Doomloop! Vol. 4: A new Sonoma park, NBA All-Star Weekend, and an SF tech company shuts down
Your favorite weekly roundup of SF Bay Area News
San Francisco Mayor Lurie has announced an initiative to speed up the city’s molasses-like permitting process.
Claiming that a Kamala Harris run for governor of California would be such a disaster that a Republican might have a shot, a Trump special envoy has suggested that if she runs, so will he.
An injunction in a San Francisco case has halted the Trump administration’s executive order that would eliminate birthright citizenship, a right once assumed to be protected by the US Constitution.
The San Francisco Standard reports that three men claiming to be DOGE officials attempted to access records at City Hall, and then fled before sheriff’s deputies arrived.
The city’s new head of public health got his start at McKinsey marketing tramadol, an opioid.
—
The chunk of Powell Street between Market and Union Square was transformed into “NBA All-Star Alley” over the weekend, featuring pop-up shops from American Express, Bleacher Report, Foot Locker, and Puma in front of vacant storefronts.
As a part of the All-Star Weekend festivities, 1,200 drones took to the San Francisco skies on Friday to create large, glowing images from Michael Jordan’s brand.
Former NBA all-star and current basketball analyst Charles Barkley was booed by a crowd at Pier 48 after telling people San Francisco needs to “help the homeless.”
—
Hoodline claims that San Francisco’s office market is reviving, citing the $500 million refinancing of Uber’s Mission Bay headquarters and highlighting “the attractive liquidity surge for both debt and equity in the sector.”
The residents and owners of ‘Susie’s Building’—an upscale Pacific Heights co-op famous for being a Democratic Party piggy bank (Bill Clinton once got stuck in the elevator for several hours)—have rejected an ownership bid by a Trump-supporting crypto investor.
The housing boom of late 2010s Oakland has turned into a bust, with multiple shiny, new downtown apartment towers being foreclosed, seized, or purchased at severely reduced prices.
—
San Francisco-based car rental company Getaround, part of the 2010s era “share your stuff” economy, is shutting down its US operations.
The massive China Live restaurant and retail complex in Chinatown is expanding to Santa Clara, Paris, and London. It may be evicted from its San Francisco location due to unpaid rent.
—
Save the Redwoods League, a conservation group, has purchased a large “ancient magical forest” in Sonoma County, and are opening it up for public recreation. You’ll now be able to hike direct from the Sonoma coast to the borders of the Bohemian Grove.
SFGATE notes that Yosemite National Park is in “chaos” due to Trump administration changes.
—
San Francisco Public Press reports that Chinese American residents of the Outer Sunset, who largely voted against Proposition K which will close the Great Highway and create a new park, feel “dismissed and sidelined”, arguing that the road acted as a lifeblood to the local community. According to election data, the voters who helped pass Prop K live nowhere near the Great Highway.
Northeastern University Oakland, formerly Mills College, is planning a police department that, in addition to the campus, would patrol much of East Oakland. The force would be fully funded by the University, but the City of Oakland would be liable for police misconduct.
The Point Reyes Light reports that the town of Bolinas, inundated by tourists they barely tolerate, is hoping to create West Marin’s first residential parking permit system, including a ban on overnight parking for out-of-towners.
—
The ‘SF VDay Pillow Fight’, with the tagline “thats (sic) the power of love”, returned to the Ferry Building on Valentine’s Day.
The only Joann Fabric and Crafts store in Marin County has been slated to close.
—
A social media user who pays $8/month to access X’s premium features claims he has “been to San Francisco once, vowed to never go back.”
Another X user made alarming allegations: “Demonrats” would be “1st in line to try to legalize p3dophi11i@- (sic) which they have basically done in San Francisco and other parts of California thx (sic) to deviant Scott Weiner, Marc Elias, Podesta bro, Eisen & NewSCUM (sic).”
