Coronavirus Tracker — SF Chronicle
“The average number of new coronavirus cases reported daily in the Bay Area for the week that ended June 6 and included the Memorial Day holiday with limited reporting was 177, down from 200 the previous week. The daily average for May, which included a backlog of more than 1,000 cases being reported in Alameda County on May 4, was 231. That number is down from 470 in April and down from more than 3,500 per day in January.”
S.F. makes city ID cards free, ends more fees and fines to help low-income residents — SF Chronicle
“The city will stop charging artists who sell their goods in designated street spaces and who are often low-income, immigrants or older people trying to support themselves. Families dealing with the deaths of loved ones, who can be homeless or low-income crime victims, will no longer have to pay for some documents and services from the medical examiner. It will now be free to get a city ID card, which many undocumented residents use. And people surrendering their animals or late to apply for a dog license won’t have to pay.”
School bus charter shutting down Bayview facility, laying off 228 — San Francisco Business Times
“The 228 affected employees include drivers, dispatchers, mechanics, fuelers and staff. The layoffs will become effective July 31, according to the filing. The Bayview facility is at 2270 Jerrold Ave.”
S.F. school bus contract complicated by accusation of corporate espionage — SF Chronicle (from 2/23/21)
“The San Francisco Board of Education introduced a resolution on Jan. 19 to award Zum, the bus contractor for the Oakland Unified School District, a five-year contract for $152 million. That was $17 million less than the bid by First Student, which describes itself as the largest school transportation company in North America, with 42,500 buses. A final vote is scheduled Tuesday, but First Student has asked the board to put the contract on hold while the company pursues its legal case against Zum and its consultant, Mark Frith. Frith was First Student’s day-to-day general manager in Northern California from March 2019 until December 2020 and presented the company’s contract renewal bid to the school board on Dec. 9. A day later, he signed a consulting agreement with Zum, and the following day, after announcing his departure, he downloaded First Student’s bid into his private email account, First Student’s lawyers said in court filings.”
Bayview Community and SFMTA Receive National Planning Award — SFMTA
“During a two-year open-ended planning process, the SFMTA partnered with five community-based organizations to develop a responsive and actionable plan that directly responds to the transportation needs, challenges, and values of Bayview’s residents.
Some of highlights from the plan:
- Community-driven Partnerships – The SFMTA partnered with local organizationsBMAGIC,Hunters Point Family,CYC,El Centro Bayview, andBAYCAT to prioritize including those hardest to reach and most vulnerable to transportation challenges.
- Showing Respect and Building Trust – Through a series of 22 interviews with community leaders & elders, the SFMTA created a Statement of Intent. This serves as a promise to the public of accountability, trust & transparency, preserving community voice, and delivering effective projects in a community historically subject to long planning timelines and limited improvements.
- Direct Public Outreach – The project team focused on meeting residents where they were, spending 295 hours speaking face-to-face with over 4,000 residents throughout a 14-month public outreach period.
- Equity Index - A tool for mapping vulnerability to transportation challenges, with definitions and calibration supplied by Bayview residents. This ensured the plan benefits those whom the community believes to be most in need.
- Youth Transportation Summit – The Girls2000 program worked with SFMTA staff to organize the summit for Bayview youth of color, attended by Supervisor Walton.
- “Next Stop” - A must-watch short-four-minute-film produced, shot and edited by young women of color in the Bayview. Discussing transportation, safety and advocacy, the film ends with the call to action: Sound Off! Be Heard!
- The SFMTA’s First Participatory Budgeting (PB) Exercise - Led by a Community Steering Committee of 12 residents & community leaders, Bayview residents directly voted on how to spend $760,000 to improve transit and transit access in their community.
- A Commitment of $3.61 Million – A transparently-developed set of priority projects based on the needs and lived experience of Bayview residents – with prioritization for funding based solely on resident input.”
Bayview Neighborhood Park $3.3M Makeover Includes Cool Kid’s Play Area — CBS San Francisco
“Improvements added to the park, located at 1 Lillian Court, include a new children’s play area equipped with new synthetic turf and a custom skywalk that connects to a climbing net and 25-foot slide. Other improvements to the park include a new picnic area and barbeque grill; a lawn; outdoor fitness equipment; new seating; new lighting; accessible pathways; and revamped landscaping that includes the addition of 14 new trees.”
What Works: Grassroots Solutions Around The Bay— KALW
“During the past year, COVID-19 hit some Bay Area communities harder than others. The neighborhoods that suffered the most have long faced racial and health inequities. This series presents stories of trailblazing leaders and groups who banded together to lift people up during the most difficult of times.”
How Mother Brown’s Brought The Dining Room To The People — KALW
“Mother Brown’s Dining Room has deep roots in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood. It has long provided hot meals to anyone in need, but when COVID-19 made it impossible to serve people inside, Mother Brown's came up with a lively approach to feeding people through the pandemic. In this story, tag along with a food delivery truck making its way door-to-door through Bayview.”
Umoja Health's Pop-Up Clinics Prove That Home Is Where The Healing Is — KALW
“The word Umoja means ‘unity’ in Swahili, and it's the inspiration for a network of about 30 Bay Area groups called Umoja Health. Their effort to understand the culture of local neighborhoods has helped ramp up COVID-19 testing and vaccination rates in the Bay Area's Black communities.”
