“I say this as a very strong supporter of safe injection sites: [The veto] can’t be used as a reason to not do everything that we possibly can right now,” he said.

“Some of my colleagues have said [safe injection sites are] not going to solve the problem, that we need to stop these drugs, we need to stop the drug dealing, we need to get people into treatment,” he added. “And what I said to them about that is, ‘Yes, yes and yes. So we had a small setback around the safe injection sites, but we need the yes, yes and yes to everything else in the meantime.”

Haney should expect the committee’s GOP lawmakers to push some of those other conversations, said Assemblymember Laurie Davies, a Republican who represents southern Orange County. She successfully pushed legislation this year that will make it easier to distribute fentanyl tests, which allow people to detect the presence of the deadly opioid in other drugs.

“There’s a lot of other things that we need to work on. But I’m just grateful that eyes are opening and they realize this is a crisis and we can do something to stop it,” she said, adding that one part of the conversation needs to be around prosecuting people who sell deadly fentanyl.

“This isn’t just an inner-city problem. It’s affecting every parent, it’s affecting every race and every color,” Davies said. “We’re losing men, women, children, no matter what the races, what their religion is, what their party affiliation is. This is something that affects every single Californian.”

One of those Californians who has been devastated by the impact of opioids is San Francisco resident Amy Cooper. She lost her son, John, to an overdose in 2014 — and then watched the dentist who had prescribed him the drugs without ever meeting him get acquitted at trial.

Cooper said since John’s death, she’s dedicated herself to advocating for solutions and educating people about the fentanyl problem. She said lawmakers need to focus on both education and accountability, including holding both doctors and pharmaceutical companies responsible.

“I can just tell you, 100%, we were uneducated and unaware. We had no idea that this was happening and that it was happening for our son. And then the results are just catastrophic,” she said.

Another aspect of the crisis that some hope to shed light on is the number of young people mistakenly buying drugs — often online — that turn out to be fentanyl. Lee Trope, a pediatric doctor at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said many of her patients seem to be experimenting with different substances and wind up becoming addicted to fentanyl or overdosing on it.

“They don’t realize what they’re buying, oftentimes on apps like Snapchat,” she said. “They think what they’re buying — they all call it ‘percs’ — they think they’re buying Percocet, which is a … less-potent opioid. And it’s pure fentanyl.”

Jayme Congdon, a pediatrician and researcher at UC San Francisco, said the new select committee will be raising awareness as it does its work — and she also believes shedding light on the issue is the first step toward change.

Congdon said 250 teens are dying in California each year from opioids. That’s seven times the number of pediatric COVID-19 deaths the state has witnessed.

“Because substance use and addiction are stigmatized issues, it’s just one of these topics that I think, you know, people think it’s not going to affect them or their families until it does,” she said. “We’re so pleased to see Assemblymember Haney is taking the lead on this issue so this crisis is hopefully going to start getting the attention that is warranted.”

The post San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney to Lead California’s New Opioid Committee appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

After living in the Bay Area for nearly seven years, Hari Raghavan and his wife decided to leave for the East Coast late last year.

They were both working remotely and wanted to leave California because of the high cost of living and urban crime. So they made a list of potential relocation cities before choosing Miami for its sunny weather and what they perceived was a better sense of safety.

Raghavan said that their Oakland house had been broken into four times and that prior to the pandemic, his wife called him every day during her seven-minute walk home from the BART station because she felt safer with someone on the phone. After moving to Miami, Raghavan said they accidentally left their garage door open one day and were floored when they returned home and found nothing had been stolen.

“We moved to the Bay Area because we had to be there if you want to work in tech and start-ups, and now that that’s no longer a tether, we took a long hard look and said, ‘Wait, why are we here again?’ ” Raghavan said.

He said there wasn’t much draw in California’s quality of life, local or social policies, or cost of living. “That forced us to question where we actually wanted to live,” he said.

An acceleration of people leaving coastal California began during the first year of the pandemic. But new data show it continued even after lockdowns and other COVID restrictions eased.

California ranks second in the country for outbound moves — a phenomenon that has snowballed during the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which tracked data from moving company United Van Lines. Between 2018 and 2019, California had an outbound move rate of 56%. That rate rose to nearly 60% in 2020-21.

Citing changes in work-life balance, opportunities for remote work and more people deciding to quit their jobs, the report found that droves of Californians are leaving for states like Texas, Virginia, Washington and Florida. California lost more than 352,000 residents between April 2020 and January 2022, according to California Department of Finance statistics.

San Francisco and Los Angeles rank first and second in the country, respectively, for outbound moves as the cost of living and housing prices continue to balloon and homeowners flee to less expensive cities, according to a report from Redfin released this month.

Angelenos, in particular, are flocking to places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Antonio and Dallas. The number of Los Angeles residents leaving the city jumped from around 33,000 in the second quarter of 2021 to nearly 41,000 in the same span of 2022, according to the report.

California has grappled with extremely high housing prices compared with other states, according to USC economics professor Matthew Kahn. Combined with the pandemic and the rise in remote work, privileged households relocated when they had the opportunity.

“People want to live here, but an unintended consequence of the state’s environmentalism is we’re not building enough housing in desirable downtown areas,” Kahn said. “That prices out middle-class people to the suburbs [and creates] long commutes. We don’t have road pricing to help the traffic congestion, and these headaches add up. So when you create the possibility of work from home, many of these people … they say ‘enough’ and they move to a cheaper metropolitan area .”

Kahn also pointed out that urban crime, a growing unhoused population, public school quality and overall quality of life are driving out residents.

“In New York City, but also in San Francisco, there are all these fights about which kids get into which elite public schools,” he said. “The rich are always able to hide in their bubble, but if the middle class looks at this quality of life declining, that’s a push factor to leave.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather cited a June report that tracked the change in spending power of a homebuyer on a $2,500 monthly budget. While 11.2% of homes in Los Angeles were affordable on that budget, using a 3% interest rate, that amount swelled to about 72% in Houston and about 50% in Phoenix.

“It’s really an affordability problem,” Fairweather said. “California for the longest time has prioritized single-family zoning, which makes it so people stay in their homes longer because their property taxes don’t reflect the true value. California is the epicenter of where the housing shortage is so people have no choice but to move elsewhere.”

While California experienced a major population boom in the late 20th century — reaching 37 million people by 2000 — it’s been losing residents since, with new growth lagging behind the rest of the country, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state’s population increased by 5.8% from 2010 to 2020, below the national growth rate of 6.8%, and resulting in the loss of a congressional seat in 2021 for the first time in the state’s history.

Although California has relied on immigration to offset its population decline for the past two decades, that flow has also shrunk, according to UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian.

Delays in processing migration requests to the US were compounded during the pandemic, resulting in the lowest levels of immigration in decades, according to US Census Bureau data.

Estimates showed a net increase of 244,000 new immigrants between 2020 and 2021 — roughly half the 477,000 new immigrant residents recorded between 2019 and 2020 and a drastic reduction from more than 1 million reported from 2015 to 2016.

The state is also seeing a dwindling middle class, said Ohanian, who cited a report from the National Assn. of Realtors, outlining that the national median home sales price has reached $416,000, a record high. Meanwhile, California’s median home price has topped $800,000.

“[California is] at a risk for becoming a state for very, very wealthy people and very, very low earners who receive state and local and federal aid that allows them to be able to live here,” Ohanian said. “We should worry about those in the middle who are earning that $78,000 household median income and is, at the end of the day, really struggling, especially if they have interest in buying a home.”

Los Angeles County, in particular, has suffered from slowed population growth, as have rural parts of the state, while Orange County, Sacramento and some parts of the Bay Area have managed to see some gains, the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Fairweather said that since she last lived in Los Angeles in 2016, she’s noticed fewer affordable places to rent.

“It used to be that Santa Monica and Beverly Hills were expensive, but you could find affordable housing on the Eastside,” she said. “But that got expensive and you had to find housing near South Central. Now, there’s nowhere within a two-hour commute of downtown Los Angeles that’s still affordable.”

Bay Area native Kenny Phung, who made the exodus from California last fall when his partner got into nursing school in Portland, Ore., said high rent prices helped cement the decision to move out of state. Phung was living with three roommates in Los Angeles for $3,600 total per month but found a two-bedroom apartment for less than half that price in Portland. He’s currently working as a project manager at a San Jose-based company that allows him to work remotely.

“It just didn’t make sense,” Phung said. “Why would I want to live in California when I’m working from home and paying something outrageous for such a small space when I can try things out and be able to save money on rent?”

Housing was also a major factor in Raghavan’s decision to leave the Golden State, he said, adding that downtown Miami has multiple skyscrapers, more affordable housing, well-paved roads and better infrastructure and services.

“The Bay Area has become a land of minor inconveniences, and some are not-so-minor anymore,” he said. “Housing and real estate have ripples across everything. It makes rent more expensive for restaurants, which raises food prices, and it causes people to commute over longer distances. Everything becomes a burden.”

The post California exodus continues: L.A., San Francisco paved the way appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

After living in the Bay Area for nearly seven years, Hari Raghavan and his wife decided to leave for the East Coast late last year.

They were both working remotely and wanted to leave California because of the high cost of living and urban crime. So they made a list of potential relocation cities before choosing Miami for its sunny weather and what they perceived was a better sense of safety.

Raghavan said that their Oakland house had been broken into four times and that prior to the pandemic, his wife called him every day during her seven-minute walk home from the BART station because she felt safer with someone on the phone. After moving to Miami, Raghavan said they accidentally left their garage door open one day and were floored when they returned home and found nothing had been stolen.

“We moved to the Bay Area because we had to be there if you want to work in tech and start-ups, and now that that’s no longer a tether, we took a long hard look and said, ‘Wait, why are we here again?’ ” Raghavan said.

He said there wasn’t much draw in California’s quality of life, local or social policies, or cost of living. “That forced us to question where we actually wanted to live,” he said.

An acceleration of people leaving coastal California began during the first year of the pandemic. But new data show it continued even after lockdowns and other COVID restrictions eased.

California ranks second in the country for outbound moves — a phenomenon that has snowballed during the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which tracked data from moving company United Van Lines. Between 2018 and 2019, California had an outbound move rate of 56%. That rate rose to nearly 60% in 2020-21.

Citing changes in work-life balance, opportunities for remote work and more people deciding to quit their jobs, the report found that droves of Californians are leaving for states like Texas, Virginia, Washington and Florida. California lost more than 352,000 residents between April 2020 and January 2022, according to California Department of Finance statistics.

San Francisco and Los Angeles rank first and second in the country, respectively, for outbound moves as the cost of living and housing prices continue to balloon and homeowners flee to less expensive cities, according to a report from Redfin released this month.

Angelenos, in particular, are flocking to places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Antonio and Dallas. The number of Los Angeles residents leaving the city jumped from around 33,000 in the second quarter of 2021 to nearly 41,000 in the same span of 2022, according to the report.

California has grappled with extremely high housing prices compared with other states, according to USC economics professor Matthew Kahn. Combined with the pandemic and the rise in remote work, privileged households relocated when they had the opportunity.

“People want to live here, but an unintended consequence of the state’s environmentalism is we’re not building enough housing in desirable downtown areas,” Kahn said. “That prices out middle-class people to the suburbs [and creates] long commutes. We don’t have road pricing to help the traffic congestion, and these headaches add up. So when you create the possibility of work from home, many of these people … they say ‘enough’ and they move to a cheaper metropolitan area .”

