An endangered young female red panda named Little Mebo was welcomed to the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens, officials said Friday.

Little Mebo's name was chosen by Kevin Xu, board member of the San Francisco Zoological Society, in honor of his mother and is intended to complement the animal's playful and curious nature.

An endangered young female red panda named Little Mebo was welcomed to the San Francisco Zoo.

San Francisco Zoo

The cub was flown from Memphis to San Francisco as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' red panda conservation plan, said Tanya Peterson, the zoo's board chair and executive director.

Zoological experts “consider several factors before relocating an animal to ensure the genetic diversity of a species,” she said. “The SF Zoo has provided a safe haven for the endangered red panda for several years, and we are honored to be able to offer Little Mebo a home.”

Andrew Poole, the San Francisco Zoo's assistant curator who accompanied Little Mebo on his Southwest Airlines flight from Memphis, said many travelers were able to see the red panda as he rolled his crate through the airport.

“It was hard to keep a low profile as Little Mebo peeked over the bars of the cage door every 30 seconds. Everyone was overjoyed to see her,” Poole said in a statement.

“As the plane climbed to 35,000 feet, I looked into the crate to check on her and saw that she was fine and quietly chewing on some bamboo, enjoying her flight.”

Little Mebo joins the zoo's male cub, Tenzing, and an older female, Hunter, at the red panda treehouse in the zoo's Youth Exploration Area.

Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted for Mayor London Breed’s plan Bringing pandas to the San Francisco Zoo was approved by a vote of 9-2.

The Mayor pushes for panda diplomacy needed the support of the Board of Directors to begin raising the private funds necessary to prepare the panda for the San Francisco Zoo, at an estimated cost of $25 million.

In April last year, the San Diego Zoo announced that it would be getting two new pandas from China after almost all of the giant pandas that had been loaned to US zoos were brought back to the country.

More from CBS News

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RALEIGH – Red Hat is moving a big tech conference to Denver, having cancelled its planned 2024 event in San Francisco.

Here’s what Raleigh-based Red Hat had to say:

“Sometimes, even when we make plans far in advance to host an event in a given city, we have to change plans based on date conflicts on our end or other circumstances. This is the case for Red Hat Summit 2024, which will be hosted in Denver,” Red Hat said in a statement as reported by TV station KRON.

A 2025 event in San Francisco also was cancelled.

Tech giant Meta dropped an event in the city as well.

For more, read the full story at KRON.

Red Hat

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GMs talk the art of contract extensions

The long-shot that was Shohei Ohtani becoming a Red Sox has seemingly gotten significantly longer.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Friday morning that the Sox were one of three teams – joining the Rangers and Mets – who have started to turn their attention away from Ohtani after initially expressing interest in signing this offseason’s prize free agent.

While Ohtani’s way of thinking has been tough to decipher throughout the offseason, there is a belief throughout MLB that the Dodgers are considered the favorite for his services. Passan notes that the Cubs, Blue Jays and Angels are seemingly still involved in the bidding, with San Francisco another possibility.

Of note is that of the teams still in the mix, only the Dodgers, Angels and Cubs had previously made the cut when it came to talking to Ohtani during his first go-round in free agency. Texas also was afforded a meeting six years ago, while the Red Sox were not.

The ESPN.com report states that the bidding for Ohtani could reach $600 million, blowing away the previous largest contract in North America sports, which currently belongs to Mike Trout ($426.5 million).

While Red Sox fans dreamed of the idea Ohtani might land in Boston, it was widely thought to be an unlikely outcome. Free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, however, might be a different story.

According to Passan, the Red Sox remain very much in the mix for the 25-year-old pitcher, who is expected to garner more than $200 million. The issue for Craig Breslow and Co. is that the number of teams also prioritizing Yamamoto far outweighs that of virtually any other high-end free agent.

The Yankees have seemingly made Yamamoto their top target, with the Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Blue Jays and Phillies also joining the fray.

Featured Image Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

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NEW YORK — Luis Urias become the first Red Sox player to hit grand slams on consecutive pitches and the first in 80 years to hit slams in consecutive games in leading Boston to an 8-1 victory over the fading Yankees Saturday, sending New York to its seventh straight loss.

Urias cleared the bases in his last at-bat against Washington reliever Robert Garcia on Thursday night and the ninth-place hitter stunned Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in the second inning with a blast to left center.

After allowing the catcher’s seventh homer, Cole (10-4) stared blankly toward right field in disbelief. Cole tied a season high by allowing six runs for the third time and gave up seven hits.

Kutter Crawford (6-6) no-hit New York for 5 1/3 innings until Aaron Judge homered for the second straight game on the right-hander’s 67th pitch. Crawford matched a season-high by pitching six innings. He struck out five, walked two and allowed two baserunners.

ORIOLES 7, ATHLETICS 2, 10 INNINGS

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle singled in Adam Frazier with the go-ahead run as part of a five-run 10th inning, and the AL East-leading Baltimore beat Oakland.

Frazier began the 10th at second base and advanced to third when Adrián Martínez (0-1) threw a wild pitch. Mountcastle’s hit bounced up the middle into center field as Frazier scored for the Orioles. Jordan Westburg added a sacrifice fly and another run was scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Hays. McCann followed with a two-run single.

