The association emphasized that Nguyen's planned changes deviated from the area's historic architectural rules.

The neighborhood association took him to task at the Planning Commission when he tried to enforce his altered building plans, which had resulted in the house being nearly two feet taller than approved, and to have an unauthorized garage extension approved.

At the 2007 hearing, Nguyen and his wife defended themselves and admitted no wrongdoing.

“Our house is smaller than our neighbors’,” Kim Nguyen told the Planning Commission. “I think they have a grudge against us.”

Pat Daly, a neighbor, told the commission that she had no objection to the Nguyens' addition to their home but just wanted them to follow the law.

“He just has to follow the rules like the rest of us,” Daly said.

The next year, Nguyen began construction as a builder, which allowed him to do the work without a contractor's license.

Over the next few years, the city discovered that Nguyen continued to violate numerous rules and regulations, city records show. He worked without a permit, trespassed on a neighbor's property, built his home nearly two feet above the permitted area and built a chimney far larger than permitted, planning board records show.

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Bentonville, Arkansas

Getty Images

The number of people leaving the Bay Area jumped 21% from March 2020 and September 2021, according to a report from University of California researchers. We talk to one man who left about why he did it. (Thinking of ditching your pricey city too? Check out the lowest mortgage rates you can get here now.)

Life as a CEO in San Francisco became increasingly stressful for Phil Libin, founder of the app mmhmm and former CEO and executive chairman of software company Evernote. After 15 years of city living, Libin decided it was time to wait out COVID-19 somewhere peaceful. So he packed his bags, told all of his employees they could work virtually forever and headed east to Bentonville, Arkansas — a place he’d passed through once or twice before, that’s known for its artsy vibe, beautiful outdoors and as the headquarters of Walmart.

“I thought I’d go somewhere for a few months, so I got an Airbnb and then decided to stay,” says Libin, who hasn’t looked back on leaving the tech capital. The thing he misses the least? Traffic. “In San Francisco, I was Ubering everywhere. I looked back at my calendar and realized I was spending almost three hours every day in a car, going to the office or from meeting to meeting,” says Libin. Now, he works from home, or a few local places within walking distance. “My life here feels much more integrated. Things are much cheaper and money goes much further,” says Libin.

He has a point: According to Realtor.com, the median sales price of a home is just over $400,000, compared to $1.5 million in San Francisco. And overall San Francisco is 147% more expensive than Bentonville, according to Sperling’s Best Places, with home prices being the biggest factor in that.

Phil Libin

While in San Francisco, Libin thought he had a high standard of living – “I was the CEO and I had a pretty good quality of life because I spent a lot of money,” he says – but he says his standard of living in Bentonville is actually much higher. “I have a higher quality of life and 100% of the people that work with me could afford to live the way I am,” says Libin. (Libin lets all of the mmhmm employees live wherever they want, and he says that about half of them who were in the Bay Area ended up moving.) “They can afford to eat at the same restaurants and be members of the same clubs, says Libin.

Now, instead of living in an overpriced condominium, Libin has bought land and is planning to build a house. “I was in SF a few weeks ago for the first time in a year and I was shocked by what I used to put up with. I had forgotten about sitting in traffic. I would sit in the car for 90 minutes all the time and I thought it was okay. I never want to ask someone to do that,” says Libin.

Of course, the restaurants and culture of San Francisco are hard to beat, but it’s easy enough to travel from Bentonville, Libin says. “There are direct flights … It’s actually easier to fly domestically from here than SF because the airport is smaller and there’s no traffic. If I have to fly internationally to Asia or Europe, it adds a hop, but it’s worth it,” says Libin.

The post ‘I used to be shocked by what I used to place up with.’ Why this CEO left San Francisco after 15 years for Bentonville, Arkansas, the place the median residence prices nearly $400K appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A lot has been written about the so-called “Bay Area exodus” during the pandemic — the floods of people who fled the region’s high prices and frenzied lifestyle for places like Bozeman, Montana, and Austin, Texas, for an easier, more affordable life.

