San Francisco, CA
San Francisco race for district attorney pits incumbent against lawyer she fired
![San Francisco race for district attorney pits incumbent against lawyer she fired San Francisco race for district attorney pits incumbent against lawyer she fired](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/09/08/dc9b4d91-ce03-499a-8ef1-0a31ee3fa36f/thumbnail/1200x630g2/ce7bd7fa85276114991585b282efff78/sf-da-candidates.jpg?v=631cf5f2b4e8db7f9bc428589402864d)
SAN FRANCISCO — She fired him and now he’s running to replace her in the general election.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is facing a lone challenger Nov. 5 — former San Francisco prosecutor Ryan Khojasteh who said he can do a better job than his former boss.
“We’re proposing a better vision for public safety here in San Francisco that responsibly balances accountability with rehabilitation,” Khojasteh said.
Khojasteh said that, if elected, he would focus resources on going after violent and repeat offenders. For low-level offenses and first-time, non-violent offenders, he says he would likely offer treatment.
“If you commit a crime, we’re going to file charges. Now the question is what does justice look like? In many cases, it can be jail, it can be prison. In other cases — if it’s a mental illness issue or a substance abuse issue — we can get someone treatment that’s proven and make sure that they don’t commit future crimes because they actually get the help they need and are stabilized,” Khojasteh said.
Many people view Khojasteh as the progressive option to Jenkins. But he doesn’t like the label, especially after voters recalled the progressive D.A. Chesa Boudin. Boudin hired Khojasteh as a prosecutor in 2020.
“Just because you worked for somebody doesn’t mean you are that person. We should all be afforded the same opportunity to present our platforms and our vision for public safety,” Khojasteh said.
Jenkins says Khojasteh, who is 30 years old, lacks experience and is unqualified.
“I want people to understand the difference between my opponent and I. One, this is a person who is really Chesa Boudin 2.0 to be quite honest. It’s somebody who subscribes to the same belief system that the recalled D.A. put into place that got us into this mess that our city was in,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said that was why she fired him and many of the Boudin hires right after she took office.
After the firings, Khojasteh went to work for Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price. He said he left the Alameda County job last month to focus on his campaign.
“San Franciscans can do both. We can hold people accountable. We can pursue incarceration when necessary and we can also get people the treatment and the help they desperately need to stop the revolving door in and out of county jail,” Khojasteh said.
Jenkins believes she has the better ideas to a balanced justice system. She thinks she deserves another term because she says the city is safer under her leadership.
She said she’s made retail and property crime a priority and is focused on crushing the open-air drug markets in the Tenderloin. She said she’s locked up many drug dealers and offered tough-love solutions to drug users.
“We finally have a district attorney in San Francisco that is being able to work collaboratively, not only with City Hall but with other law enforcement agencies,” Jenkins said. “We are making strides in reducing crime in the city and we need to be able to sustain that.”
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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco 49ers Star Offers Praise for New York Jets Wide Receiver
![San Francisco 49ers Star Offers Praise for New York Jets Wide Receiver San Francisco 49ers Star Offers Praise for New York Jets Wide Receiver](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5019,h_2823,x_0,y_22/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/jets_country/01j755f2j06nn13nbcd5.jpg)
The New York Jets will have to prove they’re as good as they look to be on paper during the season, but the roster can’t go unnoticed entering the campaign. Many around the industry believe the Jets have an opportunity to win a Super Bowl and if things go as planned, they’d be correct.
Not only are analysts saying New York can win it all, but players around the league are giving them more respect than ever.
The Jets will play the on Monday night in their first game of the year, a tough opening contest. The 49ers are arguably the best team in the NFL, and with a lot of change for New York, things won’t be easy.
However, San Francisco players have shown respect to players on the Jets roster, indicating how tough it is to prepare for the team.
In years past, opposing defenses didn’t have to worry much about New York’s offense. They’ve typically been one of the worst in the NFL, and while every team prepares no matter who they’re playing, the Jets are now becoming a team that other squads need to worry about.
Charvarius Ward of the 49ers praised the offense, specifically star wide receiver Garrett Wilson. Wilson, who’s expected to be one of the top receivers in the NFL this season, has a big year in front of them.
He had 1,042 yards a season ago, with bad quarterback play. If Aaron Rodgers plays how he’s expected to, there’s a very good chance he could be looking at a 1,500-plus-yard year.
Ward compared him to Rodgers’ long-time teammate, Davante Adams, perhaps the biggest compliment a receiver could get. Adams is an all-world talent.
“No. They have the same offensive coordinator that Rodgers had in Green Bay. I think it’s going to be a similar offense,” Ward said, according to Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated. “Garrett Wilson might be the new Davante Adams. We’re watching some of his Packers tape and some of the tape from last year as well because they have the same play-caller.”
