San Francisco, CA
Can the Real San Francisco Airport Please Stand Up? | Connecting California
What’s in a name? wonders columnist Joe Mathews. SFO—or should that be, San Mateo County
International Airport?—
isn’t in the City or County of San Francisco. San Francisco with Oakland, Alameda, and Mt. Diablo in the background. Courtesy of Michael Estigoy/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED).
I’ve never much cared for San Francisco International Airport—until SFO decided to take a courageous stand for truth and accuracy in airport names.
Last month, SFO’s leaders filed a lawsuit to stop the Port of Oakland from changing Oakland International Airport’s name to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.”
Author and Oakland native Gertrude Stein famously said “There is no there there” of her hometown. Which is perhaps why the Oakland Port Commission justified the name change by saying it wanted to educate travelers unfamiliar with California that Oakland is an actual place that sits on the bay. I also believe that Oakland may have been combating a widespread misperception among Star Wars fans that it’s on Planet Tatooine; after all, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) was a native Oaklander.
Fortunately, SFO saw through the Oakland’s airport Jedi mind trick. The lawsuit accuses its East Bay competitor of trademark infringement as part of a grab for more air traffic. SFO also alleges that the name change creates the impression that Oakland is in San Francisco, which it is not.
I admire SFO’s bold commitment to defending geographic integrity. Which is why I’m so excited to see the airport take the next logical step in advancing the same principle, by changing its own inaccurate name.
I can hear it now: My Southwest Airlines pilot asks me to return my seat back to its full upright position—and then welcomes me to San Mateo County International Airport.
Because SFO, just like Oakland, isn’t in the City or County of San Francisco. It’s in an unincorporated corner of northeast San Mateo County, south of San Francisco.
As a lifelong SFO passenger, I can testify that taking San Francisco out of SFO’s name would be a service to the flying public.
Because it’s actually quite difficult to get into or out of San Francisco via the airport with San Francisco in its name.
You might even say that Oakland is a better San Francisco airport than San Francisco’s airport.
SFO’s problems start with flight delays. For years, it’s had among the highest rates of delayed flights in the United States. Other badly delayed airports typically have snow or severe winter weather. Of course, SFO has fog, but fog alone doesn’t make so many flights late. It’s the poor organization of the airport itself. Its two main, parallel runways are too close together to permit landings at the same time. So, when visibility is low, there are delays. This year, a construction project has been creating still more backups.
And if fog and poor organization don’t trap you at SFO, the airport’s design will. Today’s SFO was largely created 20 years ago, via an expansion that was hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. The project left the airport feeling overbuilt and bloated, with too much distance between ground transportation and gates.
Today, getting to your flight at SFO requires taking slow rides on an internal Air Train (whose construction was dogged by corruption allegations) and taking long walks through large, glassy, and often empty halls. Even when security lines are short, walking alone can add 20 minutes to your trip. Travel websites routinely advise SFO passengers to arrive at the airport two or more hours early.
And the transportation options outside the airport are no picnic, either. SFO sits at a traffic chokehold point, with crammed freeways and dead-end streets. Public buses stop at the terminals, but the main line, SamTrans 292, only shows up every 30 minutes or so. And Caltrain, the peninsula commuter line, doesn’t stop at the airport.
BART trains have a station inside the airport, which is nice. But many trains on that line don’t go into the airport, ending their routes four stops earlier at Daly City instead. And there are so many BART stops along the 13 miles between SFO and downtown San Francisco that the trip can take nearly an hour.
When I need to go to downtown San Francisco, I fly into Oakland. It’s faster, less likely to experience delays, and more reliable. And the airport’s two terminals are small and efficient, so that it’s just two minutes from my gate to ground transportation. The airport also has a connector train to BART that can take you into San Francisco in just five stops, or down to Fremont and San Jose with ease.
You might even say that Oakland is a better San Francisco airport than San Francisco’s airport.
Of course, I would never say that. No way. Because your truth-telling columnist is 100 percent behind SFO’s righteous defense of geographic accuracy in airport names.
But I will say this: Until this cross-bay airport dispute is over, and until SFO follows its own principle and changes its name to San Mateo County International, I am changing my own name to honor the Bay Area airport I actually enjoy flying into.
So, for the time being, you can call me San Francisco Bay Joe.
San Francisco, CA
What have San Francisco police been doing at 16th and Mission?
It’s been nearly 300 days since Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a plan to clean up the 16th Street BART Plaza.
To mark the occasion, Mission Local is adding a new tool for tracking his promises: A dashboard, updated daily, that notes the arrests and citations issued by San Francisco police officers in a 300-meter radius around 16th and Mission streets.
Our dashboard uses daily incident reports filed by officers to track the enforcement of common violations, including drug-related offenses or disorderly conduct.
The San Francisco Police Department releases incident reports with a 24-hour lag. Our dashboard updates daily at noon to include the most current data: Arrests and citations issued the day before.
While the number of incident reports may form the basis of official crime statistics, it would be wrong to think of them as the “official” count, according to the SFPD. There are groups doing outreach work in the plazas, like Ahsing Solutions, that do not regularly release public data quantifying their activities, for example.
What this police data does show, over time, is where the police department is focusing resources and attention.
