Civic

Thousands of people are heading to Glasgow, Scotland for COP26, the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, and among them are two local indigenous climate organizers. They’ll be focused on discussions about supporting indigenous rights and holding accountable the financial backers of climate-altering industries.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: An update on ride-hailing's dark data; three school board members will face a recall; new charges in city corruption scandal; reports of slow maintenance and persistent infestations in subsidized housing. Coming up: Supervisors to vote on compensation for flooding victims; school board slated to take up funding allocation for BVHM school repairs again.

Bayview Hunters Point has one of the highest estimated vaccination rates in the city, a fact one community organizer attributes to outreach workers efforts to improve education and access. Outreach workers are going door-to-door to make sure as many people as possible are immunized against COVID-19. They survey residents about their household’s vaccination status, talk to people about concerns, if they have any, and offer connections to testing, shots, and other resources. For those who are still hesitant, outreach workers hope information from trusted, locally rooted messengers will help alleviate fears.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Mask rules relax; vote on funding allocation for school repair delayed; cannabis business permitting rules tweaked. Coming up: South Van Ness road diet open house; MCCLA Day of the Dead exhibit; Supervisors to vote on property acquisitions for homelessness initiatives and response to Van Ness Improvement Project report.

Vermin infestation and electrical malfunction. A copy machine in the restroom. Falling ceiling tiles. Parents, students and staff at Buena Vista Horace Mann School in the Mission have been testifying at recent hearings about these and other maintenance problems they say have plagued the school for years. Officials have promised to allocate money to make repairs, but they’ve delayed making a decision about how much to spend. Meanwhile, the district’s facilities director says requests for electrical and other important work are backlogged district-wide.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Report alleges tent removal practices are illegal; thousands of tenants saddled with debt for paying pandemic rent they had to go into debt for; confusion about reform progress at police commission hearing. Coming up: School board member will propose spending $55 million on critical repairs to a school where students have been injured; Millennium Tower shoring to begin; Planning Commission to consider proposals for new residential buildings with SRO-style shared facilities; mask mandates to partly relax.

Thousands of San Francisco tenants have borrowed thousands of dollars from payday lenders, credit card companies, family or friends to pay rent during the pandemic. And that makes them in some ways worse off than those who let the rent bills lapse. We talk about how this happened, what the potential fallout might be, and why advocates still advise applying to the state's rent relief program.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Eviction moratorium expires and tenant advocates offer advice on what to do; rent collections by the public housing agency have been plummeting; musical chairs in San Francisco politics; supervisors call for investigation and reform of building inspection department. Coming up: Eagle bar could become a landmark; applications process for equity candidates for cannabis businesses could be tweaked; Department of Police Accountability to give report on first half of 2021; police overview of crowd control plans for Giants games and Fleet Week.

More people of color are running for office, but in the diverse Bay Area, elected officials are still whiter than the populations they represent. Some city councils are entirely white. Michelle Huang with the Bay Area Equity Atlas and Kimi Lee from Bay Rising unpack what has changed in recent years, and what hasn’t, about inclusion in local elections.