Kahn also pointed out that urban crime, a growing unhoused population, public school quality and overall quality of life are driving out residents.

“In New York City, but also in San Francisco, there are all these fights about which kids get into which elite public schools,” he said. “The rich are always able to hide in their bubble, but if the middle class looks at this quality of life declining, that’s a push factor to leave.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather cited a June report that tracked the change in spending power of a homebuyer on a $2,500 monthly budget. While 11.2% of homes in Los Angeles were affordable on that budget, using a 3% interest rate, that amount swelled to about 72% in Houston and about 50% in Phoenix.

“It’s really an affordability problem,” Fairweather said. “California for the longest time has prioritized single-family zoning, which makes it so people stay in their homes longer because their property taxes don’t reflect the true value. California is the epicenter of where the housing shortage is so people have no choice but to move elsewhere.”

While California experienced a major population boom in the late 20th century — reaching 37 million people by 2000 — it’s been losing residents since, with new growth lagging behind the rest of the country, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state’s population increased by 5.8% from 2010 to 2020, below the national growth rate of 6.8%, and resulting in the loss of a congressional seat in 2021 for the first time in the state’s history.

Although California has relied on immigration to offset its population decline for the past two decades, that flow has also shrunk, according to UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian.

Delays in processing migration requests to the US were compounded during the pandemic, resulting in the lowest levels of immigration in decades, according to US Census Bureau data.

Estimates showed a net increase of 244,000 new immigrants between 2020 and 2021 — roughly half the 477,000 new immigrant residents recorded between 2019 and 2020 and a drastic reduction from more than 1 million reported from 2015 to 2016.

The state is also seeing a dwindling middle class, said Ohanian, who cited a report from the National Assn. of Realtors, outlining that the national median home sales price has reached $416,000, a record high. Meanwhile, California’s median home price has topped $800,000.

“[California is] at a risk for becoming a state for very, very wealthy people and very, very low earners who receive state and local and federal aid that allows them to be able to live here,” Ohanian said. “We should worry about those in the middle who are earning that $78,000 household median income and is, at the end of the day, really struggling, especially if they have interest in buying a home.”

Los Angeles County, in particular, has suffered from slowed population growth, as have rural parts of the state, while Orange County, Sacramento and some parts of the Bay Area have managed to see some gains, the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Fairweather said that since she last lived in Los Angeles in 2016, she’s noticed fewer affordable places to rent.

“It used to be that Santa Monica and Beverly Hills were expensive, but you could find affordable housing on the Eastside,” she said. “But that got expensive and you had to find housing near South Central. Now, there’s nowhere within a two-hour commute of downtown Los Angeles that’s still affordable.”

Bay Area native Kenny Phung, who made the exodus from California last fall when his partner got into nursing school in Portland, Ore., said high rent prices helped cement the decision to move out of state. Phung was living with three roommates in Los Angeles for $3,600 total per month but found a two-bedroom apartment for less than half that price in Portland. He’s currently working as a project manager at a San Jose-based company that allows him to work remotely.

“It just didn’t make sense,” Phung said. “Why would I want to live in California when I’m working from home and paying something outrageous for such a small space when I can try things out and be able to save money on rent?”

Housing was also a major factor in Raghavan’s decision to leave the Golden State, he said, adding that downtown Miami has multiple skyscrapers, more affordable housing, well-paved roads and better infrastructure and services.

“The Bay Area has become a land of minor inconveniences, and some are not-so-minor anymore,” he said. “Housing and real estate have ripples across everything. It makes rent more expensive for restaurants, which raises food prices, and it causes people to commute over longer distances. Everything becomes a burden.”

The post California exodus continues: L.A., San Francisco cleared the path appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Matthew Ros

→ The ouster of for­mer Im­munomedics ex­ec Us­ama Ma­lik cre­at­ed a CEO open­ing at Fore Bio­ther­a­peu­tics, which is tak­ing aim at BRAF mu­ta­tions fol­low­ing a re­brand last year. Matthew Ros has now stepped up to the tee box as CEO and a mem­ber of the board af­ter Ma­lik was em­broiled in an in­sid­er trad­ing scan­dal dur­ing his time at Im­munomedics that he chose to ad­dress in a rather cryp­tic LinkedIn post in De­cem­ber. A 17-year Bris­tol My­ers Squibb vet, Ros left Sanofi Gen­zyme in 2016 to be­come COO of Epizyme, where he had since been chief strat­e­gy and busi­ness of­fi­cer. Fore Bio, once known as di­ag­nos­tics com­pa­ny Nov­el­lus­Dx and chaired by for­mer Sanofi ex­ec Di­eter Weinand, is in a Phase I/IIa tri­al with its lead can­di­date FORE8394.

Brad Mar­gus

→ Brad Mar­gus is out as CEO of Take­da CNS spin­out Cere­vance, and Craig Thomp­son stands at the ready to take his place. Mar­gus will slide in­to the ex­ec­u­tive chair­man post at the end of this month and hand the reins to Thomp­son, the Pfiz­er and Mer­ck alum who got out of Dodge as chief ex­ec­u­tive of Neu­rana Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, where a re­cent Phase III bel­lyflop with tolperisone cast a bleak out­look on the com­pa­ny’s fu­ture. Be­fore his turn as Neu­rana’s chief, Thomp­son was pres­i­dent and CEO of An­thera Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and the COO at Tetraphase.

Christo­pher Sla­pak

→ Vor Bio CMO Christo­pher Sla­pak in­tends to re­tire with en­roll­ment in progress in its Phase I/IIa tri­al for acute myeloid leukemia pa­tients with high risk of re­lapse. The biotech from sci­en­tif­ic founder Sid­dhartha Mukher­jee is search­ing for can­di­dates to suc­ceed Sla­pak, the long­time Eli Lil­ly ex­ec who shed the in­ter­im med­ical chief la­bel at Vor in Ju­ly 2020. “Our plan has al­ways been for Dr. Sla­pak to build a team and in­fra­struc­ture to suc­cess­ful­ly ini­ti­ate the VBP101 clin­i­cal tri­al,” Vor chief Robert Ang said in a state­ment. “Now that we are ac­tive­ly re­cruit­ing with da­ta ex­pect­ed in the sec­ond half of 2022, we are mov­ing in­to an ex­e­cu­tion phase of the study. We have ex­pand­ed our clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions ca­pa­bil­i­ty and ex­per­tise to sup­port this ac­tiv­i­ty and now is a nat­ur­al time for this tran­si­tion.”

Joseph Ro­manel­li

→ Back in Feb­ru­ary, Mer­ck an­nounced that three peo­ple would re­place Frank Clyburn as the ex­ec left to serve as CEO at DuPont-ma­jor­i­ty owned In­ter­na­tion­al Fla­vors & Fra­grances (IFF). At the time, Mer­ck plucked up two ex­ecs from with­in, Arpa Garay (chief mar­ket­ing of­fi­cer, hu­man health) and Jan­nie Oost­huizen (pres­i­dent, Mer­ck Hu­man Health). And now, a for­mer Mer­ck ex­ec is com­ing back to take the third spot. Joseph Ro­manel­li was with Mer­ck for 25 years be­fore he took off less than a year ago to be­come CEO at Shang­hai-based Ji Xing Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals. Dur­ing his time at Ji Xing, Ro­manel­li helped lead the com­pa­ny to ink its li­cens­ing deal with LENZ Ther­a­peu­tics for its two pres­by­opia can­di­dates.

Now, in his new role, Ro­manel­li will man­age Mer­ck’s $22 bil­lion in­ter­na­tion­al Hu­man Health busi­ness and a team of 14,000 staffers. All three ex­ecs will re­port di­rect­ly to CEO Robert Davis.

Mean­while, the found­ing CEO at Ji Xing, Pe­ter Fong, will be re­tak­ing the reins at the com­pa­ny af­ter Ro­manel­li’s de­par­ture.

Ken­neth At­tie

→ Things aren’t look­ing good over at Imara. So much so that the com­pa­ny is lay­ing off 83% of its staff at the end of this quar­ter — the com­pa­ny’s SVP and CMO Ken­neth At­tie among them — leav­ing Imara with a mea­ger 6 em­ploy­ees and a hunt for strate­gic op­tions to look at next steps. The axe fol­lows the Phase IIb flops ear­li­er this month. At­tie joined the com­pa­ny in Jan­u­ary 2021 af­ter more than a decade at Ac­celeron as VP, med­ical re­search.

Leonard Mazur

→ Citius Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals is shak­ing things up at the top as the board has hand­ed Leonard Mazur the con­trols as CEO and chair­man. Start­ing May 1, My­ron Hol­u­bi­ak — Mazur’s pre­de­ces­sor and the for­mer pres­i­dent of Roche Lab­o­ra­to­ries — will be tran­si­tion­ing to ex­ec­u­tive vice chair­man of the board. Along with Hol­u­bi­ak, Mazur co-found­ed Leonard-Meron Bio­sciences, which merged with Citius in 2016. Mazur al­so found­ed and was CEO of Gen­e­sis Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals.

Along with Mazur’s move, Jaime Bar­tushak will al­so be tak­ing on re­spon­si­bil­i­ties as CBO in ad­di­tion to his cur­rent CFO du­ties. Fi­nal­ly, Citius has wel­comed Michael McGuire — who de­vot­ed more than a quar­ter cen­tu­ry to Roche — as VP, pro­gram leader for an­ti-in­fec­tives. McGuire di­rect­ed the Tam­i­flu team at Roche Lab­o­ra­to­ries and joins the com­pa­ny from Melin­ta Ther­a­peu­tics, where he served as SVP com­mer­cial, gov­ern­ment af­fairs and cus­tomer en­gage­ment.

Humphrey Gard­ner

→ Ear­li­er this month, Har­bour Bio­Med en­trust­ed its CLDN18.2xCD3 bis­pe­cif­ic an­ti­body HBM7022 to As­traZeneca in a deal worth $25 mil­lion up­front, and the Shang­hai com­pa­ny has tapped Humphrey Gard­ner as CMO. The no­madic Gard­ner has held po­si­tions at nu­mer­ous com­pa­nies in the last decade, start­ing with As­traZeneca, where he was VP trans­la­tion­al med­i­cine, ear­ly clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment. In that time pe­ri­od he’s al­so been SVP of clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment at Karyopharm; chief, med­ical on­col­o­gy for Evelo Bio­sciences; CMO at Sil­i­con Ther­a­peu­tics; and a CMO in res­i­dence for Roivant.

Al­bert Sey­mour

→ Fac­ing a rocky road with its phenylke­tonuria gene ther­a­py that they’re try­ing to repave, Ho­mol­o­gy Med­i­cines has pro­mot­ed Al­bert Sey­mour to pres­i­dent of the com­pa­ny. Sey­mour, the chief sci­en­tist at Ho­mol­o­gy since 2016, was SVP and head of glob­al re­search and non­clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment with Shire af­ter 13 years at Pfiz­er. The FDA put the clamps on Ho­mol­o­gy’s phenylke­tonuria tri­als in late Feb­ru­ary, with Bio­Marin run­ning in­to sim­i­lar reg­u­la­to­ry head­winds in this in­di­ca­tion a week ear­li­er.

