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San Francisco RV Group Fears New Parking Guidelines Might Push Them Nearer to Homelessness

Daily SF News — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 22:12:20 +0000

Finding temporary shelter in the interim won’t be easy. As of Oct. 23, there were 377 people on the waiting list for emergency shelter in San Francisco.

With the clock now ticking, advocates for unhoused people say the city must find a solution quickly so no residents are ticketed, towed, or forced to abandon their vehicles and live on the street.

“The families on Winston Drive and Buckingham Way deserve dignity and safety, including a safe parking site and access to permanent housing,” Eleana Binder, policy manager for the homeless services nonprofit Glide, said in a written statement. “Implementing the parking restrictions without options will push them deeper into instability and homelessness.”

People like Suarez say it will be impossible to move their vehicle every four hours while at work, so they’ll have to find a new place to park to avoid the $92 parking tickets. For him, a single parking ticket is nearly half of this daily $220 paycheck.

SFMTA also noted it has payment plans for tickets, community service alternatives and discounts for people experiencing homelessness.

Jessica Coello puts a wedge under the front tire of her RV after moving it for street sweeping on Winston Drive in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Others said they have no other option but to try to stay and move their vehicle when they can.

Jessica Coello has lived on Winston Drive for about a year with her two kids, ages 15 and 17, who go to high school in the city. Like many of her neighbors, she started living on Winston during the pandemic after she lost work. It was cheaper than paying rent and has allowed her to save up some money for her kids’ college education.

“We aren’t going to have a safe place to go, and we’ll get a lot of tickets,” she told KQED about her fears looking ahead. “If we get a lot of tickets, they’ll tow the RVs, and we won’t have anywhere to live.”

Coello, who works in childcare and housekeeping, has struggled to find regular work after the pandemic. But she wants to stay close to her children’s school so they can graduate on time. She feels lost without options.

“They don’t accept RVs anywhere. Either they are too close to the houses, and people there don’t want RVs near, or we are on the streets, and they can’t stay there,” she told KQED. “If you put restrictions, we’ll be homeless. It will be an even worse situation for us.”

Residents chant during a rally calling on San Francisco to provide safe parking sites and housing for families living in RVs near San Francisco State University at risk of eviction on Winston Drive on Oct. 24, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Joshua Hernandez, 21, moved to an RV on Winston Drive with his girlfriend just three months ago, after it got too expensive to continue renting their apartment in Daly City. He’s working as a plumber and his girlfriend is taking classes at Skyline Community College.

“Even if we worked long days everyday, it wasn’t enough to pay our bills and still go to college. So we moved here. And it feels way better now, we can save for our future,” he told KQED outside a rally on Tuesday morning where families living in RVs were demanding the city find a safe parking site before the new rules kick in.

For many of the families parked next to him, Suarez said, the new parking limits will “pretty much force everyone out.”

But Suarez hopes he’s wrong.

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San Francisco Film Theater Staff Amongst Nationwide Unionization Push

Daily SF News — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 18:05:58 +0000

For movie theater owners around the country, the same-day release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” this summer meant record box office sales and a gratifying sign that the public still craved entertainment on the big screen.

READ MORE: Trying To Catch ‘Barbie’ or ‘Mission: Impossible’? Here’s All of San Francisco’s Movie Theaters

But for some employees at the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan, “Barbenheimer” was the breaking point.

“That really pushed us to the edge,” says Maggie Quick, a guest attendant. “It was just the constant understaffing and the emotional exhaustion.”

“People were waiting longer than usual for their food and that makes them short-tempered and impatient,” recalls Tyler Trautman, a shift leader. “We’re the ones facing customers. It takes a toll, a mental toll, to be yelled at by guests because their drink has been taking an hour.”

Quick and Trautman were among dozens at the Manhattan theater who decided it was time to form a union. Alamo employees worked with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and this week voted to unionize, with nearly two-thirds in favor. They join Alamo employees at the Brooklyn theater, who voted last month to become part of Local 2179.

“We’re very excited to be moving forward in solidarity with Brooklyn,” Quick said after the vote was announced. “We have strength in our numbers and hope to see some real change.”

An Alamo spokesperson said the company would decline comment.

At a time of labor action in the movie industry and beyond, union activity is expanding at movie theaters themselves, a trend which began during the pandemic. Over the past two years, employees have formed or attempted to form unions at the Film Forum and Anthology Film Archives in New York, the Amherst Cinema in Massachusetts and Alamo Drafthouses in San Francisco and Austin, Texas, home to Alamo’s company headquarters.

