San Francisco Giants owner Greg Johnson wants to keep the Gabe Kapler-Farhan Zaidi duo intact for the foreseeable future.

Johnson made good on his promise last month to keep Kapler and Zaidi in the Bay Area. The Giants owner is standing behind Zaidi after his opt-out clause expired several months ago, per the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser.

On the other hand, Gabe Kapler’s tenure as Giants manager became tenuous during the team’s recent six-game slide. Greg Johnson brushed off the rumors and also stood behind Kapler. The former emphasized both Kapler and Zaidi will be around for the 2024 MLB season.

San Francisco Giants owner Greg Johnson reiterated what he’d told the Chronicle last month: President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler aren’t going anywhere. https://t.co/HJcte3jom4

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) September 15, 2023

The Giants (75-71) are currently second behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. San Francisco is fighting for a slot in the best-of-three Wild Card series in the posttseason.

Despite the Giants’ up-and-down season, Johnson feels Kapler is still his manager moving forward.

“Gabe’s done a great job navigating us through some challenges this season. We rank third in MLB in playing time allocated to rookies, and Gabe and his staff continue to do outstanding work supporting and developing those young players,” Greg Johnson said.

For his part, Farhan Zaidi confirmed San Francisco was in hot pursuit of New York Yankees slugger Aaron Juge in the offseason. Although the Giants missed out on signing Judge and Carlos Correa, Kapler felt San Francisco’s opening day roster was formidable. Unfortunately, it hasn’t turned out that way. The Giants had an 81-81 win-loss record in 2022 and they’re teetering on the brink of mediocrity again.

To make matters worse, the Giants are currently 13.5 games behind their long-time nemesis, the Dodgers. With Zaidi and Kapler coming back, the Giants hope to make significant progress in the 2024 MLB season.

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By last Friday, all of the striking nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, were scheduled to lose their employer health care coverage. No new talks are scheduled.

“As of Sept. 1, RWJUH nurses must pay for their health benefits through COBRA,” said RWJ spokeswoman Wendy Gottsegen. “This hardship, in addition to the loss of wages throughout the strike, is very unfortunate. We hope the union considers the impact a prolonged strike is having on our nurses and their families.”

This painful standoff has some of the state’s wealthiest and most politically connected power brokers up against the United Steelworkers Nurses Local 4-200, which represents close to 1,700 nurses who weathered a once-in-a-century mass death event that around the country killed thousands of health care workers and disabled many more.

Our health care system in New Jersey and across the nation did not hold up well during COVID. The U.S. has 4% of the world’s population, but at least 12% of its COVID deaths. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have documented the lack of N-95 masks and proper staffing in our health care system helped drive the infection and death rate, particularly in underserved communities of color. 

In a reality that residents of New Jersey and New York know all too well, congregant care facilities where the most vulnerable are housed, became vectors for the disease.

Holding the American health care system accountable for its failure means being prepared to take on some of our nation’s most entrenched interests that have cultivated both major political parties. President Biden’s recent comment that “health care is a right” is a sign that we might see some attention to the health care affordability and access crisis that still grips our nation.

Even before the pandemic that killed 1.1 million Americans and disabled millions more, our health care system, largely based on nonprofits like RWJBarnabas that pay Wall Street wages for leadership, was ranked as the most expensive among peer OECD nations with the worst health care outcomes.

In the big picture, U.S. life expectancy continues to decline as costs go up. Our nation is likely to drop further in that ranking as the corporatization of health care accelerates.

In 2018, CNN reported the U.S. would “take the biggest drop in ranking of all high-income countries, falling from 43rd in 2016 to 64th by 2040, with an average life expectancy of 79.8. The U.S. will be overtaken by China, which rises 29 places to 39th in the table.”

That was before the pandemic.

U.S. life expectancy continues to decline as costs go up. Our nation is likely to drop further in that ranking as the corporatization of health care accelerates.

The RWJBarnabas system is a not-for-profit health care giant with a dozen acute care hospitals and a partnership with Rutgers University. The system has 38,000 employees and $6.6 billion in revenue. It relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt state issued bonds for capital construction.

Yes, it sounds like a public, almost quasi-governmental entity with a vital and noble mission, which, along with its workforce, is executed 24/7 in some of New Jersey’s poorest and most underserved communities.

Yet it also generates vast fortunes for some people on top of the health care pyramid.

The system’s recently-retired CEO and president, Barry Ostrowsky, earned $16 million in the second year of the pandemic, making him the highest paid hospital executive in the New York area, according to Crain’s New York.

He’s now on the board of directors of PSE&G, New Jersey’s largest utility. 

According to RWJBarnabas’ latest available 990 IRS form from fiscal year 2020, Ostrowsky made $5.59 million three years ago. More than a dozen other top executives listed were in the $1 million or more category.

The hospital system’s filing includes links to dozens of “related organizations taxable as partnerships,” identified with nondescript names like Medmerge LLC or Jersey ASC Ventures LLC. There’s a C-corporation called Major Investigations Inc., which is listed as “security” at the same address in West Orange, New Jersey, as the RWJBarnabas Health Foundation.

Any entity that operates on the scale of the RWJBarnabas system needs to have cash on hand and investments that can help it sustain its charitable mission. It’s all a matter of degrees and transparency.

Under Schedule F in the RWJBarnabas IRS filings, which catalogues its financial “activities outside the United States,” listed are “program services” in Central America and the Caribbean described as a “financial vehicle” worth $41.2 million.   

