San Francisco, CA
Marin advocate for disabled gets San Francisco post
Eli Gelardin, the longtime head of the Marin Center for Independent Living, has accepted an offer to lead the Mayor’s Office on Disability in San Francisco.
Gelardin, a longtime Marin disability rights advocate who led the center for 17 years, is set to start the new job on Jan. 6.
“It’s been an honor to work with a community that celebrates disabled joy and values lived experience,” Gelardin said. “Our collective efforts have always been about more than services — they’re about building a world where disabled lives are truly valued.”
Susan Malardino, the organization’s deputy director, will run it during the search for Gelardin’s replacement. The San Rafael organization offers social services and other resources to people with disabilities in Marin.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and City Administrator Carmen Chu announced Gelardin’s appointment on Dec. 18.
“We must continue to advocate for and protect our most vulnerable populations, and under Eli’s leadership the office will continue to work to ensure people with disabilities of all ages can live healthy, empowered lives in San Francisco,” Breed said.
Gelardin will oversee Americans with Disabilities Act implementation in city departments and programs. The position also provides guidance to the mayor’s office, the Board of Supervisors and other city departments on issues related to disabled people.
The Office on Disability staffs the Disability Council, which provides a public forum for policy.
“I look forward to working with him on our city’s efforts to make every service, program and space accessible to people with disabilities,” Chu said.
Gelardin has achondropolasia, a form of dwarfism. He was born in Boston and moved to Ross with his family when he was 7.
Gelardin graduated from Redwood High School in 1997 and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002.
He joined the Marin Center for Independent Living in 2003 and became executive director in 2008.
In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Gelardin to serve on the California State Rehabilitation Council. It advises the California Department of Rehabilitation on employment and independent living programs for people with disabilities.
Gelardin’s work as head of the Marin Center for Independent Living has been lauded.
Lee Uniacke, a member of the board, said, “Eli’s made sure that our community has a seat at the table in every state and regional coalition of consequence. He’s a natural leader who people enjoy working with.”
The center was founded by a group of volunteers in 1979 and established as a nonprofit organization in 1980. It is the leading disability rights organization in Marin and has an annual budget of about $2.1 million.
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San Francisco, CA
Artwork quilt unveiled at San Francisco dirt alley that was mistakenly bought at auction
In the fall of 2025, CBS News Bay Area first brought you the story of a Sunset couple that had the winning bid for a piece of property next to their home. They thought they were getting the duplex next door. Instead, they got a small patch of land known as Dirt Alley.
This story has many chapters, but it ended with a community celebration.
The final chapter in the story of Dirt Alley was written Wednesday night as they unveiled the tiles of artwork on the pavement.
“I’m very happy today,” JJ Hollingsworth said. “It’s just amazing that these artists that I’ve been working with and sold the alley to have come through with this incredible art.”
JJ Hollingsworth was the original property owner. She took out $25,000 from her retirement to pay for this parcel in a city auction. She thought she got a bargain for the duplex next door. When she found out it was actually the alley, the stress led to health problems and a lot of anxiety.
“I’m trying to forget, but I caused all this,” she said. “That’s what happened. I caused all this.”
Then came an email that would help her get out of the Dirt Alley nightmare. A group of friends from San Francisco was interested in buying this 82-foot-long alley.
“I know she was really stressed out when she first bought this and kind of didn’t know what she was going to do with it,” Theo Bleier said. “It’s really lucky. We were going to buy a different parcel, and we lost the auction. It was more than we wanted to spend. We felt really lucky the coincidence worked out, and we were able to help out JJ.”
The new owners then had the idea of laying an artwork quilt on the pavement and took submissions online.
“I think we had about one million people visit the website at least,” owner Patrick Hultquist said. “1.2 million, I think is the number of people that visited the website.”
The tiles with the most votes made it onto what is now called Notion way.
“Now, it’s not an official name of the street. It’s an unofficial name, but we did get an official-looking sign,” he said.
JJ Hollingsworth, who is a music composer, wrote a ballad called Notion Way for the special occasion. What started as a horrible mistake ended up bringing the community together.
“It’s really beautiful,” neighbors Tom Goslinga & Nesha Niezrecki said. “It’s how culture gets created in a lot of ways. People kind of being creative with an interesting situation. It’s really cool.”
While Hollingsworth is grateful for how this story ended, she says she learned a valuable lesson from this whole experience.
“Read the fine print and ask a lot of questions,” she said.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A driver in a car riddled with bullets fled a Marin County Sheriff’s Office deputy at high speeds over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco early Tuesday morning, according to authorities. The suspect, identified as Martin Zuniga Jr., 26, was later located in Novato and arrested.
The deputy first observed the suspect driving at approximately 100 mph on Highway 101 near the Richardson Bay Bridge. After pulling over the car, the deputy “noticed approximately 14 fresh bullet holes in the vehicle,” the sheriff’s office wrote. Zuniga allegedly told the deputy that he had just been involved in a road rage incident near Novato, but he refused to get out of the car and give a statement.
Zuniga “abruptly put the car into drive and fled the scene,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
The pursuit led to the Golden Gate Bridge, where the deputy disengaged due to unsafe speeds across the span, according to authorities. The car was later found abandoned on the streets of San Francisco.
At approximately 6 p.m., detectives located Zuniga in downtown Novato and placed him into custody. The sheriff’s office said at the time of the arrest that he was in possession of a loaded .40-caliber pistol with a high-capacity magazine and suspected cocaine.
Zuniga was booked into the Marin County Jail for:
- Reckless evading
- Violently resisting law enforcement
- Felon in possession of a firearm
- Felon in possession of ammunition
- Addict in possession of a firearm
Anyone with information regarding a shooting or road rage incident in the evening or early morning hours of June 15 and June 16 is asked to contact the Marin County Sheriff’s Office at 415-479-2311.
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