Aledmys Díaz homered twice for the last-place A’s, who have lost nine of 11 and own the worst home winning percentage (.295) in the majors.

Felix Bautista (8-2), the fourth of five relievers used by Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, retired three batters for the win.

DODGERS 3, MARLINS 1, GAME 1

DODGERS 3, MARLINS 1, GAME 2

Mookie Betts had a two-run single in the first game and homered twice in the second game to lead Los Angeles to complete a doubleheader sweep.

Miami wasted a terrific performance by Eury Pérez in the first game as the 20-year-old struck out 10 while pitching six innings of two-hit ball.

Ryan Yarbrough (6-5) pitched two perfect innings for the win, and Evan Phillips got three outs for his 19th save.

James Outman drew a one-out walk against David Robertson (4-4) and moved to third on Kiké Hernández’s single. Outman scored the tying run on Austin Barnes’ sacrifice bunt as first baseman Josh Bell’s throw from the side of the mound went past catcher Jacob Stallings.

In the night game, Julio Urías (11-6) allowed just one run — a solo homer to Josh Bell in the first inning — and five hits in seven innings, striking out five. Brusdar Graterol had an eventful ninth, allowing two singles, before getting out of the jam to earn his sixth save.

Braxton Garrett (7-4) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none.

ANGELS 7, RAYS 6, GAME 1

RAYS 18, ANGELS 4, GAME 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Harold Ramírez had a career-high four hits, Isaac Paredes added three hits, including a three-run homer in the sixth inning, and Tampa Bay routed Los Angeles for a doubleheader split.

Brandon Drury had three hits, including a solo homer, to help the Angels win the first game 7-6.

Zach Eflin (13-7), the American League wins leader, allowed one run and four hits in six innings.

Tampa Bay had a 2-0 lead before breaking it open with four runs in the fifth. Angels starter Patrick Sandoval (6-10) appeared to retire the Rays in order, but Randy Arozarena’s fly ball popped out of Angels center fielder Jordyn Adams’ glove to extend the inning.

The Rays took advantage with four straight hits, including Paredes’ RBI single, a two-run double by Curtis Mead and Osleivis Basabe’s run-scoring double.

In the earlier game, Randal Grichuk drove in two runs for the Angels, who won for just the fifth time in 17 August games. Grichuk also made a leaping catch at the wall in the second inning to rob Yandy Diaz of a home run.

Griffin Canning (7-5) got the win and Reynaldo Lopez pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.

Rays starter Tyler Glasnow (6-4) took the loss.

BREWERS 6, RANGERS 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Willy Adames was 4 for 4 with two RBIs and Carlos Santana homered for the second consecutive day to lead Milwaukee over Texas.

After striking out five consecutive Rangers in the first two innings, Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (10-8) threw 40 pitches during a hectic third in which he allowed a run on two singles and two walks.

Rangers starter Dane Dunning (9-5) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four.

Martin Perez replaced Dunning and the Brewers greeted him with a double and RBI single by Andruw Monasterio to build a 4-1 lead. Perez allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks over four innings of relief.

MARINERS 10, ASTROS 3

HOUSTON (AP) — Julio Rodríguez set a major league record with his 17th hit in four games, Dylan Moore homered twice, Logan Gilbert registered his 14th quality start of the season and Seattle won its fifth straight.

Gilbert (11-5) surrendered just two runs on eight hits, struck out three and walked one in six innings.

Jose Altuve in the fifth inning became the newest member of the 2,000-hit club. Altuve lined a 2-2 pitch from Gilbert into the left field corner.

Rodriguez, with a single to left field in the seventh inning, broke a major league record set in 1925 by Milt Stock of the Brooklyn Robins. The previous record was 16 hits in four games. Rodriguez finished 4 for 6, giving him his fourth-consecutive four-plus hit game.

Houston starter Framber Valdez (9-9) gave up six runs on 10 hits, striking out five and walking two in five innings.

The Astros three runs came off solo homers by Alex Bregman, his 20th of the season, Yainer Diaz and Mauricio Dubón.

BLUE JAYS 4, REDS 3

CINCINNATI (AP) — Davis Schneider hit a tiebreaking solo homer and Jordan Romano worked out of a jam in the ninth inning, sending Toronto over Elly De La Cruz and Cincinnati.

Chris Bassitt pitched six efficient innings as Toronto rebounded from a stretch of five losses in seven games. All-Star Bo Bichette hit an RBI single in his first big league game since July 31.

Schneider went deep against Brandon Williamson (4-3) with one out in the fifth, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead. It was Schneider’s third homer of the season.

Bassitt (12-6) was charged with three runs, two earned, and three hits. He struck out six and walked one.

PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trea Turner hit two home runs in an eight-run eighth inning and Philadelphia went deep five times, rallying past Washington.

Nick Castellanos, Jake Cave and Bryson Stott also homered for Philadelphia, which had lost four of five.

Riley Adams drove in two runs for Washington, which had won six of its last seven overall and 15 of 18 at home since July 8.

Cory Abbott (1-2), pitching for the first time since Aug. 11, took the loss.

