grant from Okta for Good, interviewed 11,758 civil society technology decision-makers in 135 countries and in 41 languages. Survey distribution partners included TechSoup Global Network, BoardSource, Center for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Civicus, Institute for the Development of Social Investment, Technology Association of Grantmakers, RNW Media, Transparency and Accountability Initiative, and WINGS.

“Okta for Good is proud to sponsor this global research project that is providing valuable insights into the digital needs of nonprofits,” said Erin Baudo Filzer, Vice President for Social Impact and Sustainability at Okta. “The scope and scope of this study shows a sector that is making significant strides but needs better tools and programs to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

“As a global alliance of organizations and activists committed to empowering citizenship and civil society around the world, it is critical that we understand the digital state of civil society around the world,” added Amy Taylor, Chief Networks Officer of Civicus. “With its global reach and comprehensive analysis of organizations’ needs and capabilities, this study helps define how activists and organizations engage in a digital world to serve, support, engage and inspire our most vulnerable communities. ”

The study, carried out in summer 2020, asked companies about IT resources, digital readiness, data management and the effects of COVID-19. The most important findings include:

• Tech Budgets: IT budgets are typically low but are likely to increase over the next 2 years. Most decisions about IT products and services are made at the employee level, with an average purchase size of $ 375 Need permits. The number of people working on an IT team is limited and volunteers are often used.
• Transition Ready ?: A quarter of nonprofits have a defined strategy for achieving digital readiness. The biggest barriers to digital adoption, digital enhancement, and data management are cost, employee training, and availability.
• Data processing: Most organizations collect recipient, donor, and financial information. Across all data types, cloud-based data storage is the most widely used option today.
• Killer App: Organizations rely on spreadsheets for all aspects of data handling, including collecting, storing and sharing data.
• Pandemic focus: The major negative effects of COVID-19 affected workflows across the company and prompted a rethinking of the way they work. Most programs, fundraising and marketing have been negatively impacted while internal communication has improved. COVID-19 has sparked digital adoption primarily in cloud-based apps, followed by hardware and desktop apps.
• Need for Nonprofits: The adoption of cloud-based services, cybersecurity tools and other digital resources could be accelerated by increased funding, access to IT consultants / staff to facilitate digital transformation, staff skills or training and increased awareness of available digital tools become.

“Our global study is an important first step in moving beyond the rhetoric and conventional wisdom about nonprofits and technology,” said Chris Worman, TechSoup vice president of alliances and program development. “This gives us comprehensive baseline data that will enable us to hit the industry where it is and develop programs that support digital transformation and maturity so that our industry can thrive through digitization.”

To further explore the findings from the survey, TechSoup will convene a series of workshops with key stakeholders from civil society, foundations, government, business and the TechSoup community. In addition, a dashboard is created to share the data so that others can make their own inquiries and increase the collective benefit to the industry.

You can access a copy of the TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study here.

About studying
The TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study is based on an online survey of nonprofit IT decision makers that was conducted in the summer of 2020. The survey was conducted through the TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) and other industry organizations such as Civicus, WINGS, BoardSource, TAG, CSIP, RNW, TAI and IDIS to reach global reach and was an open link with anonymous responses. A total of 11,758 qualified answers from 135 countries and 41 languages ​​were considered.

Via the TechSoup Global Network
The TechSoup Global Network brings together over 60 organizations on six continents who work together to help more than 1.3 million NGOs meet the world’s most pressing needs. The partners, who work in 39 languages, are all united by a commitment to achieving social impact through access to technology. Together, the TechSoup Global Network partners have a big impact.

About TechSoup
For more than 30 years, TechSoup has provided the transformative technology solutions, the digital platforms and the personal experiences that enable people to work together for a fairer world. TechSoup manages the only global philanthropy program that brings together more than 825 companies and foundations to make technology donations to NGOs everywhere. TechSoup’s data and validation services enable companies, foundations, and governments to connect their philanthropic resources with verified NGOs around the world. TechSoup has reached more than 1.3 million NGOs and distributes technology products and grants worth more than. enables $ 15 billion. https://www.techsoup.org/

Media contacts
TechSoup Media Relations
[email protected]
720-470-3653

SOURCE TechSoup Global

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