San Francisco, CA
From Political to Personal: San Francisco Mayoral Candidates Debate Live at KQED | KQED
That’s on top of other examples, including the July arrest of Kyra Worthy, the former leader of the nonprofit SF SAFE, who faces 34 felony charges over accusations that she misused public funds and donations intended for crime-prevention programs. That followed one of the city’s largest corruption scandals, an FBI investigation targeting bribery and fraud at City Hall that has led to multiple convictions of former city officials.
Other candidates are on the defensive about their records, too. Farrell has come under increased scrutiny for ties to a ballot initiative, Proposition D, that has raised millions of dollars largely from Silicon Valley billionaires and conservative donors. His opponents allege that he is misusing campaign funds directed at the ballot measure and blurring the lines between it and his own mayoral campaign, including by appearing prominently in ads for the measure.
As a supervisor, Farrell was hit with the city’s largest campaign finance violation fine of $191,000, stemming from his 2010 run for supervisor when his then-opponent Janet Reilly alleged that Farrell’s campaign illegally coordinated with an independent expenditure committee. Farrell later settled for $25,000 and the Fair Political Practices Commission exonerated him.
Peskin has also had to clear up past flops while on the campaign trail, like apologizing to the firefighters union at their recent debate for berating the first responders for their handling of a blaze in his district in 2018. Fire Department members alleged that Peskin was intoxicated during the incident, which Peskin denied. After additional complaints about his behavior, the Board of Supervisors president started treatment in 2021 and has been sober from alcohol for three years.
“I know we have real challenges, but I want to make things better, and that’s the experience that I’m living now,” Peskin recently told KQED.
Who’s leading the race?
With about six weeks remaining until election day, no clear frontrunner has emerged. Political consultant Jim Ross describes the race as “still a toss-up” but suggests that this could change as November gets closer.
“Even if voters are saying, ‘I’m supporting Breed or Farrell or Peskin,’ I think they are still open to change or looking for a candidate who will grab hold of their imagination,” Ross said. “At this point, most of the campaigns have been waiting for the election to get closer to make their strongest arguments and spend most of their money.”
One of the latest polls in the mayor’s race, released Tuesday from KRON4 and Emerson College Polling, found Farrell just slightly ahead with 20.6% of voters’ first-choice picks, followed closely by Breed with 20.3%. But Lurie rises to the top with 21% of voters’ second-choice picks, giving him a pathway to victory via the city’s ranked-choice voting system.
Meanwhile, the poll showed Peskin with about 9% of first-choice votes. Progressives are ramping up their messaging to voters around affordability and inclusivity to stay in the fight.
Still, about 27% of voters in the poll, which has a 3.5% margin of error, said they are still undecided.
“Once these debates start to get into full swing, voters can really focus,” Ross said. “But the election is up for grabs at this point still.”
Catch up on all our coverage of the San Francisco mayor’s race, which includes interviews with all the leading candidates: Ahsha Safaí, Mark Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin, and stay tuned for our interview with London Breed next month.
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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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.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
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