The latest data from the US Census Bureau shows that people did indeed leave the San Francisco Bay Area counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area saw the third-highest number of residents in the country packing up and moving between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, with a net migration loss of 128,870 people. By comparison, New York-Newark-Jersey City recorded a net migration loss of 385,455, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim saw 204,776 people leave.

Where did the people in the San Francisco metro area go? The census didn’t specify where people moved from a certain area, but we can assume some of those people may have gone to Texas, Arizona or Florida. The data shows that Texas had “four of the top 10 largest-gaining metro areas.” Of the metro areas, the largest net domestic migration gains were Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler (66,850), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (54,319), and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (42,089), the US Census said in a news release.

On a more granular level, San Francisco saw the sixth-highest numeric decline among counties across the country, with its population shrinking from 873,965 in April 2020 to 815,201 in July 2021, marking a 6.7% decline. Numeric decline is “the difference between the population of an area at the beginning and end of a time period,” the US Census said, and it takes into account births and deaths and people moving into and out of an area.

Santa Clara County saw the seventh highest numeric decline with the population dropping by 50,751 residents, and Alameda County the ninth highest with a 33,797 person drop.

Many Bay Area-based companies made it easy for people to pack up and move, allowing employees to relocate and work remotely. Google said last month that more than 14,000 of its workers transferred to a new location or went fully remote during the pandemic, with 85% of applications approved. Google didn’t specify the number of Bay Area employees that left the area, but the company is based in Mountain View with offices all around the region.

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On Apr. 10, a video went viral after it was posted online because it showed a driverless GM Cruise car getting pulled over in San Francisco, California, by police who found the car did not have any driver behind the wheel.

Driverless Cruise Car Got Pulled Over by Cops

The video was originally posted on Apr. 1, but it did not go viral until nine days after. It showed a GM Cruise car getting pulled over to the side of the road and stopped as a cop approached the driver’s side before accelerating to cross an intersection and pull off further down the road.

A bystander can be heard yelling their disbelief when no driver was seen inside the car even though it was moving.

GM Cruise posted on its corporate Twitter account and said that the Cruise behaved as expected. GM Cruise said that their AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location, as intended.

An officer contacted a GM Cruise personnel, and there was no citation issued.

Also Read: Cruise lets you convert your jalopy into Google-type self-driving car for just $10,000

GM Cruise told CNBC that the San Francisco Police Department has a dedicated phone number available at all times for officers and authorities to call when the automaker’s driverless vehicles get pulled over.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately return requests for more information about the situation.

The episode showed some of the situations that can happen as driverless cars become more common on the streets of San Francisco.

GM Cruise is a GM subsidiary, and it began to offer nighttime rides to the public in early 2022 in San Francisco in driverless cars, even though it is not yet charging and riders need to apply for a waitlist first.

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is planning to offer free driverless rides in its cars in San Francisco to members of a testing program and has completed thousands of rides without a driver in Arizona.

Nuro has a deployment permit to operate driverless cars in San Francisco as well, but the startup is mainly focused on delivery and not taxi service.

GM Gets Approval for Driverless Vehicles

According to Arstechnica, on Feb. 22, GM Cruise was able to successfully get permission from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA to put the driverless vehicles into commercial service.

Cruise stated that the vehicle is a zero-emission, shared, electric vehicle that has been designed from the ground up to operate without a human driver. This means that it does not rely on certain human-centered features, like a steering wheel, to operate.

Cruise said that its petition in Feb. demonstrates how the Origin objectives of existing standards safely and helps enable future autonomous vehicle regulations.

The AV cars will be manufactured at GM’s Factory Zero in Michigan. According to Reuters, the production is expected to increase in 2022 and will go nationwide in 2023.

The GM Cruise driverless vehicles can be used as robotaxis that can pick up deliveries and people. The vehicle can work on busy streets, highways, and intersections.

Related Article: General Motors, Cruise Unveil Modified Chevrolet Bolt EVs As First Self-Driving Car For Mass Production

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster

ⓒ 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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When San Francisco Mayor London Breed arrived at UC Davis for her freshman year, she saw her new classmates surrounded by family. Except for the friend who dropped her off — her belongings in two small bags — she came alone.