For its PR strategy, the nonprofit’s management is relying on MWW, the powerhouse firm founded by Michael Kempner, who has been described by Politico as a “major Democratic fundraiser who bundled millions of dollars for Barack Obama’s campaigns.”

According to Kempner’s LinkedIn profile, he is “active in progressive politics, having played roles in the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and most recently, Joe Biden.”

For its PR strategy during the strike, the nonprofit relies on MWW, the powerhouse firm founded by Michael Kempner, a “major Democratic fundraiser” who bundled millions in donations for Barack Obama.

The global crisis management firm has a high-powered team that includes Steve Sandberg, a former journalist and former chief spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In his role as senior vice president for public affairs “at one of the world’s leading public relations agencies,” Sandberg is playing a key role in the RWJBarnabas system’s response to a strike it has consistently asserted it wanted to avoid.

Sandberg, who has been proactive about getting management’s message gets out, did not answer a query from this reporter as to whether MWW is providing its services pro bono.

He responded by asking if I was in the employ of any unions. I responded that I was not, but that I do benefit from a SAG-AFTRA pension and Social Security so I am grateful to the union movement.

Central to the labor-management dispute in this case the question of which side represents the best interests of the hospital’s workforce and the patients, as well as the broader community they serve. 

Three years ago in its IRS filings, RWJBarnabas reported it spent $18.5 million for advertising. In the present media landscape that buys a lot of space.

In one recent release, the nonprofit heralded the success of RWJUH’s heart transplant team, which “successfully performed a transplantation on August 4 within the first 24 hours of the nurse strike implemented by its nursing union.” That patient, a 52-year-old resident of Trenton, was reportedly discharged on Aug. 14 after 10 days in the hospital’s cardiovascular ICU and in-patient unit. 

Last year, Lester J. Owens was named as chair of the RWJBarnabas Health Board of Trustees. Owens “has served as Vice Chair since 2019 and has served on its Audit, Compliance, Compensation, Nominating and Governance, as well as Racism and Social Justice Committees,” according to a press release.

Owens is also senior executive vice president and head of operations for Wells Fargo & Company, where “he oversees a team of more than 70,000 employees and is responsible for building a more unified, integrated approach to Wells Fargo’s business operations functions,” according to the press release announcing his appointment. Before joining Wells Fargo, Owens held prominent positions at BNY Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Citibank and Bankers Trust.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Residents of communities like Newark and Irvington know Wells Fargo well.

Earlier this year, Fortune reported on internal documents from the beleaguered banking multinational that privately expressed “increased concern that a years-long effort to unionize the bank’s employees could soon start notching victories” and outlined “plans to spend millions addressing the ‘pain points’ that can fuel organizing efforts.” 

Fortune further reported that Wells Fargo “has seen ‘an increase in organizing activity’ by employees working with the Communications Workers of America, according to an internal PowerPoint presentation. … That comes amid what it called a broader ‘resurgence’ of U.S. union activity.”

An unnamed source in Wells Fargo management told Fortune, “Leaders at the San Francisco-based bank have worried over the trends. … The company has estimated the extra expense of having unionized workers, and drafted plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on staffing improvements.”

In a statement, the bank responded: “Wells Fargo believes our employees are best served by working directly with the company and its leadership – not a third-party group like a union – to address matters of concern. The company is investing in employees through training and education, is boosting minimum pay and health benefits, and now has a Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion leader who reports directly to its chief executive officer.”

Fortune observed that the bank had roughly 193,000 U.S. employees at the end of 2022, none of them unionized.

RWJUH, on the other hand, has had a nurses’ union going back decades. Back in 2005, the United Steelworkers Local 4-200 took up the mantle. As one of America’s legacy unions, it has 1.2 million active and retired members including 50,000 in the health care sector representing titles as varied as physicians and EMTs from New Jersey to California. The union even scored a recent organizing coup in Wyoming.

On day one of the strike, the plumbing in a church rented by the union suffered a “construction accident” that disabled its plumbing, taking out the toilets available for striking workers.

On day one of the job action, the plumbing in the Magyar Reformed Church in New Brunswick, which the union is renting as a strike headquarters, suffered a “construction accident” that disabled its plumbing, taking out the toilets available for striking workers on the picket line. The church sits at the center of the RWJUH complex, which includes the ongoing construction of its $1 billion cancer center.

“We’re nurses, we are resourceful, we do what we have to do, so we rented portable toilets,” Judy Danella, president of United Steelworkers Nurses Local 4-200, said. The union has filed several claims of unfair labor practices against the hospital system.

The union says its top priority is to improve nurse-to-patient ratios and to establish an enforcement mechanism to hold hospital management accountable when it falls short of that standard. The hospital counters by saying that it tried to prevent a strike and painting the union as an erratic and unreliable bargaining partner.

“RWJUH did everything it could to avoid a strike. The hospital agreed to and signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on July 13, which included the union’s core staffing proposal and compensation settlement,” according to the hospital. “The union leaders signed it and agreed to recommend the MOA to its membership but did not. It was voted down by the nurses and a notice to strike was presented to the hospital.”

Two days before the strike, the hospital narrative continued, RWJUH “submitted a proposal to the union that went even further than what was in the MOA, and the union never presented that proposal to its membership before they went out on strike.”

