to naturally refill, according the Central Valley’s aquifers It will take at least 50 years for

Since the traffic-calming measures were implemented, the transportation agency has found that average speeds have dropped to less than 20 mph throughout the area, people report feeling safer and pedestrian traffic is up 20 Founded in 2008 as a project of the University of California, Berkeley’s Journalism School, newly independent Mission Local aspires to be a model of lo cal, self-sustaining, fiercely independent neighborhood news. travel to cross a street — three of them were installed at Capp and 15th streets. “Two things that made this a good place to pilot S.F.’s first home zone was documented speeding and documented cut-through traffic that we were seeing,” said Ben Jose, a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman, referring to drivers who cut through residential neighborhoods to avoid main thoroughfares. The transportation agency established the zone partly as the result of frequent complaints about speeding cars and data that indicated a high rate of collisions. The zone, from 14th to 16th streets along South Van Ness Avenue and Mission Street, includes portions of Capp, Minna, Natoma and Adair streets. enue. It has already installed painted safety zones and limit lines, upgraded crosswalks between 17th and 22nd streets, and installed pedestrian countdown signals at 21st and 22nd streets. In 2016, the agency will add countdown signals along South Van Ness Avenue between 15th and 20th streets. For neighbors who notice dangerous behaviors on their street and would like to see similar measures implemented in their neighborhoods, Jose suggested applying for calming measures. Though this year’s round is closed, information about the application process can be found online: https://www.sfmta.com/ser vices/streets-sidewalks. An application requires signatures from 20 neighbors. is South Van Ness Av collision corridor that

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency photo work in the highvisual and physical reminder for drivers to slow down. The city is also at

A newly installed raised crosswalk on Adair Street is a ed three bulbouts. walks and constructadded raised cross lanes on 15th Street, speeds — reduced drivers to reduce el lanes to encourage street to narrow trav are painted on the “edgelines” — which speed bumps, painted city installed three tion K of 2003, the funding from ProposiUsing $300,000 of drivers to slow down. physically forcing beyond the visual, A study of traffic data around Marshall Elementary declared San Francisco’s first “home zone,” established there in 2014 to calm traffic, a resounding success. “This home zone project is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when streets are designed to be family-friend ly. Not only was the most dangerous driving behavior addressed — speed — but walking, wheelchair rolling and bicy cling to school skyrocketed,” said Nicole Ferrara, executive director of Walk San Francisco, in a statement issued by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The raised crosswalks, of which eight were installed, force drivers to slow down when they mount and then cross an intersection. Sidewalk bulbouts shorten the distance pedestrians need to sures were implemented, the city set up tube counters across the road and sent staffers to count pedestrians. The last five-year collision report, measured from 2004 to 2009, indicates that 35 vehicle collisions occurred in the treated area. Thirty of those resulted in an injury, three involved a pedestrian, and three involved a bicyclist. “Home zones” originated in the Neth erlands and have been implemented in the United Kingdom, as well as in New York City, as areas in which infrastruc ture is designed to encourage pedestrian use and safety, Jose said. “You have visual cues that make you slow down while you’re driving, which is really valuable when you’re driving near Marshall Elementary or near an area where there’s a lot of families and residents,” Jose said. But the measures in this area go

By Laura Wenus // Mission Local percent. Both before and after the mea

Visual cues tell drivers to slow down

Traffic Tamed in Mission

WAS A SURPRISE. SUHR'S ANSWER RECORDS REQUEST. ASKED ABOUT MY PERS. NATURALLY, I NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSPAAND PUBLISHERS FROM SF GREG SUHR AND REPORTERS INTERVIEW BETWEEN CHIEF I ATTENDED A ROUNDTABLE JANUARY OF 2015. IN AUGUST, WITH OFFICER GATPANDAN SINCE I HAD BEEN COMMUNICATING OR SOMETHING REPORTS OF ALL ADULTS JUST WANT TO AUDIT WITH YOU LATER IF YOU I'M HAPPY TO WORK PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER CARLOS MANFREDI THESE PUBLIC RECORDS COULD BE RECORDED IN A MANNER THAT FACILITATES EFFICIENT DISCLOSURE! UNITS, REDACTED AND RE-SCANNED. IF ONLY SCANNED, SENT TO STATIONS/INVESTIGATIVE EACH TIME: REPORTS NEED TO BE PRINTED, CHIEF SAID, AND I GOT THE SAME RESPONSE THE REPORTS LIKE THE IF THERE'S A WAY TO STREAMLINE IT AND IF THERE'S SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU WANT, THAT WE CAN TRY TO MAYBE JUST GIVE TO YOU, IT WOULD BE A LOT EASIER HOWEVER, IT TURNED OUT NOT TO BE SO EASY. IN FACT, I TRIED TWICE MORE TO CONTACT MEDIA RELATIONS TO OBTAIN