Breed would frequently make her way back to the notoriously unsafe housing project in the city’s Western Addition where she was raised by her grandmother. She came not just to visit but often because of tragedy.

“When I was coming home, it was for the funeral of somebody I grew up with,” Breed said in an interview in San Francisco’s ornate Beaux-Arts City Hall. “And I just thought, what if he was here with me? I just imagined them walking around campus, and this could be their life. And that’s what got me involved in public service.”

Breed, 47, is a rising star in California politics because of her stewardship of San Francisco during the pandemic, as well as her efforts to tackle crime, homelessness, addiction and education in a city that is famously — if not always accurately — known for its liberal, live-and-let-live ethos.

Cornel West, left, and Mayor London Breed at a celebration of the Dream Keeper Initiative, which reinvests $120 million from law enforcement into San Francisco’s Black community.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Up for reelection in 2023, Breed received national attention when she didn’t mince words as she declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin district, beset by overdose deaths, open-air drug dealing, violence and homeless encampments.

“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end. And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies. And less tolerant of all the bull— that has destroyed our city,” she said in December.

In a break with liberals who have called for defunding law enforcement, Breed’s emergency declaration allowed her to quickly increase police budgets and bypass city bureaucracy to ramp up services to addicts and mentally ill people who are living on the streets. (About one out of every 100 residents of the city is homeless, according to data from the federal government.) The declaration just expired, and some question whether it had a tangible impact.

A homeless encampment in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Regardless, Breed’s approach drew praise at a pivotal moment for San Francisco, which was already struggling with gaping inequality between tech millionaires and working class residents before the pandemic exacerbated the divide and also destroyed tourism in a city that is dependent on visitors from around the globe.

“I can’t help but take risks in order to transform lives so that the experiences that I had growing up doesn’t happen to the next generation.”

London Breed, mayor of San Francisco

After a series of smash-and-grab robberies late last year at luxury stores in San Francisco and other cities in California, police presence in Union Square noticeably increased. An armed guard stands sentry at the entrance of a Louis Vuitton store that was looted, and Macy’s glass storefront remains partly covered with plywood.

“She’s giving voice to something happening in a lot of progressive cities right now,” said Sean Clegg, a Democratic strategist who lived in San Francisco for much of the last three decades. “She’s capturing the mood of the moment.”

But Breed’s efforts have also been faulted by some Democrats who argue she is falling back on failed policies that place the interests of the well-connected above those of the marginalized.

Kaylah Williams, the immediate past president of the city’s Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, pointed to Breed’s opposition to several ballot measures, including a successful 2018 proposition that raised taxes on the city’s largest companies to fund more services for homeless people.

London Breed congratulates newly sworn officers at a San Francisco Police Department graduation ceremony in February.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

“We see time and time again, a lot of corporations and corporate interests put ahead of the interests of working-class San Franciscans,” said Williams, who was the deputy campaign manager for city Dist. Atty. Chesa Boudin.

Breed has repeatedly said that she is “unapologetic” and has rebuked white progressives such as Boudin — who is facing a June recall — as not understanding what it is like to be poor and a minority in San Francisco.

“I can’t help but take risks in order to transform lives so that the experiences that I had growing up doesn’t happen to the next generation,” Breed said recently, speaking at a celebration of a $120-million two-year campaign she created that transferred money from law enforcement budgets to programs aimed at bolstering the city’s Black residents.

Later that day, Breed waved a wand at the reopening of the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” play at the historic Curran Theater, which had been shuttered for nearly two years because of COVID.

The crowd shows its excitement at the reopening of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” in San Francisco, which was attended by Mayor London Breed.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

“This is really icing on the cake as we start to reopen our city and recover from this pandemic,” she told costumed Harry Potter fans, before cannons shot confetti in the air and celebrants clinked bottles of Butter Beer.

Such moments — including a cameo in a “Matrix” film that was shot in the city and write-ups in Vogue — were unthinkable when she was younger.

