A news crew from the Czech Republic was reportedly robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco on Sunday as the team reported on the Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership (APEC) summit taking place in the city. 
Bohumil Vostal, a Czech TV journalist, was filming at San Francisco’s popular City Lights bookstore when masked criminals approached him and his team with guns pointed at them, The San Francisco Chronicle <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/apec-news-crew-czech-robbery-city-lights-18488613.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The armed assailants allegedly stole $18,000 worth of equipment that included the news crew’s entire footage from the day. 
“They were heading at my camera man, aiming a gun at his stomach, and one at my head,” Vostal said. 
“I’m one of those many people who used to read Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road,’ and I was so much looking forward to visit your city,” he added. 
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that it is investigating an armed robbery that targeted a production team just before 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/foreign-tv-crew-robbed-while-covering-apec-summit-in-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KTVU</a>. Officers said three armed men got out of a vehicle that stopped on the street and approached a production crew, demanding their equipment. After robbing the production team, the assailants got back in the vehicle and fled the scene, the officers added. 
San Francisco Mayor London Breed&#8217;s office said the mayor met with the Czech news crew on Monday and assured them that the city would replace their stolen equipment, the Chronicle reported. Breed&#8217;s spokesman, Jeff Cretan, added that authorities are cracking down on crimes such as robberies that have plagued the city under Democrats&#8217; leadership.
Hundreds of foreign journalists have flocked to the Bay Area to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership summit as diplomats gather to discuss the future of the economy and trade in the region. Before the summit, San Francisco <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-clears-homeless-camps-ahead-of-international-summit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cleared</a> areas that had been occupied by homeless encampments and public drug markets, and city workers power-washed sidewalks and mass transit stations. 
Some sections of the sidewalk were blocked off with barricades as the city prepared for the arrival of Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom admitted last week that the city clean-up was because world leaders were coming to town. 
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town,&#8217;” Newsom said. “That’s true because it’s true — but it’s also true for months and months and months before APEC, we’ve been having conversations.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-friday-gift-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE</a>
President Joe Biden and Xi are set to meet at the APEC summit to discuss strengthening communication and managing competition, the White House <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-chinas-xi-will-discuss-communication-competition-apec-summit-2023-11-13/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Monday. Biden will also meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López with the ongoing border crisis on the agenda for their discussion. 
“President Biden and President López Obrador will also discuss how we can continue to work together as partners to manage migration at our shared border and mobilize a hemispheric-wide response to this challenge,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/13/statement-from-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-on-the-bilateral-meeting-between-president-joe-biden-and-president-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-of-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.

APEC Leaders’ Meeting 2023 – Previews

Foreign News Crew Robbed At Gunpoint While Covering APEC Summit In San Francisco

California

Crime

Journalism

London Breed

Police

Robbery

San Francisco

U.S.

San Francisco has hired a new tourism chief who says will change the &#8220;ongoing narrative&#8221; about San Francisco as the city struggles to combat the stubborn issues of homelessness, drug use, and crime.
The San Francisco Travel Association, the city&#8217;s tourism and marketing organization, announced that Scott Beck will take over as president and CEO later this fall.
Beck currently has a similar role leading Destination Toronto, the Canadian city&#8217;s official tourism marketer. Before his Toronto stint, Beck was head of Visit Salt Lake, Salt Lake City’s tourism bureau for 14 years.
Beck <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-tourism-new-official-city-s-biggest-struggle-18355613.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the San Francisco Chronicle that his biggest challenge will be the “ongoing narrative about San Francisco as a monolithic experience, when it’s clearly not.”
Beck added that media coverage of San Francisco&#8217;s safety is “not 100% accurate.”
“Urban cities across the country are struggling with a lot of the same issues,” he said, adding that he is “committed to expressing a spectrum of experiences.”
San Francisco has been in the throes of a homelessness and drug crisis that has come with rampant crime for years now. The city by the bay consistently struggles to make a dent in the humanitarian crisis unfolding every day on the streets.
Homelessness has only gotten worse since before the pandemic. About 38,000 people are homeless in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019. More than 7,000 people are homeless in San Francisco itself.
Crime and open-air drug use often accompanies the homeless issue, causing businesses to flee San Francisco’s downtown, where foot traffic has thinned. A string of brands have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/att-closing-flagship-store-in-downtown-san-francisco">abandoned</a> their locations downtown recently including Whole Foods, AT&amp;T, Nordstrom, and mall company Westfield.
While overall crime in San Francisco is slightly down this year, certain types of violent crime are up, <a href="https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to police data.
Murder is up 15% to 38 murders so far this year. Robberies are up 17% to 1,855 robberies so far. Car thefts are up 12% to 4,617 thefts.
Meanwhile, the drug crisis is still raging, although overdose deaths have dropped from their all-time high in 2020 during the thick of the pandemic.
In 2022, San Francisco saw 620 fatal drug overdoses, down from 640 overdose deaths in 2021. In 2020, overdose deaths spiked to 725 deaths.
Tourism has dropped significantly from the record levels San Francisco saw in 2019 just before the pandemic, and is not expected to recover fully for several years.
Nearly half of Americans, 48%, now view San Francisco as unsafe, up from just 30% back in 2006, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sf-crime-safety-national-poll-gallup-18329066.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Gallup. Views are starkly split down political lines, with 74% of Democrats believing that the city is safe, while only 32% of Republicans feel it is safe.
The San Francisco Travel Association has an annual budget of $33 million, and the group is currently <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-launches-6-million-ad-campaign-lure-tourists-18126690.php">running</a> a $6 million global tourism campaign, their biggest campaign ever.
“A strong tourism industry is vital to the city’s economy, local businesses and neighborhoods, and I am passionately committed to helping steward San Francisco’s ongoing tourism recovery,” Beck said in a statement.
Beck will take his position on October 30 and replace 18-year veteran Joe D’Alessandro, who is retiring.

