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"content": "\u003cp>A new village of tiny homes for people experiencing homelessness opened Monday along the Guadalupe River in San José, as city officials work to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042370/in-san-jose-a-controversial-choice-for-unhoused-shelter-or-arrest\">clear encampments along the riverbed\u003c/a> and move unhoused residents into a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026630/san-jose-has-an-idea-to-bring-street-homelessness-to-functional-zero-can-it-work\">growing system\u003c/a> of temporary housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 136-bed development sits on land owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, adjacent to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042960/soon-refusing-shelter-in-san-jose-could-get-you-arrested\">recently cleared encampment\u003c/a> clustered underneath Highway 85. The ribbon-cutting for the Cherry Avenue Interim Housing Community marks the latest in the city’s ambitious program of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059460/bay-area-cities-expand-homeless-shelters-winning-over-neighbors-is-the-hard-part\">shelter expansion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In just 10 months, we’ve opened eleven communities like this one, that are helping people get off the streets and get on with their lives,” Mayor Matt Mahan said on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city council is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043418/san-jose-council-approves-mahans-shelter-enforcement-plan\">investing tens of millions\u003c/a> of dollars to build nearly two dozen interim housing sites, which include tiny homes, converted motels and parking lots for RVs. Mahan \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">has argued\u003c/a> that housing can be constructed more quickly than affordable apartment buildings, while providing more desirable living conditions than a congregate shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The detached units at Cherry Avenue each contain a bed and an HVAC system. Residents will be able to access bathrooms, laundry, prepared food and social workers in separate buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042506\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042506\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250529-SJARRESTSHELTERVOTE-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An interim housing site is built near an unhoused community along the Guadalupe River in San José on May 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The project was approved by the city council in 2023 and was backed by city and state dollars, along with private contributions from developer John Sobrato and Good Samaritan Hospital. The city broke ground on the development in January and residents will begin moving in by the end of the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942734/emergency-calls-complaints-are-down-near-san-joses-temporary-housing-sites-so-why-are-they-still-so-politically-risky\">many shelter projects\u003c/a>, Councilmember Pam Foley said the Cherry Avenue development faced no opposition from the surrounding community, which includes residents of the Robertsville and Erikson neighborhoods and businesses in the Almaden Ranch shopping center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the first and only project that hasn’t had the community members push back in a negative way,” Foley said. “The Erikson neighbors have been fundraising and organizing to create welcome baskets for the new residents who will soon call this home.”[aside postID=news_12059557 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_Visit-to-Esmeralda_-0009_GH_qed.jpg']Under city policy, people experiencing homelessness near a new interim housing site are given the first offer to move in. For years, dozens of tents lined the Guadalupe River roughly a hundred yards from the Cherry Avenue shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, the riverbed was clear of tents, the result of a sweep that took place this summer. San José Housing Director Erik Soliván said the city logged the names and contact information for roughly 40 people who were living in the encampment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the process moved forward of clearing the encampment, we maintained contact with those individuals,” Soliván said. “That set of individuals who were cleared … will be the first ones to move into this site, as they’ll get the first offers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gail Osmer, an advocate for the unhoused, spent years bringing food, blankets and other necessities to people in the riverbank encampment. 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"content": "\u003cp>Sarah Spillane is a proud native of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s Sunset District. “Born and raised, Sunset,” she said while standing outside of her current residence, a modest, tiny cabin near Mid-Market, several miles from the foggy avenues where she grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillane has lived in this homeless shelter with 70 private cabins for nearly two years, since being picked up by the city’s Homeless Outreach Team nearly a decade after she lost her housing on the westside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, “I did primarily stay in the Sunset when I was homeless,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her tiny home offers some privacy in the form of her own unit with a lock and key, her goal is to move closer to the Sunset, where her son, who is about to enter high school, still lives. But Spillane can’t afford to live in the neighborhood and the city’s homeless services are primarily concentrated downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though I’m from the city, it can get really ugly down here,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Bay Area cities like San Francisco, San José and Oakland look to curb homelessness, many are turning their focus to expanding transitional housing like this tiny home site, in order to move people off the street quicker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RVs and trailers parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But as community and government leaders push to add shelter space in neighborhoods where it’s traditionally been absent, they are grappling with fresh resistance from residents concerned that placing services for homeless people nearby will upend their community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling in 2024, the \u003cem>City of Grants Pass v. Johnson\u003c/em>, that now allows cities to force unhoused people to move off sidewalks, regardless of whether shelter is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities can cite or arrest individuals who refuse offers of shelter, and instances of both have ramped up across the Bay Area since the ruling, particularly in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051236/an-unhoused-san-francisco-resident-navigates-a-new-era-of-street-enforcement\">major cities like San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-homeless-housing-wont-be-ready-ahead-of-big-sweep/\">San José\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Francisco, San José look to put shelters in new neighborhoods\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, as elsewhere, political opposition and constraints on land and transportation have long kept shelters out of many neighborhoods, including single-family home communities like the Sunset. But that dynamic has angered many residents who live in areas like the Tenderloin, Bayview and Mission District, which have a higher concentration of shelters than other parts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue recently spurred some local elected leaders to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059519/empty-tiny-homes-headed-to-the-bayview-ruffle-feathers-in-city-hall\">push for greater geographic equity\u003c/a> as more temporary housing is built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks at an event celebrating the creation of a union by the workers at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation at Boeddeker Park in San Francisco on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Neighborhoods like the Tenderloin have more resources than unsheltered residents. Other parts of the city are unable to provide life-saving services to those that need it most,” said San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin and recently sponsored an ordinance that requires the city to build shelter in areas where they are lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Budget and Legislative Office analysis shows which parts of the city have the greatest discrepancy between services and people who need them. The Sunset, for example, accounted for 3.8% of the total unhoused population according to 2024 federal data, but provides 0% of year-round shelter. That’s compared to the Tenderloin, which has 19.4% of the unsheltered population and 33.8% of the city’s shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed Mahmood’s legislation this fall. Beginning in January, the city will be prohibited from opening new shelters or transitional housing facilities in neighborhoods where the number of existing beds and services exceeds the number of unhoused residents.[aside postID=news_12059519 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/RS50006_047_SanFrancisco_JuneteenthKickoffRally_06172021-qut-1020x679.jpg']“Why should someone have to move across the city to access help?” said Edie Irons, director of communications at All Home, a nonprofit that works on regional approaches to solving homelessness. “They might turn down shelter for many reasons. One could be they are far away from where they became homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, proponents of the ordinance hope the legislation will help win over reluctant homeowners, which hasn’t proven easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vera Genkin lives in the Sunset and said she “has a big heart for all these people,” but she worries unhoused people from other places will come to her quiet neighborhood looking for services, despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/reports--september-2024--2024-point-time-count\">evidence\u003c/a> showing people often live in the neighborhoods and cities where they became homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we being expected to pick up problems of homelessness that did not start here?” she said. “Why is this county supposed to pay with city municipal funds for some other county’s homelessness? I don’t understand that either, so the same equation applies to me between districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efforts to expand shelters to new neighborhoods have been fraught across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a town hall meeting earlier this summer, San José’s housing director Erik Soliván presented a plan to open the first temporary housing site in the city’s sleepy Cambrian neighborhood: a converted motel that would provide shelter for senior women and mothers with children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058493\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An RV trailer parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He was met with jeers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Put it in your backyard!” one man yelled, in a video \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sanjosespotlight/video/7515232924657143082\">recorded by the San Jose Spotlight\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I live in downtown, and I have three of them,” Soliván replied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the city council have embarked on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">aggressive expansion \u003c/a>of short-term shelter in recent years — building out a system of tiny home villages, RV parking lots and sanctioned encampments that have amounted to nearly 1,900 placements across 22 locations as of June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As in San Francisco, most of them remain clustered in the city’s downtown core, or in South San José near Monterey Road. Meanwhile, more upscale neighborhoods such as West San José and Evergreen have no shelter sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063652\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063652\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José City Councilmember Pamela Campos speaks the Day Without Childcare rally in front of the Federal Building in San José on May 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These emergency interim housing sites are one part of what is needed in the continuum of housing, and so we need to make sure that we are distributing them equitably throughout the city,” said Councilmember Pamela Campos, whose District 2 seat includes much of South San José. “Every district in San José is affected by homelessness; therefore, every district should be playing their part in addressing our homelessness crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the Rue Ferrari interim housing site, in Campos’ district, was expanded from 122 to 266 beds, making it the largest tiny home community in the city. Campos celebrated the move but worried that her sprawling district lacks public transit for residents of Rue Ferrari to easily access jobs and services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If there’s a way to ensure that we are not putting more than the fair share of emergency interim housing in one district than others, that’s definitely a policy that is worth exploring,” she said. “It cannot continue to be the same neighborhoods and the same places, especially when we’re going into neighborhoods that are severely lacking in the resources and amenities that are needed to support people who are working hard to stabilize their lives and move forward in an upward trajectory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resistance isn’t the only barrier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mahan has said he would like to see shelters expand into every council district in the city. But he pointed to barriers beyond community pushback. In District 1, for example, which borders Sunnyvale and Cupertino, Mahan said available land is simply too scarce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is one of the most densely built-out and expensive places in the city, where it is very hard to secure land. We just don’t have a good parcel that is city-owned to build a solution there,” he said. “And it can’t be a tiny parcel because we need enough scale to make it worth taxpayers’ investment in providing services. So there are just many factors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12050503\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12050503 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference outside City Hall on July 31, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And he said any ordinance governing shelter placement, such as the one passed in San Francisco, could limit opportunities to quickly move people off the street. Mahan pointed to another South San José tiny home site that opened earlier this year, on private land owned by developer John Sobrato, who leased it to the city at virtually no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had had a restriction on having a second site within half a mile, we would not have been able to move forward [with] that site,” Mahan said. “So if you create a straitjacket through policy, you start missing opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have instead sought to placate the concerns of residents living near existing shelters by instituting a no-encampment zone around each site, granting first preference for beds to people living in the immediate area, and starting community advisory groups to solicit feedback after a shelter opens.[aside postID=news_12058952 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-37-KQED.jpg']Still, there’s a danger to this approach of trying to convince residents to “share the burden” of homelessness, said Marlene Bennett, an adjunct professor of health law at Santa Clara University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That unfortunately just propels these negative stereotypes and misinformation about the housing crisis and folks who are experiencing homelessness or maybe living with mental illness or using substances or all three,” Bennett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the issue of funding. In San Francisco, Lurie shifted some of the city’s funding for permanent housing toward interim housing in the latest budget cycle, a move that was met with pushback from housing advocates and experts, pointing out that homelessness doesn’t end with shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But supporters say the funding is needed to build out temporary options where people can move off the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is that they both have the same problem, which is there is not enough funding for shelter,” said Elizabeth Funk, CEO of Dignity Moves, which contracts with both San José and San Francisco to build tiny home shelters. “From HUD all the way down, they’ve decided shelter doesn’t work. We’re trying to change that form of shelter, what you think of as a big warehouse of bunk beds, and focus on interim housing. There needs to be funding for that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has not expanded shelter as aggressively because of funding challenges, even as Alameda County is increasing resources for homelessness services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986458\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/GettyImages-1247572601-scaled-e1760372488675.jpg\" alt=\"Tents line a city street.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A large tent encampment where people live in West Oakland in February 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun CoÅkun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have observed that siting is often the most challenging part of the process of standing up new shelter, due to community pushback,” Irons, with All Home, said, pointing out that many smaller cities are not yet trying to build shelters in neighborhoods where they have historically been absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Alameda County, millions of dollars from Measure W, a 2020 ballot measure that authorized a 10-year sales tax, will soon go to a variety of homeless resources across the county, including for transitional housing and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really trying to have a county-wide approach and distribute these resources,” Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas said. As a councilmember in Oakland, Fortunato Bas oversaw a tiny home project in her district, which has since transformed into an affordable housing project. “We know that it’s largely African-American residents and more and more seniors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland is facing cuts to shelter services in the short term before those Measure W funds become available, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says, “Housing is a Human Right” at the Cob on Wood Project at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Homelessness experts there say that the increased policing that stems from the Grants Pass ruling has not significantly decreased the unhoused population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing more and more of an attempt to solve homelessness through the enforcement-forward approach, and a belief that [unhoused] people who are in our community are not from here,” said Sasha Hauswald, interim chief homelessness solutions officer for Oakland. “Those two things actually are positively reinforcing of one another, because the more you have enforcement without real housing options for people to move into, the more people have to move.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, just as in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, most unhoused residents became homeless in the city where they were living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063655\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063655\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarah Spillane, a resident of the DignityMoves tiny home cabins, outside the entrance in SoMa on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Each person is someone’s child, sister, brother — often whole families who have nowhere to go and could use a helping hand,” Mahmood, the San Francisco supervisor, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillane, the Sunset native, hopes that as San Francisco expands shelter options across the city, she’ll be able to move to the neighborhood she considers home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said having a space like where she’s living now, but closer to her family in the Sunset, “would be an answer to my prayers, big time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She goes back to the neighborhood as often as she can. “That’s where my heart is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sarah Spillane is a proud native of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s Sunset District. “Born and raised, Sunset,” she said while standing outside of her current residence, a modest, tiny cabin near Mid-Market, several miles from the foggy avenues where she grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillane has lived in this homeless shelter with 70 private cabins for nearly two years, since being picked up by the city’s Homeless Outreach Team nearly a decade after she lost her housing on the westside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, “I did primarily stay in the Sunset when I was homeless,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her tiny home offers some privacy in the form of her own unit with a lock and key, her goal is to move closer to the Sunset, where her son, who is about to enter high school, still lives. But Spillane can’t afford to live in the neighborhood and the city’s homeless services are primarily concentrated downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though I’m from the city, it can get really ugly down here,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Bay Area cities like San Francisco, San José and Oakland look to curb homelessness, many are turning their focus to expanding transitional housing like this tiny home site, in order to move people off the street quicker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RVs and trailers parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But as community and government leaders push to add shelter space in neighborhoods where it’s traditionally been absent, they are grappling with fresh resistance from residents concerned that placing services for homeless people nearby will upend their community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling in 2024, the \u003cem>City of Grants Pass v. Johnson\u003c/em>, that now allows cities to force unhoused people to move off sidewalks, regardless of whether shelter is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities can cite or arrest individuals who refuse offers of shelter, and instances of both have ramped up across the Bay Area since the ruling, particularly in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051236/an-unhoused-san-francisco-resident-navigates-a-new-era-of-street-enforcement\">major cities like San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-homeless-housing-wont-be-ready-ahead-of-big-sweep/\">San José\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Francisco, San José look to put shelters in new neighborhoods\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, as elsewhere, political opposition and constraints on land and transportation have long kept shelters out of many neighborhoods, including single-family home communities like the Sunset. But that dynamic has angered many residents who live in areas like the Tenderloin, Bayview and Mission District, which have a higher concentration of shelters than other parts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue recently spurred some local elected leaders to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059519/empty-tiny-homes-headed-to-the-bayview-ruffle-feathers-in-city-hall\">push for greater geographic equity\u003c/a> as more temporary housing is built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks at an event celebrating the creation of a union by the workers at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation at Boeddeker Park in San Francisco on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Neighborhoods like the Tenderloin have more resources than unsheltered residents. Other parts of the city are unable to provide life-saving services to those that need it most,” said San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin and recently sponsored an ordinance that requires the city to build shelter in areas where they are lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Budget and Legislative Office analysis shows which parts of the city have the greatest discrepancy between services and people who need them. The Sunset, for example, accounted for 3.8% of the total unhoused population according to 2024 federal data, but provides 0% of year-round shelter. That’s compared to the Tenderloin, which has 19.4% of the unsheltered population and 33.8% of the city’s shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed Mahmood’s legislation this fall. Beginning in January, the city will be prohibited from opening new shelters or transitional housing facilities in neighborhoods where the number of existing beds and services exceeds the number of unhoused residents.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Why should someone have to move across the city to access help?” said Edie Irons, director of communications at All Home, a nonprofit that works on regional approaches to solving homelessness. “They might turn down shelter for many reasons. One could be they are far away from where they became homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, proponents of the ordinance hope the legislation will help win over reluctant homeowners, which hasn’t proven easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vera Genkin lives in the Sunset and said she “has a big heart for all these people,” but she worries unhoused people from other places will come to her quiet neighborhood looking for services, despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/reports--september-2024--2024-point-time-count\">evidence\u003c/a> showing people often live in the neighborhoods and cities where they became homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we being expected to pick up problems of homelessness that did not start here?” she said. “Why is this county supposed to pay with city municipal funds for some other county’s homelessness? I don’t understand that either, so the same equation applies to me between districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efforts to expand shelters to new neighborhoods have been fraught across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a town hall meeting earlier this summer, San José’s housing director Erik Soliván presented a plan to open the first temporary housing site in the city’s sleepy Cambrian neighborhood: a converted motel that would provide shelter for senior women and mothers with children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058493\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An RV trailer parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He was met with jeers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Put it in your backyard!” one man yelled, in a video \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sanjosespotlight/video/7515232924657143082\">recorded by the San Jose Spotlight\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I live in downtown, and I have three of them,” Soliván replied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the city council have embarked on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">aggressive expansion \u003c/a>of short-term shelter in recent years — building out a system of tiny home villages, RV parking lots and sanctioned encampments that have amounted to nearly 1,900 placements across 22 locations as of June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As in San Francisco, most of them remain clustered in the city’s downtown core, or in South San José near Monterey Road. Meanwhile, more upscale neighborhoods such as West San José and Evergreen have no shelter sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063652\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063652\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250512-DAY-WITHOUT-CHILDCARE-MD-06_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José City Councilmember Pamela Campos speaks the Day Without Childcare rally in front of the Federal Building in San José on May 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These emergency interim housing sites are one part of what is needed in the continuum of housing, and so we need to make sure that we are distributing them equitably throughout the city,” said Councilmember Pamela Campos, whose District 2 seat includes much of South San José. “Every district in San José is affected by homelessness; therefore, every district should be playing their part in addressing our homelessness crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the Rue Ferrari interim housing site, in Campos’ district, was expanded from 122 to 266 beds, making it the largest tiny home community in the city. Campos celebrated the move but worried that her sprawling district lacks public transit for residents of Rue Ferrari to easily access jobs and services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If there’s a way to ensure that we are not putting more than the fair share of emergency interim housing in one district than others, that’s definitely a policy that is worth exploring,” she said. “It cannot continue to be the same neighborhoods and the same places, especially when we’re going into neighborhoods that are severely lacking in the resources and amenities that are needed to support people who are working hard to stabilize their lives and move forward in an upward trajectory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resistance isn’t the only barrier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mahan has said he would like to see shelters expand into every council district in the city. But he pointed to barriers beyond community pushback. In District 1, for example, which borders Sunnyvale and Cupertino, Mahan said available land is simply too scarce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is one of the most densely built-out and expensive places in the city, where it is very hard to secure land. We just don’t have a good parcel that is city-owned to build a solution there,” he said. “And it can’t be a tiny parcel because we need enough scale to make it worth taxpayers’ investment in providing services. So there are just many factors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12050503\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12050503 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250731-DEPORTBILL-JG-3_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference outside City Hall on July 31, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And he said any ordinance governing shelter placement, such as the one passed in San Francisco, could limit opportunities to quickly move people off the street. Mahan pointed to another South San José tiny home site that opened earlier this year, on private land owned by developer John Sobrato, who leased it to the city at virtually no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had had a restriction on having a second site within half a mile, we would not have been able to move forward [with] that site,” Mahan said. “So if you create a straitjacket through policy, you start missing opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have instead sought to placate the concerns of residents living near existing shelters by instituting a no-encampment zone around each site, granting first preference for beds to people living in the immediate area, and starting community advisory groups to solicit feedback after a shelter opens.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, there’s a danger to this approach of trying to convince residents to “share the burden” of homelessness, said Marlene Bennett, an adjunct professor of health law at Santa Clara University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That unfortunately just propels these negative stereotypes and misinformation about the housing crisis and folks who are experiencing homelessness or maybe living with mental illness or using substances or all three,” Bennett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the issue of funding. In San Francisco, Lurie shifted some of the city’s funding for permanent housing toward interim housing in the latest budget cycle, a move that was met with pushback from housing advocates and experts, pointing out that homelessness doesn’t end with shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But supporters say the funding is needed to build out temporary options where people can move off the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is that they both have the same problem, which is there is not enough funding for shelter,” said Elizabeth Funk, CEO of Dignity Moves, which contracts with both San José and San Francisco to build tiny home shelters. “From HUD all the way down, they’ve decided shelter doesn’t work. We’re trying to change that form of shelter, what you think of as a big warehouse of bunk beds, and focus on interim housing. There needs to be funding for that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has not expanded shelter as aggressively because of funding challenges, even as Alameda County is increasing resources for homelessness services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986458\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/GettyImages-1247572601-scaled-e1760372488675.jpg\" alt=\"Tents line a city street.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A large tent encampment where people live in West Oakland in February 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun CoÅkun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have observed that siting is often the most challenging part of the process of standing up new shelter, due to community pushback,” Irons, with All Home, said, pointing out that many smaller cities are not yet trying to build shelters in neighborhoods where they have historically been absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Alameda County, millions of dollars from Measure W, a 2020 ballot measure that authorized a 10-year sales tax, will soon go to a variety of homeless resources across the county, including for transitional housing and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really trying to have a county-wide approach and distribute these resources,” Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas said. As a councilmember in Oakland, Fortunato Bas oversaw a tiny home project in her district, which has since transformed into an affordable housing project. “We know that it’s largely African-American residents and more and more seniors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland is facing cuts to shelter services in the short term before those Measure W funds become available, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/027_KQED_WoodStreetEncampment_07192022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says, “Housing is a Human Right” at the Cob on Wood Project at the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on July 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Homelessness experts there say that the increased policing that stems from the Grants Pass ruling has not significantly decreased the unhoused population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing more and more of an attempt to solve homelessness through the enforcement-forward approach, and a belief that [unhoused] people who are in our community are not from here,” said Sasha Hauswald, interim chief homelessness solutions officer for Oakland. “Those two things actually are positively reinforcing of one another, because the more you have enforcement without real housing options for people to move into, the more people have to move.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, just as in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, most unhoused residents became homeless in the city where they were living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063655\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063655\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251001_BayAreaShelter_-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarah Spillane, a resident of the DignityMoves tiny home cabins, outside the entrance in SoMa on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Each person is someone’s child, sister, brother — often whole families who have nowhere to go and could use a helping hand,” Mahmood, the San Francisco supervisor, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillane, the Sunset native, hopes that as San Francisco expands shelter options across the city, she’ll be able to move to the neighborhood she considers home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said having a space like where she’s living now, but closer to her family in the Sunset, “would be an answer to my prayers, big time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She goes back to the neighborhood as often as she can. “That’s where my heart is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "esmeralda-courts-locals-as-it-tries-to-learn-from-california-forevers-mistakes",
"title": "Esmeralda Courts Locals as It Tries to Learn From California Forever’s Mistakes",