→ The Maraganore Me­ter has resur­faced yet again as John Maraganore has been named a strate­gic ad­vi­sor at Sim­ba Gill’s Evelo Bio­sciences, along­side ex-MyoKar­dia CEO Tas­sos Gi­anakakos. A cou­ple weeks ago, we told you that the for­mer Al­ny­lam chief is on the verge of be­ing elect­ed to the board at Take­da, and Maraganore al­so racked up an­oth­er ad­vi­so­ry role at Treg biotech Aba­ta Ther­a­peu­tics.

Kel­ly Gold

→ Last sum­mer, Kel­ly Gold was pro­mot­ed to CBO and SVP of fi­nance at Camp4 Ther­a­peu­tics, the re­gR­NA biotech from Rick Young’s lab at the White­head In­sti­tute that net­ted a $45 mil­lion Se­ries A last sum­mer. This week, she proves that maybe all that glit­ters is gold, as she has been pro­mot­ed yet again, this time to CFO and SVP of fi­nance. Gold joined Camp4 in 2017 af­ter three years at Bio­gen.

→ In Michael Pari­ni’s first year as CEO of Free­line, the Lon­don biotech has notched a win in its ear­ly-stage Fab­ry dis­ease tri­al, while Pamela Foulds has suc­ceed­ed Julie Krop as CMO and Hen­ning Sten­nicke has as­sumed the role of chief sci­en­tist. This week Paul Schnei­der en­ters the fray as CFO af­ter a stint as SVP, fi­nance and op­er­a­tions with Exo Ther­a­peu­tics. Schnei­der, a for­mer fi­nance ex­ec at Aege­ri­on Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, was SVP, fi­nance dur­ing his three years at Case­bia Ther­a­peu­tics.

Venkat Yepuri

→ Chaired by ex-Gos­samer Bio CEO Sheila Gu­jrathi and mo­tor­ing along with a $111 mil­lion Se­ries B haul in Jan­u­ary, Cal­i­for­nia CAR-T play­er Imm­PACT Bio has ap­point­ed Venkat Yepuri as COO. Yepuri spent two decades at Am­gen, start­ing out as a glob­al strate­gic sourc­ing di­rec­tor in 2001 and ris­ing to VP, glob­al busi­ness so­lu­tions and chief pro­cure­ment of­fi­cer at the phar­ma gi­ant from 2017-21.

Math­ias Oelke

→ Math­ias Oelke has earned a pro­mo­tion to CSO at Nex­Im­mune, where Kristi Jones suc­ceed­ed Scott Carmer as CEO in late Feb­ru­ary. Oelke, a sci­en­tif­ic co-founder, was pre­vi­ous­ly SVP, pre­clin­i­cal im­munother­a­py and head of cell bi­ol­o­gy since 2017. Nex­Im­mune’s two lead as­sets— NEXI-001 for re­lapsed AML and NEXI-002 for mul­ti­ple myelo­ma — have ad­vanced to Phase I/II tri­als.

Venkat Ra­manan

→ Turn­stone Bi­o­log­ics, the Take­da vi­ral im­munother­a­py part­ner whose $80 mil­lion Se­ries D last sum­mer dwarfed its pre­vi­ous three rounds, is swing­ing the door open for Venkat Ra­manan as CFO and Joseph Camp­isi as gen­er­al coun­sel. Ra­manan held a hand­ful of fi­nance po­si­tions at Gilead and then piv­ot­ed to his lat­est stop at Seagen, where he would be pro­mot­ed to SVP of fi­nance. Camp­isi, the deputy gen­er­al coun­sel for a por­tion of his 16 years at Bris­tol My­ers, was re­cent­ly EVP, gen­er­al coun­sel and sec­re­tary with Scor­pi­on Ther­a­peu­tics.

Ras­mus Holm-Jor­gensen

→ Ras­mus Holm-Jor­gensen leads a huge cast that has ven­tured off to Acrivon Ther­a­peu­tics, Pe­ter Blume-Jensen’s bid to re­vive the old Eli Lil­ly drug prex­as­ert­ib (now known as ACR-368). Holm-Jor­gensen, Acrivon’s new CFO, spent 11 years at No­vo Nordisk and helped build Kiniksa from the ground up in 2015 as chief strat­e­gy and port­fo­lio of­fi­cer. Join­ing Holm-Jor­gensen are the fol­low­ing ex­ecs: Bruce Close (VP of qual­i­ty and com­pli­ance); James Dun­yak (VP of bio­sta­tis­tics); Joon Jung (VP and head of da­ta sci­ence); Crys­tal Mer­ca­do (glob­al head of HR); Thomas Ni­fong (head of clin­i­cal CDx op­er­a­tions); Sam Rua (VP of CDx reg­u­la­to­ry); and John van Duzer (VP of CMC).

Ehab El-Gabry

→ Roche vet Ehab El-Gabry has signed on as CMO of As­traZeneca spa­tial bi­ol­o­gy part­ner Akoya Bio­sciences, which has made sev­er­al ap­point­ments in the past year, in­clud­ing for­mer Park­er In­sti­tute for Can­cer Im­munother­a­py COO Fred­er­ic Pla. Be­fore tak­ing on this role, El-Gabry had been se­nior med­ical di­rec­tor for Per­son­al­ized Health Care So­lu­tions (PCHS) at Roche Tis­sue Di­ag­nos­tics.

Sarah Math­ieson

→ Fo­cused on he­pati­tis delta virus but boast­ing pos­i­tive re­sults with pegin­ter­fer­on lamb­da for Covid-19 last month, Eiger Bio­Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals has scaled more lead­er­ship peaks to find chief tech­ni­cal of­fi­cer Chris Kurtz and SVP of cor­po­rate af­fairs Sarah Math­ieson. Kurtz left Gilead, where he was head of com­mer­cial API man­u­fac­tur­ing, to be­come EVP of tech­ni­cal op­er­a­tions at Cidara Ther­a­peu­tics in late 2020. Mean­while, Math­ieson — a 10-year GSK alum who was the Big Phar­ma’s glob­al head of R&D com­mu­ni­ca­tions and glob­al head of com­mu­ni­ca­tions and en­gage­ment for GSK Con­sumer Health­care — was re­cent­ly the EVP, cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ca­tions, pa­tient ad­vo­ca­cy and en­gage­ment with Adamas Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals.

→ Aaron Os­borne has been ap­point­ed CMO and chief de­vel­op­ment of­fi­cer at Nanoscope Ther­a­peu­tics, a Dal­las biotech de­vel­op­ing gene ther­a­pies for reti­nal dis­eases, join­ing Anil Lal­wani (VP of CMC and qual­i­ty) and Jared Stephens (VP of strat­e­gy and BD) as the newest ex­ecs. At Ad­verum, Os­borne most re­cent­ly served as CMO, and he has al­so held po­si­tions at Genen­tech, Al­con, No­var­tis and Bay­er.

Vir­ginia Casadas

→ Got­ta have Faeth: Thomas Strack is on board as CMO of Faeth Ther­a­peu­tics, while Vir­ginia Casadas joins the San Fran­cis­co-based squad as head of clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions. Strack had led clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment at Mol­e­c­u­lar Tem­plates, and Casadas — a Pfiz­er and No­var­tis vet — is the ex-di­rec­tor, clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions at Vir Biotech­nol­o­gy. The sci­en­tif­ic co-founders at the AI-dri­ven can­cer me­tab­o­lism com­pa­ny in­clude Lewis Cant­ley, Sid Mukher­jee and Can­cer Re­search UK’s Karen Vous­den.

→ Tread­well Ther­a­peu­tics has brought on JD Mow­ery as COO. Mow­ery makes his way to the com­pa­ny with plen­ty of ex­pe­ri­ence un­der his belt from his times at Genen­tech, Lon­za, Juno/Cel­gene and AGC Bi­o­log­ics. Dur­ing his most re­cent stint at AGC, Mow­ery served as EVP, US op­er­a­tions.

→ Austin-based Maxwell Bio­sciences has ush­ered in Ed­ward Rud­nic as COO. Rud­nic was the founder, chair­man and CEO of Mid­dle­Brook Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and has pre­vi­ous ex­pe­ri­ence in stints at Shire, Vivre­on Bio­sciences, QRx Phar­ma, Union­Bridge Man­age­ment, Mer­ck and Bris­tol My­ers.

→ Just af­ter pulling in Dan Devine as CBO and gen­er­al coun­sel last week, Aussie biotech Vaxxas is now wel­com­ing aboard Scott Fry as COO. Fry hails from El­lume where he served as chief op­er­a­tions of­fi­cer and was re­spon­si­ble for the de­vel­op­ment and com­mer­cial­iza­tion of rapid tests for de­tect­ing dengue, in­fluen­za A, in­fluen­za B, group A strep­to­coc­cus, res­pi­ra­to­ry syn­cy­tial virus and Covid-19.

Lu­cas Vi­tale

→ A month re­moved from Sid­dhartha Ka­dia’s ap­point­ment as CEO, dig­i­tal cell bi­ol­o­gy play­er Berke­ley Lights has re­cruit­ed Lu­cas Vi­tale as chief hu­man re­sources of­fi­cer. Vi­tale just had a short stay as SVP of hu­man re­sources at Are­na Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, part of what Pfiz­er hopes is a con­tin­ued M&A blitz that re­cent­ly in­clud­ed the $525 mil­lion buy­out of Re­Vi­ral. He al­so climbed up the ranks to fin­ish his sev­en years at Nu­Va­sive as chief hu­man re­sources of­fi­cer.

→ An­oth­er Are­na vet has cho­sen a dif­fer­ent path: Patrick Mal­loy is now SVP, in­vestor re­la­tions and strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tions for Lu­ca Santarel­li at Vec­tivBio. Af­ter 16 years at Acte­lion, Mal­loy joined Are­na as se­nior di­rec­tor, glob­al mar­ket de­vel­op­ment for its PAH drug ra­linepag, earn­ing a pro­mo­tion to VP, in­vestor re­la­tions and strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

Sami­ra Shaikhly

→ Third Rock-backed re­gen­er­a­tive play Am­bys Med­i­cines is bring­ing in a new duo to its lead­er­ship team with the ap­point­ments of Sami­ra Shaikhly as chief hu­man re­sources of­fi­cer and John McK­eon as VP of fi­nance. Shaikhly spent 15 years over at Gilead — cul­mi­nat­ing in her most re­cent role as glob­al head of hu­man re­sources, cor­po­rate func­tion — be­fore mak­ing her way to Am­bys. Mean­while, McK­eon hops aboard af­ter serv­ing as se­nior di­rec­tor of fi­nan­cial plan­ning and analy­sis at Al­lakos and has oth­er stints at Jaguar Health, Bio­Marin, Avinger and Genen­tech un­der his belt.

→ ProMIS Neu­ro­sciences has reeled in Lar­ry Alt­stiel as CMO. Alt­stiel tacks on this role to his cur­rent re­spon­si­bil­i­ties as part time CMO at Pin­teon Ther­a­peu­tics. Ear­li­er in his ca­reer, Alt­stiel served as VP and head of neu­ro­science clin­i­cal re­search at Pfiz­er.

→ Boul­der, CO-based Enve­da Bio­sciences has made room on its ex­ec team for Robert Buck­ley as chief peo­ple of­fi­cer. Buck­ley most re­cent­ly served as chief peo­ple of­fi­cer at Rain­Fo­cus and has pri­or ex­pe­ri­ence at Mi­no­va In­ter­na­tion­al, eBay, Gen­er­al Elec­tric and Thumb­tack.

