San Francisco Bay Area’s AC Transit orders an additional 20 fuel cell buses from New Flyer, model Xcelsior CHARGE H2, unveiled in March 2019. The purchase was made through California’s State Cooperative Procurement, which New Flyer was selected for as a top-scoring approved supplier in 2019.

35 zero emission buses headed to AC Transit

Supported by Federal Transit Administration funds, the order follows AC Transit’s 2019 purchase of ten hydrogen fuel cell-electric and five battery-electric buses from NFI, and demonstrably advances AC Transit’s Clean Corridors Plan (a commitment to operate a 25% zero- emission fleet by 2023) and ultimately its implementation of the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) Innovative Clean Transit Regulation that requires all California agencies to transition to zero-emission bus fleets by 2040.

Based in Oakland, AC Transit is one of the largest bus-only systems in America, serving Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay, delivering over 52 million rides annually.

“Since 1980, NFI has delivered over 740 buses to AC Transit, and we are pleased to continue expanding zero-emission mobility in the greater San Francisco Bay Area through this follow-on order,” said Paul Soubry, President and Chief Executive Officer, NFI. “AC Transit is an innovative leader focused on delivering the best in urban mobility for its riders, and we look forward to supporting AC Transit on its continued journey to a fully zero-emission fleet.”

“With more Xcelsior CHARGE H2 fuel cell buses in its fleet, AC Transit can count on proven range performance, cleaner transportation, reduced noise pollution, and elimination of greenhouse gases – with buses that produce only clean water vapor from the tailpipe,” said Chris Stoddart, President, New Flyer and MCI.

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Human Interest

By Taylor Knight

Published
Sep. 23, 2023, 12:24 p.m. ET

He sacrificed a few years of comfort for a lifetime of financial freedom.

Arizona man Nicholas Bauer says he went to extreme lengths to save cash in his 20s, living in cars in order to pay off all his debt.

“When you have no rent and no bills to pay, that money just stacks,” Bauer, 32, declared in the latest episode of “Big Super Living In Arizona.”

In the series, which showcases America’s most affordable housing options, Bauer boasts that he saved up so much cash that he was able to buy a home outright, and is no longer dependent on a job to get by.

Bauer told the program that he started living in cars in 2015 while working as an automotive engineer, making $11.50 per hour. At the time, he says he had racked up extensive debt.

He was determined to find a “solution to the housing crisis,” so he decided to permanently “live a debt-free lifestyle by living in vehicles.”

The creative engineer parked his Dodge Dakota truck, which he had driven since high school, at his workplace’ parking lot and attached a camper to the back.

Arizona man Nicholas Bauer says he went to extreme lengths to save cash in his 20s, living in cars in order to pay off all his debt. Youtube

Bauer now lives in a “compound” on two-acres of land, which he paid for in cash. Youtube

Bauer’s boss allowed the unconventional living conditions on company property since he was often required “to pull all-nighters” and would use the vehicle for off-roading.

Eventually, the self-proclaimed “full-time desert dweller” moved into his next vehicle, a 404 Series Unimog truck. The vehicle’s interior had a bed, wood flooring, a 40-inch flat-screen TV, and internet.

The one thing his humble abode was missing was a bathroom, forcing him to urinate into a Nalgene water bottle. When it came to more serious bathroom business, Bauer planned his toilet breaks at work since he didn’t have one at home.

The scheduled bathroom breaks were enough to convince Bauer to upgrade to another vehicle.

“When you have no rent and no bills to pay, that money just stacks,” Bauer, 32, declared in the latest episode of “Big Super Living In Arizona.” Bauer is seen with one of the vehicles he lived in. Youtube

Bauer moved into “the dragon wagon,” a merger of two military trucks with a 1987 Fleetwood Prowler trailer on the back incorporating solar panels.

He described the vehicle as a “Frankenstein contraption.” However, just like the monster, his truck fell apart during a road trip to San Francisco. While saving money to restore the dragon wagon, he transitioned into a Chevy pickup.

His pickup, parked outside a Planet Fitness lot, operated like a work camper and included a fold-out bed, heater, and CCTV cameras.