::

Breed said her experiences as a child and young woman ground her approach to governance.

She was raised in a roach-infested housing project so dangerous it was called “Outta Control Projects” — or OC.

She never knew her father and her mother was largely absent. A younger sister died of a drug overdose; a brother is imprisoned. A cousin was shot and killed by police. She witnessed her first homicide when she was 12. The men in her family were pimps, hustlers and drug dealers, Breed said.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, shown holding a picture honoring Lunar New Year, prompts praise and protests as she leads one of the nation’s largest and most complex cities.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

“I just know that we were poor, and it was hard. And there were times where I wanted to go out there and sell drugs and do illegal things in order to have money, and fortunately I didn’t,” Breed said in her office, surrounded by pictures of herself with Democratic luminaries, awards and a desk plaque that reads “What Would Beyonce Do?”

“And I’m glad I didn’t and I’m glad that I’m in a place that could help empower other people so that they don’t feel that they have to choose a path of doing something that can land them dead or in jail or on drugs.”

She and her neighbors were too afraid to speak to police after witnessing officers beat suspects and commit other crimes. But she also remembers the compassion officers showed her aunt, who was developmentally disabled and acted out — experiences that shaped her view of law enforcement as both necessary and needing reform.

“It’s a real balance of making sure that people in communities like I grew up in also feel safe and able to communicate and work with police,” Breed said.

A votive candle of Beyonce on the desk of London Breed.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

She attributes her success largely to the women in her life — her grandmother and members of the community who guided her, helping her write college application essays and providing an outlet that led her to stay out of trouble. “It was just so many people, and it was constant,” Breed said.

As part of a city summer program for low-income youth, Breed worked at the Family School starting at age 14. Some employees didn’t want to work with Breed because she was “rambunctious,” so then-administrative assistant Minyon McGriff had the teen assist her in the office.

“She was always a bright, funny, smart kid. She just grew up hard because she grew up in the projects. She was rough around the edges,” said McGriff, 60. “Simple stuff — how to dress, appropriate behavior, basic etiquette — those are a lot of the things she got from us.”

Breed’s experience at the Family School prompted her to create a program in 2018 that offers a paid summer internship to any working-age student in San Francisco who wants one.

London Breed, right, mayor of San Francisco, with a cast member from “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Such relationships, as well as her sorrow that friends she grew up with could not experience what she did at UC Davis, prompted Breed’s first foray into public service — registering voters for the NAACP while in college. After she graduated, she worked on Willie Brown’s 1999 mayoral campaign and served as executive director of the African American Art & Culture Complex and on several other city entities before winning a seat in 2012 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

She has been dogged by claims that she was a puppet of the machine run by Brown — a legendary force in the city and state’s politics — as well as business leaders, wealthy donors and other power brokers who have long controlled San Francisco politics.

She has repeatedly lashed out at such allegations.

“So why do women have to be a pawn for somebody?” Breed told the Fog City Journal during her 2012 campaign. “Willie Brown didn’t wipe my ass when I was a baby — my grandmother took care of me.”

Brown declined an interview request.

Even some who disagree with Breed’s policies don’t believe she is making decisions based on who supports her.

A homeless encampment in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

“She does truly love San Francisco and she is genuinely committed to a vision of a safer city,” said Jane Kim, who served with Breed on the Board of Supervisors and unsuccessfully ran against her for mayor in 2018. “It’s just that her analysis lands her on the same side with developers and downtown interests.”

Breed was president of the Board of Supervisors when Mayor Ed Lee died in 2017, briefly making her the city’s acting mayor.

She won the special election in 2018 to fill Lee’s term, becoming the city’s first Black female mayor. She promised to prioritize quality-of-life issues and, foreshadowing some of the struggles that would come, she pledged to fight a status quo that she argued had paralyzed the city.

“The politics of ‘no’ has plagued our city for far too long — ‘not on my block, not in my backyard,’” she said.

People move their belongings as San Francisco city workers clean a street in the Tenderloin district.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Political observers say Breed’s tenure got off to an uneven start as she sought to navigate the divide that has typically bedeviled the relationship between the city’s moderate mayors and the more liberal Board of Supervisors.