Seranthony Domínguez (3-3) pitched a scoreless seventh and earned the win. He allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings while striking out five.

BRAVES 6, GIANTS 5

ATLANTA (AP) — Eddie Rosario had four hits, including a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and Atlanta Braves earned its fifth straight win.

Marcell Ozuna hit a two-out single off Tyler Rogers (4-5) in the eighth. Rosario followed with his 19th homer, a first-pitch blast that carried 441 feet to center field.

LaMonte Wade Jr. had two hits, including a homer on the game’s first pitch, but the Giants were handed their third straight loss.

Logan Webb allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings for San Francisco.

Kirby Yates (7-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. Raisel Iglesias earned his 23rd save with a perfect ninth.

PIRATES 7, TWINS 4

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mitch Keller pitched six strong innings and Pittsburgh broke through late against Sonny Gray to beat Minnesota.

Gray (6-6) was perfect through five innings before Liover Peguero had an infield single with one out in the sixth. Andrew McCutchen had a two-run single as part of a three-run sixth for Pittsburgh and added a three-run homer in the ninth.

Keller (10-8) gave the offense time to solve Gray with another quality start. He gave up two runs and seven hits and struck out 12 — one short of matching a career high he set earlier this season.

David Bednar surrendered a run but got the last four outs for his 26th save.

CUBS 6, ROYALS 4

CHICAGO (AP) — Cody Bellinger homered twice and Justin Steele pitched six effective innings, helping Chicago beat Kansas City.

Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki each hit a sacrifice fly for Chicago, which had dropped three of four. The Cubs are fighting for playoff positioning in the crowded NL standings.

Steele (14-3) allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out seven and walked none while improving to 5-0 in his last six starts. Adbert Alzolay worked the ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances.

Bobby Witt Jr. had three hits for Kansas City, and Salvador Perez went 2 for 3 and scored two runs. Brady Singer (8-9) was charged with six runs — four earned — and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

DIAMONDBACKS 6, PADRES 4, GAME 1

DIAMONDBACKS 8, PADRES 1, GAME 2

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Gabriel Moreno hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to lead Arizona over San Diego for a sweep of a day-night doubleheader.

Tommy Pham hit a two-run homer and tripled to lead the Diamondbacks to a 6-4 victory in the opener.

Padres ace Yu Darvish (8-9) took the loss in the second game, going five innings and giving up three runs and nine hits while striking out seven. It was Darvish’s ninth outing this season throwing 100 or more pitches.

Diamondbacks starter Scott McGough made it 2 1/3 innings and was removed in favor of reliever Bryce Jarvis (1-0), who made his third appearance of the season. Jarvis pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up one run and two hits.

In the first game, Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly (10-5) gave up three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings for the win. Paul Sewald earned his 26th save by blanking the Padres in the ninth despite giving up two walks and hitting a batter.

The Padres recalled knuckleballer Matt Waldron (0-2) from Triple-A El Paso to make a spot start. It was Waldron’s second career big league appearance. He lasted five innings, giving up five runs, five hits and striking out five.

TIGERS 4, GUARDIANS 3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Kerry Carpenter hit a three-run homer and Javier Báez had a solo shot as Detroit handed Cleveland rookie Tanner Bibee his first loss in more than two months.

Carpenter connected in the first inning off Bibee (9-3), who had won his previous seven decisions and was unbeaten since June 13. Báez homered in the seventh off Nick Sandlin to put the Tigers ahead 4-2.

Matt Manning (5-4) held the Guardians to one run and five hits in six innings. The right-hander came in 0-2 with a 17.61 ERA in two previous outings at Progressive Field.

Cleveland had its chances.

Detroit’s Alex Lange worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, Andrew Vasquez escaped a mess in the eighth and Jason Foley retired the Guardians’ 1-2-3 hitters in the ninth for his seventh save.

METS 13, CARDINALS 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Francisco Lindor had four hits and stole home, Daniel Vogelbach hit a grand slam and New York won its fourth straight game.

DJ Stewart and Pete Alonso also homered. Kodai Senga (10-6) allowed one run on two hits, walked two and struck out five batters in seven innings to become the first rookie in the major leagues this season to win 10 games.

Nolan Arenado hit his 26th home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth, and Miles Mikolas (6-9) allowed seven runs on seven hits and walked two batters in 4 2/3 innings as the Cardinals dropped their fourth straight game.

ROCKIES 11, WHITE SOX 5

DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland pitched five innings for his first win in three months, and Colorado earned its second straight win.

Elehuris Montero had three hits and four RBIs, and Brendan Rodgers and Nolan Jones also had three hits apiece.

Freeland (5-13) was charged with four runs and eight hits in his first win since May 14 against Philadelphia. The veteran left-hander went 0-9 with a 6.19 ERA in his previous 14 starts.

Luis Robert Jr. hit his 33rd homer for the White Sox, who have dropped six of seven. Elvis Andrus continued his hot stretch with two hits and a steal of home in the first inning.

Colorado scored three runs in the first and two more in the second off Jesse Scholtens (1-6).

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The Standard’s Joel Umanzor answers a reader question sent to Ask The Standard: Why do San Francisco businesses and residents rely on permit expediters?

San Francisco is famous for red tape.