When things got serious with Bauer’s girlfriend, who became pregnant with a baby girl, the pair knew it was time to settle down in a more permanent home.Youtube

Bauer lives in a mobile home with his girlfriend and daughter. The modest interior is pictured. Youtube

However, when things got serious with Bauer’s girlfriend, who became pregnant with a baby girl, the pair knew it was time to settle down in a more permanent home.

Now, the family of three lives in a mobile home on Bauer’s two-acre “paid-off compound,” where he also stores all the cars he used to live in. He didn’t disclose how much the property cost, nor how much money he still has left in his bank account.

Although Bauer recently lost his job, he has no worries about providing for his family, especially after years of saving.

Now the 32-year-old lives in a mobile home on his paid off compound.Youtube

“I don’t really have to worry about anything because there’s no rent, there’s no mortgage,” Bauer shared, also adding that he was now debt free.

But the Arizona man hasn’t given up on his love of automobiles.

Even with a more anchored lifestyle, he still has dreams “to live in the woods with 50 trucks.”

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A federal judge said she needs more evidence that San Francisco is complying with her injunction preventing moving unhoused people.

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — San Francisco homeless residents lost their bid to ensure that city officials comply with a federal judge’s block on encampment sweeps, but the judge on Thursday also demanded more transparency from the city.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu denied without prejudice a request by plaintiffs living unsheltered in San Francisco that she appoint a special master to help enforce the injunction Ryu ordered. But she ordered the city to file a declaration on staff training within two weeks, and to meet with Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros to discuss improving how police officers communicate with unhoused people. The plaintiffs must file a supplemental brief within one month.

Ryu ruled this past December that San Francisco officials cannot threaten enforcement of “sit/lie” or public sleeping laws against involuntarily homeless individuals, meaning people who do not have access to shelter or permanent housing.

The plaintiffs say the city regularly fines and removes them from public property, often seizing or destroying their property, violating their Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights. They also accused the city of sweeping encampments after the injunction was ordered, during the atmospheric river storms that drenched the state during this year’s winter.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks at a rally outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

City officials appealed Ryu’s injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and argued in court Wednesday that the ruling was too vague to know which parts of city ordinances could be enforced.

Mayor London Breed, backed by county supervisors and coalitions of wealthy donors, told a crowd assembled outside the appellate court that the city is prepared to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. 

The crux of the case rests on precedent set in Martin v. Boise, barring cities without enough shelter beds from moving unhoused people — and the fact that San Francisco does not have enough shelter for all unhoused people, as Ryu determined in January. The plaintiffs point to a waitlist of at least 400 people, while the city has said it offers unhoused people shelter before conducting encampment sweeps. 

In federal court Thursday, Ryu expressed concern that some police officers who interact with unhoused residents may not be trained on the injunction and rules for when they can and cannot move people. 

The judge also chastised the plaintiffs for not clearly explaining how, by law, the city had violated her order.

“You’ve left me here to guess, or try to figure out what you’re arguing,” she said. “There’s a lot of assumptions that are being made in the plaintiffs’ side of the papers. These are all legal questions that need to be teased out.”

Attorney Kevin Wu, representing the plaintiffs, said they have reason to think the city is not following rules about keeping records, such as activating body cameras or recording property confiscations, which will complicate their discovery process. 

“They do give us concerns that we don’t have enough at our disposal to monitor the city’s actions in real time, and prevent any irreparable harm that may be befalling plaintiffs,” he said.

“You have to first show me that there’s a problem,” Ryu told Wu. “You didn’t do the work I need from you to be able to render a decision.”

Ryu told the city that the record shows there is ambiguity around people’s rights, and misunderstandings that cops could prevent. 

“Is San Francisco open to coming up with clearer communication about people’s rights,” she asked, “so that homeless individuals who encounter police have a better understanding of what’s going on?”

After saying the city does not believe the plaintiffs gave evidence of non-compliance, Wang agreed that officials are open to improving communication with the public.  

Ryu said she is also concerned about declarations submitted as proof that city officials destroyed people’s property without cause.

“Some of them felt like pretty clear violations,” Ryu said, noting one description from an unsheltered woman who said a worker took her jewelry, put it in their pocket and told her that it belonged to the city. She noted the city hadn’t submitted evidence of having trained all workers who interact with unhoused people on what they may and may not do. 

Miguel Gradilla, an attorney for San Francisco, said most workers engaging with unhoused people discuss their property rights every day, but was not sure how many public works staffers may be trained on the rules for handling people’s property. 