Coronavirus Pandemic 2022 –  Tenderloin Neighborhood

San Francisco Hires New Tourism Boss Who Says He’ll Change ‘Ongoing Narrative’ As City Battles Drug Use, Homelessness

San Francisco Hires New Tourism Boss Who Says He'll Change 'Ongoing Narrative' As City Battles Drug Use, Homelessness

Drugs

Homeless

Homelessness

AT&amp;T is closing its flagship store in downtown <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a>, becoming the latest major retailer to abandon the city&#8217;s troubled downtown.
AT&amp;T, the country&#8217;s third-largest cell phone provider, said it will <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/att-closing-san-francisco-flagship-location">shutter</a> its Powell Street store on August 1.
“Consumer shopping habits continue to change, and we’re changing with them. That means serving customers where they are through the right mix of retail stores, digital channels and our phone-based care team,” a company spokesperson said.
All retail employees affected by the closing will be offered jobs at other AT&amp;T locations in the city, the company said.
In April, AT&amp;T had lagging cash flow for the first quarter, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2023/04/20/att-beats-target-on-new-subscribers-in-first-quarter-but-disappoints-on-cash-flow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posting</a> $1 billion, well below the $3.02 billion analysts had predicted for the phone giant.
AT&amp;T follows a string of major retailers closing their downtown San Francisco locations recently.
Last week, mall company Westfield said it will <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/westfield-surrenders-san-francisco-location-as-woke-city-deteriorates">turn over</a> its downtown mall, Westfield San Francisco Centre, back to its lender, citing &#8220;challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic.&#8221;
Last month, Nordstrom <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nordstrom-to-shutter-both-san-francisco-downtown-stores-citing-worsening-conditions">decided</a> to close their Westfield location, citing “unsafe conditions” and a “lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-102078">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
In April, a Whole Foods <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-franciscos-flagship-whole-foods-closes-after-only-one-year-due-to-high-crime-report">closed</a> in downtown San Francisco, and a source in San Francisco City Hall <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-franciscos-flagship-whole-foods-closes-after-only-one-year-due-to-high-crime-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> drug use and criminal activity near the store played a role in the store&#8217;s decision to close.
Park Hotels &amp; Resorts also <a href="https://www.pkhotelsandresorts.com/investors/news-and-events/press-releases/2023/06-05-2023-113043391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last week that it has stopped making payments on its $725 million mortgage for its Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels.
The real estate investment trust said it expects to work toward the &#8220;ultimate removal of these hotels from its portfolio.&#8221;
San Francisco&#8217;s downtown retail woes have been ongoing since the pandemic.
At least 352 companies, including Tesla and Oracle, moved their headquarters out of Northern California between 2018 and 2021, according a <a href="https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/21117-Ohanian-Vranich-4_0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Hoover Institution.
Back in 2021, Walgreens <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walgreens-now-closing-stores-in-san-francisco-following-retail-theft-spike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closed</a> five locations due to &#8220;ongoing organized retail crime,&#8221; the pharmacy giant said. Around the same time, Best Buy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-buy-is-worried-about-san-francisco-employees-quitting-getting-traumatized-thanks-to-frequent-thefts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> concerns about workers quitting over retail thefts.
San Francisco has been in the throes of a homelessness and drug crisis that has come with rampant crime for years now.
Homelessness has only gotten worse since before the pandemic.
About 38,000 people <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rising-crime-homelessness-leave-residents-of-san-francisco-and-oakland-on-edge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are homeless</a> in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019. More than 7,000 people are homeless in San Francisco itself.
Crime and open-air drug use often accompany the homeless issue.
While overall crime in San Francisco is slightly down this year, certain types of violent crime are up, <a href="https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to police data.
Murder is up 10% to 22 murders so far. Robberies are up 15% to 1,150 robberies so far. Car thefts are up 5% to 2,889 thefts.
The drug crisis is still raging, although overdose deaths have dropped from their all-time high in 2020 during the thick of the pandemic.
In 2022, San Francisco <a href="https://sf.gov/news/accidental-overdose-deaths-decline-san-francisco-second-consecutive-year-fentanylopioid">saw</a> 620 fatal drug overdoses, down from 640 overdose deaths in 2021. In 2020, overdose deaths spiked to 725.
San Francisco’s Democratic mayor has proposed spending another $692.6 million on homelessness. So far, no homeless plan has made a significant dent in the worsening issue.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco police department is <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2023/03/police-staffing-crisis-san-francisco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently</a> understaffed by <a href="https://sf.gov/news/mayor-london-breed-proposes-27-million-funding-address-police-staffing-shortages" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than</a> 500 officers.

