In advance of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC), San Francisco is putting up black fence barricades around a special security zone. As some believe, the wall is to prevent protesters from approaching Xi Jinping’s motorcade, but the real purpose is to hide the city’s out-of-control squalor.

In recent years, San Francisco has become an open-air latrine, with maps marking out areas with heavy accumulation. This took place on the watch of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who commissioned $400,000 for a study claiming the town was nearly spotless. Nuru, a crony of former Mayor Willie Brown, is now in prison on corruption charges, but the squalor carries on.

California’s Proposition 47 allows criminals to steal nearly $1,000 without facing felony charges. Since the measure passed in 2014, car break-ins have been on the rise. This year, they hit 15,000 by September, and, in most cases, police never make an arrest.

The city’s Tenderloin district has become an open-air drug market, with needles, feces, and bullet casings strewn about. On sale are meth and fentanyl, the synthetic opioid many times stronger than heroin. This goes on near Union Square and the shopping district.

“Downtown [San Francisco], once beautiful and thriving,” tweeted Elon Musk earlier this year, is “now a derelict zombie apocalypse.”

“[B]efore this APEC summit was even on the horizon, city officials essentially refused to lift a finger,” notes San Francisco resident and commentator Richie Greenberg.

With APEC in town, Gov. Gavin Newson and Mayor London Breed are deploying “high-powered spray guns to suds up the sidewalks, scrub down the BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] trains and make the APEC security zone shine,” explains Greenberg, who compares it to the Potemkin villages used to deceive Russian royalty. This time, it’s “clean for Xi, but not for thee,” and, when APEC wraps, it will be back to drugs, tents, and squalor.

San Franciscans have a right to wonder why the city can’t be cleaned up for the residents, businesses, and tourists. California’s strategy for the homeless is a big part of the problem.

The state’s “Housing First” policy aims “to construct or acquire a permanent home for every person experiencing homelessness, often at taxpayer expense,” explains Lawrence J. McQuillan. This sounds good but defies state realities.

The number of homeless is growing, and, for every person housed, “up to four more people become newly homeless.” California is also “the second most expensive state to build housing, behind only Hawaii,” and moving takes five years or more. In San Francisco, one “affordable” housing unit averages $750,000, but costs can rise to $1.2 million.

From 2018 through 2022, California spent $17.5 billion on programs compliant with Housing First, to no avail. Newsom and city officials willfully ignore different approaches already proven to work.

High-tech shelter tents, like those used by the military, can provide living for hundreds of people. The tents are “scalable to fit” local needs, “safer and more humane than street life,” and closer to providers who can deal with root causes of homelessness. (For further reading, see “Beyond Homeless: Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, Transformative Solutions.” Governors and mayors across the country can also check out the holistic, integrated approach that is working well in San Antonio.)

In San Francisco, meanwhile, people should not be fooled by the APEC emergency measures. “Clean for Xi” needs to become “clean for you and me” moving forward. If Newsom and Breed continue to shun proven, reality-based measures, San Francisco will remain a theme park for human misery.

The post San Francisco Builds a Wall for China: Information: The Impartial Institute appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute is looking to expand its reach in serving the dermatological, ophthalmological and other needs of the community in and around Carmel Valley and Encinitas. They have been a leading dermatology and ophthalmology practice in north San Diego County with locations in both Carmel Valley and Encinitas.

“We provide medical, surgical, and cosmetic care for a variety of skin and eye conditions,” said April Lynne Dionela, practice manager at Coastal Skin and Eye Institute.

Christopher Crosby MD, PhD

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Specializing in skin care, Christopher Crosby MD, PhD, is a board-certified dermatologist whose career path began at Duke University. At Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, he earned both MD and PhD distinctions. Internship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center followed. Then, during residency in dermatology at Emory University, Dr. Crosby served as Chief Resident. With an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, he completed a rigorous Fellowship (accredited by ACGME) at University of California San Francisco, in Mohs micrographic surgery and procedural dermatology.

Dr. Crosby is one of just a few Fellowship-trained Mohs surgeons in the San Diego area. He takes a special interest in Mohs surgery and reconstructive dermatologic surgery for skin cancers. He understands that a skin cancer diagnosis can be devastating to a patient’s emotional wellbeing, and he sees the amazing impact of compassionate, effective treatment.

Neeta Varshney, MD

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Specializing in eye care, Coastal Skin and Eye has both an optometrist and an ophthalmologist on staff. Neeta Varshney, MD, is a board-certified comprehensive ophthalmologist trained in the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease. Dr. Varshney is an accomplished surgeon and enjoys using the latest technologies available to deliver the highest degree of care to her patients. Dr. Varshney is a native of Southern California who comes from a family of physicians. After completing high school as class valedictorian, she later graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she double-majored in biology and psychology. She received her medical degree (MD) with honors in 2009 from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Varshney is well-versed in cataract and refractive surgery, glaucoma evaluation, and management (including laser treatments), macular degeneration, and diabetic eye disease, among other topics.

A client treatment at Coastal Skin and Eye Institute.