Once the pandemic hit, Breed was lauded by friends and foes alike for her leadership. San Francisco, with a population of about 874,000, was among the first cities to lock down, and had the lowest per capita death rate of the nation’s largest cities as of December. Three city school board members were recently recalled — ousters Breed backed — for prioritizing the renaming of schools over the reopening of in-person classes and an attempt to end merit-based admissions at a prestigious high school.

Breed has made missteps. She was fined for using her title as she urged then-Gov. Jerry Brown to commute her brother’s prison sentence, for accepting $5,600 in car repairs from the head of San Francisco’s public works department (a former boyfriend) who has since pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case, and for soliciting and accepting donations that exceeded campaign finance limits to help fund a float in the city’s Pride parade.

Like other elected officials, Breed has also received flack for repeatedly being pictured not wearing a mask. When caught dining with several people at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant, she initially acknowledged that she needed to set a better example. But she also blames social media and the press for obsessing over moments she did not wear a mask while eating, drinking or taking a picture.

Breed has been accused of viewing the checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches of government as obstructionism.

“It’s her constant lack of respect for the important role that the Board of Supervisors plays in the life of San Francisco residents, our constituents and their viewpoints that is often disturbing,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

The infighting and lack of trust between the mayor and the board — a perennial of San Francisco politics — have stymied major progress on some of the city’s most intractable problems, but San Francisco State University political science professor Jason McDaniel said voters do not appear to be blaming Breed.

“Historically when we look at mayors, they are the ones held responsible by voters for the cost of housing, the condition of schools, the issue of crime. So far, she has managed not to be the focus of voters’ attention,” he said. “Whether that changes over time is a key question going forward.”

Jim Ross, a veteran San Francisco Democratic strategist, argued that moves that separate Breed from the more liberal elements of the city could be smart politics for an ambitious elected official in a city that served as a springboard for Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Vice President Kamala Harris.

San Francisco has been described as “47 square miles surrounded by reality,” Ross said. “The real question is how does her image project in the reality that’s outside of San Francisco?”

Breed demurs when asked whether she plans to seek for higher office.

“I would never rule that out,” she said. “Because I didn’t think I would run for mayor and here I am.”

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A new report from Vision Zero – San Francisco’s road safety policy aimed at ending city traffic deaths – reveals the alarming number of deaths caused by a certain type of turn.

“40% of San Francisco traffic fatalities in 2019 were caused when drivers turned left and didn’t see the person on the zebra crossing … until it was too late,” the report said, using data from the San Francisco Department of Healthcare . It also reported that “elderly” accounted for 31% of pedestrians killed when turning left.

In total, over 300 people are injured every year when drivers turn left at intersections and hit pedestrians at crosswalks.

“Collisions when turning left are a problem when designing intersections, but also a problem when the driver makes decisions. Therefore, solutions must also be diverse, ”says the report.

After analyzing five years of data uncovered the magnitude of the left turn problem in 2018, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) launched the Safer Intersections Project to test new approaches to urban intersection design.

“When turning left, drivers have to assess many factors at the same time. Given the complex decisions that have to be made quickly in a stressful environment, we cannot assume that drivers will always make rational decisions when turning left, ”reads the Vision Zero report. “Some of them may drive too fast and take corners too tightly.”

The traffic-calming engineering project for left-hand curves last fall resulted in the installation of waist-high vertical delineator posts at seven intersections across the city. Small rubber sleepers were built to improve the center of the lane near crosswalks, and paint was used to prevent sharp left turns that would bring vehicles to the crosswalk earlier.

The results were encouraging, showing a 17% reduction in average vehicle speed and a 71% reduction in the likelihood of a car turning left at over 15 mph. The SFMTA now plans to make the same changes at 35 more intersections across San Francisco.

Read the full Vision Zero report here.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma daughter named KFOR is trying to get a refund for her parents after a plumber allegedly abandoned her.

Paula Mason’s plumbing problem lasted far too long.