AT&T Locations Ahead Of Earnings Figures

AT&T Closing Flagship Store In Downtown San Francisco

Business

Gavin Newsom

San Francisco has been in the throes of a homelessness and drug crisis that has come with rampant crime for years now. The city by the bay consistently struggles to make a dent in the humanitarian crisis unfolding every day on the streets.
Homelessness has only gotten worse since before the pandemic. 
About 38,000 people are homeless in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019. More than 7,000 people are homeless in San Francisco itself.
Crime and open-air drug use often accompanies the homeless issue, causing businesses to flee San Francisco’s downtown, where foot traffic has thinned.
<div id="attachment_570807" style="width: 421px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-570807" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-570807" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267348-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="411" height="274" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267348-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267348-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267348-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267348.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px" />Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</div>
While overall crime in San Francisco is slightly down this year, certain types of violent crime are up, <a href="https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to police data.
Murder is up 10% to 22 murders so far. Robberies are up 15% to 1,150 robberies so far. Car thefts are up 5% to 2,889 thefts.
Meanwhile, the drug crisis is still raging, although overdose deaths have dropped from their all-time high in 2020 during the thick of the pandemic.
In 2022, San Francisco saw 620 fatal drug overdoses, down from 640 overdose deaths in 2021. In 2020, overdose deaths spiked to 725 deaths.
Now, San Francisco’s Democratic mayor has an expensive new plan to tackle the homeless crisis, and it involves funding more shelter beds. Mayor London Breed <a href="https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/san-francisco-mayor-to-increase-homelessness-spending-despite-budget-deficit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wants</a> San Francisco to spend another $692.6 million on homelessness next year as part of the city’s five-year plan to cut homelessness by half.
<div id="attachment_570809" style="width: 429px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-570809" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-570809" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267134-300x200.jpg" alt="SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 30: Homeless people are seen on streets of the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, California, United States on October 30, 2021. Last week on Tuesday, San Francisco housing project for homeless development is rejected by a majority of the city supervisors with an 8 to 3 vote. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)" width="419" height="279" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267134-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267134-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267134-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1236267134.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 419px) 100vw, 419px" />Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</div>
The plan would pay for 600 new shelter beds and 545 new housing units in the next year, as well as help people pay their rent, so they don’t become homeless in the first place. The mayor and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors still have to agree on the specifics of the plan.
The city is facing a budget deficit, however, and a significant amount of designated housing for the homeless currently sits empty.
San Francisco has a two-year budget deficit of $744 million, and the mayor has to sign a balanced budget by August 1. The homeless project will cut deep into the budget.
“Despite a significant budget deficit, our investments in homelessness will continue,” Breed <a href="https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/san-francisco-mayor-to-increase-homelessness-spending-despite-budget-deficit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in May.
Meanwhile, San Francisco <a href="https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/homeless-shelter-stays-are-supposed-to-be-temporary-in-sf-the-average-was-over-6-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has</a> just over 3,000 shelter beds for homeless people, but only about 2,800 people actually sleep in the beds. The city also has more than 12,400 permanent supportive housing units, but 825 of those units remain empty.
Breed also recently rolled out yet another homeless program, this time to have non-police teams respond to certain 911 calls.
The Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team (HEART) will involve people from the homeless nonprofit Urban Alchemy responding to non-medical, non-emergency 911 calls about homeless people. The police department is <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2023/03/police-staffing-crisis-san-francisco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently</a> understaffed by <a href="https://sf.gov/news/mayor-london-breed-proposes-27-million-funding-address-police-staffing-shortages" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than</a> 500 officers.
Back in 2020, Breed <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/12/15/behind-london-breeds-defund-the-police-turnaround-in-san-francisco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cut $120 million</a> from the San Francisco police and sheriff’s budgets, even though police warned the cut could affect their ability to respond to emergencies.
<div id="attachment_570813" style="width: 425px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-570813" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-570813" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1408512958-300x201.jpg" alt="Police officers order a homeless encampment at 14th and Mission streets to move on before a Public Works crew can clean and disinfect the sidewalk in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Photo By Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)" width="415" height="278" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1408512958-300x201.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1408512958-860x576.jpg 860w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1408512958-768x515.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1408512958.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px" />Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</div>
By 2021 though, because the police cuts had impacted their ability to respond to emergencies, Breed flipped on her decision. She made an emergency request to the Board of Supervisors for more police money to crack down on crime, including open-air drug dealing, car break-ins, and theft from stores.
In March, Breed even <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/san-francisco-mayor-torched-seeking-federal-assistance-curb-crime-crisis-you-need-us-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded</a> for federal assistance to handle the crime and homelessness problems.
Lt. Tracy McCray of the San Francisco Police Officers Association criticized the mayor for reversing her stance on police funding.
“Stop hating what you need,” McCray said in April. “Obviously no one else is going to go and deal with this problem but the police. You throw everything on us. So you know what, stop criticizing us. Stop trying to break us down because you know you need us to deal with it.”
<div id="attachment_570811" style="width: 422px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-570811" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-570811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-454038933-300x228.jpg" alt="SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 4, 2013: A homeless man sleeps on a sidewalk in San Francisco's Union Square district. His sign declares that he is 'broke and hungry' and 'needs weed.' (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)" width="412" height="313" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-454038933-300x228.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-454038933-758x576.jpg 758w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-454038933-768x584.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-454038933.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px" />Robert Alexander/Getty Images</div>
Understandably, San Francisco residents have been fed up with the situation for a while.
&#8220;Fix it,&#8221; <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-francisco-mayor-announces-new-program-to-address-homelessness-in-the-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> one man who spoke to local outlet KRON. “I live in this city. I was born and raised in this city. I have never  seen anything like this in San Francisco, California. Mayor Breed you promised. You promised us. Fix this!”
San Francisco itself is not the only part of the Bay Area with serious <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-homelessness-survey-priority-17816397.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homelessness</a> and crime issues.
In Oakland, just east across the bay from San Francisco, about 500 angry residents showed up to a town hall meeting on rampant violent crime on May 30 and <a href="https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2023/05/31/oakland/rising-oakland-crime-draws-fervent-pleas-city-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demanded</a> city leaders take action to curb it.
 Oakland residents described getting violently assaulted in supposedly safe areas. Footage from the town hall went viral online.
One woman in her 50s said she was recently attacked by a teen boy and girl right outside her North Oakland home.
In Oakland&#8217;s Rockridge neighborhood, considered one of the city&#8217;s safer areas, a 63-year-old woman was <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/rockridge-oakland-crime/3241152/#:~:text=The%20Rockridge%20neighborhood%20has%20always,something%20needs%20to%20be%20done." target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> in broad daylight outside a bustling indoor shopping mall. The attackers were part of a group of nine teens and pre-teens, police said.
Business owner Adam Stemmler, who owns a pizza shop in Oakland, said his staff has been held up at gunpoint four times over the last six years. He said it feels like the “Wild West.”
Even progressive residents showed up to the Oakland town hall to complain about the lack of consequences for criminals. One trans-identifying man said he and his partner were robbed twice in two weeks during the day. He said he has been involved in extremely progressive community-organizing activism, but letting people continue to commit crimes is harmful to everyone involved.
Violent crime in Oakland is up 8% so far this year, <a href="https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1231561754450" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to police data.
Oakland police said they are working on having more visible patrols around the city. Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb, a Democrat, said he wants consequences for repeat offenders and would also push for funding in the city budget for police overtime pay. 
San Francisco city leaders held a less heated community meeting on public safety in April, where residents expressed their fears and frustrations about crime.
In the Bay Area, the overlap is significant between homelessness, drug use, and crime, which come with an untold amount of human suffering.
So far, the progressive approach of spending more city funds on shelter beds simply has not gotten to the root of the city&#8217;s most stubborn problems.