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"headTitle": "Esmeralda Courts Locals as It Tries to Learn From California Forever’s Mistakes | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mark Thayer and his wife quietly perused the brightly colored presentation boards arranged around the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Building on a recent Wednesday in October. They were curious, but skeptical, and wanted to learn more about a project called Esmeralda, potentially coming to their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thayer had read some Facebook posts about the proposed project: a\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomamag.com/a-temporary-village-is-popping-up-in-healdsburg-for-people-wanting-to-create-a-better-future/?gSlide=4\"> dense, walkable development\u003c/a> on the southern end of Cloverdale, where he lives, a city perched at the northernmost tip of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sonoma-county\">Sonoma County\u003c/a>. That night was important: he would be getting information straight from the source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Esmeralda Land Company, the group behind the project, was hosting an informational open house. The development would include a resort hotel, hundreds of homes and an event space — a substantial change for the small city of nearly 9,000 people — and locals had questions, Thayer included.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who would live there? How big would it be? What about water? Would this project actually pan out?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m interested in how it will be developed,” Thayer said. Would it be a bunch of vacation homes? “I hope that it’s something that’s for people that live [there] full-time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one of the biggest questions plaguing the company since it first introduced its plans \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20240801024109/https:/www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/cloverdale-alexander-valley-resort-esmeralda/\">last year\u003c/a>: Was it connected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000185/this-tech-backed-company-tried-to-disrupt-californias-housing-crisis-it-couldnt\">California Forever\u003c/a>, the company that wants to build a mega-development in southeast Solano County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063484 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The plot of land in Cloverdale that the Esmeralda Land Company is seeking to develop on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That proposed development faced a rocky start and backlash from residents who criticized California Forever for secretly buying land and suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005460/farmers-who-refused-to-sell-land-to-california-forever-settle-suits-against-them\">local farmers\u003c/a>. The project has remained controversial ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esmeralda is not related to the Solano-based company, but as it prepares to submit a formal project application to Cloverdale city officials, \u003ca href=\"https://esmeralda.org/public-process\">expected Nov. 12\u003c/a>, leaders have tried to distance their project from California Forever and learn from its mistakes. The Esmeralda Land Company has spent the past two years on outreach, even before securing the property, though it has an exclusive negotiating deal to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the efforts seem to be paying off with local leaders rallying around the project, and many residents are cautiously optimistic about it. Urbanist and author Alex Schafran credited the warmer reception to the company’s approach of getting local buy-in before submitting an official development application.[aside postID=news_12059985 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg']Compared to California Forever, he said, “It’s night and day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Esmeralda] is — at least on paper — trying to do things the way a lot of folks have been hoping that urban planning and development would be done: starting with a consultation, starting with the conversations, incorporating local people in the visioning of what’s there, and then being able to actually deliver on the vision that they created,” Schafran said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some residents remain skeptical of whether Esmeralda will actually deliver on its ambitious plan and whether the new development will truly be affordable and accessible to the rest of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cloverdale is a great town, so people are protective of it,” Esmeralda CEO and Founder Devon Zuegel said. “We’re really committed to making sure that we create a place that people are proud of being part of this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both California Forever and Esmeralda want to build walkable neighborhoods, but the latter project is much smaller. Preliminary plans show the Cloverdale project would include a 184-room hotel, retail space, an outdoor amphitheater and around 600 homes, ranging from apartments to single-family homes to senior housing. Year-round, the neighborhood would host educational events for visitors and Cloverdale residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the 266-acre lot where the development would be built is largely vacant, with low rolling hills and a lone truck repair facility. But Zuegel imagines her project will transform the area into a “\u003ca href=\"https://esmeralda.org/\">mini college campus\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063481 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The proposed plot of land abuts rolling Sonoma County hillsides on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s modeled after \u003ca href=\"https://www.chq.org/\">Chautauqua\u003c/a>, a small resort town in upstate New York that became home to a cultural movement named after the city. When Zuegel talks about her inspiration for the project, she reminisces over summers spent in Chautauqua, where her grandmother lived. During that time, she attended seminars, including one hosted by Jane Goodall, and saw the Beach Boys perform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she chose to develop Esmeralda in Cloverdale precisely because of its small-town feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love Cloverdale, I think it’s such a charming town,” she said. “It really reminded me of Chautauqua, and so, I think leaning into what Cloverdale is already so amazing at, and bringing that out even further, was something that really drew to me.”[aside postID=news_12043295 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-38-BL_qed.jpg']While the company has been working hard to garner trust in the community and distance itself from California Forever, Esmeralda shares similarities with the Solano-based company. Like California Forever CEO Jan Sramek, Zuegel worked in Silicon Valley, including at the software developer platform Github and blockchain company Bloom Protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And similar to California Forever’s experience in Solano County, residents in Cloverdale raised questions about Esmeralda’s investors. Rumors circulated early on, claiming Esmeralda is backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. While Zuegel has refuted that rumor and denied any relations to the conservative libertarian, she has declined to reveal the identities of the project’s 19 backers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the question came up during a project open house in October, Zuegel was nonspecific, saying they “tend to actually be private individuals who live in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like California Forever, Esmeralda has its detractors. Skeptical residents pointed to similar proposals for Cloverdale that have failed to materialize and concerns that the new development will be populated by rich Silicon Valley tech-types.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devon Zuegel, Esmeralda development leader, addresses residents at the Cloverdale Museum of History open house on July 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nilda Andrews, who attended the company’s first project open house in July, came away with mixed feelings. She recently moved to the small city from San Francisco and said the whole project sounded “very elitist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How are they going to bring in the rest of Cloverdale?” she asked. “I’m good for change. But I’m for change for everybody. Not just for the few, the elite.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Ann Brigham, a Cloverdale resident and former mayor of the city, attended Esmeralda’s second open house in October. She has seen multiple projects proposed — and dropped — on the vacant site where Esmeralda would be located and doubts this project will be an exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, in 2004, a developer completed an \u003ca href=\"https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2003072142/2\">environmental impact report\u003c/a> for a similar project called the Alexander Valley Resort Project, which included a 150-room hotel, a spa, and a golf course, along with 165 single-family homes. But, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20240801034717/https:/www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/for-sale-again-in-cloverdale-267-acres-of-resort-property/\">Press Democrat\u003c/a>, the project fell through in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063479 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bicyclists out for a ride in Cloverdale on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They all end up wasting a lot of the city’s time and money, and then they never go through with it. So, am I skeptical? Yeah,” Brigham said. “I don’t believe anything until a check’s in my hand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But perhaps one of the sharpest differences between the two companies is their relationships with local elected officials, with California Forever starting on shaky ground and never quite recovering. Esmeralda is hoping to find surer footing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon after California Forever formally announced its ambitious plan, the project became a political hot potato as some local and county officials were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976108/california-forever-faces-resistance-from-federal-lawmakers-and-local-leaders-in-solano-county\">vocal in their opposition\u003c/a>, while others declined to comment on it. Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985711/fairfield-officials-wife-returns-money-from-campaign-for-new-california-city\">distanced themselves\u003c/a> after initially trying to work with California Forever or learn more about the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project was scheduled to go before voters in November 2024, but the company scrapped its ballot measure, in part due to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000185/this-tech-backed-company-tried-to-disrupt-californias-housing-crisis-it-couldnt\">lack of support among local elects\u003c/a>. California Forever is now pursuing its project through an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059985/california-forever-clears-first-hurdle-in-suisun-city-annexation\">annexation deal\u003c/a> with nearby Suisun City. But even there — after attempting to bypass reluctant county officials and a contentious vote — there are headwinds. Residents are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/suisun-city-neighbors-push-to-recall-entire-city-council/\">gathering signatures\u003c/a> in a bid to recall the entire Suisun City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The start of the process was always going to be controversial — the secrecy [of the land acquisition] raises understandable concerns,” California Forever CEO Jan Sramek \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1981014132632830099\">recently tweeted\u003c/a>. “We made mistakes when rolling it out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991791\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11991791 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she watched those mistakes and tried to learn from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing the frustration that people had with California Forever definitely further underlined ‘Okay [community outreach] is really important to do,’’ she said. “We’re all learning from different examples that we see out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cloverdale, Mayor Todd Lands said that when he first heard about Esmeralda, he was worried it was connected to California Forever and became one of its biggest critics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I made fun of them. They came in here with a project called ‘Edge Esmeralda.’ I called them ‘Utopia,’ I called them ‘the Emerald City,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his opinion changed as he learned more and got to know Zuegel. “I listened to their pitch, and I went through what they were actually proposing to the city, and it was done very well. And it was the exact opposite of what I was expecting it to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063486 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PLANK Coffee in downtown Cloverdale on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the summer of 2024, the company hosted Edge Esmeralda, a month-long “pop-up village” in Healdsburg, which illustrated what amenities the future development could include. Zuegel said the pop-up was a way to embed into the community and get to know the locals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Developers often don’t necessarily know how to speak to a local community,” she said. “We wanted to show the ‘Chautauqua way’ of having this multi-generational community in a place that people can walk around. Instead of just having a presentation… we wanted people to be able to live it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company staff also reached out to local organizations, including the Cloverdale Senior Center, the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce and the Veterans Memorial Building, among others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Hall, the Senior Center’s program manager, said Zuegel came to the center for a tour and eagerly engaged with staff and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063482 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak trees stand on the plot of land in Cloverdale that the Esmeralda Land Company is proposing to develop on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This doesn’t happen that often,” she said. “You don’t usually hear a developer say, ‘We want to hear from the community first if what we’re going to do is going to fit for them.’ So I’m really impressed with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she has tried to incorporate feedback from locals into her company’s plan. After speaking with local businesses, she expressed interest in opening what she called “outposts” within Esmeralda — Plank Coffee could have a grab-and-go station in the hotel. Dahlia & Sage, a small grocery store, could offer hotel guests deli sandwiches and baked goods with their morning coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erik Terreri, a local realtor who attended the July event, said he hopes those outposts lead to visitors patronizing downtown Cloverdale, too, which currently sees little foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to sort of bring people from outside, you’ve got to have more than one good restaurant that’s attracting them. You’ve got to have a few. There’s a critical tipping point, right?” he said. “I see a symbiotic relationship between what they’re going to try and do there and what we’ve been trying to do here in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mark Thayer and his wife quietly perused the brightly colored presentation boards arranged around the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Building on a recent Wednesday in October. They were curious, but skeptical, and wanted to learn more about a project called Esmeralda, potentially coming to their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thayer had read some Facebook posts about the proposed project: a\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomamag.com/a-temporary-village-is-popping-up-in-healdsburg-for-people-wanting-to-create-a-better-future/?gSlide=4\"> dense, walkable development\u003c/a> on the southern end of Cloverdale, where he lives, a city perched at the northernmost tip of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sonoma-county\">Sonoma County\u003c/a>. That night was important: he would be getting information straight from the source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Esmeralda Land Company, the group behind the project, was hosting an informational open house. The development would include a resort hotel, hundreds of homes and an event space — a substantial change for the small city of nearly 9,000 people — and locals had questions, Thayer included.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who would live there? How big would it be? What about water? Would this project actually pan out?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m interested in how it will be developed,” Thayer said. Would it be a bunch of vacation homes? “I hope that it’s something that’s for people that live [there] full-time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one of the biggest questions plaguing the company since it first introduced its plans \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20240801024109/https:/www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/cloverdale-alexander-valley-resort-esmeralda/\">last year\u003c/a>: Was it connected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000185/this-tech-backed-company-tried-to-disrupt-californias-housing-crisis-it-couldnt\">California Forever\u003c/a>, the company that wants to build a mega-development in southeast Solano County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063484 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The plot of land in Cloverdale that the Esmeralda Land Company is seeking to develop on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That proposed development faced a rocky start and backlash from residents who criticized California Forever for secretly buying land and suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005460/farmers-who-refused-to-sell-land-to-california-forever-settle-suits-against-them\">local farmers\u003c/a>. The project has remained controversial ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esmeralda is not related to the Solano-based company, but as it prepares to submit a formal project application to Cloverdale city officials, \u003ca href=\"https://esmeralda.org/public-process\">expected Nov. 12\u003c/a>, leaders have tried to distance their project from California Forever and learn from its mistakes. The Esmeralda Land Company has spent the past two years on outreach, even before securing the property, though it has an exclusive negotiating deal to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the efforts seem to be paying off with local leaders rallying around the project, and many residents are cautiously optimistic about it. Urbanist and author Alex Schafran credited the warmer reception to the company’s approach of getting local buy-in before submitting an official development application.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Compared to California Forever, he said, “It’s night and day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Esmeralda] is — at least on paper — trying to do things the way a lot of folks have been hoping that urban planning and development would be done: starting with a consultation, starting with the conversations, incorporating local people in the visioning of what’s there, and then being able to actually deliver on the vision that they created,” Schafran said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some residents remain skeptical of whether Esmeralda will actually deliver on its ambitious plan and whether the new development will truly be affordable and accessible to the rest of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cloverdale is a great town, so people are protective of it,” Esmeralda CEO and Founder Devon Zuegel said. “We’re really committed to making sure that we create a place that people are proud of being part of this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both California Forever and Esmeralda want to build walkable neighborhoods, but the latter project is much smaller. Preliminary plans show the Cloverdale project would include a 184-room hotel, retail space, an outdoor amphitheater and around 600 homes, ranging from apartments to single-family homes to senior housing. Year-round, the neighborhood would host educational events for visitors and Cloverdale residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the 266-acre lot where the development would be built is largely vacant, with low rolling hills and a lone truck repair facility. But Zuegel imagines her project will transform the area into a “\u003ca href=\"https://esmeralda.org/\">mini college campus\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063481 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The proposed plot of land abuts rolling Sonoma County hillsides on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s modeled after \u003ca href=\"https://www.chq.org/\">Chautauqua\u003c/a>, a small resort town in upstate New York that became home to a cultural movement named after the city. When Zuegel talks about her inspiration for the project, she reminisces over summers spent in Chautauqua, where her grandmother lived. During that time, she attended seminars, including one hosted by Jane Goodall, and saw the Beach Boys perform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she chose to develop Esmeralda in Cloverdale precisely because of its small-town feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love Cloverdale, I think it’s such a charming town,” she said. “It really reminded me of Chautauqua, and so, I think leaning into what Cloverdale is already so amazing at, and bringing that out even further, was something that really drew to me.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While the company has been working hard to garner trust in the community and distance itself from California Forever, Esmeralda shares similarities with the Solano-based company. Like California Forever CEO Jan Sramek, Zuegel worked in Silicon Valley, including at the software developer platform Github and blockchain company Bloom Protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And similar to California Forever’s experience in Solano County, residents in Cloverdale raised questions about Esmeralda’s investors. Rumors circulated early on, claiming Esmeralda is backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. While Zuegel has refuted that rumor and denied any relations to the conservative libertarian, she has declined to reveal the identities of the project’s 19 backers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the question came up during a project open house in October, Zuegel was nonspecific, saying they “tend to actually be private individuals who live in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like California Forever, Esmeralda has its detractors. Skeptical residents pointed to similar proposals for Cloverdale that have failed to materialize and concerns that the new development will be populated by rich Silicon Valley tech-types.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250724_VISIT-TO-ESMERALDA_-0008_GH-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devon Zuegel, Esmeralda development leader, addresses residents at the Cloverdale Museum of History open house on July 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nilda Andrews, who attended the company’s first project open house in July, came away with mixed feelings. She recently moved to the small city from San Francisco and said the whole project sounded “very elitist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How are they going to bring in the rest of Cloverdale?” she asked. “I’m good for change. But I’m for change for everybody. Not just for the few, the elite.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Ann Brigham, a Cloverdale resident and former mayor of the city, attended Esmeralda’s second open house in October. She has seen multiple projects proposed — and dropped — on the vacant site where Esmeralda would be located and doubts this project will be an exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, in 2004, a developer completed an \u003ca href=\"https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2003072142/2\">environmental impact report\u003c/a> for a similar project called the Alexander Valley Resort Project, which included a 150-room hotel, a spa, and a golf course, along with 165 single-family homes. But, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20240801034717/https:/www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/for-sale-again-in-cloverdale-267-acres-of-resort-property/\">Press Democrat\u003c/a>, the project fell through in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063479 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bicyclists out for a ride in Cloverdale on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They all end up wasting a lot of the city’s time and money, and then they never go through with it. So, am I skeptical? Yeah,” Brigham said. “I don’t believe anything until a check’s in my hand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But perhaps one of the sharpest differences between the two companies is their relationships with local elected officials, with California Forever starting on shaky ground and never quite recovering. Esmeralda is hoping to find surer footing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon after California Forever formally announced its ambitious plan, the project became a political hot potato as some local and county officials were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976108/california-forever-faces-resistance-from-federal-lawmakers-and-local-leaders-in-solano-county\">vocal in their opposition\u003c/a>, while others declined to comment on it. Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985711/fairfield-officials-wife-returns-money-from-campaign-for-new-california-city\">distanced themselves\u003c/a> after initially trying to work with California Forever or learn more about the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project was scheduled to go before voters in November 2024, but the company scrapped its ballot measure, in part due to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000185/this-tech-backed-company-tried-to-disrupt-californias-housing-crisis-it-couldnt\">lack of support among local elects\u003c/a>. California Forever is now pursuing its project through an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059985/california-forever-clears-first-hurdle-in-suisun-city-annexation\">annexation deal\u003c/a> with nearby Suisun City. But even there — after attempting to bypass reluctant county officials and a contentious vote — there are headwinds. Residents are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/suisun-city-neighbors-push-to-recall-entire-city-council/\">gathering signatures\u003c/a> in a bid to recall the entire Suisun City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The start of the process was always going to be controversial — the secrecy [of the land acquisition] raises understandable concerns,” California Forever CEO Jan Sramek \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1981014132632830099\">recently tweeted\u003c/a>. “We made mistakes when rolling it out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991791\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11991791 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-40-BL_scr-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she watched those mistakes and tried to learn from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing the frustration that people had with California Forever definitely further underlined ‘Okay [community outreach] is really important to do,’’ she said. “We’re all learning from different examples that we see out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cloverdale, Mayor Todd Lands said that when he first heard about Esmeralda, he was worried it was connected to California Forever and became one of its biggest critics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I made fun of them. They came in here with a project called ‘Edge Esmeralda.’ I called them ‘Utopia,’ I called them ‘the Emerald City,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his opinion changed as he learned more and got to know Zuegel. “I listened to their pitch, and I went through what they were actually proposing to the city, and it was done very well. And it was the exact opposite of what I was expecting it to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063486 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-10-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PLANK Coffee in downtown Cloverdale on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the summer of 2024, the company hosted Edge Esmeralda, a month-long “pop-up village” in Healdsburg, which illustrated what amenities the future development could include. Zuegel said the pop-up was a way to embed into the community and get to know the locals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Developers often don’t necessarily know how to speak to a local community,” she said. “We wanted to show the ‘Chautauqua way’ of having this multi-generational community in a place that people can walk around. Instead of just having a presentation… we wanted people to be able to live it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company staff also reached out to local organizations, including the Cloverdale Senior Center, the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce and the Veterans Memorial Building, among others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Hall, the Senior Center’s program manager, said Zuegel came to the center for a tour and eagerly engaged with staff and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12063482 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251107-ESMERALDA-WANTS-TO-LEARN-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak trees stand on the plot of land in Cloverdale that the Esmeralda Land Company is proposing to develop on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This doesn’t happen that often,” she said. “You don’t usually hear a developer say, ‘We want to hear from the community first if what we’re going to do is going to fit for them.’ So I’m really impressed with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zuegel said she has tried to incorporate feedback from locals into her company’s plan. After speaking with local businesses, she expressed interest in opening what she called “outposts” within Esmeralda — Plank Coffee could have a grab-and-go station in the hotel. Dahlia & Sage, a small grocery store, could offer hotel guests deli sandwiches and baked goods with their morning coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erik Terreri, a local realtor who attended the July event, said he hopes those outposts lead to visitors patronizing downtown Cloverdale, too, which currently sees little foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to sort of bring people from outside, you’ve got to have more than one good restaurant that’s attracting them. You’ve got to have a few. There’s a critical tipping point, right?” he said. “I see a symbiotic relationship between what they’re going to try and do there and what we’ve been trying to do here in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> supervisor vowed to continue pressing for answers at a City Hall hearing on Thursday, where representatives from Geo Group and a halfway house operated by the global private prison company repeatedly refused to discuss the July \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049169/sf-supervisor-to-probe-ice-contractor-after-death-of-halfway-house-resident\">death of a resident. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he has “deep concerns about health, safety and civil rights at 111 Taylor,” in reference to the reentry facility with varying levels of restriction for people awaiting trial and those released on parole in both the federal and state criminal justice systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melvin Bulauan, 44, was transferred to the facility in early July from a secure state psychiatric hospital in Atascadero, according to his family and \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/07/sf-death-sparks-investigation-geo-group-tenderloin/\">reporting by Mission Local\u003c/a>. Before that, he had served part of a state prison sentence at San Quentin stemming from his attack on a pedestrian in July 2023 and other previous violent assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bulauan’s family members, who spoke at the hearing, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-dad-who-never-stopped-trying\">said\u003c/a> he \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-dad-who-never-stopped-trying\">struggled\u003c/a> for decades with substance use and lived with bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. Bulauan’s son, Anjru Jaezon de Leon, said he’d asked Atascadero officials not to release his father to the facility in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, arguing that his father wasn’t ready for the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I advocated, and my sister advocated that it would be in his best interest not to be in San Francisco,” Bulauan’s son said. “And those concerns were ultimately cast aside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bulauan’s son said he last spoke with his father on the phone on July 13, just a few days after Bulauan had been transferred to a halfway house at 111 Taylor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">111 Taylor St., the former Compton’s Cafeteria site now operated as a GEO Group halfway house, stands in San Francisco’s Tenderloin on July 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“‘I’m anxious,’” Bulauan’s son remembers his father saying. “‘I’m scared. I’d rather go back to jail than stay here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sounded like a man cornered, like someone drowning. I called the facility three times, begging for a wellness check, and three times they hung up on me before I could even complete a sentence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Bulauan was found dead on the sidewalk near the building, his son said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He died alone on the pavement, a block from where he said he was too afraid to sleep.”[aside postID=news_12049169 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed.jpg']Bulauan’s mother, Amelia Miguel, spoke to the Board of Supervisors’ committee through tears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was to be safe when he was there,” she said, sobbing. “But it’s not, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geo Group, which is also a contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, purchased the building at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in 1989. The company’s website said the site’s mission is to “help prepare individuals to reintegrate back to society,” through “placements” from six months to one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from federal probation and pretrial departments at the hearing said repeatedly that many of the defendants and parolees that they oversee would be incarcerated if not for the option of a supervised community facility, only offered by the Taylor Street Center in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not perfect, but it provides us a secure place for people to come back to our communities, for them to become employed, for them to become citizens that can provide positive things to our community,” said Chief Probation Officer Chris Carrubba-Katz. “Taylor Street epitomizes the spirit of San Francisco of inclusivity, and it provides housing to people convicted of crimes where they are not welcome and they are safe in other cities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from Geo Group and the Taylor Street Center repeatedly refused to answer Mahmood’s questions about Bulauan’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12048479 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists challenged GEO Group’s use of 111 Taylor St. in the Tenderloin as a transitional housing facility during a July 16, 2025, San Francisco Board of Appeals hearing at City Hall. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re not able to comment on the specifics of an individual case,” Mollyrose Graves, Geo-rentry Services partnership development director, said in response to Mahmood. “If you have a question around general policy or procedures, we’d be happy to answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geo Group has been criticized over poor conditions and neglect at the facility at 111 Taylor St., which holds a place in LGBTQ+ history as the site of a 1966 riot for trans rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have testimony from former residents that they’ve been locked out, denied mental health support, forced to live without kitchen access, and punished for breaking curfew, not to mention complaints of overcrowding, poor living conditions of the facility,” Supervisor Jackie Fielder said.[aside postID=news_12062394 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/011_KQED_SanFrancisco_RVsMercedBlvd_07272020_qed.jpg']Facility director Maria Richard told supervisors that the center has been “extremely responsive” to issues with rodents and cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before Balauan’s death, a group of San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978869/trans-activists-vow-to-liberate-comptons-after-sf-board-of-appeals-loss\">activists began an effort to oust\u003c/a> Geo Group from 111 Taylor St., the historic site of Compton’s Cafeteria, and turn it into a community center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janetta Johnson, co-founder of the Transgender District and an advocate for incarcerated trans people, laid out a different vision for the building on Thursday: “Studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments for people with mental health issues, with mental health providers on staff, not a prison\u003cem>.