We met her for the first time in early August. She explained to our team a few months earlier that her parents’ house needs to be repaired immediately.

“We just thought it was a blockage,” said Paula. “I found out it was a broken line, a broken line.”

Flood victims in Oklahoma are waiting months longer for answers

The Freemasons as they speak to KFOR.

She hired a man named Steve Maxson and paid $ 3,100. Paula says work stalled shortly afterwards.

She would eventually hire another plumber. However, Maxson’s promises of a refund were unsuccessful.

“He kept saying he had to get it from the seller,” said Paula. “Had to go to his salespeople and get the money back.”

IN YOUR CORNER: Frustration grows when customers wait months for portable buildings

In our attempts to reach Steve, we reached his father Stephen Maxson Sr.

Stephen Sr. is a plumber himself and has his own business in eastern Oklahoma.

He told our team that he was unaware of Paula’s situation and that his son was not properly licensed.

News 4 eventually reached Steve Jr., who announced to our team that he would issue a refund.

“Yes, I’ll set that up for you,” he told our team on the phone.

IN YOUR CORNER: Workers wait weeks for paychecks

However, this was already the case in August. Paula told KFOR that she hadn’t heard from the Maxsons in a while.

That is, until this last weekend. Paula announced to our team that she received a full refund in the mail.

While In Your Corner was happy to help tie the two sides together, that success really rests with Paula!

She tells our team that she has contacted government agencies and obtained information about the insurance provider from Stephen Sr.’s company.

Paula’s update shows persistence. When faced with such a crisis with a contractor, In Your Corner urges consumers to try all available options.

Conclude

Suggest a correction

Suggest a correction

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Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 13, 2021, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a revised COVID-19 health ordinance. Of interest to many employers, the city has set out when certain companies – such as office workplaces – can allow fully vaccinated individuals not to wear face-covering indoors. She also outlined the vaccination guidelines, according to which the city will abolish the requirements for universal indoor face coverage altogether.

Like Tony Bennett, who sang his heart out about San Francisco, the city’s mayor had great news. After the mayor made changes last week, the SFDPH finally enacted a revised public health ordinance with two major changes to the city’s rules on indoor face covering. A redline of changes to the order can be found here and updated FAQs about the order can be found here.

It calls for me high on a hill – requirements for indoor face covering are relaxed

With effect from October 15, 2021, the ordinance relaxes the requirements for indoor face covering for fully vaccinated stable cohorts in offices, work vehicles, indoor fitness shops, adult lectures and classes (but not in high schools or grammar schools) and religious gatherings. Personnel in these rooms can remove their face covering indoors if the company complies with the city’s strict vaccination regulations.

The requirements for removing indoor face coverings vary slightly depending on the type of company. For example, to benefit from the new rules in offices, employers must ensure that:

• All persons entering the facility provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated;
• No person is unvaccinated because of a disability / religious exemption;
• The only people in the office are “staff” of the business. “Personnel” is defined as employees, contractors and subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors authorized to sell goods locally, volunteers and others who regularly provide on-site services at the Company’s request. When a visitor is present, everyone in the office space must wear face-covering except as noted below;
• The company controls access to the office space to ensure that anyone entering is fully vaccinated. People who occasionally / occasionally enter the practice (e.g. delivery staff) do not have to present a vaccination card, but must wear a face covering;
• There are no children under the age of 12 present;
• The company has implemented at least one of the following ventilation strategies: (1) all available windows and doors that are accessible to fresh outside air are opened for as long as the air quality and weather conditions permit; (2) fully functional HVAC system; or (3) appropriately sized portable air purifiers in each room; and
• The employer has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak (three or more cases in a rolling 14 day period) in the last 30 days.

Over the blue and windy sea, uncontrolled settings still require masks

A workplace with unvaccinated employees. If offices do not have fully vaccinated staff on site, the layout allows the offices to provide special work areas where fully vaccinated staff can remove their masks. The FAQs make it clear that these “fully inoculated” areas must be separated from one another by doors, walls or a gap. Employers must also control access to the rooms to keep anyone out who is not fully vaccinated. And all people must wear a mask when in indoor common areas such as hallways, lobbies and elevators where such access cannot be controlled.