London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, day in the life

Rising Crime, Homelessness Leave Residents Of San Francisco And Oakland On Edge

San Francisco's Homeless, Drug, And Crime Crisis Is Still Raging

Readers Pass

A trans activist shrieked and swore at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday in a bizarre and ear-splitting protest of the release of a security guard accused of killing a trans-identifying shoplifting suspect last week.
The activist, identified as Lia McGeever, piped up during the meeting&#8217;s public speaking portion a day after the city&#8217;s district attorney declared the Walgreens security guard acted in self-defense when he shot Banko Brown. McGeever, who was one of several citizens who came to complain about the decision, unloaded on the supervisors with a high-decibel mix of verbal and visceral vitriol.
“I hate a lot of people on this board for other reasons that led up to Banko Brown’s death,” began McGeever, who initially spoke through a COVID mask. “So often, I sort of prepare something; maybe it’s a little historical; maybe a little poetic, whatever. There’s a lot of performative people on this board who will say one thing in support of black people, homeless people, trans people, and then immediately stab you in the face, being racist, transphobic, anti-homeless.”
Declaring that &#8220;trans-genocide of this country, in this city, has brought me to&#8221; it, McGeever tore off the mask and screamed for 10 seconds, pausing to yell, “Imagine that.” The activist screamed for another five seconds, then yelled, “I hate this. I hate what you’ve done to us. I hate what you’re doing to us. I hate you, board of supervisors. I hate you, London Breed. I hate you, Jenkins.”
After screaming for another five seconds, the activist yelled, “F*** you. F***ing ay, man. F***. Cowards.”
The death of Brown, 24, has sparked numerous protests in San Francisco. Brown was allegedly shot by the security guard last week during an alleged shoplifting incident, <a href="https://abc7news.com/banko-brown-rally-san-francisco-walgreens-shooting-trans-person-killed/13202404/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC7</a> reported. While McGeever and other activists wanted the guard prosecuted, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins confirmed on Monday that he had been released and said he had acted in self-defense.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is the best definition of &quot;Wokeism&quot; that I&#39;ve ever seen. Right to the point. <a href="https://t.co/mSKVITlEJ0">pic.twitter.com/mSKVITlEJ0</a>
&mdash; Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) <a href="https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1654123211561529345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
McGeever&#8217;s caterwauled complaint may have struck a chord with the far-Left city&#8217;s supervisors. One, Aaron Peskin, <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2023/05/banko-brown-unarmed-michael-earl-wayne-anthony-jenkins-release-evidence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> gratitude for the protests after the meeting.
“I appreciate the expressions of concern that I&#8217;ve heard from virtually each and every one of you, and I think that it does bear some re-examination by the district attorney,&#8221; Peskin said. &#8220;I would like to see — and have the public see — whatever video the police have seen and the DA has seen. The DA, based on what I’ve heard from law enforcement, should re-evaluate and reconsider.”
Peskin <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/banko-brown-walgreens-shooting/3221128/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged</a> that police have security camera video of the exchange before the security guard allegedly shot Brown.
“That video can be released to the public and the board of supervisors,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s legal, it would not compromise any investigation now or in the future. My resolution calls for us to see that video and then we can draw our own conclusions.”