The transition to a union shop went smoothly at some theaters. The owners in Amherst voluntarily agreed to recognize the union and a contract was reached earlier this year. Film Forum workers, who unionized in 2022, agreed last summer to a 5-year contract that raises salaries by an average of 12%. Anthology Film Archives employees went on strike for a day last year, but have since agreed to terms.

“Overall, it’s been fairly peaceful,” says Olga Brudastova, president of UAW Local 2110, which represents the Film Forum and Anthology Film Archives unions. In a statement, Chad Bolton, the Film Forum general manager, said the contract was born from “a thorough and thoughtful process.”

But at Alamo Drafthouse, the chain known for its eclectic offerings of films and in-theater food and drink service, employees speak of ongoing resistance from the company. According to images and audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press, Alamo management in New York has posted flyers urging workers not to unionize and brought in speakers from Texas, including Alamo co-founder Tim League.

“We appreciate everything you do for our venue and believe we can work better together to solve problems without the need of a third-party like a union to come between us and charge you dues,” one flyer reads.

Alamo held meetings in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the weeks leading up to union votes. In each gathering, management officials acknowledged discontent among staff members, while reiterating that any issues were better worked out entirely within the company.

In Brooklyn, per the recordings, League reflected on the company’s history, dating back to its origins in the 1990s. He spoke of his dedication to Alamo and of his own progressive affinities, including his “passionate” support for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Both League and his wife and Alamo co-founder Karrie League have contributed to various Democratic Party candidates. Tim League has publicly praised the pro-labor senator’s 2016 presidential run, telling a CNBC interviewer in 2016 that “Bernie is going to be good for America.”

League emphasized that he “understood” why Hollywood actors and writers were striking, and why auto workers went on strike. But for Alamo, he said, unions would be a step back, a “communication block.”

“I fully recognize my own personal bias here,” he said. “I don’t think that forming a union is the right solution for Alamo, that is my personal opinion. I’m concerned that a union is going to drive a wedge between us.”

Only 6% of private U.S. sector workers belong to unions today, a fraction of the 35% represented in the 1950s. But more workers in numerous industries have begun organizing lately and their actions have public support. According to Gallup, approval of stronger unions stands at 67%, down slightly from the 71% approval seen last year, but mirroring levels last seen in the 1960s. A recent AP-NORC poll found that a majority of U.S. adults sympathized with the striking Hollywood workers.

The Leagues were recent graduates of Rice University when in 1997 they opened the first Alamo, a single-screen venue in Austin. They soon established a word-of-mouth following among movie lovers and within the next few years had opened several other locations around Texas. In 2005, Entertainment Weekly named Alamo Drafthouse the country’s best cinema venue, calling the experience “movie geek heaven.”

The company now has dozens of theaters around the U.S., but endured financial struggles during the pandemic. In March 2021, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closed some locations and cancelled plans to open new ones. Alamo emerged from bankruptcy at the end of May 2021, under the ownership of League. Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group. Michael Kusterman, a former executive at Caveman Foods, has been Alamo CEO since replacing the retiring Shelli Taylor in July.

League, who in 2020 became executive chairman of Alamo, said in the recordings he was “disappointed” Brooklyn workers wanted to unionize, while adding that the company couldn’t meet his high standards for Alamo without a happy staff. He acknowledged past errors, including a “troubling lack of communication,” but said that Alamo was committed to moving forward. He asked the staff to give the management team a year to prove itself.

“I hear you and I’ll keep on listening,” he said. “Like I said, I built this company to be the best damn cinema that has ever, or will ever exist. And it’s an aspirational goal. It’ll never be complete. I personally feel strongly that inserting a union between you and me and the team hinders that goal. So that’s why even after all the work, the hard work that’s been done to get to this point, I ask you to vote ‘no’ in forming a union.”

Within days, Brooklyn employees voted to unionize, by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

“For years the workers of Brooklyn Alamo have tried to solve problems through dialogue with management, to no avail,” the union statement read in part. “Now Alamo Drafthouse must meet us at the bargaining table.”

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San Francisco’s push to show workplace buildings into houses hinges on this easy concept

Daily SF News — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 06:05:22 +0000

By Joy Wiltermuth

The AI boom is probably not sufficient to restore to health San Francisco’s reeling office market

Converting San Francisco’s old downtown office buildings into housing won’t be an easy task, with high costs, clunky floorplates and existing tenants in buildings only a few of the obstacles developers need to overcome.

Desolate buildings still need to be in places where people want to live.

“Hope is not a strategy,” said Nick Romito, co-founder and CEO of VTS, a leasing and asset-management data company. “The hope that if you convert it, they will come –well, a lot depends on where that building is.”