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Dr. Connor Caldwell is a board-certified optometrist who became interested in health care at a very young age. He began his journey in high school where he was nominated to attend an elite summer course for young professionals and aspiring doctors, the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine hosted at UC Berkeley. This is where he discovered his passion for the ocular healthcare field and continued his medical journey by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado. Dr. Caldwell was one of 50 students accepted into the Arizona College of Optometry. He trained with leading optometrists from around the world in many fields, including ocular prosthetics, low vision services, electrodiagnostics and specialty contact lens fitting.

In San Diego, with more than 200 sunny days every year, regular checks for skin cancer at the Coastal Skin and Eye Institute can catch the disease when simpler, less invasive treatments are still possible. Making note of any abnormalities during self-checks at home is also an important part of the process.

The Coastal Skin and Eye Institute also treats patients for conditions such as acne, moles, skin growths, and much more. On the cosmetics side, they provide treatments such as botox, lasers, microneedling, and more. The practice also provides eye examinations, including testing for issues such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. In addition to these tests, they can do vision checks and assist with the selection of glasses and contact lenses. Overall, patient testimonials have praised the Coastal Skin and Eye Institute for having a “super friendly” staff, having “a wide spectrum of services ranging from general skin care to cosmetic procedures,” having “the best service in my 20 year history of buying eyewear,” and for having a staff that makes you “really feel that you are in good and safe hands.”

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute has locations at 5500 Carmel Mountain Rd., Suite 206, in Carmel Valley and 477 N. El Camino Real, Suite C300, in Encinitas. Hours at the Carmel Valley office are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and hours at the Encinitas office are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Coastal Skin and Eye Institute also accepts Medicare and most PPO and vision insurance. Coastal Skin and Eye Institute’s Carmel Valley office offers dermatology, optometry, and ophthalmology services, and the Encinitas office currently offers ophthalmology.

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute will also be debuting a more patient-focused website. Patients can use the website for booking appointment requests, to learn more about the physicians and other information related to their skin and eye care needs. For more information, visit www.coastalskineye.com. — Coastal Skin and Eye Institute report

— Business Spotlight features enterprises that support this publication.

The post Coastal Pores and skin and Eye Institute now able to serve Encinitas, Carmel Valley and native communities for eyecare and dermatology wants appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The financially troubled San Francisco Art Institute has put its campus up for sale, and the deal includes a building adorned with a multi-million dollar mural by famed artist Diego Rivera.

With about $20 million in debt, the school once considered selling Rivera’s The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City itself to stay afloat. But rumors that the mural could be removed from the school and the city sparked outrage from artists, professors and city leaders. Concerned that the artwork might leave San Francisco, faculty and city leaders urged that it be left exactly where it is.

However, SFAI was unable to pay its debt and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on April 19. On Tuesday, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefiled announced that it had completed the sale of its historic campus in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, including Rivera’s 1931, commissioned mural.

Built in 1926, the campus covers more than 93,000 square meters in two buildings as well as the school’s iconic clock tower, courtyard, library, classrooms and galleries.

“This is a very special landmark and will make an inspiring home for another educational institution, museum or other creative/innovative use,” said Tom Christian, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, in a statement.

The school has produced such creative art greats as photographer Annie Leibovitz, director Kathryn Bigelow and painter Kehinde Wiley.

No price is given for the entire campus. However, the sale is expected to fetch a sizable sum, as the Rivera mural in one of the two buildings is valued at $50 million in the bankruptcy filings, making it his most valuable asset.

The painting adorns the main wall of the Institute’s Diego Rivera Gallery.

In the late 1920s, the SFAI had attempted to hire Rivera to travel to San Francisco and paint a mural, but the Mexican artist’s connections and communist ideology made obtaining a visa a challenge.

In 1930, then-SFAI President William Gerstle Rivera helped obtain a visa and commissioned the work, which the SFAI says is a tribute to the industrial worker.

Depicting the building of a city and the making of a fresco, the painting depicts the different types of people involved in the task, including artisans, engineers, artists, and architects.

True to his ideal of celebrating the worker, Rivera conspicuously placed construction workers, laborers, and artists higher up in the 74-foot-wide painting, with their sleeves rolled up and overalls on. The only men in suits, the rich and powerful, are placed at the bottom of the work. Rivera is shown off-centre, brush and palette in hand, with her back to the viewer.

An oversized depiction of a worker on the mural has a red star on his breast pocket that suspiciously resembles a symbol of communism, but which Rivera says was a tobacco label.

When rumors surfaced that the SFAI Board of Trustees was considering selling the mural, it sparked outrage from the faculty, who stated in an open letter that the sale and removal of the mural “damaged the reputation, heritage and position of the school harm”.

“We believe any sale of the mural that results in its removal from the Chestnut campus is unreasonable, and we ask for your ideas and resources while we find ways to prevent this,” said the union, which houses associate professors represents, in the letter. “We have a predominantly white and extremely wealthy board of directors who are trying to protect their own wealth by selling a black artist’s work to another white and incredibly powerful buyer.”

The professors named filmmaker George Lucas as a “powerful buyer,” who, according to the New York Times, had expressed interest in purchasing the mural for Los Angeles’ under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

“Leaving the mural in place isn’t just ‘first choice’ — it’s the only choice,” San Francisco board member Aaron Peskin said in a tweet.

In response, San Francisco regulators designated the mural as a city landmark in January 2021, which would prevent removal.

