Here's what's happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW news:
How to solve San Francisco's homeless pooping problem // SF Gate
"While Mayor Ed Lee announced this week that 'the homeless must leave the street' for Super Bowl 50, it's more what they leave behind on the street that is a concern for the million or so people who have to walk a few blocks or a few miles in the city every day.
"Mayoral candidate and comedian Stuart Schuffman aka 'Broke Ass Stuart' has a solution, and it actually makes sense. 'Free to pee' signs in business, incentivized by tax breaks. And he's got a few more ideas in the video."
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S.F. property owner can’t give land away for affordable housing // SF Chronicle
"The Santa Barbara resident owns a 6,500-square-foot patch of land at 36 Amber Drive in San Francisco’s Diamond Heights. He would like to donate it for affordable housing and has hired an architect to draw up plans that could add 14 single-room-occupancy units to the property. But after two years of searching, Seligman has been unable to find a nonprofit housing builder willing to take both ownership of the eucalyptus-shaded land and guarantee the units will remain permanently affordable.
"Seligman’s inability to find a development partner exposes a weakness in the city’s affordable housing infrastructure, observers say. With limited resources to spend on such housing, agencies like Mayor’s Office on Housing is focused on large infill projects that can generate more than 100 units and are more efficient to build.
"'Even with free land and a very willing public lender, it’s difficult to figure out how to make a project on a small site economically feasible at deeply affordable rents,' said affordable housing consultant Scott Falcone, who has been working on the Amber Drive project."
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Berkeley man gets back stolen bike; second still missing // Berkeleyside
“A Berkeley man has been reunited with his stolen bike thanks to an alert resident who recognized it in the neighborhood — after seeing a post on social network Nextdoor — but the owner is still hoping to find a second identical bicycle that was also stolen from his home over the weekend.
“Monday morning, a man spotted someone cycling through Strawberry Creek Park on the bike, and recognized it from Braga’s Nextdoor post. The man called police to report it, and officers quickly responded. They were able to confirm that the bike belonged to Braga, and returned it to him.”
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Report: California's drivers are the nation's most stressed // Mercury News
“California's improved economy has brought commutes to an unprecedented slowdown from one end of the state to the other, making drivers here the most stressed out in the nation.
A nationwide report released late Tuesday found that motorists in California's congested population centers spend nearly two work weeks a year stuck in creep-and-crawl traffic -- nearly double the national average.”
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Human trafficking ring centerd in Danville, San Ramon busted // Inside Bay Area
"Authorities have busted a long-standing human trafficking operation centered in Danville and San Ramon in which several women were forced into prostitution to generate tens of thousands of dollars per month, according to a complaint filed by the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office."