THEY COULD BE SENT TO ME AT AN AVERAGE RATE OF TWENTY REPORTS PER WEEK. SCANNED BEFORE THEY COULD BE SENT TO ME. MY REQUEST ENCOMPASSED 50,000+ REPORTS, AND GATPANDAN TOLD ME THAT THE REPORTS HAD TO BE PROCESSED, SENT TO INVESTIGATIONS, THEN STORY COULD BE DONE IN LOS ANGELES BUT NOT HERE. OTHER MAJOR U.S. CITIES, IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE THAT THIS RELATIVE TO QUITE SMALL SAN FRANCISCO IS POPULATION OF THAT THE TIMELINE. GIVEN CONFIRMED THIS GATPANDAN

WHO WAS ALWAYS VERY RESPONSIVE AND COURTEOUS, I FINALLY GOT THE FIRST BATCH OF REPORTS. AFTER MONTHS OF BACK AND FORTH EMAILS WITH PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER GRACE GATPANDAN, HOLD ON, 50,000 REPORTS AT 20 PER WEEK WILL TAKE

THE VIOLENT CRIME TALLY THAT YEAR WOULD HAVE BEEN 7% HIGHER. MINOR OFFENSES' LA TIMES, 8/9/14). HAD THE CRIMES BEEN CORRECTLY CLASSIFIED, HAD DONE EXACTLY THAT ('LAPD MISCLASSIFIED NEARLY 1,200 VIOLENT CRIMES AS BEN POSTON WAS PART OF AN LA TIMES INVESTIGATION THAT FOUND THE LAPD OFFICIAL ACTUAL

UHH... THE REPORTS UNDER SAN FRANCISCO'S SUNSHINE ORDINANCE. RATHER THAN A YEAR'S WORTH, SO AS NOT TO SPOOK THE SFPD. I REQUESTED THREE MONTHS OF REPORTS HE ADVISED ME TO REQUEST

PENAL CODE, THAT'S AN AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, WHICH IS A MORE SERIOUS CRIME. THE SUSPECT USING AN BOTTLE OR POOL CUE AS A WEAPON. ACCORDING TO THE LET'S SAY A 'SIMPLE ASSUALT' REPORT CONTAINS A SUMMARY THAT DESCRIBES PROBLEMS, SO I FIGURED I'D AUDIT THE SFPD'S DATA. I GAVE POSTON A CALL. LOS ANGELES IS NOT THE ONLY MUNICIPALITY WITH REPORTED COMPSTAT

CRIME AND A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED. TO AN INCIDENT, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE AN OFFICER WRITES A REPORT AFTER RESPONDING TO THE RECORDS BUREAU. THAT REPORT IS SCANNED IN

OFFICER ARRESTING OFFICER BUREAU RECORDS OFFICER COMMANDING

MAJOR POLICE DEPARMENTS, INCLUDING THE LAPD AND SFPD. IN SAN FRANCISCO, IT WORKS LIKE THIS: COMPSTAT IS SHORT FOR 'COMPUTER STATISTICS.' IT'S A CRIME TRACKING SYSTEM USED BY MANY SERIOUS CRIMES? NUMBERS DOWN FOR SUPERIORS TO KEEP PUBLIC PRESSURED BY HIS/HER DISTRICT CAPTAIN IS MATION? WHAT IF A DELIBERATE MISINFORFOR, BUT WHAT ABOUT MUST BE ACCOUNTED SYSTEM, HUMAN ERROR DATA. AS IN ANY DATA IF THERE IS ACCURATE AN EFFICIENT, DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH, BUT ONLY THEN USED TO GUIDE POLICING DECISIONS. IT'S THE LOCATIONS AND TYPES OF INCIDENTS ARE

BY NEIL BALLARD WRITTEN & DRAWN

TO TELL YOU. STORY I WANT TELL YOU THE HOW I CAN'T STORY ABOUT HERE'S THE TALK ABOUT COMPSTAT. THE LA TIMES GIVE A PANEL LISTENED TO BEN POSTON OF EDITORS CONFERENCE AND INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND IN 2014, I ATTENDED THE BEN POSTON

in the region live in neighborhoods at risk of, or • Fifty-three percent of all low-income households

research included:

Chapple and Zuk said the biggest surprises from the placement — if they are not managed carefully. is that those policies might spur gentrification and dis reduce sprawl and vehicle miles traveled. The takeaway measures like encouraging infill development to help regional goals for responding to climate change — the impact of policies meant to help attain state and

Instead, they were trying to answer questions about trification. was not focusing specifically on displacement and gen researcher at the Center for Community Innovation, and regional planning, and Miriam Zuk, a postdoctoral

The team, led by Karen Chapple, a professor of city project’s website, urbandisplacement.org. with lots of supplementary data and case studies at the

the displacement problem.” Bay Area to build its way out of “There is simply no way for the

California, Berkeley, is an interactive map — available the Urban Displacement Project at the University of The result, released in August under the auspices of gentrification and displacement dynamics. gration patterns — to try to create a new portrait of and rents to density of low-income households to miregion — including everything from property prices sembled data on more than 2,000 census tracts in the University of California, Berkeley, researchers as become exclusive enclaves unattainable to most of us? W here are the Bay Area’s gentrification hot spots? In which neighborhoods are low-income residents most at risk of being pushed out due to rising real estate prices? Which areas have

By Dan Brekke // KQED

online at kqed.org. and publishing multimedia and interactive coverage California, broadcasting from Sacramento to Monterey,

KQED public radio serves the people of Northern

the area. add more affordable housing to the mix proposed for among community groups, the city and developers to useful as a tactic in winning some sort of agreement gentrification in the district? Their answer: It might be Mission: Could it be effective in halting the march of a proposed moratorium on market-rate housing in the

We asked Chapple and Zuk about their thoughts on the displacement map. focused on in a series of case studies that accompany trict, which was one of nine neighborhoods the project become a key issue in San Francisco’s Mission Dis spike in development of market-rate housing. That has indicators for gentrification in a neighborhood is a

The project’s report also found that one of the key

will be needed to slow displacement. to protect the existing supply of affordable housing able homes and adopting or strengthening policies that focuses both on increasing the supply of afford of the displacement problem. Instead, an approach simply no way for the Bay Area to build its way out percent. • One of their main conclusions is that there is low-income households regionwide increased by 10 income households; at the same time, the number of percent of the units defined as affordable for lowwhere property prices are rising. • Between 2000 and 2013, the region lost 50 is being experienced even in more affluent areas researchers call “an ongoing story of exclusion” that hoods that are clearly gentrifying — something the income people to move to the region’s outer suburbs. • Displacement is occurring beyond neighbor more affluent people, increase the pressure on lowing rents and home prices, along with an influx of already experiencing, displacement. • “The crisis is not half over” — meaning that ris

urbandisplacement.org

Report finds state and regional policies that address climate change might also exacerbate urban displacement A Map of Gentrification in the Bay Area

otherwise maximum zoned height of 40 feet, soaring instead to 240. The developers say this helps the city by increasing housing density. But neither the language of Proposition D itself, nor the fusillade of campaign literature dropped on doorsteps around the city in sup port of the measure, talked about protection from rising sea levels. Most of the debate centered around housing, bay views and transportation. But water levels will certainly be an issue in a brand-new neighborhood that would require the city to install new plumbing, electricity and other infrastructure. The Giants said they had engineering and financial solutions to address future flooding risk. The plan is to raise the grade of the land by several feet to postpone flooding due to sea level rise by several de cades. Another part of the so-called adaptive management strategy would be to raise money through yearly neighborhood taxes to pay for costly protective fixes in the future. Would elevating the buildings be enough? In September 2014, city officials received a draft report they commissioned from outside environmental consultants that said the neighborhood would need to be pro tected from sea level rise either by a massive sea wall or re-engineered buildings. One suggestion was to turn Third Street into a levee to protect most of Mission Bay. In this scenario the portion of the neigh borhood between Third Street and the water, including Mission Rock, would utilize a series of floodable streets or canals to minimize water damage to structures. This is the second time in as many years that a proposition went to the ballot to approve a highdensity megadevelopment at the water’s edge. In 2014, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved a similar measure for a mixed-use development for the derelict indus trial zone at Pier 70. Proposition F increased the height limit from 40 to 90 feet. Around the bay, developers are planning or currently building at least 27 major commercial and residential complexes on land that might be threatened by sea level rise by the end of this century. That land — roughly the area below 8 feet in elevation, which represents the high end of current predictions for permanent rise plus extreme storm surge, is estimated to be worth at least $21 billion. Cities around the Bay Area, including San Francisco, continue to issue dozens of permits for plans like these, even when they address future flood risks vaguely — if they al for. The plan is to blow past the