The post On the market: San Francisco Artwork Institute, Diego Rivera mural included appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

The fate of the San Francisco Art Institute’s popular Diego Rivera mural is still uncertain, despite earlier reports that the painting would be saved and not sold.

On Tuesday, Cushman & Wakefield announced it would sell the campus of SFAI, a famous arts school that closed in 2022 after more than 150 years due to severe financial constraints. This property at 800 Chestnut Street includes Rivera’s mural entitled The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City (1931).

At 74 feet wide, the Rivera mural is considered important, even for an artist who created many large works in this medium. Commissioned by SFAI itself, the painting shows workers frescoing the exact spot where the Rivera plant stands. ABC News has reported that it could be worth $50 million.

Related Articles

“The fresco has made SFAI an international destination for the study of Rivera’s work and is considered an outstanding example of his mastery of the medium,” the now-defunct school notes on its website.

In 2021, with the threat of closure, SFAI leadership made attempts to sell the mural in hopes of luring money for the school. Students and professors condemned these attempts, and a union representing their members said that “this is only a limited lifeline and does not address patterns of misconduct and mismanagement on the part of SFAI’s board and officers.” (SFAI denied these allegations return.)

Amid the excitement over the plan to sell the mural, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to begin the process of making the Rivera painting a landmark, which would legally ensure it cannot be moved.

In April last year, Rivera fans were encouraged by a $200,000 Mellon Foundation grant given to the school in support of the mural. After receiving the grant, SFAI said it would restore the work, which many took as a sign the painting would not be sold. Then, in July, SFAI announced the official closure.

Now it looks like the mural will be put up for sale along with the rest of the campus. ARTnews has reached out to the Mellon Foundation asking about the status of the grant.

“The property is offered for sale. The mural of Diego Rivera, which is the personal property of the SFAI bankruptcy estate, is on the property,” Gregg Kleiner, attorney for the trustee, said in a statement to ARTnews. “If the estate receives a viable and acceptable offer for the property and mural together, the estate will proceed to a combined sale subject to required notice and bankruptcy court approval.”

He continued, “The SFAI bankruptcy estate is also considering a sole sale of the mural. Based on the information available, the mural was designed to be removed from the property. If the bankruptcy estate receives a viable offer for the mural alone, the trustee will likely propose a sale of the mural alone, subject to required notice and bankruptcy court approval.”

A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield declined to give a price for the lot, which covers 93,000 square feet.

Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that collector and filmmaker George Lucas had been interested in purchasing the Rivera mural for his upcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. However, this opinion was reportedly voiced during a board meeting in 2020, before the plant received milestone status.

Tom Christian, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement that the 800 Chestnut Street property “will be an inspiring home for another educational institution, museum or other creative/innovative use.”

The post Diego Rivera Mural at San Francisco Artwork Institute Might Nonetheless Be Bought – ARTnews.com appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In a city known for skyrocketing real estate and retail prices, the Mechanics’ Institute, a literary oasis in the heart of downtown, might be the city’s best deal.

For just $120 a year — $10 a month — members get access to a lending library, workspace with Wi-Fi, and a calendar with a range of five to 15 events per week, many of which include free food and drink.

“It’s a lot cheaper than any coworking space,” says freelance software developer Keegan Leary, who has been a member of the institute for two years. He enjoys browsing the shelves and breaking up his work from home by hanging out with other people.

“It’s a hidden gem,” Leary said. “I love the old-fashioned feel.”

Rudi Miller agreed. On a recent Wednesday, the former New Yorker and UC Berkeley law student tried out the space for the first time — but she already knew she was going to participate.

“Other coworking spaces are too noisy and too expensive,” she said. “I like the quiet here and the events look fun.”

But despite its appeal, most people don’t even know the Mechanics’ Institute exists – or what it is exactly.

According to Senior Director of Programs and Alyssa Stone, more than half of those surveyed on a public tour of the historic nine-story building, which takes place every Wednesday at 12 p.m., did not know it existed, despite living in San Francisco all their lives have community involvement.

“We’re a hidden gem,” Stone said.

However, the treasure behind the doors of 57 Post St. is about much more than affordability. And while the concept of a library may seem exclusive to members only, it is an integral part of The Mechanics’ Institute’s more than century-and-a-half-old mission to be accessible to all.

The library is on the second floor of the Mechanics’ Institute pictured Friday. | Isaac Ceja/The Standard

Always open to everyone

When the Mechanics’ Institute opened in 1854, a mechanic wasn’t someone who had their head under the hood of a car.

“The word mechanics came into general use in the 19th century to describe people who made things,” said Taryn Edwards, a former librarian at the Institute who worked there for over 15 years. “You could be a butcher, baker, candle maker and be considered a mechanic.”

The Mechanics’ Institute was founded in the City of San Francisco’s Tax Assessor’s Office because it was a non-religious, non-political space, and was intended to be an educational and training institution.

“There have been no barriers to entry since our earliest years,” Stone said. “Anyone can become a member regardless of immigration, race, ethnicity, gender, age, financial background or family background. From our earliest days, women were always welcome.”

A person reads a book in the Mechanics’ Institute library on Friday. | Isaac Ceja/The Standard

This was unusual then, when many clubs and memberships—like the Bohemian Club, the Olympic Club, and the Family Club—were open only to men and remain so today (the San Francisco Italian American Club is also male-only).

