Police in San Francisco announced the arrests of three men, including a 49-year-old, suspected of numerous incidents of vandalism throughout the city.

According to officers, 34-year-old Anders McLeland, 49-year-old Matthew Schular and 37-year-old Joel James last week. All three men, who are San Francisco residents, are suspected of tagging businesses, homes, parks and city property.

In a department statement, Police Chief Bill Scott described the suspects as “prolific vandals.”

“There’s no excuse for destroying another person’s property and causing a blight to our communities. Hopefully, these grown adults committing these crimes will one day learn to use their creativity in positive and productive ways,” Scott said.

McLeland, who is suspected of using the tag “Aspect,” was arrested Oct. 10 on the 3300 block of 24th Street in the Mission District. Police said he had defaced a large display window of a business using a permanent marker.

The next day, police arrested Schuler near San Jose and St. Mary’s avenues following reports of a trespasser on Muni property. When police found the suspect, he was struck by a Muni light rail vehicle despite receiving alerts to move.

After he was struck, police detained the suspect and located paint cans at the scene. Schular, who is suspected of using the tag “Urban”, was evaluated at a local hospital and was arrested.

James, who is suspected of using the tag “Ecks”, was arrested on Saturday by officers patrolling the 500 block of 10th Street. Police said they found the suspect, vandalizing property in the area along with cans of spray paint.

All three men were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor vandalism, while Schuler and James are also accused of possession of graffiti tools.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to contact the department’s tip line at 415-575-4444 or to text TIP411, beginning the message with SFPD. Property owners who have been targeted by graffiti are urged to file police reports and to contact the department’s Graffiti Abatement Unit over email or to call the SFPD non-emergency line at 311.

The San Francisco Giants will face the reality of potentially losing both of their left-handed starters in the offseason. 

Blake Snell, who signed with the club late in the offseason of 2024, has a player option. The expectation around Major League Baseball is for the two-time Cy Young Award winner to get a hefty contract from a team.

There’s a possibility that the Giants could be the team that gives him that offer, but if not, he should be in a better position to land a long-term deal than last winter. 

Robbie Ray, who’s dealt with multiple injuries over the past few years, also has the ability to opt out of his deal. However, given that he has two years remaining for $50 million, it wouldn’t make much sense from his perspective to opt out. 

Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac predicted Ray would opt in his deal, keeping him in San Francisco.

“The 33-year-old has the ability to opt-out of a remaining 2 years, $50M. He spent all but 7 starts worth of time on the injured list in 2024, and hasn’t been a full-time pitcher since 2022.”

However, his prediction for Snell was the opposite. He wrote that he expects the Giants ace to decline his player option and hit the open market. 

“Snell skipped his final SF start, leaving most to believe that he’s already made his decision about declining the 1 year, $30M remaining on his current contract and re-entering the open market this winter. The near 32-year-old is a $26M per year player in our system.”

Snell has $30 million and one year remaining on his contract, but for a guy who’s only getting older at 32 years old, it’s safe to say he’ll test free agency and see what’s out there.

His free agency situation is much more appealing than Ray’s, as they aren’t in the same tier on the mound.

Snell skipping his final start of the season for San Francisco was a good indication of what’s to come for the front office. Given the year was already over, there wasn’t much of a reason for him to risk an injury in a game that didn’t mean anything.

If the Giants lose both players this winter, it could become a significant issue. 

Losing Snell would be the biggest problem, but when Ray is healthy, they could at least expect him to eat up innings as an above-average arm.

Another school on the San Francisco Unified School District’s proposed closure list is fighting to keep the classrooms open. 

Parents and teachers sent a message loud and clear to the superintendent just a day after Mayor Breed said she had lost confidence in Matt Wayne’s ability to manage the closures.

Parents and students at Sutro Elementary School in the Richmond district gathered to try and save their school. It is one of 13 schools on a list from the district that could potentially close or merge with others as SFUSD tries to climb out of a $113 million deficit. 

Alex Hawes’ daughter just started kindergarten a couple of months ago. He said none of this makes sense to him.

“The only person that I’ve heard say we should close schools is Matt Wayne,” Hawes said. “I haven’t heard one other person say that we should close schools. So, to me, that seems like there’s a pretty clear message being sent.”

Superintendent Matt Wayne faced criticism from the crowd gathered at Sutro Elementary Wednesday night. Many questioned whether he’s the right person to lead the district.

“So, I ask you, if the Mayor has no confidence in you as a superintendent, how can any of us any parent have confidence that you are managing the school district in a responsible way,” a parent asked.

“I’m here, and we’re here to share responses about the process and the questions,” Superintendent Wayne replied. “I appreciate what’s being shared, and I’ll say I’m here as an educator first and foremost. Trying to make the long-term decisions, working with our board of education, working with our community will ultimately help all our students in the district.”

Many parents left the town hall meeting feeling the Superintendent didn’t directly answer many of the questions. Parents wanted transparency to explain how Sutro ended up on the proposed closure list.

“Definitely not because all he answers is we will go back to the office and research on it,” parent Sam Lau said. “All the data is outdated. A lot of the parents bring that up.”

Lau is a parent of two, one who graduated from Sutro and a 5th grader currently at the school. He said Sutro is the only Cantonese bi-literacy program in the Richmond district and it means a lot to many of the families here.

“Our school 75% is Asian and a lot of them are new immigrants,” Lau said. “Then, in this whole entire Richmond neighborhood, that is the only school that we have this kind of program for new immigrants.”

Superintendent Wayne is expected to visit every school on the closure list before presenting his final recommendation to the board on Nov. 12. 

Parents are hoping the district can find other ways to address declining enrollment and the budget deficit.

“If closing the schools got you out of the deficit, then maybe that would be a good move, but it seems like a Band-Aid,” Hawes said.