Further restrictions for non-office businesses. The order makes slightly different demands on other types of businesses. For example, indoor classes and “other similar gatherings”, in addition to the above cases, may only drop their indoor face covering requirements if the gathering does not exceed 100 people and the class is a “stable group of people”, who meet regularly (e.g. no drop-ins for sports classes).

Your golden sun will shine for me with an acceptable vaccination certificate

The order does not change how companies can check vaccination status. The following are also accepted as proof of vaccination: (i) the CDC vaccination card, (ii) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, (iii) a photo of the vaccination card stored on a telephone or electronic device, (iv) vaccination documentation from a healthcare provider, (v ) written self-certification of vaccination signed under penalty of perjury; or (vi) a personal digital digital COVID-19 vaccination record from the state of California or similar documentation issued by another government jurisdiction or licensed private company.

The City by the Bay presents some practical challenges

Implementation. Implementing this ordinance can pose challenges for employers where small cable cars rise halfway to the stars. First, the order does not include flexibility for placement. If an on-site employee remains unvaccinated due to a religious exception or medical precaution, face-covering must be worn throughout the office unless the employer separates all unvaccinated individuals in a separate part of the office.

Metrics for overriding other face coverage rules. Second, and perhaps of more permanent concern, the city also released the metrics of when their broader order of indoor face coverings will be lifted. The city will issue a new health ordinance if:

• The number of cases in the city has been at or below the CDC level of yellow transmission for at least three weeks (i.e., fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days and less than 8% of positive tests in the last seven days). );
• The total number of patients admitted to the city due to COVID-19 is no more than 65; and
• Either 80% of the total city population (including children of all ages) have received their last dose of vaccine; or 8 weeks after the FDA issues emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties, and the city of Berkeley have reportedly agreed to follow a similar framework. And in addition to San Francisco, Contra Costa will also allow fully vaccinated groups to forego masking on November 1, 2021.

Workplace solutions

For many businesses with employees clamoring to take off their face coverings indoors, the recent San Francisco Health Ordinance could raise more questions than answers. We are here to help you address these challenges and answer your other questions related to COVID-19.

And keep an eye out for additional warnings. If the past 18 months have taught us anything, it is that public health orders can change rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. Contact your Seyfarth attorney, including a member of Seyfarth’s occupational safety team, to ensure your company is complying with the ever-changing COVID-19 rules and regulations.

Modifications made by Coby Turner

The content of this article is intended to provide general guidance on the subject. Expert advice should be sought regarding your specific circumstances.

The post I Left My Masks In San Francisco—For Totally Vaccinated Workplaces – Employment and HR appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 13, 2021, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a revised COVID-19 health ordinance. Of interest to many employers, the city has set out when certain companies – such as office workplaces – can allow fully vaccinated individuals not to wear face-covering indoors. She also outlined the vaccination guidelines, according to which the city will abolish the requirements for universal indoor face coverage altogether.

Like Tony Bennett, who sang his heart out about San Francisco, the city’s mayor had great news. After the mayor made changes last week, the SFDPH finally enacted a revised public health ordinance with two major changes to the city’s rules on indoor face covering. A redline of changes to the order can be found here and updated FAQs about the order can be found here.

It calls for me high up on a hill – the requirements for face covering indoors are relaxed

With effect from October 15, 2021, the ordinance relaxes the requirements for indoor face covering for fully vaccinated stable cohorts in offices, work vehicles, indoor fitness shops, adult lectures and classes (but not in high schools or grammar schools) and religious gatherings. Personnel in these rooms can remove their face covering indoors if the company complies with the city’s strict vaccination regulations.

