News to Know Archives

San Francisco Rents Really Are Becoming More Affordable, IRL

9Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

San Francisco Rents Really Are Becoming More Affordable, IRL

The number of sub-$1,500 studios to rent in San Franciso on the market right now is truly refreshing to see. Converse with any San Franciscan for more than seven minutes, and the state of housing will inevitably come up — particularly as it pertains to current rents. Some will wax grateful for the rent-controlled units they’ve occupied for decades… and pay hundreds (not thousands) per month to rent. Others will present a different tone; these individuals are usually the ones who took pandemic deals presented for luxury rental units that aren’t protected from obscene rent hikes. San Francisco is a city of renters. 62% of San Franciscans fall somewhere in the rental spectrum. And while rents have continued to marginally increase from their late-2020 record lows, the rental housing marke...

Conservative YIMBY Group Quietly Onboards New Editor-in-Chief for The Bold Italic

7Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Conservative YIMBY Group Quietly Onboards New Editor-in-Chief for The Bold Italic

Months after GrowSF — the contentious political organization that poured money into the SF school board and DA Chesa Boudin recall elections — acquired The Bold Italic, the publication appears to have a new editor-in-chief. When it was announced in December of 2022 that GrowSF had acquired The Bold Italic, a collective weeping could be heard across the city. At 13 years old, the San Francisco-focused publication was beloved for its humanist angles and deeper editorial coverages. That fondness has quickly faded. Since its former editor-in-chief (read: me) departed in September of 2022, the publication has largely devolved into a collection of high-brow restaurant reviews and the occasional coverage of upper-echelon events in the city. But that’s not to say The Bold Italic hasn’t been w...

Are You Keeping Up With the Bay Area’s Giant Therapy Rabbit?

3Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Are You Keeping Up With the Bay Area’s Giant Therapy Rabbit?

Thumbing through the Instagram handle of Alex the Great — a nearly 30lb therapy rabbit at SFO — is an exercise in serotonin-scrolling. The San Francisco International Airport is no stranger to left-of-center therapy animals crisscrossing its terminals, offering relief from apprehensions around flying for those who pet them; touch them; hug them (when permitted). In 2019, SFO added a 5-year-old Juliana pig named LiLou to its “Wag Brigade” — a group of now sixteen therapy animals at the airport tasked with easing anxieties among passengers. LiLou quickly captured the hearts of thousands with her painted nails, flouncy tutu skirt, and ability to balance a captain’s hat atop her head as she trotted along the airport’s well-worn carpet. Among the gaggle of serotonin-affording mammals crui...

Let’s Revisit How Dangerous This Reported Piece on Former DA Chesa Boudin Was to San Francisco

27Feb

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Let’s Revisit How Dangerous This Reported Piece on Former DA Chesa Boudin Was to San Francisco

The San Francisco Standard’s 2022 display of one-sided journalism remains potent fuel for xenophobia and creates a lack of trust in hyperlocal news. *The following article was first published on Medium on May 18, 2022. Edits have been made to update its new publication date. We’re now almost a year from an election in San Francisco that featured a ballot measure — Proposition H, a.k.a. “Prop H” — that was backed by a majority vote and removed SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office. More than $2.7 million dollars were pumped into the election to recall California’s most progressive district attorney. As the San Francisco Chronicle commented in April of last year, the city’s “ultra-wealthy” have poured in funds toward the effort. Forbes detailed earlier this year how m...

This Guest Essay in The New York Times About San Francisco Is So Manipulative

27Feb

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Essays, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

This Guest Essay in The New York Times About San Francisco Is So Manipulative

It’s the editorial equivalent of gaslighting — a lantern carried by no other than SF billionaire Michael Moritz. San Francisco’s often the butt of far-right or centrism commentary about the unvarnished state of America’s cities. This seven-mile by seven-mile sliver of Northern California is a microcosm of societal issues that exist on a macro grade. Rising rates of homelessness, the ever-worsening fentanyl epidemic, an affordable housing crisis (that exists in tandem with ballooning rates of inflation), and climate crisis woes all exist in exacerbated fashions inside this 49-square-mile municipality. Mind you, these issues are by no means unique to San Francisco; they exist in every large city in the United States. As is common phrasing in the Golden State: “As goes California, so ...