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood indicated that the center could be challenged under a state law prohibiting private, for-profit prisons from being operated in the state. That law recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.ild.org/immigrant-legal-defense-blog/9th-circuit-rules-against-californias-ban-on-private-immigration-detention\">suffered a setback\u003c/a> before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as it applies to immigration detention in a case brought by Geo Group and the federal government. He also pointed out that modern rules for group housing in San Francisco require access to a full kitchen, which the Taylor Street Center does not offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My goal moving forward is to ensure that no facility, public or private, operating under the banner of reentry or rehabilitation functions as a \u003cem>de facto\u003c/em> detention center without proper oversight, accountability and respect for human dignity,” Mahmood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> supervisor vowed to continue pressing for answers at a City Hall hearing on Thursday, where representatives from Geo Group and a halfway house operated by the global private prison company repeatedly refused to discuss the July \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049169/sf-supervisor-to-probe-ice-contractor-after-death-of-halfway-house-resident\">death of a resident. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he has “deep concerns about health, safety and civil rights at 111 Taylor,” in reference to the reentry facility with varying levels of restriction for people awaiting trial and those released on parole in both the federal and state criminal justice systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melvin Bulauan, 44, was transferred to the facility in early July from a secure state psychiatric hospital in Atascadero, according to his family and \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/07/sf-death-sparks-investigation-geo-group-tenderloin/\">reporting by Mission Local\u003c/a>. Before that, he had served part of a state prison sentence at San Quentin stemming from his attack on a pedestrian in July 2023 and other previous violent assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bulauan’s family members, who spoke at the hearing, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-dad-who-never-stopped-trying\">said\u003c/a> he \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-dad-who-never-stopped-trying\">struggled\u003c/a> for decades with substance use and lived with bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. Bulauan’s son, Anjru Jaezon de Leon, said he’d asked Atascadero officials not to release his father to the facility in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, arguing that his father wasn’t ready for the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I advocated, and my sister advocated that it would be in his best interest not to be in San Francisco,” Bulauan’s son said. “And those concerns were ultimately cast aside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bulauan’s son said he last spoke with his father on the phone on July 13, just a few days after Bulauan had been transferred to a halfway house at 111 Taylor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-2_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">111 Taylor St., the former Compton’s Cafeteria site now operated as a GEO Group halfway house, stands in San Francisco’s Tenderloin on July 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“‘I’m anxious,’” Bulauan’s son remembers his father saying. “‘I’m scared. I’d rather go back to jail than stay here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sounded like a man cornered, like someone drowning. I called the facility three times, begging for a wellness check, and three times they hung up on me before I could even complete a sentence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Bulauan was found dead on the sidewalk near the building, his son said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He died alone on the pavement, a block from where he said he was too afraid to sleep.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Bulauan’s mother, Amelia Miguel, spoke to the Board of Supervisors’ committee through tears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was to be safe when he was there,” she said, sobbing. “But it’s not, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geo Group, which is also a contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, purchased the building at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in 1989. The company’s website said the site’s mission is to “help prepare individuals to reintegrate back to society,” through “placements” from six months to one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from federal probation and pretrial departments at the hearing said repeatedly that many of the defendants and parolees that they oversee would be incarcerated if not for the option of a supervised community facility, only offered by the Taylor Street Center in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not perfect, but it provides us a secure place for people to come back to our communities, for them to become employed, for them to become citizens that can provide positive things to our community,” said Chief Probation Officer Chris Carrubba-Katz. “Taylor Street epitomizes the spirit of San Francisco of inclusivity, and it provides housing to people convicted of crimes where they are not welcome and they are safe in other cities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from Geo Group and the Taylor Street Center repeatedly refused to answer Mahmood’s questions about Bulauan’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12048479 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-4_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists challenged GEO Group’s use of 111 Taylor St. in the Tenderloin as a transitional housing facility during a July 16, 2025, San Francisco Board of Appeals hearing at City Hall. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re not able to comment on the specifics of an individual case,” Mollyrose Graves, Geo-rentry Services partnership development director, said in response to Mahmood. “If you have a question around general policy or procedures, we’d be happy to answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geo Group has been criticized over poor conditions and neglect at the facility at 111 Taylor St., which holds a place in LGBTQ+ history as the site of a 1966 riot for trans rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have testimony from former residents that they’ve been locked out, denied mental health support, forced to live without kitchen access, and punished for breaking curfew, not to mention complaints of overcrowding, poor living conditions of the facility,” Supervisor Jackie Fielder said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Facility director Maria Richard told supervisors that the center has been “extremely responsive” to issues with rodents and cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before Balauan’s death, a group of San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978869/trans-activists-vow-to-liberate-comptons-after-sf-board-of-appeals-loss\">activists began an effort to oust\u003c/a> Geo Group from 111 Taylor St., the historic site of Compton’s Cafeteria, and turn it into a community center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janetta Johnson, co-founder of the Transgender District and an advocate for incarcerated trans people, laid out a different vision for the building on Thursday: “Studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments for people with mental health issues, with mental health providers on staff, not a prison\u003cem>.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood indicated that the center could be challenged under a state law prohibiting private, for-profit prisons from being operated in the state. That law recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.ild.org/immigrant-legal-defense-blog/9th-circuit-rules-against-californias-ban-on-private-immigration-detention\">suffered a setback\u003c/a> before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as it applies to immigration detention in a case brought by Geo Group and the federal government. He also pointed out that modern rules for group housing in San Francisco require access to a full kitchen, which the Taylor Street Center does not offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My goal moving forward is to ensure that no facility, public or private, operating under the banner of reentry or rehabilitation functions as a \u003cem>de facto\u003c/em> detention center without proper oversight, accountability and respect for human dignity,” Mahmood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "ready-or-not-san-francisco-to-begin-enforcement-of-latest-rv-ban",
"title": "Ready or Not, San Francisco to Begin Enforcement of Latest RV Ban",
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"headTitle": "Ready or Not, San Francisco to Begin Enforcement of Latest RV Ban | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Hundreds of RV dwellers across San Francisco could be ticketed or towed if they do not move their vehicles every two hours beginning Nov. 1, when the city’s new parking enforcement goes into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048307/sf-just-voted-to-ban-long-term-rv-parking-what-happens-to-the-people-inside\">signed legislation\u003c/a> for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043568/san-francisco-mayor-proposes-to-ban-rvs-from-long-term-street-parking\">new parking restrictions\u003c/a> in July as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-signs-legislation-to-address-rv-and-vehicular-homelessness-restore-public-spaces-in-san-francisco\">wider effort\u003c/a> to clear streets of RVs, tents and homeless encampments. But many people living in vehicles and homeless advocates have tried to delay enforcement, saying it will put \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047562/please-just-let-us-be-san-francisco-rv-crackdown-advances-despite-families-pleas\">intense pressure and financial strain\u003c/a> on extremely low-income residents while dispersing RVs across the city. Right now, many are clustered in the Bayview neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They say they’re leading with compassion, but to me, they’re actually starting from a punitive standpoint to basically evict everybody in RVs and trailers from the city,” said Zach Bollinger, who lives in an RV near Lake Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading up to the enforcement deadline, the city started a permitting process for people who live in RVs, allowing them to park without being subject to the two-hour parking limit. City officials said 270 permits have been issued so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To obtain the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/large-vehicle-refuge-permit-program\">six-month permit\u003c/a>, which includes a blue sticker that must be affixed to the back of the vehicle, RV owners must agree to participate in case management and connect with housing services. To qualify for a permit, a person or family must have lived in their vehicle as of May 31, 2025. They can request another six-month extension for their permit if the city is unable to offer them housing before it expires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058493\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An RV trailer parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The vast majority of people here are really interested in receiving an apartment or house,” said Bollinger, who has lived in his RV since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some people living in RVs are now scrambling to obtain a permit, including those who say they weren’t part of the city’s tally of 451 inhabited vehicles earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/10/they-were-missed-in-s-f-s-city-wide-rv-count-as-tow-trucks-prepare-to-deploy-some-have-struggled-to-prove-they-were-there/\">\u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The baseline census was taken in May, but those living in an RV in San Francisco prior to that census can submit accepted forms of documentation in an appeal process through October 30 to be granted a permit,” Deborah Bouck, communications manager for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said in an email on the 30th when asked about RV residents who were not counted in the city’s earlier survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city does not have enough housing for all of the residents living in cars and RVs. In the latest budget cycle, the city allocated funding for 65 additional housing vouchers specifically for RV families looking to move out of their vehicles, and is now in the process of moving those families into their new homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Oct. 30, just one family had been moved out of an RV and into housing. Bouck said that should increase once the parking enforcement begins.[aside postID=news_12062042 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg']Meanwhile, the city said it will be offering single adults with RV permits housing vouchers, non-congregate shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units. So far, many have largely been offered temporary shelter, said Bollinger, who works as a rideshare driver and photographer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For him, the RV offers more independence and privacy than a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to receive our permits, we also have to sign up to receive services like shelter or housing,” he said. “The cost of living is really high. You know, moving for street sweeping, having to find places to fill and dump tanks, dispose of garbage, that kind of stuff sucks to do. But I have a lot less worries about having to make the bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 9% of the city’s unhoused population lives in vehicles, according to \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/2024_PIT_Slide_Brief.pdf\">2024 federal data\u003c/a>. While a small portion of the homeless population overall, the number of people living in vehicles increased 37% from 2022 to 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families are disproportionately affected by the RV ban. The city’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/2024_PIT_Slide_Brief.pdf\">2024 Point-in-Time count\u003c/a> found about 130 unsheltered families in the city, and 90% of those families lived in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10, which includes the Bayview neighborhood, saw the largest increase in unsheltered homelessness between 2022 and 2024, largely due to an increase in people living in vehicles. There, local supervisor Shamann Walton and other community leaders have pushed for a safe parking site for families living in RVs. The city walked back a plan to keep a pandemic-era parking site open, sending many families to other streets with parking restrictions and often a lack of water hook-ups or sanitation services. Today, the city has no active safe parking programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the Bayview, the city’s west side, where Bollinger frequently parks, had the second-highest portion of homeless residents living in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have gone back and forth over how to handle lines of RVs in residential areas, which increased after the coronavirus pandemic. In 2024, former Mayor London Breed similarly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12007425/san-francisco-bans-overnight-parking-for-rvs-on-most-city-streets\">attempted to impose an RV ban\u003c/a>, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017544/sf-supes-reverse-citys-controversial-rv-parking-ban\">reversed course\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014339/sfs-overnight-rv-parking-ban-has-yet-to-be-enforced-as-advocates-try-to-reverse-it\">RV dwellers and homeless advocates pushed back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This comes down to being very aristocratic,” Bollinger said. “It’s not meeting the needs of the homeless population in general. It’s really just so that we can say, ‘look at our beautiful, wonderful city’ when it’s not solving any economic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Starting Nov. 1, unpermitted RVs and other large vehicles could be ticketed or towed if they park for more than two hours. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Hundreds of RV dwellers across San Francisco could be ticketed or towed if they do not move their vehicles every two hours beginning Nov. 1, when the city’s new parking enforcement goes into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048307/sf-just-voted-to-ban-long-term-rv-parking-what-happens-to-the-people-inside\">signed legislation\u003c/a> for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043568/san-francisco-mayor-proposes-to-ban-rvs-from-long-term-street-parking\">new parking restrictions\u003c/a> in July as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-signs-legislation-to-address-rv-and-vehicular-homelessness-restore-public-spaces-in-san-francisco\">wider effort\u003c/a> to clear streets of RVs, tents and homeless encampments. But many people living in vehicles and homeless advocates have tried to delay enforcement, saying it will put \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047562/please-just-let-us-be-san-francisco-rv-crackdown-advances-despite-families-pleas\">intense pressure and financial strain\u003c/a> on extremely low-income residents while dispersing RVs across the city. Right now, many are clustered in the Bayview neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They say they’re leading with compassion, but to me, they’re actually starting from a punitive standpoint to basically evict everybody in RVs and trailers from the city,” said Zach Bollinger, who lives in an RV near Lake Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading up to the enforcement deadline, the city started a permitting process for people who live in RVs, allowing them to park without being subject to the two-hour parking limit. City officials said 270 permits have been issued so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To obtain the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/large-vehicle-refuge-permit-program\">six-month permit\u003c/a>, which includes a blue sticker that must be affixed to the back of the vehicle, RV owners must agree to participate in case management and connect with housing services. To qualify for a permit, a person or family must have lived in their vehicle as of May 31, 2025. They can request another six-month extension for their permit if the city is unable to offer them housing before it expires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058493\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251001_BAYAREASHELTER_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An RV trailer parked on Lake Merced Boulevard and State Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The vast majority of people here are really interested in receiving an apartment or house,” said Bollinger, who has lived in his RV since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some people living in RVs are now scrambling to obtain a permit, including those who say they weren’t part of the city’s tally of 451 inhabited vehicles earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/10/they-were-missed-in-s-f-s-city-wide-rv-count-as-tow-trucks-prepare-to-deploy-some-have-struggled-to-prove-they-were-there/\">\u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The baseline census was taken in May, but those living in an RV in San Francisco prior to that census can submit accepted forms of documentation in an appeal process through October 30 to be granted a permit,” Deborah Bouck, communications manager for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said in an email on the 30th when asked about RV residents who were not counted in the city’s earlier survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city does not have enough housing for all of the residents living in cars and RVs. In the latest budget cycle, the city allocated funding for 65 additional housing vouchers specifically for RV families looking to move out of their vehicles, and is now in the process of moving those families into their new homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Oct. 30, just one family had been moved out of an RV and into housing. Bouck said that should increase once the parking enforcement begins.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Meanwhile, the city said it will be offering single adults with RV permits housing vouchers, non-congregate shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units. So far, many have largely been offered temporary shelter, said Bollinger, who works as a rideshare driver and photographer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For him, the RV offers more independence and privacy than a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to receive our permits, we also have to sign up to receive services like shelter or housing,” he said. “The cost of living is really high. You know, moving for street sweeping, having to find places to fill and dump tanks, dispose of garbage, that kind of stuff sucks to do. But I have a lot less worries about having to make the bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 9% of the city’s unhoused population lives in vehicles, according to \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/2024_PIT_Slide_Brief.pdf\">2024 federal data\u003c/a>. While a small portion of the homeless population overall, the number of people living in vehicles increased 37% from 2022 to 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families are disproportionately affected by the RV ban. The city’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/2024_PIT_Slide_Brief.pdf\">2024 Point-in-Time count\u003c/a> found about 130 unsheltered families in the city, and 90% of those families lived in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10, which includes the Bayview neighborhood, saw the largest increase in unsheltered homelessness between 2022 and 2024, largely due to an increase in people living in vehicles. There, local supervisor Shamann Walton and other community leaders have pushed for a safe parking site for families living in RVs. The city walked back a plan to keep a pandemic-era parking site open, sending many families to other streets with parking restrictions and often a lack of water hook-ups or sanitation services. Today, the city has no active safe parking programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the Bayview, the city’s west side, where Bollinger frequently parks, had the second-highest portion of homeless residents living in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have gone back and forth over how to handle lines of RVs in residential areas, which increased after the coronavirus pandemic. In 2024, former Mayor London Breed similarly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12007425/san-francisco-bans-overnight-parking-for-rvs-on-most-city-streets\">attempted to impose an RV ban\u003c/a>, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017544/sf-supes-reverse-citys-controversial-rv-parking-ban\">reversed course\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014339/sfs-overnight-rv-parking-ban-has-yet-to-be-enforced-as-advocates-try-to-reverse-it\">RV dwellers and homeless advocates pushed back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This comes down to being very aristocratic,” Bollinger said. “It’s not meeting the needs of the homeless population in general. It’s really just so that we can say, ‘look at our beautiful, wonderful city’ when it’s not solving any economic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "this-is-our-home-san-francisco-families-in-rvs-brace-for-new-city-crackdown",
"title": "‘This Is Our Home’: San Francisco Families in RVs Brace for New City Crackdown",
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"headTitle": "‘This Is Our Home’: San Francisco Families in RVs Brace for New City Crackdown | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/sf-rv-crackdown-fallout/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote originally published this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along John Muir Drive, a winding road in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s quiet Lake Merced neighborhood, more than a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047562/please-just-let-us-be-san-francisco-rv-crackdown-advances-despite-families-pleas\">dozen RVs line the curb\u003c/a>. Inside one of them, Jessica Cuevas, 32, lives with her 8-year-old son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being evicted from her $3,800-a-month rental in late January, she bought an RV on Facebook Marketplace and parked near her son’s school in the Bayview. When parking tickets began piling up, she moved across the city to Lake Merced, joining other RV residents who, once again, may soon have to leave, this time having nowhere else to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As San Francisco steps up efforts to curb vehicular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/homelessness\">homelessness\u003c/a>, safe parking options for RV residents have dwindled. The crisis, which disproportionately impacts Latino\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/immigrants\"> immigrants\u003c/a>, has pushed longtime residents hit hard by pandemic job loss and newcomers seeking sanctuary into two distinct neighborhoods: Lake Merced and the Bayview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, more people are turning to oversized vehicles for shelter as San Francisco’s cost of living soars. Driven onto the same few streets, many RV residents have formed small communities of support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a new citywide policy could decide the future of hundreds of people and families who call RVs home. Starting Nov. 1, 2025, San Francisco will enforce a two-hour parking limit for large vehicles. Residents must obtain a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/large-vehicle-refuge-permit-program\">Large Vehicle Refuge Permit\u003c/a> or face tickets and towing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062252 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Lakewood Apartments serve as a backdrop to a row of RVs parked along the street near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. Some neighbors have voiced concerns about the RVs in online forums such as Reddit. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>City officials say the program will connect eligible residents to housing assistance, but advocates warn it will uproot families and worsen conditions for working-class immigrants, seniors and people with disabilities already weathering the physical and mental health toll of displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year, \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em> has documented the informal support systems forged by RV residents in Lake Merced and the Bayview in the absence of city aid. Firsthand accounts and public records reveal that, despite the promised support, the city’s upcoming crackdown threatens to dismantle the fragile stability these households have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>This isn’t forever: Families find refuge in Lake Merced\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Cuevas worked as a DoorDash delivery driver last year, she often drove past dozens of parked RVs around Lake Merced. The Mexican mother worked three jobs and shared a Visitacion Valley home with two roommates to cover $3,800 rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had already been homeless once, when she first moved to the Bay Area in 2018 with a pending asylum application. After time in San Mateo County’s shelter system, a social worker helped her find housing in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062256 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessica Cuevas, 32, stands outside her RV near Lake Merced holding her two guinea pigs in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. “I like staying on this street because it feels safer than the Bayview, where we stayed for a short time,” she said. “It’s been really difficult to get any type of resources.” \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By late January, an eviction over missed rent payments pushed her family back to the streets. Cuevas bought an RV and started parking near her 8-year-old son’s school in the Bayview, moving every 72 hours to avoid tickets. As the citations piled up, Cuevas remembered the motorhomes she’d seen in Lake Merced and headed west.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Cuevas found a spot on John Muir Drive, a wide, quiet street facing the lake where dozens of other RVs were parked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still here,” Cuevas said. “We’re trying to look for a better place. But we have to wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062269\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062269 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nathan, 8, holds his guinea pig outside the RV he shares with his mother, Jessica Cuevas, near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her RV is small and poorly insulated, and rain seeps through the roof. Inside, a single mattress fills most of the floor, and a plastic box holds her son’s two guinea pigs, Pepe and Greñas. Without electricity or plumbing, they rely on the park’s public restrooms and a propane stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of unstable housing puts residents at greater risk of poor health outcomes, including respiratory and cardiac diseases, \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10203673/#Sec16\">public health experts warn\u003c/a>. It also makes it harder to manage chronic conditions.[aside postID=news_12062042 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg']San Francisco’s promise of housing support to RV residents is what Cuevas said she needs, though those options seem far from reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been on the city’s backlogged family-shelter waitlist since January. In June, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/Agenda_Item_8_Directors_Report_June_2025.pdf\">reported\u003c/a> that 295 families were waiting for shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Lake Merced feels more peaceful than anywhere else she’s parked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area is quiet, aside from chirping birds and the occasional car driving by. Between the line of RVs and the lake, residents take evening strolls along a walking path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many parked along the road have formed a sense of community. They look out for one another — Cuevas said she once drove a neighbor to the hospital after noticing she was limping — and work together to keep the area clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062280 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The work boots of Rubén, 23, a Mexican immigrant who lives in an RV near Lake Merced, an area that has become a refuge for displaced working families in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This place is nice and we try to take care of it, because they’re letting us stay here,” said Rubén, a 23-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives a few RVs down. Unlike Cuevas, Rubén chose to move out of a shared apartment and invest in an RV, saving the wages he earns from a street-repavement company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents are able to park on John Muir Drive for months largely due to sparse enforcement, moving their vehicles only for biweekly street sweeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet even that schedule brings stress, affecting their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yuri S., 40, stands outside her RV near Lake Merced, an area that has become a parking refuge for working families in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yuri S., 40, watches her 1-year-old daughter during the day while her husband works, so she’s often in charge of moving the RV every other Monday, despite not knowing how to drive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When spaces fill up after street sweeping, she sometimes has to park in other parts of Lake Merced that feel less safe, with heavier traffic and unfamiliar neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I just want to leave as fast as I can,” said Yuri, whose family was pushed out of a shared apartment in Daly City after having a baby last October. “I’m not used to this. Living here in the United States is completely different from anything I was used to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Echoes of a displaced community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some residents now parked along John Muir Drive had previously spent years in even more established RV communities nearby, along Winston Drive and Lake Merced Boulevard. There, they had systems in place to discard water waste, organize trash pickups and coordinate child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last summer, the tight-knit community of predominantly Latino families was dispersed to different parts of the city after one of San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/sf-rv-crackdown-six-takeaways/\">most controversial crackdowns\u003c/a>. According to Lukas Illa, an organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, the displacement placed them in even more precarious situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062289\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A row of RVs, where many working immigrant families live, lines a street near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sweeps are not only a means to displace people from a sidewalk, it is a means to break down communities and break down political power,” Illa told \u003cem>El Tecolote.\u003c/em> “It breaks down communication channels. It breaks down the community of trust and resource sharing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Illa said the mass eviction of a working-class community of families with children on Winston Drive exposed the limits of the city’s goodwill to find compassionate solutions. “We had the most humanizing population,” he said. “And still, nothing was done. It was seen as acceptable to displace them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the neighborhood, has since become a leading voice in regulating and banning RVs citywide. Melgar has framed enforcement as a way to protect RV residents, who she said have faced harassment, vandalism and frequent calls to law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062292\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Sebastián, 25, a newcomer from Colombia, shows his neck tattoo in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. “I carried my two daughters in front of me with my suitcase on my back,” Sebastián said, recalling his migration through the Darién Gap from Colombia. He and his wife later saved enough money to apply for political asylum and obtain Social Security numbers. “It’s all been thanks to the RV,” he said. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We do not have a system to not just regulate but also support these families in an adequate way,” Melgar said \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/50412?view_id=10&redirect=true\">on July 15\u003c/a>, ahead of the vote to approve the new RV policy. “I think it’s on us to build the system to support people to success, and not pretend that by leaving them on the streets we are doing the progressive thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Lake Merced, where \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=2b28caa7a019a360_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">complaints from neighbors\u003c/a> are driving an uptick in enforcement on certain streets, RV residents have continued to park and accrue tickets. Vidal Drive, for instance, limits parking to four hours without a permit but remains a refuge for residents like Beriuska Acosta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tickets are piling up, but we have nowhere else to park,” Acosta said. Each one costs $102. “I get stressed out when I see the parking officers coming because you don’t know who you are going to get that day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In the Bayview, RV residents are pushed to the brink\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Lake Merced’s RVs sit near water and family housing, those in Bayview–Hunters Point make do in industrial corridors lined with warehouses and empty lots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along Jerrold and Barneveld avenues, rows of RVs sit wheel-to-wheel. Children’s bikes and barbecue grills rest outside. On Toland Street, a massive Amazon logo looms over the rows of vehicular homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Laura C., 37, living in an RV is the only option for her family. She rents her vehicle for $1,000 a month from another resident and has been parking along the same Bayview Avenue for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062293\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RVs are parked in front of an Amazon warehouse in the industrial Bayview neighborhood, where a concentration of families are living inside their RVs, many who are working immigrants, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 17, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“On one occasion, the city came to clear us out,” Laura said. “But to tell you the truth, we came back. There is nowhere else to park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 Supervisor Shaman Walton, who oversees the Bayview, was one of two supervisors to vote against the new RV policy, arguing that an enforcement-first approach won’t solve the housing crisis that made RV living necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To say that someone living in a vehicle does not have a home is malicious when they have no other form of shelter,” Walton said during the board’s vote. “This legislation is alluding to supporting brick and mortar as the only possible home in the most expensive city on the planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With 55% of the city’s RVs parked in the Bayview, Walton’s district is the epicenter of San Francisco’s RV crisis. In \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=7763a74df0eb275f_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">emails obtained\u003c/a> by \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>, residents described RVs blocking hydrants and generating trash and noise, which they fear deters potential tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062296\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062296\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the RV the Clavejo family rents for $1,000 a month in the industrial Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite numerous 311 reports, many cases are quickly closed as “invalid” or “canceled,” fueling accusations of unequal enforcement compared with wealthier Lake Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, along a number of streets in the Bayview, RV neighbors say they help each other find jobs, resources and care for each other’s pets. Some, like Laura, lend their shower or kitchen to neighbors living in cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the SFMTA began taping notices on the windshields of the RVs, warning that vehicles longer than 22 feet or taller than seven feet will risk being towed. The flyers invited residents to informational events and permit workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofía, 7, plays on a smartphone inside the RV her parents rent for $1,000 a month in the industrial Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The agency is offering six-month parking permits for people who were found parked in the city on May 31, as well as a limited number of housing subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Permits could be revoked if residents decline shelter services. The city will also have an optional buyback program, paying $175 per linear foot — $1,000 upfront, with the remainder after residents secure housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura and her husband said they feel reassured by the permit but are anxious that they might be required to give up their RV to qualify for housing, a rumor that has circled among RV communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, checks her DoorDash app from her car in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Department of Emergency Management \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v0axnUbwmWfMXKqYU3BFw7fvR6Dq_aaj/view?usp=drive_link\">clarified in an email\u003c/a> that residents can keep their RVs, though they must move them to storage or parking outside the city once the ban begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Laura worries that housing subsidies won’t provide lasting relief. She and her husband have struggled to find steady work to cover a full month’s rent, and their rental assistance is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/strategy-to-address-vehicular-homelessness-and-restore-public-spaces?\">temporary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You adapt to a place,” Laura said. “We’ve already adapted to the calmness here. So going to a different place is difficult because you’re not sure if you can trust it, you can’t leave your children alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toll of displacement on fragile communities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the ban looms closer, many RV residents feel mounting anxiety about their future. Lupe Velez, communications director at the Coalition on Homelessness, said some elderly immigrants she’s spoken with are so stressed they can’t sleep, unsure if they’ll qualify for permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s really just so many barriers that they’re facing just to receive this information: cultural, language, generational,” she said. “It’s just really devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062302\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, pours a spoonful of Gatorade into a cup while her two children eat lunch inside their RV in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For some residents, giving up their vehicle would mean surrendering their only source of stability. And frequent displacement can disrupt access to medication and healthcare visits, as well as take a steep mental toll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 study on Oakland’s RV population, for instance, found that \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/resources/UCSF%20BHHI%20Oversized%20Vehicle%20Report.pdf\">RV residents were often reluctant\u003c/a> to seek healthcare or social services because they feared their vehicles might be towed while they were gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Daniela, 37, who lost most of her belongings during a tent sweep five years ago, those fears are constant. She fears leaving her RV for too long, worried that it might get towed. She can’t fathom giving it up for a shelter bed, leaving her five pet dogs behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062315\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062315\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samir, 8, walks past the RV where he lives with his family in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. He attends Buena Vista Horace Mann K–8 Community School, which operates an overnight shelter for students and families experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I have enough to eat, sometimes I don’t,” said Daniela, who parks her RV in the Bayview by an Amazon warehouse. “I’m always worried about the police coming and taking away my home because it’s the only thing I have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others are cautiously optimistic. Asylum seeker Alexander, 33, and his wife live with their dog in an RV. Increased enforcement pushed them from Vidal Drive to John Muir Drive, and they’re now weighing the city’s permit program — or even its RV buyback offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice that they’re giving us opportunities,” Alexander told \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>. “That they’re not just putting rules but that they’re giving us a way to move forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062316\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062316\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samir, 8, tries to juggle his soccer ball with his feet in the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few vehicles down, Mario and Nancy Guardin are more skeptical. They plan to apply for the permit but are wary of selling their RV, worried that once housing subsidies expire, they’ll face homelessness again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With a safe parking site, they would be able to solve all these problems,” Mario said. “But they don’t want that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With an enforcement deadline looming, the city is deciding where to place the new two-hour parking signs. Mayoral staffer Eufern Pan advised the SFMTA in \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=6a366498aa6e6557_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">an email\u003c/a> to base the locations on four factors: where RVs are concentrated, where constituents complain most, 311 data, and input from police and parking officers who work on homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pairs of shoes dangle above the Bayview neighborhood where a concentration of families are living inside their RVs, many who are working immigrants, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 17, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the dense communities of families living in RVs in Lake Merced and the Bayview, it’s unclear whether the new policy will stabilize their lives with more housing opportunities or uproot them entirely through constant tows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have consolidated the RVs to two different spots. It’s the Bayview, it’s Lake Merced,” Illa said. “[It’ll make it easy] for cops to monitor every two hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Illa said a ban on large RVs, a “visible sign of poverty,” will only encourage housed residents to report RVs in their neighborhoods and push families to seek refuge in cars and smaller vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, looks out from the RV she rents for $1,000 a month in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot harder to stay vehicularly housed in an RV versus like a sedan because the image of an RV is so stigmatized, is so hyper policed, that it is reported the second that it is seen,” Illa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the living room of her RV in the Bayview, Laura looks out over an industrial landscape. Her eyes widen when she thinks about a backup plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our home. If they take our homes, we will end up in the street,” she said. “For me, this is my home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This project was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of “Healing California,” a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Along Lake Merced and in the Bayview, families who turned to RVs for shelter face new city rules that could uproot the fragile communities they’ve built.",
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"title": "‘This Is Our Home’: San Francisco Families in RVs Brace for New City Crackdown | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/sf-rv-crackdown-fallout/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote originally published this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along John Muir Drive, a winding road in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s quiet Lake Merced neighborhood, more than a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047562/please-just-let-us-be-san-francisco-rv-crackdown-advances-despite-families-pleas\">dozen RVs line the curb\u003c/a>. Inside one of them, Jessica Cuevas, 32, lives with her 8-year-old son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being evicted from her $3,800-a-month rental in late January, she bought an RV on Facebook Marketplace and parked near her son’s school in the Bayview. When parking tickets began piling up, she moved across the city to Lake Merced, joining other RV residents who, once again, may soon have to leave, this time having nowhere else to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As San Francisco steps up efforts to curb vehicular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/homelessness\">homelessness\u003c/a>, safe parking options for RV residents have dwindled. The crisis, which disproportionately impacts Latino\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/immigrants\"> immigrants\u003c/a>, has pushed longtime residents hit hard by pandemic job loss and newcomers seeking sanctuary into two distinct neighborhoods: Lake Merced and the Bayview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, more people are turning to oversized vehicles for shelter as San Francisco’s cost of living soars. Driven onto the same few streets, many RV residents have formed small communities of support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a new citywide policy could decide the future of hundreds of people and families who call RVs home. Starting Nov. 1, 2025, San Francisco will enforce a two-hour parking limit for large vehicles. Residents must obtain a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/large-vehicle-refuge-permit-program\">Large Vehicle Refuge Permit\u003c/a> or face tickets and towing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062252 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV2-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Lakewood Apartments serve as a backdrop to a row of RVs parked along the street near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. Some neighbors have voiced concerns about the RVs in online forums such as Reddit. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>City officials say the program will connect eligible residents to housing assistance, but advocates warn it will uproot families and worsen conditions for working-class immigrants, seniors and people with disabilities already weathering the physical and mental health toll of displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year, \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em> has documented the informal support systems forged by RV residents in Lake Merced and the Bayview in the absence of city aid. Firsthand accounts and public records reveal that, despite the promised support, the city’s upcoming crackdown threatens to dismantle the fragile stability these households have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>This isn’t forever: Families find refuge in Lake Merced\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Cuevas worked as a DoorDash delivery driver last year, she often drove past dozens of parked RVs around Lake Merced. The Mexican mother worked three jobs and shared a Visitacion Valley home with two roommates to cover $3,800 rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had already been homeless once, when she first moved to the Bay Area in 2018 with a pending asylum application. After time in San Mateo County’s shelter system, a social worker helped her find housing in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062256 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV3-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessica Cuevas, 32, stands outside her RV near Lake Merced holding her two guinea pigs in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. “I like staying on this street because it feels safer than the Bayview, where we stayed for a short time,” she said. “It’s been really difficult to get any type of resources.” \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By late January, an eviction over missed rent payments pushed her family back to the streets. Cuevas bought an RV and started parking near her 8-year-old son’s school in the Bayview, moving every 72 hours to avoid tickets. As the citations piled up, Cuevas remembered the motorhomes she’d seen in Lake Merced and headed west.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Cuevas found a spot on John Muir Drive, a wide, quiet street facing the lake where dozens of other RVs were parked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still here,” Cuevas said. “We’re trying to look for a better place. But we have to wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062269\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062269 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV4-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nathan, 8, holds his guinea pig outside the RV he shares with his mother, Jessica Cuevas, near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her RV is small and poorly insulated, and rain seeps through the roof. Inside, a single mattress fills most of the floor, and a plastic box holds her son’s two guinea pigs, Pepe and Greñas. Without electricity or plumbing, they rely on the park’s public restrooms and a propane stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of unstable housing puts residents at greater risk of poor health outcomes, including respiratory and cardiac diseases, \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10203673/#Sec16\">public health experts warn\u003c/a>. It also makes it harder to manage chronic conditions.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>San Francisco’s promise of housing support to RV residents is what Cuevas said she needs, though those options seem far from reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been on the city’s backlogged family-shelter waitlist since January. In June, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/Agenda_Item_8_Directors_Report_June_2025.pdf\">reported\u003c/a> that 295 families were waiting for shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Lake Merced feels more peaceful than anywhere else she’s parked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area is quiet, aside from chirping birds and the occasional car driving by. Between the line of RVs and the lake, residents take evening strolls along a walking path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many parked along the road have formed a sense of community. They look out for one another — Cuevas said she once drove a neighbor to the hospital after noticing she was limping — and work together to keep the area clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062280 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV5-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The work boots of Rubén, 23, a Mexican immigrant who lives in an RV near Lake Merced, an area that has become a refuge for displaced working families in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This place is nice and we try to take care of it, because they’re letting us stay here,” said Rubén, a 23-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives a few RVs down. Unlike Cuevas, Rubén chose to move out of a shared apartment and invest in an RV, saving the wages he earns from a street-repavement company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents are able to park on John Muir Drive for months largely due to sparse enforcement, moving their vehicles only for biweekly street sweeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet even that schedule brings stress, affecting their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV6-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yuri S., 40, stands outside her RV near Lake Merced, an area that has become a parking refuge for working families in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yuri S., 40, watches her 1-year-old daughter during the day while her husband works, so she’s often in charge of moving the RV every other Monday, despite not knowing how to drive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When spaces fill up after street sweeping, she sometimes has to park in other parts of Lake Merced that feel less safe, with heavier traffic and unfamiliar neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I just want to leave as fast as I can,” said Yuri, whose family was pushed out of a shared apartment in Daly City after having a baby last October. “I’m not used to this. Living here in the United States is completely different from anything I was used to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Echoes of a displaced community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some residents now parked along John Muir Drive had previously spent years in even more established RV communities nearby, along Winston Drive and Lake Merced Boulevard. There, they had systems in place to discard water waste, organize trash pickups and coordinate child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last summer, the tight-knit community of predominantly Latino families was dispersed to different parts of the city after one of San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/sf-rv-crackdown-six-takeaways/\">most controversial crackdowns\u003c/a>. According to Lukas Illa, an organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, the displacement placed them in even more precarious situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062289\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV8-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A row of RVs, where many working immigrant families live, lines a street near Lake Merced in San Francisco, California, on April 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sweeps are not only a means to displace people from a sidewalk, it is a means to break down communities and break down political power,” Illa told \u003cem>El Tecolote.\u003c/em> “It breaks down communication channels. It breaks down the community of trust and resource sharing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Illa said the mass eviction of a working-class community of families with children on Winston Drive exposed the limits of the city’s goodwill to find compassionate solutions. “We had the most humanizing population,” he said. “And still, nothing was done. It was seen as acceptable to displace them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the neighborhood, has since become a leading voice in regulating and banning RVs citywide. Melgar has framed enforcement as a way to protect RV residents, who she said have faced harassment, vandalism and frequent calls to law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062292\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV9-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Sebastián, 25, a newcomer from Colombia, shows his neck tattoo in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. “I carried my two daughters in front of me with my suitcase on my back,” Sebastián said, recalling his migration through the Darién Gap from Colombia. He and his wife later saved enough money to apply for political asylum and obtain Social Security numbers. “It’s all been thanks to the RV,” he said. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We do not have a system to not just regulate but also support these families in an adequate way,” Melgar said \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/50412?view_id=10&redirect=true\">on July 15\u003c/a>, ahead of the vote to approve the new RV policy. “I think it’s on us to build the system to support people to success, and not pretend that by leaving them on the streets we are doing the progressive thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Lake Merced, where \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=2b28caa7a019a360_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">complaints from neighbors\u003c/a> are driving an uptick in enforcement on certain streets, RV residents have continued to park and accrue tickets. Vidal Drive, for instance, limits parking to four hours without a permit but remains a refuge for residents like Beriuska Acosta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tickets are piling up, but we have nowhere else to park,” Acosta said. Each one costs $102. “I get stressed out when I see the parking officers coming because you don’t know who you are going to get that day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In the Bayview, RV residents are pushed to the brink\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Lake Merced’s RVs sit near water and family housing, those in Bayview–Hunters Point make do in industrial corridors lined with warehouses and empty lots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along Jerrold and Barneveld avenues, rows of RVs sit wheel-to-wheel. Children’s bikes and barbecue grills rest outside. On Toland Street, a massive Amazon logo looms over the rows of vehicular homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Laura C., 37, living in an RV is the only option for her family. She rents her vehicle for $1,000 a month from another resident and has been parking along the same Bayview Avenue for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062293\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RVs are parked in front of an Amazon warehouse in the industrial Bayview neighborhood, where a concentration of families are living inside their RVs, many who are working immigrants, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 17, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“On one occasion, the city came to clear us out,” Laura said. “But to tell you the truth, we came back. There is nowhere else to park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 Supervisor Shaman Walton, who oversees the Bayview, was one of two supervisors to vote against the new RV policy, arguing that an enforcement-first approach won’t solve the housing crisis that made RV living necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To say that someone living in a vehicle does not have a home is malicious when they have no other form of shelter,” Walton said during the board’s vote. “This legislation is alluding to supporting brick and mortar as the only possible home in the most expensive city on the planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With 55% of the city’s RVs parked in the Bayview, Walton’s district is the epicenter of San Francisco’s RV crisis. In \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=7763a74df0eb275f_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">emails obtained\u003c/a> by \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>, residents described RVs blocking hydrants and generating trash and noise, which they fear deters potential tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062296\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062296\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV10-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the RV the Clavejo family rents for $1,000 a month in the industrial Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite numerous 311 reports, many cases are quickly closed as “invalid” or “canceled,” fueling accusations of unequal enforcement compared with wealthier Lake Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, along a number of streets in the Bayview, RV neighbors say they help each other find jobs, resources and care for each other’s pets. Some, like Laura, lend their shower or kitchen to neighbors living in cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the SFMTA began taping notices on the windshields of the RVs, warning that vehicles longer than 22 feet or taller than seven feet will risk being towed. The flyers invited residents to informational events and permit workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV12-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofía, 7, plays on a smartphone inside the RV her parents rent for $1,000 a month in the industrial Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The agency is offering six-month parking permits for people who were found parked in the city on May 31, as well as a limited number of housing subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Permits could be revoked if residents decline shelter services. The city will also have an optional buyback program, paying $175 per linear foot — $1,000 upfront, with the remainder after residents secure housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura and her husband said they feel reassured by the permit but are anxious that they might be required to give up their RV to qualify for housing, a rumor that has circled among RV communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV14-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, checks her DoorDash app from her car in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Department of Emergency Management \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v0axnUbwmWfMXKqYU3BFw7fvR6Dq_aaj/view?usp=drive_link\">clarified in an email\u003c/a> that residents can keep their RVs, though they must move them to storage or parking outside the city once the ban begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Laura worries that housing subsidies won’t provide lasting relief. She and her husband have struggled to find steady work to cover a full month’s rent, and their rental assistance is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/strategy-to-address-vehicular-homelessness-and-restore-public-spaces?\">temporary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You adapt to a place,” Laura said. “We’ve already adapted to the calmness here. So going to a different place is difficult because you’re not sure if you can trust it, you can’t leave your children alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toll of displacement on fragile communities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the ban looms closer, many RV residents feel mounting anxiety about their future. Lupe Velez, communications director at the Coalition on Homelessness, said some elderly immigrants she’s spoken with are so stressed they can’t sleep, unsure if they’ll qualify for permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s really just so many barriers that they’re facing just to receive this information: cultural, language, generational,” she said. “It’s just really devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062302\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV15-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, pours a spoonful of Gatorade into a cup while her two children eat lunch inside their RV in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For some residents, giving up their vehicle would mean surrendering their only source of stability. And frequent displacement can disrupt access to medication and healthcare visits, as well as take a steep mental toll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 study on Oakland’s RV population, for instance, found that \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/resources/UCSF%20BHHI%20Oversized%20Vehicle%20Report.pdf\">RV residents were often reluctant\u003c/a> to seek healthcare or social services because they feared their vehicles might be towed while they were gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Daniela, 37, who lost most of her belongings during a tent sweep five years ago, those fears are constant. She fears leaving her RV for too long, worried that it might get towed. She can’t fathom giving it up for a shelter bed, leaving her five pet dogs behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062315\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062315\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV16-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samir, 8, walks past the RV where he lives with his family in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. He attends Buena Vista Horace Mann K–8 Community School, which operates an overnight shelter for students and families experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I have enough to eat, sometimes I don’t,” said Daniela, who parks her RV in the Bayview by an Amazon warehouse. “I’m always worried about the police coming and taking away my home because it’s the only thing I have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others are cautiously optimistic. Asylum seeker Alexander, 33, and his wife live with their dog in an RV. Increased enforcement pushed them from Vidal Drive to John Muir Drive, and they’re now weighing the city’s permit program — or even its RV buyback offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice that they’re giving us opportunities,” Alexander told \u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>. “That they’re not just putting rules but that they’re giving us a way to move forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062316\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062316\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV18-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samir, 8, tries to juggle his soccer ball with his feet in the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few vehicles down, Mario and Nancy Guardin are more skeptical. They plan to apply for the permit but are wary of selling their RV, worried that once housing subsidies expire, they’ll face homelessness again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With a safe parking site, they would be able to solve all these problems,” Mario said. “But they don’t want that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With an enforcement deadline looming, the city is deciding where to place the new two-hour parking signs. Mayoral staffer Eufern Pan advised the SFMTA in \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=d25e221763f99bd4&p=1&docid=6a366498aa6e6557_d25e221763f99bd4&page=1&capvm=2&dapvm=2\">an email\u003c/a> to base the locations on four factors: where RVs are concentrated, where constituents complain most, 311 data, and input from police and parking officers who work on homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV19-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pairs of shoes dangle above the Bayview neighborhood where a concentration of families are living inside their RVs, many who are working immigrants, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 17, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the dense communities of families living in RVs in Lake Merced and the Bayview, it’s unclear whether the new policy will stabilize their lives with more housing opportunities or uproot them entirely through constant tows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have consolidated the RVs to two different spots. It’s the Bayview, it’s Lake Merced,” Illa said. “[It’ll make it easy] for cops to monitor every two hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Illa said a ban on large RVs, a “visible sign of poverty,” will only encourage housed residents to report RVs in their neighborhoods and push families to seek refuge in cars and smaller vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RV17-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura C., 37, looks out from the RV she rents for $1,000 a month in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California, on April 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot harder to stay vehicularly housed in an RV versus like a sedan because the image of an RV is so stigmatized, is so hyper policed, that it is reported the second that it is seen,” Illa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the living room of her RV in the Bayview, Laura looks out over an industrial landscape. Her eyes widen when she thinks about a backup plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our home. If they take our homes, we will end up in the street,” she said. “For me, this is my home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This project was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of “Healing California,” a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "historic-west-oakland-blues-clubs-restoration-reveals-layers-of-hidden-history",
"title": "Historic West Oakland Blues Club’s Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History",