The city’s construction permit system has a reputation among residents, contractors and engineers as being lengthy and complicated to manage.

Anyone who wants to do any work that goes “beyond painting, flooring, replacement of electrical receptacles, switches or light fixtures and repair or replacement of faucets” must obtain permits, according to the Department of Building Inspection.

The majority of commercial or residential permits are classified as “over the counter” while the remainder would be considered “full” or “site” permits, which require in-house reviews unlike “over the counter” due to the structural nature of the work.

Many people with complex projects opt to hire an “expediter”—“an individual who receives or is promised compensation to provide permit consulting services” on projects that would be classified as either major or minor, according to the city’s Ethics Commission. This can also include any person who is paid for time spent providing permit consulting services.

Currently, 107 permit consultants are registered with the city, with 87 of those registered consultants representing only one client, city data shows.

In recent years, corruption cases against top officials across city government have brought to light a history of favoritism and corruption that festered for years ahead of the indictments, according to a City Controller’s Office report from 2021. At the ongoing scandal’s center is businessman and permit expediter Walter Wong, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to federal fraud and money laundering charges, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors with his testimony.

READ MORE: These Are the Players in San Francisco’s Corruption Scandal

The Standard spoke to former officials and experts about permit expediters.

Walter Wong leaves federal court in San Francisco on June 30, 2023. | Source: Isaac Ceja/The Standard

Most Famous Permit Expediter

The process of overseeing permit expediters who don’t fall within the “consultant” category, which requires registration, can be difficult, former Ethics Commissioner Larry Bush said. A lack of transparency in the disclosure of clients or projects differentiates the permit consultants from lobbyists, who must also register.

Without the information provided in required quarterly consultant reports, Bush said, all kinds of unregulated expediter activity can occur.

“It’s not like being a lobbyist, where you have to register and disclose specifically who you are doing this with and for how much money,” Bush said. “It is all pretty much under the radar.” 

Bush said he tried to pass a motion within the commission to require that information be publicly disclosed because he often found former city workers wanted to profit from their experience and offer themselves as knowledgeable consultants. The motion did not pass.

Wong was found to have received preferential treatment from Tom Hui, Department of Building Inspection’s former director, who had the opportunity to override the department’s control for Wong’s projects by “expediting permits and inspections and overlooking otherwise problematic issues in permitting and inspections,” the city controller’s report found. 

Hui stepped down from the position in 2020.

In 2021, Wong and his companies, W. Wong Construction Co. Inc., Green Source Trading LLC and Alternate Choice LLC, were barred from doing business with the city for five years, the maximum permitted by law.

Although Wong is barred from doing business with the city, his name remains on the Ethics Commission’s website as a registered permit expediter for Jaidin Consulting Group.

According to his settlement agreement with the city, Wong received an estimated $1,291,095.26 for “goods and services provided through non-competitive contracts, purchase orders, and/or grants that were improperly approved by City officials.”

He received anywhere from $1,000 to $75,000 from different clients, filings show.

Piping sits at a construction site at 198 McAllister St. in San Francisco’s Tenderloin on Sept. 26, 2022. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

Problematic Process?

Christopher Calton, a research fellow for housing and homelessness at Oakland’s Independent Institute, called permit expediters part of a larger discretionary process of local government that often restricts economic growth.

“These are officials who have some discretionary authority and can push things through some of the bureaucratic red tape ahead of the formal processes that are so drawn out and lengthy,” Calton said. “Permit expediter is an informal term we use because of stories like this corruption scandal, but it’s not an official position. It’s a service, kind of like doing your taxes with TurboTax.”

The bigger problem, Calton said, is not the regulatory code but that anyone can request a discretionary review—a second look at a development project—that often takes up lots of time and opens the door for possible favoritism and abuses of power.

Because of this, permit expediters—although not uncommon around the country—have a unique position within the ecosystem of getting permits in San Francisco.

“It means you have to give that discretion to somebody,” Calton said. “Once you do that, it is not just a matter that a permit expediter isn’t necessarily just somebody who helps someone navigate the intricacies of the law—we have that all over the country in all industries for better or worse—it’s that they then can sell their services in a roundabout way.”

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San Francisco could soon ban right-hand turns on red lights, making it the second-largest city in the country to adopt the traffic rule.

The proposal, supporters said, could make the roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, encourage more people to walk, and cut down on the number of serious injuries in car accidents.

“Allowing turns on red results in deaths, injuries and collisions, as well as cars blocking or driving through crosswalks, making it more dangerous and stressful to cross the street,” said San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston as he introduced the measure last week at a Board of Supervisors meeting. “We should be expanding no turn on red to every neighborhood.”

Advocates for pedestrian safety have applauded the resolution, saying the proposed law could have a significant effect on reducing the number of pedestrians who are seriously injured by cars. Although some advocates said they were hopeful San Francisco would institute the rule, which New York previously adopted, the chances of a similar measure taking root in Los Angeles are slim, at least for now.

L.A. is “so car-centric” that people would think it was “the end of the world if we tried to implement this in Los Angeles,” said Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are for Everyone, a nonprofit that pushes for safety improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

In Los Angeles, advocacy groups have pushed to hold pedestrian-friendly events to get across to the public the need to walk more and drive less, as well as advocating for lowering speed limits on some streets and other measures to improve safety. But even the most ardent supporters are doubtful that a push to ban right turns on red lights would gain any traction in the county, at least for now.