The organization was part of a larger social movement, a reaction to the Industrial Revolution aimed at improving the livelihoods and rights of the working class. In England alone, in 1854, the year the San Francisco branch was founded, there were around 800 Mechanics’ Institutes.

Operated as independent entities, there were then manuals with instructions on how to set up your own mechanics institute.

Typically, the institutes consisted of three components: a library, a lecture hall and a game room – for the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute this game has always been chess. While many of these institutes have since closed or been converted into entities with other names, our own Gold Rush-era branch is strong, though it has undergone numerous upheavals – including the burn down.

“Our mission is to serve writers, chess players, readers, thinkers, the curious and movie lovers,” Stone said. “We are there for people’s interests and to be able to provide them with information.”

The spiral staircase at the Mechanics’ Institute Library near Union Square is popular on Instagram. | Isaac Ceja/The Standard

A hidden loot

The folks who know about the Mechanics’ Institute stop by to take photos of its spiral staircase—possibly the most Instagrammed staircase in all of San Francisco.

According to Stone, the sweeping staircase is the tallest in the country. It was manufactured on the east coast before the building opened in 1910 and then shipped around Cape Horn to be assembled at the library.

“The stairs are very, very popular on our tours,” Stone said.

The metal grid on the spiral staircase bears an image that is repeated throughout the institute: a key that symbolizes the development of knowledge. The motif looks like a square lollipop and is repeated on tiled floors and hanging lamps.

The institute’s knowledge should not only be made accessible in books, but also in leisure time – namely chess. The building houses the oldest continuously active chess club in the country. When Vinay Bhat achieved Grandmaster status in 2008, he was the youngest person ever to hold the title – and he learned to play chess at Mechanics’ Institute.

People play chess at the Mechanics’ Institute near Union Square in San Francisco on Friday. | Isaac Ceja/The Standard

Bhat recently returned to the institute to publish his book How I Became a Chess Grandmaster, which is full of pictures of him playing chess at the Mechanics’ Institute.

The event also included the Summer Blitz tournament; The room was full of chess players, including two grandmasters.

Among the institute’s other gems is an 1853 survey map of San Francisco that survived the 1906 fire. It’s one of only a handful of maps in the world and is now hanging on the second floor.

“The only reason it survived is because it was in a safe,” Stone said. “Everything else around it was destroyed.”

The building also has offices for rent. The Litquake literary festival and Zzzyva literary magazine have their offices there, as well as several lawyers and doctors, and an organization called the International Wizard of Oz Club.

“I can’t think of a better place for an office,” Stone said. “Those beautiful high ceilings with huge windows looking out over the city.”

An 1853 map of San Francisco hangs in the Mechanics’ Institute library near Union Square on Friday. | Isaac Ceja/The Standard

The more things change

Given that the organization has endured quite a lot of struggles in its century-and-a-half history, the Mechanics’ Institute could have a lesson for us—and for downtown San Francisco.

A climate of fear reigned in downtown San Francisco in 1856 following the assassination of publisher James King of William, who was killed by James Casey, a member of the board of directors. The murder led to the creation of the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco.

“That was not a joke; That’s why people have moved out of the city,” Edwards said. “Namely Roderick Matheson, President of the Mechanics’ Institute, who was concerned about raising his children in such a violent environment.”

Matheson moved out of town—to Healdsburg.

The fire that followed the great earthquake of 1906 burned the original institute to the ground, but the library continued to grow and improve, in part by purchasing materials the city needed for the massive rebuilding – like books on engineering and masonry .

“That’s how we pulled ourselves up,” Edwards said. “With the goal of helping the city rebuild.”

The President of the Mechanics’ Institute, Roderick Matheson, is pictured circa 1849. | Healdsburg Museum/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

The institute was only closed for a few days during the Great Flu of 1918—our current pandemic was far more catastrophic. The Second World War was another difficult period in the Institute’s history.

“There were restrictions on night-time activities for fear of air raids,” Edwards said, and employees and customers were drafted into the war effort.

With big-name retailers moving out of downtown, much vacant office space and deteriorating downtown safety, will the Mechanics’ Institute, just a stone’s throw from the Montgomery Street BART station, survive this recent downturn? It’s hard not to be surprised, especially given the recent departure of the organization’s CEO. But just like San Francisco’s phoenix rising from the dust, the organization has endured boom-and-bust cycles before.

“We’re here to serve the community,” Stone said when asked about the organization’s future. “And we will continue to serve the community.”

The post The Mechanics’ Institute Is a Literary Oasis in Downtown San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The Bank of America Institute recently released an analysis showing that net flows of domestic migration (people moving within the United States) continue to follow pandemic trends. BofA internal data, which is nearly a year ahead of the Census Bureau’s population data, found that cities that experienced large influxes of people during the pandemic are still growing faster than other cities in recent quarters as of the first quarter of 2023 , but residential construction Even in cities with growing populations, prices are falling.

Among the major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), Austin saw the largest net inflow of population in both 2020-2021 – up +5% – and over the past four quarters (+1.5%). Also high on the list are Tampa and Orlando, both with +0.8% net growth between the first quarters of 2022 and 2023.