RWJUH further asserts that it “offered to enter binding arbitration or participate in a federal mediation and conciliation board of inquiry” and asked the union to “rescind its strike notice and return to the table to continue good faith negotiations,” and that the union refused those offers. The hospital chain also alleges that “during the 10-day window prior to the strike, the hospital made another counteroffer to attempt to avert the strike. The union did not respond to the offer until after the strike. Since the strike, mediation has not been productive; counteroffers from the union have far exceeded all previous asks, including those the union agreed to in the MOA.”

The union has a different narrative, of course. Danella told hundreds of her members on the picket line on Aug. 28 that the hospital was not coming to the table, and that the union had “never refused to bargain” with management. She said the failure to make progress “was not for the lack of the union trying.”

Danella told members she hoped that “somebody would push” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, to become engaged in the almost month-long strike at one of the state’s Level 1 trauma centers. Unlike in a recent strike at Rutgers University, Murphy has stayed on the sidelines so far. He has committed to use the tragic lessons of the pandemic to improve New Jersey’s health care system. That’s no small task. A lot of powerful folks have made a killing from the way New Jersey handles health care. 

“Hospitals have been downsizing their staffs over the years to try and save money at the same time that some of the hospitals are full — so safe staffing is something that nurses not just in New Jersey but all over the country are looking at,” New Jersey AFL-CIO president Charlie Wowkanech told Insider NJ earlier this month. “The issue isn’t just about the nurses, it’s about you and me and our families. Someone gets sick and goes to the hospital and they’ve got one nurse for eight or nine patients, particularly in some of these wards with infants, or in intensive care units where people need pretty much constant attention. That’s really what the fight is all about.”

Local 4-200 nurse and activist Renee Bacany said, “We need to make sure that we can take care of our patients to the best of our ability, and that would mean less patients than we are taking on now on a daily basis. Better staffing reduces infection, reduces patient mortality — that’s what study after study shows.”

Christi Peace, a spokesperson for Gov. Murphy, said that the governor “remains a strong proponent of organized labor and believes employees deserve a seat at the table when negotiating labor matters. The administration encourages both parties to maintain an open dialogue and will continue to remain engaged with them as they work towards a fair and acceptable resolution to these negotiations.”

Last Monday, the striking nurses got a pep talk from state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, a Democrat. He discussed his own daughter-in-law’s experience as a nurse during the COVID pandemic.

“To thank you requires more than a speech, it requires some action,” Coughlin said. “I know what this is about — fundamental fairness. This is about people getting paid what they ought to be paid, being able to provide the care that their patients need each and every day…. This is about patient care and fundamental fairness and that’s why it’s so important that you stand up for yourself today.”

He went on, “It’s time to stand up together and to get a contract. It’s time for all of you to be back inside doing what you love to do, what you care about doing and making the difference that you make each and every day.”

Last weekend, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also offered support for the striking nurses. “We hailed them as heroes during the pandemic, but when it comes to their compensation, the nursing ratios, we’ve got to make sure they are being treated like heroes, not just in words but in the kind of contract and living circumstances they have,” he said.

Read more

on America’s labor resurgence

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Is Union Square in downtown San Francisco really dying?

Nordstrom is closing its two stores in the area. Saks Off 5th goes. T-Mobile has already closed its two-story flagship store.

Why are these retailers at or near Union Square saying goodbye to a well-known tourist destination and the heart of the city’s shopping core? The exodus of these companies has worried some business leaders and economists alike.

A decline in consumer spending, supply chain disruptions, high operational costs and public safety have caused San Francisco’s overall retail vacancy rate to rise to 6% in the first quarter of 2023 — up from 5.2% a year earlier and the highest Been in town since 2006, according to Cushman and Wakefield, a commercial real estate services company.

Union Square’s overall vacancy rate rose to 15.5% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 14.2% in the last quarter of 2022.

“It’s a very serious problem for the entire city, let alone downtown,” said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

But Mayor London Breed and other San Franciscans have resisted the narrative that Union Square is doomed in recent media coverage.

“For the people who don’t walk the streets of San Francisco, who don’t live in San Francisco but want to write and comment on San Francisco, I urge you to come to this city and see how it feels. Breed said during a May 16 news conference. “I urge you to shop at the stores that you are complaining about and that you have probably never set foot in.”

Breed stressed that the media doesn’t report on stores like Banana Republic and Ikea that have moved or plan to move to Union Square.

At least 26 stores in downtown San Francisco have closed since 2020, with seven more scheduled to close.

This month, Nordstrom announced it would be closing its two stores on Fifth Street and Market Street, becoming the youngest retailer to leave Union Square in recent years.

“The dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past few years, impacting the flow of customers into our stores and our ability to operate successfully,” said Jamie Nordstrom, the chief stores officer, in a Explanation.

Saks Off 5th on Market Street is also closing its doors, attributing the decision to “store performance and other factors” in a statement.

As for T-Mobile’s recent Stockton Street closure, a spokesman said it was part of the company’s “nationwide retail strategy to better serve customers.”

Despite those companies moving, a few weeks ago Breed held a press conference with District Manager Aaron Peskin to announce a $6 million investment in the three blocks of Powell Street near Union Square where H&M, Gap and Uniqlo have recently closed their doors years.

While Marisa Rodriguez, the CEO of the Union Square Alliance, acknowledged that some stores have certainly left Union Square during and after the pandemic, she emphasized that luxury retailers in particular have expanded, opened or moved to the area.