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"headTitle": "Historic West Oakland Blues Club’s Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Noni Session first imagined reopening Esther’s Orbit Room, she saw a gleaming new building that would serve as an anchor for a reinvigorated cultural and commercial corridor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Session, who was born and raised in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-oakland\">West Oakland\u003c/a> and is the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://ebprec.org/\">East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative\u003c/a>, or EBPREC, renovating Esther’s was a chance at a fresh start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former blues club had been a staple of the historic Seventh Street district, called the “Harlem of the West,” serving as the center of Black life in West Oakland for roughly half a century. While a series of policy decisions decimated the strip, with dozens of businesses and thousands of homes razed, Esther’s had remained the lone holdout, keeping its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13809453/evolutionary-blues-resurrects-west-oaklands-musical-legacy\">doors open until 2011\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building had sat vacant for around a decade by the time it came to EBPREC’s attention. But the decision to reopen it as a performance venue, bar and eatery seemed self-evident, Session said. She and her team at the developer co-op purchased the building and planned contemporary additions, including a wellness studio, working and living spaces for artists and an outdoor patio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They released renderings of the proposed upgrades: new balconies, murals, and a bold new sign replacing the rough faux-stone facade in favor of a fresh, modern aesthetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought we were doing West Oakland a favor by getting rid of the sniff of the trauma and the lack of resources, right? You know, new facade, new bar, new vibe, new day,” Session said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062061\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062061 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1-1536x1163.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Esther’s Orbit Room photographed in 1987. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And then came the outcry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the old men in the neighborhood — on public record — were like, ‘That’s cultural genocide,’” Session recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues at EBPREC were already having some misgivings about the proposed design and had resolved to change it. But the criticism still threw Session for a loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then after some time sitting with it, looking at it, we realized you couldn’t really see West Oakland in that rendering,” she said. “It was only really then that I understood what they meant by cultural genocide, that they could not see their story on the surfaces of these buildings that we were calling assets, but not treating like assets.”[aside postID=forum_2010101895065 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/43/2023/11/010_KQED_AlamedaAffordableHousing_01122023-qut-1020x680.jpg']Now, instead of a ground-breaking ceremony, planned for later this year, there will be a rock-breaking ceremony. With help from professional masons, volunteers will painstakingly remove the building’s original fabricated stones from the exterior so \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DLa2PyfBllH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">they can be reconstructed\u003c/a> when the restoration is complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some of West Oakland’s older generation, who experienced Seventh Street in its heyday, the decision to restore — rather than remodel — is one step toward repairing what was lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is sort of a love letter to a legacy,” said Cheryl Fabio, whose documentary film, \u003cem>Evolutionary Blues: West Oakland’s Music Legacy\u003c/em>, recounts the area’s musical history. “It is some repair — not enough repair — but some repair for what was stolen in places like Seventh Street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, Session said EBPREC plans to repurpose the building’s original wooden walls, painted yellow and orange and long hidden beneath a layer of sheetrock, to use as a decorative backing for the bar and stage. The bar’s antique safe, rolltop desks and other furniture will feature prominently. “So that everywhere you turn, you see the authentic textures of this historical space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a true act of serendipity, Session said, they uncovered Esther’s original stage lights, hidden behind an artificial wall and perfectly positioned where a new stage had already been planned. Standing inside the blackened room with only a headlamp to see by, Session pointed to the conical spotlight covers, their bulbs removed, nestled into the ceiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just dumbfounded,” she said. “What we’ve realized we need to do is, in some ways — this is a made-up word — but that we need to museumize the whole space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The place to be’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its height in the middle of the 20th Century, Seventh Street was not only a prime entertainment district drawing national acts — such as B.B. King, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Big Mama Thornton and other blues greats — but the locus of civic and community life. There were banks and lawyers’ offices, barber shops and grocery stores, a record store and recording studio, pharmacies, clothing stores, a bowling alley, theaters, and plenty of eateries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther Mabry, the Orbit Room’s namesake, founder and operator for more than a half-century, first came to Seventh Street during WWII, drawn from her hometown of Palestine, Texas, by the promise of good pay, she said in a \u003ca href=\"https://californiarevealed.org/do/97295ae0-188e-425d-96ca-264375d3b633\">2002 interview\u003c/a> with the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, or AAMLO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2471\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-160x198.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-1243x1536.jpg 1243w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-1658x2048.jpg 1658w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two men stand shaking hands on the sidewalk underneath Elsie’s neon sign on Seventh Street, circa the 1950s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everybody was making good money, and they were talking about how much money they were making,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By that time, West Oakland, the terminus of the transcontinental railroad, had already become a magnet for working-class people of all ethnicities, said Mitchell Schwarzer, an architectural historian and author of the book, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucpress.edu/books/hella-town/paper\">\u003cem>Hella Town: Oakland’s History of Development and Disruption\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. But, he said, it had a particular pull for Black transplants as the West Coast headquarters of the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/content/oaklands-pullman-porters/\">Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters\u003c/a>, a large and influential union representing Black workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Porters became the genesis of a larger black community. They were kind of the foundation because they had decent-paying jobs at the time,” Schwarzer said. “And for Black people, this was probably one of the best jobs you could get until the war industries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mabry herself worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad when she first arrived in West Oakland, she told AAMLO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sold tickets and made sandwiches — they had boxed lunches — and just did it all,” she said. “It was the place to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058750\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Esther’s Orbit Room, a historic former jazz club on Seventh Street in Oakland, on Oct. 2, 2025. Once a hub for music legends such as BB King and Etta James, the building is being renovated by the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And Mabry was at the center of it. She told AAMLO she first opened Esther’s Breakfast Club, located across the street from the Orbit Room’s current location, in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Schwarzer said West Oakland was well on its way to becoming a majority Black neighborhood, in part because racial covenants prevented Black residents from owning property in other parts of the city, and the \u003ca href=\"https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/CA/Oakland/context#loc=11/37.8099/-122.2263\">federal government’s policy\u003c/a> of redlining made buying and improving properties in most Black neighborhoods very difficult. So, working-class residents mingled with their wealthier neighbors in West Oakland, providing a diverse economic base that allowed businesses to thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they all frequented Esther’s. “The pimps and prostitutes, they’d be up all night, and they would be ready to come in and eat and drink,” Mabry told AAMLO, adding that Sunday dinners were a different crowd, “All the attorneys and the judges and doctors, they all came.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All walks of life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her husband, William Mabry, bought the building in 1959 and expanded it to include cocktails and live music in 1961, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/06/01/esther-mabry-owner-of-esthers-orbit-room-in-west-oakland-dies-at-90/\">East Bay Times.\u003c/a> In 1963, the couple opened Esther’s Orbit Room, at 1753 Seventh St., with a dance hall that could \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19850729.1.7&srpos=8&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Esther+Mabry%22-------\">host some 300 guests\u003c/a> and Harry “Daddy O” Gibson and Jay Payton headlining, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19631105.1.40&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">notice\u003c/a> in the Oakland Tribune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058753\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058753 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An old safe was discovered inside Esther’s Orbit Room with plans to be made into a liquor cabinet during renovations in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrons came as much for the performers as for her down-home Southern food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chitlins,” Mabry told AAMLO. “That was my thing that kept me in business was chitlins. Nobody had chitlins but me; I started everybody having chitlins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Mabry did more than serve food. She often connected her patrons in need of work with available jobs or served as the conduit between employers and their employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told AAMLO, “They’d come there to look for somebody, and I’d find them for them. I knew just about where to get in contact with somebody, where they’d be playing cards or something, and go and tell them that they’ve got a job for them this evening. That would work out real good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Esther’s served a civic function, hosting meetings for the East Bay Democratic Club, \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19660603.1.5&srpos=4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">political forums\u003c/a> and city council \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19670405.1.31&srpos=5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">candidates’ fundraisers\u003c/a>; it was even visited \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19701208.1.19&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Breakfast+Club%22-------\">by Ethel Kennedy\u003c/a>, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, on a tour of West Oakland in 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We always come back’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By then, massive developments were well underway, Schwarzer said. And a series of governmental policy decisions had, over several decades, hastened the hollowing out of Seventh Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first was the construction, during the mid-1950s, of the Cypress Street Viaduct, a freeway that tore through the middle of West Oakland, along with the city’s Chinatown, Japantown and Mexican communities, \u003ca href=\"https://archive.ph/20250111235351/https:/www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/case_studies/case5.cfm\">uprooting some 600 families\u003c/a> and dozens of businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you have a freeway that takes its route through the primary minority communities in Oakland, and disrupts them dramatically,” he said. “That’s the first big change. This was called the Cypress Viaduct, and it went right through the middle of West Oakland — a two-level concrete structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1416\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2-1536x1087.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In an Oakland Post story from Sept. 25, 1963, the newspaper reports on the status of the new Oakland Main Post Office development: “Weeds are over nine feet high. This is an insult to the Negro community. In the background are businesses on Seventh St. This area was sold to the federal government for an alleged Post Office. Over 500 homes were destroyed, to create this blight.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then came what politicians called “slum clearing” for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/city-administrator/documents/archive-oakland-redevelopment-agency/redevelopment-plan.pdf\">Acorn Urban Renewal Plan\u003c/a>, Schwarzer said, and a new Oakland Main Post Office and distribution center. Demolition for that began in 1960, when a contractor used a \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19600816.1.13&srpos=4&e=------196-en--20-OT-1--txt-txIN-%22sherman+tank%22-------\">surplus WWII Sherman Tank\u003c/a> to plow through hundreds of homes. “The elapsed time from the first resounding snap to the last dusty roar was 10 minutes,” an Oakland Tribune article from the time stated. But despite the expediency of demolition, construction was slow, and the new post office didn’t open \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19691017.1.17&srpos=1&e=01-01-1969-01-12-1970--en--20-OT-1--txt-txIN-Oakland+post+office-------\">until 1969\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther’s Orbit Room, which was located next to the new post office, eventually had to move to make way for its parking lot, and Mabry relocated across the street to its current location.[aside postID=news_11823182 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/002_KQED_Oakland_GeorgeFloydProtest_06032020-672x372.jpg']But the real death knell for Seventh Street, said Ronnie Stewart, executive director of the Bay Area Blues Society, was the construction of the West Oakland BART Station, with its elevated tracks running down the middle of the street. To accommodate them, businesses along one side of the street were leveled. For those that remained, there were years of construction to contend with, Stewart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the process … they parked bulldozers and tractors and earth-moving equipment. They put that in front of all the different clubs. Cars couldn’t park. You couldn’t even hardly go down Seventh Street,” Stewart said. “And so consequently, that destroyed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther’s and a neighboring restaurant, The Barn, which also served Southern cuisine, continued operating in large part because they received patrons from the post office, Stewart said. But many of the other businesses “just died on the vine.” And while Esther’s still had live music, the rumble of passing BART trains would interrupt it, shaking the walls, rattling glassware and setting lights to flicker, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents displaced by the redevelopment or who left voluntarily moved to North Oakland and West Berkeley, to the Oakland hills if they could afford it, and to East Oakland, Schwarzer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058749\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Noni Session, executive director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, stands in front of the Barn next to Esther’s Orbit Room on Seventh Street in Oakland, part of plans to revive the corridor with a community café, meeting, and maker space, on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So there’s a segmentation which hadn’t been present as much before 1960 because the community was so jammed into West Oakland,” he said. “Dispersal of the Black community into segmental class groups starts to weaken the older commercial districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Fabio said that mass displacement had a deeper, psychological impact on the people who lived it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So all of those homes they took out also removed all of those voices, right?” she said. “The impact is devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1985, when the Oakland Tribune \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19850729.1.7&srpos=8&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Esther+Mabry%22-------\">profiled Esther and her Orbit Room\u003c/a>, West Oakland featured “mostly boarded-up shops, liquor stores, vacant lots and a fried chicken outlet.” Still, Mabry remained, serving as “a sort of neighborhood update service, a place where people who used to live around Seventh Street go to look up old pals who are still there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Customer Betty Johnson commented to the Tribune, “It seems like, regardless of where we go, we always come back to Esther’s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Back like it was before’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mabry’s business persisted past the turn of the century as the “Grand Lady of Seventh Street” and the last remaining testament to the storied strip. When Mabry’s health began to fail, her nephew took over operations. Mabry \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/06/01/esther-mabry-owner-of-esthers-orbit-room-in-west-oakland-dies-at-90/\">died in 2010\u003c/a>, and the bar closed the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Stewart, it’s vital the building — and Mabry’s legacy — is preserved, and he’s grateful EBPREC listened to his and other community members’ feedback, urging them to keep that history alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058748\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058748 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Barn, next to Esther’s Orbit Room on Seventh Street in West Oakland, is part of efforts to revive the corridor as a community café, meeting and maker space in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[Seventh Street] was the center of Black life. And we think it’s very important to have that remembrance,” Stewart said, “And we feel that the community should have some sort of an iconic symbol of where it used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building next to Esther’s, which held The Barn and where EBPREC now has its headquarters, will house a new museum to recount the story of Seventh Street, complete with oral histories, archival photos and other memorabilia, Session said. Some of Esther’s original furniture, gambling gear, signage, a clock — even one of Mabry’s hats — will be housed inside the Orbit Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EBPREC hopes the roughly $9 million restoration will become the cornerstone of a plan to revitalize the entire 13 blocks of the historic stretch in an initiative called \u003ca href=\"https://www.7thstreetoakland.com/\">7th Street Thrives\u003c/a>, which includes a coalition of other area residents, business and property owners and city officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vision is to have “every commercial space leased up, the lights turned back on, the trash picked up regularly, and foot traffic and business at increasing levels,” Session said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058751\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058751\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Noni Session points to the spot where the first brick was removed from Esther’s Orbit Room during renovations on Seventh Street in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. The cooperative is seeking skilled masons to help preserve its original stone facade. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But more than that, she said it’s also about retaining community control of the corridor’s future and ensuring existing and returning residents can benefit from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t want something new,” Session said. “They want to recover what was lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To her dying day, that’s what Mabry wanted, too, Stewart said. In her 2002 conversation with AAMLO, Mabry told her interviewers it was her “greatest ambition” to see Seventh Street, and all of West Oakland, revitalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, she told the Tribune in 1985, “This is where people’s roots are. We just try to take care of ‘em.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The restoration of Esther’s Orbit Room, a historic blues club in West Oakland, will include a performance venue and bar, artist spaces, food and more.",
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"title": "Historic West Oakland Blues Club’s Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History | KQED",
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"headline": "Historic West Oakland Blues Club’s Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History",
"datePublished": "2025-10-30T07:00:38-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Noni Session first imagined reopening Esther’s Orbit Room, she saw a gleaming new building that would serve as an anchor for a reinvigorated cultural and commercial corridor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Session, who was born and raised in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-oakland\">West Oakland\u003c/a> and is the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://ebprec.org/\">East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative\u003c/a>, or EBPREC, renovating Esther’s was a chance at a fresh start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former blues club had been a staple of the historic Seventh Street district, called the “Harlem of the West,” serving as the center of Black life in West Oakland for roughly half a century. While a series of policy decisions decimated the strip, with dozens of businesses and thousands of homes razed, Esther’s had remained the lone holdout, keeping its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13809453/evolutionary-blues-resurrects-west-oaklands-musical-legacy\">doors open until 2011\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building had sat vacant for around a decade by the time it came to EBPREC’s attention. But the decision to reopen it as a performance venue, bar and eatery seemed self-evident, Session said. She and her team at the developer co-op purchased the building and planned contemporary additions, including a wellness studio, working and living spaces for artists and an outdoor patio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They released renderings of the proposed upgrades: new balconies, murals, and a bold new sign replacing the rough faux-stone facade in favor of a fresh, modern aesthetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought we were doing West Oakland a favor by getting rid of the sniff of the trauma and the lack of resources, right? You know, new facade, new bar, new vibe, new day,” Session said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062061\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062061 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-1-1536x1163.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Esther’s Orbit Room photographed in 1987. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And then came the outcry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the old men in the neighborhood — on public record — were like, ‘That’s cultural genocide,’” Session recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues at EBPREC were already having some misgivings about the proposed design and had resolved to change it. But the criticism still threw Session for a loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then after some time sitting with it, looking at it, we realized you couldn’t really see West Oakland in that rendering,” she said. “It was only really then that I understood what they meant by cultural genocide, that they could not see their story on the surfaces of these buildings that we were calling assets, but not treating like assets.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, instead of a ground-breaking ceremony, planned for later this year, there will be a rock-breaking ceremony. With help from professional masons, volunteers will painstakingly remove the building’s original fabricated stones from the exterior so \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DLa2PyfBllH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">they can be reconstructed\u003c/a> when the restoration is complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some of West Oakland’s older generation, who experienced Seventh Street in its heyday, the decision to restore — rather than remodel — is one step toward repairing what was lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is sort of a love letter to a legacy,” said Cheryl Fabio, whose documentary film, \u003cem>Evolutionary Blues: West Oakland’s Music Legacy\u003c/em>, recounts the area’s musical history. “It is some repair — not enough repair — but some repair for what was stolen in places like Seventh Street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, Session said EBPREC plans to repurpose the building’s original wooden walls, painted yellow and orange and long hidden beneath a layer of sheetrock, to use as a decorative backing for the bar and stage. The bar’s antique safe, rolltop desks and other furniture will feature prominently. “So that everywhere you turn, you see the authentic textures of this historical space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a true act of serendipity, Session said, they uncovered Esther’s original stage lights, hidden behind an artificial wall and perfectly positioned where a new stage had already been planned. Standing inside the blackened room with only a headlamp to see by, Session pointed to the conical spotlight covers, their bulbs removed, nestled into the ceiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just dumbfounded,” she said. “What we’ve realized we need to do is, in some ways — this is a made-up word — but that we need to museumize the whole space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The place to be’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its height in the middle of the 20th Century, Seventh Street was not only a prime entertainment district drawing national acts — such as B.B. King, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Big Mama Thornton and other blues greats — but the locus of civic and community life. There were banks and lawyers’ offices, barber shops and grocery stores, a record store and recording studio, pharmacies, clothing stores, a bowling alley, theaters, and plenty of eateries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther Mabry, the Orbit Room’s namesake, founder and operator for more than a half-century, first came to Seventh Street during WWII, drawn from her hometown of Palestine, Texas, by the promise of good pay, she said in a \u003ca href=\"https://californiarevealed.org/do/97295ae0-188e-425d-96ca-264375d3b633\">2002 interview\u003c/a> with the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, or AAMLO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2471\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-160x198.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-1243x1536.jpg 1243w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-3-1658x2048.jpg 1658w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two men stand shaking hands on the sidewalk underneath Elsie’s neon sign on Seventh Street, circa the 1950s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everybody was making good money, and they were talking about how much money they were making,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By that time, West Oakland, the terminus of the transcontinental railroad, had already become a magnet for working-class people of all ethnicities, said Mitchell Schwarzer, an architectural historian and author of the book, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucpress.edu/books/hella-town/paper\">\u003cem>Hella Town: Oakland’s History of Development and Disruption\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. But, he said, it had a particular pull for Black transplants as the West Coast headquarters of the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/content/oaklands-pullman-porters/\">Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters\u003c/a>, a large and influential union representing Black workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Porters became the genesis of a larger black community. They were kind of the foundation because they had decent-paying jobs at the time,” Schwarzer said. “And for Black people, this was probably one of the best jobs you could get until the war industries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mabry herself worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad when she first arrived in West Oakland, she told AAMLO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sold tickets and made sandwiches — they had boxed lunches — and just did it all,” she said. “It was the place to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058750\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Esther’s Orbit Room, a historic former jazz club on Seventh Street in Oakland, on Oct. 2, 2025. Once a hub for music legends such as BB King and Etta James, the building is being renovated by the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And Mabry was at the center of it. She told AAMLO she first opened Esther’s Breakfast Club, located across the street from the Orbit Room’s current location, in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Schwarzer said West Oakland was well on its way to becoming a majority Black neighborhood, in part because racial covenants prevented Black residents from owning property in other parts of the city, and the \u003ca href=\"https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/CA/Oakland/context#loc=11/37.8099/-122.2263\">federal government’s policy\u003c/a> of redlining made buying and improving properties in most Black neighborhoods very difficult. So, working-class residents mingled with their wealthier neighbors in West Oakland, providing a diverse economic base that allowed businesses to thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they all frequented Esther’s. “The pimps and prostitutes, they’d be up all night, and they would be ready to come in and eat and drink,” Mabry told AAMLO, adding that Sunday dinners were a different crowd, “All the attorneys and the judges and doctors, they all came.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All walks of life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her husband, William Mabry, bought the building in 1959 and expanded it to include cocktails and live music in 1961, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/06/01/esther-mabry-owner-of-esthers-orbit-room-in-west-oakland-dies-at-90/\">East Bay Times.\u003c/a> In 1963, the couple opened Esther’s Orbit Room, at 1753 Seventh St., with a dance hall that could \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19850729.1.7&srpos=8&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Esther+Mabry%22-------\">host some 300 guests\u003c/a> and Harry “Daddy O” Gibson and Jay Payton headlining, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19631105.1.40&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">notice\u003c/a> in the Oakland Tribune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058753\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058753 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An old safe was discovered inside Esther’s Orbit Room with plans to be made into a liquor cabinet during renovations in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrons came as much for the performers as for her down-home Southern food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chitlins,” Mabry told AAMLO. “That was my thing that kept me in business was chitlins. Nobody had chitlins but me; I started everybody having chitlins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Mabry did more than serve food. She often connected her patrons in need of work with available jobs or served as the conduit between employers and their employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told AAMLO, “They’d come there to look for somebody, and I’d find them for them. I knew just about where to get in contact with somebody, where they’d be playing cards or something, and go and tell them that they’ve got a job for them this evening. That would work out real good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Esther’s served a civic function, hosting meetings for the East Bay Democratic Club, \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19660603.1.5&srpos=4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">political forums\u003c/a> and city council \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19670405.1.31&srpos=5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Orbit+Room%22-------\">candidates’ fundraisers\u003c/a>; it was even visited \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19701208.1.19&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Esther%27s+Breakfast+Club%22-------\">by Ethel Kennedy\u003c/a>, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, on a tour of West Oakland in 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We always come back’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By then, massive developments were well underway, Schwarzer said. And a series of governmental policy decisions had, over several decades, hastened the hollowing out of Seventh Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first was the construction, during the mid-1950s, of the Cypress Street Viaduct, a freeway that tore through the middle of West Oakland, along with the city’s Chinatown, Japantown and Mexican communities, \u003ca href=\"https://archive.ph/20250111235351/https:/www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/case_studies/case5.cfm\">uprooting some 600 families\u003c/a> and dozens of businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you have a freeway that takes its route through the primary minority communities in Oakland, and disrupts them dramatically,” he said. “That’s the first big change. This was called the Cypress Viaduct, and it went right through the middle of West Oakland — a two-level concrete structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1416\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/Esthers-Orbit-Room-2-1536x1087.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In an Oakland Post story from Sept. 25, 1963, the newspaper reports on the status of the new Oakland Main Post Office development: “Weeds are over nine feet high. This is an insult to the Negro community. In the background are businesses on Seventh St. This area was sold to the federal government for an alleged Post Office. Over 500 homes were destroyed, to create this blight.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then came what politicians called “slum clearing” for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/city-administrator/documents/archive-oakland-redevelopment-agency/redevelopment-plan.pdf\">Acorn Urban Renewal Plan\u003c/a>, Schwarzer said, and a new Oakland Main Post Office and distribution center. Demolition for that began in 1960, when a contractor used a \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19600816.1.13&srpos=4&e=------196-en--20-OT-1--txt-txIN-%22sherman+tank%22-------\">surplus WWII Sherman Tank\u003c/a> to plow through hundreds of homes. “The elapsed time from the first resounding snap to the last dusty roar was 10 minutes,” an Oakland Tribune article from the time stated. But despite the expediency of demolition, construction was slow, and the new post office didn’t open \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19691017.1.17&srpos=1&e=01-01-1969-01-12-1970--en--20-OT-1--txt-txIN-Oakland+post+office-------\">until 1969\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther’s Orbit Room, which was located next to the new post office, eventually had to move to make way for its parking lot, and Mabry relocated across the street to its current location.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the real death knell for Seventh Street, said Ronnie Stewart, executive director of the Bay Area Blues Society, was the construction of the West Oakland BART Station, with its elevated tracks running down the middle of the street. To accommodate them, businesses along one side of the street were leveled. For those that remained, there were years of construction to contend with, Stewart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the process … they parked bulldozers and tractors and earth-moving equipment. They put that in front of all the different clubs. Cars couldn’t park. You couldn’t even hardly go down Seventh Street,” Stewart said. “And so consequently, that destroyed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esther’s and a neighboring restaurant, The Barn, which also served Southern cuisine, continued operating in large part because they received patrons from the post office, Stewart said. But many of the other businesses “just died on the vine.” And while Esther’s still had live music, the rumble of passing BART trains would interrupt it, shaking the walls, rattling glassware and setting lights to flicker, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents displaced by the redevelopment or who left voluntarily moved to North Oakland and West Berkeley, to the Oakland hills if they could afford it, and to East Oakland, Schwarzer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058749\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Noni Session, executive director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, stands in front of the Barn next to Esther’s Orbit Room on Seventh Street in Oakland, part of plans to revive the corridor with a community café, meeting, and maker space, on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So there’s a segmentation which hadn’t been present as much before 1960 because the community was so jammed into West Oakland,” he said. “Dispersal of the Black community into segmental class groups starts to weaken the older commercial districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Fabio said that mass displacement had a deeper, psychological impact on the people who lived it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So all of those homes they took out also removed all of those voices, right?” she said. “The impact is devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1985, when the Oakland Tribune \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19850729.1.7&srpos=8&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Esther+Mabry%22-------\">profiled Esther and her Orbit Room\u003c/a>, West Oakland featured “mostly boarded-up shops, liquor stores, vacant lots and a fried chicken outlet.” Still, Mabry remained, serving as “a sort of neighborhood update service, a place where people who used to live around Seventh Street go to look up old pals who are still there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Customer Betty Johnson commented to the Tribune, “It seems like, regardless of where we go, we always come back to Esther’s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Back like it was before’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mabry’s business persisted past the turn of the century as the “Grand Lady of Seventh Street” and the last remaining testament to the storied strip. When Mabry’s health began to fail, her nephew took over operations. Mabry \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/06/01/esther-mabry-owner-of-esthers-orbit-room-in-west-oakland-dies-at-90/\">died in 2010\u003c/a>, and the bar closed the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Stewart, it’s vital the building — and Mabry’s legacy — is preserved, and he’s grateful EBPREC listened to his and other community members’ feedback, urging them to keep that history alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058748\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058748 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Barn, next to Esther’s Orbit Room on Seventh Street in West Oakland, is part of efforts to revive the corridor as a community café, meeting and maker space in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[Seventh Street] was the center of Black life. And we think it’s very important to have that remembrance,” Stewart said, “And we feel that the community should have some sort of an iconic symbol of where it used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building next to Esther’s, which held The Barn and where EBPREC now has its headquarters, will house a new museum to recount the story of Seventh Street, complete with oral histories, archival photos and other memorabilia, Session said. Some of Esther’s original furniture, gambling gear, signage, a clock — even one of Mabry’s hats — will be housed inside the Orbit Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EBPREC hopes the roughly $9 million restoration will become the cornerstone of a plan to revitalize the entire 13 blocks of the historic stretch in an initiative called \u003ca href=\"https://www.7thstreetoakland.com/\">7th Street Thrives\u003c/a>, which includes a coalition of other area residents, business and property owners and city officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vision is to have “every commercial space leased up, the lights turned back on, the trash picked up regularly, and foot traffic and business at increasing levels,” Session said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058751\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058751\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251003_ORBIT_ROOM-_-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Noni Session points to the spot where the first brick was removed from Esther’s Orbit Room during renovations on Seventh Street in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2025. The cooperative is seeking skilled masons to help preserve its original stone facade. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But more than that, she said it’s also about retaining community control of the corridor’s future and ensuring existing and returning residents can benefit from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t want something new,” Session said. “They want to recover what was lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To her dying day, that’s what Mabry wanted, too, Stewart said. In her 2002 conversation with AAMLO, Mabry told her interviewers it was her “greatest ambition” to see Seventh Street, and all of West Oakland, revitalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, she told the Tribune in 1985, “This is where people’s roots are. We just try to take care of ‘em.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Report Projects Weak Housing Production Under San Francisco Zoning Plan Over Next 20 Years",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s contentious \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/sf-family-zoning-plan\">rezoning plan\u003c/a> is unlikely to produce the number of homes the city is required to build to meet state requirements, according to projections in a report released Thursday by the city’s chief economist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is on the hook to make way for 82,000 new homes by 2031, and risks losing state funding and control over housing development if a local rezoning plan is not adopted by January 2026. The report could add another hurdle for the housing proposal, which has already been a major test for Mayor Daniel Lurie, who had never served in public office before this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report suggests that Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan could lead to a “significant increase in the city’s housing supply.” But even optimistic modeling projected only about 14,600 new units, due to construction costs and the plan’s dependency on market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The context for housing development in San Francisco has changed profoundly in the past several years,” the report read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nevertheless, under both scenarios considered in this report, the proposed rezoning would lead to a significant increase in the city’s housing supply, and have broadly positive effects on housing prices and the city’s broader economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s Office of Economic Analysis reviews all new legislation introduced at the board and will report on its economic effects if it’s determined to have a significant impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062183 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Houses line Lawton Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on Feb. 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Family Zoning Plan increases citywide capacity for about 39,000 additional homes, meeting the state target of 36,200 units in the city’s more residential \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057448/on-sfs-west-side-a-push-to-protect-historic-landmarks-amid-plans-for-more-housing\">western\u003c/a> and northern neighborhoods. The plan does not include blueprints for actual developments, but instead permits more units to be built on some 92,000 parcels in the city to allow denser and taller housing in areas where development is restricted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/citywide/FZP-Factsheet-Capacity-Calculations.pdf\">financial feasibility\u003c/a> analysis by the Planning Department found that the plan could produce about 19,000 units of moderate and above moderate income units, meeting the state-mandated target of 16,000 for these income categories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report analyzes market trends before and after the 2010s, when housing production sharply increased following a post-recession low. But the chief economist points out that housing is now more expensive to build than before the coronavirus pandemic, with no clear signals that could change or revert back any time soon.[aside postID=news_12059533 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/002_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3417_qed-1020x680.jpg']“An expansive rezoning effort, like the proposed Family Zoning plan, will be challenged to match the 2010s levels of new housing development in the city, even under an optimistic high-growth scenario,” the report read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Department of Housing and Community Development, in its preliminary review in September, said the city’s rezoning plan is largely compliant. It’s unclear how they will view the latest report or whether it will affect the city’s standing with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the city fails to pass a rezoning plan by January, state officials could withhold local funding and take over San Francisco’s housing production approval processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many parents are already afraid their kids won’t be able to afford to live in San Francisco,” said Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. “Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan will help build the housing we need and meet our obligations under state law — we just need to get it done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) organizers who support the rezoning proposal have been pushing for more permissive rules to allow for more density and housing across the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still should be doing family zoning, but we need to do a lot more to actually produce the housing we need as a city,” said Jane Natoli, Organizing Director at YIMBY Action in San Francisco, who stressed that the plan needs to pass. “I am concerned because we have a target that we’re supposed to be moving toward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046616\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics of the plan, which span from homeowners fearful of changes in their neighborhoods to housing watchdogs who say the plan doesn’t do enough to protect renters and small businesses, said the latest findings match some of their concerns, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>The problem isn’t zoning; it’s financing, construction costs, and an outdated RHNA formula driven by politics rather than real demand,” said Lori Brooks with Neighborhoods United SF, using an acronym that stands for Regional Housing Needs Allocation and refers to the number of homes each jurisdiction must build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some supervisors are simultaneously pushing for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058853/san-francisco-public-bank-supporters-eye-2026-ballot-measure\">public bank that could help finance the thousands of affordable units\u003c/a> that are already approved in San Francisco, but are stalled in the development pipeline due to a lack of funding. Other datasets show \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/housing-megaprojects-stalled-20812460.php\">private development has also slowed\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12061468 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-24-BL-KQED.jpg']“Instead of focusing on what’s actually needed — preserving existing rent-controlled housing, supporting small businesses, and building truly affordable homes — this plan upzones nearly the entire west and northeast sides of the city with no guardrails, no affordability guarantees, and silences the voice of residents in how their communities should grow,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report casts two projections based on a high-growth scenario and a low-growth scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high-growth scenario assumes that the city’s housing process returns to pre-pandemic levels by 2030 and grows until 2045, projecting a 10% increase in housing prices over the next five years. Under that model, the report found the plan could add 14,646 additional housing units, beyond what the city’s existing zoning might produce, over the next 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The low-growth scenario assumes that San Francisco housing prices increase only at the U.S. long-term rate of 1.8% annually, and that housing prices won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until 2041. That projection would lead to only 8,504 new units in 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also highlights changes to the housing market that have occurred in westside and northern neighborhoods, which are a focus of the rezoning plan to increase density. Condos downtown and in the South of Market neighborhood have experienced price drops of nearly 40% since 2016, while the Richmond and Sunset have fallen only slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042431\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042431\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council, said he’s projecting insignificant shifts in construction and labor costs in the years ahead. But other market factors could pose a challenge for the city in its effort to build thousands of new affordable homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real question is, where do rents go in the city? They have been increasing in the last 12 months. Do they continue on an upward trajectory?” he said. “Even if costs continue to move in an upward fashion or stay elevated, that may not matter if developers are able to recapture that via rents or if their condos are for-sale units via higher home prices. So I think that’s really the equation to think about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report notes that the amount of housing that will be produced as a result of rezoning, and its economic impact on the city, depends on the future housing market conditions, creating uncertainty in the projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If market conditions were such that the 36,000 unit target was achieved, as a result of the rezoning, the economic impact on the city would likely be significantly more positive than the estimates in this report,” it read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Planning Commission approved the city’s zoning plan in September. In the weeks since, supervisors have put forward amendments, including to prohibit demolition of buildings with more than two rent-controlled units and to incentivize developers to replace lost commercial space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those amendments were not included in the city economist’s latest report, but could lower the housing production projections even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As for the amendments, some are improvements, but they do not go far enough to protect tenants, small businesses, or neighborhood-serving corridors,” Brooks, of Neighborhoods United SF, said. “A responsible housing plan must balance production with protection and preservation. This one does not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s contentious \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/sf-family-zoning-plan\">rezoning plan\u003c/a> is unlikely to produce the number of homes the city is required to build to meet state requirements, according to projections in a report released Thursday by the city’s chief economist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is on the hook to make way for 82,000 new homes by 2031, and risks losing state funding and control over housing development if a local rezoning plan is not adopted by January 2026. The report could add another hurdle for the housing proposal, which has already been a major test for Mayor Daniel Lurie, who had never served in public office before this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report suggests that Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan could lead to a “significant increase in the city’s housing supply.” But even optimistic modeling projected only about 14,600 new units, due to construction costs and the plan’s dependency on market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The context for housing development in San Francisco has changed profoundly in the past several years,” the report read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nevertheless, under both scenarios considered in this report, the proposed rezoning would lead to a significant increase in the city’s housing supply, and have broadly positive effects on housing prices and the city’s broader economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s Office of Economic Analysis reviews all new legislation introduced at the board and will report on its economic effects if it’s determined to have a significant impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12062183 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/240214-CoastalCommission-56-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Houses line Lawton Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on Feb. 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Family Zoning Plan increases citywide capacity for about 39,000 additional homes, meeting the state target of 36,200 units in the city’s more residential \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057448/on-sfs-west-side-a-push-to-protect-historic-landmarks-amid-plans-for-more-housing\">western\u003c/a> and northern neighborhoods. The plan does not include blueprints for actual developments, but instead permits more units to be built on some 92,000 parcels in the city to allow denser and taller housing in areas where development is restricted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/citywide/FZP-Factsheet-Capacity-Calculations.pdf\">financial feasibility\u003c/a> analysis by the Planning Department found that the plan could produce about 19,000 units of moderate and above moderate income units, meeting the state-mandated target of 16,000 for these income categories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report analyzes market trends before and after the 2010s, when housing production sharply increased following a post-recession low. But the chief economist points out that housing is now more expensive to build than before the coronavirus pandemic, with no clear signals that could change or revert back any time soon.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“An expansive rezoning effort, like the proposed Family Zoning plan, will be challenged to match the 2010s levels of new housing development in the city, even under an optimistic high-growth scenario,” the report read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Department of Housing and Community Development, in its preliminary review in September, said the city’s rezoning plan is largely compliant. It’s unclear how they will view the latest report or whether it will affect the city’s standing with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the city fails to pass a rezoning plan by January, state officials could withhold local funding and take over San Francisco’s housing production approval processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many parents are already afraid their kids won’t be able to afford to live in San Francisco,” said Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. “Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan will help build the housing we need and meet our obligations under state law — we just need to get it done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) organizers who support the rezoning proposal have been pushing for more permissive rules to allow for more density and housing across the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still should be doing family zoning, but we need to do a lot more to actually produce the housing we need as a city,” said Jane Natoli, Organizing Director at YIMBY Action in San Francisco, who stressed that the plan needs to pass. “I am concerned because we have a target that we’re supposed to be moving toward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046616\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NewTeacherHousing-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics of the plan, which span from homeowners fearful of changes in their neighborhoods to housing watchdogs who say the plan doesn’t do enough to protect renters and small businesses, said the latest findings match some of their concerns, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>The problem isn’t zoning; it’s financing, construction costs, and an outdated RHNA formula driven by politics rather than real demand,” said Lori Brooks with Neighborhoods United SF, using an acronym that stands for Regional Housing Needs Allocation and refers to the number of homes each jurisdiction must build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some supervisors are simultaneously pushing for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058853/san-francisco-public-bank-supporters-eye-2026-ballot-measure\">public bank that could help finance the thousands of affordable units\u003c/a> that are already approved in San Francisco, but are stalled in the development pipeline due to a lack of funding. Other datasets show \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/housing-megaprojects-stalled-20812460.php\">private development has also slowed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Instead of focusing on what’s actually needed — preserving existing rent-controlled housing, supporting small businesses, and building truly affordable homes — this plan upzones nearly the entire west and northeast sides of the city with no guardrails, no affordability guarantees, and silences the voice of residents in how their communities should grow,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report casts two projections based on a high-growth scenario and a low-growth scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high-growth scenario assumes that the city’s housing process returns to pre-pandemic levels by 2030 and grows until 2045, projecting a 10% increase in housing prices over the next five years. Under that model, the report found the plan could add 14,646 additional housing units, beyond what the city’s existing zoning might produce, over the next 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The low-growth scenario assumes that San Francisco housing prices increase only at the U.S. long-term rate of 1.8% annually, and that housing prices won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until 2041. That projection would lead to only 8,504 new units in 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also highlights changes to the housing market that have occurred in westside and northern neighborhoods, which are a focus of the rezoning plan to increase density. Condos downtown and in the South of Market neighborhood have experienced price drops of nearly 40% since 2016, while the Richmond and Sunset have fallen only slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042431\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042431\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250519-AffordableHousingFile-10-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council, said he’s projecting insignificant shifts in construction and labor costs in the years ahead. But other market factors could pose a challenge for the city in its effort to build thousands of new affordable homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real question is, where do rents go in the city? They have been increasing in the last 12 months. Do they continue on an upward trajectory?” he said. “Even if costs continue to move in an upward fashion or stay elevated, that may not matter if developers are able to recapture that via rents or if their condos are for-sale units via higher home prices. So I think that’s really the equation to think about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report notes that the amount of housing that will be produced as a result of rezoning, and its economic impact on the city, depends on the future housing market conditions, creating uncertainty in the projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If market conditions were such that the 36,000 unit target was achieved, as a result of the rezoning, the economic impact on the city would likely be significantly more positive than the estimates in this report,” it read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Planning Commission approved the city’s zoning plan in September. In the weeks since, supervisors have put forward amendments, including to prohibit demolition of buildings with more than two rent-controlled units and to incentivize developers to replace lost commercial space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those amendments were not included in the city economist’s latest report, but could lower the housing production projections even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As for the amendments, some are improvements, but they do not go far enough to protect tenants, small businesses, or neighborhood-serving corridors,” Brooks, of Neighborhoods United SF, said. “A responsible housing plan must balance production with protection and preservation. This one does not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "the-latest-bay-area-recall-campaign-is-over-a-six-story-apartment-building",
"title": "The Latest Bay Area Recall Campaign Is Over a 6-Story Apartment Building",
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"headTitle": "The Latest Bay Area Recall Campaign Is Over a 6-Story Apartment Building | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s spooky season in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marin-county\">Marin County\u003c/a> town of Fairfax, where skeletons and pumpkins take up their positions in yards, right alongside signs urging residents to “Vote Yes to Recall” or “Vote No Recalls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 4, voters will decide whether to recall Fairfax’s mayor and vice mayor over their approval of a six-story apartment complex — a decision that’s divided this small town of about 7,500 residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/04/Notice-of-Intent-to-Circulate-a-Recall-Petition-Hellman-3-6-25.pdf\">recall petition\u003c/a> accuses Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman of mismanaging funds, neglecting road maintenance and prioritizing their personal agendas. But at the heart of the recall is a high-density housing development proposed for a 2-acre site called School Street Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, developer Mill Creek Residential submitted a preliminary application to build a 243-unit apartment complex at School Street Plaza, with 49 affordable housing units priced between about \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/sanrafaelca/2024/07/2024-affordable-rent-schedule-50-60-65-7075-80-90-100-AMI.pdf\">$1,900 to $2,500 a month\u003c/a> for a studio. The proposal includes two levels of parking and commercial space on the ground floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents immediately pushed back. The development site sits on a hill at the edge of downtown Fairfax. A six-story building would tower over the town, where most buildings are one or two stories and the tallest reaches just four stories, and would block many residents’ views of the rolling hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060488 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Fairfax Theater in Fairfax, California, on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recall proponents blame Blash, who was elected to the council in 2022, and Hellman, who has served since 2019, for approving zoning changes to School Street Plaza that allowed the housing proposal to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, voters replaced two council members who had approved the rezoning with Mike Ghiringhelli and Frank Egger, who both opposed taller buildings. Egger told KQED he will vote Yes on the recall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blash and Hellman argue their hands were tied. State housing mandates require Fairfax to approve a housing plan, or “housing element,” for \u003ca href=\"https://townoffairfaxca.gov/town-of-fairfax-files-regional-housing-needs-allocation-rhna-appeal/\">at least 490 new homes by 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12061569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12061569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Halloween display plays on election related content in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If the town fails to make progress toward meeting its required housing allocation, it could \u003ca href=\"https://assets.marincounty.gov/marincounty-prod/public/2025-06/The%20Worrisome%20Future%20of%20Marin%20Housing.pdf\">face lawsuits, fines of up to $600,000 a month and a loss of permitting and zoning authority\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The push to unseat Blash and Hellman is the latest in a string of Bay Area recall campaigns, where frustrated residents have increasingly turned to recalls to express their dissatisfaction with political leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight also underscores a fundamental shift in California housing policy, as new state laws steadily erode local control in favor of state mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A small town divided\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fairfax, nestled in the foothills of Mount Tamalpais, is known as the cradle of mountain biking and was once an oasis for artists and musicians, who have since been priced out of the town. Many people find the charming homes along winding, redwood-forested streets a desirable place to settle down and raise kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ian Glover, 47, who’s lived in Fairfax for five years, was among families shopping at a recent Wednesday evening farmers market in Bolinas Park. Glover had initially signed the recall petition, believing it would block the School Street apartment complex. The property’s former occupants included a school, a marijuana dispensary and community hot tubs and saunas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The proposed 6-story housing development at 95 Broadway in Fairfax includes 4 stories of apartment units, 2 levels for parking and commercial space on the ground floor. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Stackhouse De la Peña Trachtenberg Architects)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to see a big high-rise. I don’t want to see more traffic,” Glover said as he offered his 2.5-year-old son some pomegranate seeds and melon slices. Even though he believes apartments and cheap housing benefit the community, Glover said he’d prefer the site become something that preserves the town’s character. “I’d rather see it be a cool school again or … the hot tub place was funky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many residents share his sentiment. Some call the building proposal a “monstrosity.” Even Vice Mayor Hellman agrees it’s too tall and would look out of place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Design-wise, it’s cookie-cutter, cheap, ugly, doesn’t fit within the design and aesthetic or character of the town,” Hellman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060487\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman poses for a photo at her home in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wendy Lee, 64, has lived in Fairfax for nearly 40 years, raised three kids there and now has three grandchildren. Lee is against the recall, but like many residents, she doesn’t like the development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to be a NIMBY because I know Marin County, we need low-income housing,” Lee said. “But I also don’t think that a six-story apartment building should be smack downtown on that little hill rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with concerns about parking and traffic, recall supporters contend the project could create a “death trap” in the event of a wildfire, flood or earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have one road in and out in case of fire coming from West Marin,” said recall treasurer Sean Fitzgerald. “We have to go through four other towns to get out to the freeway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Mackintosh (left) and Sean Fitzgerald speak with fellow supporters of the recall of Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Riley Hurd, a land use attorney representing Mill Creek, said he isn’t surprised by the town’s pushback on the School Street proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s been the Fairfax way for decades and decades,” he said. “That’s why nothing ever gets built there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate over the recall has driven a wedge between neighbors and strained friendships in the tight-knit community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has totally splintered our town,” Lee said. “It’s so sad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council meetings have turned “ugly and vitriolic,” Blash said, with people yelling, pounding chairs and waving their fists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060480\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash at her home in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People talk about gnawing on our necks, or lynching us or tar and feathering us,” Blash said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had days where it’s really taken a toll on my mental health for sure,” Hellman added. “I’ve had days where I’ve thought about quitting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellman installed a new security system after a few recall organizers showed up at her house. Blash stopped walking home from meetings at night and no longer goes to her favorite coffee shop, now that its windows are plastered with pro-recall signs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People hear about East Bay recalls or recalls in San Francisco, and I’m sure those are painful for the recallees, but this is a really tiny town,” she said. “It just really feels very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area recall fever\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The campaign to oust Blash and Hellman joins a growing list of Bay Area recalls since the pandemic, including the removal of three school board members in San Francisco and the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916212/chesa-boudin-recall-sf-voters-on-track-to-oust-district-attorney\">District Attorney Chesa Boudin\u003c/a> in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, voters recalled \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11992881/recall-of-two-sunol-school-board-members-appears-headed-to-victory\">two more school board members in Sunol\u003c/a>, Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013442/alameda-county-voters-recall-district-attorney-pamela-price\">District Attorney Pamela Price\u003c/a> and Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012357/sheng-thao-accepts-defeat-in-contentious-oakland-mayoral-recall\">Mayor Sheng Thao\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060479\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signs for and against the recall of Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman sit outside a 7-Eleven in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In September, residents in San Francisco’s Sunset District \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056059/supervisor-joel-engardio-is-out-whats-next-for-san-franciscos-sunset-district\">recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio\u003c/a> over his support for closing part of the Great Highway to turn it into a park. His removal did not alter the highway’s closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Baldassare, a director at the Public Policy Institute of California, said local recalls offer residents a tool to effect change. They’re far harder to pull off at the state level and they don’t exist at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“COVID put the emphasis on local government as being both the solution and in some cases the problem,” Baldassare said. “As that’s taken place, it’s also become apparent to a lot of people that an option is the recall.”[aside postID=news_12012553 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GETTYIMAGES-1244095544-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Fairfax recall organizers received guidance from Chris Moore and Edward Escobar, who helped lead the recalls of Price and Thao. Fitzgerald said they sought their advice after their initial petition was rejected by the town clerk and town attorney over technical errors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They came out, they shared with us what they had done successfully for free,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve done this all 100% grassroots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore said he spent a few hours with recall organizers in the spring, advising them on messaging strategies, how to gather signatures and volunteers and recommending an attorney. Since then, he’s answered one or two questions a month over text.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t active in day-to-day activity,” Moore said. “I just kind of say, ‘OK, here’s what we did in that scenario.’ But largely they’ve run it up there themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, recall supporters held a rally, which Moore and Escobar attended. Escobar said he helped “orchestrate” a press conference, reaching out to reporters to cover the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All we do is amplify the voice of the people,” Escobar said. “These folks are, they’re weeds that need to be pulled out of office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A shift in housing policy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Recall organizers often meet at Nave’s Bar, a downtown pub managed by recall leader Candace Neal-Ricker, which they jokingly call their “newsroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am your local, ultra-low-income, born and raised Fairfaxian that could not afford what they are proposing there,” Neal-Ricker said as she poured drinks and rang up customers on a 1967 vintage cash register. If the development had included “truly affordable” housing with fewer stories, she said she would’ve supported it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neal-Ricker believes the mayor and vice mayor are out of touch with their constituents’ desires. In 2022, the town council approved a rent stabilization ordinance and its “just cause” eviction ordinance, which aimed to protect tenants from arbitrary evictions. At the time, Hellman was on the council, but Blash had not yet been elected. Voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012553/californians-appear-to-reject-many-rent-control-measures\">repealed the law\u003c/a> in last year’s election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fairfax Citizens Coalition Lead Candace Neal-Ricker works at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Council members are not gods,” Neal-Ricker said. “They’ve forgotten who they work for and what they were elected to represent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also critical of the development receiving “ministerial approval,” which fast-tracks developments by bypassing public hearings and review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellman defended her handling of the housing proposal, saying she followed state laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of my actions have been to protect the town from litigation, penalties and fines,” Hellman said. “I’m not happy about a lot of these laws, but I didn’t run for office to break the law. And if I have to fall on my sword for that, that’s perfectly fine.”[aside postID=news_12056059 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250916-RecallElectionNight-33-BL.jpg']In July, Hellman said the town council received \u003ca href=\"https://townoffairfaxca.gov/documents/yimby-law-letter-06-18-25/\">letters from Yes In My Backyard\u003c/a> (YIMBY) groups and “threatening communications” from the enforcement arm of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/09/4-95-Broadway-City-letter_ministerial-process-clarification-with-exhibits_9-8-25.pdf\">reminding them that they could face enforcement action\u003c/a> if they failed to process the School Street project under ministerial approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I truly believe that the state and lots of jurisdictions are looking at Fairfax right now as a test case,” Hellman said. “I also believe that they would love to make an example out of Marin County due to their perception that we haven’t kept up with housing demand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://assets.marincounty.gov/marincounty-prod/public/2025-06/The%20Worrisome%20Future%20of%20Marin%20Housing.pdf\">Marin County Grand Jury report\u003c/a> in June noted that since 2017, lawmakers have passed over 100 pieces of legislation to shift power over housing policy to the state. “New state laws significantly reduce the ability of local jurisdictions to deny housing projects that meet objective requirements, even if there is community opposition,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers passed many of these laws in response to years of Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) communities interfering with state efforts to ease California’s housing crunch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blash said recall supporters don’t understand how much power the state has taken from local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12061504\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12061504 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign supporting the recall of Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman hangs in a coffee shop in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’ve chipped away at most of our local control,” Blash said. “It used to be possible to object to something and either force the developer to give a little bit or to stop the project altogether. And that power isn’t there as much as it used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report determined that the state’s requirement for the whole county to issue 14,405 permits by 2031 is “unrealistic and unlikely to be achieved.” The report cites community resistance as a major obstacle to new housing in Marin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The town has a really famous reputation for fighting development,” Blash said. “People are very proud of the small town atmosphere and very protective of it, so it’s often been hard to get just about anything built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the threat of lawsuits and fines, recall proponents feel their city leaders caved to state demands too readily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t let the fear of financial penalties be the deciding factor in what’s right for a town,” Fitzgerald said. “Do I think the state’s gonna come in and bankrupt every small town because we don’t meet their housing numbers? I doubt it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall organizers know their town has a reputation for being NIMBY. But Fitzgerald said, actually, they consider themselves more “MIMBY” — maybe in my backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Kathy Flores, Michael Mackintosh and Sean Fitzgerald, supporters of the recall of Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman, talk at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s all these elements that go into why we don’t want that particular building in its current form, so I think being called NIMBY is lazy,” Fitzgerald said. “It prevents people from having constructive dialogue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd, the developer’s attorney, pointed out that the School Street proposal only represents about half of Fairfax’s housing allocation, and there are currently no other multi-family housing applications in the town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If doing just half of what was allotted results in this level of outcry, I think it’s pretty clear that doing all or meeting the goal was never really on the table,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than three weeks before the election, Fairfax’s planning department sent a \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/10/ec4f9313-95-broadway-application-consistency-review-10-16-25.pdf\">letter to the developer\u003c/a> requiring major changes to the housing proposal. The letter cited 25 deficiencies that, if not addressed in 30 days, will result in the project’s denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd said he does not expect the developer to make any project changes, nor will they abandon ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That letter violates numerous, numerous laws,” he said. He expects HCD to weigh in and “inform the town that that letter is illegal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the recall fails, both Blash and Hellman said they will not seek reelection when their terms expire next November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Voters in the Marin County town of Fairfax will decide Nov. 4 whether to recall the mayor and vice mayor over their approval to rezone for a proposed six-story housing development downtown.",