Interestingly, while Phoenix and Las Vegas experienced strong population growth during the first two years of the pandemic, the pace of growth has slowed noticeably in recent quarters, increasing by just 0.3% and 0.2% year-on-year (yoy), respectively . in the first quarter of 2023.

Cities like San Jose, San Francisco, and New York, on the other hand, experienced the greatest emigration in the early years of the pandemic, and the rate of decline in 2023 remains the highest among major MSAs.

While large population influx typically drives both home and rental prices higher, data from Freddie Mac shows that even in cities with growing populations, including Austin, home prices are falling rapidly.

In contrast, in cities with positive inflows, rents remain high. In April 2023, average year-over-year rental payments for BofA customers in Austin, Orlando, and Tampa increased 11%, 14%, and 14%, respectively. This compares to the national average of 8% and just 3% for San Francisco.

“Domestic migration continues to be a key issue shaping the real estate market,” said Anna Zhou, an economist at the Bank of America Institute. “While rising interest rates dampen home demand in the short term, the housing market in cities where millennials and baby boomers are moving could see strength in the longer term as the former enter the prime homebuying age and the latter downsize their homes.”

Photo by Konstantin Evdokimov on Unsplash.

The post BofA Institute: Shifting Inside U.S. Nonetheless on Par with Pandemic Developments  appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

art world

The school will liquidate its assets to pay creditors, but the fate of its famous Diego Rivera fresco remains unknown.

• Taylor Dafoe

• April 27, 2023

Art Institute San Francisco. Courtesy of Getty Images.

The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), saddled with outstanding debt, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The move will require the 151-year-old school to liquidate its remaining assets to pay creditors.

The submission marks what may be the final chapter in what was once an important institution declining operation in recent years finally closed its doors last July. However, one important question remains to be answered: What will happen to SFAI’s famous 1931 Diego Rivera fresco?

According to a report by Chronicle of San Francisco, The art school owes more than $10 million to various creditors. First up is the University of San Francisco, which is said to have owed more than $6 million after breaking up a deal to acquire SFAI last summer

The regents of the University of California and the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, owners of SFAI’s two separate campuses, say they are owed $450,000 and $750,000 in unpaid rent, respectively. Also on the list of creditors are the many former faculty members who lost their jobs and are now owed severance pay.

Regarding her assets, SFAI reported in the filing that she owns a painting by noted Mission School artist Alicia McCarthy valued at US$125,000 and office equipment and art supplies valued at US$50,000. The real treasure of the school is the Rivera mural, estimated to be worth up to $50 million. However, it remains unclear whether the institution can sell the artwork to pay off its debt.

Diego Rivera’s mural at the San Francisco Art Institute. Courtesy of the San Francisco Art Institute.

In late 2020, SFAI’s board of directors voted to explore “avenues and offers for endowment or sale” of the fresco to save the school, and Star Wars creator George Lucas was even said to have been interested in acquiring it. But the move promptly met with backlash from students, alumni and community members. Photographer Catherine Opie, who graduated from SFAI in 1985, called the potential sale an “incredibly unscrupulous decision.” Open letter to the school administration.

The mural was later declared a San Francisco landmark. Therefore, it may not be relocated without the approval of the city council.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who sponsored the landmark legislation, said so timeline that he wishes to transfer the piece to a public gallery or museum.

SFAI’s legacy rivals that of any art school in North America. His list of Alumni and former faculty members reads as in the 20th century art history phone book with names like Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Mark Rothko and Kehinde Wiley. But for many, the school’s earlier heights made its steep — and messy — decline that much more painful.

In March 2020, following the mass closures of the COVID-19 pandemic, SFAI announced that it would suspend its degree programs, halt student enrollment, and close indefinitely. Weeks later, the institution’s board voted to keep the school open on a limited basis and launched a “campaign to refocus and reinvent the school’s business model.”

By July, the prospects seemed even brighter than that The school received over $4 million in donations. The board promised to resume its courses in the fall and invited students to re-enroll.

But the wave of support proved too little, too late. SFAI officially ceased operations in July 2022.

“The reality is that tuition-based schools of this size are a vanishing species,” said Gordon Knox, a former SFAI president timeline. “And there is no changing evolution.”

More trend stories:

After discovering a treasure trove of weird, extraordinary paintings at a thrift store, artist Andy Holden brings his little-known creator to light

55 Hindu relics stolen from temples across India have been found in an art collector’s home

Considering a job in the art world? Here’s how much art professionals actually make for a living

Archaeologists have discovered medieval paintings “unique to Christian art” on the walls of an ancient chamber in Sudan

Art critics and government officials slam Italy’s ‘humiliating’ tourism campaign that turns Botticelli’s Venus into an influencer

A Roman-era vase once believed to be a cremation vessel turns out to be an early form of sports memorabilia to a gladiator fanatic

The Smithsonian is investigating claims that its new director of the Women’s History Museum turned a blind eye to harassment at her previous job

Choctaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson shows us his Hudson Studio, where he explores Native American iconography

Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein is getting a retrospective at the Whitney — and also a seal of approval from the USPS

Follow Artnet News on Facebook:

Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest news, insightful interviews and incisive critical statements that drive the conversation.

