The heat is on in the South Bay with temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees over the next few days, and people are already finding creative ways to beat the high temperatures.

Some people are beating the heat with a splash through the fountains in downtown San Jose

“It’s always nice and cool in the water, and you know we’ve got shade over here under the trees too,” said Javier Cascaneda.

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Families flocked to the fountains Monday as temperatures hit the 90s.

And this is just the beginning, the heat is expected to top 100 degrees over the next few days.

“I have a pool at my apartment so probably swim there. We’ll maybe go to the beach,” said Jeneva Alvarez and Luis Ponce.

That seemed to be a common theme, many people told KPIX they’re already making plans to head out of town towards someplace a little cooler.

“Go to the Ocean. Yeah, Half Moon Bay or maybe Santa Cruz,” said Paul Padilla and Jennifer Liu.

But while some are escaping to cooler temperatures, first responders back are preparing for what could be a dangerous combination, a heat wave and the Fourth of July.

San Jose Police posted on social media reminding people that all fireworks are illegal in the city and can be very dangerous in conditions like this.

People said they understand that but still expect to see some people breaking the rules.

“I feel like there’s always more fireworks every year and just about the same amount of fires. But there’s not much that I think is going to change honestly. It’s just going to be keep on going unless we get more rain hopefully,” said Javier Cascaneda

Of course, the hope, especially in conditions like the ones expected this week, is that people will be extra careful celebrating the holiday this year.

Under SB 423, which passed last year, cities that miss their state goals on planning for new housing must provide an expedited path for approving permits for new developments that meet existing planning standards.

San Francisco will be the first city where the law is triggered after Wiener included language making it the only city with an annual review of its housing permitting goals. Other cities are reviewed every four years.

On Friday, the California Department of Housing and Community Development ruled that San Francisco was falling short of its goal to plan for building 82,000 new units of housing by 2031. Last year, the city authorized just over 3,000 units, according to the San Francisco Planning Department.

Rich Hillis, director of the Planning Department, called the streamlined process instituted by SB 423 “a new era.”

“You could come in today online and apply for a housing project that will be approved by the end of this summer,” Hillis said at a press conference Monday. “And that is truly a game changer, where that would have normally taken a year, two years — or, as Mayor Breed pointed out, sometimes 10 years or more if CEQA is involved and appeals are involved.”

Critics say the penalties instituted by SB 423 were always part of a plan to do away with local control in favor of market-rate developers.

Lori Brooke, co-founder of anti-upzoning group Neighborhoods United SF, called the state’s goal of 82,000 new units for San Francisco “unattainable” and said the city was unfairly singled out by SB 423, which she said “forces the city to haphazardly make changes to zoning and planning that will be felt for the next 100 years.”

“San Francisco is being punished for actions beyond its control — cities don’t build housing; developers do,” Brooke said in a statement.

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.

By Joanna Putman
Police1

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Police Department will soon deploy a drug testing device that tests for fentanyl and other drugs in saliva, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The Dräger DrugTest 5000 is intended to assist in public intoxication arrests, according to the report. The move comes as a part of a yearlong effort to combat the city’s open-air drug markets.

The Dräger device, which tests saliva samples for several different, is already in use for DUI investigations, according to the report. Ryan Kao, director of the SFPD’s Crime Strategies Division, led discussions with Dräger, persuading the company to develop a prototype specifically for detecting fentanyl.

San Francisco police, already contracted with Dräger for other testing purposes, will be the first to field-test the prototype, according to the report. The device operates with a handheld unit and an analyzer, which processes saliva samples to detect eight types of drugs: fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, methadone, benzodiazepines like Xanax and ketamine. Officers must receive consent before administering the test, similar to procedures in DUI cases.

Kao acknowledged that the new system could lead to more arrests but emphasized its role in providing objective evidence for officers, which can be difficult to obtain in public intoxication arrests.

“In an age where we have so much more scrutiny on our officers, this allows them to say, ‘You know what? I’m not just making it up. I have something that’s scientifically backed,’” Kao said.