Plus: Massive layoffs are underway at Meta and make sure to double-check your BART and Muni travel plans this week, especially after February 1st.
The wildfires raging through Los Angeles are expected to be among the costliest in recent memory. At least 25 people have died as a result of these blazes, and it could (read: most likely) take years to recover.
The fires also exist as an example of how human-caused climate change continues reshaping our world — fueled by corporations. While our carbon footprints and ecological impacts matter, they pale in comparison to ones stamped by the world’s largest corporations and richest individuals, who’ve continually put “profit over people.:
“The major powers that time and time again have failed to take steps to benefit humanity and the planet. That’s why the wording on the back struck me as most fitting,” reads a post on Instagram from the official Bernal Hill Rock account. The rock, which continually sports different paint jobs — a cultural chameleon and pulse-check on the Zeitgeist, if you will — was pained by SF-based artist Kseniya Makarova, who found the message searing and all too fitting.
“Planet over profit. People over profit. When the dread hits hard enough, it’s easy to believe that maybe this is it, that we’ve gone too far in the wrong direction, that the horrors are too vast to take on,” she says on the project. “But that’s not true, and it’s not helpful.”
Makarova continues in the Instagram post highlighting the new Bernal Hill Rock, saying that her “heart is with everyone suffering in Los Angeles and beyond” and that this memorial might do “something for someone” passing it.
“Maybe it’s just for me but it’s something, may we all keep doing *something*, it means a lot,” she concludes. And we can’t help but both stan and agree.
What else transpired over the weekend? Let’s take a look
Meta is expected to lay off thousands of employees. The multi-pronged parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, the company formerly known as Facebook, which nearly doubled in value since 2020, is expected to lay off at least 3,600 workers, primarily those considered “low performers; Meta has yet to divulge how many of those workers will be from Bay Area offices. More info.
Bottlerock released its 2025 lineup. Napa Valley’s biggest music festival will host the likes of Justin Timberlake, Green Day, and dozens of other acts throughout its two-day music festival slated for Memorial Day weekend, May 23rd to 25th. More info.
SF Muni to officially cuts bus lines amid financial crisis cliff, while BART will reduce train schedules while the system gets a modern update. The $300 million SFMTA budget deficit means that many bus lines will be either altered or outright cut to help with fiscal issues, and BART’s floppy disk era is officially coming to a close but will require some delays for riders until the system is up and running. More info.
