San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Mayor London Breed breaks funding promise for homeless shelter in Tenderloin district
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has pulled the plug on a homeless center in the heart of the city as part of sweeping midyear cutbacks.
The move isn’t sitting well with homeless advocates and community organizations that have spent years planning the new center where the city’s homeless would be able to get food, a hot shower, connect to social services, and spend the night.
The city had pledged to fund the Tenderloin Urban Rest and Sleep Center, but Breed, citing cutbacks across the board in anticipation of a steep budget shortfall, has reneged on the promise.
Breed announced the midcycle budget cuts as her administration attempts to pass its next budget in July. That has translated into hitting the pause button on programs like the homeless center which had been funded in the previous budget but have not yet launched.
“The reductions leave intact basic city services and priorities so we can continue making progress on hiring police officers, expanding shelter beds, advancing behavioral health initiatives, and cleaning up our streets,” Breed, who is up for reelection, wrote to department heads when announcing the cuts.
San Francisco has long struggled with homelessness. In the Tenderloin district, it is common to see piles of needles, waste, and human agony on the streets. Plans for the Turk Street center had been modeled after a program in Seattle that the nonprofit group leading the plans for the San Francisco project said was a success.
“It’s not just about giving them a bed,” Filipino Community Development Corporation founding director Lorenzo Listana told the San Francisco Examiner.
Listana said the ultimate goal would be to help people experiencing homelessness find stability and eventually permanent housing. The center, which had been in the works since 2019 and secured its financial commitment from the city in 2023, was on track to serve “dozens of people a day” and “help replace some of the services lost when The City closed the Tenderloin Center in late 2022.” The new center would have also operated 24 hours a day and accommodated about 20 people overnight.
Despite the setback, Listana has vowed to keep moving forward with the project.
“Whatever it takes, we will do it, with or without the city’s support,” Listana told the newspaper.
Earlier this week, outreach workers fanned out across the city to count the homeless as part of a federally mandated study. While the results of the tally won’t be released for another few months, it could have broad implications for Breed and her reelection campaign.
In November, she ruffled feathers when she claimed that 65% of San Francisco’s homeless population rejected shelter when it was offered to them by the city’s street outreach team in October. In September, 60% purportedly said no to shelter. Breed’s office received a lot of blowback on the statistics it cited and how it was collected.
Still, the city has seen some modest movement in decreasing homelessness.
Two years ago, the city was one of the few in the state to post a decline in its homeless population. The city counted 7,754 homeless people, a 3.5% overall drop from 2019 and a 15% drop in unsheltered homelessness, which means people living on the streets. Breed attributed the drop to her administration’s dedication to getting people off the streets.
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However, if the numbers show an increase this year, candidates jockeying for her job will almost assuredly ask why San Francisco’s persistent homelessness crisis and drug epidemic have gotten worse under her watch.
Breed’s office did not respond to an email seeking further comment.
San Francisco, CA
Union Street’s Newest Coffee Shop Is So Massive You Can Park a Car Inside
The aroma of coffee greets visitors of Motoring Coffee, but if it’s your first trek to 1525 Union Street, you’ll likely be too distracted to notice. Instead, your attention will be focused on the most unlikely component of an everyday coffee shop: a 1986 Porsche 911 in that iconic Guards Red color. Peek past the Porsche and you’ll find a six-person communal work table balanced on the bed of a 1998 Honda Acty K truck.
Welcome to San Francisco’s new cafe celebrating classic cars and excellent coffee.
The new 2,000-square-foot cafe is the second location of the Los Angeles-based Motoring Club, founded in 2019 by owner Michael Rapetti. It’s part coffee shop, part private club — more on that later — with a space made for working, hanging out, ogling cars, and snacks. “We started as a car storage business and a social club for car enthusiasts,” Rapetti says. “And then we’ve evolved over the years into still having those elements, but also adding coffee and retail and bringing in a more public aspect.”
For coffee, the team works with Coffee Manufactory out of Los Angeles, but more recently they’re going beyond the typical offerings. Rapetti says they’re finetuning where their beans come from and sourcing from new farms and contacts, creating blends that resonate with their customers in Los Angeles (and now San Francisco) but roasted by Manufactory. Beyond the typical offerings of drip, espressos, flat whites, and lattes, the cafe will also have some specialty coffee drinks on hand, such as the popular Burnt Rubber, a cold brew drink with black sesame syrup and activated charcoal with foam on top, plus a dash of black sesame seeds that look like the tread of a tire. Motoring will also have a matcha program through a partnership with Nekohama Matcha in Los Angeles. Beyond that, Motoring makes its syrups in-house and organic, and additionally, alt-milk fanatics will appreciate that there is no upcharge on swapping to, say, almond or oat milk.