On the Anxietes From Catalytic Converter Theft in San Francisco

22Feb

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Essays, News to Know

On the Anxietes From Catalytic Converter Theft in San Francisco

I became a statistic that sits in the growing number of catalytic converter thefts recorded in San Francisco. It also destroyed my mental health. I opened the door to my car with a familiar chime ringing in the background. The Diet Coke, nearly empty and blanketed in dew, sits in the cup holder; I’m aware that I’ll have to wipe up the puddle of condensation that will puddle on the bottom. Because I have a Prius Plug-in — an automobile that because of the current used car market *still* appraises higher than when I bought it back in 2017 — it started in electric-only mode. I put the car in reverse. I hear metal scrapping on the concrete; my mind first veers toward optimism, thinking that it might be an aluminum can wedged underneath the vehicle. I lay horizontal on the...

SF’s Golden Gate Bridge Had Hurricane-Level Winds Yesterday

22Feb

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis, News to Know

SF’s Golden Gate Bridge Had Hurricane-Level Winds Yesterday

This week's strong winds in San Francisco toppled trees in SoMa, snatched scones out of hands, and caused other headaches throughout the city. Tuesday, February 21st, was one of the windiest days in the Bay Area… in years. According to the SF Bay Area chapter of the National Weather Service, wind gusts in excess of 35 mph were common in virtually every Bay Area county yesterday; wind speeds above 60 mph were recorded by SFO and parts of the East Bay. Yesterday’s windstorms were so intense that buildings surrendered parts of their facades — pieces of construction that fell down to the sidewalks below, damaging cars and causing general mayhem. Trees bent like wet popsicle sticks, with one fallen tree leaving massive traffic delays near the Bay Bridge. But as powerful as those ...

Remember: There’s a Car Ownership Map of San Francisco

20Feb

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Remember: There’s a Car Ownership Map of San Francisco

And there’s a clear relationship between affluence and the number of cars one has in SF... as well as a need to have a CA driver's license. San Francisco’s neither a particularly car-friendly city nor a metropolis suited for easy driving. We’re not Los Angeles — thank God. The City By the Bay is, however, a 49-square-mile slice of Northern California that has a pro-public transit twang all of itself. Buses in SF are personified; rail lines, bus networks, and rapid transit trains offer places for contemplation, as well as an ability to go to and from most places in San Francisco with general ease Car ownership, nevertheless, is still a thing in San Francisco. And Safe Streets activist and unquestionably talented Stephen Braitsch, who’s also the creator of Safe Lanes and Bike ...

BART Debuts Its Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign. Then One of Its Board Members Was Racially Harassed on Public Transit.

18Feb

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Feature Pieces, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

BART Debuts Its Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign. Then One of Its Board Members Was Racially Harassed on Public Transit.

Leaving the launch of BART's "Let's Talk About Us" campaign at Powell Station, its board president had both racial names and gummy candies thrown at her taking an SFMTA line home. BART passengers — myself included — have become all too acclimated to problematic behaviors conducted while riding the Bay Area’s rapid transit trains. Yelling matches are common. Open-air drug use is not rare. Violent crimes and property theft continue to be central problems to rider safety. (However, it’s important to note that these issues aren’t unique to BART. Many public transit services in large urban areas face nearly identical problems, all of which have been exacerbated by rising rates of homelessness, the ongoing fentanyl epidemic, and upticks in certain types of violent crime.) Yes, there’s th...

San Francisco’s Viral Pancake Block Party Is Back, Baby

15Feb

By Matt Charnock2 Comments

Food + Drink, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

San Francisco’s Viral Pancake Block Party Is Back, Baby

Well… at least for this upcoming Sunday. But the popular San Francisco party is a welcomed way to make new SF friends in 2023. Curtis Kimball rose to hyperlocal notoriety in 2022 after his series of pancake block parties grew into popular events. The street outside his Bernal Heights home regularly saw hundreds of people congregate and line up for freshly flipped pancakes for the monthly pancake party. The flapjack festivities began with humble, endearing roots; it was conceived as an event for people to meet new people — fresh friends over hot pancakes, if you will. It was an act of frequent platonic cordiality that even landed Kimball an appearance on the "Today" show. “You don’t know the good things that might happen from putting yourself out there, but you know some good thi...