Before ending Thursday’s hearing the judge also recommended better communication on both sides.

“My sense from the filings is that communication is not great,” Ryu said. “But that’s your choice on how you want to litigate the case.”

The case is slated for a bench trial starting in April 2024.

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody joins Fox Across America with guest host Joe Concha to shed light on why more and more people are fleeing blue states like New York and California and moving to the Sunshine State.

“It’s no coincidence that New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco are among the top cities people are moving from. That means not only is the population declining due to deaths and births and this equation, but people are packing up their families and moving. And it’s no surprise that the same four cities are among the cities with the highest percentage increases in thefts. So in no way has Florida taken some of these crazy measures when it comes to criminal justice across the country. We are a law and order state. We support the blue. We make sure we only gave them raises. We just gave them the opportunity to buy homes in the community where they serve. We just made sure they were better off in retirement. I mean we make no secret of supporting those who sign up to put their security behind our security. And I think you need leaders who do that. You must make policy decisions that reflect this. And you see this breakdown of law and order in these areas. Because in recent years, criminal law policy decisions have been implemented in a targeted manner. And now you see the effects of that.”

To hear what else she had to say to Joe, listen to the podcast!

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SAN FRANCISCO — When the series began Friday, the Orioles had lost back-to-back series for the first time this year. Their pitching team had 12 runs against Cleveland Wednesday while the bullpen gave up 11 runs.

But on a weekend when they faced a San Francisco Giants team that had won four of their last five series and was 11-5 in their previous 16 games, the Orioles won two out of three games against the Giants.

Their pitching team restored order despite playing three more games without Cedric Mullins and the final 15 innings of the series without Gunnar Henderson, who left Saturday’s game with lower back problems. The good news is that manager Brandon Hyde said Sunday he was doing better and seemed confident Henderson could play in the Milwaukee series, which begins tomorrow night.

O’s pitching gave up runs two, four, and three in the series at Oracle Park, allowing for nine runs with 21 hits in the 10-walk, 34-strikeout games.

Right-hander Tyler Wells peaked in his career with nine strikeouts on Sunday, but all the Ks also helped his pitch count increase and he left the game after 5 1/3 innings with 102 pitches. Mike Baumann, Yennier Cano, and Austin Voth covered the last 3 2/3, allowing for a hit and a run.

The O’s’ Pen gave up two runs in 10 2/3 against San Francisco after ending the Cleveland series badly at home.

“I think it’s great for them,” Wells said. “It’s a season of ups and downs for many of us. We will experience ups and downs. But overall they have recovered well and hopefully that keeps us on track.”

Of his nine days of strikeouts, Wells said, “I think it was a combination of different things. I think me and (catcher James) McCann agreed most of the time. Every time he pitched and got to the spot where he wanted the pitch, I would try to find him there every time. I didn’t try to knock out a lot of people today. I was just trying to achieve my goals and luckily it worked out that way.”

The Orioles are now 37-22 overall and 20-10 away. They are 8-2 away in the away series and after that latest win, Hyde said he wasn’t sure why his club were playing so well away from home this season.

“I do not know the answer. I think we have a lot of professionals who are ready to play. Come prepared to the park and like I said I’ve come here many times and this is not an easy place to play. So to get two out of three here, that’s a good series for us,” Hyde said.

Lester’s big hit, Lester’s big day: Henderson’s failure yesterday opened the door for the Orioles to start Josh Lester at third base. And Lester, who went 5-0 in his first two major league games for Detroit last September, scored his first MLB goal in the O’s jersey.

During Baltimore’s third inning with six runs, he hit a 3-2 pitch, loading the bases into midfield for a two-run single. A third run was counted due to a game error and a 3-0 lead became 6-0.

Lester, 28, a 13th-round draft pick for the Tigers in 2015, waited 795 minor league games and 2,988 at-bats for his first base hit in the big league. And it was big for the Orioles.

“Someone who’s never been on the top prospect list,” said Hyde, clearly touched by Lester’s background and history. “Someone who gets drafted in the 13th round. Look around the big leagues, there are a lot of guys like that. His story is great, he grew up in a baseball family. I’m grinding at Triple-A right now. Gunnar cannot go today. He gets a start. Huge success, great success for us. One that we honestly didn’t understand. I got a big hit that gave us some breathing room, and it did.”