Anchor Brewing Co. and 8 acres of open space. It was the size of the buildings the Giants needed approv Mission Rock, now a parking lot for sports fans, would become a dense residential and commercial neighborhood. Portions lie in a zone that could be threatened with flooding by the year 2100. Image courtesy of the San Francisco Giants residential units, a new location for build between 1,000 and 1,950 estimated to cost $1.6 billion, to forward with a development plan, from the voters on Nov. 3 to move

Francisco Giants, won permission

The project’s sponsor, the San end of the 21st century. waters rise by many feet before the or permanently submerged as bay experts say could be occasionally more than a decade in an area that that has been under construction for sion Bay, the 303-acre neighborhood one of the lowest-lying areas of Mis

The expansive slab of landfill is ing about: sea level rise. business leaders are currently talk sive problem few politicians and because of a slow-moving but mas

But it is also a risky place to build city desperately in need of homes.

Mcanvas for development in a Francisco Bay, a tempting parking lot adjacent to San ission Rock is a now lonely

By Kevin Stark // Public Press

have said that any new regulation sfpublicpress.org/searise private development. City officials Development.” recommend stricter rules for future Level Rise Threatens Waterfront risks and vulnerabilities, and could the summer 2015 cover story, “Sea ing a “high-level assessment” of with a changing coastline, see Lee, a new committee is coordinatners and developers are grappling

Under the direction of Mayor Ed the story of how Bay Area plan nearly $5 billion. maps, a review of the science and with estimated development costs of More online: For interactive are below the 8-foot elevation zone, approved more that 50 projects that city today, in real time.” in the last five years the city has really speaks to the issues of the Francisco Planning Department, “We think we have a proposal that

According to records from the San sive to the needs of the community. melt. Chronicle that the team was respon as ocean waters expand and glaciers Giants, told the San Francisco accelerate by the end of this century Larry Baer, president of the predict that sea level rise will only Board of Supervisors. cast perfectly. Climate researchers the support of all 11 members of the global warming impossible to fore affordable, the baseball team won global fossil fuel emissions makes from an earlier pledge of 33 percent because the uncertainty in future bear. After boosting that portion

It is hard to plan for sea level rise lower than what the market will really bad day. — homes with rents set artificially the total rise would total 8 feet on a ing as “permanently affordable” ditional surge in a “100-year storm,” secure 40 percent of the new hous 4.6 feet by 2100. With 3.4 feet of ad Supervisor Jane Kim was able to predictions, seas would rise about With some political arm-twisting, possible upper range. Under several the housing shortage. a statistically less probable but still the day, including how to alleviate ter, most computer models also have more immediate concerns carried shoreline at Mission Rock underwa In the debate over Mission Rock, would put nearly all of the current waterfront.

While this amount of sea rise as voters consider big changes to the higher permanently. public agenda or on the ballot itself tides will most likely be 3 feet register next to no mention in the Council, found that average high But so far, sea level rise seems to published by the National Research projections further out in time.” climate change on the West Coast, ing, highly uncertain sea-level rise

A 2012 study of the effects of ate measures to adapt to wide-rang bayside neighborhoods. and expensive — to require immedicurrently needed to protect existing Lee has said it “may be unwise — more extensive seawalls than are eled to review sea level rise policies, solutions, such as creating even port from a civil grand jury impan might necessitate expensive future In response to criticism in a re even prevent new development that of the potential damage. low local governments to modify or would flood, but also by the extent nation and legal changes would alsimply whether a new building planning say more regional coordiview of risk, determining more than do at all. Experts in environmental should be written with a nuanced

Voters approved Giants’ $1.6 billion waterfront development, but environmental questions linger When Sea Level Rises, How Long Can Mission Rock Survive?

Pando.com published an email from Conway lengers. A week before the election, outsize role in discouraging would-be challocal angel investor Ron Conway played an

Some San Franciscans speculated that posed,” Jeffery wrote. of world economy is running essentially unop of a city rife with problems and major driver

“It is beyond appalling that a weak mayor mayor’s race with this post on Oct. 26: on Twitter about the lack of a competitive

Jones magazine, sparked a conversation

Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of Mother year. In 2015, there was only one.

There were at least six mayoral debates that cal discourse in the media and around town.