Christo­pher Verni

→ Vig­il Neu­ro­science — which closed a $98 mil­lion IPO back in Jan­u­ary to fu­el its two ex-Am­gen TREM2 ag­o­nists — has wel­comed aboard Christo­pher Verni as gen­er­al coun­sel and Mary This­tle to its board of di­rec­tors. Verni most re­cent­ly served as SVP, gen­er­al coun­sel and chief in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty of­fi­cer at Sarep­ta Ther­a­peu­tics. Pri­or to that, Verni had gigs at ARI­AD Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, Gen­zyme and Pfiz­er.

Mean­while, this isn’t This­tle’s first board ap­point­ment as she sits on a num­ber of boards in­clud­ing Alaunos Ther­a­peu­tics, Ho­mol­o­gy Med­i­cines, En­tra­da Ther­a­peu­tics, En­terome and Co­coon Bio. This­tle cur­rent­ly serves as spe­cial ad­vi­sor at the Bill & Melin­da Gates Med­ical Re­search In­sti­tute and be­fore that, served as COO of Di­men­sion Ther­a­peu­tics. This­tle al­so has held roles at Ul­tragenyx, Cu­bist Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, PerkinElmer and Vi­a­cell.

Gabrielle Poiri­er

→ Com­pu­ta­tion­al chem­istry out­fit Nim­bus Ther­a­peu­tics has wel­comed two new ex­ecs while pro­mot­ing an­oth­er: VP of clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment Bhaskar Sri­vas­ta­va, a vet­er­an of J&J’s Janssen, has been el­e­vat­ed to SVP. Gabrielle Poiri­er (VP, clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions) just held the same post at an­tibi­otics biotech En­ta­sis, and the for­mer clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions VP at Pro­teosta­sis Ther­a­peu­tics was al­so an as­so­ciate di­rec­tor at Iron­wood and Alex­ion. Zak Huang (VP, reg­u­la­to­ry af­fairs) spent 11 years be­fore mov­ing on to CSL Behring to be­come head of glob­al prod­uct reg­u­la­to­ry strat­e­gy and lat­er the head of Chi­na R&D.

François Bi­nette

→ Enochi­an Bio­Sciences has ap­point­ed François Bi­nette as EVP for R&D. Bi­nette, who once worked in re­gen­er­a­tive med­i­cine at J&J, most re­cent­ly served as SVP of prod­uct de­vel­op­ment at Lin­eage Cell Ther­a­peu­tics. Ear­li­er this month, the Los An­ge­les-based de­vel­op­er of cell ther­a­pies for HIV and can­cer brought on long­time Pfiz­er vet Greg Duczyn­s­ki as SVP for clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions.

Ka­te­ri­na Left­heris

→ In its first Peer Re­view ap­pear­ance since COO Niru­pa­ma Sub­ra­man­ian joined the team, Third Rock-backed Rheos Med­i­cines has lined up Ka­te­ri­na Left­heris as SVP of drug dis­cov­ery and Nabil Ud­din as VP of strat­e­gy and busi­ness de­vel­op­ment. Left­heris, a Bris­tol My­ers alum, com­pletes a near­ly five-year run as VP of chem­istry at Pli­ant Ther­a­peu­tics, while Ud­din has ex­it­ed the stage at Con­cert Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals af­ter his time as VP of cor­po­rate de­vel­op­ment.

Ur­vashi Pa­tel

→ Gam­ma delta T cell out­fit IN8bio has two ap­point­ments that we didn’t get to dur­ing the short week last week: Ur­vashi Pa­tel has tak­en over as VP, reg­u­la­to­ry af­fairs, and Stacey Bilin­s­ki is the new VP, clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions. Pa­tel, who comes to IN8bio from her role as VP of reg­u­la­to­ry and qual­i­ty sys­tems at Wind­MIL Ther­a­peu­tics, al­so held po­si­tions at Janssen, Elan Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and Genen­tech. Bilin­s­ki most re­cent­ly served as glob­al se­nior di­rec­tor, op­er­a­tions at Tai­ho On­col­o­gy.

Su­san Flint

→ Alzheimer’s biotech Alzheon out of Fram­ing­ham, MA has di­aled up three new staffers: Su­san Flint (VP of clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions) al­so led clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions at Swedish biotech Wil­son Ther­a­peu­tics, which Alex­ion pur­chased for $855 mil­lion sev­er­al years ago; Patrick Kess­lak (VP of clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment & med­ical af­fairs) is an Am­gen and Al­ler­gan vet who was re­cent­ly the se­nior di­rec­tor, clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment for Re­vance Ther­a­peu­tics; and Er­wan de Nau­rois (VP of fi­nance) has left the role of se­nior di­rec­tor, fi­nan­cial plan­ning & analy­sis at Flag­ship Pi­o­neer­ing.

→ Boston-based Aileron Ther­a­peu­tics, whose lead pro­gram AL­RN-6924 fo­cus­es on p53-mu­tat­ed can­cers, has en­list­ed Christo­pher Zergebel as VP, pro­gram man­age­ment and clin­i­cal op­er­a­tions. So ends a long as­so­ci­a­tion with Tai­ho On­col­o­gy, where Zergebel was re­cent­ly VP, R&D ser­vices and VP, project man­age­ment.

Ashok Marín

→ With its lead bis­pe­cif­ic an­ti­body can­di­date ISB 1342 in Phase I for re­lapsed/re­frac­to­ry mul­ti­ple myelo­ma, Glen­mark spin­out Ich­nos Sci­ences has se­lect­ed Ashok Marín as gen­er­al coun­sel. Marín held the role of chief le­gal of­fi­cer for four short months at Rafael Hold­ings af­ter a year-long stay at Gilead as as­so­ciate gen­er­al coun­sel. He’s al­so been Mallinck­rodt’s VP, com­pli­ance & chief pri­va­cy of­fi­cer.

→ Dirk Sauer, who re­tired last year af­ter 31 years at No­var­tis, has been added to the board of di­rec­tors at Bal­ti­more-based Gray­bug Vi­sion, suc­ceed­ing Ger­ard Ca­gle. From 2011-21, Sauer was in charge of No­var­tis’ oph­thal­mol­o­gy de­vel­op­ment unit.

John Scar­lett

→ Geron pres­i­dent and CEO John Scar­lett will re­tire from the board of di­rec­tors at South San Fran­cis­co can­cer biotech Cy­tomX when stock­hold­ers meet on June 15. Scar­lett had served on the board since June 2016.

→ US-Aus­tri­an im­munother­a­py biotech Hookipa Phar­ma has elect­ed Tim Reil­ly to the board of di­rec­tors. Af­ter an 18-year run at Bris­tol My­ers end­ed in 2021, Reil­ly made the leap to HotSpot Ther­a­peu­tics as their chief de­vel­op­ment of­fi­cer.

→ Roque­fort Ther­a­peu­tics is ush­er­ing in Si­mon Sin­clair as non-ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor to its board. Sin­clair has held a num­ber of roles at J&J and Mer­ck. Cur­rent­ly, Sin­clair serves as chief safe­ty of­fi­cer at Reckitt Benckiser Group.

The post Transferring on from Usama Malik’s insider buying and selling imbroglio, Fore resets on the high; Takeda spinout turns to Neurana CEO to cleared the path – Endpoints Information appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A slow-moving central section of the 800-mile San Andreas Fault line in California could play host to much larger earthquakes than previously thought, according to a new study.

Situated between Parkfield and Hollister, the section undergoes aseismic fault, with two sides of the fault moving imperceptibly slowly, releasing stress over time without causing a large earthquake.

Whereas the main two sections sit, almost unmoving, grinding against each other slowly building up energy – until one day it comes out as a giant earthquake. 

However, a new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, found that this slow-moving region is also capable of producing large earthquakes on a similar scale as those elsewhere on the line.

They discovered this by looking back through the geological record for the fault, and found it has experienced earthquakes of magnitude seven and higher, which is on a par with the 1906 quake that destroyed San Francisco – the late ‘Big One’. 

The monster San Andreas Fault splits California from south to north, caused by two tectonic plates slowly grinding against each other over 800 miles.

This new discovery will only add to the risk of a ‘Big One’ happening, as many believe the region is long overdue for a quake on the scale of the 1906 event. 

A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, found that this slow moving region is capable of producing very large scale earthquakes on a similar scale as those elsewhere on the line

The monster San Andreas Fault splits California from south to north, caused by two tectonic plates slowly grinding against each other – always on the edge of producing ‘The Big One’ – a large scale earthquake that would cause death and destruction. Stock image

Genevieve Coffey, an earthquake geologist at GNS Science in New Zealand, who did his undergraduate study at Columbia, examined the three sections of the fault.

Each of the three sections can move independently, and in each case they are trying to move past each other in opposite directions.

In the most southerly and northerly sections of the fault, the plates are locked most of the time, stuck together in an immovable embrace, that causes stress to build up over years, decades and centuries that ‘has to come out at some point’.

When it finally releases this built up stress, it results in violent earthquake, caused by the two sides lurching past each other after years of being stuck. 

The central section is different – it sits between these two unmoving zones – and in this middle area the plates slip past one another at a steady 26mm per year, preventing extreme stresses from ever building up.

At least that has been the case as long as humanity has been monitoring this section of the San Andreas Fault. But the latest theory suggests it poses just as big of a risk as the static portions of the fault line.

Rocks drilled and removed from two miles below the surface suggest the central section has hosted many major earthquakes throughout history.

Some could have been fairly recent, at least within hundreds of years, rather than millions, according to the researchers. 

In the most southerly and northerly sections of the fault, the plates are locked most of the time, stuck together in an immovable embrace, that causes stress to build up over years, decades and centuries that ‘has to come out at some point’

The central section is different – it sits between these two unmoving zones – and in this middle area the plates slip past one another at a steady 26mm per year, preventing extreme stresses from ever building up

IS CALIFORNIA AT RISK OF A DEVASTATING MEGAQUAKE? 

The U.S. Geological Survey has warned the risk of ‘the big one’ hitting California has increased dramatically.

Researchers analysed data from the state’s complex system of active geological faults, as well as new methods for translating these data into earthquake likelihoods.

The estimate for the likelihood that California will experience a magnitude 8 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years has increased from about 4.7% to about 7.0%, they say.

‘We are fortunate that seismic activity in California has been relatively low over the past century,’ said Tom Jordan, Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center and a co-author of the study.

‘But we know that tectonic forces are continually tightening the springs of the San Andreas fault system, making big quakes inevitable.’ 

Seismologist Lucy Jones from the US Geological Survey warned that people need to accept the fact catastrophe is imminent, and prepare themselves. 

Dr Jones said our decision to not accept it will only mean more people suffer as scientists warn the ‘Big One’ is now overdue to hit California.  

They subjected the ancient rocks to a new type of chemical-analysis method that allowed them to gauge the heating of rocks during prehistoric quakes. 

It allowed them to predict how large these quakes would have been, finding evidence of quakes up to a magnitude seven within the central zone. 

‘This means we can get larger earthquakes on the central section than we thought,’ said Coffey, adding ‘we should be aware that there is this potential, that it is not always just continuous creep.’ 