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"title": "The Latest Bay Area Recall Campaign Is Over a 6-Story Apartment Building | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s spooky season in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marin-county\">Marin County\u003c/a> town of Fairfax, where skeletons and pumpkins take up their positions in yards, right alongside signs urging residents to “Vote Yes to Recall” or “Vote No Recalls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 4, voters will decide whether to recall Fairfax’s mayor and vice mayor over their approval of a six-story apartment complex — a decision that’s divided this small town of about 7,500 residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/04/Notice-of-Intent-to-Circulate-a-Recall-Petition-Hellman-3-6-25.pdf\">recall petition\u003c/a> accuses Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman of mismanaging funds, neglecting road maintenance and prioritizing their personal agendas. But at the heart of the recall is a high-density housing development proposed for a 2-acre site called School Street Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, developer Mill Creek Residential submitted a preliminary application to build a 243-unit apartment complex at School Street Plaza, with 49 affordable housing units priced between about \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/sanrafaelca/2024/07/2024-affordable-rent-schedule-50-60-65-7075-80-90-100-AMI.pdf\">$1,900 to $2,500 a month\u003c/a> for a studio. The proposal includes two levels of parking and commercial space on the ground floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents immediately pushed back. The development site sits on a hill at the edge of downtown Fairfax. A six-story building would tower over the town, where most buildings are one or two stories and the tallest reaches just four stories, and would block many residents’ views of the rolling hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060488 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Fairfax Theater in Fairfax, California, on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recall proponents blame Blash, who was elected to the council in 2022, and Hellman, who has served since 2019, for approving zoning changes to School Street Plaza that allowed the housing proposal to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, voters replaced two council members who had approved the rezoning with Mike Ghiringhelli and Frank Egger, who both opposed taller buildings. Egger told KQED he will vote Yes on the recall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blash and Hellman argue their hands were tied. State housing mandates require Fairfax to approve a housing plan, or “housing element,” for \u003ca href=\"https://townoffairfaxca.gov/town-of-fairfax-files-regional-housing-needs-allocation-rhna-appeal/\">at least 490 new homes by 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12061569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12061569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Halloween display plays on election related content in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If the town fails to make progress toward meeting its required housing allocation, it could \u003ca href=\"https://assets.marincounty.gov/marincounty-prod/public/2025-06/The%20Worrisome%20Future%20of%20Marin%20Housing.pdf\">face lawsuits, fines of up to $600,000 a month and a loss of permitting and zoning authority\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The push to unseat Blash and Hellman is the latest in a string of Bay Area recall campaigns, where frustrated residents have increasingly turned to recalls to express their dissatisfaction with political leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight also underscores a fundamental shift in California housing policy, as new state laws steadily erode local control in favor of state mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A small town divided\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fairfax, nestled in the foothills of Mount Tamalpais, is known as the cradle of mountain biking and was once an oasis for artists and musicians, who have since been priced out of the town. Many people find the charming homes along winding, redwood-forested streets a desirable place to settle down and raise kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ian Glover, 47, who’s lived in Fairfax for five years, was among families shopping at a recent Wednesday evening farmers market in Bolinas Park. Glover had initially signed the recall petition, believing it would block the School Street apartment complex. The property’s former occupants included a school, a marijuana dispensary and community hot tubs and saunas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/School-Street-Plaza-Plaza-View-2-04.16.2025-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The proposed 6-story housing development at 95 Broadway in Fairfax includes 4 stories of apartment units, 2 levels for parking and commercial space on the ground floor. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Stackhouse De la Peña Trachtenberg Architects)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to see a big high-rise. I don’t want to see more traffic,” Glover said as he offered his 2.5-year-old son some pomegranate seeds and melon slices. Even though he believes apartments and cheap housing benefit the community, Glover said he’d prefer the site become something that preserves the town’s character. “I’d rather see it be a cool school again or … the hot tub place was funky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many residents share his sentiment. Some call the building proposal a “monstrosity.” Even Vice Mayor Hellman agrees it’s too tall and would look out of place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Design-wise, it’s cookie-cutter, cheap, ugly, doesn’t fit within the design and aesthetic or character of the town,” Hellman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060487\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman poses for a photo at her home in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wendy Lee, 64, has lived in Fairfax for nearly 40 years, raised three kids there and now has three grandchildren. Lee is against the recall, but like many residents, she doesn’t like the development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to be a NIMBY because I know Marin County, we need low-income housing,” Lee said. “But I also don’t think that a six-story apartment building should be smack downtown on that little hill rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with concerns about parking and traffic, recall supporters contend the project could create a “death trap” in the event of a wildfire, flood or earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have one road in and out in case of fire coming from West Marin,” said recall treasurer Sean Fitzgerald. “We have to go through four other towns to get out to the freeway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Mackintosh (left) and Sean Fitzgerald speak with fellow supporters of the recall of Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Riley Hurd, a land use attorney representing Mill Creek, said he isn’t surprised by the town’s pushback on the School Street proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s been the Fairfax way for decades and decades,” he said. “That’s why nothing ever gets built there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate over the recall has driven a wedge between neighbors and strained friendships in the tight-knit community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has totally splintered our town,” Lee said. “It’s so sad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council meetings have turned “ugly and vitriolic,” Blash said, with people yelling, pounding chairs and waving their fists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060480\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash at her home in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People talk about gnawing on our necks, or lynching us or tar and feathering us,” Blash said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had days where it’s really taken a toll on my mental health for sure,” Hellman added. “I’ve had days where I’ve thought about quitting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellman installed a new security system after a few recall organizers showed up at her house. Blash stopped walking home from meetings at night and no longer goes to her favorite coffee shop, now that its windows are plastered with pro-recall signs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People hear about East Bay recalls or recalls in San Francisco, and I’m sure those are painful for the recallees, but this is a really tiny town,” she said. “It just really feels very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area recall fever\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The campaign to oust Blash and Hellman joins a growing list of Bay Area recalls since the pandemic, including the removal of three school board members in San Francisco and the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916212/chesa-boudin-recall-sf-voters-on-track-to-oust-district-attorney\">District Attorney Chesa Boudin\u003c/a> in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, voters recalled \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11992881/recall-of-two-sunol-school-board-members-appears-headed-to-victory\">two more school board members in Sunol\u003c/a>, Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013442/alameda-county-voters-recall-district-attorney-pamela-price\">District Attorney Pamela Price\u003c/a> and Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012357/sheng-thao-accepts-defeat-in-contentious-oakland-mayoral-recall\">Mayor Sheng Thao\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060479\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signs for and against the recall of Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman sit outside a 7-Eleven in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In September, residents in San Francisco’s Sunset District \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056059/supervisor-joel-engardio-is-out-whats-next-for-san-franciscos-sunset-district\">recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio\u003c/a> over his support for closing part of the Great Highway to turn it into a park. His removal did not alter the highway’s closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Baldassare, a director at the Public Policy Institute of California, said local recalls offer residents a tool to effect change. They’re far harder to pull off at the state level and they don’t exist at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“COVID put the emphasis on local government as being both the solution and in some cases the problem,” Baldassare said. “As that’s taken place, it’s also become apparent to a lot of people that an option is the recall.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fairfax recall organizers received guidance from Chris Moore and Edward Escobar, who helped lead the recalls of Price and Thao. Fitzgerald said they sought their advice after their initial petition was rejected by the town clerk and town attorney over technical errors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They came out, they shared with us what they had done successfully for free,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve done this all 100% grassroots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore said he spent a few hours with recall organizers in the spring, advising them on messaging strategies, how to gather signatures and volunteers and recommending an attorney. Since then, he’s answered one or two questions a month over text.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t active in day-to-day activity,” Moore said. “I just kind of say, ‘OK, here’s what we did in that scenario.’ But largely they’ve run it up there themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, recall supporters held a rally, which Moore and Escobar attended. Escobar said he helped “orchestrate” a press conference, reaching out to reporters to cover the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All we do is amplify the voice of the people,” Escobar said. “These folks are, they’re weeds that need to be pulled out of office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A shift in housing policy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Recall organizers often meet at Nave’s Bar, a downtown pub managed by recall leader Candace Neal-Ricker, which they jokingly call their “newsroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am your local, ultra-low-income, born and raised Fairfaxian that could not afford what they are proposing there,” Neal-Ricker said as she poured drinks and rang up customers on a 1967 vintage cash register. If the development had included “truly affordable” housing with fewer stories, she said she would’ve supported it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neal-Ricker believes the mayor and vice mayor are out of touch with their constituents’ desires. In 2022, the town council approved a rent stabilization ordinance and its “just cause” eviction ordinance, which aimed to protect tenants from arbitrary evictions. At the time, Hellman was on the council, but Blash had not yet been elected. Voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012553/californians-appear-to-reject-many-rent-control-measures\">repealed the law\u003c/a> in last year’s election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fairfax Citizens Coalition Lead Candace Neal-Ricker works at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Council members are not gods,” Neal-Ricker said. “They’ve forgotten who they work for and what they were elected to represent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also critical of the development receiving “ministerial approval,” which fast-tracks developments by bypassing public hearings and review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellman defended her handling of the housing proposal, saying she followed state laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of my actions have been to protect the town from litigation, penalties and fines,” Hellman said. “I’m not happy about a lot of these laws, but I didn’t run for office to break the law. And if I have to fall on my sword for that, that’s perfectly fine.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In July, Hellman said the town council received \u003ca href=\"https://townoffairfaxca.gov/documents/yimby-law-letter-06-18-25/\">letters from Yes In My Backyard\u003c/a> (YIMBY) groups and “threatening communications” from the enforcement arm of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/09/4-95-Broadway-City-letter_ministerial-process-clarification-with-exhibits_9-8-25.pdf\">reminding them that they could face enforcement action\u003c/a> if they failed to process the School Street project under ministerial approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I truly believe that the state and lots of jurisdictions are looking at Fairfax right now as a test case,” Hellman said. “I also believe that they would love to make an example out of Marin County due to their perception that we haven’t kept up with housing demand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://assets.marincounty.gov/marincounty-prod/public/2025-06/The%20Worrisome%20Future%20of%20Marin%20Housing.pdf\">Marin County Grand Jury report\u003c/a> in June noted that since 2017, lawmakers have passed over 100 pieces of legislation to shift power over housing policy to the state. “New state laws significantly reduce the ability of local jurisdictions to deny housing projects that meet objective requirements, even if there is community opposition,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers passed many of these laws in response to years of Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) communities interfering with state efforts to ease California’s housing crunch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blash said recall supporters don’t understand how much power the state has taken from local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12061504\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12061504 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FairfaxRecall-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign supporting the recall of Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman hangs in a coffee shop in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’ve chipped away at most of our local control,” Blash said. “It used to be possible to object to something and either force the developer to give a little bit or to stop the project altogether. And that power isn’t there as much as it used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report determined that the state’s requirement for the whole county to issue 14,405 permits by 2031 is “unrealistic and unlikely to be achieved.” The report cites community resistance as a major obstacle to new housing in Marin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The town has a really famous reputation for fighting development,” Blash said. “People are very proud of the small town atmosphere and very protective of it, so it’s often been hard to get just about anything built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the threat of lawsuits and fines, recall proponents feel their city leaders caved to state demands too readily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t let the fear of financial penalties be the deciding factor in what’s right for a town,” Fitzgerald said. “Do I think the state’s gonna come in and bankrupt every small town because we don’t meet their housing numbers? I doubt it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall organizers know their town has a reputation for being NIMBY. But Fitzgerald said, actually, they consider themselves more “MIMBY” — maybe in my backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251015-FAIRFAXRECALL-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Kathy Flores, Michael Mackintosh and Sean Fitzgerald, supporters of the recall of Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman, talk at Nave’s Bar and Grill in Fairfax on Oct. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s all these elements that go into why we don’t want that particular building in its current form, so I think being called NIMBY is lazy,” Fitzgerald said. “It prevents people from having constructive dialogue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd, the developer’s attorney, pointed out that the School Street proposal only represents about half of Fairfax’s housing allocation, and there are currently no other multi-family housing applications in the town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If doing just half of what was allotted results in this level of outcry, I think it’s pretty clear that doing all or meeting the goal was never really on the table,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than three weeks before the election, Fairfax’s planning department sent a \u003ca href=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/proudcity/fairfaxca/2025/10/ec4f9313-95-broadway-application-consistency-review-10-16-25.pdf\">letter to the developer\u003c/a> requiring major changes to the housing proposal. The letter cited 25 deficiencies that, if not addressed in 30 days, will result in the project’s denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd said he does not expect the developer to make any project changes, nor will they abandon ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That letter violates numerous, numerous laws,” he said. He expects HCD to weigh in and “inform the town that that letter is illegal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the recall fails, both Blash and Hellman said they will not seek reelection when their terms expire next November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How a Bay Area Program Helps Unhoused Residents Become Protectors of Their Environment",
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"content": "\u003cp>Outside his tent, among the dead leaves and saplings, Eric Adams keeps a neat stack of bags stuffed with garbage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just try to pick it up and try to do the best that I can,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams is one of twenty-some people who live on a wooded strip of land tucked between a freeway and a busy street in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/el-sobrante\">El Sobrante\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 48-year-old keeps his patch tidy, but all around him the ground is strewn with plastic bags, food wrappers, even a mattress and a tire. He’s so fed up that he’s started confronting his neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m like, ‘This is nasty,’” he said. “‘I don’t want to pick up this mess for you to throw it all back.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams doesn’t just pick up garbage. He pulls debris from the creek nearby and yanks out invasive ivy, “because I enjoy it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wasn’t always like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I would give a damn,” he said. “I’m aware now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044675\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program remove English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That changed after Adams joined a pilot program teaching unhoused residents ecological literacy and creek restoration. It’s a novel approach to addressing the environmental harms brought on by the growing number of people setting up camp along creeks and canals as homelessness surges in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eight-week program was put on this summer by the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District, the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/sos-richmond-housing-crisis-california-homelessness/\">Safe Organized Spaces Richmond\u003c/a> and a pair of researchers. It’s part of \u003ca href=\"https://pasternack.ucdavis.edu/research/projects/stream-side-encampments\">a larger study\u003c/a> examining the intersection of homelessness, climate change, and urban streams across the Bay Area’s nine counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers estimate 10% of California’s unhoused population — about 18,700 people — lives along waterways. In the absence of enough affordable housing and shelter, it feels like the best of bad options for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12044669 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign reading “Pinole Creek don’t trash it” is posted by Pinole Creek in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People like to be along streams because they’re out of sight, out of mind,” said Costanza Rampini, an environmental studies professor at San José State University and one of the study leads. She and her students interviewed more than 300 people living along waterways. “They’re not on our sidewalks where they’re going to be confronted more with local residents, with local law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s even more true since cities started cracking down on encampments last year. But people are also seeking out water for drinking, bathing and washing clothes, and for shade and softer ground to sleep on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is it’s polluting the water,” said Eileen White, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. “We want to protect our waterways, for the beauty, for the environment, for the wildlife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Stewards of their streams\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The pilot program Adams joined was designed to test whether encampment residents could become partners in protecting streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rampini’s hope is that the program can benefit the environment while improving people’s well-being and helping them stabilize their lives. “Can we provide opportunities for them to maybe make some income and feel a sense of usefulness and agency?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044672\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ronnie Walker, a participant of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program, pulls out English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon this summer, Adams and a group of unhoused and formerly homeless men and women gathered along a stream behind the Pinole Library. They had just finished a class on erosion control and were putting it into practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in the shade of tall trees, they trimmed willow branches into stakes and hammered them into the soil to stabilize the banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ooh! This is the kid in me now,” Adams said, scrambling down to the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knee-deep in the creek, he and classmates Brianni Peters and Ronnie Walker scouted spots to drive the stakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, Eric! Look where I put mine,” Peters shouted. “I did it!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brianni Peters, a participant of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program, right, speaks during a classroom session, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They laughed as water splashed into Walker’s boots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My bad!” Adams said with a mischievous grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m having fun, man,” Walker said. “I’m here for the journey.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has also learned about steelhead trout and their habitat, studied invasive and native plants, and practiced other restoration techniques.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I’m halfway a botanist right now,” said Walker, who’s 36 and has been homeless for three years. “I love the environment. I love being outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A dire need for cleanups\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more encampments spring up along streams and canals, trash, human waste and chemicals are taking a toll on water quality, drawing pressure from regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nowhere in the Bay Area is this challenge more evident than in San José, where \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14775079&GUID=75AEB53E-EE69-472A-AF32-C23354EC09CA\">at least 1,200 people\u003c/a> were living along streams earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program remove English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just unmanageable,” said Rajani Nair, deputy director of the Watershed Protection Division of the city’s Environmental Services Department. “The best solution was really to ensure these encampments are not living in the waterways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under pressure from regulators, the \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7652910&GUID=D042E67C-69C8-4595-9BD6-00019551F223&Options=&Search=\">city cleared encampments\u003c/a> from 16 miles of waterways last fiscal year. Workers hauled away almost 2,000 tons of trash and set up no-encampment zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It cost the city nearly $64 million, including the cost of building new shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say their efforts have led to healthier streams. But despite new shelter investments, there are still \u003ca href=\"https://news.santaclaracounty.gov/county-santa-clara-releases-preliminary-results-2025-point-time-homeless-count\">far more unsheltered people\u003c/a> than \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-has-1-shelter-bed-for-every-3-homeless-people/\">beds in San José\u003c/a> and across the state. And, advocates say, what is available doesn’t work for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, the city’s tiny homes, motel shelters and sanctioned campgrounds offer a welcome alternative to creekside life. For others, giving up their belongings for a short-term placement is a losing bet, said Tristia Bauman, directing attorney of housing at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. “There are also many people who are in far worse situations, who will be far less able to be self-sufficient, who lost a lot of money and lost a lot of trust in the system,” Bauman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044668\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adam Gelfand, Habitat Restoration Manager at Contra Costa Resource Conservation District, center, leads a classroom session for Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program participants, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As long as that’s the case, the researchers say people will find their way back to waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are voting with their feet where they want to be,” UC Davis hydrology professor and study co-lead Greg Pasternack said. That’s why he and Rampini are looking for a way to work with encampment residents where they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to find a way that the environmental goals of our society and the social goals of our society can coexist,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a scientist who’s spent nearly three decades working in environmental restoration, Pasternack admits he didn’t always see things this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve dedicated my life — made major sacrifices — to try to help support the environment,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The time he’s spent studying encampments and talking with the people who live in them, shifted his perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t look at the suffering of people and say that we should just ignore that, that the stream in and of itself is more important,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Restoration as recovery\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s plenty of evidence that spending time in nature improves mental and physical health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Rampini pointed out, “We haven’t really extended that idea to people experiencing homelessness, who may actually be dealing with … more mental and physical health issues than a majority of housed folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the goal isn’t to turn restoration into a career track out of homelessness, but to test whether it can be beneficial for those living along waterways and at the fringes of society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program do a group activity during a classroom session, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Walker and Adams say it has.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought in a million years I’d be out here doing what I’m doing now. It’s so surreal. And it’s so relaxing,” Adams said. “There are a lot of things that went on in my lifetime, and I just get to sit here and just think about it and realize everything’s not all that bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, Adams said he was working as a substitute teacher. He has a college degree, a teenage son and he had a partner. Then his life unraveled. He said he got shot, his relationship fell apart, and he lost his closest family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my crutch, my grandmother, and I lost my dad, who was my best friend,” he said. His father had himself been homeless for much of Adams’ life.[aside postID=news_12054270 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-HOUSINGFIRST_02100_TV-KQED.jpg']After his father’s death, Adams began spending more time on the streets with people who’d known him. He went from couch surfing to sleeping in his car to pitching a tent. He stopped working, and his drug problem got worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I literally just gave up. I sat down,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After five years of homelessness and often-debilitating depression, he said the creek restoration program has given him motivation again. He was one of three participants kept on after the initial training and now earns $19 an hour doing part-time restoration work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They saw something inside of us, regardless of our living situation,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the part-time work isn’t enough to get Adams out of his tent. But it’s given him something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I got a purpose now in life,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams said he wants to keep learning ecology. He knows jobs in the field aren’t easy to come by, but if he could, he’d work full-time for the county conservation district — restoring the same creek he lives beside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want this to be my creek,” he said. “I want to take pride in cleaning up this creek.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Outside his tent, among the dead leaves and saplings, Eric Adams keeps a neat stack of bags stuffed with garbage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just try to pick it up and try to do the best that I can,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams is one of twenty-some people who live on a wooded strip of land tucked between a freeway and a busy street in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/el-sobrante\">El Sobrante\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 48-year-old keeps his patch tidy, but all around him the ground is strewn with plastic bags, food wrappers, even a mattress and a tire. He’s so fed up that he’s started confronting his neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m like, ‘This is nasty,’” he said. “‘I don’t want to pick up this mess for you to throw it all back.