“The heart of the square is beating strongly – it’s alive,” she said. “There have certainly been challenges post-pandemic that many major cities have struggled with. We try to position ourselves in such a way that we do justice to the situation and adapt where we can.”

Saint Laurent, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels have all moved to Union Square, while Pandora opened its doors there last year.

“When we shut down, we shut down pretty hard,” Rodriguez said. “Union Square is a visitor destination. We will see more closures than a more traditional neighborhood where people can roam and shop where they live. A lot of these closures are because we couldn’t get through that closure.”

According to Wade Rose, president of Advance SF, a company representative, storefronts in the shopping district have become vacant in recent years due to the increase in internet shopping and the reduction in foot traffic as a result of the pandemic.

“This is an example of the pressure that urban retail is feeling because of people’s buying habits,” Rose said. “San Francisco is very committed and looking into this issue. Around 300,000 fewer people live in downtown San Francisco than in 2019.”

The city’s property crime and homelessness crisis have also deterred foot traffic, Rose said.

According to the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center, San Francisco has the highest property crime rate in the state, rising 16.9% in 2021.

The Bay Area has the highest rate of property crime in the state, with a rate of 2,718 per 100,000 people.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, reported cases of commercial burglaries in San Francisco have actually decreased. There were 1,107 incidents in 2020, compared to 945 in 2021 and 735 in 2022.

Rose described San Francisco’s Stonetown Mall as a shopping district that caters to the needs of the population. The mall, which was once very traditional and which included a Macy’s, was going through hard times and needed to be reinvented, he said. There is now a Trader Joe’s, a sports cellar and a Target.

“It’s thriving because it meets the needs of the neighborhood and has the kind of metamorphosis that needs to happen in the downtown retail district,” he said. “It’s not just Union Square that’s under pressure because of these issues.”

Union Square and other shopping districts need to be diversified and offer diverse shopping and living experiences to attract consumers.

“The bottom line is that San Francisco’s urban core needs to become a much more experientially and physically diverse place than it is through the recovery from the Great Recession,” said Rose. “That means there should be a 24/7 city, there should be more cultural offerings, and there should be diverse types of retail and businesses.”

The post Is there a retail exodus in San Francisco? Some say Union Sq. is ‘beating sturdy’ | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Union Square in San Francisco. At least 26 downtown businesses have closed since 2020, with seven more scheduled to close. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

Is Union Square in downtown San Francisco really dying?

Nordstrom is closing its two stores in the area. Saks Off 5th goes. T-Mobile has already closed its two-story flagship store.

Why are these retailers at or near Union Square saying goodbye to a well-known tourist destination and the heart of the city’s shopping core? The exodus of these companies has worried some business leaders and economists alike.

A decline in consumer spending, supply chain disruptions, high operational costs and public safety have caused San Francisco’s overall retail vacancy rate to rise to 6% in the first quarter of 2023 — up from 5.2% a year earlier and the highest Been in town since 2006, according to Cushman and Wakefield, a commercial real estate services company.

Union Square’s overall vacancy rate rose to 15.5% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 14.2% in the last quarter of 2022.

“It’s a very serious problem for the entire city, let alone downtown,” said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

But Mayor London Breed and other San Franciscans have resisted the narrative that Union Square is doomed in recent media coverage.

“For the people who don’t walk the streets of San Francisco, who don’t live in San Francisco but want to write and comment on San Francisco, I urge you to come to this city and see how it feels. ‘ Breed said during a press conference on May 16. “I urge you to shop at the stores you complain about and have probably never set foot in.”

Breed stressed that the media doesn’t report on stores like Banana Republic and Ikea that have moved or plan to move to Union Square.

At least 26 stores in downtown San Francisco have closed since 2020, with seven more scheduled to close.

This month, Nordstrom announced it would be closing its two stores on Fifth Street and Market Street, becoming the youngest retailer to leave Union Square in recent years.

The story goes on

“The dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past few years, impacting the flow of customers into our stores and our ability to operate successfully,” said Jamie Nordstrom, the chief stores officer, in a Explanation.

Saks Off 5th on Market Street is also closing its doors, attributing the decision to “store performance and other factors” in a statement.

As for T-Mobile’s recent Stockton Street closure, a spokesman said it was part of the company’s “nationwide retail strategy to better serve customers.”

Despite those companies moving, a few weeks ago Breed held a press conference with District Manager Aaron Peskin to announce a $6 million investment in the three blocks of Powell Street near Union Square where H&M, Gap and Uniqlo have recently closed their doors years.

While Marisa Rodriguez, the CEO of the Union Square Alliance, acknowledged that some stores have certainly left Union Square during and after the pandemic, she emphasized that luxury retailers in particular have expanded, opened or moved to the area.

“The heart of the square is beating strongly – it’s alive,” she said. “There have certainly been challenges post-pandemic that many major cities have faced. We try to position ourselves to do justice to the moment and turn where we can.”

Saint Laurent, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels have all moved to Union Square, while Pandora opened its doors there last year.

“When we switch off, we take it off pretty hard,” Rodriguez said. “Union Square is a visitor destination. We will see more closures than a more traditional neighborhood where people can move and shop where they live. A lot of these closures are because we couldn’t get through this shutdown.”

According to Wade Rose, president of Advance SF, a company representative, storefronts in the shopping district have become vacant in recent years due to the increase in internet shopping and the reduction in foot traffic as a result of the pandemic.