He added that he “thinks he’s a dog.”
Wilson should only continue to get more respect around the league once he puts up numbers compared to some of the other top wide receivers in football. If players around the league already think this highly of him, imagine what they’ll say when he has an all-time great throwing him the football.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco to New York City: Man runs thousands of miles for Veterans
![San Francisco to New York City: Man runs thousands of miles for Veterans San Francisco to New York City: Man runs thousands of miles for Veterans](https://images.foxtv.com/c107833-mcdn.mp.lura.live/expiretime=2082787200/ff4dcb81b23faeaa0adec7397ed4ace8d946d1d3c323cf264d8153b85b4d4d03/iupl/D32/329/1280/720/D32329E4FD029FE810E0214D874AADF2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Nels Matson of Florida is gearing up for a cross-country trek, from San Francisco to New York City, to attempt a world record run across America, which may remind you of the iconic movie “Forrest Gump.”
San Francisco, CA
Time for reform? San Francisco has been working under same legislative rules for nearly 30 years
![Time for reform? San Francisco has been working under same legislative rules for nearly 30 years Time for reform? San Francisco has been working under same legislative rules for nearly 30 years](https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/15275881_090624-kgo-sf-charter-img.jpg?w=1600)
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco has been working under the same legislative set of rules for the past nearly 30 years.
We’re talking about the city’s charter that dictates how things operate. In order to build a better Bay Area, most anyone in city government will tell you it’s time to reform the city charter.
“What we have at this point, I think, is kind of a mess,” according to Supervisor Rafael Mandelman because of how the city’s governance is structured, based, in part, on that charter.
Here’s how the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, SPUR, explains it.
“Who’s in charge and who gets to make which decisions and who ultimately has responsibility and authority and accountability is very confusing,” said SPUR President and CEO Alicia John-Baptiste.
MORE: Here’s why a San Francisco landlord is purposely keeping commercial rents low for businesses
The charter was adopted in 1996 started out with 173 pages. Through the years, city leaders have added another 365 pages.
It includes proposals and ballots measures that voters have also approved. As a result, a lot of that extra stuff has, little-by-little, weakened the power of mayors that came after Willie Brown.
“I was certainly the last mayor that had the authority to be the mayor,” Brown said.
What most San Franciscans don’t know is that any mayoral candidate who wins in November will have limited authority over who leads San Francisco’s city departments.
Let’s say the mayor wanted to pick the next police chief. The mayor can only select someone from a short list given by the police commission.
MORE: Here’s why San Francisco’s art market continues to struggle against other big US cities
When it comes to hiring or firing the head of the Municipal Transportation Agency, the mayor can’t even do that and has absolutely no say in the matter, because that person is appointed or terminated by the SFMTA Board.
“All of that has made it really difficult, if not impossible, for a person to really be the CEO of a city like San Francisco,” Brown said.
Therefore, one can argue that there are too many cooks in the kitchen slowing things down. Have you tried to open a restaurant in San Francisco? Sure, the health department has to be involved, but why does it take 11 city agencies to get the required permits and licenses?
According to SPUR a new restaurant must go through 61 steps just to open.
“Well, there are too many cooks in the kitchen but there is also too many kitchens. We actually should be consolidating a lot of this. We should be bringing these agencies with responsibility for permitting together and making them function together, a unified authority,” Mandelman said.
MORE: SF launches new downtown revitalization push at Embarcadero to bring people back to city
San Francisco also has 126 boards and commissions, some with decision-making power that shape how a department operates.
According to SPUR, with so many commissions and departments sometimes conflicting with one another, it’s like a maze, making advancing a citywide agenda difficult not to mention time consuming.
SPUR says some commissions are very useful to maintain checks and balances. Still, they are recommending a review of all commissions.
“To decide which ones should stay, which one should have their roles changes and which ones have already lived out their useful purpose and can be let go,” Jean-Baptiste said.
For example, voters approved the creation of the Department of Sanitation and Streets, only to have it abolished two years later.
MORE: SFMTA delays vote on banning right turns at red lights anywhere in SF
Even though that department no longer exists today, its own oversight commission is still there.
As a result, people are not very satisfied with how things run in the city. A survey conducted last year by the city found residents gave certain departments mainly Bs and Cs.
There are many now calling the city charter to be reformed.
How do they get there? Let’s just say in the coming months, lots of people are expected to weigh in to develop a charter reform measure so that the board of supervisors can place it on the November 2026 ballot.
“If we want to do better than what we’ve been doing, if we want to improve the functioning of city governance, I do think there are structural changes that we need to make to make our city government is more successful going forward, and I think San Francisco deserves it. I think we should do it,” Mandelman said.
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