The post The San Francisco Artwork Institute, Which Educated Artists From Ansel Adams to Kehinde Wiley, Has Filed for Chapter appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The ailing San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has filed for bankruptcy, the San Francisco Chronicle first reported. The school, whose campus features an iconic and site-specific mural by Diego Rivera from 1931, had struggled for years financially before making its 2020 decision to support the current student body by starting and discontinuing admissions and degree programs. SFAI administration and board members made several attempts to save the school through fundraising, seeking partnerships, and even selling the Rivera mural.

SFAI filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on April 19. In order to pay off its hundreds to millions of dollars in debt, the school is required to liquidate all of its assets. Its creditors include SFAI’s landlords; a pest control company; AT&T; the University of San Francisco; and each fired faculty member who is owed severance pay.

Inside and outside the institution, some blame the school’s failure on declining enrollment, prohibitively high tuition and board mismanagement of finances, as well as an extravagant, $14 million debt-incurring expansion to a satellite campus at Pier 2 on the San Francisco Bay Area Year 2017. The satellite campus closed in mid-2020 amid the pandemic and began looking for subtenants to take on the remaining 50 years of the lease.

In 2020, SFAI raised approximately $4 million in funding to stay afloat and serve its tenured faculty and remaining student body through inception, and leaders were excited to find other funding and partnership opportunities to protect the school’s heritage. The University of California Board of Regents stepped in and paid off SFAI’s debt, effectively becoming the institution’s new landlord and thwarting its foreclosure. As 2021 begins, the school is once again keen to pay off its multi-million dollar debt and explored an opportunity to sell Diego Rivera’s The Making of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City (1931), which was last appraised at $50 million, only to meet fierce backlash from the school’s union workers as well as San Francisco residents, many of whom were pushing for the city to recognize the mural as a landmark.

In a last-ditch effort to persevere, SFAI considered a partnership with the University of San Francisco that was intended to be solidified in early 2022, but ultimately fell through, leading to the school’s decision to officially close for good on July 15 of this year – itself as non-profit organization to protect its name, history and archives. “After years of planning and the immeasurable sacrifices of our students, faculty and staff, it is deeply unfortunate that we are now faced with this present outcome,” then-Chairman and photography alum Lonnie Graham said in the school’s official statement on the move’s permanent closure .

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Rivera’s mural would stay for now and could later end up in a public gallery. SFAI has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.

The post San Francisco Artwork Institute Information for Chapter appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

For every homeless person in San Francisco who becomes housed with the help of government, four more people become homeless, according to a new report. This Sisyphean track record offers important lessons for other cities. Unfortunately, measures on the city’s November ballot ignore proven solutions and double down on misguided policies.

San Francisco’s first mistake is misdiagnosing the problem. The city’s political class thinks homelessness is primarily caused by insufficient housing. In truth, homelessness is more often caused by substance abuse and mental illness. That mistake has caused the city to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into “affordable” or “permanent” housing programs.

In 2016, city leaders created the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). Since its inception, HSH has received $3.5 billion, while the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city annually has increased by 63 percent. About 50-60 percent of HSH’s funding in a typical year supports various permanent-housing programs.

Up to 20,000 people experience homelessness in San Francisco over the course of a year. San Francisco is the most expensive place on Earth to build, according to construction consultant Turner & Townsend. One “affordable” unit costs developers an average of $750,000 to build in the city. It’s cheaper to buy units, but not by much. For example, San Francisco recently bought two buildings for permanent supportive housing containing 252 units for $162.3 million, or $644,000 per unit.

Even if the city had $15 billion to build 20,000 units, it would not solve the problem, as the services draw new homeless people to the city: another 20,000 homeless people would emerge the next year, followed by 30,000 the next, and so on. The inflow of people experiencing homelessness greatly exceeds the number of people who become housed. The “Housing First” vision of giving every homeless person a permanent home is an expensive fool’s errand.

City officials helped to put two measures, D and E, on the November ballot, which proponents claim will increase the production of affordable housing by streamlining permitting when a project meets certain thresholds of affordability and tenant income (the measures differ on those thresholds). But to appear union overlords, both measures require builders to pay construction workers higher “prevailing [union] wages” on projects of 10 units or more, which could drive up total project costs by more than 35 percent. That won’t make housing more affordable.

San Francisco needs more housing, but giving HSH more money will not solve the homelessness problem; doing so would ignore the actual causes of homelessness. And in a desperate attempt to salvage a morsel of legitimacy for HSH, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors put Measure C on the ballot, asking voters to create a seven-member Homelessness Oversight Commission to oversee HSH, adding another layer of government bureaucracy.

San Francisco has compounded its homelessness problems by recklessly handing out cash assistance, effectively subsidizing self-destructive behaviors. After just one month of residency, people can receive benefits up to $869 a month for food and general assistance.

In a 2022 viral video, a self-described “old-school junkie” from Louisiana explains how “they pay you to be homeless here [in San Francisco]… it’s free money.” He uses assistance to pay for Netflix and Prime Video on his cell phone as he lives in a tent on a sidewalk and uses fentanyl. More housing development won’t solve this problem. People experiencing homelessness will continue to stream into the city, lured by permanent homes at taxpayer expense, generous cash benefits, and, perhaps most importantly, tolerance from political elites.