“This is an example of the pressure that urban retail is feeling because of people’s buying habits,” Rose said. “San Francisco is very committed and looking into this issue. About 300,000 fewer people live in downtown San Francisco than in 2019.”

The city’s property crime and homelessness crisis have also deterred foot traffic, Rose said.

According to the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center, San Francisco has the highest property crime rate in the state, rising 16.9% in 2021.

The Bay Area has the highest rate of property crime in the state, with a rate of 2,718 per 100,000 people.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, reported cases of commercial burglaries in San Francisco have actually decreased. There were 1,107 incidents in 2020, compared to 945 in 2021 and 735 in 2022.

Rose described San Francisco’s Stonestown Mall as a shopping district that adapts to the needs of the population. The mall, which was once very traditional and which included a Macy’s, was going through hard times and needed to be reinvented, he said. There is now a Trader Joe’s, a sports cellar and a Target.

“It’s thriving because it meets the needs of the neighborhood and has the kind of metamorphosis that needs to happen in the downtown retail district,” he said. “It’s not just Union Square that’s under pressure because of these issues.”

Union Square and other shopping districts need to be diversified and offer diverse shopping and living experiences to attract consumers.

“The bottom line is that San Francisco’s urban core needs to become a much more experientially and physically diverse place than it is through the recovery from the Great Recession,” said Rose. “That means there should be a 24/7 city, there should be more cultural offerings, and there should be diverse types of retail and businesses.”

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

The post Is there a retail exodus in San Francisco? Some say Union Sq. is ‘beating sturdy’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

It was raining and chilly that Saturday morning and it was so tempting to stay under the covers. But the long-awaited bike link from the Oakland Bay Bridge to Treasure Island was due to have a ribbon cut, so the old bike was pulled out and a good breakfast inhaled.

We knew that the ribbon cutting was really about the new on and off ramps from the highway to the island, and we had no illusions that we would find a Bike Eden. Finally, in recent years, the bike connection to the island has been cut off at weekends to allow the cumbersome ramps for cars to be built, and not because a bike connection would be complicated or expensive.

The rain subsided, forming a mist in the background, and it proved to be a perfect day for driving up the long, slow incline of the bridge. It was very quiet this morning; So far, only a few riders or hikers have been on the road – they probably stayed under the covers. Still, it was a surprise to see from a distance that there were no waiting media vans, no cameras, and no dignitaries assembled at the designated location. Was everyone afraid of getting wet?

We did not expect that one of the dignitaries would arrive by bicycle. This project is entirely within the city of San Francisco, but there is still no way to cycle from San Francisco to the islands. The current route benefits day riders from Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, as well as people who bring their bikes in transit from San Francisco.

A cyclist stopped at the designated spot for the ribbon cutting and looked at his phone. Another driver stopped by because he was checking out the rest of the route. We all traveled from the East Bay to witness the ribbon cutting: a city planner, a longtime cyclist and advocate, and myself.

We joked that a little rain sent the dignitaries inside, but after waiting a few more minutes we realized it wasn’t a joke – they might have settled elsewhere. So we made our way along the designated bike route to the Treasure Island administration building, where we found a couple of fancy shuttle buses waiting to carry people.

We arrived at this fabulous Art Deco building—which would offer stunning views of San Francisco if it weren’t for the cars parked in front of it—just in time to hear SFCTA Director Tilly Chang address the thanks to supporters of Bike East Bay and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for their contribution to the bike path. Those advocates weren’t in attendance — some of them have taken on other jobs after years of meetings with the agency. But we were there! Two of us made it, we stood in the back with our bikes.

We missed most of the speeches and missed even more when a member of staff offered us coffee and snacks. As a working journalist on a small salary, I appreciate a good Costco croissant, but believe it or not, that wasn’t what fascinated me on a cold, wet Saturday. I wanted to celebrate the opening of the cycle path seven days a week and see the route.

On the way there we had raced over the small mountain of Yerba Buena Island. The Bay Bridge Freeway cuts through a tunnel in the heart of the hill, but the bike route — and the ascents and descents — winds uphill and over the mountain before dropping to the flat sea level of Treasure Island. We were distracted by the stunning views of San Francisco and the rush to find the event.

But on the way back there were no distractions. The steep hill rose high before us. At the bottom, beautiful new landscaping helped make a short set of switchbacks more enjoyable than the rest of the ride, which was merely a steep uphill tarmac track alongside the road. I had to walk; My cycling colleague was able to stay on the pedals, but we rode at the same speed.

People: It’s steep. I came back a few days later to check out the route to town (by ferry). My first impression – that this isn’t a hill for someone not quite sure if their brakes are working properly – was confirmed when I encountered a cyclist standing to one side, contemplating the way down. Ahead, Macalla Road turned so steeply that it disappeared from sight. The driver was equipped with cycling gear; she had a high quality racing bike; she looked prepared. But when I pulled up next to her, she said everything that had been on my mind since that first Saturday ride.

A camera just can’t capture the steepness here. Photo: Melanie Curry/Streetsblog

“I’m terrified,” she said. “How did that come about? What were they thinking? San Francisco needs one or two employees who actually ride bikes to realize they need to build something better than that.” In the end, she turned around and refused to walk down the hill, even though the ferry to San Francisco was right there .

It cannot be overstated that this descent to Treasure Island is not for the faint of heart; It is not suitable for cargo bikes, children or families. It’s definitely not for e-bikes with potential braking issues. If you’re a confident mountain climber, you’ll have fun, but definitely don’t skip the ABC quick check (air, brakes, crank and chain, quick release, fast ride) before you head out.