California has been on edge, waiting for the next ‘Big One’, which many assume is long overdue, with increasing build-up of stored energy from the fault line. 

The northern section hosted the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco magnitude 7.9 earthquake, which killed 3,000 people and leveled much of the city.

It also caused the 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta quake, which killed more than 60 and collapsed a major elevated freeway. 

The southern section caused the 1994 magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake near Los Angeles, also killing about 60 people. 

Many scientists believe it is building energy for a 1906-scale event.

The central section, by contrast, appears harmless. Only one small area, near its southern terminus, is known to produce any real quakes – and at most magnitude 6.

These lower-level quakes are thought to occur every 20 years, and because of this regularity, the team behind this study hope to look for clues that might signal a coming quake – setting up an observatory above the city of Parkfield.

This includes a two mile deep borehole, which was used to extract the cores used in this study, as well as above and below ground monitoring instruments. 

They found changes to biomarkers in sediment surrounding the fault line in this area towards the southern border of the central section, going back hundreds, thousands and millions of years, that point to changes in the fault line. 

Study co-authors Pratigya Polissar and Heather Savage, found many such altered compositions in a band of highly disturbed sedimentary rock over 10,000ft below the surface – with evidence of more than 100 earthquakes. 

They subjected the ancient rocks to a new type of chemical-analysis method that allowed them to gauge the heating of rocks during prehistoric quakes

It looks like the fault jumped by more than five feet, suggesting the largest earthquake was at least magnitude 6.9 – similar to the destructive size of the Loma Prieta and Northridge events.

However, the team say there could have been much larger quakes in this ‘quiet’ central region, that they hope to detect as they improve their detection methods. 

They say quakes along the central section may have been similar to other large San Andreas events, including the one that destroyed San Francisco in 1906.

California earthquake hazard models, used to set building codes and insurance rates, already includes the ‘remote possibility’ of a big quake in the central section. 

The new study appears to be the first to indicate that such quakes have in fact occurred here. The authors say they could have originated in the central section, or perhaps more likely, started to the north or south, and migrated through the central.

WHAT ARE THE ‘SLOW EARTHQUAKES’ DETECTED IN THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT?

Geologists have long thought that the central section of California’s famed San Andreas Fault – from San Juan Bautista southward to Parkfield, a distance of about 90 miles (145 km) – has a steady creeping movement that provides a safe release of energy.

Creep on the central San Andreas during the past several decades, so the thinking goes, has reduced the chance of a big quake that would rupture the entire fault from north to south.

New research, however, shows that the earth movements along this central section have not been smooth and steady, as previously thought.

Research by two Arizona State University geophysicists found the activity has been a sequence of small stick-and-slip movements – sometimes called ‘slow earthquakes’ – that release energy over a period of months. 

Although these slow earthquakes pass unnoticed by people, experts say they can trigger large destructive quakes in their surroundings.

Synthetic aperture radar data for 2003 to 2010 let researchers team map the average rate of movement for the central section of the San Andreas Fault (black line). Red shows ground movement toward the southeast, and blue to the northwest

One such quake was the magnitude six event that shook Parkfield in 2004. 

‘What looked like steady, continuous creep was actually made of episodes of acceleration and deceleration along the fault,’ said Mostafa Khoshmanesh, a graduate research assistant in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE)

‘Based on current time-independent models, there’s a 75 per cent chance for an earthquake of magnitude seven or larger in both northern and southern California within next 30 years.’

He is the lead author of a Nature Geoscience paper reporting on the research.

‘We found that movement on the fault began every one to two years and lasted for several months before stopping,’ said Manoochehr Shirzaei, assistant professor in SESE and co-author of the paper.

‘These episodic slow earthquakes lead to increased stress on the locked segments of the fault to the north and south of the central section,’ Shirzaei said. 

He points out that these flanking sections experienced two magnitude 7.9 earthquakes, in 1857 in Fort Tejon and 1906 in San Francisco.

The scientists also suggest a mechanism that might cause the stop-and-go movements.

The central San Andreas Fault (green) is flanked by sections (red) that are far more active. New research, however, shows that the earth movements along this central section have not been smooth and steady, as previously thought

‘Fault rocks contain a fluid phase that’s trapped in gaps between particles, called pore spaces,’ Dr Khoshmanesh said. 

‘Periodic compacting of fault materials causes a brief rise in fluid pressure, which unclamps the fault and eases the movement.’ 

The two scientists used synthetic aperture radar data from orbit for the years 2003 to 2010. 

This data let them map month-to-month changes in the ground along the central part of the San Andreas fault. 

They combined the detailed ground-movement observations with seismic records into a mathematical model. 

The model let them explore the driving mechanism of slow earthquakes and their link to big nearby quakes.

From 2003 to 2010 (bottom scale), portions of the fault at different distances from Parkfield (left scale) moved at varying rates. Red shows periods when the movement was greater than average, blue when it was less

‘We found that this part of the fault has an average movement of about three centimeters a year, a little more than an inch,’ Dr Khoshmanesh said.

‘But at times the movement stops entirely, and at other times it has moved as much as 10 centimetres a year, or about four inches.’

The picture of the central San Andreas Fault emerging from their work suggests that its stick-and-slip motion resembles on a small timescale how the other parts of the San Andreas Fault move.

They note that the new observation is significant because it uncovers a new type of fault motion and earthquake-triggering mechanism, which is not accounted for in current models of earthquake hazards used for California. 

Dr Shirzaei said: ‘Based on our observations, we believe that seismic hazard in California is something that varies over time and is probably higher than what people have thought up to now.’ 

He added that accurate estimates of this varying hazard are essential to include in operational earthquake-forecasting systems. 

The post Gradual shifting central part of the San Andreas Fault may result in bigger earthquakes appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Der neue sichere Parkplatz der Stadt wird rund um Candlestick Point verstärkt durchgesetzt.

Ende Oktober kündigte der Bürgermeister von San Francisco, London Breed, Pläne für einen sicheren Parkplatz für Menschen an, die in ihren Wohnmobilen im Candlestick Point State Recreation Area im Viertel Bayview-Hunter’s Point untergebracht sind. Der geplante Standort wird 150 Parkplätze mit einer Kapazität für 177 Bewohner umfassen und über Strom, Beleuchtung, 24-Stunden-Sicherheitsdienst, Toiletten, Trinkwasser- und Schwarzwasserpumpen für die Entsorgung von Wohnmobilabfällen verfügen. Die Site, die offiziell als „Fahrzeugtriagezentrum“ bezeichnet wird, wird auch Fallmanagement- und Wohnungsdienstleistungen umfassen, die Menschen in eine dauerhafte Unterkunft bringen sollen.

Die Strategie ist teilweise eine Reaktion auf einen beschleunigten Trend, dass Menschen während der Pandemie in ihren Fahrzeugen leben. Im November lebten nach Angaben der Stadt 673 Menschen in Wohnmobilen, Wohnmobilen und Lieferwagen und weitere 332 in Personenkraftwagen in ganz San Francisco. Im Januar 2020 waren es 554 bzw. 260.

Für Menschen, die keinen anderen Unterschlupf haben, bietet das Wohnen in einem Fahrzeug Schutz vor Witterungseinflüssen, Hitze, einen Platz zum Schlafen, Kochen und die Toilette zu benutzen. Aber der Ansatz hat Nachteile; Trinkwasser zu finden ist schwierig, und Wohnmobile produzieren Abfall, der schwer zu entsorgen ist, was zu Beschwerden von Nachbarn führt. Und Beamte der Stadt fahren häufig ab oder ziehen Fahrzeuge ab, in denen Menschen leben. Die Parkgesetze der Stadt – einschließlich eines Parkverbots auf öffentlichen Straßen für mehr als 72 Stunden – machen es den Menschen, die in ihren Fahrzeugen leben, leicht, Tickets zu sammeln. Fünf oder mehr unbezahlte Tickets können dazu führen, dass ein Auto oder ein Lieferwagen abgeschleppt wird, manchmal auch als „Armutsabschleppdienst“ bezeichnet, da sie Menschen, die in ihren Fahrzeugen Schutz suchen, unverhältnismäßig stark beeinträchtigen.

Der neue Standort wird einen sicheren, sanktionierten Ort zum Parken sowie Ressourcen bieten, von denen die Stadt hofft, dass mehr Menschen mit Ressourcen verbunden sind und weniger Beschwerden über Schutt und Abfall auftreten. Aber die Stadt verdoppelt auch die Durchsetzung, um mit Wohnmobilen außerhalb des Parks umzugehen.

Und das geplante Gelände wird vorübergehend sein – die Stadt hat nicht angegeben, wie lange es dauern wird, verhandelt jedoch mit dem State Parks Department einen zweijährigen Pachtvertrag für das Land. Befürworter von Personen, die in Fahrzeugen untergebracht sind, befürchten, dass dies nicht lange genug sein wird, um Menschen dauerhaft unterzubringen – und die Stadt hat bereits eine Vorkehrung getroffen, um nahegelegene Wohnmobile abzuschleppen und zu bezahlen, wenn sie den sicheren Wohnmobil-Standort einrichten. Der San Francisco Chronicle berichtete, dass die Stadt eine Vereinbarung mit dem State Parks Department getroffen hat, dem das Land gehört, das die Stadt pachten wird, um die Polizeipräsenz im Park zu erhöhen und Fahrzeuge auf den angrenzenden Straßen abzuschleppen.

„Bei jedem Programm, das sie öffnen, kommt es zur Durchsetzung, weil das System es so macht“, sagt Kelley Cutler, eine Organisatorin der Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco.

Ob das Gelände im Candlestick Park den Bewohnern zu dauerhaften Unterkünften verhelfen kann, bleibt abzuwarten. Ein früherer Fahrzeug-Triage-Standort in San Francisco war von November 2019 bis November 2020 in Betrieb und zeigte laut einem Bericht des städtischen Rechnungsprüfers gemischte Ergebnisse. Der Standort, der auch vom San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) beaufsichtigt wurde, stellte 29 Parkplätze für 75 Personen in der 2940 San Jose Avenue in der Nähe des Balboa Park BART State zu Gesamtkosten von 1,6 Millionen US-Dollar zur Verfügung. Die Stadt schloss einen Vertrag mit einer gemeinnützigen Organisation, die Wäsche-, Dusch- und Sicherheitsdienste bereitstellte.

57 Prozent der Bewohner des San Jose Avenue-Geländes hatten Anspruch auf geförderten Wohnraum und der Rest war mit Fallmanagern verbunden, die versuchten, die Gäste durch „Problemlösung“ neu zu beherbergen, einschließlich Arbeitsvermittlung, Kleinstipendien und Kontaktaufnahme zur Familie Mitglieder. Aber der Bericht sagt, dass nur 25 Prozent der Bewohner das ganze Jahr über in Wohnungen untergebracht wurden. 8 Gäste wurden aus gesundheitlichen Gründen in Hotels untergebracht oder untergebracht. Und 7 Personen – insgesamt 3 Haushalte – wurden gebeten, die Website aufgrund von Verhaltensproblemen von Mitgliedern ihres Haushalts zu verlassen.

Next City bat HSH um Klärung der oben genannten Verhaltensprobleme, erhielt jedoch zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung keine Antwort.