While New York City’s downtown financial district is home to a number of successful office-to-residential conversions, it also takes a vibrant neighborhood, with bustling cafés, grocery stores and more.

“That is not the same for San Francisco,” Romito said. “The infrastructure and the cost of converting a building — that’s part of it,” he said. “But I’d be more concerned about, even if you can convert it, who wants to live there?”

In the game

Romito speaks with the confidence of a New Yorker about the challenges San Francisco faces. He also has skin in the game, with offices at the Embarcadero Center, one of the West Coast’s largest mixed-use properties, which connects the city’s financial district with San Francisco Bay.

A decade ago VTS got off the ground, offering a service Romito characterizes as the Salesforce (CRM) of the office-leasing industry. It was helped along by his Rolodex of top landlords. Romito previously was a broker in New York City’s notoriously feast-or-famine office sector, while in a previous role he oversaw a portfolio of millions of square feet of office space.

The turmoil in the office properties means many former clients now use his data to help make sense of the coming carnage, while landlords face sharply higher borrowing costs since the Federal Reserve began to rapidly raise target lending rates, a mountain of debt coming due and other tough choices.

See:The $1 trillion ‘wall of worry’ for commercial real estate that spirals through 2027

“What’s cheaper?” Romito said. “Is it cheaper to add amenities in maybe a zombie building, add a floor or two, to create a better experience? Or is it cheaper to knock the entire building down, rebuild something else, and pray to God you lease it?”

Cost of the land

San Francisco isn’t a big city by global standards — it ranks just No. 17 in the U.S. by population — but its recent woes are notorious, from a recent population drain to a local fentanyl crisis to oft-voiced concerns about public safety. Breathing new life into old office buildings sounds like an enticing fix for a shelter problem that has been building to a crescendo, after decades of new housing initiatives being voted down.

Like other major California cities, the tide of homelessness in San Francisco increasingly includes people who are elderly. The fentanyl crisis ravaging the U.S. makes matters on the ground in San Francisco still worse.

As Mayor London Breed in June told Bloomberg in a sit-down interview, “The issues around opioids have done something to our city, and to other major cities, like something that I’ve never seen before.”

She now wants action to combat the “doom and gloom everyone is talking about.” As part of that push, Breed called out the tech community to not only “make money from San Francisco,” but to stick around and invest in solutions to its struggles.

Warren Wachsberger, CEO of Aecom Capital, a subsidiary of Aecom (ACM), said revamping old office buildings isn’t that simple. “Less than 1% of all apartment units underway, being built nationally, are office-to-residential conversions, despite everybody’s love affair with them,” Wachsberger said, speaking from Los Angeles.

Many buildings probably won’t work,” Wachsberger said, observing that thick, concrete office floorplates often need to be drilled through and plumbing and heating systems overhauled, with local building codes adding to the headache.

“It’s a lot easier and cheaper to demolish it and start over from scratch,” he said. “That means buying buildings essentially at the cost of land.”

Wachsberger said hopes for an expansion of an office-to-residential conversion effort in Los Angeles in the 2000s likely hinge on incentives for developers and the buildings being in places where people wanted to work, eat, live and shop. “Until that’s able to come back, it’s difficult to create the vibrancy that was there prepandemic,” he said.

AI and a new direction

San Francisco’s downtown core remains hollowed out, even as the city makes a noticeable push for cleaner and safer streets in the wake of the pandemic. The goal is to draw more office workers back to old commuting patterns, enticing them to buy a morning coffee, a sandwich or after-work drink.

See:Elon Musk’s X — the former Twitter — removes illegal sign from roof of its San Francisco headquarters

But its office vacancy rate remains high at 27.1% through the second quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield (CWK). The real-estate firm expects San Francisco vacancies to tick higher through the rest of this year, as some 4 million square feet of leases expire.

As part of its turnaround effort, the city has been getting tougher on open-air drug use in recent months. Over the longer term, it plans to cut homelessness by half in the next five years, revamp downtown zoning and eventually convert unloved office buildings to other uses, including housing.

There also has been a lot of buzz this year around artificial-intelligence technologies, which has been a boon to big companies like Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA), while also sparking a broader stock-market rally.

See: VC spending is in a tailspin, and AI can’t reverse the trend — yet

Gabriella Sierra’s team of researchers at Cushman & Wakefield in San Francisco said in a second-quarter outlook that AI’s anticipated expanding presence might partially revive the tech industry’s footprint in the city.

