What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of July 25th, 2022:
- Monkeypox is a Local Public Health Emergency
- It’s one trash can, what could it cost? $20,000?
- A new approach for graffiti
- The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a big deal for the environment
Monkeypox is a Local Public Health Emergency
Despite increasing rates of monkeypox in SF, the state has received far fewer vaccines than requested: only 7,800 doses out of the 35,000 asked for. There have been no deaths reported to date, but hospitalizations have been required for about 13% of infected patients.
Unless the virus is controlled, it will keep spreading into more communities. Infectious disease experts recommend directing vaccines to those who are currently most at risk, as this will be the best way to contain the virus.
To help address the crisis and get more vaccines and medical care, Mayor London Breed has declared a Local Public Health Emergency.
It’s one trash can, what could it cost? $20,000?
Everyone can agree that San Francisco is an unacceptably dirty city. The reasons for this are extensive, but one cause is our trash cans, which can be broken into with ease and often overflow.
After 3.5 years and $550,000, the city is finally testing six new trash can designs — three custom-made and three off-the-shelf. 26 cans, 5 each of the custom prototypes and 3-4 each of the off-the-shelf models, will be installed throughout the city, as part of a 60-day pilot.
The general public is encouraged to provide feedback via a QR code pasted on each can. If you run across one of the new cans, share your opinion! Tweet at @growsf and fill out the official survey at https://sfpublicworks.wixsite.com/trashcanpilot
Your choice could help make our city cleaner!
A new approach for graffiti
Viet Nguyen’s new business, which hasn’t even opened yet, was hit by vandals. But rather than helping him, San Francisco’s bureaucracy is fining him for being a victim of crime.
The latest tagging of his restaurant also came with a violation notice from the San Francisco Department of Public Works last week. The notice instructed Nguyen to clean up the graffiti in 30 days or face a $362 fine.
“The graffiti, it costs me a lot of money because every tag, I’ve got to go paint that thing. I don’t actually expect it to stop, but the most frustrating thing is, I keep on getting tagged by the city, but what can I do?” Nguyen told ABC7 News. “I clean it up, I board it up, or whatever I need to do and it comes back.”
But the good news is that Supervisors Melgar, Stefani, May, Ronen, Mandelman, Chan, and Dorsey just passed a new “Graffiti Abatement Pilot Program” which will help small business owners instead of punishing them for being victims of crime.
This is great news! But even better news would be actually holding vandals accountable for their crimes.
Don’t forget to support Viet Nguyen by stopping by for dinner once he opens Gao Viet Kitchen this September.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a big deal for the environment
In a last minute about-face, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia agreed to a climate deal! Although much smaller than the Build Back Better plan first proposed by President Joe Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) would still represent the biggest climate action ever taken by Congress, if passed.
Preliminary modeling suggests that the policies within the act may result in between a 31% to 44% reduction to emissions from their all-time peak by 2030, short of the 50% reduction stipulated by the Paris agreement, but still significant progress.
Your Action Plan
Now that you know what’s happening, help us shape what happens next:
Join a neighborhood trash cleanup
GrowSF is excited to continue its partnership with “Refuse Refuse”, a home-grown organization focused on building community and making San Francisco a cleaner, more livable place.
Keeping San Francisco beautiful requires we all do our part. Join one of these upcoming cleanups, or any number of other cleanups listed on their site, to meet other helpful folks and get that accomplished feeling after seeing a beautiful San Francisco street all cleaned up!
Outer Richmond Balboa Cleanup: Friday, August 5 - 4:00pm-6:00pm
Lower Polk Cleanup: Saturday, August 13 - 10:00am-12:00pm
North Beach Cleanup: Saturday, August 20 - 10:00am-12:00pm
Celebrate San Francisco
There’s a lot to love about our city. Here’s what makes it great:
Watch the classic hacker movie “Sneakers”
Coming up on August 25th, join TotalSF in a screening of the hacker classic “Sneakers” at the Balboa Theater. Get your tickets now!
New Japanese style Hi-Fi bar coming to Soma with grilled Meats and cocktails
The loss of SOMA classic Salt House was a big blow to the neighborhood, but an exciting new restaurant called Yokai is set to open there. Styled after after-work “listening bars” in Japan, Yokai will feature a soundtrack of jazz and similar music played off of vinyl, which patrons can enjoy while noshing on yakitori, or grilled meat on skewers. Make sure to check it out and enjoy the cool sounds and tasty snacks the bar has to offer!
Outside Lands, August 5-7
San Francisco has one of the best park systems in the world, and that includes amazing music festivals like Hardly Strictly and Outside Lands. Outside Lands is next weekend, get your tickets here, and Hardly Strictly will be back in Golden Gate Park from September 30 - October 2.
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Topical Tweets
Yes, there is good stuff on Twitter. Here’s some of it:
We have to make it cheaper and easier to build in San Francisco.
