There's a little street called Kensington Way on San Francisco's Westside. It runs along the base of Edgehill Mountain, hidden between the more famous Twin Peaks and taller Mt. Davidson.
Politics
The $118 million park project, opening in late Spring of 2020, is part of a wetlands restoration movement across the Bay Area that will benefit all species - including us - facing the uncertain future of climate change.
The voters have spoken in the 2019 election. And what have they said?
Every election is a puzzle, and each candidate is looking to arrange the pieces so that when it’s finished it’s a picture of their victory. The current race for District Supervisor between appointed incumbent Vallie Brown and two-time challenger Dean Preston is no different. To understand wh…
There’s an interesting little soul-of-the-city tussle in this year’s election for District Attorney. In an off-year, the race between acting DA Suzy Loftus and public defender Chesa Boudin is getting national attention.
The Kincade Fire has expanded to over 75,000 acres and displaced over 180,000 California residents.
Like an idiot, I lost my driver's license.
Even as transit funds from Regional Measure 3 remain tied up in court, a far larger new tax proposal to overhaul Bay Area transportation faces a critical go or no-go decision if it is to appear on the November ballot next year.
Editor's Note: In honor of San Francisco Hep B Free Bay Area's annual fundraising gala the Bay City Beacon is re-printing a USA Today essay written by Joel Engardio in 2009.
It's disquieting, and more than a bit depressing, to see so many empty storefronts in a growing, dynamic, and wealthy city like San Francisco. Members of the Board of Supervisors think the retail vacancy rate in their neighborhoods is too high, and suspect that landlords may be intentionally…
Supervisor Gordon Mar recently proposed a November 2020 ballot measure that would prohibit the Mayor from making appointments within 90 days of Election Day. He vehemently argued that it is “undemocratic and wrong to appoint a candidate...to the office they’re running for weeks before the el…
As of last month, "qualified non-profits" will have the first crack at multi-unit buildings in the City of San Francisco. When owners intend to sell their multifamily residential property, a vetted pool of organizations will be the first to come to the trough, courtesy of COPA.
Progressive opponents of Mayor London Breed are shocked (shocked!) that she has appointed Suzy Loftus as interim District Attorney, when Loftus is running for the job.
French inventor Frank Zapata grabbed headlines around the world when he flew his hoverboard across the English channel from Pas de Calais, France, to the famous white cliffs of Dover.
San Francisco likes to think of itself as a city of compassion. It is, mostly.
A spike in traffic deaths places the City’s traffic safety initiatives on the back foot after years of incremental success. Agencies are regrouping with new initiatives, focusing on reducing traffic speeds and overall car use.
San Francisco, you are going to have to pick a lane on this homeless issue.
Welding torches spark inside a giant construction shed on the northern shore of Alameda Island where a dozen workers are attaching pre-cut aluminum plates to the ribs of a new catamaran ferry boat.
Austin Vincent has become the center of controversy and soul-searching about homelessness and street crime in San Francisco. But who is he as a person, and how did he come to be where he is today?
You probably saw the news. President Donald Trump is sending a team to the Bay Area to fix homelessness.
After a contentious summer rally between environmentalists and union workers, the Richmond Planning Commission voted unanimously to keep coal in Richmond.
On August 20th, San Francisco International Airport became the first airport in the United States to ban single-use plastic water bottles, part of its broader effort to become a “zero” waste to landfill facility by 2021. Airport spokesperson Doug Yakel addressed why the focus is initially on…
Cue the eye rolling. You can imagine how it played around the country when San Francisco Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution calling the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization.”
A mysterious person in a hippopotamus costume helped Mayor London Breed get elected last year by calling her opponents “hungry, hungry super PAC hippocrites.”
Amid an ongoing repudiation of the Twitter tax break by San Francisco's self-proclaimed "progressives," one of their thought leaders uses a recent study to denounce Mayor Ed Lee's legacy of job creation in an editorial. In doing so, he leaves out some inconvenient facts. On reading it, we wo…
This article is part of a poetry series dedicated to every Muni route in San Francisco. You can find the poet, Mc "Mack" Allen, on twitter at @that_mc.