While San Francisco pursues its impossible dream of permanent housing for every homeless person, incentivizing more people to come to the city with cash assistance and the promise of housing, its political class tolerates neighborhood decay. Officials uncaringly sacrificed certain neighborhoods (but not Nancy Pelosi’s Pacific Heights) to the street problems accompanying homelessness. The epicenter of San Francisco’s homeless population is the tenderloin, a nightmare of concentrated violence, theft, encampments, fires, drug dealing, drug use, and overdoses, which kill about two people a day in San Francisco. The Tenderloin, Mission District, South of Market, and other neighborhoods have become dangerous shelters of first resort, unsafe for housed and unhoused residents alike.

The root cause of this neighborhood decay is an unwillingness by government officials to enforce “the public purposes of public spaces” throughout the city. Parks, sidewalks, alleys, nature areas, and land along freeways and near transit systems have well-established public purposes that don’t include residential living. Since the city doesn’t preserve public spaces for their intended uses, unhoused people live in those areas, evading difficult choices such as receiving treatment, moving to designated safe sites, going to jail, or moving to another town.

Homelessness should never be a crime, but specific actions by an individual experiencing homelessness—or anyone else—should be crimes. That includes defecting in public, open drug use, littering, trespassing, assault, battery, and living on sidewalks and roadways. Residents of the Tenderloin—or any neighborhood—deserve a safe, clean community in which to raise their kids, where parks are used for recreation, not drug injection.

That leaves the question of where unhoused people should go. Housing First addresses the symptom of homelessness but leaves the root causes of homelessness—personal trauma, substance abuse, mental-health issues, disaffiliation—largely untreated, with deadly consequences.

From 2016 to 2021, 869 homeless people died in San Francisco, according to a 2022 study by medical researchers. The highest number of yearly deaths, 331, occurred during the peak of the Covid lockdowns, from March 2020 to March 2021, when people experiencing homelessness were shunted into their Housing First rooms. A full 82 percent of the 331 deaths were due to overdoses, the majority involving fentanyl, because underlying causes weren’t addressed. Without treatment, “Housing First” too often becomes ‘Death Second.’

In contrast, San Antonio, Texas, provides a proven compassionate model that focuses on the root causes of homelessness. Moreover, it can be scaled up relatively cheaply, compared to San Francisco’s approach.

Haven for Hope, which opened in 2010, is the vision of San Antonio business leader Bill Greehey, who raised $103 million to build the nonprofit facility. Most of the money came from private sources, and the City of San Antonio donated the land. Haven for Hope is an integrated “one stop” 22-acre campus for the safe housing and treatment of homeless people in Bexar County. It collaborates with 183 partners, 70 of whom are on-site, and it provides transportation to off-site providers.

The 17-building complex offers a low-barrier emergency shelter called The Courtyard, where meals, showers, toilets, laundry, medical care, and case management services are provided. The complex also has a transformational campus of long-term housing with no time limit and individualized services for addiction recovery, mental health care, life skills, and job training. The staff are well-trained, and around-the-clock security ensures the safety of the 1,700 residents and the surrounding neighborhoods. The operating budget for fiscal year 2021 was $24.7 million.

Since 2010, more than 40,000 people have been helped at Haven for Hope. Almost 6,000 people have found permanent housing through the transformational program, with 92 percent remaining stable and housed after one year. Judges in Bexar County offer many individuals facing criminal charges who have mental-health or substance-abuse problems a choice: jail or a recovery program at Haven for Hope. Results for individuals entering Haven for Hope through courts are reportedly as good as those for individuals entering without court intervention. The results are impressive.

In 2009, San Antonio and San Francisco had similar levels of homelessness, but during the decade that followed, the homeless population in San Antonio decreased 11 percent (including 77 percent fewer homeless downtown), while the homeless population in San Francisco surged nearly 80 percent . San Antonio is committed to getting people off the streets and into safe facilities dedicated to healing underlying traumas and tackling the true causes of homelessness through personalized treatment and job training. A similar commitment is needed in San Francisco.

For starters, the State of California should donate the underused 62-acre Cow Palace for a Haven for Hope-style campus for San Francisco. It should be staffed by trained professionals who collaborate with nonprofit service providers with proven track records of success. Business leaders should raise private funds to build the facility.

San Francisco should preserve its public spaces and revitalize its neighborhoods by directing people experiencing homelessness to designated, safe, state-of-the-art campuses that combine a low-barrier shelter with transitional housing and personalized treatment for substance abuse, mental illness, and job training. A campus is cheaper to build and scale than the permanent housing approach. Enforcement of the public purposes of public spaces must be consistent and citywide. Selective neighborhood enforcement will only push problems to other parts of the city.

With few exceptions, San Francisco should stop providing cash payments, debit cards, or anything that can be easily converted into cash. Assistance from governments and nonprofits should consist of services. Cash should come from employment.

San Francisco’s policy mistakes have turned the city into a national theme park for human misery. Cities should learn from those mistakes. As demonstrated by San Antonio, a holistic, integrated approach that tackles the root causes of homelessness can prevent communities from sliding into an abyss.