But AI isn’t likely a cure-all for the city’s financial woes, particularly with San Francisco projecting its budget shortfall to widen to $1.3 billion by fiscal year 2027–28.

Romito said that despite a “bit of a renaissance” in office-leasing demand in the past quarter by businesses with an AI focus and venture-capital funding, it isn’t likely “enough to carry a market.”

Stocks closed higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index scoring the strongest seven months to start a year in decades. The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s rally has been more modest; it’s up 7.3% on the year so far, according to FactSet.

-Joy Wiltermuth

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-31-23 1811ET

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Clear power push in New Jersey, elsewhere met with warnings the federal government is coming on your range

Daily SF News — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 04:58:15 +0000

A construction worker walks on what will be the top of a new home being built in Brick, N.J. on July 10, 2023. Government pushes to move buildings and vehicles away from burning fossil fuels to help address climate change are generating pushback in New Jersey and around the nation, with opponents worried about the cost of switching. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

BRICK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey is pushing an ambitious agenda to move its more than 9 million residents away from natural gas and gasoline to heat their homes and power their cars, in favor of electricity to do the job of both.

But like many other places in the country, the moves, designed to lessen the harmful impact of burning fossil fuels on the planet’s climate, are garnering significant opposition from foes who warn that the government is coming to take away your stove and your car.

New Jersey utility regulators on Wednesday approved a series of “decarbonization” measures designed to incentivize buildings to switch from natural gas heat to electric. Participation in the programs is strictly voluntary, according to the chairman of the state Board of Public Utilities, who lashed out against “misinformation and lies” being circulated by opponents.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has said he wants only “zero-emissions” vehicles to be available in the state by 2035.

Taken together, they represent aggressive steps to move away from fossil fuel use.

“We build upon our nation-leading record of bold climate action while delivering on our promise to utilize every tool at our disposal to combat the intensifying climate crisis,” Murphy said earlier this month in announcing the requirement that manufacturers ramp up their production of electric vehicles, reaching 100% by 2035.

“No one is coming for anyone’s gas stove,” the governor said. “No one is walking into anyone’s kitchen. No one is going to be forced to do anything, in any way.”

But to opponents, the moves represent serious and costly government overreach, which will inevitably need to be enforced by bans.

“New Jerseyans are learning that the ultimate goal of ‘building decarbonization’ and Gov. Murphy’s extreme green energy plan is the elimination of affordable natural gas and the extremely costly replacement of gas stoves, furnaces, and hot water heaters,” said Republican state Sen. Anthony Bucco. “They’re realizing there’s no way to fully electrify the entire state without bans, mandates, expensive conversions, and higher energy bills.”

The programs approved Wednesday by the Board of Public Utilities include goals and targets for buildings to install heat pumps instead of natural gas cooling and heating equipment.

These devices move heat between the air inside a home and the air outside a home, while ground source heat pumps transfer heat between the air inside a home and the ground outside a home. Low-income households would qualify for financial assistance to purchase and install them.

“Without a doubt, this will kick-start to the next generation of energy efficiency in New Jersey,” said the board’s chairman, Joseph Fiordaliso. “We are encouraging folks to move to energy efficiency. Notice I said ‘encouraging.’ We are not requiring. We are not mandating anyone to give up their gas stove. I cannot emphasize more that we are not mandating anything. So, enough of the misinformation out there.”

Decarbonization of buildings is a critical component in New Jersey’s energy master plan and is the focus of an executive order by the governor to install zero-carbon-emission space heating and cooling systems in 400,000 homes and 20,000 commercial properties, and make 10% of all low-to-moderate income properties electrification-ready by 2030.

It’s already happening in places like Berkeley, California, which in 2019 voted to ban natural gas connections in all new construction. San Francisco and New York City soon followed.

But other places, particularly those with Republican-led governments, are resisting. As of June, 24 states have adopted laws prohibiting natural gas bans. They call the laws “pre-emption” measures.

New Jersey’s business community is concerned with the cost of Murphy’s proposals, which some opponents have put at more than $1 trillion.

“While we should all work to reduce carbon emissions, the ban of gas-powered cars in such an expedited time frame does not take costs or feasibility into account, and it is likely to result in a major increase in New Jersey residents who actually won’t be able to afford to drive,” said Ray Cantor, an official with the New Jersey Business And Industry Association.

“The governor’s plan will make new cars virtually unaffordable for working and middle-class consumers and will severely limit vehicle consumer choice,” added Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers.

But the state’s environmental community strongly supports the switches.

