Boomtown

Middle Eastern startups are beginning to attract more Silicon Valley investors and some are planning to open offices in the Bay area. It's largely due to the founder partner of Mountain View's tech incubator called 500 Startups. Dave McClure scours the globe to find countries like Egypt where startup culture is just getting off the ground, and fresh talent with a global hook can be found.

Yesterday in San Francisco, a Board of Supervisors committee passed a measure that would allow home owners to build in-law units on their existing properties if they are seismically retrofitting their building.

A recent study found that in San Francisco and San Jose, our time stuck in gridlock rose 10 percent in just one year. The tech boom may be partly to blame, but technology could also relieve some of that freeway congestion. A new project called the "SMART Corridor" comes online this summer. The idea is to give you more information on the road, to prevent bad tie-ups from getting worse. Reporter: Daniel Potter

We continue our series "Boomtown", about the Bay Area's thriving economy, in conversation with local leaders. Today let's meet Richard Carranza, the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District.

Buses are a big part of traffic, but there are ways to turn buses into "rapid transit." Transportation officials in the South Bay want to build a rapid bus system through one of Silicon Valley's busiest traffic corridors. Tonight Sunnyvale plans to weigh in. Reporter: Bryan Goebel

We found a group of renters who saved their homes by buying their building from their landlord. They did it through acquisition rehab. If the property is under 25 units, it’s considered a small site. Acquisition rehab can be used to preserve rent-controlled buildings in rapidly gentrifying areas. Reporter: Adizah Eghan

San Francisco's housing crisis is forcing pet owners to give up their dogs and cats to animal shelters/ According to the SF SPCA, since March of last year more than 200 animals were left with them; most of those because San Francisco residents couldn't find pet friendly homes.

N'Jeri Eaton of Oakland wants to know if this boom, is really a bubble, and if so, when will it burst? It may sound pessimistic, but for some in the Bay Area an economic downturn may be the only way they could afford to stay here.

KQED listener Dave Taylor is not impressed by the new buildings gong up in San Francisco. He asks, "Why are they so ugly?" Reporters: Lisa Morehouse and Casey Miner

Many Silicon Valley startups fail because of bad blood between their co-founders: people who often spend more time together than with their significant others. These days more startups are taking a page from steady relationships, and heading off problems through a kind of couples' counseling.