Microphone and stage light

Trans Activist Shrieks At SF Supervisors Over Release Of Guard Who Shot Trans Person

After the meeting, supervisor says release should be reconsidered 

Murder

Transgender

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-police-secretly-deployed-at-stores-to-catch-shoplifters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> cannot clear out its ubiquitous homeless encampments because it hasn’t offered shelter to their inhabitants, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The city had been conducting sweeps in which it took the tents and belongings of homeless people living in the tent cities until Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in the U.S. District Court in Oakland granted an emergency order barring the action, the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-could-be-banned-temporarily-from-clearing-17672846.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco Chronicle reported</a>. The order was granted after a group of homeless plaintiffs sued to stop the city.
“Mayors cannot run cities this way,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-hammers-san-francisco-democrat-mayor-london-breed-over-new-investigation-into-twitter-offices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mayor London Breed said</a>. “We already have too few tools to deal with the mental illness we see on our streets. Now we are being told not to use another tool that helps bring people indoors and keeps our neighborhoods safe and clean for our residents.”
Ryu said the city’s own laws dictate that it offer shelter to homeless people before clearing away their encampments, and San Francisco would need to add thousands of additional beds to meet the requirement. Ryu cited evidence that the city regularly failed to offer shelter before clearing the encampments and improperly seized or threw out inhabitant’s belongings, including cellphones, medication, identification, and even prosthetic limbs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;the stench from the bench is making me clench!&quot; IT&#39;S THE ACLU vermin who block cities from clearing homeless cesspools from our streets. ARREST THE ACLU lawyers as domestic terrorists. <a href="https://t.co/Aqf46aN9RY">https://t.co/Aqf46aN9RY</a>
&mdash; Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASavageNation/status/1606772001108299776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Breed said many of the homeless people whose encampments were targeted for cleanup people refused help from the city. She said some even have homes, but use the camps for “drug dealing, human trafficking, and other illegal activities.”
City attorneys said homeless people get fair notice the camps are being cleared, receive offers of help, and are only forced to leave if they reject alternative housing. San Francisco has an estimated 7,800 homeless residents and city officials acknowledge it does not have nearly enough spaces in shelters to accommodate all of them.
There were just 34 beds available as of Friday Zal Shroff, senior attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Coalition on Homelessness, one of a handful of legal organizations that represented seven plaintiffs, presented evidence that homeless people had their personal items seized and were and were left with nowhere to go.
“The policy isn’t the problem,” Ryu said. “The question is how is that policy being executed.”
Several Democrat-run cities that have been overrun with homeless encampments have sought to clear them out amid rises in crime and complaints from businesses and residents. But judges have increasingly said the cities cannot push out homeless people without providing them with alternative housing.
A federal judge issued an emergency injunction on December 15 preventing the city of Phoenix from clearing out a large homeless encampment downtown. The ACLU of New Mexico sued the city of Albuquerque last week, charging that officials destroyed homeless encampments without due process.

Homelessness in San Francisco

San Francisco Cannot Clear Out Homeless Encampments, Judge Rules

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Technology</a> entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale provided a “translation” of a statement from <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> Democratic Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/london-breed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">London Breed</a> regarding the city’s collapsing tax base and budget woes.
Lonsdale attended Stanford University and launched Palantir, a defense software company, before starting venture capital fund 8VC. The libertarian-leaning executive said he <a href="https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale/status/1324824664804347904?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moved</a> the company from San Francisco to Austin two years ago because the Texas metropolis is more “tolerant of ideological diversity.”
In reaction to a social media thread from Breed in which she lamented San Francisco’s difficulties in funding government operations, Lonsdale <a href="https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale/status/1605078463098281985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offered</a> a “little translation” for those who cannot follow “California politician-speak.”
When Breed said that the “structure” of downtown San Francisco has “shifted,” Lonsdale translated the statement to mean “dozens of businesses have fled” because “their workers are terrified of being assaulted” by “criminals and mentally-ill homeless.” Indeed, an influx of homeless residents occurred as a $160 million <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-has-spent-billions-to-end-homelessness-and-its-been-a-total-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">program</a> offered them shelter in local hotels: there are now 56% more homeless people in the city since the initiative began.
Breed also chalked up the city’s rapidly expanding budget deficit to the loss of FEMA funding received during the COVID outbreak and the lockdown-induced recession. As Lonsdale translated: “We used emergency money to operate the government, and without a permanent emergency, our city’s budget collapsed.” The second reason for the deficit, according to Breed, was a decline in business taxes and property taxes. Lonsdale’s translation: “It turns out that when businesses flee your city, they take the money with them! We didn’t consider this before we ran them off.”
Businesses such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walgreens-now-closing-stores-in-san-francisco-following-retail-theft-spike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walgreens</a> have closed several locations in the city, while retailers such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-buy-is-worried-about-san-francisco-employees-quitting-getting-traumatized-thanks-to-frequent-thefts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Best Buy</a> have been struggling with safety issues related to organized retail crime. Silicon Valley technology companies such as Tesla, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise were among the 352 companies that moved their headquarters from Northern California over the past four years, according to a <a href="https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/21117-Ohanian-Vranich-4_0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Hoover Institution. As many as 25 million square feet of commercial real estate in San Francisco are currently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-commercial-real-estate-crash-coming-to-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vacant</a>.
Breed said “focusing on public safety” is critical for “working with our business community to attract and retain companies and new industries.” Lonsdale said he is “skeptical” about the policy change since public safety means “you have to actually arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate serial criminals.”
Beyond issues related to the city’s large homeless population and drug use, storeowners have left San Francisco since the state <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/descended-into-a-city-of-chaos-ceo-closes-san-francisco-store-scorches-liberal-citys-lawlessness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced</a> the penalty for shoplifting under $950 worth of goods. Countless viral videos have shown shoplifters emptying store shelves into garbage bags and walking out as security guards helplessly watch.
The San Francisco Police Department, however, recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-police-secretly-deployed-at-stores-to-catch-shoplifters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it had deployed officers in stores across the city to apprehend shoplifters. Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who likewise eliminated cash bail, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chesa-boudin-soft-on-crime-son-of-terror-group-members-bitter-after-recall-as-san-francisco-da" target="_blank" rel="noopener">successfully recalled</a> earlier this year by the city’s voters.
The developments, however, might be too insufficient to save the metropolis: nearly 8% of residents plan to move elsewhere within the next year, surging past every other major American city, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-40-of-san-francisco-residents-planning-to-leave-deteriorating-city-poll" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Census Bureau.

