Ocean Beach Plan to Replace an Eroding Stretch of Great Highway Is Delayed Again

By Kristi Coale : thefrisc – excerpt

SF must protect a sewage plant and the zoo from rising seas. The project now won’t be done until at least 2033, more than 20 years after a ‘master plan’ came out.

In recent years, San Francisco’s Great Highway has been the site of great drama, both manmade and natural. More is on the horizon. 

In November, the city will decide for a third time whether cars should have access to the stretch of the road now known as Sunset Dunes Park. Sometime around Election Day, the city’s rainy season should begin, and forecasters say there’s a good chance for heavy storms — the same kind that in past years battered the shore and ripped out chunks of the Great Highway…

That afflicted section of the road, known as the Great Highway Extension, is less than a mile long and the only barrier that keeps the Pacific Ocean from swamping critical water infrastructure, including a sewage treatment plant, and the San Francisco Zoo. 

Part of the extension has already fallen into the ocean, thanks to vicious storms in the winter of 2009-10. The roadway is so narrow that only northbound traffic is allowed now. This stretch of SF’s southwest shore is the city’s first big test to reinforce itself against the rising sea levels and stronger storms of climate change. So far, the city is failing…

In 2022, the SFPUC had the final plan in place: not just a wall and sand dune, but a walking and biking trail, as well as the complete removal of the Great Highway Extension. The agency hoped it could start construction in late 2023 or early 2024 and wrap up by the end of 2027. 

Now the SFPUC has pushed back the start date another five-plus years to the end of 2029. The entire project (formally the Ocean Beach Climate Change Resilience Project) won’t be done until 2033, at the earliest… 

SFPUC spokeswoman Nancy Crowley says the latest delay is due to three factors.

One is that the Coastal Commission requested several design changes. Crowley says the project team is working on seven modifications, including the relocation of beach-access stairs and the redesign of a restroom at the south end of the trail. More changes could happen prior to construction, Crowley adds.

A second reason for the delay is that the SFPUC only recently identified the need for improvements to a pipe — separate from the concrete wastewater tunnel — in the same area. “Doing that work as part of this project will avoid having to return later and disrupt the area again,” Crowley says.

The third reason is zoo access. Right now, cars going northbound on the Great Highway Extension can enter and exit the zoo parking lot. Closing the extension for good means shifting all traffic to the Sloat Boulevard access point, which is currently designed only for entrances. 

The Board of Supervisors voted to permanently close the extension in May 2024, more than two years ago. Crowley says the original design for zoo access assumed that the Upper Great Highway would be open to cars on weekdays. But Prop K’s victory in Nov. 2024 turned that road into Sunset Dunes Park, which planners must adjust for… …
(more)

Analysis: Tech’s turn to the political right was a mirage

By Olivia Borgula : sfchrohnicle – excerpt

A Chronicle analysis shows that tech workers who donate to federal-level political causes remain staunch Democrats. Only some finance-focused subsectors pose exceptions

By the time the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Tim Cook lined up for photo ops with Donald Trump at his second inauguration, a narrative had taken hold: Tech had moved firmly right.

That narrative is wrong, a Chronicle analysis of federal political giving shows — except at the very pinnacle of tech’s power pyramid.

It’s impossible to know which voters changed their allegiance from Democratic or independent to Republican in 2024: The ballot in the U.S. is secret, after all. But tens of thousands of Bay Area residents donate to political causes each year, and those records are public. They show that when it comes to voting with their wallets, tech workers are still overwhelmingly Democratic…

That isn’t to say there hasn’t been a rightward shift in recent years. But it’s mostly confined to the ultra-wealthy and ultra-influential. Some CEOs, upper-level executives, crypto workers and venture capitalists are the only workers to have transitioned much of their giving to Republicans… (more)

City College is failing students by not offering enough classes

Opinion  By Rick Baum : sfchronicle – excerpt

If you have recently been inspired to enroll in classes at City College of San Francisco for the fall term, you may be disappointed. The number of scheduled classes in many fields is insufficient to meet student demand.  

Registration for classes for the fall 2026 term began on April 28. By June 4, if not before then, all the scheduled art classes were fully enrolled. Some students could be lucky and find an art class with an opening due to a student dropping it or because a new class was added to the schedule.