Trotz des Versprechens, dass das Gelände zu einer Verringerung der illegalen Entsorgung von Wohnmobilabfällen führen wird – lange Zeit ein Problem im Park – hat das geplante Gelände vorhersehbar den Zorn der Einheimischen geweckt, die glauben, dass es die Präsenz von Wohnmobillagern verlängern wird. (Befürworter sagen jedoch, dass die örtliche Opposition gegen Menschen, die in Wohnmobilen leben, eine verstärkte Durchsetzung vorantreibt, die in Fahrzeugen untergebrachte Bewohner vertrieben und die Obdachlosigkeit verlängert hat.)

Das Viertel Bayview-Hunter’s Point war in der Vergangenheit mit Unterinvestitionen konfrontiert; es wurde Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, als es überwiegend schwarz war, neu gezeichnet; 1963 drehte der Autor James Baldwin einen Dokumentarfilm über seine schwarzen Bewohner, in dem er minderwertige Wohnverhältnisse und industrielle Schadstoffe hervorhob. In den 90er und 2000er Jahren wurde ein Großteil der schwarzen Bevölkerung durch die Sanierung vertrieben. Einige lokale Gegner der Site haben diese Geschichte als Beweis dafür angeführt, dass die Nachbarschaft als Wegwerfartikel behandelt wird.

„Ursprünglich dachten wir, ein Triage-Center für Fahrzeuge wäre eine gute Idee, aber wir wussten nicht, dass es im State Park sein würde, und das ist einfach ein schrecklicher Ort dafür“, sagt Marsha Maloof, die Präsidentin des Bayview Hill Nachbarschaftsverein, der sich dem Standort widersetzt. Maloof sagt, dass die Nachbarschaft und der State Park unter zu wenig Investitionen leiden und die Gemeinde jahrelang darum gekämpft habe, ihn offen zu halten. Es leidet immer noch unter einem Mangel an Müllabfuhr und nicht funktionierenden Toiletten, sagt sie.

Sie sagte, die Stadt könnte Ressourcen dorthin bringen, wo Wohnmobile derzeit geparkt sind, anstatt sie in den Park zu bringen.

Maloof und der Nachbarschaftsverband haben Gespräche mit Bürgermeister London Breed, dem Präsidenten des Aufsichtsrats von San Francisco, Shamann Walton, und mit der Stadtplanungskommission geführt, sagt jedoch, dass niemand offen für eine Änderung des Standorts schien.

„Das Vehicle Triage Center am Candlestick Point wird ein Maß an Dienstleistungen und Sicherheit bieten, das für die Menschen, die in ihren Fahrzeugen in der Gegend leben, benötigt wird“, sagte Bürgermeister Breed in einer Pressemitteilung.

Gwendolyn Westbrook, Direktorin des United Council of Human Services, bewirbt sich um den Vertrag über die Erbringung von Dienstleistungen auf dem sicheren Parkplatz von Candlestick Point. Die Ablehnung des sicheren Wohnmobilstellplatzes aufgrund der Geschichte des Viertels sei wenig sinnvoll, da der Wohnmobilstellplatz das Gelände sauberer mache und langjährige Bewohner dauerhaft beherbergen solle. Sie sagt auch, dass die Leute, die derzeit in der Nähe des Parks parken, langjährige Einwohner von San Francisco sind, die aus Erschwinglichkeitsgründen vertrieben wurden, und viele stammen aus dem Bayview.

„Die wissen im Grunde nicht, wovon sie reden“, sagt Westbrook über die Gegner des sicheren Parkplatzes. „Die Leute da draußen sind aus San Francisco. Sie haben hier draußen die Gentrifizierung durchgemacht und die Leute sind auf der Straße gelandet“, sagt sie. Einige der Leute, die im Lager leben, sind Leute, mit denen sie zur High School gegangen ist, und einige leben seit 15 Jahren in einem Fahrzeug in der Nachbarschaft, sagt Westbrook.

Westbrook hofft, dass die Stadt den Candlestick Park lange genug in Betrieb hält, damit die Menschen umgesiedelt werden können.

„Ich hoffe, dass sie es behalten können, bis die Leute in Wohnungen untergebracht sind, denn was soll das alles machen, und dann schließt man es und die Leute sind immer noch da?“ Sie sagt. Westbrook fügte hinzu, dass es einige Zeit dauern kann, bis die Stadt genügend Wohnungen für einkommensschwache Wohnungen baut, um Bewohner unterzubringen.

Laut Cutler with Coalition on Homelessness, der auch im Aufsichtsgremium für den sicheren Parkplatz an der San Jose Avenue tätig war, ist die Schwierigkeit beim Übergang in eine Wohnung ein Zeichen dafür, dass nicht genügend bezahlbarer Wohnraum zur Verfügung steht, um Menschen zu „triagieren“. der Sprachgebrauch der Stadt. Cutler sagt, dass die Daten des San Jose Avenue-Piloten auch durch die für die Site verwendeten Auswahlkriterien verzerrt sind. Nach Angaben des Rechnungsprüfungsbüros fand die Site Kunden, indem sie über ihr Homeless Outreach Team Flyer verschickte; Personen, die Anspruch auf geförderten Wohnraum oder andere Leistungen hatten, wurden priorisiert, ebenso wie Personen mit gesundheitlichen Problemen, die sich aus dem langfristigen Leben eines Wohnmobils ergaben. (Die Candlestick Point-Site wird auch nur auf Einladung zugänglich sein, was nach Ansicht der Stadt wichtig ist, um zu verhindern, dass sich mehr Wohnmobile von außerhalb der Nachbarschaft versammeln, was als “Magneteffekt” bezeichnet wird.)

„Im Grunde haben sie sich die Rosinen ausgesucht, wer reingekommen ist, und die anderen haben sich einfach nicht qualifiziert, und die Quoten, mit denen Leute von dort ins Wohnungswesen kommen, waren nicht großartig“, sagt Cutler. Bei der Suche nach Personen, die sich für eine Wohnung qualifiziert haben, besteht die Gefahr, dass das Programm Leute auslässt, sagt Cutler. „Innerhalb der Wohnmobilbevölkerung ist das sehr vielfältig, es gibt Familien, Senioren, Berufstätige, viele Menschen unter diesem Dach, die in Fahrzeugen leben.“

Die Zunahme der Durchsetzung trotz fehlender offizieller Dienste ist ein Thema, das sich in der Vergangenheit der Koalition gegen Obdachlosigkeit angenommen hat. In einem kürzlich veröffentlichten Bericht beschuldigte die gemeinnützige Organisation das Healthy Streets Operating Center, die behördenübergreifende Taskforce der Stadt, die für die Räumung von Lagern zuständig ist, Durchsuchungen durchzuführen, unabhängig davon, ob Ressourcen für die Menschen, die zum Verlassen aufgefordert wurden, verfügbar waren oder nicht. Dies würde gegen Martin gegen Boise verstoßen, der behauptete, dass Beamte keine Obdachlosenlager ohne verfügbare Unterkünfte räumen können.

„Ich kann Ihnen nicht sagen, wie oft Leute nur um diese magische Karte gebeten haben, die Sie jemandem geben können, der nicht untergebracht ist“, sagt Cutler. „Es ist nicht so, dass die Leute serviceresistent sind, sondern dass es nur sehr wenige Ressourcen gibt.“

Cutler sagt, dass es einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Pushback der Gemeinde wie dem der Nachbarschaftsvereinigung und der Durchsetzung gibt; Dies führt oft dazu, dass die Stadt die Durchsetzung jedes Mal erhöht, wenn neue Obdachlosendienste wie ein Tierheim oder eine Navigationsseite eröffnet werden. Und obwohl Programme wie der sichere Parkplatz nur vorübergehend sind, bleiben die Beschränkungen in der Regel noch lange nach ihrer Aufhebung bestehen.

„Egal, wohin Sie in der Stadt gehen, um Ressourcen für Menschen ohne Unterkunft zu schaffen, es ist ein Kampf“, sagt Cutler. „Um die Gemüter der jetzigen Bewohner zu beruhigen, setzen sie weiterhin mehr Strafverfolgungsbehörden ein. Das ist kein Problem der Strafverfolgung.“ Sie sagt, dass Fahrzeuggemeinschaften aufgrund von Nachbarschaftsbeschwerden ständig vertrieben werden, nur um sich in einer neuen Nachbarschaft zu versammeln, wo sie schließlich vertrieben werden. „Das geht schon seit Jahren so“, sagt sie.

Im Moment treibt die Stadt den Plan für einen vorübergehend sicheren Wohnmobilstellplatz und eine verstärkte Durchsetzung voran und strebt einen Starttermin im Januar 2022 an. Anfang November richtete die Stadt auch einen Notfall-Wohnmobilstellplatz in der Carroll Avenue 1236 für Menschen ein, die in Fahrzeugen entlang des Hunters Point Expressway leben, die von den jüngsten Stürmen betroffen waren. Dieser Park bleibt geöffnet, bis der Candlestick Point-Standort fertig ist, sagt die Stadt.

Cutler sagt insgesamt, dass der Plan, den Leuten Ressourcen zur Verfügung zu stellen, gut ist Ernennung, das geht in die richtige Richtung“, sagt Cutler. Sie warnt jedoch davor, dass es eine falsche Bezeichnung ist, es als Triage-Zentrum zu bezeichnen, da dies impliziert, dass alle Menschen direkt in eine dauerhafte Unterkunft übergehen werden. “Das ist einfach nicht die Realität, die Realität ist, dass es Zeit brauchen wird.”

Anmerkung der Redaktion: Nach Redaktionsschluss stellte das San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) Next City eine Kopie der Ausschreibung für den sicheren Parkplatz zur Verfügung, die besagt, dass der Standort 4 Mitarbeiter und einen Fallmanager beschäftigen wird und wird Überweisungen zu psychischen Erkrankungen, Sozialleistungen und Arbeitsvermittlungsstellen anbieten.

Auf Fragen zu Personen, die zur Ausreise aufgefordert wurden, sagte die HSH, sie könne sich zu bestimmten Fällen nicht äußern, nannte aber eine Liste möglicher Verstöße, darunter die Verweigerung der Einhaltung von Maskenpflichten, Gewalttaten, „störendes Verhalten“, das ein klares Risiko darstellt an andere, die eine Waffe und Eigentumsvernichtung besitzen.

Roshan Abraham ist Korrespondentin für Wohnungswesen von Next City und ehemaliger Stipendiat von Equitable Cities. Er hat seinen Sitz in Queens. Folgen Sie ihm auf Twitter unter @roshantone.

The post San Francisco Will Open a Protected Web site For Folks Residing In RVs, However It May Lead To Extra Towing appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO-TV) – Winter is just around the corner, which means the Minnesotans will be cranking up the heat. This winter could be challenging for those who have old or broken stoves due to global supply chain issues.

As in many industries, the supply of ovens and their parts is secured. The pandemic is to blame.

CONTINUE READING: Morgan Hill Church pastor faces multiple child abuse charges; Police are looking for more victims

None of us have experienced this supply chain problem,” said Andy Ryan, president of Homeworks Plumbing, Heating, and Air in Eagan, Minnesota. “This is hopefully a one-off problem that we can all face, take care of, and hopefully never happen again.”

With cooler temperatures, now is the time to make sure your oven is ready to use.