Take this warning seriously.

The view back down the Strait from the Treasure Island Ferry. I still can’t really describe how steep it is. Photo: Melanie Curry/Streetsblog

On Saturday, both of us, who had cycled all the way there, raced back to the viewpoint on the shuttle buses (slowly up the hill). The ribbon had already been ceremoniously torn with scissors several times in the administration building, but there were more speeches and a “photo opportunity” in the park with a view of the bridge.

Again we waited in vain. Obviously this reinforced my belief that bikes are better as we got there well before the buses.

But when they finally arrived, the shuttle drivers dropped them off at a spot far above us – and completely unreachable from the bike path. To get to where the event was to take place, the dignitaries would have had to cross a high-speed ramp and walk around the outside curve for a few hundred yards. how much fun How dangerous! Welcome to my world!

At least you can see us in the background of their photos. There we are, way down in the background, behind a fence. It looks like we photographed the event.

Happy to be photo bombarding this motor vehicle centric event with bikes together with @currymel.@prinzrob pic.twitter.com/i7zfoLEtIl

— gregm123456 (@gregm123456) May 7, 2023

That was absolutely the perfect metaphor for the day. Bikes were never the focus of this project. The bike route is attached to an existing vehicle route and while parts of it are great, like the switchbacks at the bottom of the hill, much of it is impossible.

It’s also obviously not finished yet, so hope shouldn’t be given up. On my follow-up ride I could see that at a point where cyclists are supposed to switch places on a sharp bend and cyclists are going in the opposite direction – it’s painted green but very confusing – another cycle link is being built across the underpass.

It’s just not open.

It’s well marked but if a few more cyclists come out here there will be chaos. To the right, on the incline, the two directions switch places. Photo: Melanie Curry/Streetsblog

And this is an “intermediate project”. These on and off ramps were built to allow the other, more gently sloping road on the other side of Yerba Buena Island to be closed and its bridges rebuilt. The SFCTA says cyclists will one day have the choice of either safely navigating a gentler climb or choosing an improved two-way bike route over this steep trail.

Also, one day there will be a bike path on the west side of the bridge.

At least that’s the current plan. Proponents who have been working on it for years, including Bike East Bay’s Dave Campbell — who is among those who have turned to other ventures — describe plans changing constantly as the actual building of a busy road up this steep incline has met unexpected obstacles . Yes, as Caltrans director Tony Tavares said when I asked him about it, there were certainly “space constraints” when planning this transition route. This is in the nature of the building infrastructure.

However.

Access to these islands by car is already very easy. Housing is expanding on both Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island, and San Francisco has made it possible for people to hop on and off with private vehicles (even if they discuss congestion pricing, which is fair, since the only way to do this is by car). to reach or leave the island is a boat or a bridge). ).

But as usual, bike access was not taken seriously. The restriction of 24-hour access for the cycle path – but not for the car path next to it – is condescending and dismissive. It’s ridiculous to pretend that a 17 percent gradient is a reasonable compromise for any bike route. The assumption that nobody wants to ride a bike becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when bike routes end like this.

This is the only warning sign of what lies ahead. That’s Alcatraz Island out there in the bay. Photo: Melanie Curry/Streetsblog

But people drive it. We met two young men who were floating down the bridge on e-bikes on the “wrong” route – the south side of Yerba Buena Island, which is “closed” to bikes and will soon be closed to all vehicles for several years. They knew exactly what they were doing. They grew up on Treasure Island, and one of them still lives there, mulling over the $3,000 her family was offered to move out of their affordable rental home.

According to too many traffic planners, people like her don’t really exist. At least they don’t matter, especially compared to people who travel by car.

The new driveways are really nice. This is the bridge in the background (looking east here) Photo: Melanie Curry/Streetsblog

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Elon Musk says Twitter’s HQ in San Francisco creates “strong left bias” on platform

The billionaire Tesla CEO, Elon Musk is hinting at relocating Twitter’s headquarters outside the Bay Area if his offer to buy the company goes through. Musk spoke Tuesday about Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters creating left-leaning bias on the platform, during a live interview at an auto conference hosted in London by the Financial Times. KTVU’s Emma Goss reports.

SAN FRANCISCO – The billionaire Tesla CEO, Elon Musk is hinting at relocating Twitter’s headquarters outside the Bay Area if his offer to buy the company goes through.

Musk spoke Tuesday about Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters creating left-leaning bias on the platform, during a live interview at an auto conference hosted in London by the Financial Times.

“I think Twitter needs to be much more even-handed. It currently has a strong left bias, because it’s based in San Francisco,” Musk said, appearing virtually at the Future of the Car Conference.

“I don’t think people out there necessarily intend, or at least perhaps some of them don’t intend to have a left bias, just from their perspective it seems moderate, they’re just coming at it from an environment that is very far left,” Musk continued. “So, this fails to build trust in the rest of the United States and perhaps other parts of the world.”

“It’s conceivable that he [Musk] might move Twitter to Texas, as he did with the headquarters of Tesla,” Larry Magid, president and CEO of ConnectSafely.org, a nonprofit internet safety, privacy, and security organization, said in response to Musk’s comment. Magid is also on Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, involved in the council’s Online Safety and Harassment Prevention group.