“Building electrification is environmental protection from the inside out,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, state director of the Sierra Club. “Modern electric technologies are crucial to making our communities more resilient to extreme weather and are far more efficient than fossil-fuel alternatives. Our clean energy transition not only happens out there on our grids, but also right here in our homes and shared spaces so that we can all breathe easier while taking action to reduce harmful climate pollutants.”

___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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Clear vitality push in New Jersey, elsewhere met with warnings the federal government is coming in your range

Daily SF News — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:56:12 +0000

New Jersey utility regulators are to vote Wednesday on a series of “decarbonization” measures designed to incentivize buildings to switch from natural gas heat to electric.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has said he wants only “zero-emissions” vehicles to be available in the state by 2035.

Taken together, they represent aggressive steps to move away from fossil fuel use.

“No one is coming for anyone’s gas stove,” the governor said. “No one is walking into anyone’s kitchen. No one is going to be forced to do anything, in any way.”

But to opponents, the moves represent serious and costly government overreach, which will inevitably need to be enforced by bans.

While Murphy said the electric vehicle rules do not impose any obligations onto consumers or car dealerships, Brad Schnure, a spokesman for Senate Republicans, said there is no way New Jersey can reach the governor’s stated climate goals without mandates.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said the agency will not comment until after it votes on proposed decarbonization measures on Wednesday. Those steps include goals and targets for buildings to install heat pumps instead of natural gas cooling and heating equipment.

It’s already happening in places like Berkeley, California, which in 2019 voted to ban natural gas connections in all new construction. San Francisco and New York City soon followed.

New Jersey’s business community is concerned with the cost of Murphy’s proposals, which some opponents have put at more than $1 trillion.

But the state’s environmental community strongly supports the switches.

Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, called the BPU proposals “a necessary step toward reducing emissions from our buildings, the second-highest polluting sector in the state, while delivering clean air and healthier homes.”

___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Follow @ktar923

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New examine says excessive housing prices, low earnings push Californians into homelessness

Daily SF News — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 12:40:49 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — Homeless people in California are already a vulnerable group, often struggling with poor health, trauma and deep poverty before they lose their housing, according to a new study on adult homelessness.

The study released Tuesday by the University of California, San Francisco attempts to capture a comprehensive picture of how people become homeless in California, and what impeded their efforts at finding permanent housing. The representative survey of nearly 3,200 homeless people found that when they lost housing, their median household income was $960 a month, and for renters on leases it was $1,400 a month, of which on average half went to rent.

Homelessness is a national crisis, and all too pervasive in California, where an estimated 171,000 people — or 30% of all homeless people in the U.S. — are homeless. Political leaders are divided over how to address the crisis, with some, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, favoring tent encampment sweeps and a tough-love approach toward those with mental health and addiction issues.

It it not groundbreaking news that the state’s exorbitant housing costs are a major driver behind homelessness, but researchers at the UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative hope that the study will strengthen public support for policies that focus on offering housing and emergency rental assistance — rather than policies emphasizing punishment or stigma.

“People are homeless because their rent is too high. And their options are too few. And they have no cushion,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, initiative director and lead investigator. “And it really makes you wonder how different things would look if we could solve that underlying problem.”

Kushel’s team surveyed nearly 3,200 adults around California, and followed up to conduct in-depth interviews with 365 people, between October 2021 and November 2022.

The study found that Black people made up 26% of the homeless population in a state where they are only 6% of the general population. About 90% of participants were living in California when they became homeless. Half reported an inability to work due to age, health or disability. The median length of homelessness was a little under two years.

More than a third of adults surveyed met the criteria for chronic homelessness, meaning they had a disabling condition and were homeless for at least 1 year — or were homeless four times in the previous three years totaling more than 12 months.

In Los Angeles in 2015, Sage Johnson’s mother was evicted from their apartment when she was unable to meet rent that had increased to $1,200. In disability pay, she received about $1,340 a month. She bounced around, from LA’s notorious Skid Row to various convalescent homes while her daughter lived at a shelter.

Later, Johnson, 28, was able to place her mother in a home, where she stayed for about two years. In 2018 though, her mother died from a debilitating stroke.

Johnson, who now has stable housing, wishes she could have done more.

“But in the end, she did have a bed. She was inside. She didn’t have any more strokes outside. And she was able to regenerate and rejuvenate and restore some of her life while in the convalescent home,” said Johnson, a co-chair for one of the study’s advisory boards.

Among study participants, substance abuse and issues with mental health were common and predated becoming homeless. Of those surveyed, 45% reported current, regular use of cocaine, amphetamines and opioids or heavy episodic drinking. Participants described how heavy substance use contributed to losing their homes, but also how methamphetamine usage allowed them to stay alert to protect themselves from assault or theft.