The post How San Francisco Can Remedy Its Homelessness Downside: Information: The Unbiased Institute appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The leadership of two renowned educational institutions, the University of San Francisco (USF) and the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), announced today they have signed a letter of intent to explore integrating operations and academic programs in the arts to elevate the next generation of artists.

The agreement approved by the trustees of each institution calls for a period of due diligence leading to USF acquiring SFAI and the integration of the undergraduate and graduate arts programs to benefit students through collaborative opportunities. The program would be known as the San Francisco Art Institute at the University of San Francisco ([email protected]). SFAI’s historical buildings, art and film collections, and assets would be acquired by USF.

SFAI, founded in 1871, is among the nation’s oldest and most prestigious schools of contemporary fine art. Celebrated artists who have studied or taught at SFAI include Ansel Adams, Kathryn Bigelow, Joan Brown, Enrique Chagoya, Bruce Conner, Angela Davis, Jay DeFeoRichard Diebenkorn, Mike Henderson, Mildred Howard, Toba Khedoori, George Kuchar, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Annie LeibovitzCristóbal Martínez, Alicia McCarthy, Barry McGee, Catherine Opie, David ParkMark Rothko, Carlos Villaand Kehinde Wiley.

USF — the city’s first university — was founded in 1855 by the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers to provide educational opportunities for largely immigrant families in the Bay Area. Today, USF enrolls more than 10,000 students from around the world in 230 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, law, education, and nursing and health professions. Among USF alumni are san francisco Major London Breed, NBA player and coach Bill Cartwrightco-founder and former CEO of BEA Systems Alfred Chuang, poet and musician Michael Frantiartist and philanthropist GordonGettyCalifornia Supreme Court Justice MartinJenkinsNBC journalist Vicky Nguyenand the late California historian Kevin Starr.

The two institutions have been in conversation about possible integration of operations and academic programs in the arts at various times over the past decade, and faculty have collaborated on exhibitions, programs, and initiatives in and beyond classrooms and studios.

With the signing of a letter of intent, SFAI and USF agree to explore an integration that recognizes the prestige and history of both institutions while opening new doors for future opportunities under a combined entity. The period of due diligence will include reviewing and assessing finances, the physical assets at SFAI’s Chestnut Street campus on Russian Hill, the process of academic accreditation for the newly created program, and other matters, including employment opportunities.

Current SFAI students who complete their degree programs at USF would receive the same academic and co-curricular services, opportunities, and support that USF students traditionally receive.

It is expected that the review would be completed before summer to allow for integrated operations beginning in the fall.

USF board chair John F Nicolai said: “USF is delighted to join with SFAI and to work with the faculty, staff, and leadership to explore this exciting opportunity to create a distinctive program of arts education, unique in higher education. We believe [email protected] would be a tremendous benefit to the Bay Area, the nation, and the world. Together, the two institutions would create a premier arts curriculum, with an intensive studio environment and a vital liberal arts education.”

SFAI board chair Lonnie Graham said: “We were foremost impressed by USF’s profound commitment to social justice and especially by its deep understanding of the power of the arts to be a significant pillar of change in the world. USF has shown the depth of its commitment to be a major force for change in legal systems, social programs, education, and technology. This union would create an innovative confluence of the arts and academics to advance a curriculum that reinforces the value of the arts in changing the world.”

The period of due diligence will include a collaborative process of curricular redesign and development by USF and SFAI faculty to ensure the new integrated academic unit would reflect the vision and mission of both institutions.

Pending comprehensive financial review, the letter of intent calls for USF to assume responsibility for SFAI’s property and assets on Chestnut Street. Those assets include the Anne Bremer Memorial Library; the Diego Rivera Gallery and the artist’s monumental mural; professional exhibition space; extensive digital, photo, and film labs and studio space; and a rooftop amphitheater.

Addressing the due diligence process, Rev. Paul J FitzgeraldSJ, president of USF, said: “We are committed to transparency and openness in our collaboration with faculty, staff, and students, and look forward to imagining the design of this new program with our communities. Additionally, we are very aware of how vital SFAI is to the Bay Area’s cultural, artistic, and philanthropic communities, and we anticipate productive conversations with these essential partners.”

About University of San Francisco usfca.edu:
the University of San Francisco is a private, Jesuit Catholic university that reflects the diversity, optimism, and opportunities of the city that surrounds it. Ranked by US News & World Report as No. 1 among the nation’s universities in ethnic diversity, USF enrolls students from across the country and around the world. Its main Hilltop campus is in the heart of san francisco, between Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge, and comprises 56 acres. Additional campus locations are at 101 Howard Street in downtown san franciscoand in Sacramento, Orange Countyand Pleasanton.

About San Francisco Art Institute sfai.edu:
Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education committed to the practice and study of contemporary fine art. SFAI sustains a spirit of unfettered possibility and the role of an incubator of the novel, the unexpected, and often the provocative through an open, experimental, and interdisciplinary context. SFAI has played a central role in many contemporary art movements, including Fine Art Photography, Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figuration, Color Field, California Funk, and the Mission School. In addition, SFAI continues to lead by promoting awareness of the relevance of the arts in contemporary culture.

SOURCE University of San Francisco

The post College of San Francisco and San Francisco Artwork Institute to Discover Integration of Educational Artwork Packages, Operations appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.