If you’re a crime victim in San Francisco, it seems your best chance of being heard is to mention Governor Gavin Newsom in a tweet.
A historically unique race for District Attorney comes into focus this month with a series of intense debates. Four candidates struggle to differentiate themselves, balancing equity issues with the emerging challenge of increased property crimes.
Berkeley is the first city in the US to ban natural gas in new building construction. Is it the move of a lone radical, or a necessary step to combat climate change that other cities will follow?
Despite an initial defeat, the lawsuit filed by opponents of the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center at Seawall Lot 330 continues. Exemplifying the continued difficulties the City has in securing sites for shelter, the case also highlights how long-term planning for the bayfront lot has alway…
Supervisor Vallie Brown announced on July 22nd that she is introducing legislation that will end natural gas use in new municipal construction and major building renovations. The bill, co-sponsored by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, will move San Francisco towards its goal of producing net-zero…
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is seeking applications for its 2020 commission. The deadline for the first stage has been extended to August 19th, 5:00PM Pacific Time.
After a year of fine-tuning, the Board of Supervisors may finally enact new regulations on office cafeterias. Ostensibly protecting restaurants and other small businesses adjacent to tech companies, the legislation has troubling aspects, including further expansion of Conditional Use.
Every election year, San Francisco voters show how much they love the initiative process. Stakeholders who consider themselves more informed or experienced may roll their eyes, but for better or worse, San Francisco more often than not gets a full plate of issues to vote on along with the va…
Safe-street advocates gathered before San Francisco City Hall last week to urge city leaders to declare a state of emergency for traffic safety. The rally, which was organized by Walk San Francisco, follows in the wake of two fatal crashes in the past two weeks. The San Francisco Bicycle Coa…
I recently visited the City of Cupertino. I didn’t go to appreciate its restaurants and parks, or to critique its low-density exclusionary zoning, or even to fantasize about affording a home there with a median price of $2 million. No, I went to defend my right to free speech against an abus…
Just minutes before I sat down to write this, I had an all-too-familiar experience. As I approached the intersection near my apartment, a huge box truck came barreling down the narrow residential road.
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Can San Francisco buy out PG&E’s local infrastructure for a greener, more transparent energy future?
Californians claiming to be environmentalists and indigenous rights activists are being paid by a right-wing organization with ties to the Charles Koch Foundation to oppose AB44, the California fur ban, according to documents obtained by the animal rights organization Direct Action Everywher…
In San Francisco, anyone can file an appeal to stop construction of affordable housing for any reason. A handful of San Francisco residents, more concerned with preserving their views or their parking availability, have abused this process to delay construction of much-needed housing.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin's demolition legislation didn't go over well at last week's joint meeting of the San Francisco Planning and Building Inspection Commissions. Stakeholders remain unimpressed by what increasingly looks like an example of kitchen sink legislation, designed to stop almost…
Even Republicans are trying to steal her thunder.
Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle made the baffling decision to publish an opinion piece by Lou Di Leonardo, a self-styled “founding member” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alleging that immigrants were to blame for California’s high housing costs. This claim is absurd and…
Welcome to the latest episode of Fogcast: The Bay City Beacon's local politics podcast.
I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw a bumper sticker that made me literally laugh out loud: “God Hates Facts.” For most of us in the Bay Area, science denialism brings up images of the religious right. But since moving here I’ve become acquainted with the left-wing variety of sa…
Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s legislation to limit demolitions of residential property is back from the dead, with the Planning Commission holding an informational presentation on the revised legislation this Thursday. Although its stated intent is to prevent loss of affordable housing through “…
On June 13, a petition to build housing on the Ashby BART parking lots will be delivered to the BART Board of Directors meeting with over 1000 signatures.
Sacramento may ask voters to repeal a major constitutional roadblock to affordable housing.
It's blisteringly hot in San Francisco right now. The Department of Homeless Services has activated special policies to help get people inside. It's a Spare the Air day, which means we are all supposed to figure out how to avoid driving private vehicles. And, most worryingly, fire season has…
With fire season around the corner, and PG&E again taking refuge in bankruptcy, will Governor Newsom’s “Strike Force” wildfire plan be enough to protect Bay Area homes?