For example, reports show that in March 2025, after Lurie stated his intention to crack down around 16th and Mission streets, there was a massive spike in arrests and citations. This does not necessarily mean drug-related crimes increased in the vicinity, but simply that, spurred by the mayor’s statement, police officers began enforcing more proactively.
Use our interactive graphics to explore the number and reasons for arrests and citations issued, and keep tabs on trends in SFPD’s enforcement around the 16th Street BART plaza.
You can read our ongoing coverage of the crackdown on 16th Street plaza here.
Arrests and citations issued in last 6 months around 16th and Mission
You can access our archive, with arrests and citations data from 2018, here.
The calendar below shows a snapshot of the arrests and citations issued around a 300-meter radius of the 16th Street BART Plaza for the last six months.
The darker the date, the more arrests and citations took place that day.
The department continuously updates the status of incident reports as they are investigated, and it is possible that the official statistics reported by SFPD to the California Department of Justice may differ from our numbers.
The data below should be considered the most accurate moment-in-time representation of arrests and citations on the day they were filed. Hover over each date to see the reasons for each arrest or citation.
Drug incidents around 16th and Mission
Arrests and citations issued for drug-related offenses skyrocketed earlier this year, after Mayor Lurie made the plaza one of his targets to show how the city can make a difference.
Explore the number of drug-related arrests and citations issued by SFPD around 16th and Mission each month since 2018.
Data for the most recent month will always be incomplete (and consequently lower) because it includes only arrests and citations through yesterday, while previous months reflect full monthly totals.
Drug incidents at 16th and Mission vs. citywide
In most years, the area around 16th and Mission accounts for a majority of the Mission’s drug-related police enforcement.
In the spring of 2025, this area, which accounts for a mere 0.2 percent of the city’s geographical landmass, was responsible for nearly 27 percent of San Francisco’s drug incident reports that resulted in an arrest or citation.
During the pandemic, drug-related arrests and citations dropped to an all-time-low around 16th and Mission but it has recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Most common incidents around 16th and Mission
The table below shows the top 15 offense categories at 16th and Mission, ranked by total number of arrests and citations, over the past 12 months. The sparkline — the small line chart — shows how each category has changed month to month, and the percentage compares the current year to the year before.
We use a rolling 12-month window (365 days from yesterday’s date), rather than a calendar year, so the data stays current. Because the dashboard updates daily, the most recent month will always be incomplete, but using a full year of data minimizes the impact of any one partial month on the overall totals.
San Francisco, CA
15 injured after San Francisco cable car comes to screeching halt
More than a dozen people were injured when a cable car in San Francisco came to a screeching halt on Monday afternoon, rattling passengers inside, according to authorities.
A total of 15 people suffered minor to moderate injuries after the cable car abruptly stopped without warning and tossed around those onboard, the San Francisco Fire Department said on social media.
Two people were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, 11 others were hospitalized with “minor aches and pains,” and two people refused assistance at the scene, authorities said.
Fire officials told ABC7 that an object might have been thrown at the cable car, causing the abrupt stop. Authorities have not officially released information on what led up to the incident.
Some of the cable car’s windows were completely shattered, according to photos of the aftermath. Video posted by fire officials also captured several ambulances crowded around the stopped cable car.
“Safety for our passengers on all Muni vehicles continues to be our top priority. We’ll be conducting a full review of incident details to ensure continued safety on the cable cars,” SFMTA said in a statement.
Cable cars first began running in San Francisco in the 1870s, and became designated as a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s.
Passengers on the famed tourist attractions do not wear seat belts and often hang off the cars, which are partially open-air.
The SFFD and the SFMTA will investigate the incident.
With Post wires
San Francisco, CA
This Week: E-Bikes, Happy Hour, Holiday Lights – Streetsblog San Francisco
Here is a list of events this week.
- Monday/tonight! Introduction to E-Bikes. This is a San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, SFMTA/SFCTA-sponsored virtual class. Monday/tonight, December 15, 6-7 p.m. Register for Zoom link.
- Tuesday Bike It Forward Community Repair Night. Join the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition as they rehabilitate donated and abandoned bicycles and get them to folks who need them. Tuesday, December 16, 5-7 p.m. San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, 1720 Market Street, S.F.
- Wednesday Car-Free Happy Hour. This event is open to everyone, whether they’re car free, car light, car-free curious, or they just want to hang out with fellow urbanists. Wednesday, December 17, 5:30-7 p.m. Cornerstone Berkeley, 2367 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.
- Thursday Vision Zero Committee Meeting. This committee supports the work of improving street safety in San Francisco. Thursday, December 18, 1 p.m. Union Square Conference Room, Floor 7, SFMTA Headquarters, 1 South Van Ness Avenue, S.F.
- Thursday Transform Happy Hour with the New Executive Director. Come meet Transform’s new leadership, mingle with like-minded folks, and give your input for Transform’s next chapter. Thursday, December 18, 5:30-8 p.m. Line 51 Brewing Company, 303 Castro Street, Oakland.
- Friday Alameda Holiday Lights Ride and Christmas Caroling. Ride to see the holiday lights in Alameda. Friday, December 19, 6:30 p.m. meet, 7 p.m. roll out. Finishes at 10 p.m. MacArthur BART, 555 40th Street, Oakland.
Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.
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