“This is something that’s going to take years of work to even get to the point where it would be considered in L.A.,” Kevitt said.

Drivers in San Francisco, on the other hand, have already gotten a taste of what a ban on right-hand turns would look like.

In the fall of 2021, San Francisco banned right-hand turns on red lights in more than 50 intersections of the Tenderloin neighborhood.

According to an early assessment of the program from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the ban reduced the number of “close calls.”

The agency found that about 92% of vehicles were observing the rule, and the number of cars blocking crosswalks during a red light decreased by 70%.

After the initial program, SFMTA recommended expanding the rule to business districts. Preston’s resolution asks the agency to look at the possibility of expanding it across the city.

“It’s an important step in the right direction,” Preston said during the board meeting. “It’s a step we need to take in the city.”

Preston’s resolution comes after a 4-year-old in a stroller was killed in August by a driver making a right-hand turn on a green light at the intersection of 4th and King streets.

The tragedy raised questions about pedestrian safety at that intersection and citywide. Shortly after the incident, San Francisco Mayor London Breed called on SFMTA to identify changes that could be made to the intersection, including removing one of its two right-turn lanes, and changing the traffic signal to show a yellow arrow, instead of a green light, to encourage drivers to yield to pedestrians.

According to one study by Jerry, an insurance comparison company that drew on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of pedestrians killed in car crashes reached a four-decade high across the country in 2021, reaching more than 7,000 people.

Another study, from Streets Are for Everyone, found that in the city of Los Angeles there were 159 pedestrians killed in car crashes in 2022, a 20% increase when compared with 2021.

In San Francisco, the city in 2022 saw 39 traffic deaths, including 20 pedestrians killed — the highest number of fatalities in 15 years.

San Francisco and Los Angeles chalked up those alarming numbers despite adopting Vision Zero, a commitment from city officials to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Officials have taken steps to reduce the number of fatalities. In February of last year, the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to reduce speed limits on 177 miles of road by 5 mph. According to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the project is underway.

Excessive speed is a leading factor in collisions, advocates said.

City officials also have pushed for more pedestrian-friendly events in recent years, such as CicLAvia, as a way of promoting walking and urging residents to drive less.

But taking up a fight to ban right turns on red lights in Los Angeles would be an uphill fight, advocates said.

“Our city is moving in that direction,” said John Yi, executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that works with communities of color to advocate for pedestrian-safe infrastructure. “Is there a chance for this? I think so. But is it going to be easy? I don’t think so.”

Advocates, including Los Angeles Walks, have considered seeking this ban in Los Angeles but have decided to focus on other efforts that they believe could have a more significant effect, Yi said, such as reducing speed limits.

“Any time you try to restrict movement of cars, you have an entrenched electorate that pushes back on that,” he said. “But this is part of a larger ecosystem of changes that need to happen.”

There are some signs of change. In West Hollywood, for example, city officials are looking at a plan that would ban right-hand turns at red lights at the city’s busiest intersections.

“The county as a whole may not be ready, but there should be places where this isn’t a debate anymore,” said West Hollywood Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers, who proposed the plan.

City officials, at this early stage, haven’t heard opposition to the idea, she said, which she credits in part to the city’s small, pedestrian-friendly size and measures it has already taken to encourage walking.

Still, she agrees that implementing a similar rule countywide would be a challenge.

“It completely speaks to the challenges of breaking through car culture,” she said. “It’s why I see West Hollywood as part of that leadership of mobility justice,” she said, referring to a movement to make streets safer for pedestrians and public transit more accessible.

The city expects to see a report on the measure from city staff and a consulting firm by next year, and she said she hoped the city would extend the proposed ban to other intersections in the future if the level of traffic at those sites increases.

Byers, who said she hadn’t owned a car herself in seven years, said she’d seen firsthand the need for such a measure.

“My right of way as a pedestrian is often challenged by vehicles,” she said. “I’m jealous of San Francisco.”

Right-hand turns on red lights came to be through the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Kevitt said, which required states to allow the turns to receive federal funding.

Although the practice has never been found to reduce emissions or gas consumption, the measure was adopted as a way to cut down on idling cars at red lights during the 1970s oil crisis.

“But what we do know is that pedestrians are the ones that are most being hit and killed in traffic violence,” Kevitt said.

It could be a while before a similar measure could be viable in L.A., but Kevitt said it’s time the idea is considered. Smaller cities, such as West Hollywood, would be a start, he said.

“The right to drive is considered more senior than the right to live,” he said. “That needs to change.”

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In his first major public interview since the DMV cut their San Francisco fleet in half, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said “we cannot expect perfection” from the self-driving cars, and vaguely threatened to leave town if regulators curtail them any further. From a report: The self-driving robotaxis of GM subsidiary Cruise and Google-owned Waymo seemed like they were heading in a successful direction when they won approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last month to run their self-driving robotaxis at all hours in SF without restrictions. But barely a week later, the California DMV demanded Cruise cut it SF fleet in half, following post-Outside Lands stalling incidents, a night of multiple accidents, and SF City Attorney David Chiu filing a motion to get the CPUC to reverse their decision.