Collage Maker-21-Dec-2022-09.16-AM

READ IT: Ex-San Francisco Entrepreneur Provides ‘Translation’ Of Mayor’s ‘Politician-Speak’ About Struggling City

Tech Entrepreneur Explains Why San Francisco Is Struggling

A program that grants monthly payments to black “pregnant people” will soon expand across the state of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a>.
The <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> Department of Public Health partnered with Expecting Justice, a program from the University of California San Francisco, last summer to provide the “pregnant people” with $1,000 per month for one full year in the hopes of reducing purported racial health <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/systemic-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disparities</a> stemming from childbirth. The program, which has aided as many as 150 residents of San Francisco, will expand next year to Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, where recipients can expect monthly stipends between $600 and $1,000.
“The Abundant Birth Project has proven to be successful in San Francisco and brings an innovative, equitable approach to addressing disproportionate health impacts largely among Black families, which is why I committed to investing $1.5 million over the next two years to grow the program in our City and neighboring counties,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed remarked in a <a href="https://sf.gov/news/program-providing-basic-income-black-pregnant-women-expands-help-mothers-across-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “This guaranteed income program helps ease some of the financial burdens that all too often keep mothers from being able to prioritize their own health and ultimately impact the health of their babies and family.”
Expanding the program through a $5 million grant from the California Department of Social Services will enable benefits for 425 more “pregnant people,” a term favored by Expecting Justice Director Zea Malawa. “For so long, Black women have been excluded from the resources needed to have safe and healthy pregnancies,” the University of California San Francisco visiting professor remarked. “This funding will provide pregnant people with economic stability during this critical phase in their lives while allowing public health institutions to test a novel and promising public health intervention.”
The San Francisco Department of Public Health claimed that black women are twice as likely as white women to have a preterm birth and experience “the highest infant and maternal mortality rates among any population” partially because of wealth and income disparities. The city <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-launches-program-to-pay-trans-residents-1200-a-month-for-18-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a similar initiative that will provide $1,200 monthly checks for 18 months to 55 transgender residents in an effort to fight “poverty our most impacted community members face.”
The maternal health program comes after judges <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-knew-its-racial-preferences-for-covid-relief-were-unconstitutional-went-ahead-anyway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nixed</a> a Department of Agriculture policy last year that excluded white farmers from receiving debt relief. Judge William Griesbach of Wisconsin ruled that the Biden officials’ decision to use “race-based criteria in the administration of the program violates their right to equal protection under the law.” A task force <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsoms-reparations-task-force-kicks-around-giving-223000-to-black-californians" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> by Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is now weighing a program that would grant each black resident as much as $223,000 as reparations for the country’s “painful legacy of racial injustice.”
Beyond the initiative meant to improve maternal health outcomes, the University of California San Francisco hosts multiple programs meant to train future abortionists, according to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-uc-san-franciscos-massive-abortion-training-network" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Daily Wire published last year. The school’s Fellowship in Family Planning, for instance, provides a two-year intensive complete with health insurance, loan repayment assistance, and a stipend so that participants can access “the opportunity to develop high-level research and clinical skills in contraception and abortion.” The program is offered at many of the nation’s most elite postsecondary institutions, including four of the eight Ivy League colleges.
The University of California San Francisco also made headlines last year after a pro-life group obtained <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uc-san-francisco-harvests-preborn-baby-genitalia-gonads" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research logs</a> proving that researchers had harvested reproductive organs from preborn children for various experiments, according to Live Action.

38E3B8B9-2A60-4954-81F7-F3DA0B91FFB3_1_201_a

California Expands Program Giving Black ‘Pregnant People’ Up To $1,000 Per Month

San Francisco Program Giving $1,000 To Pregnant Black Women Will Expand Across California