“We always recommend that our customers do their annual furnace polls,” said Ryan. “So if you haven’t hired yet, call Homeworks, call another company. Get someone to watch this. Get the status of your heating system. To make sure it is safe, it works properly and works efficiently. “

CONTINUE READING: ‘Back to normal on tiptoe’; Marin County is easing mask requirements for vaccinated residents indoors

It is possible to wait months to get the oven you want. Homeworks has done its best to replenish inventory to address the supply chain problem. But prices keep rising.

“Every month that goes by, prices go up. This year alone we’ve seen five price increases for ovens and air conditioners, ”said Ryan. “That’s why we recommend our customers that the earlier they buy, the more likely it is that they will pay a lower price, the longer they wait, the higher the costs will be.”

To keep your wallet full and your home warm, it is better to act sooner.

MORE NEWS: Contra Costa health officials await delivery of 20,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine for teenagers

“The worst thing you can do in Minnesota, which is just around the corner, is minus 20 degrees without being stuck in the heat and having to pick an inferior product,” said Ryan.

The post Provide Chain Points Lead To Restricted Furnace Provide As Winter Nears – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Giovanni Colella and his wife, son, parents and nanny will be among the first tenants to rent the Four Seasons Private Residences in downtown San Francisco this month. In the heart of the city, where spacious condominiums are scarce and outdoor space is unavailable even for the $ 46 million worth of penthouse listed nearby, their 4,600 square foot home is a marvel.

The Four Seasons consists of 146 private units stacked in two buildings: a new 45-story glass and steel tower built by Handel Architects and the 10-story Aronson building, a landmark that marks the earthquake of the The city survived in 1906. The Colellas’ unit is located on the roof of the Aronson with 1,000 m² of outdoor terraces, but the lush living space then protrudes into the tower and extends over both buildings.

Colella, a psychiatrist turned serial healthcare technology entrepreneur, with 256,000 followers on LinkedIn, and his wife Vanessa – Chief Innovation Officer at Citi – consider the home a “multigenerational village” in the heart of the city, just steps away from the Museum of Modern Art and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The fact that both locations are closed due to Corona restrictions appears to him to be irrelevant in view of the long-term nature of the purchase.

“The city keeps coming back,” he says. “I love going to the opera, I love the symphony, and everything is right next door. . . Lake Tahoe wouldn’t do that for me. “

The Grand Penthouse in the Four Seasons Private Residences

At $ 12.6 million, their unit is the most expensive San Francisco condo sale since the pandemic began. Your purchase is a bet on the city’s resilience at a time when many are descending from California, even Elon Musk moving to Texas and magnate Larry Ellison now to Hawaii. As recently as last month, the New York Times reported that the tech crowd “can’t leave the Bay Area fast enough”.

According to Zillow, the pandemic exodus led to a glut of supply, with new listings in August increasing by 183 percent over the previous year. The California Association of Realtors said sales in May were down 51 percent year over year. By January, after 11 consecutive months of decline, rental rates in San Francisco were down 27 percent year-over-year, the largest drop in the United States, according to Apartment List.

However, it could already start to recover, led by the upper class. CAR data shows that home sales rose sharply again, up 40.2 percent in December, while home prices closed the year 16.4 percent higher. Data from Zillow suggests pending sales in the final week of 2020 rose 107 percent for the Bay Area and 117 percent for San Francisco alone.

In the first month of 2021, property sales in San Francisco were up a “whopping 67 percent” year over year, according to Compass, a real estate company. It adds, “The market seems to be warming up a lot faster than usual.”

“A story of two markets”

For Chris Glynn, Zillow’s senior economist, the trend is clear: “The early narratives about ‘cities die’ are way over the top,” he says.

Spurred on by low interest rates, a soaring stock market, and the biggest year for IPOs since the dot-com bubble, luxury homes are leading a real estate recovery in San Francisco. CAR calls it “a story of two markets”.

The rebound has exposed inequality: sales of homes priced below $ 300,000 have declined but increased 85 percent for those over $ 2 million © Bloomberg

Gregg Lynn, a high-rise real estate agent at Sotheby’s, says the market turned in no time on the first weekend of November when the electoral college convened for Biden and Pfizer announced that its Covid-19 vaccine was 90 percent effective.

“These two big question marks about the future – leadership of the country, unknowns about Covid – were resolved within 24 hours,” he says. “On that day, the energy changed when buying condominiums in San Francisco.”

While 2020 was marked by a global pandemic sweeping across the world, destroying businesses and jobs, and causing masses of people to flee cities to move into larger homes in rural areas with more spacious “zoom spaces”, the The ultra-rich often thrived in isolation.

“There has never been so much wealth in the upper class,” says Joel Goodrich, a San Francisco luxury realtor with Coldwell Banker. “We had more than $ 10 million and over $ 20 million in revenue in 2020 than in 2019.” . Personally, I had the second best year of my real estate career. “

Goodrich says demand from international buyers has stalled due to the difficulty of seeing premium properties on a webcam. The void was filled by shoppers from across the US who view the effects of Covid-19 as temporary and see the less competitive shopping environment as a rare opportunity.

“In the last few weeks alone, in the range of $ 20 million to $ 30 million. . . We saw buyers from New York, LA, Boston and Canada, ”said Goodrich, who brokered the 2017 $ 17.8 million sale of the Bel Air property owned by Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. “Because in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, people still need a presence despite everything – we will remain the tech capital of the world.”

The “Manhattanization” of San Francisco has made critics lament that the soul of San Francisco is being robbed in favor of skyscrapers © Bloomberg

For some, the rebound feels like a justification. The San Francisco Chronicle recently documented the “cycle of change, rebirth, and chirp” from the end of the gold rush in the 1850s to the 1906 earthquake, the violent 1970s, and the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s.

For others, it simply underscores a wider shift in inequality in California, where real estate trends are as K-shaped as the economy is capitalized.

CAR data shows that while rents have declined and sales of homes priced less than $ 300,000 fell by a fifth in December, those priced above $ 2 million rose 85 percent are. The higher the price range, the stronger the profits: for the top 5 percent of homes, prices rose by 26.5 percent at the end of the year. The median price rose 16.8 percent to a record high of $ 718,000.

San Francisco’s “Manhattanization”

A look from the Four Seasons Private Residences, where prices start at $ 2 million

Though “Manhattanization” is a bit of an exaggeration – San Francisco has only 26 buildings over 150 meters tall compared to 290 in New York City – the influx of the affluent has moved a subdued downtown area to a vibrant center with an elegant waterfront and an abundance of Museums transformed. says Glenn Rescalvo, a native of San Francisco and principal architect for the Four Seasons project at 706 Mission Street.

The trend has drawn many critics who complain that the soul of San Francisco is being shed in favor of ultra-modern skyscrapers like the Mira Tower with its angled bay windows. Over the decades, voters have endorsed initiatives to limit building heights in the city center, and a new “CEO tax” was passed in November to impose bonuses on executives who earn more than 100 times the average company wage.

Rescalvo says the city is right to encourage the boom. “We not only need affordable housing, we need middle-income apartments and we need luxury apartments,” he says. “We have to take care of the entire food chain so that everyone has a place to live.”

His vision for the Four Seasons, he says, was to recreate the best qualities from the more affluent neighborhoods of San Francisco in one column.

“Imagine taking a Pacific Heights home with you, bringing it to downtown San Francisco, and then stacking it vertically,” he says. “It creates this much more intimate, luxurious, elegant, and sophisticated environment.”

“Covid is temporary”

Although the residence is not physically connected to the nearby Four Seasons Hotel, management wants the owners to feel like hotel guests with a variety of premium services. Maria Di Grande from MDG Art Advisory is on hand to curate art, while Napa Valley’s “Tastemaker” Kerrin Laz – Dean & Deluca’s wine director prior to privatization – helps find the perfect Pinot Noir.

“That idea of ​​experiences or events that no one can attend, that are unique and curated for a group – that’s all we do,” says Laz.

The gym has an array of upscale treadmills, rowing machines, and free weights, as well as the ability to swing kettlebells alongside NBA All-Star Steph Curry, who bought a $ 8 million home here last year.

House & Home unlocked

FT subscribers can sign up for our weekly email newsletter with guides on the global real estate market, distinctive architecture, interior design and gardens.

Register here with one click

Units start at $ 2 million; the most expensive is the two-story Grand Penthouse, which is on sale for $ 49 million – a record condominium listing for the city. The device is unfinished on the assumption that every buyer will want to customize every detail.

Sotheby’s Lynn says the pandemic has opened up opportunities for wealthy buyers who think long-term. Says his clientele, “I have to wear a mask and touch common surfaces in an elevator, and I may not be able to use the amenities for a few months. I’m asking for a discount. ”And it worked. Some condo buyers, he says, got 15-20 percent discounts in some neighborhoods.

“Covid is temporary. It changed the energy in the city for a year or 18 months, ”he says. But the attraction of San Francisco won’t go away. “The best apartments will be gone in five years.”

Follow @FTProperty on Twitter or @ft_houseandhome on Instagram to hear our latest stories first. Listen to our Culture Call podcast, where FT editors and special guests discuss life and art in times of the coronavirus. Subscribe to Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to it.

The post Excessive-rises and excessive flyers: will luxurious property lead a restoration in San Francisco? appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SALISBURY – To eliminate lead in drinking water in the Dukeville area, the county government is considering completely replacing the plumbing in several homes in their Northeast Rowan Water System.

District manager Aaron Church will ask for approval during Monday’s commissioners’ meeting to launch an advertisement for a contractor overseeing replacements in homes where lead levels are above the EPA’s action level of 10 parts per billion.

The Northeast Rowan Water System serves 162 connections and several hundred residents. It is owned by the county but the water is treated by Salisbury-Rowan Utilities. The county has been working to resolve the water quality issue since sampling in 2020 showed elevated levels of lead. The county noted that the contamination was due to the solder in some customers’ house lines, rather than the water system itself.

If lead levels in water exceed the EPA’s current action level of 15 parts per billion, the water system will need to inform the public of steps to protect their health and possibly replace lead lines under their control. Rowan County has distributed Brita filters to customers in the Northeast Rowan Water System, encouraging customers to run the taps for a few minutes before use, clean the water aerators in their taps, and only boil with cold water.

The county has been given until Saturday June 12th to obtain EPA compliance through the NC Department of Environmental Quality. Church said the county and the SRU were able to meet this deadline by following the recommendation by Virginia Tech researchers and switched from using a polyphosphate blend to treat utility water to zinc orthophosphate.

The county also decided to build a $ 742,900 chemical booster pumping station on Long Ferry Road that will inject additional zinc orthophosphate into the Northeast Rowan Water System. NCDEQ approved the county’s treatment plan in April.

The switch to zinc orthophosphate took place on June 4th, but construction of the chemical pumping station will not begin until October. Even after the booster station has been completed by the beginning of 2021, it will still take some time for a protective zinc orthophosphate barrier to form in the pipes and prevent lead from penetrating.

“It takes a while for this barrier to be built,” said SRU Director Jim Behmer. “Even if you switch chemicals, it’s not an overnight solution.”

While the county is counting on the zinc orthophosphate and chemical booster station solution to work, Church said changing the plumbing in certain homes will eliminate the lead.

“If we do this, as I understand the science, it should make sure that the drinking water is safe even if the booster chemical pumping station does not work or takes longer than expected,” Church said.