What is different from the recent past is that there are only 86 art classes scheduled this term compared to 154 for the fall 2019 term before the COVID pandemic.

At the start of the fall 2026 term, there were 48 scheduled biology classes, compared to 70 in fall 2019. By June 4, before two more classes were added, all 46 biology classes, except two classes of Principles of Food Safety, were fully enrolled with waitlists. As of Aug. 14, five days before the start of the term, all 48 classes were fully enrolled, and 32 did not allow adds to waitlists that are limited to 10 students. There were 390 potential students on waitlists for biology classes, and that doesn’t include those who want to take a class but are unable to or feel too discouraged to add their names to the limited wait lists.

Comparable circumstances exist for many other classes…(more)

This is an old story and it is not limited to SF City College. I heard about the problem in Santa Rosa years ago. Students have been complaining about this lack of classes needed to become certified for some jobs for years. 

Public outcry may have saved Oakland Trader Joe’s

By Susana Guerrero : sfgate – excerpt

A controversial plan to raze an Oakland Trader Joe’s and replace it with a senior housing tower that lacks a grocery store has been revised after public outcry, potentially allowing the beloved market to remain in the neighborhood.

San Francisco-based Align Real Estate has submitted an updated application for its two-tower project on the existing Trader Joe’s site that now includes 13,000 square feet of grocery store space, the company said in a news release Wednesday. David Balducci, an executive at Align Real Estate, said in a statement that the company is in conversation with Trader Joe’s to remain on-site after construction. 

“In response to requests from the community and its elected representatives, we have redesigned the project to include a modern grocery store,” Balducci said in the news release. “We are in talks with Trader Joe’s and hope they will choose to stay and continue to serve the Rockridge community.”

It’s still unclear if Trader Joe’s wants to keep operating at the 5727 College Ave. site. The grocery chain did not respond to SFGATE questions regarding its interest in the property.

Align’s plans have not been formally approved, and the developer has not publicly said when it expects construction to begin, according to SF YIMBY. Even if Trader Joe’s wants to be in the future building, there’s currently no public plan to provide grocery store access during construction…(more)

A sort of win with no certainty?

Supervisor plugs ahead with effort to expand SF grocery access

By James Salazar : sfexaminer – excerpt (audio)

Following pushback from local lawmakers and other leaders, District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he will introduce new legislation aimed at improving residents’ access to groceries.

The Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on Monday tabled Mahmood’s Affordable Groceries Act, which would have placed on the November ballot a pair of measures meant to address citywide closures of supermarkets in recent years while also expanding residents’ ability to buy fresh foods…

Mahmood said his new legislative proposals, which will be introduced at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, take key components from his originally proposed measures.

“San Franciscans are hungry for bold ideas to tackle affordability,” Mahmood said Monday…

Mahmood’s new package will entail three efforts. The first would restore funding to Healthy Retail San Francisco, a citywide program that focuses on turning convenience stores in low-income neighborhoods into retailers selling healthy foods.

His second endeavor would aim to expand The City’s First Year Free program by exempting grocery stores from building and planning permit fees. Mahmood said he would also propose expanding the Storefront Opportunity Grant Program by funding the construction of new grocery stores in parts of San Francisco with limited food-market options.

The last piece of Mahmood’s proposed package would legislate new density bonuses for any housing development that would incorporate a ground-floor grocery store in its construction plans. Mahmood said the proposal is modeled on New York’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, which was established in 2009…. (more)

San Francisco Resident’s Surveillance ‘Walking Tour’ Maps Big Brother’s Expansion in the City

By Samantha Kennedy : kqed – excerpt

Independent writer Larry Kubin documented a fast-growing police network of license plate cameras and drones.

San Francisco is a surveillance city — or at least, that’s how local writer Larry Kubin now sees it.

He even worries that it might soon look like something out of a sci-fi show. Humanoid robots and things like that.

Kubin toured the city in search of the same surveillance infrastructure technology that sparked a recent surge in criticism over privacy concerns. He discovered around 700 San Francisco Police Department drone flights in February, a rundown of city-owned tech, and separate private cameras, all swarming amidst a push for even more surveillance.