On the food side, the cafe is partnering with Saltwater Bakeshop, bringing a slate of morning pastries to the shop. Expect butter croissants, ham and cheese croissants, cinnamon twists, muffins, scones, and more, from the pop-up, a nice preview to the upcoming bakery from Saltwater slated for later this year. A breakfast sandwich from Saltwater is also in the works, as is a fridge for grab-and-go options such as overnight oats, parfaits, salads, and sandwiches. Besides the coffee and food, there’s a retail section for Motoring Coffee cups and beans, but also branded clothing and a vintage jacket section sourced by Rapetti, such as a sleek Benihana Racing jacket. The plants around the cafe are also for sale, as is the car up front — if you’re determined enough, and have pockets deep enough — which will rotate throughout the year and include cars such as a Red Bull F1 racing car or classic Alfa Romeos. The price of the car is denoted by a cheeky line on the cafe menu, which currently reads “1986 Porsche 911 — MP” denoting a Market Price for the car.
But past the Porsche and Honda truck, at the back of the cafe visitors will see a glass wall and doors that serve as the entrance to the private membership component of Motoring Coffee. To be clear, membership is unnecessary for enjoying the massive cafe space up front with its fast chargers and Wi-Fi, but behind the doors is a larger lounge area to co-work in and more cars to geek out over, such as an out-of-commission vintage Rolls Royce limousine kitted out as a meeting room. It’s worth noting that potential members can’t just show up and demand a tour — someone does need to run the coffee counter, after all — but all of that can be worked out through an inquiry on the Motoring Club website.
The cafe and car components of Motoring Club bring together a community that Rapetti has long sought out. As an “aspiring car enthusiast” who doesn’t yet own a big collection of cars, he wanted to create an accessible space and club that doesn’t require, say, a Lamborghini or Ferrari to join. The club is for a younger demographic with an appreciation for classic cars, but also, in the grander scheme of things, the cafe creates a community space for car enthusiasts in San Francisco. In that vein of community, Rapetti says they also plan to hold quarterly markets with vendors and pop-ups where they open up the entire space to the public; they’ll also project F1 races and other car events in the cafe, to change things up for visitors.
As a resident of San Francisco from 2009 to 2015, Rapetti says he always wanted a community like this, but it didn’t exist. Now he’s creating that group himself. “We’re hoping to bring some new energy and new community to what I think is already such a great vibrant neighborhood, in the city that I’m excited to be back in,” Rapetti says.
Motoring Coffee (1525 Union Street) is now open daily, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. with extended hours coming soon. For more details on Motoring Club and private membership can head to motoringclub.com/sanfrancisco.
San Francisco, CA
Car Plunges Off Cliff; Smoky Skies; Near-Drowning Victim Revived
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — As a new week begins, we’ve rounded up the stories you may have missed Saturday and Sunday to prepare you for a great week.
But before we jump into Northern California’s top stories, residents should expect cloudy skies with patchy fog and slight chances of patchy drizzle Monday in most areas in the region, according to the National Weather Service.
“Near to slightly below seasonal normal temps to start this week,” NWS Bay Area forecasters wrote Monday. “Gradual warm up expected into this weekend with above average temps by the latter half of the week.”
In other news, smoke from the Park Fire in Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties in Northern California prompted the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue an air quality advisory through Monday for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Also, three people were killed when a car plunged off a Bay Area cliff.
A Bay Area swim coach was accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a female minor, police said.
Plus, police said some quick thinking and well-performed CPR saved a woman submerged in a Bay Area pool for at least five minutes.
San Francisco, CA
Washington Freedom win Major League Cricket title over San Francisco in Grand Prairie
In just the second season of Major League Cricket, the Washington Freedom took home their first title on Sunday in Grand Prairie.
The Freedom, led by Steve Smith’s 88 runs on 52 balls, defeated the San Francisco Unicorns at Grand Prairie Stadium. Smith was named the MVP of the championship final for his performance.
Photos: 2024 Major League Cricket final in Grand Prairie
The San Francisco Unicorns beat the Texas Super Kings on Friday in Grand Prairie for a spot in the final, but ultimately came up short.
There are six founding teams in Major League Cricket and the season runs through the summer months.
Find more sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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