Lester said of his particular achievement and moment: “Obviously, I’ve looked forward to this my entire life, ever since I was five years old and playing baseball. Even better, it came at an important point in the game with a couple of guys.

“I think I might have passed out a bit. Obviously just a surreal moment. I spent a lot of time in the minor leagues and a little bit in the big leagues last year. But getting that first hit is just a huge moment. I’m confident in my ability and in my chance to come back and take a hit, but it’s a huge load off your shoulders and a big smile on your face when it does.”

He definitely made his contribution.

“Absolutely. No matter how much you travel in the minor leagues, fast or slow, scoring the first goal and moving up to the big leagues is everyone’s dream. But to spend so much time in the minor leagues and kind of Fighting through it definitely means a lot to me,” said Lester, who is now 1-8 in MLB.

He said he would give the ball to his parents or maybe send it to his fiancee.

He also discussed how we’ve seen in an O’s organization full of prospects that this year also saw some older players like Ryan O’Hearn and Lester get their chances. Both have since celebrated great successes for the club.

“I think it’s a testament to the organization. Obviously player development is intense. The Triple A team is full and the Double A team also has some people and the player development is really good. But when we bring in people who they think can contribute to the win – and I think when you talk to O’Hearn – we’re both just here to help the big league team do as much as we can to win,” added Lester.

Kjerstad moves up: The Orioles promote Heston Kjerstad from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. He earned a 3-4 win with an RBI in Bowie’s 14-10 loss to Harrisburg on Sunday.

In 46 games this season with the Baysox, 2022 Arizona Fall League MVP Kjerstad hit .310/.383/.576/.959 with 10 doubles, three triples, 11 homers and 23 RBIs.

Norfolk have today off and will open their next series Tuesday night at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

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Don’t rely on California, especially when banks are involved.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is widely discussed as a harbinger of the future, a sign of trouble at the tech companies that were its best customers. But this bank collapse actually fits a very old pattern – California is threatening the global economy.

Our state’s history of triggering economic crises is rooted in our need to get rich quick, a trait of our state since the Gold Rush.

The California Constitution of 1849 prohibited banking. But with the discovery of gold, banks grew fast – and collapsed faster. The history of San Francisco in the 1850s is one of financial panics followed by attempts to emerge from them. The Bank of California, the first commercial bank in the west, was founded in 1864 and had failed by 1875. (It was later reopened).

The catastrophe only spawned new banks. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, banker AP Giannini established a makeshift bank in North Beach. Eventually, he founded Bank of America, which was briefly the world’s largest bank in the 1980s.

Bank of America survived (but merged and moved to North Carolina). But for the past two generations, California has regularly caused crises and global recessions.

The savings and credit crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s was in part the result of banking deregulation promoted by a California President, Ronald Reagan, and California legislators. The state’s thrift, under financial pressure from high inflation, sought to escape their woes through speculative investments, which only aggravated their problems.

This deregulation was most shamelessly exploited by the Irvine-based Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and its director, Charles Keating, who used depositors’ money for high-risk investments. Keating, attempting to bypass federal agencies and retain control of his thrift, compromised five US Senators, known as the Keating Five, including Californian Alan Cranston. Keating was eventually convicted of fraud but released on appeal.

Hundreds of savings and loan banks have been closed forever. The federal government intervened to protect some thrifts and depositors at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $100 billion.

The 21st century has seen two California powered busts. The first came in 2000, when the collapse of many tech startups and tech stock prices helped trigger a national recession.

But this recession turned out to be minor compared to the Great Recession of 2008. This global economic meltdown is often blamed on Wall Street banks. But it too was invented in California.

Then as now, the Golden State had the largest and most expensive housing market in the country. Our middle class, in their ambitious desperation to buy homes and maintain an unaffordable standard of living, has paved the way to ever-growing consumer and mortgage debt. Our banks and mortgage companies—including Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender—led the way in originating bad subprime loans that left borrowers owing more than their homes were worth. Countrywide and its Wall Street friends have also ruthlessly securitized these loans; They were then traded in the markets, with many investors not understanding the risks.

