SF Bay Area
Undocumented Immigrants Now Able to Receive COVID Relief Money
Starting today, California undocumented immigrants impacted by COVID-19 can apply for relief funds. According to the Mercury News: The state has set up funding to help support them during the coronavirus crisis, providing $125 million through a public-private partnership. It’s been touted as the first fund of its kind to
San Francisco Retail Shops Reopen Today with Curbside Pickup
While this obviously doesn’t hold the same joy as browsing the stacks for an hour before finally deciding what to buy, it’s a great opportunity to support a local business while we wait for things to more fully open up.
SF Art Orgs & Mayor Breed Ask Congress for Aid to the Arts
Mayors across the US, guided by 15 or so San Francisco arts organizations and Mayor London Breed’s office, wrote to Congress this week, asking the Fed to step up it’s support for the arts. The SFS thanks Mayor @LondonBreed, the SF Arts Alliance, & this group of 22 additional mayors
Veritas, SF’s Biggest Landlord, Received PPP ‘Small Business’ Loan…& They’re Not Returning It
This isn’t the first shady thing that Veritas has done, not by a long shot. They’ve ‘allegedly’ harassed longterm, rent controlled tenants in order to try to get them out. They’ve ‘allegedly’ charged obscene rent increases to “cover rising maintenance and operations costs”. They’ve ‘allegedly’ maintained squalid building with lead-contaminated water and broken elevators. They’ve even ‘allegedly’ threatened to sue a housing nonprofit for a Facebook post they didn’t like. And that’s just the stuff people have been brave enough to speak out about. Just imagine all the other nefarious things they’ve gotten away with because people have been afraid they might lose their housing if they spoke up. Allegedly…of course.
New CA Guidelines to Reopen Restaurants, Malls, & Offices
Update: The mayor announced Wednesday that 95% of businesses can reopen for pickup and delivery business on Monday. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced modifications to the statewide stay-at-home order this afternoon (5/12) to allow more businesses in California to reopen, including dine-in restaurants, shopping malls and offices. So as long as
From The Bay to Palestine & Back, How Grand Coffee Became a Mission Staple
East Bay to Palestine, Palestine to San Francisco: How Nabeel Silmi built a coffee staple in the San Francisco Mission.
A Goodbye to My Friend Bear Vasquez, The “Double Rainbow Guy”
Bear Vasquez passed away yesterday after a number of years of poor health. Bear was a virtual friend of mine for 5 years. I had first seen him through the Couchsurfing networks and groups of Yosemite, where he lived and then I saw him interviewed on Broke-Ass Stuart’s Kinda Late Show in 2015 and it made me want to meet him even more than I had already as a fellow active couchsurfer. So I contacted him about coming to stay at his place sometime.
California Partially Reopens Today
Earlier this week Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California would begin partially reopening on May 8th. And guess what, that’s today! So what does that mean? Good question! Today marks the start of Stage 2 of Newsom’s 4 part plan to reopen California. This stage consists of allowing lower risk businesses