Nearly half of the adults surveyed were not on a lease in the six months prior to becoming homeless, and had likely moved in with family or friends, contributing to rent when they could. Nearly a quarter cited conflict among housemates, desire for more space or not wanting to impose any longer on family and friends as primary reasons they left.

On average, people surveyed who were not on leases received only one day of warning before needing to move out.

Among people on rental lease agreements, more than 20% cited income loss or reduction as the primary reason they lost housing. “So it wasn’t so much that their housing costs increased, it’s that they could no longer keep up with it,” said Kushel.

California ranks as the most unaffordable state when it comes to housing, according to an annual report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A person earning an hourly minimum wage of $15.50 would have to work nearly 90 hours a week to afford the statewide average for a modest one-bedroom rental, which is nearly $1,800 a month, the coalition states.

The study was requested by Newsom’s administration, which has made addressing homelessness a priority, but the state did not fund it so didn’t play a role in analyzing data or interpreting the findings.

The report makes many recommendations, including deep expansion of rental assistance and pilot programs to facilitate shared housing for people seeking to get out of homelessness — and a rental stipend program for people living temporarily with family or friends.

Johnson said she hopes the public will find the report’s findings to be evidence that tax dollars are being put to good use in social safety net spending. She also hopes that people will support robust mental health and addiction treatment services along with affordable housing options.

“I don’t want to set anyone up for failure,” she said. “And I’m sure many of my peers can agree that folks need time to practice going back to, like, regular society life.”

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Amazon’s Return-To-Workplace Push Now Consists of Transferring Workers To Its Largest City Hubs

Daily SF News — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 18:01:04 +0000

Amazon is stepping up its campaign to put personal work back at the forefront.

The tech giant informed employees working remotely or in cities with smaller offices that they may need to relocate to the company’s largest job centers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon’s largest corporate offices — known as “main centers” — include its Seattle-area headquarters, HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia, and locations in New York, San Francisco, and Nashville.

Courtesy of Amazon

The two new office towers in the Metropolitan Park project, the first phase of Amazon HQ2.

Amazon’s push to return to the office began in February, when the company announced that most employees would have to work in person three days a week. Office staff began to grow massively in May when the company opened the doors to Metropolitan Park, the 2.2 million SF first phase of its HQ2 just outside of Washington, DC

The company is one of many large employers to face worker resistance to moving away from remote work after protests and work stoppages at its Bellevue, Wash., headquarters in late May.

Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice president of global economic development, told Bisnow in June that she hadn’t heard a single complaint about the personal work of office workers in the Arlington and Nashville areas, where the company opened a 566K SF building in 2021 as part of a planned operations center.

Further construction at HQ2, Nashville and Bellevue was officially put on hold last year as Amazon said it was reconsidering the use of its physical spaces, but Sullivan said success in filling in the metropolitan park gives the company confidence to potentially resume those plans as early as next year.

In recent months, business executives have taken a firm stance against constant remote work at more and more companies, leading to a surge in office occupancy and occupancy in the second quarter.

Although the company offers relocation bonuses as a carrot for employees it’s asked to move, Amazon has also pulled the stick by encouraging workers who opposed the change to either quit or seek a transfer to other departments, Business Insider reports.

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Advocates, Metropolis Council Members Push NYC Mayor to Make investments Extra in Parks

Daily SF News — Sun, 28 May 2023 19:59:03 +0000

by Samar Khurshid

As Mayor Eric Adams continues to propose sweeping cuts in city agencies, council members and supporters are calling on him to restore and increase funding for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Mayor Adams’ proposed $102.7 billion interim budget provided $520 million for the Parks Department, a decrease of $42 million from the budget approved last June and nearly $58 million Dollars less than when the budget was last changed in November.

“As our response to the council budget made clear, the parks cuts proposed by the mayor in his interim budget are absolutely unacceptable,” Councilor Shekar Krishnan, a Queens Democrat and chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, said in a phone interview.

Since taking office, Adams has strived to reduce the city’s wasteful spending and make government agencies more efficient. His government has also been forced to make difficult financial decisions as it faces several significant fiscal challenges, including a projected cost of nearly $4.3 billion in current and next fiscal years due to the migrant asylum-seeker crisis, the cost of municipal employment contracts (estimated to be $16). ($1 billion through fiscal 2027) and more than $1 billion annually in cuts and cost shifts in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed state budget.