As the housing market collapsed and foreclosures increased, the carnage included the collapse of stock markets, double-digit unemployment, record bankruptcies for people and local governments, huge federal budget deficits, and mass layoffs among public workers and across many industries. In California, family income fell, the middle class shrank, and income inequality rose to the highest level in at least 30 years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Californians pride themselves on the size of their state’s economy, which will soon be the fourth largest in the world. But when an economy of this magnitude collapses, it expands across borders, adding to economic malaise from Madrid to Manila.

Because of this, world markets plummeted when news broke of depositors fleeing Silicon Valley Bank. California’s leading tech companies and their employees banked at these institutions, so many have assumed the contagion will spread as before. It remains to be seen whether the US government’s aggressive move to seize the Silicon Valley bank and even guarantee uninsured funds will contain the damage.

Today, major global institutions track and provide “systemic risk” or “mega risk” reports on the future of the world and its economies. The World Economic Forum has released a risk report covering natural disasters, inequality and its impacts, climate change, democratic decline, aging infrastructure, technological disruption, war, terrorism and infectious diseases.

Perhaps they should add California to the list with its flair for spectacular financial failures.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for the Zócalo Public Square.

Joe Mathews

Originally published Apr 15, 2023 at 7:30 am

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I think we have to go back to holding repeat offenses and repeat violent offenses accountable. I think that has been lost in this system and that cost us many lives over the past two years, having repeat offenders go out and reoffend in lethal ways. And so I am committed to making sure that those who decide to live a life of crime and chronically commit crime in this city [are held] accountable. As well as, as I said, balancing that need for reform.

So would it be fair then to say one metric by which the public should judge you would be to see if police arrest rates go up?

I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I think a lot of it is how people feel. If people start to see more action on the part of the police and more action within the DA’s office to hold offenders accountable, I think they should hopefully start feeling different as they walk about the streets. There will also be data, of course, they can look to.

How do you measure that feeling?

Can you walk outside and not be robbed? Right. Repeatedly, because I think that’s a part of what’s happening. Can we get the number of hate crimes to decline in this city? Can we stop people from feeling that this is a place where you can come and walk out with bags of goods from our convenience stores with no consequence? And I’m hoping that we can see numbers of those situations decline.

By when? We’ve got a few months until November, when you’re going to be up [for election]. Potentially, former DA Boudin would run against you. We don’t know who else may. Do you expect that people should be able to see the effect of your work by November?

Myself and the attorneys in my office are going to work tirelessly to make sure that we start seeing those effects immediately, and we’ve already begun that work. And so I am hoping that each and every day people see slow progress in that respect.

Political Breakdown

SCOTT SHAFER: We were talking about what drew you into working in the DA’s office. And you quit last year. You were a prosecutor in the homicide unit, and then you helped lead this recall of Boudin. Is it fair to say that as it became clear that he was going to lose, maybe post-June 7th, you lobbied for the job? Did you want it?

BROOKE JENKINS: No, I wouldn’t say that’s fair at the time that the recall was going on.

SCOTT SHAFER: What about after?

BROOKE JENKINS: After it passed, I did express interest in the job, in part because I wanted to make sure that whoever took over what somebody who was truly passionate and dedicated to this work. Who didn’t see it as a stepping stone to something else political, had experience doing the work. And so that meant a lot to me.

MARISA LAGOS: What was the interview process like? My understanding is that the mayor made pretty specific demands of all the folks she talked to about what she wanted to see done. Did you make promises to the mayor and how did you present yourself?

BROOKE JENKINS: It was a very intense process. I will say that. I think I had three interviews with her. I would not say she made demands of me during that interview, but she did have a laundry list of questions about certain topics, certain issues, I assume, based on conversations she had had with members of the public and what was significant to them. And so she wanted to make sure that whoever took over, it appeared to me, had a concrete understanding of the office and of what it was going to take to help get this city turned around.

MARISA LAGOS: I’m curious, though. You’ve talked about people needing to be patient. That one prosecutor, one DA, isn’t going to change crime trends overnight. And yet the construct of the recall was very much putting the problems of the city on one person’s back. Why should voters give you a different sort of opportunity to prove yourself? And how much time do you think we should give?

BROOKE JENKINS: I think what I was saying was that I can’t snap my fingers and make crime disappear. And I made that clear every time that I talked about the recall that I didn’t think everything was Chesa’s fault. I never could have put that through.