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams doesn’t just pick up garbage. He pulls debris from the creek nearby and yanks out invasive ivy, “because I enjoy it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wasn’t always like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I would give a damn,” he said. “I’m aware now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044675\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-34-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program remove English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That changed after Adams joined a pilot program teaching unhoused residents ecological literacy and creek restoration. It’s a novel approach to addressing the environmental harms brought on by the growing number of people setting up camp along creeks and canals as homelessness surges in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eight-week program was put on this summer by the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District, the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/sos-richmond-housing-crisis-california-homelessness/\">Safe Organized Spaces Richmond\u003c/a> and a pair of researchers. It’s part of \u003ca href=\"https://pasternack.ucdavis.edu/research/projects/stream-side-encampments\">a larger study\u003c/a> examining the intersection of homelessness, climate change, and urban streams across the Bay Area’s nine counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers estimate 10% of California’s unhoused population — about 18,700 people — lives along waterways. In the absence of enough affordable housing and shelter, it feels like the best of bad options for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12044669 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign reading “Pinole Creek don’t trash it” is posted by Pinole Creek in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People like to be along streams because they’re out of sight, out of mind,” said Costanza Rampini, an environmental studies professor at San José State University and one of the study leads. She and her students interviewed more than 300 people living along waterways. “They’re not on our sidewalks where they’re going to be confronted more with local residents, with local law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s even more true since cities started cracking down on encampments last year. But people are also seeking out water for drinking, bathing and washing clothes, and for shade and softer ground to sleep on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is it’s polluting the water,” said Eileen White, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. “We want to protect our waterways, for the beauty, for the environment, for the wildlife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Stewards of their streams\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The pilot program Adams joined was designed to test whether encampment residents could become partners in protecting streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rampini’s hope is that the program can benefit the environment while improving people’s well-being and helping them stabilize their lives. “Can we provide opportunities for them to maybe make some income and feel a sense of usefulness and agency?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044672\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-20-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ronnie Walker, a participant of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program, pulls out English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon this summer, Adams and a group of unhoused and formerly homeless men and women gathered along a stream behind the Pinole Library. They had just finished a class on erosion control and were putting it into practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in the shade of tall trees, they trimmed willow branches into stakes and hammered them into the soil to stabilize the banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ooh! This is the kid in me now,” Adams said, scrambling down to the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knee-deep in the creek, he and classmates Brianni Peters and Ronnie Walker scouted spots to drive the stakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, Eric! Look where I put mine,” Peters shouted. “I did it!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-31-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brianni Peters, a participant of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program, right, speaks during a classroom session, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They laughed as water splashed into Walker’s boots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My bad!” Adams said with a mischievous grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m having fun, man,” Walker said. “I’m here for the journey.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has also learned about steelhead trout and their habitat, studied invasive and native plants, and practiced other restoration techniques.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I’m halfway a botanist right now,” said Walker, who’s 36 and has been homeless for three years. “I love the environment. I love being outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A dire need for cleanups\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more encampments spring up along streams and canals, trash, human waste and chemicals are taking a toll on water quality, drawing pressure from regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nowhere in the Bay Area is this challenge more evident than in San José, where \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14775079&GUID=75AEB53E-EE69-472A-AF32-C23354EC09CA\">at least 1,200 people\u003c/a> were living along streams earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program remove English Ivy, an invasive species, along Pinole Creek, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just unmanageable,” said Rajani Nair, deputy director of the Watershed Protection Division of the city’s Environmental Services Department. “The best solution was really to ensure these encampments are not living in the waterways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under pressure from regulators, the \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7652910&GUID=D042E67C-69C8-4595-9BD6-00019551F223&Options=&Search=\">city cleared encampments\u003c/a> from 16 miles of waterways last fiscal year. Workers hauled away almost 2,000 tons of trash and set up no-encampment zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It cost the city nearly $64 million, including the cost of building new shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say their efforts have led to healthier streams. But despite new shelter investments, there are still \u003ca href=\"https://news.santaclaracounty.gov/county-santa-clara-releases-preliminary-results-2025-point-time-homeless-count\">far more unsheltered people\u003c/a> than \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-has-1-shelter-bed-for-every-3-homeless-people/\">beds in San José\u003c/a> and across the state. And, advocates say, what is available doesn’t work for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, the city’s tiny homes, motel shelters and sanctioned campgrounds offer a welcome alternative to creekside life. For others, giving up their belongings for a short-term placement is a losing bet, said Tristia Bauman, directing attorney of housing at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. “There are also many people who are in far worse situations, who will be far less able to be self-sufficient, who lost a lot of money and lost a lot of trust in the system,” Bauman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044668\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adam Gelfand, Habitat Restoration Manager at Contra Costa Resource Conservation District, center, leads a classroom session for Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program participants, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As long as that’s the case, the researchers say people will find their way back to waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are voting with their feet where they want to be,” UC Davis hydrology professor and study co-lead Greg Pasternack said. That’s why he and Rampini are looking for a way to work with encampment residents where they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to find a way that the environmental goals of our society and the social goals of our society can coexist,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a scientist who’s spent nearly three decades working in environmental restoration, Pasternack admits he didn’t always see things this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve dedicated my life — made major sacrifices — to try to help support the environment,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The time he’s spent studying encampments and talking with the people who live in them, shifted his perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t look at the suffering of people and say that we should just ignore that, that the stream in and of itself is more important,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Restoration as recovery\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s plenty of evidence that spending time in nature improves mental and physical health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Rampini pointed out, “We haven’t really extended that idea to people experiencing homelessness, who may actually be dealing with … more mental and physical health issues than a majority of housed folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the goal isn’t to turn restoration into a career track out of homelessness, but to test whether it can be beneficial for those living along waterways and at the fringes of society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Pilot Program do a group activity during a classroom session, outside of the Pinole Library, in Pinole on June 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Walker and Adams say it has.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought in a million years I’d be out here doing what I’m doing now. It’s so surreal. And it’s so relaxing,” Adams said. “There are a lot of things that went on in my lifetime, and I just get to sit here and just think about it and realize everything’s not all that bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, Adams said he was working as a substitute teacher. He has a college degree, a teenage son and he had a partner. Then his life unraveled. He said he got shot, his relationship fell apart, and he lost his closest family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my crutch, my grandmother, and I lost my dad, who was my best friend,” he said. His father had himself been homeless for much of Adams’ life.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After his father’s death, Adams began spending more time on the streets with people who’d known him. He went from couch surfing to sleeping in his car to pitching a tent. He stopped working, and his drug problem got worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I literally just gave up. I sat down,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After five years of homelessness and often-debilitating depression, he said the creek restoration program has given him motivation again. He was one of three participants kept on after the initial training and now earns $19 an hour doing part-time restoration work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They saw something inside of us, regardless of our living situation,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the part-time work isn’t enough to get Adams out of his tent. But it’s given him something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I got a purpose now in life,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adams said he wants to keep learning ecology. He knows jobs in the field aren’t easy to come by, but if he could, he’d work full-time for the county conservation district — restoring the same creek he lives beside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want this to be my creek,” he said. “I want to take pride in cleaning up this creek.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-forever-clears-first-hurdle-in-suisun-city-annexation",
"title": "California Forever Clears First Hurdle in Suisun City Annexation",
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"headTitle": "California Forever Clears First Hurdle in Suisun City Annexation | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever\u003c/a>’s proposed mega-development has crossed its first hurdle in its bid for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043295/suisun-city-proposes-annexing-most-of-california-forevers-new-city\">annexation\u003c/a> by Suisun City. After receiving the company’s development application earlier this month, City Manager Bret Prebula said Tuesday he and other officials deemed it complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, city staff will prepare for the next step in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040357/2-solano-cities-could-annex-some-california-forevers-land-heres-how\">lengthy annexation process\u003c/a>: the environmental impact report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been having really high-level conversations with [California Forever] about our interests with jobs and housing and transportation and the need to have open space,” Prebula said \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SuisunCity/status/1978155118785610144\">in a video posted on the social media platform X\u003c/a>. “They’ve really listened, and we expect this continued dialog and negotiation as the project evolves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement means California Forever likely won’t bring its plan before voters, as it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996747/california-forever-pulls-bid-to-build-new-city-from-this-years-ballot\">initially proposed last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it was first introduced, residents received the proposal with mixed reactions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996888/after-ballot-measure-for-new-city-is-delayed-solano-residents-breathe-a-sigh-of-relief\">Some were excited\u003c/a> at the prospect of more jobs and homes, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996536/farmers-are-divided-over-california-forevers-plan-in-solano-county\">others remained skeptical\u003c/a> about the company’s intentions and the project’s viability. Many were confused as to why California Forever wanted to build a new city, instead of developing a project within an existing one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 113 in Solano County outside of Suisun City on May 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1978161081928572975\">X thread\u003c/a> posted Tuesday, CEO Jan Sramek said the Suisun Expansion Plan would solve those problems by connecting the original 2024 plan to an existing city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Last year, the community was clear — ‘We like the plan, but in Solano County, “what is urban shall be municipal,” — so make this an extension of an existing city, not a new community,’” Sramek said in his post. “Suisun City stepped up and proposed building the city as part of the Suisun Expansion Project. They’re now on the way to becoming California’s best example of the Abundance Agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s application remains largely similar to its original plan, but instead of the project becoming a new city in unincorporated Solano County, the mega-development could now be located largely within Suisun City, if city and county leaders eventually approve the annexation deal. Rio Vista leaders have also expressed interest in annexing a portion of California Forever’s plan, but those details have yet to be publicly unveiled.[aside postID=news_12043295 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-38-BL_qed.jpg']\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031818/another-solano-county-city-wants-annex-some-california-forevers-land\">Suisun City leaders\u003c/a> have said they are exploring annexation to grow the city’s tax base and solve a structural deficit. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029950/rio-vista-explores-annexing-some-california-forevers-land\">Officials in Rio Vista\u003c/a> also want to expand their tax base, but aim to preserve the city’s character as a quaint, river-side town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.suisun.com/files/sharedassets/suisuncity/v/1/training/resources/images/michaels-images/documents/cover-letter.pdf\">The project\u003c/a> would be built in two phases: Over 20 years, the company would focus on development west of Highway 113 and would build 65,217 new homes, the majority of its advanced manufacturing park called the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048321/california-forever-wants-to-build-a-manufacturing-town\">Solano Foundry\u003c/a>,” along with a downtown and entertainment district. In its application, California Forever anticipates that the first phase would be able to support around 150,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, around 2050, the company would start development east of the highway and fully build out the community, which could eventually support 400,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek called it “the next great American city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Suisun Expansion Plan is a story of a small city that is dreaming big and tackling some of California’s biggest challenges head on,” he said \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1978161120889442519\">in the X post\u003c/a>. “It’s something that should be applauded and is worthy of the greatest support from people who care about abundance, urbanism and housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the application is complete, Prebula said he will spend the next month holding meetings with staff and Suisun City officials to start an environmental impact report, and eventually, the public will be able to read and comment on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Suisun City leaders announced Tuesday they approved the company’s official application for a controversial mega-development, which could become part of their city.",
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"title": "California Forever Clears First Hurdle in Suisun City Annexation | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever\u003c/a>’s proposed mega-development has crossed its first hurdle in its bid for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043295/suisun-city-proposes-annexing-most-of-california-forevers-new-city\">annexation\u003c/a> by Suisun City. After receiving the company’s development application earlier this month, City Manager Bret Prebula said Tuesday he and other officials deemed it complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, city staff will prepare for the next step in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040357/2-solano-cities-could-annex-some-california-forevers-land-heres-how\">lengthy annexation process\u003c/a>: the environmental impact report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been having really high-level conversations with [California Forever] about our interests with jobs and housing and transportation and the need to have open space,” Prebula said \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SuisunCity/status/1978155118785610144\">in a video posted on the social media platform X\u003c/a>. “They’ve really listened, and we expect this continued dialog and negotiation as the project evolves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement means California Forever likely won’t bring its plan before voters, as it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996747/california-forever-pulls-bid-to-build-new-city-from-this-years-ballot\">initially proposed last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it was first introduced, residents received the proposal with mixed reactions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996888/after-ballot-measure-for-new-city-is-delayed-solano-residents-breathe-a-sigh-of-relief\">Some were excited\u003c/a> at the prospect of more jobs and homes, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996536/farmers-are-divided-over-california-forevers-plan-in-solano-county\">others remained skeptical\u003c/a> about the company’s intentions and the project’s viability. Many were confused as to why California Forever wanted to build a new city, instead of developing a project within an existing one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250513-CaliforniaForeverAnnexExplainer-17-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 113 in Solano County outside of Suisun City on May 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1978161081928572975\">X thread\u003c/a> posted Tuesday, CEO Jan Sramek said the Suisun Expansion Plan would solve those problems by connecting the original 2024 plan to an existing city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Last year, the community was clear — ‘We like the plan, but in Solano County, “what is urban shall be municipal,” — so make this an extension of an existing city, not a new community,’” Sramek said in his post. “Suisun City stepped up and proposed building the city as part of the Suisun Expansion Project. They’re now on the way to becoming California’s best example of the Abundance Agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s application remains largely similar to its original plan, but instead of the project becoming a new city in unincorporated Solano County, the mega-development could now be located largely within Suisun City, if city and county leaders eventually approve the annexation deal. Rio Vista leaders have also expressed interest in annexing a portion of California Forever’s plan, but those details have yet to be publicly unveiled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031818/another-solano-county-city-wants-annex-some-california-forevers-land\">Suisun City leaders\u003c/a> have said they are exploring annexation to grow the city’s tax base and solve a structural deficit. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029950/rio-vista-explores-annexing-some-california-forevers-land\">Officials in Rio Vista\u003c/a> also want to expand their tax base, but aim to preserve the city’s character as a quaint, river-side town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.suisun.com/files/sharedassets/suisuncity/v/1/training/resources/images/michaels-images/documents/cover-letter.pdf\">The project\u003c/a> would be built in two phases: Over 20 years, the company would focus on development west of Highway 113 and would build 65,217 new homes, the majority of its advanced manufacturing park called the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048321/california-forever-wants-to-build-a-manufacturing-town\">Solano Foundry\u003c/a>,” along with a downtown and entertainment district. In its application, California Forever anticipates that the first phase would be able to support around 150,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, around 2050, the company would start development east of the highway and fully build out the community, which could eventually support 400,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek called it “the next great American city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Suisun Expansion Plan is a story of a small city that is dreaming big and tackling some of California’s biggest challenges head on,” he said \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/jansramek/status/1978161120889442519\">in the X post\u003c/a>. “It’s something that should be applauded and is worthy of the greatest support from people who care about abundance, urbanism and housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the application is complete, Prebula said he will spend the next month holding meetings with staff and Suisun City officials to start an environmental impact report, and eventually, the public will be able to read and comment on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-signs-ambitious-bill-to-boost-housing-density-near-public-transit",
"title": "Newsom Signs Ambitious Bill to Boost Housing Density Near Public Transit",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Signs Ambitious Bill to Boost Housing Density Near Public Transit | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> has taken a major step to clear the way for developers across the state to build new, taller apartments near\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/public-transit\"> transit hubs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Friday that would allow for the construction of denser multi-family housing in neighborhoods within a half-mile of bustling train and bus stops on major transit networks like BART, Caltrain or the L.A. Metro rail system, overriding local zoning laws. Buildings closest to the transit hubs could go up to nine stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042670/controversial-housing-near-transit-bill-advances-to-next-stop-in-legislature\">SB 79\u003c/a>, has been viewed as one of the most significant \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">housing bills in decades\u003c/a>. It’s state Sen. Scott Wiener’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031302/wieners-controversial-bill-to-allow-housing-near-transit-is-back\">latest of several attempts\u003c/a> to spur new housing construction, a movement that has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057068/are-yimbys-winning-the-housing-debate\">political gains this year\u003c/a> — and, at the same time, to increase public transit’s revenue by drawing new ridership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SB 79 is a historic step toward tackling the root cause of California’s affordability crisis — our profound shortage of homes and too few people having access to transit,” Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, which will apply only to eight urbanized California counties with 16 or more passenger rail stations, also allows zoning for five- to eight-story buildings adjacent to light rail lines, as well as daily trains and rapid bus transit or streets with dedicated bus lanes. It takes effect July 1, 2026, in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, absent cities’ alternative plans for transit-oriented upzoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010450\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Scott Wiener speaks at a press event in front of the SFUSD offices in San Francisco on Oct. 21, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It will also allow transit agencies to set their own zoning rules on properties they own adjacent to transit-oriented development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents argue that a shortage of affordable housing has ensnared the state in an unaffordability crisis, exacerbated by “permitting, rezoning, and public funding barriers to build” affordable housing in the state, according to Wiener.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have [now] undone decades of housing prohibitions in our cities near the transit stations that we’ve all paid for, and we’ll start to see hopefully soon a [return] to the way California was envisioning its growth when we built these transit stations,” said Matt Lewis, a spokesperson for California YIMBY, a group that advocates for accelerating housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities must meet the housing targets outlined in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101885996/california-cities-struggle-to-meet-new-housing-planning-guidelines\">Regional Housing Needs Assessment\u003c/a> to avoid lawsuits, losses in funding and other consequences, including what’s known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945744/california-building-boom-a-new-law-promised-big-but-has-yet-to-deliver-in-the-bay-area\">the “builder’s remedy,”\u003c/a> which allows developers to sidestep local zoning restrictions if the city is out of compliance with state housing law.[aside postID=news_12042670 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg']Yet, how to achieve ambitious housing goals has caused controversy in a state where how and what to build is a touchy subject.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, city leaders are working on a plan to add more than 36,000 homes to the city’s west side and northern neighborhoods as part of\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12057448/on-sfs-west-side-a-push-to-protect-historic-landmarks-amid-plans-for-more-housing\"> a new “family zoning” push\u003c/a> that would exempt these parts of the city from SB 79. If the Board of Supervisors doesn’t approve that plan by January, the state will start to impose fines and withhold critical funding for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are real consequences if we fail to pass family zoning,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said Friday in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DPo2PTUEoEc/?hl=en\">Instagram post\u003c/a> about the carveouts in SB 79. “The state is ready with what they call the builder’s remedy, which means unlimited height and density on every block and stripping the city of all decision-making power on new projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In discussions in the Capitol, equity groups \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/sb79-oppose-unless-amended-to-protect-housing-input-affordability/\">argued\u003c/a> that the bill does not enshrine affordability requirements for new housing. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-sb-79-map-neighborhoods-address-housing-california-bill-bass-newsom\">urged Newsom to veto the bill\u003c/a>, saying that it would “erode local control, diminish community input on planning and zoning and disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods.” And homeowner groups have said they \u003ca href=\"https://archive.ph/MIOix#selection-3119.0-3134.0\">fear\u003c/a> the bill will \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/people-take-to-the-streets-of-south-park-to-protest-california-housing-bill/3897316/\">affect\u003c/a> the character of their neighborhoods and price out small businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the bill cleared political hurdles and narrowly passed both houses of the Legislature after adding provisions for labor unions, and by exempting areas that are already covered by local housing policy that promotes transit. That allowed it to avoid the fate of Wiener’s previous three attempts in the last seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s decision was highly anticipated for weeks. His signing represents a significant step in California’s housing experiment, alongside several other housing bills signed Friday — including one to slash red tape around converting office buildings into residences and multiple bills meant to streamline the construction of accessory dwelling units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/abandlamudi\">\u003cem>Adhiti Bandlamudi\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Newsom Signs Ambitious Bill to Boost Housing Density Near Public Transit | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> has taken a major step to clear the way for developers across the state to build new, taller apartments near\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/public-transit\"> transit hubs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Friday that would allow for the construction of denser multi-family housing in neighborhoods within a half-mile of bustling train and bus stops on major transit networks like BART, Caltrain or the L.A. Metro rail system, overriding local zoning laws. Buildings closest to the transit hubs could go up to nine stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042670/controversial-housing-near-transit-bill-advances-to-next-stop-in-legislature\">SB 79\u003c/a>, has been viewed as one of the most significant \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">housing bills in decades\u003c/a>. It’s state Sen. Scott Wiener’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031302/wieners-controversial-bill-to-allow-housing-near-transit-is-back\">latest of several attempts\u003c/a> to spur new housing construction, a movement that has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057068/are-yimbys-winning-the-housing-debate\">political gains this year\u003c/a> — and, at the same time, to increase public transit’s revenue by drawing new ridership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SB 79 is a historic step toward tackling the root cause of California’s affordability crisis — our profound shortage of homes and too few people having access to transit,” Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, which will apply only to eight urbanized California counties with 16 or more passenger rail stations, also allows zoning for five- to eight-story buildings adjacent to light rail lines, as well as daily trains and rapid bus transit or streets with dedicated bus lanes. It takes effect July 1, 2026, in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, absent cities’ alternative plans for transit-oriented upzoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010450\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Scott Wiener speaks at a press event in front of the SFUSD offices in San Francisco on Oct. 21, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It will also allow transit agencies to set their own zoning rules on properties they own adjacent to transit-oriented development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents argue that a shortage of affordable housing has ensnared the state in an unaffordability crisis, exacerbated by “permitting, rezoning, and public funding barriers to build” affordable housing in the state, according to Wiener.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have [now] undone decades of housing prohibitions in our cities near the transit stations that we’ve all paid for, and we’ll start to see hopefully soon a [return] to the way California was envisioning its growth when we built these transit stations,” said Matt Lewis, a spokesperson for California YIMBY, a group that advocates for accelerating housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities must meet the housing targets outlined in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101885996/california-cities-struggle-to-meet-new-housing-planning-guidelines\">Regional Housing Needs Assessment\u003c/a> to avoid lawsuits, losses in funding and other consequences, including what’s known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945744/california-building-boom-a-new-law-promised-big-but-has-yet-to-deliver-in-the-bay-area\">the “builder’s remedy,”\u003c/a> which allows developers to sidestep local zoning restrictions if the city is out of compliance with state housing law.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Yet, how to achieve ambitious housing goals has caused controversy in a state where how and what to build is a touchy subject.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, city leaders are working on a plan to add more than 36,000 homes to the city’s west side and northern neighborhoods as part of\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12057448/on-sfs-west-side-a-push-to-protect-historic-landmarks-amid-plans-for-more-housing\"> a new “family zoning” push\u003c/a> that would exempt these parts of the city from SB 79. If the Board of Supervisors doesn’t approve that plan by January, the state will start to impose fines and withhold critical funding for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are real consequences if we fail to pass family zoning,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said Friday in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DPo2PTUEoEc/?hl=en\">Instagram post\u003c/a> about the carveouts in SB 79. “The state is ready with what they call the builder’s remedy, which means unlimited height and density on every block and stripping the city of all decision-making power on new projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In discussions in the Capitol, equity groups \u003ca href=\"https://wclp.org/sb79-oppose-unless-amended-to-protect-housing-input-affordability/\">argued\u003c/a> that the bill does not enshrine affordability requirements for new housing. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-sb-79-map-neighborhoods-address-housing-california-bill-bass-newsom\">urged Newsom to veto the bill\u003c/a>, saying that it would “erode local control, diminish community input on planning and zoning and disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods.” And homeowner groups have said they \u003ca href=\"https://archive.ph/MIOix#selection-3119.0-3134.0\">fear\u003c/a> the bill will \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/people-take-to-the-streets-of-south-park-to-protest-california-housing-bill/3897316/\">affect\u003c/a> the character of their neighborhoods and price out small businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the bill cleared political hurdles and narrowly passed both houses of the Legislature after adding provisions for labor unions, and by exempting areas that are already covered by local housing policy that promotes transit. That allowed it to avoid the fate of Wiener’s previous three attempts in the last seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s decision was highly anticipated for weeks. His signing represents a significant step in California’s housing experiment, alongside several other housing bills signed Friday — including one to slash red tape around converting office buildings into residences and multiple bills meant to streamline the construction of accessory dwelling units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/abandlamudi\">\u003cem>Adhiti Bandlamudi\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"order": 5
},
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
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