“The fact is, wherever it’s going to be, it’s going to be staffed by people. Probably educated people.” Magid said. “At the end of the day, it’s how they implement their policies that matters, not how they might think or vote.”

Musk also told the Financial Times’ Peter Campbell at the Tuesday conference that he would allow former president Donald Trump back on Twitter if he became the social media company’s owner.

“It was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake,” Musk said, “because it alienated a large part of our country, and it did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”

The mistake, Musk said, was implementing a permanent ban, rather than a temporary suspension, following the January 6th insurrection at the United States Capitol.

“Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts,” Musk said.

Musk’s offer to buy Twitter for $44 billion was unanimously approved by Twitter’s board. Still, the deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval before closing.

Trump told Fox News last month that if given the option, he wouldn’t return to Twitter. Instead, he’s focused on growing his new online platform, Truth Social, where some on the political far-right are going too. Musk said Tuesday that this division in online platforms creates a situation that is “frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate.”

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SAN JOSE (BCN/CBS SF) — A new poll suggests strong public support for California’s ambitious high-speed rail project, but the challenges of stretching it to San Jose are daunting.

UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies reported voters in California favor continuing the high-speed rail project by a five-to-three margin. The poll, which examined a range of issues voters want the state to address, was administered online to 8,676 California residents in English and Spanish. The findings are likely subject to a sampling error of approximately plus or minus 2 percent.

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Mark DiCamillo, director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies poll, told San Jose Spotlight it can’t easily be compared to past surveys about the popularity of the rail project. But he said the results show majority support for the truncated version of the project.

“We’re now in 2022, it’s a long way away, and it’s been 14 years, but voters wanted to go forward even in its kind of abbreviated form,” DiCamillo said.

In 2008, California voters approved bonds to design and build a high-speed rail system that would run from San Diego to Sacramento by 2030. Cost overruns and delays have extended the timeline: the state’s current plan calls for a rail line linking Bakersfield to Merced by 2030, and then the Bay Area by 2033. According to the latest state estimate, finishing the complete route from Los Angeles to San Francisco could take $105 billion.

The high-speed rail line would feed into San Jose through Diridon Station, which is already set to become a major transit hub thanks to the expansion of BART from the north. At a recent VTA board meeting, officials from the California High-Speed ​​Rail Authority said the project will require tunneling through the Pacheco Pass to connect the Central Valley to Gilroy, and then San Jose. A final environmental impact report is going to be received by the authority’s board later this month.

According to a high-speed rail spokesperson, the connection between Silicon Valley and the Central Valley is projected to generate nearly $50 billion in economic output.

“It’s encouraging to know the people of California are excited by the promise of the nation’s first high-speed rail system,” Anthony Lopez, a

spokesperson for the High-Speed ​​Rail Authority, told San Jose Spotlight. “We look forward to moving this project forward and putting high-speed rail into service by the end of the decade.”

Speeding through San Jose

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Local officials and transit advocates are optimistic about the project’s potential impact on San Jose. Vice Mayor Chappie Jones, who chairs VTA’s board, told San Jose Spotlight he believes high-speed rail will transform Diridon into the equivalent of New York’s Grand Central Station on the West Coast.

“You’re going to have BART, light rail, buses and trains coming into that station, and having high-speed rail also come in will bring tens of thousands of riders into downtown San Jose,” Jones said. “The economic benefit of that alone is tremendous.”

Derrick Seaver, President and CEO of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, said he’s not surprised people are supportive of the project, especially given the return of crushing traffic as the pandemic recedes. The Berkeley poll noted four out of 10 respondents are experiencing serious problems due to rising gas prices.

Seaver said there are many upsides to the project for the local economy, although he is concerned about construction.

“The struggle the business community has is all about the mitigation costs–where is the construction going to take place? What is the mitigation going to look like?” Seaver told San Jose Spotlight. “Downtown San Jose has a lot of activity already, with the BART project coming downtown, so this would be another element they would have to work through.”

Jones noted the project will also allow more people to commute to San Jose from the Central Valley, where there are more opportunities for people to find affordable homes. Aside from the challenges of tunneling under the mountains that separate Silicon Valley from the Central Valley, Jones said he’s concerned about how the trains will travel through San Jose.

“That’s a big discussion in terms of grade separation. Do you want a train just going 110 or 125 miles per hour at grade level and crossing major intersections?” Jones said. “Imagine the safety concerns for vehicles and bicycles and pedestrians.”

Monica Mallon, a transit advocate and San Jose Spotlight columnist, believes high-speed rail will be a major improvement over Amtrak, which she said is too slow. She said the greatest obstacle will come down to money.

“The funding has not been what (high speed rail staff) expected it to be,” Mallon told San Jose Spotlight. “I think they expected the private sector to step up a little more and contribute.”

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The strong winds that blew through the Bay Area on Jan. 21 and 22, causing property damage and power outages throughout the region, look to be returning this week.

The National Weather Service issued an advisory Monday morning that northerly gusts from the offshore wind event coming Tuesday and Wednesday will effect most of the Bay Area, and winds could reach over 70 mph in the North Bay mountains.

“Models are suggesting that this event may be similar to our recent event on January 21-22,” the NWS said in a news release.

That wind event saw gusts over 60 mph on Mount Hamilton and Mount Diablo, and a staggering 96 mph in the Healdsburg Hills. In the East Bay, the storm downed trees and power lines and knocked out power for many.