Since November, the mayor has launched two Programs to Eliminate the Gap (PEG), mandating most agencies 3% cuts each time and implementing a major vacancy reduction initiative. Earlier this week, shortly after the city council issued its official response to the interim budget, the mayor announced another round of cuts ahead of the release of his executive budget, urging agencies to cut spending by another 4% (CUNY and the Department of ). A reduction of 3% is made for education.

Council members and park advocates are urging the administration to mitigate the impact of this PEG, which could potentially reduce the park’s budget by an additional $20 million, to reinstate all proposed cuts while increasing the department’s budget by tens of millions.

“We know that our parks are vital to our public health and well-being and that they are overseen every day by our city’s parks workers who are truly the beating heart of our parks system,” said Councilor Krishnan. “The cuts in the parks proposed by the mayor will directly impact workers and jobs, and will directly impact the services in our parks. We really should invest a lot more in our green spaces than we do, let alone give up.”

In its response to the preliminary budget, the city council — which identified $2.7 billion in additional revenue over the administration’s projections — asked the mayor to provide $46 million in new core funding for 1,000 additional entry-level park workers and $2.5 million to restore and baseline for natural forest conservation and $4.1 million for 50 Urban Park Rangers. “Since the beginning of this year’s budget process, the Council has prioritized the people of New York City and what they need to be successful,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement accompanying the budget response. “This requires investment in housing, libraries and parks, schools, early childhood education, mental health care and many other basic needs.”

Noting an increase in crimes against people in parks from 179 to 231 in the first quarter of this year, the council also called for additional spending funding to hire 300 more Parks Enforcement Patrol officers, doubling their number, and capital funding for the installation of Security measures cameras in parks.

Mayor’s spokesman Jonah Allon defended the mayor’s budget proposal, citing “significant fiscal and economic headwinds” the city is facing. “In Mayor Adams’ preliminary budget, the administration has made critical investments in public safety, affordable housing, clean streets and so many other areas that New Yorkers care deeply about – while maintaining the mayor’s strong track record of financial responsibility and continued investing in the future of our city,” Allon said, in part, in a statement. He also noted that the Council’s response did not take into account the full cost of the asylum seeker crisis. “The City Council’s failure to account for the associated $4.2 billion cost to asylum seekers, or possible government cuts, is unrealistic and does not adequately address the city’s current and upcoming financial challenges.” We value the council’s partnership and look forward to working with them over the coming months to negotiate a budget that will benefit New Yorkers,” he said.

However, Krishnan said the mayor’s proposed cuts to Parks are “inexplicable” when compared to his campaign commitment to a five-point Park equity plan — published by New Yorkers for Parks, an advocacy group — that would allow for the provision of 1 % of the city budget, approximately $1 billion, to the Parks Department. “New York City lags behind every single major city in America in park investment. Washington, DC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Minneapolis,” Krishnan said. “We spend $72 per capita on green space in New York City, which is one of the lowest in the country for any major city.”

“The mayor campaigned successfully and garnered many votes in support of our city’s park system, which has been underfunded for generations,” Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, said in a phone interview. “The government continues to reaffirm that commitment … but its actions appear to fall short of that political commitment.”

Ganser pointed to the peak of the pandemic when the city cut the park budget by about $84 million. The cuts disrupted maintenance and cleanup efforts, and resulted in littered parks and overflowing garbage as people flocked to the outdoor areas. “What we’re talking about now between the PEG cuts and the interim budget is a Parks Department cut, not far off the cut during the COVID-19 cut. So that’s really short-sighted thinking,” he said.

New Yorkers for Parks recently released a report highlighting the impact of allocating 1% of the city’s budget to parks, including cleaner and safer parks, faster repairs to avoid prolonged closures, better air quality and protection from the heat, and better conditions for park workers . among other benefits.

The mayor fulfilled one of the key commitments in the park justice plan in February this year when he appointed Ya-Ting Liu as the city’s first-ever chief public realm officer, tasked with coordinating quality of life improvements in the city’s public spaces. Among the major initiatives she is leading is a major redesign of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, from Bryant Park to Central Park.

“We have 30,000 acres of parkland, 14% of the city is parks, and we need to plan and maintain that space in a way that serves all New Yorkers equally,” Ganser said. “I think it’s a little counterintuitive for the government to invest in this position [of a public realm officer]and then go ahead and cut funding for the very assets that really matter in this position.”

If the park cuts are eventually factored into the city-approved budget, both Krishnan and Ganser said it will be the low-income communities of color that will bear the brunt. “For a mayor who is talking about creating a fairer city, this decision is totally unfair for New Yorkers,” Ganser said.