MARISA LAGOS: A lot of the people who supported the recall did, though.

The post After Firing Extra Than a Dozen Workers, New SF DA Brooke Jenkins Says She Will Restore ‘Regulation and Order to San Francisco’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Most of the San Francisco Bay Area will lift local indoor mask rules next week, with officials saying that the COVID-19 danger has fallen enough to safely take the crucial step.

Along with Los Angeles County, the Bay Area has long had some of the strictest masking requirements in the state. But many officials in the Bay Area have now decided it’s time to relax local mask orders for indoor public spaces for vaccinated people, although they continue to strongly recommend mask-wearing. Only Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, is keeping indoor mask rules for now in the region.

“We are able to take this next major step of removing the universal indoor mask requirement because we have laid a strong foundation in good public health protections and know we can prevent severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer, said in a statement.

California officials have said they will allow a statewide mask order for indoor public spaces to expire on Tuesday, allowing counties to drop the mask mandate for vaccinated people in indoor public spaces on Wednesday. Unvaccinated individuals over age 2 statewide will continue to be required to wear masks in all indoor public settings.

And other masking orders will still apply, such as in healthcare settings, on public transportation and in K-12 schools and childcare settings.

gov. Gavin Newsom also said the state should, in the coming days, make a public announcement regarding mask-wearing in public schools as well as the release of an “endemic plan” outlining strategies for the next phase of the battle against COVID-19.

But a top priority — both now and moving forward — remains getting more Californians vaccinated, as well as boosted when they are eligible.

“We are humbled in the face of this disease in all its forms and manifestations, mindful that it is not extinguished, it’s not yet behind us, mindful we still have a lot of work to do to convince people that they should still get vaccinated, let alone boosted,” Newsom said.

While they are dropping fast, case rates are still high in the Bay Area — about 430 cases a week for every 100,000 residents, according to a Times analysis, still far above the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s threshold for recommending indoor public mask- wearing for vaccinated people, which is 50 cases a week for every 100,000 residents. LA County’s rate is even higher, at about 650 cases a week for every 100,000 residents.

But the Bay Area’s hospitals weren’t hit as hard as Southern California’s in the latest winter wave, and vaccination and booster rates in the Bay Area are among the highest in the state. Santa Clara County has 84% ​​of its residents of all ages considered fully vaccinated; San Francisco, 82%; and LA County, 69%.

One-third of LA County residents of all ages have received a booster shot; while more than half of San Francisco and Santa Clara County residents have received the additional dose.

“Omicron was an immense stress test on our system, and although it presented many difficulties because of the sheer number of people who became infected, we made it through with schools and businesses open and without overwhelming our hospitals because we have built up strong defenses against the virus with our high vaccination and booster rates,” Philip said.

Health officials in the Bay Area still recommended vaccinated people wear a mask as the safer approach in indoor public settings. “Wearing a mask in indoor public settings and in crowded settings is still a good idea and something we strongly recommend,” the San Mateo County health officer, Dr. Scott Morrow, said in a statement.

Wearing a mask remains “the safest choice for yourself and your loved ones,” Dr. Nicholas Moss, the Alameda County health officer, said in a statement.

Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous county, will continue a local indoor mask order, aligning with the approach of Los Angeles County, where health officials agreed that it’s too early to lift a mask order in indoor public spaces.

Based on current trends, Santa Clara County health officials expect that they’ll meet revised criteria to lift their mask mandate perhaps by early March or so. LA County is on track to lift its local indoor mask mandate sometime between late March or late April, according to a Times analysis of trends.

“We still have very high levels of community transmission — still higher than at any other point in the pandemic, pre-Omicron. And so, the risk of being exposed to someone with COVID in our community is still high,” Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County public health director and health officer, said at a press briefing. “We cannot lift the indoor mask requirement with community transmission as high as it is right now.”

Santa Clara County is reporting about 460 cases a week for every 100,000 residents, which is about 1,300 coronavirus cases a day. According to data Cody provided, officials will wait for the case rate to fall to 200 cases a week for every 100,000 residents — which is 550 cases a day for Santa Clara County — and remain there for one week.

