INSIDE
1601 Mariposa Construction Continues Pg. 3
APRIL 2018
Bottle Bill and Good Life's Steep Fines Pg. 4
Jackson Playground Facelift Pg. 5
Potrero Boosters: A History of Service Pg. 7
Search for Jami the Cat Pg. 8
Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970
Kids' Photo Contest! Pg. 12
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Car Break-Ins Decline Dramatically, Still High BY MICHAEL IACUESSA
The San Francisco Police Department reported a 31 percent decrease in automobile break-ins from January to February, with the number of year-todate thefts down 15 percent across the City. All 10 police districts experienced fewer incidences. Municipal officials have been combating an automobile break-in epidemic that’s besieged the City over recent years. In 2017, 31,000 vehicles were broken into, an average of 85 a day, thrice more than seven years ago. Dogpatch had been particularly hard hit. In just one square block centered on Illinois and 22nd streets there were 195 vehicle break-ins last year. The recent dramatic drop in incidences may have been prompted by changes in the way SFPD approaches vehicle crime. Last fall, Police Chief Bill Scott unveiled a plan for a General Crimes Investigation Unit to deal with burglaries, robberies and bicycle thefts. The unit consists of 35 officers plus 13 civilians in crime analysis positions. Creation of the corps followed disbandment of the Patrol Bureau Task Force,
launched in 2015, which focused primarily on auto burglaries. It made 223 arrests, but failed to stop the increase in incidents. By transferring task force personnel, as well as shrinking the narcotics unit, the Department added more officers to the streets to focus on deterrence. In February, District Attorney George Gascón requested that an additional $1 million be included in his office’s fiscal year 2018 budget to create an auto burglary task force, which would focus primarily on serial criminals. After two years of study, a 2016 Grand Jury, Auto Burglary in San Francisco, determined that street gangs were behind up to 80 percent of San Francisco’s car burglaries. Gascón also launched a vehicle theft tip line and reposted the DA Office’s private camera registry on its website, which allows citizens to list their security cameras to assist in investigations. The task force, which would include new hires, would become part of the Crime Strategies Unit (CSU), created by Gascón in 2014. The CSU is comprised of investigators, prosecutors and analysts who take a data-driven
Reported automobile burglaries in February.
IMAGE: Courtesy of crimemapping.com
approach to addressing chronic crime. If the task force is approved by the Board of Supervisors and Mayor, Gascón expects auto burglaries to drop by another 20 percent, as a result of prosecuting individuals committing most of the offenses and tying them to multiple cases. CSU expansion was recommended by the Grand Jury after
interviewing police, prosecutors and outside experts. Gascón co-sponsored a bill introduced by Senator Scott Wiener in the California State Senate to close a legal loophole they say has curbed prosecutions. Last year, of the miniscule 481
BY MICHAEL IACUESSA
father, husband, attorney and neighborhood advocate. His wife, Kate, is a librarian at the Main Branch, and is on the board of the Green Benefit District. The couple have a two-anda-half-year-old son, Frank, that Eppler “hopes to be able to keep in the City.” Eppler is a board member of Friends of Dogpatch Hub, which is trying to establish a community center at the former police station at 2300 Third Street and serves on the steering committee for Gateway to Potrero, which wants to redesign the landscape under Highway 101 between 17th and 18th streets. He’s been on several task forces, including the Railyard Alternative Study, commissioned to examine br inging Caltrain to Dow ntow n; Transportation 2045, looking at future transit options; and the University of California, San Francisco’s Dogpatch Community Task Force, convened to identify measures to mitigate the adverse consequences of that institution’s expansion into the neighborhood.
BREAK-INS continues on page 12
Potrero Boosters President Chinese Ban Forces San Francisco’s Plastics Vying for District 10 Board Elsewhere, with Higher of Supervisors Seat Garbage Prices Likely BY MICHAEL IACUESSA
Most of the 380 million metric tons of plastic created each year worldwide winds up in landfills or the natural environment. Despite California being one of the more successful states at recycling, San Francisco Bay isn’t spared. In 2016, samples taken from the Bay indicated it has more plastic pollution be weight than any other water body in the United States. Compounding the issue, municipalities, including San Francisco, are scrambling to find ways to dispose of the limited amount of plastic that does get recycled. Earlier this year, China, once the biggest importer of recycled plastic from America, jolted the waste collection industry by halting imports of bales that contained more than one percent of impurities; non-plastic elements that survive the recycling process and lower plastic quality. In effect, China’s policy serves as a ban
on plastic imports. Recology, which handles San Francisco’s garbage, and has been shipping to China for decades, is only able to reach four to five percent impurities, considered high quality compared with much of the world. Plastic bales at Recology’s Pier 96 location have been backing up, the company reports, particularly since China’s ban went into effect the same time trash flow increased over the holidays. According to the refuse company, “it would be inaccurate to characterize this as storage. It is short-term staging, and the stack is getting smaller daily as we move material.” Some of the bales are being sold to other Southeast Asia and U.S. locations. However, with the largest buyer out of the market, supply is building and prices are dropping. Recology admitted that transportation costs to ship to other countries can be higher, PLASTICS continues on page 12
“I think District 10 is the future of San Francisco,” said supervisorial candidate J.R. Eppler. “District 10 will see the most change over the course of the next decade than other parts of the City. It is the place where all of the problems the City is currently experiencing will either be exacerbated or come to a better resolution.” The 38-year old Eppler is running for office for the first time, though he’s been involved in several political campaigns, including knocking on doors in Nevada for Barack Obama in 2008, volunteering for Dennis Herrera’s 2011 mayoral effort, and serving as outreach coordinator for his now rival Tony Kelly in the 2014 Board of Supervisors election. He’s been a civic presence since moving to Potrero Hill in 2010, that same year becoming secretary of the Potrero Hill Democratic Club and joining the Potrero Boosters, which he’s served as president for the past five years. Eppler described himself as a
J.R. EPPLER continues on page 15