San Francisco, CA
San Francisco race for district attorney pits incumbent against lawyer she fired
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.”
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
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