Cruse CEO Kyle Vogt sat down for a (very friendly) 40-minute interview Wednesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, which can be seen in its entirety above. And he seems to be going on offense against the regulatory pushback his company is getting from SF and California lawmakers. “It’s kind of fun as a society to poke at the differences between AVs (autonomous vehicles) and humans, but if we’re serious about safety in our cities, we should be rolling out the red carpet for AVs,” Vogt said, according to the SF Standard.

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The Scarlet Sage Herb Co., a nearly 30-year-old small business, has found itself on the verge of closure just three months after reopening in a new location in San Francisco’s Fillmore District.

According to owner Laura Ash, onerous city bureaucracy has dried up a key source of the business’ revenue: bulk dried herbs.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a cease-and-desist order to the store, prohibiting Scarlet Sage from selling herbs until it fulfills the requirements for a food permit. 

Having joined the company as an employee in 2009, Ash took over as owner in 2015 and has operated Scarlet Sage since then. The store is known for its focus on wellness, holistic medicine and witchery. Think tarot cards, healing crystals and sacred talismans. 

After a 28-year run on Valencia Street in the city’s Mission District, the store moved to its new location at 1903 Fillmore St. earlier this summer. Ash said a number of factors spurred her to relocate, including low foot traffic, increasing crime and difficulties renegotiating a lease with her landlord. 

After a pricey build-out, Scarlet Sage opened its doors in July. Business in the new location was slowly picking up just as the store was hit with what Ash called “an existential threat.” 

A Department of Public Health inspector visited the location in response to a complaint that scoops were being washed in the bathroom sink. Ash noted that the bathroom is currently the only source of running water available in the store, and the utensils were taken out to the herb table for further sanitizing and drying.

In Scarlet Sage’s previous location, a hand-washing sink outside the bathroom was used to clean utensils. Ash said the business was in the process of saving the funds necessary to add a similar appliance in the new location.

Ash said when she explained her situation, she was told to get an official food permit, the same as any restaurant, bar or bakery. That would require tens of thousands of dollars in additional costs as well as the inclusion of a food prep sink, a mop sink and a three-compartment sink. 

“We’re not heating or preparing food, and what they’re asking for us to do is pay $20,000 to $100,000 to comply by getting a general contractor, preparing an architectural drawing and adding five sinks,” Ash said.

She estimated the store is losing about $1,000 a day from the halt in sales. Although herbs make up only around 10% of the store’s total revenue, they serve as a gateway to bigger-budget purchases. Many customers often leave after seeing that the herbs are no longer for sale, Ash said.

The Department of Public Health confirmed to The Standard that its staff had recently inspected Scarlet Sage, which resulted in a notice to cease and desist food handling of “open (non-prepackaged) food” and to apply for a health permit. In other words, the department considers Scarlet Sage on par with any other business that serves food.

Ash said she has around two weeks of funds left, so she’s readying a fundraising effort to keep the store open as she works out a permanent solution. In the meantime, Ash said she’s working with the city to obtain a permit to package the herbs in her home kitchen.

“I’m asking for time, resources and support to comply with these new laws,” Ash said. “Let’s work on a solution together. That’s how we move forward.”

The public health department said it offered education first and will work directly with Scarlet Sage on its options, such as temporarily renting a commercial kitchen space to handle and package the merchandise and transport it back to the store for sale.

Some small-business owners are warily watching this play out and debating the idea of categorizing herb stores as restaurants. Kenny Lau, an herb store owner in Chinatown and the chairman of the Chinese Herb Trade Association of America, estimated that 90% of the herb stores in Chinatown do not have an independent sink outside of the bathroom.

“Some of the old buildings in Chinatown are not feasible to make the changes,” Lau said in Cantonese. “And a sink would cost at least $20,000.”

Lau acknowledged that certain sanitation rules should be followed to the letter of the law. But herb stores should not be required for any special permit unless they are importing rare herbs from overseas, he said.

The health department explained that it did not target Scarlet Sage but is required to investigate complaints received with respect to potential health code violations.

Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the district where Scarlet Sage is located, said he’s aware of the issue but has not heard back from the health department for further clarification.

“My office is committed to helping small businesses recover from the pandemic,” Preston said. “[The department] should be more forthcoming about their enforcement priorities and reasons for demanding costly changes at a time when small businesses are struggling to survive.”

Ash agreed with Lau and argued for a new category for businesses like hers—one that would include herbal medicine shops, tea shops and bulk candy retailers—to balance public health protections with the realities of operating a small business.

“For me, this is a survival story, and it’s not been easy,” she said. “This is a whole other level of bureaucracy that I’ve never seen before.”

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Photos by Catskill Image

When Kendra Sinclair and Jared Vengrin toured a rundown motel, they decided to buy it and make it better than ever. Now, they’re using that can-do spirit to breathe new life into the rest of the neighborhood.