Kubin has since published those findings in The Fogline, an independent site he runs with his wife… (more)

And guess where the money for those is coming from? They could be supporting the MUNI and other essential city services that protect and enhance the lives of San Francisco citizens, but, they choose to set up surveillance systems, that we already know are leaked to federal agents.

THINK ABOUT THIS IN NOVEMBER WHEN THE GOVERNMENT BEGS FOR MORE HIGHER TAXES TO SUPPORT PUBLIC TRANSIT AND OTHER ESSENTIAL SERVICES THEY ARE NOT COVERING NOW.

He lost control of SF’s largest housing complex. He’s still selling the dream

By Kevin V. Nguyen : sfstandard – excerpt

Parkmerced owner Rob Rosania built a career on surviving financial crises. This time, he might be at the end of his rope.

Employees of Maximus Real Estate Partners had missed their second paycheck in five months when company founder and self-styled “lead visionary” Rob Rosania dialed into an emergency staff meeting to tell them the money was coming. 

The audience sat mostly in silence on the 30-minute call as Rosania launched into meandering stories about the real estate bigwigs he was meeting in New York City. 

It was just a matter of weeks before “the deposit” would arrive and payroll would resume, he said, according to a recording of the March 26meeting obtained by The Standard. All he had to do was close a deal, he said. Two investment groups were interested in partnering with him to redevelop Parkmerced — the sprawling and aging housing complex Maximus had owned for two decades before a $1.5 billion default handed it to a court-appointed receiver last year.

That would mean a bailout for a firm stripped to its bones last year. Maximus handed over operational control of a luxury apartment complex in Tiburon called The Cove after nearly defaulting on its loan obligations last year. Two other East Bay apartment buildings were also sold off. All that remained was a San Leandro parcel entitled for 697 units that never broke ground.

Without any properties to manage or sell, most employees outside of Rosania’s small circle of confidants have been sitting on their hands with nothing to do, sources say. Some have quit. But more than two dozen accounting, sales, and operations staff have stayed because they believe in their founder.

“We’re at a moment of conviction,” Rosania said twice on the call. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re making a deal. There’s no doubt in my mind that for certain we are going to build Phase 1.”

The proposed redevelopment of San Francisco’s largest housing complex had long been Maximus’ moon shot. Rosania and his team entitled the construction of more than 5,600 units on the 152-acre site — a multibillion-dollar vision approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2011 that would have tripled the complex’s capacity and added new retail and stops on the Muni M line… (more)

Where do these New York dealmakers come from? They all have a familiar ring.  Promises, promises, promises… and who is buying the pitch?

People leaving California are often less rich than their neighbors. New research shows what happens after they move

By Danielle Echeverria : sfchronicle – excerpt

Hundreds of thousands of people have left California for more affordable places in the last several years. More and more of them are the less prosperous residents of wealthy neighborhoods.

Getting out of the Golden State can leave them much better off.

• Read more:California is the U.S.’ slowest-growing large state
• Also:As California exodus continues, one state bucked the trend
• Related:Immigration to California plummets under Trump. Map details greatest population impacts

That’s according to a new report from the California Policy Lab, a research institute based out of UC Berkeley and UCLA. Those researchers found that people leaving California have more student debt, more auto loans and lower credit scores than those who stay — but end up being much likelier to own a home within a few years of moving to another state.

“The affordability gap has really widened over the last decade,” said Evan White, the executive director of the lab at UC Berkeley and a co-author of the report. “That’s making it really difficult for people even making good money to get by.”…

To make these determinations, the report, one of the most detailed looks yet at California’s ongoing outmigration, relied on anonymized data from credit bureaus. That allowed the researchers to follow the same individual over time and see what became of their financial situation, explained Evan White, the executive director of the lab at UC Berkeley and a co-author of the report.

What it revealed is that after leaving California, people land in more affordable places — and their financial position improves.