This created a robust environment for politiflank in the form of Supervisor John Avalos. including a credible challenge from his left of the vote after beating back 15 opponents, from the last. In 2011, Lee won 60 percent

This year’s mayoral race is starkly different

Instead, he’s just coasting toward November.” ise to build 10,000 affordable units by 2020. the truly sketchy math underlying his prom class. Somebody might have even brought up the arriviste tech class and the fleeing middle most of all, for the ongoing divide between tions; for the scourge of homelessness; and, had to answer for the steady creep in evic plan for the next four years. He would have mayor would have been forced to map out his been good for the city,” Steinberg wrote. “The

“Like Lee or not, an actual race would have decried the lack of a “real” mayor’s race. editor-in-chief of San Francisco Magazine,

In an Oct. 15 editorial, Jon Steinberg, city, such as the District 3 supervisor’s race. issues that will have a greater impact” on the ers, “but as a realist, I think there are other

It is good that there were protest challeng is a bad situation we’re in,” Redmond said.

“It matters terribly who the mayor is. This issues. decided to devote his resources toward other

Hills Online, told the Public Press that he cisco Bay Guardian and now publisher of 48

Tim Redmond, formerly of the San Fran they’re not going to win.” you have to balance that with the fact that mention people who don’t have a chance and you have to be realistic. You don’t want to not reporter for KQED. “As a political reporter to cover it,” said Marisa Lagos, a political

“It's not good for democracy or our ability date in a largely unwatched election. conflicted about journalism’s watchdog man supervisor — a choice that left some reporters tion I (the housing moratorium) or District 3 outcomes were less certain, such as Proposion other races and ballot measures whose

Francisco reporters said they chose to focus

With limited time and resources, San rience or financial backing to win.

Mrace up but none had the political expe

Five protest challengers stirred the vember without breaking a sweat. ayor Ed Lee won re-election this No

By Sara Bloomberg // Public Press

outlets, including KQED and 48 Hills Online. reporter and photojournalist for numerous

Note: Sara Bloomberg has freelanced as a

most definitely is not.”

“He’s lucky,” he added, “but San Francisco lenged by a worthy opponent.” the indignities of being questioned and chalLee is “lucky that he doesn’t have to suffer

Steinberg, of San Francisco Magazine, said wait until the next mayoral race in 2019. from the political class. But that may have to say a true reckoning should have emerged a no-contest race? San Francisco journalists sibility is it to hold the mayor accountable in

Beyond protest candidates, whose respon Public Press by email. Brooke Minters, a senior producer, told the show what a protest campaign looks like,” cal challengers who aren’t likely to win is to

“For AJ+ the role of media covering politiAl Jazeera America. tured in a video from AJ+, a digital service of Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, was fea some mainstream media attention; Stuart The five protest challengers did garner residents. taken by outsiders who have displaced city cisco, saying most of the new jobs have been Lee’s rosy economic assessment of San Fran demurred from running this year, disputed city supervisor and current state senator who unemployment rate. Mark Leno, the former rise in economic prosperity and a fall in the own rhetorical question by citing an overall mayor of such a great city?” He answered his public office coming out and wanting to be the some big hitters who have experience in New York Times reporter: “Why isn’t there

In a pre-election interview, Lee asked a How has the city changed under the mayor?” about Lee’s first term: “5 years of Ed Lee: name a single one of them in a follow-up piece push grassroots democracy” — but did not challengers — “5 challengers to S.F. mayor

The Chronicle ran one story about Lee’s the city’s cautious, conciliatory leader.” re-elect Mayor Ed Lee and demand more from Market may be the best argument to both Lee, however, with this mild caveat: “Mid

The San Francisco Chronicle did endorse endorsement for mayor. editorial on Oct. 15; the newspaper made no its editorial board, according to an Examiner Examiner this year by refusing to meet with the press. He snubbed the San Francisco did not seem eager to defend his record in

In the absence of tough competitors, Lee imposed on local politicians.” Redmond said, “and the climate of fear he’s Campos” during last year’s assembly race, spending half a million dollars against David it is because of Ron Conway and his cohorts the reason Ed Lee is running unchallenged;

“The media this election is not focusing on choice for mayor. ments with their teams, including Lee as his share his personal list of election endorse Portfolio CEOs” in which he asked them to to all of his “San Francisco-based SV Angel baked performance art outside City Hall. Amy Farah Weiss, front — resorted to fresh— Francisco Herrera, Stuart Schuffman and race a “cakewalk,” three of his five challengers Protesting the idea that Lee should consider the

tendent Richard Carranza (center) at Presidio Middle School in late August. Photos by Stella Sadikin // Public Press ing to do with politics. Lee and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff (left) made a cameo appearance at a charity book drive hosted by Superin In the weeks before his easy re-election on Nov. 3, Mayor Ed Lee’s schedule was packed with public events, but many of them had noth