Santa Clara County also wants to wait until coronavirus-positive hospitalizations remain low and steady. “We’ve not yet met this metric as our hospitalizations have plateaued, but are not yet on their way down, though we do hope and expect to see them trending that way very soon,” Cody said.

Los Angeles County is waiting for case rates to fall to 50 cases a week for every 100,000 residents, which is 730 cases a day in the county, and remain below that level for two weeks. Based on current trends of cases falling in half every week, LA County is on track to reach that threshold in early March, meaning it’s plausible LA County’s indoor mask mandate could be dropped by late March.

dr George Rutherford, a UC San Francisco epidemiologist, said it was reasonable for Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties to retain their mask mandates, even as other counties choose to go with masking policies as lenient as the state allows. Compared to the rest of the Bay Area’s most highly populated counties, Santa Clara County has one of the higher case rates — its rate of 464 cases a week for every 100,000 residents is 40% higher than San Francisco’s, which is 330 cases a week for every 100,000 residents.

“We’ve had a very cautious approach to this. And I think that’s not an unreasonable way to do it,” Rutherford said.

It’s also reasonable for the rest of the Bay Area to drop their local indoor mask mandate, Rutherford said: “That’s a judgment call about how it fits best with the local epidemiology.”

Rutherford, however, did suggest a more cautious approach in retaining mask mandates for harder-hit areas of the state, such as the San Joaquin Valley, where local mask mandates are politically difficult to implement. The San Joaquin Valley has a case rate of about 550 cases a week for every 100,000 residents, and hospitals remain quite strained there.

In announcing the plan to relax California’s indoor masking rule, state officials noted that the numbers of newly confirmed coronavirus cases and hospitalized COVID-19 patients are down significantly from last month’s surge-time heights.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Newsom said during a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday.

Though he said he thinks “broadly, we’re moving in a direction that will be embraced by the vast majority of cities and counties in this state over the coming weeks,” Newsom noted that some areas may elect for a different near-term approach .

“We’ve made tremendous progress, and that progress is exampled all across the state of California — but not equally,” he said. “And as a consequence of that, considering such, California has always established itself from the bottom up. One size does not fit all. We have basic mandates in terms of minimum expectations, but we allow local control. We allow local decisions to be made.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Board of Supervisors approved an emergency order to tackle the opioid epidemic in San Francisco’s troubled Tenderloin neighborhood, despite reservations by some that the declaration will be used by the mayor to criminalize people who are homeless, addicted to drugs or both.

The vote shortly after midnight on Friday was 8-2, following a marathon 10 hours of debate and public comment. The public health emergency declaration authorizes the Department of Emergency Management to re-allocate city staff and bypass contracting and permitting regulations to set up a new temporary center where people can access expanded drug treatment and counseling.

Advocates for the homeless and substance users urged supervisors to reject the emergency order because Mayor London Breed has also pledged to flood the district with police to halt crime, which some residents want. The mayor also said some drug users may wind up in jail unless they accept services, although drug possession is a misdemeanor crime and rarely enforced.

The board ultimately approved the declaration, calling the abundance of cheap fentanyl a crisis. More people in San Francisco died of overdose last year than of COVID-19.

“I know that this is an incredibly painful, traumatic and emotional conversation,” said Matt Haney, the supervisor who represents the neighborhood, before the vote. He said he hopes the city will bring all of its “innovation, unyielding compassion and relentless determination” to confront the crisis.

Several supervisors raised objections, although only Board President Shamann Walton and Dean Preston voted no. They decried the lack of details and dearth of available treatment beds, and said that over-policing would victimize African Americans and the homeless.

Walton, the only African American person on the board, said he wished more attention would be paid to homicides in his district, which includes the traditionally Black neighborhoods of Bayview and Hunters Point.

The Tenderloin includes museums, the main public library and government offices, including City Hall. But it’s also teeming with people who are homeless or marginally housed, a high concentration of drug dealers and people consuming drugs in broad view.

The order itself does not call for increased police and Police Chief Bill Scott assured supervisors that officers have no intention of locking up people just because they are addicted to drugs. Still, he said police can’t simply ignore what’s happening in a neighborhood where children are scared to go outside and people are injecting poisonous drugs.

“We’re out there to help,” Scott said. “We’re not out there to turn a blind eye to people killing themselves on the street.”