Social Issues

Systemic Racism

University of California

Twitter CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> slammed Democratic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> Mayor London Breed on Tuesday after the city announced that it was investigating reports that Musk had turned some of the offices at the company&#8217;s headquarters into bedrooms to accommodate his plans for an &#8220;extremely hardcore&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> workforce.
&#8220;San Francisco building inspectors are launching an investigation into reports Twitter has converted several office rooms at its headquarters into sleeping quarters for employees,&#8221; tweeted KQED Supervising Senior Editor Ted Goldberg. &#8220;&#8216;We need to make sure the building is being used as intended&#8217; [SF Department of Building Inspection] rep tells @KQEDnews.&#8221;
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1600272617759731712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a>, &#8220;So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?&#8221;
Musk&#8217;s response to Breed included a link to a news <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-authorities-investigating-whether-a-17621718.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> from the San Francisco Chronicle about a 10-month-old baby who reportedly overdosed on fentanyl after being exposed to the drug at a public playground.
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/readers-pass/read-only-v2?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/readers-pass/read-only-v2?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-35350">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA’S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US.</a>
The city launched an investigation after Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/12/05/elon-musk-twitter-bedrooms/?sh=5a1329f2d791" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that employees at the tech giant had &#8220;modest bedrooms featuring unmade mattresses, drab curtains and giant conference-room telepresence monitors.&#8221;
Another room had a plant, the article said, while another room had bright orange carpet &#8220;a wooden bedside table and what appears to be a queen bed, replete with a table lamp and two office armchairs just begging for convivial workplace collaboration.&#8221;
The slightly modified rooms were an upgrade from a photo that gained attention in November that showed one employee sleeping in a sleeping bag behind an office table.
&#8220;When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork,&#8221; said employee Esther Crawford. &#8220;Since some people are losing their minds I&#8217;ll explain: doing hard things requires sacrifice (time, energy, etc). I have teammates around the world who are putting in the effort to bring something new to life so it&#8217;s important to me to show up for them &amp; keep the team unblocked.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SleepWhereYouWork?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SleepWhereYouWork</a> <a href="https://t.co/UBGKYPilbD">https://t.co/UBGKYPilbD</a>
&mdash; Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) <a href="https://twitter.com/esthercrawford/status/1587709705488830464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I work with amazingly talented &amp; ambitious people here at Twitter and this is not a normal moment in time. We are less than 1wk into a massive business &amp; cultural transition. People are giving it their all across all functions: product, design, eng, legal, finance, marketing, etc,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I love my family and I’m grateful they understand that there are times where I need to go into overdrive to grind and push in order to deliver. Building new things at Twitter&#8217;s scale is very hard to do. I&#8217;m lucky to be doing this work alongside some of the best people in tech.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-launches-investigation-into-elon-musks-company-neuralink-report">Biden Admin Launches Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Company Neuralink: Report</a>

Elon Musk London Breed

Elon Musk Hammers San Francisco Democrat Mayor London Breed Over New Investigation Into Twitter Offices

Big Tech

Elon Musk

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> is being sued by several <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/homeless" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homeless</a> people who contend that the city has violated their constitutional rights.
The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2022/09/28/san-francisco-homelessness-lawsuit-aclu?utm_campaign=editorial&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> the lawsuit this week for the Coalition on Homelessness and seven homeless individuals.
“This is the accumulation of years of witnessing, documenting, and responding to fundamentally abusive human rights violations that unhoused people have had to experience at the very worst time in their lives,” Jenny Friedenbach, leader of the Coalition on Homelessness, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-sued-over-homeless-camp-sweeps-as-advocates-17471443.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “We hope to accomplish a dramatic shift from a city that responds to homelessness with sweeps, with confiscation of property, with criminalizing folks for being poor to a city that is instead addressing the issue at its core through the provision of housing.”
The lawsuit claims that San Francisco acts against the Martin v. Boise case, the California Constitution and the Eighth Amendment. In <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-16/homeless-boise-ruling-case-supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martin v. City of Boise</a>, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that it violates the constitution to penalize people for sleeping outside when there isn’t enough room in shelters.
The group reportedly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/san-francisco-sued-by-homeless-demanding-affordable-housing-2022-09-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that over half of the homeless population — at 57% — do not have shelters. On Wednesday, the group claimed that the city has not offered enough shelters for temporary housing.
&#8220;The City&#8217;s decades-long failure to adequately invest in affordable housing and shelter has left many thousands of its residents unhoused, forcing them to use tents and vehicles as shelter,&#8221; the lawsuit said, per Reuters.
The group also said Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed, law enforcement, and other officials took action &#8220;to criminalize homelessness through an array of brutal policing practices that violate the constitutional rights of unhoused San Franciscans.”
&#8220;The City has also embarked on a campaign to seize and destroy the property of unhoused people with the express purpose of removing visible signs of homelessness from San Francisco&#8217;s streets,” it noted.
According to one of San Francisco’s <a href="https://sfgov.org/scorecards/safety-net/homeless-population" target="_blank" rel="noopener">websites</a>, the amount of people experiencing homelessness in the city was at 7,754 this year. Those who are unsheltered made up the majority of the group at 4,397. The number comes from a street count conducted on one evening in February.
San Francisco has been facing an intense homelessness issue. It has <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2022/08/19/homelessness-20000-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gotten</a> a little better since 2019, but this year, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) said the city could have 20,000 homeless people.
The report also reportedly noted that for each person housed by the city, around four will lose housing since HSH has &#8220;not been able to keep pace with inflow of people who become newly homeless or return to homelessness throughout the year.”