The county has partnered with 120Water to test customer water in the system. So far, 119 samples have been collected, according to Church. Of these, 31 had lead levels in excess of 1.01 parts per billion, with eight exceeding the EPA’s current level of action of 15 parts per billion.

The district has already notified customers via the system who have taken part in the sampling of their lead levels. Now it will contact customers who could be candidates for new plumbing. To be eligible, a customer must go through two additional water tests that show the lead content in their water exceeds the threshold of 10 parts per billion. Customers who are entitled to new sanitary installations receive completely new pipes, taps and shower heads.

Church said he anticipates around 15 customers will be eligible, but that could change as more samples are completed. The county is still offering customers a $ 72 credit on their monthly water bill for doing the sampling at home. You can find more information about the water test online at rowancountync.gov/1662/Water.

The cost of replacing piping in the system’s homes is difficult to pinpoint right now, but it could cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. Church said the county will consider funding the project through the US rescue plan.

Church’s request to apply for a contractor for the pipeline renovation project is listed on the approval agenda for the committee meeting on Monday. If approved, Church said the county will likely hire a contractor by August and replace the plumbing work by late spring next year.

The post County ponders plumbing alternative to fully get rid of lead in Dukeville – Salisbury Submit appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

British architect Michael Pawlyn thinks of nature as a “catalog of products,” all of which, he explains in a TED Talk, “have benefited from a 3.8-billion-year research and development period.”

“Given that level of investment,” he goes on to say, “it makes sense to use it.”

While new technology can sometimes feel strange, almost other-worldly at first, the future of innovation actually involves researchers better understanding the natural world around us. And inventors are catching on, with more and more embracing biomimicry, or the process of designing products to function as animals and plants do after evolution’s fine-tuning. From mantis shrimp to bee spit, engineers are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to inspiration.

Here are five recent discoveries in the natural world that might someday lead to new inventions.

Mantis shrimp have a super tough armor made of an impact-resistant microstructure.

Mantis shrimp are feisty little devils that don’t back down from a fight—even with their own kind. Remarkably, two mantis shrimp can duke it out and remain unscathed afterward. That’s because the tough tiny fighters are covered in super-strong armor down their backs. The armor, called telsons, look and act sort of like shields, overlapping as they cascade down the crustacean’s tail.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside studied the structure and mechanics of these telsons and found that the key to their toughness seems to be the spiral-shaped scaffolding underneath each shield. In a recent study in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the engineers and their colleagues explain that the helicoidal structure prevents cracks from growing and softens the impact of a tough hit. A similarly twisted architecture is known to exist in the shrimp’s claw, used to deliver blows to any threats to its territory. The shrimp have clearly evolved the perfect armor.

Someday, we might see this sort of impact-resistant microstructure, which the researchers patented in 2016, in sporting equipment, body armor for the police and military, drones, wind turbine blades, aerospace materials, cars, military vehicles, airplanes, helicopters, bicycles and marine vessels. Basically, David Kisailus, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at University of California, Riverside, and study author, explains in an email to Smithsonian magazine, “Anywhere reduced weight is critical but toughness and strength are required.”

Kisailus thinks, in the near term, the finding will have the biggest impact on sporting goods, because the time to market for products like helmets and shin guards is shorter than it is with something like commercial airplanes. The researchers have made a prototype helmet for construction use as well as for football. But, Kisailus adds, “in the longer term, I think the bigger, more global impact will be in transportation, since the reduced weight with higher strength will reduce fuel consumption and emissions.”

Dandelion seeds reveal newly discovered form of natural flight.

A form of flight that had not been seen before was revealed in a study of dandelions.

(Cathal Cummins)

The way dandelion seeds effortlessly drift in the wind, catching glistening sunlight as they fall to the ground, has a certain simplistic beauty to it that would be hard to top. But, as researchers found last fall, the invisible path its delicate bristled parachute leaves behind is even more wondrous—and studying it could lead to really cool advancements in drone flight and air pollution monitoring.

Researchers knew that the mechanism that carried the seeds so effortlessly was its delicate crown of ivory fibers, which sort of resemble a chimney sweep’s broom. They just weren’t sure exactly how this parachute-like fuzz worked given that the bundle of dandelion seeds is mostly made up of empty space. So scientists at the University of Edinburgh created a wind tunnel to put the seeds to the test and in doing so, they discovered a “new class of fluid behavior,” reports James Gorman for the New York Times. The air flows through the filaments and leaves a swirling trail of air behind, or what’s called a separated vortex ring. The ring increases a seed’s drag, creating a flight four times more efficient than that of a conventional parachute.

The researchers, who explained the finding in a study published in Nature, hope it inspires engineers to invent tiny self-propelling drones that would require little to no energy consumption to fly.

“A dandelion-inspired man-made bundle of bristles could be used to float around in the air, carrying something like cameras or sensors, instead of the seeds,” says Naomi Nakayama, a biologist at the University of Edinburgh and study author, in an email to Smithsonian. “Just as the dandelion, they could stay afloat for a long time, being able to monitor and record the air quality, wind direction or speed, and perhaps some human activities, without people noticing they are around because they are so tiny.”

Mako sharks are speedy because of their flexible scales.

This is a photograph of shortfin mako shark scales, which each measure about 0.2 millimeters in length. The front row of scales has been manually bristled to their maximum angle of about 50 degrees.

(Phil Motta at the University of South Florida)

Mako sharks are freaky fast, which is why they’re sometimes called the cheetahs of the sea. They can reach up to 70 to 80 miles per hour. But how do they get so fast? The answer lies with tiny scales on their flank and fins. But exactly how their slick skin helps their speed is of special interest to aeronautical engineers, with funding from Boeing and the U.S. Army, who want to design new material to reduce drag and increase the agility of aircraft, according to an American Physical Society press release.

The flexible scales on mako sharks’ flank and fins are just one-fifth of a millimeter long. If you were to pet the shark like a cat, from head to tail (Editor’s Note: We don’t advise this.), its scales would feel smooth. But if you ran your hand in the opposite direction, the skin would feel more like sandpaper, with the scales bending backward to a maximum 50-degree angle depending on body location, with the most flexible scales behind the gills. According to the press release, the scales’ flexibility keeps the flow moving forward close to the skin, preventing what’s called “flow separation.”

Flow separation is also enemy number one when it comes to aircraft. The concept is easily demonstrated by sticking your hand out of a moving car window with your palm facing the wind. Your palm is under more pressure than the back of your hand, and so your hand gets pushed backwards. This happens because the air flow separates around the sides of your hand creating the low-pressure region or wake behind your hand. Flow separation can still happen on a more streamlined body like the shark, however. That’s where the scales come in: they help control flow, thereby reducing the drag and letting the animal swim faster and with greater maneuverability.

“We speculate that at some point we could engineer a tape that could be applied strategically on aircraft surfaces, such as helicopter rotor blades, wings or certain locations on the fuselage where flow separation is occurring and causing an increase in drag or decrease in performance or maneuverability,” says Amy Lang, an aeronautical engineer at the University of Alabama, who presented the work at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, in an email to Smithsonian.

Lang received a patent in 2014 that she says was “based on early concepts we had about how the shark skin functions and how we could apply that to an engineered surface.” She and her team are making 3D printed models of mako shark skin and hope to obtain more results from testing them in wind and water tunnels within the next year. “We hope in our collaborations with industry to file an updated patent as a man-made surface is developed for real applications,” she adds.

Bees combine spit and flower oil to make an adhesive.

Honeybees fly from flower to flower collecting pollen and storing it on their body to take back to the hive. But what if a surprise summer rain shower interferes? Never fear, bees have a solution for that: a sticky slurry of their spit and oils from flowers that turns pollen into water-resistant pellets. The science behind this gooey combination may even inspire high-tech glues that stick when you want them to but also release when necessary.

“We wanted to know, if the pollen can stay so firmly attached to the bee’s hind legs, how do the bees manage to remove it when they return to the hive,” said Carson Meredith, an engineer at Georgia Tech and lead author on a study published in Nature Communications in March, in a press release.

It essentially works like this: Bee spit is a little sticky to begin with because of the nectar they drink. The spit covers pollen when the bees collect it. Then the oils from the flowers coat the spitty pollen ball. This layering technique is the perfect concoction to repel unanticipated humidity.

“It works similarly to a layer of cooking oil covering a pool of syrup,” Meredith said in the release. “The oil separates the syrup from the air and slows down drying considerably.”

Speed is also a key factor it seems. That comes down to what’s called a rate-sensitive response, meaning “the faster the force attempting to remove it, the more it would resist,” according to a press release. So when the bees use coordinated, slow movements with their hind legs to remove the pollen balls, they come off easily. But if a free-falling raindrop collides with one of the balls, it adheres more intensely.

The applications for an adhesive like this vary widely. Meredith explains in an email to Smithsonian magazine that a bioinspired adhesive would thrive in areas where strength isn’t the top priority, but “where adhesion needs to be tailorable, tunable, responsive to stimuli, or coupled with other properties like edibility, biocompatibility or humidity resistance.”

He is working with both medical and cosmetic companies. (If you’ve ever found yourself removing stubborn waterproof make-up, you understand the demand for a solution.) “In these fields one often wants adhesion that can hold surfaces together under certain circumstances, but then can be released on demand or when a certain condition (rate, force, humidity) is exceeded,” he explains. “This includes the ability to transfer small particles from one place to another, as in applying make-up, or delivering a drug to a certain tissue in the body.”

That’s not all: those pollen pellets are naturally edible, so it could be used in food as well, perhaps for “decorative items on a cake or dessert, or adhering particulates that contain food additives for taste, nutrients, preservatives, color, etc.,” explains Meredith.

Cats are expert groomers because of hollow papillae on their tongues.

(Elke Schroeder/EyeEm/Getty Images)

Cats spend a pretty significant amount of their time licking themselves. It turns out their tongue has evolved for peak grooming efficiency—and might actually help us make better hairbrushes, or even inspire advances in soft robotics and new kinds of cleaning tech.

A cat’s classically sandpaper-y tongue is covered in angled spikes called papillae, which are made of keratin, or the same hard stuff of our fingernails. That’s the part of the tongue that researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology were interested in studying to find out exactly how it distributes moisture throughout a cat’s fur so easily.

It turns out papillae aren’t actually spiky, or cone-shaped as past research posited. Rather, as the Georgia Institute of Technology engineers describe in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they’re scoop-shaped with two hollow ends. This shape creates surface tension that locks saliva droplets in until it’s time for a cleaning, the team found. And those tongues can hold a lot of fluid. When the team put cat tongues—donated post-mortem—to the test, they found that each papilla can hold about 4.1 microliters of water, but across the tongue that’s enough to distribute about a fifth of a cup of water through the animal’s fur in a day, according to National Geographic.

The papillae also attack a knot from four different directions—perfect for efficient detangling. The researchers even created a tongue-inspired grooming (TIGR) brush using 3D models of cat tongues. They’ve applied for a patent for the brush, which could be used to apply medication or distribute leave-in shampoos and conditioners in pet fur to reduce allergens.

And the team envisions other applications. “The unique spine shape could be implemented into soft robotics to aid in grip—previous studies have shown that micro-hooks excel in gripping to porous, rigid surfaces,” says Alexis Noel, a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and study author, in an email. There may even be a novel way to apply mascara, she adds.

The post 5 Scientific Findings That Might Result in New Innovations |
Innovation appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.