In announcing the emergency declaration last week, the mayor said it was time to be “less tolerant of all the bull— that has destroyed our city.” On social media this week, she said people openly using drugs will be given treatment and other service options.

“But if they refuse, we’re not going to allow them to continue using on the street,” she said on social media this week. “The families in the neighborhood deserve better.”

Breed has committed to opening a supervised drug consumption site as well as a drug sobering center, and said the emergency management department will lead the response much like it coordinated efforts to address the pandemic. The department will, in part, streamline emergency medical calls, disrupt drug dealing and use, and make sure streets stay clean.

Deaths attributable to overdoses have increased more than 200% in San Francisco since 2018, and last year, more than 700 people died from drug overdoses in the city, more than the number who died from COVID-19, according to the proclamation.

Nearly 600 people have died of a drug overdose this year, through November, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in the Tenderloin and in the neighboring South of Market district, says the proclamation. These areas make up 7% of San Francisco’s population.

Politically liberal cities across the US are grappling with crime in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, when their elected leaders pledged ways to reduce friction between police and vulnerable communities of color, particularly African Americans such as Floyd.

San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin joined the city’s public defender earlier this week to denounce the mayor’s plan, saying that jailing people struggling with addiction, mental health issues and homelessness would not work. They want her to use the money on adding more treatment beds, shelters, job training and other social services.

“What we currently see in the Tenderloin didn’t happen overnight and stems from years of massive disinvestment and displacement,” said Jeannette Zanipatin, California director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

The emergency order will last 90 days.

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FILE – San Francisco Mayor London Breed talks during a briefing outside City Hall in San Francisco on Dec. 1, 2021. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an emergency order the mayor wants to tackle an opioid epidemic in its troubled Tenderloin district. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

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FILE – People sleep near discarded clothing and used needles on a street in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, on July 25, 2019. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an emergency order the mayor wants to tackle an opioid epidemic in its troubled Tenderloin district . (AP Photo/Janie Har, File)

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SFG / AP) – An emergency ordinance from Mayor London Breed aimed at addressing drug trafficking and overdosing in San Francisco’s tenderloin neighborhood has been heavily criticized ahead of its board of directors to vote on Thursday.

The public health declaration of a state of emergency enables the emergency management department to forego licensing, zoning and contracting rules in order to speed up hiring street cleaners and security services and building a new temporary center where people can be treated and counseled, Breed said.

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The order has nothing to do with a police operation, but critics are calling on the board of directors to reject the statement amid Breed’s broader plan to flood the area with officials and jail drug users if they refuse to accept treatment.

“Threatening people to arrest doesn’t work to bring addicts into treatment,” said San Francisco supervisor Dean Preston, who wants the mayor to spend money on expanding mental health services, alternatives to the police and hotel rooms for the homeless.

“We can do this, but only if we learn from past mistakes instead of repeating them,” he said on social media.

The tenderloin includes museums, the main public library and government offices, including the town hall. But it is also teeming with people who are homeless or in marginal homes, with a high concentration of drug dealers and drug users.

Breed said last week it was time to “be less tolerant of all the bull – that destroyed our city”. She said it wasn’t fair that residents couldn’t use their parks or leave their homes.

CONTINUE READING: Increase in COVID-19 cases is forcing Contra Costa to request test appointments

“If someone openly uses drugs on the street, we give them the opportunity to take advantage of the services and treatments we offer. But if they refuse, we won’t allow them to continue consuming on the streets, ”she said on social media this week. “The families in the neighborhood deserve better.”

The number of overdose-related deaths in San Francisco has increased more than 200% since 2018, and over 700 people died from drug overdoses in the city last year, more than the number who died from COVID -19 died, according to the proclamation.

Nearly 600 people died of drug overdoses this year through November, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in the Tenderloin and neighboring South of Market District, the proclamation said. These areas make up 7% of the population of San Francisco.

Politically liberal cities in the US are grappling with crime following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, when their elected leaders pledged ways to reduce friction between police and vulnerable color communities, especially African-Americans like Floyd.

San Francisco Prosecutor Chesa Boudin joined the city’s public defender earlier this week in denouncing the mayor’s plan, saying that detaining people struggling with addiction, mental health problems and homelessness would not work .

They want her to use the money to build additional treatment beds, shelter, professional training, and other social services.

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