The night Kendra Sinclair’s friends introduced her to her future husband, Jared Vengrin, she checked him out—never guessing they’d someday handle literal checkouts as co-owners of a motel. She was instantly attracted. “I liked his booming voice,” she remembers. After graduating from college in Canada, the couple lived in Austin, then San Francisco. Both times, they renovated their properties. In 2018, a year after getting married, they moved to Brooklyn, chasing their dream of New York living.

But when Covid hit, working in a small condo became a low-key nightmare. Their jobs—Sinclair is in financial tech, Vengrin is an engineering recruiter—meant overlapping calls. Vengrin’s ‘booming voice’ dominated. “I had a signal for ‘Please turn down the volume,’” says Sinclair. Their thoughts turned to Red Hook, where Vengrin had grown up. As frequent visitors, they adored its scenic pastures and mountain views. “We knew it would be amazing to have more space, and we had the time to take on a construction project,” she recalls. Within months, they’d bought a single-bathroom fishing cabin in town. Working alongside plumbers, electricians, and other pros, “we spent about a year renovating it,” says Sinclair. They consolidated the cabin’s tiny bedrooms into three roomy ones, plus added a second bathroom.

Then a new challenge appeared. “Jared had the crazy idea to look at a dilapidated motel for sale,” she says. The property, the Hearthstone Motel, had always intrigued him. “My school bus drove past it,” he explains. Travelers knew it too and had thrown shade online. (One called it “The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Hotel.”) But, Vengrin says, “there was real opportunity.”

This time, the reno took just over a year. As before, they left tasks like plumbing and electrical work to pros, while handling others, like painting, themselves. In January, the newly christened Reclaimed Motel, a boutique property, opened. Each of its eight unique rooms feature a record player and vintage décor. One has an old Metro North timetable sign, for instance, while another is themed around a bank robber who hid out at the motel in the 1970s.

A bedroom at Reclaimed Motel

Now, the couple is working to get more people checked in to Red Hook. Sinclair is on the board of The Daily Catch, a local non-profit newspaper (founded in 2021) and has joined the Chamber of Commerce. “I’m excited about the concentration of local businesses run by women,” says Sinclair. “There’s The Crows Nest, a gorgeous home goods store; The Corner Counter, which is a cheese shop and eatery; and The Red Hook Stationery Company. Verse Work/Shop, a design store, is run by two sisters.” She also wants to help other nonprofits flourish. Thanks to a stint at Meta helping charities promote themselves through Facebook and Instagram, she’s got mad skills. “I hope to organize a social impact summit where I’ll host experts in the nonprofit space at the motel for free, and facilitate educational conversations with our local causes,” adds Sinclair.

Vengrin always encourages pals to attend the fundraising dinners held by Historic Red Hook, the town’s historical society. “I like to bring along friends who maybe aren’t as aware of community events like this,” he says. In June, he partnered with Sinclair to host a booth at the Red Hook Then and Now Festival, which celebrates the town’s past and present and draws both tourists and locals. Their display featured original and current pictures of the motel.

The Reclaimed Motel is a tasteful blend of modern and vintage.

In their spare time, Sinclair and Vengrin enjoy hiking and events at Bard College’s Fisher Center. They also love owning Red Hook’s hottest place to stay. In July, they had a ribbon cutting. “It symbolized opening our doors to the broader community,” says Vengrin. “So many people wanted to tour the motel.” The event also raised funds for a local farm that suffered a barn fire.

As for the ways Red Hook will continue to change, Vengrin hopes for an emphasis on supporting local farmers. Sinclair predicts the economy will rev up even more. “Every time you see something that’s fallen into disrepair or feels like it’s been forgotten, and then new life is brought into it, to me feels like the future of Red Hook,” she says.

Related: Where to Play Pickleball in the Hudson Valley

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Aeration basins at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility use microorganisms and an oxygenation process to turn the excess nitrogen in wastewater into a gas. Circular tanks, called clarifiers, allow particles to settle out. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The largest sources of nutrient pollution and algae blooms in the San Francisco Bay — 37 different sewage treatment plants — are cleaning up their act.

Faced with two blooms called “red tides,” deadly to marine life, officials will soon recommend the first-ever restrictions on the release of the nutrients, such as nitrogen, into the Bay, a vast body of water that has long seemed resilient to trouble.

Nitrogen is not a toxin; it is necessary for a healthy ecosystem. But too much of it, discharged in wastewater from human urine, sets off a complex series of events that causes too much algae to grow, which depletes oxygen and kills marine life. Last year, a harmful bloom caused piles of stinking fish corpses to wash ashore. This summer, a smaller bloom appeared and then vanished.

Thousands of dead fish, killed by an algae bloom, float around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022.  (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) 

“The science is telling us that we need to reduce nutrient loads as quickly as possible,” said Eileen White, executive officer for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which regulates sewage treatment plants. “What has happened is a game-changer.”

More than two-thirds of the region’s nitrogen comes from sewage treatment plants, which collectively dump about 50,000 kilograms into Bay waters every day. While many natural factors create a red tide, named for the discolored water, these nutrient releases are manmade — and can be controlled, experts say.

About 14 of the Bay Area’s treatment plants have already modernized their facilities to clean up their chocolate-colored sludge, harnessing bacteria and aeration techniques to turn nitrogen from a liquid to a gas, then safely releasing it into the air. Several more have planned upgrades, and are studying treatment wetlands.