A high wind watch has been issued across the majority of the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains (excluding the Santa Clara valley) for gusty northerly winds. These gusty winds arrive between tonight and Thursday morning and fcst strongest in the N Bay mtns. #cawx pic.twitter.com/tCL7EpuxsD

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 31, 2022

“At this point, it looks as though Tuesday and Wednesday will be the strongest days with a focus on the interior mountains of the North Bay,” the NWS said in the advisory.

The alert effects the entire Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains with the exception of the Santa Clara Valley.

A high wind watch has been issued across the majority of the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains (excluding the Santa Clara valley) for gusty northerly winds. These gusty winds arrive between tonight and Thursday morning and fcst strongest in the N Bay mtns. #cawx pic.twitter.com/tCL7EpuxsD

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 31, 2022

“Good idea to secure outdoor objects, don’t park under trees & prepare for power outages,” ABC7 meteorologist Drew Tuma said in a tweet Monday morning, sharing the warning.

The NWS says the wind event is likely to occur from late tonight until early Thursday (Feb. 3) and will potentially down trees, knock out power and create hazardous driving conditions.

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In our last fundraising post, we touched on some of the key stories of 2021. Today we look forward to what we believe will be the most important stories of 2022.

Of course, to ensure our best coverage, we need your support to keep going. Today we just made $ 9,000 in donations and pledges in our year-end promotion. While that’s great, we still have a long way to go to meet our $ 30,000 goal.

Now that the Infrastructure Act has been passed, the completion of the electrification of Caltrain, the further development of the high-speed rail and the entry of trains into the Transbay basement in 2022 are high on the agenda of transit advocates.

The integration of transit will also continue to be a focus, with groups such as Seamless Bay Area fighting for rational tariffs and free transfers between the various transit operators in the Bay Area.

We will continue to cover the struggle to save the open roads, the car-free JFK and the great walkway. Streetsblog will continue to address efforts to bring protected intersections and roundabouts with bike lanes to the Bay Area intersections. And we will continue to call on government agencies and officials to speak out about justice as they happily spend hundreds of millions on more auto infrastructure as they ignore the safety of vulnerable road users.

The question is, how will these top-level changes translate into the changes we must see on the roads and highways of our state? Streetsblog San Francisco plans to keep asking, watching and keeping our readers informed.

As always, I’m available at damien@streetsblog.org for questions, information about setting up employer matches or anything else.

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Kevin Graham chose a great time to arrive in the Bay Area. The San Francisco Giants had the best record in baseball, the excitement for the 49ers was heightened by the picking of Trey Lance in the first round, and the return of Klay Thompson to the Golden State Warriors line-up is imminent.

When such events take place, enthusiasm among local sports fans rises. These fans then look for more conversation about the teams, players, and topics that grabbed their attention, and for the summer book, the majority flocked to The Sports Leader, KNBR.

For the entire week (M-SO 6a-Mid), KNBR took 1st place in the market for men 25-54 with a 5.1. The station also produced a 5.1 in the weekday prime (MF 6a-7p), which put it in 2nd place. An even better highlight for the brand was their performance in September, which included a 6.3 for the entire week and a 6.1 for the busy season. With the 49ers playing regular season games and the Giants in a tight playoff battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers, October should see even better results.

Looking at the station’s weekday shows, Murph and Mac performed the best among the prime weekday shows for the quarter. The morning show produced a stock of 6.1 and took 1st place. Their share grew to 6.7 in September.

At noon, John Lund and Greg Papa finished 6th with a 4.0 share. Papa and Lund improved to 5.4 and 4th place in September.

In the afternoon, Tom Tolbert, Larry Krueger and Rod Brooks moved into second place with a share of 5.3. Her performance in September brought her to 1st place with a 6.4.

On the night (MF 7p-12a), the combination of San Francisco Giants baseball, 49ers preseason action and Mark Willard’s evening show (Mark has since moved to 95.7 The Game) helped The Sports Leader with a 7.7. to 2. parts. Similar to the daily shows, the evenings in September grew to 8.9.

For 95.7 The Game, the story was the afternoon show with Damon Bruce, Ray Ratto, and Matt Kolsky. The Bay Area trio produced a 4.7 share for the book and took third place, just six tenths of a point behind Tolbert, Krueger, and Brooks. The show retired by five tenths in September thanks to a surge to 5.9. Since then, Kolsky has moved into the evening hours, one point that should be taken into account. This means that the autumn book results of the afternoon show will be determined by Bruce and Ratto.

The second best show on The Game for the quarter was the noon show starring Matt Steinmetz, Dan Dibley, and Daryle ‘The Guru’ Johnson. Steiny, Guru, and Dibley scored 3.3, finishing their timeslot in 10th place for the book. Her September number was the same as her rating for the entire book.

At the start of the day, The Morning Roast recorded a share of 2.3 with Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky, earning them 14th place. Much like the noon show, the September number was the same as the rest of the book. The evenings were well behind in 24th place with 0.6. Once the warriors return, that number should improve.

Overall, The Game took 10th place for the book in the weekday Prime (MF 6a-7p) with a share of 3.7. The station also took 16th place for the entire week (M-SO 6a-Mitte) with a 2.5 share.

With the entry into the autumn book, The Game has revised its line-up. The station now offers The Morning Roast from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., Mark Willard and Dan Dibley from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Steiny and Guru from noon to 3 p.m., Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Matt Kolsky and Company from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.

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