The Port’s board will consider the new name at its meeting on July 10. Last April, the body officially approved the change to “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,” which officials said aimed to raise visitors’ geographic awareness of the airport.

It was swiftly slapped with a lawsuit from the city of San Francisco, which argued that the new name infringed on the trademark for San Francisco International (SFO) Airport, which it owns. City Attorney David Chiu said the change confused travellers and, in some cases, led them to the wrong airport.

“We believe that Oakland intentionally designed their new rename to divert those who were unfamiliar with Bay Area geography, and also is trying to mislead the public in suggesting that Oakland might have a business relationship with SFO, which it does not,” Chiu told KQED at the time.

Simon pushed back on the assertion, saying the decision wasn’t intended to stoke confusion, but to improve marketing for the airport.

“Really, we were not seeing a significant amount of confusion happening whatsoever,” he said. “The intent of this is to really get our airline partners to put more operations and more flights into Oakland and get us the ability to have more flights that stick going towards the East Coast.”

One bookstore in San Francisco is taking a stand against a worldwide-renowned author.

Books by J.K. Rowling, who penned the “Harry Potter” series, have come off the shelves at BookSmith on Haight. Now, another bookstore is following its lead.

Marcus Ewert with Fabulosa Books on Castro Street is also an accomplished author.

“This was my very first one in 2008,” Ewert said. “It was the first kids’ book to have any transgender content, let alone a transgender kid main character.”

Ewert says while the book, 10,000 Dresses, has been embraced by the queer community, it has been banned and challenged by others. So the decision to take J.K. Rowling’s series of Harry Potter books off the shelf wasn’t taken lightly. Ewert says he did what felt right to him.

“Just setting an example of there are things to resist,” he said. “Choices to make and actions to take. We all need more courage right now.”

The idea originally came from Booksmith on Haight Street. The owners of Booksmith would not talk on camera but sent over a statement saying they sell a number of titles by authors they don’t agree with, but this case was different because Rowling has pledged to fund legislation and campaigns that would harm the trans community.

Camden Avery, the co-owner of Booksmith wrote, “We’re one private business making a decision to align our business practice with our own values and our customers’ values, the freedom to do which, if I’m honest, is the one of the most rewarding parts of operating as a truly independent bookstore.”

Fabulosa Books says it couldn’t agree more.

“Seeing that people were like this is important,” Ewert said. “Somebody took a stand. Actually, we wanted to be counted too, so it’s not just one lone bookstore.”

Some on social media have criticized the bookstore’s actions, saying that it’s equivalent to banning books. Ewert says this is just a show of solidarity to stand for the community he serves.

“It’s so much better to use language to broaden people’s hearts. Broaden the world and not to condemn and vilify.”

It’s a perennial complaint: San Francisco’s government is just too damn big. 

Salaries and employee benefits account for the largest chunk of city spending: 43% of the current budget. A recent analysis found that San Francisco has the most public employees in core functions of any U.S. metropolis, even after detangling its unusual status as both a city and county.

Our workforce wasn’t always such a behemoth. The Standard analyzed City Hall’s growth over the past 20 years, revealing that it has far outpaced San Francisco’s population.

In 2005, the city employed 26,900 people, according to the Department of Human Resources. Twenty years later, it had 34,800, a 29% increase. During that time, the city’s population grew by 8%, from 780,000 in 2005 to 842,000 in 2025, according to the California Department of Finance.