San Francisco, CA
EXCLUSIVE: Company renting SF sleeping pods for $700 a month gains city approval
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — In San Francisco where the average rent price is $3,000 – $4,000 a month, renting a sleeping pod for $700 a month is a deal.
“I was living in the Presidio before and was kind of looking for cheaper options just so I could keep working on the stuff I wanted to and working on open-source projects,” said Ben, one of the residents and entrepreneurs.
The majority of people who live in the building have the same goal; build a tech start up and make it big. So, paying high rent prices is not part of that equation.
“I’m originally from China, but I just graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and moved here after graduation,” said Ruidi. “Almost everybody is a founder. They want to achieve something greater and build something that creates more impact for society.”
Each pod is the size of a twin bed, 4 feet tall with two fans, a mirror, and a curtain for privacy.
But after this housing concept went viral in 2023, many here were at risk of losing their housing because the city said the people running it didn’t have the right permits.
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“There was never anything illegal about the pods. It’s just that we didn’t have a change of use because this building used to be bank. So, we went through that process for about a year. In the meantime, the planning department at some point said that we can’t list it because people were complaining thinking we were renting illegal housing,” said James Stallworth with Brownstone Share Housing.
For the first time, we are hearing exclusively from James Stallworth with Brownstone Share Housing, the company that runs the pods. We got a look inside their building, a place he said almost didn’t survive because of how long the permitting process took in San Francisco.
“There really wasn’t anything that we had to change about the building. If we had to do all sorts of retrofitting to make it safe, I would have accepted that. I’m a human and know we have to provide a safe place to live but there were no safety concerns. There was really no construction that we had to do to improve the building,” said Stallworth.
After over a year, he is glad they finally have the right approval for the pods.
We contacted San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspections, and they confirmed that on Sept. 5, the planning department issued “a letter of approval for the sleeping pods.”
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They also asked him to obtain paperwork for their shower stall and fix the front entry lock.
The entrepreneurs who live in the building hope the city makes the permitting process easier.
“It’s affordable and convenient and I think it’s something that strengthens people doing venture stuff. If this existed three or four years ago, we probably wouldn’t have lost so many early-stage startups to Austin, Denver or places like that,” said Ben.
Stallworth said they are planning to have a bigger place in San Francisco despite the one year permitting process they experienced.
“We are in the process of opening a place that is five times this size. Early next year it will be opening,” said Stallworth.
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San Francisco’s Building Inspection Department explained the violations:
“(1) File for and obtain a change of use permit with City Planning approval to legalize the installation of the sleeping pods OR remove and revert to last known legal condition. 2) Replace front entry lock with a type that does not require a key to exit in case of an emergency within 5 days. 3) File for and obtain a building permit for the installation of the shower stall. A separate plumbing permit is required. Permit application must state to comply with NOV. Obtain all required inspections to abate this NOV.
On September 5, 2024, the Planning Department issued a letter of approval for the sleeping pods. The Planning Department’s Property Information Map has information about their determination and the Planning Department would be your best source to detail the process and timing behind this determination.
On October 13, 2023, a DBI inspector confirmed that the property owner replaced the front door lock so that a key is no longer required to exit.
So items # 1 & 2 have been addressed but item # 3 is outstanding.
As such, Notice of Violation 202313896 remains unresolved and the associated Order of Abatement issued on April 12, 2024 remains in place.”
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San Francisco, CA
Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’
A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
San Francisco, CA
Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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San Francisco, CA
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The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
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