8A98B476-F0DF-46B4-B600-FB6261934236_1_201_a

San Francisco Sued By Homeless People

San Francisco Sued By Seven Homeless People, And Coalition On Homelessness

San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) recently announced a Drag Laureate program to be funded through the city’s budget.
The Drag Laureate <a href="https://www.ebar.com/news/news/316040">role</a> will receive $35,000 in an annual stipend. The funds will come from the San Francisco Public Library out of the two-year budget proposal put forward by the mayor this month.
A group will be formed by various city agencies that will consist of city employees and members of the community to create the format of the program with the first person to fill the slot likely announced in the fall of this year.
“San Francisco’s commitment to inclusivity and the arts are the foundation for who we are as a city,” Breed <a href="https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-first-san-francisco-drag-laureate-program-proposed-budget">stated</a>. “Drag artists have helped pave the way for LGBTQ rights and representation across our city, and we must invest in programs that continue their legacies and create opportunities for the next generation of drag performers to thrive. I want to thank the drag community, Human Rights Commission, and Public Library for their work, and I look forward to crowning San Francisco’s first ever Drag Laureate this Fall.”
The concept for the program came from San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ Cultural Heritage Strategy, a community-led initiative. Then-Supervisor Scott Wiener sponsored a measure to establish an LGBTQ+ Cultural Heritage Task Force, which examined specific issues and then created a list of recommendations.
“The new drag laureate program is a fantastic way to celebrate and support San Francisco’s vibrant and beautiful drag community. Our drag performers are part of the heart and soul of our city. This new partnership with the San Francisco Public Library is a wonderful way to kick off Pride Month,” Senator Scott Wiener said.
“Drag is central to San Francisco’s rich history of self-expression, counterculture, and queer activism,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “Though drag is a now celebrated mainstream art form, we can’t lose sight of our iconic queens who for decades contributed so much to our city’s cultural vibrancy even when it was unsafe to do so. Today, we’re committing to uplifting our next generation of drag queens, ensuring they continue to live and work in the City they call home, and inspiring others to live authentically and proudly.”
The topic of drag shows has made headlines this week after a drag show <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dallas-gay-bars-drag-show-for-kids-obscene-sign-draws-angry-protests">aimed</a> at young children took place in Dallas, Texas, prompting a state representative to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-lawmaker-to-introduce-legislation-to-defend-children-from-being-subjected-to-drag-shows">announce</a> he will bring a measure to protect children from such events.
“I promised my voters that I would stand up for their values and fight to protect Texas kids,” Representative Bryan Slaton (R-TX) said. “I was re-elected on that promise and I intend to keep it by authoring legislation to defend kids from being subjected to drag shows and other inappropriate events. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important legislation.”

07EA6BBA-9964-441C-983D-029496249AF2_1_201_a

San Francisco Mayor Announces Drag Laureate Position, Funded Through Public Library

San Francisco Mayor London Breed Announces Drag Laureate Position, Funded Through San Francisco Public Library

Drag Queens

LGBTQ

San Francisco Democratic Mayor London Breed proposed an increase in funding for law enforcement in a budget for the city’s 2022-23 fiscal year on Wednesday after severely depleting police resources two years ago.
Every year, the mayor puts forward a two-year budget <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/san-francisco-budget/">proposal</a> for the county and city of San Francisco. Breed’s most recent plan involves $13.95 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year and $13.85 billion for 2023-24. The amounts are around 5% more than the prior year’s total approved budget of $13.3 billion.
The budget is categorized into department items, called “major service areas,” which are portioned down into smaller departments. 
In particular, the public safety area is looking at a steep increase in proposed spending. This year, the proposed total amount increased 10% compared to 2021 — from $1.75 billion to more than $1.9 billion.
Departments within the area of public protection are seeing the steepest proposed year-over-year hikes. The requested budget for the fire department <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/san-francisco-budget/">increased</a> by $59 million from $440 million last year to $499 million. The proposed budget for SFPD rose by more than $50 million, from $657 million to $708 million.
In 2020, Breed cut <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/12/16/white-house-lauds-defund-the-police-san-francisco-mayor-for-crime-crackdown/">reduced</a> the police budget by $120 million during the nationwide protests against alleged racially biased policing, saying she was <a href="https://twitter.com/LondonBreed/status/1289224638468243458">“redirecting” $120 million</a> “from law enforcement to start addressing…disparities.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
SF&#39;s Black community has long been unheard and underserved, creating huge disparities in wealth, public health, education, and countless other factors.<a href="https://twitter.com/shamannwalton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShamannWalton</a> and I are redirecting $120m from law enforcement to start addressing those disparities.<a href="https://t.co/EgL50Cg4L0">https://t.co/EgL50Cg4L0</a>
&mdash; London Breed (@LondonBreed) <a href="https://twitter.com/LondonBreed/status/1289224638468243458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In December of last year, however, Breed changed her tune and issued a more aggressive approach to public safety in light of more crime across the city.  
“What I’m proposing today, and what I will be proposing in the future, will make a lot of people uncomfortable, and I don’t care. We are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable,” Breed said in a speech at the time. “It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end.”
The city is expected to have a <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-Mayor-Breed-s-14-billion-budget-would-17212579.php">budget surplus</a> of $75 million, which will aid in the increased funding proposal that could add more law enforcement officers, provide pay raises, and increasing the compensation of new hires to San Francisco’s law enforcement. 
There will likely be around <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-Mayor-Breed-s-14-billion-budget-would-17212579.php">200 officer job openings</a> at the end of this fiscal year, and the proposed budget would help secure 220 officers over two years with the additional funding. The sheriff and emergency management departments also saw an increase in funding, as well as the District Attorney, adult and juvenile probation, and the public defender departments. 
In addition to Breed’s two-year budget proposal, the mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sf-mayor-announces-5-year-plan-to-end-homelessness-for-people-with-specific-gender-identity-gets-blasted">added</a> a plan to eliminate “homelessness that would include transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) San Franciscans, a spokesperson for her office said,” per <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/mayor-breed-announces-budget-plan-to-end-trans-and-gender-nonconforming-homelessness-by-2027/2907417/">NBC Bay Area</a>. 
However, Twitter users <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sf-mayor-announces-5-year-plan-to-end-homelessness-for-people-with-specific-gender-identity-gets-blasted">criticized</a> Breed’s initiative for prioritizing certain homeless individuals based on their gender identity.

88AB392A-E27E-49B5-A167-66A72EB3BC14_1_201_a

San Francisco Dem Mayor Wants More Funding For Police After Slashing Budget In 2020

San Francisco Mayor London Breed Wants More Funding In Budget For Police After Slashing Budget In 2020

Defund The Police

Menu