For the last two decades, more people have left California for other states than have moved to the Golden State from other parts of the country. That trend reached a height during the pandemic, but has ebbed slightly in recent years. Historically, international migration has kept California’s population afloat despite the net losses to other states. But declining entrances to California, from both international and domestic movers, has meant California’s population growth has ground to a halt…

“If trends continue, the implications for California’s tax base and national political clout could be severe,” the report said. “For example, after losing one congressional seat in 2021, California is on track to lose three to four seats in Congress after the 2030 Census.”… (more)

You might think that the reduction in population and the loss of seats in the House would be enough to wake the Sacramento politicians up to the fact that their crystal ball is not working as well as they think.  The Party is   misguided in following the lies their leaders peddle and is not likely to continue to thrive in this or any other state unless it Wakes UP. that is why some of use are attempting to wakeca.org

Lurie leads effort to cut transfer tax to spur housing and economy

By Patrick Hope : sfexaminer – excerpt (audio)

Remember the last time you saw cranes in the air? This photo was shot in 2019, long before the state mandated height and density levels. Some cities have seen a lot of housing towers built but not many in San Francisco. We have seen a lot of entitlements but not much housing being built. Not many cranes in the sky these days.

Some advocates for public affordable housing cried foul in 2024 over a successful ballot measure that cut city transfer taxes for certain office-to-housing conversions because it also authorized the Board of Supervisors to amend, reduce, suspend or repeal them altogether without voter approval.

Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood are now leading an effort to take advantage of that provision. They said their proposal to cut The City’s transfer tax on large property sales would encourage such transactions, fuel residential building activity, stimulate construction employment and energize the downtown economy.

“The [Balanced Update to Incentivize Local Development] Act will unlock stalled housing projects and create thousands of good union jobs,” Lurie said in a press release unveiling the plan, which is awaiting consideration by the Board of Supervisors. “The BUILD Act will incentivize investment in these housing projects and buildings downtown — stimulating new jobs for electricians, plumbers, and laborers.”

Billed as a jobs and housing package, the legislation would halve the real-property transfer-tax rate from 5.5% to 2.75% for transactions valued between $10 million and $25 million, and from 6% to 3% for transactions of more than $25 million. The tax cuts would not apply to single-family residences or for property transfers worth less than $10 million… (more)

RELATED:
Billionaire-tax author pushing for bigger, broader levy on the ultrawealthy

Aside from the fact that this is so blatantly a millionaire tax cut for the wealthy, the last tax cuts did not result in any long-term lasting downtown growth. After sucking the city dry, the big tech firms moved out. Now we are begging them to come back and repeat that tradition? Who hasn’t learned from the past? And who wants to fork over more money to entice billionaires to return?

Nothing is going to fuel construction when there is a shortage of labor and building supplies. Who are they fooling? How does giving wealthy developers a tax break spur the economy or the create affordable housing when the state bills do not require affordable housing be built on site by those developers?

How to tax AI when companies replace human workers

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

AI is taking our jobs and eating our lunch. Some think companies should compensate the laid off workers when their jobs are handed to computers.

I just bought a copy of Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, published in 1952. It describes a terrible, dystopian society where a supercomputer controls almost everyone’s lives, and robots have replace humans in so many jobs that millions of talented, motivated people have little or nothing worthwhile or fulfilling to do.

It took 74 years, but we may be getting there.

See an interesting history of AI, from Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Tarjomyar

Tech companies laid off more than 100,000 people in the United States in 2025, and a new study suggests that more than 11 percent of the current workforce could soon be replaced by AI, amounting to a loss of $1.2 trillion in wages.

More than 2 million people in the US have the primary occupation of truck driver, and those jobs will all be gone in a decade….

How about this: A worker makes $50,000 a year. The employer replaces them with AI. That computer program is now doing what was human work; why not impose a payroll tax on the company at, say, half of what the human earned? The company is still saving way more than $25,000, since the AI needs no pay, benefits, or retirement and can work 24 hours a day.

That money could go into a fund to pay a decent basic income to everyone who was displaced by the new technology, until they can find other work (and for life, if that work doesn’t exist)?

I spoke to Betty Yee today. She has quite a bit of experience in tax law; she served on the Board of Equalization and was state controller. She is running for governor, and told me she supports the idea—and she thinks it’s perfectly legal. “Either that or tax their profits,” she said.

San Francisco could impose this with a simple ballot measure. It wouldn’t harm “innovation;” AI companies could go ahead and do all the terrifying stuff they want. But the displaced workers would have a chance… (more)