“The reality is that if you cut jobs, if you cut maintenance funding instead of increasing it, the impact won’t be felt in the same way,” Krishnan said. “This will be felt by communities that have so often suffered from underinvestment and a lack of green space.”

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This post was previously published on gothamgazette.com under a Creative Commons license.

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San Francisco Appoints ‘Drag Laureate’ in Push Again Towards Assaults – GV Wire

Daily SF News — Fri, 19 May 2023 17:00:40 +0000

Anti-trans legislation is rocking the nation. Bills banning drag performances are appearing in state houses. Violence and malevolence are turning children’s drag story hour events into headline protests.

San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by appointing the country’s first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position meant to represent the city’s famed LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack.

In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says creating a position that not only supports drag culture but also government resources was a natural step provides for this. D’Arcy Drollinger, a popular drag performer and nightclub owner, has been awarded a $55,000 stipend for her 18-month role as the city’s first drag honoree.

“My goal is to make San Francisco shine. I think drag performers bring a lot of glitz, humor, glamor and silliness into the world. I think that’s one of the reasons why drag is so successful,” Drollinger said, adding that she expects to be in the drag scene throughout her role. “I’m going to be in the drag scene pretty much 24/7 for the next 18 months.”

She noted that San Francisco’s drag community was already politically engaged and active.

“The drag community in San Francisco has a lot of power,” she said. “I feel very honored to be able to take this further step.”

West Hollywood is likely to follow suit

West Hollywood is close to naming its own drag honoree later this month, albeit at a much lower salary and with limited commitments. In New York, where the Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, a 2021 attempt to create such a job failed in a committee, reflecting the challenges of creating such jobs even in the United States linked to liberal cities.

In San Francisco, Drollinger will open the role three weeks before Pride Month begins. Her responsibilities range from producing and attending drag events, to serving as a spokesperson for San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community, to assisting officials in ensuring the city’s drag history is “shared, honored, and preserved.” The job posting was looking for someone who “embodies San Francisco’s historic, diverse, and inclusive drag culture and uplifts the entire community nationally and internationally.”

The city’s mayor called Drollinger a “bright star in San Francisco” for her advocacy and nurturing of the city’s drag community.

“Whether it was to tragedy or to celebrate a special occasion, she was truly a leader in this community and a supporter of so many others,” Breed told The Associated Press.

Drollinger said she felt both nervous and honored to be told the job was hers, given the recent violence against drag performers, even in the Bay Area.

“I know there are a lot of anti-drag people out there, and they’re very loud, right? But I don’t want to live my life in the shadow of fear either. I don’t want intimidation to stop me from growing,” she said. “So yeah, I’m a little nervous. But I’ve come from a lot of great people and a lot of fabulousness.”

Members of the Proud Boys sparked a hate crime investigation last June when they protested and shouted insults outside a Bay Area library where the Drag Story Hour, where drag queens read to children, was held. In Oregon last year, protesters – some armed – threw rocks and smoke grenades at each other before a drag event.

In November, a gunman at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre, killing five and injuring 17 others. The suspect was charged with hate crimes and murder.

The American Civil Liberties Union is prosecuting 474 anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the US, including Tennessee’s first law in the nation that essentially prohibits towing on public property or in the presence of a minor. A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure hours before it was due to take effect in late March.

Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Story Hour, a global nonprofit events network founded in San Francisco in 2015, said he hopes other cities across the country will launch their own drag laureate programs.

“It’s just about having that visibility and having that personal human connection — the social history of someone in your community who looks like you, or someone you see or interact with regularly,” Hamilt said .

New York City Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Johnson plans to continue lobbying for a drag laureate in her city if the position doesn’t gain support this year. Jack McClatchy, the elected official’s legislative and budget director, could not give a specific reason why the effort has stalled, merely pointing out that it is one of more than 1,000 bills before the council.

West Hollywood, which was founded in part by LGBTQ+ activists in 1984, is expected to name its drag laurate in the coming weeks after an attempt in 2021 fell through over a salary dispute. Officials originally advertised the position with a $5,000 stipend, nearly double the city’s poetry award winner. Pushback prompted the council to increase the amount to $15,000 per year for the two-year term beginning on July 16, International Drag Day.

Drollinger is the owner of the Oasis nightclub, which hosted “Meals on Heels” following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, where drag performers brought food, cocktails and lip-synching performances to home-based customers with food, cocktails and lip-synching performances.

“I hope that the drag award winner’s position sends a signal to the rest of the country that drag is not something to be afraid of,” Drollinger said. “Drag is something to celebrate.”

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