But others are lagging behind.

A thorough cleanup will be very pricy, boosting costs for ratepayers. To cut nitrogen releases in half, the total price tag could reach $11.5 billion; more modest reductions of 7% to 20% would cost $220 million to $870 million, respectively. The most aggressive reduction — 82% — could cost nearly $15 billion.

And the payoff may not be immediately obvious. Until last year, the Bay had no dramatic red tide die-offs of marine life. Scientists are trying to learn whether these are very rare events or the beginning of a trend. There are hints, yet no proof, that climate change could trigger repeated outbreaks.

“It’s a huge challenge … with a lot of uncertainty,” said Lorien Fono, executive director of the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies, whose members provide sewer services to more than 7.1 million residents. “But, working together, we have the possibility of creating a regionwide approach for nutrient reduction.”

July’s red tide algae bloom faded without a repeat of last summer’s toll of thousands of dead fish and other marine creatures, according to an analysis by scientists at San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group that monitors water conditions in the Bay.

But summer is not yet over. Increased algae concentrations in the 2000s, combined with these recent outbreaks, are causing authorities to take a harder look.

Discharge limits have helped reverse ecological disasters in Tampa Bay, the Long Island Sound and other estuaries around the nation. In the Chesapeake Bay, which once seemed unsavable, key fish species have rebounded, more seagrass is growing and the water holds more life-giving oxygen.

Historically, limits have not been required in San Francisco Bay. It has fierce tides, which reduce concentrations of nitrogen. It has cloudy water, due to millions of tons of mud, gravel and sand from Gold Rush mining. And it has a large population of organisms, such as clams, that feed on algae.

“The key factors that can trigger harmful algae blooms have rarely all lined up to allow for a very, very large problem to actually occur,” said David Senn of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, who leads the San Francisco Bay Nutrient Management Strategy, a regional initiative for developing the science needed for informed decisions about managing nitrogen loads.

• Nearly all of the nitrogen has been removed from wastewater before it is released into the sensitive southern San Francisco Bay at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

• Aerators in the outfall channel, where treated low-nitrogen water is discharged into the lower South Bay, at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

• A fish swims in an outfall channel where low-nitrogen water is discharged into the sensitive South Bay at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

• Nearly all of the nitrogen has been removed from wastewater before it is released through the outfall channel into the sensitive southern San Francisco Bay at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

But that resiliency may be fading. Water clarity is increasing due to upstream dams capturing sediment. Clam populations are declining. Climate change may cause waters to warm.

The region’s 50-year-old treatment facilities are also aging, creating opportunities for upgrades, Fono said.

Limits will be placed on nitrogen discharges, said White. The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board issues new permits — with new regulatory requirements — every five years. The existing permits will expire next year.

“We tried to be a progressive thinker,” said Jimmy Dang of Oro Loma/Castro Valley Sanitary Districts, which upgraded its decades-old facility to remove nearly 95% of nitrogen from its discharge flow, contributing to a 7% price hike for ratepayers. “It was a conscious decision to look at the environment of the Bay, ahead of any limits that were coming down the pipeline.”

In its new $25 million facility, he said, “the nitrogen becomes gas, and disappears.”

• Jimmy Dang, general manager of the Oro Loma Sanitary District, surveys the aeration process in use at the new $25 million wastewater facility that removes nearly all of the nitrogen from water released into San Francisco Bay, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, in San Lorenzo, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

• Jimmy Dang, general manager of the Oro Loma Sanitary District, walks past the aeration hardware in use at the new $25 million wastewater facility that removes nearly all of the nitrogen from water released into San Francisco Bay, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, in San Lorenzo, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, which sits on the edge of the shallow and slow-moving South Bay, started to remove nitrogen discharges about two decades ago.  With more recent innovations, about 85% of the nitrogen is gone.

Last year, South San Francisco and San Bruno completed the construction of a technology that has also reduced nutrients by 85%.

According to the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies’ most recent report, Palo Alto and its partners are embarking on a major $200 million makeover of its Regional Water Quality Control Plant. West County Wastewater, which serves San Pablo, Richmond and Pinole, has already completed plant improvements. The Dublin San Ramon District is solving its problem through a recycled water program, which uses nitrogen to fertilize fields and landscaping. San Leandro’s project, under construction, should be finished this year. San Mateo began its upgrade in 2021.

The two largest dischargers — East Bay Municipal Utility District and San Francisco PUC — are off to a slower start, according to the report. EBMUD is now pilot testing treatment of about 10% of its flow, which should result in some reductions.

“It is very expensive,” said Fono. “But the community, as a whole, takes this very seriously.”

Given the enormous cost, how much reduction is needed? That is what Senn and his partners with the Nutrient Management Strategy are studying. They are developing computer simulations of a gradual decline in the ecosystem’s health, as well as more catastrophic red tides to better understand whether massive die-offs will be rare events, or something more frequent. The goal is to generate the data needed to support major management decisions.

“What are the best investments for the region to make,” Senn asked, “to try to get the biggest improvements?”

“How do we think through something that’s never happened before — that would cost $10 billion or more to prevent from happening again?” Senn asked. “And what pace do we need to get there?”

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