The requirements for removing indoor face coverings vary slightly depending on the type of company. For example, to benefit from the new rules in offices, employers must ensure that:

• All persons entering the facility provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated;
• No person is unvaccinated because of a disability / religious exemption;
• The only people in the office are “staff” of the company. “Personnel” is defined as employees, contractors and subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors allowed to sell goods locally, volunteers and others who regularly provide on-site services at the Company’s request. When a visitor is present, everyone in the office space must wear face-covering except as noted below;
• The company controls access to the office space to ensure that anyone entering is fully vaccinated. People who occasionally / occasionally enter the practice (e.g. delivery staff) do not have to present a vaccination card, but must wear a face covering;
• There are no children under the age of 12 present;
• The company has implemented at least one of the following ventilation strategies: (1) all available windows and doors that are accessible to fresh outside air are opened for as long as the air quality and weather conditions permit; (2) fully functional HVAC system; or (3) appropriately sized portable air purifiers in each room; and
• The employer has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak (three or more cases in a rolling 14 day period) in the last 30 days.

Over the blue and windy sea, uncontrolled settings still require masks

A workplace with unvaccinated employees. If offices do not have fully vaccinated staff on site, the layout allows the offices to provide special work areas where fully vaccinated staff can remove their masks. The FAQs make it clear that these “fully inoculated” areas must be separated from one another by doors, walls or a gap. Employers must also control access to the rooms to keep anyone out who is not fully vaccinated. And all people must wear a mask when in indoor common areas such as hallways, lobbies and elevators where such access cannot be controlled.

Further restrictions for non-office businesses. The order makes slightly different demands on other types of businesses. For example, indoor classes and “other similar gatherings” may, in addition to the above cases, drop their indoor face covering requirements only if the gathering does not exceed 100 people and the class is a “stable group of people”, who meet regularly (e.g. no drop-ins for sports classes).

Your golden sun will shine for me with an acceptable vaccination certificate

The order does not change how companies can check vaccination status. The following are also accepted as proof of vaccination: (i) the CDC vaccination card, (ii) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, (iii) a photo of the vaccination card stored on a telephone or electronic device, (iv) vaccination documentation from a healthcare provider, (v ) written self-certification of vaccination signed under penalty of perjury; or (vi) a personal digital digital COVID-19 vaccination record from the state of California or similar documentation issued by another government jurisdiction or licensed private company.

The City by the Bay presents some practical challenges

Implementation. Implementing this ordinance can pose challenges for employers where small cable cars rise halfway to the stars. First, the order does not include flexibility for placement. If an on-site employee remains unvaccinated due to a religious exception or medical precaution, face-covering must be worn throughout the office unless the employer separates all unvaccinated individuals in a separate part of the office.

Metrics for overriding other face coverage rules. Second, and perhaps of more permanent concern, the city also released the metrics of when their broader order of indoor face coverings will be lifted. The city will issue a new health ordinance if:

• The number of cases in the city has been at or below the CDC level of yellow transmission for at least three weeks (i.e., fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days and less than 8% of positive tests in the last seven days). );
• The total number of patients admitted to the city due to COVID-19 is no more than 65; and
• Either 80% of the total city population (including children of all ages) have received their last dose of vaccine; or 8 weeks after the FDA issues emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties, and the city of Berkeley have reportedly agreed to follow a similar framework. And in addition to San Francisco, Contra Costa will also allow fully vaccinated groups to forego masking on November 1, 2021.

Workplace solutions

For many businesses with employees clamoring to take off their face coverings indoors, the recent San Francisco Health Ordinance could raise more questions than answers. We are here to help you address these challenges and answer your other questions related to COVID-19.

And keep an eye out for additional warnings. If the past 18 months have taught us anything, it is that public health orders can change rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves.

The post I Left My Masks In San Francisco—For Absolutely Vaccinated Workplaces | Seyfarth Shaw LLP appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 13, 2021, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a revised COVID-19 health ordinance. Of interest to many employers, the city has set out when certain companies – such as office workplaces – can allow fully vaccinated individuals not to wear face-covering indoors. She also outlined the vaccination guidelines, according to which the city will abolish the requirements for universal indoor face coverage altogether.

Like Tony Bennett, who sang his heart out about San Francisco, the city’s mayor had great news. After the mayor made changes last week, the SFDPH finally enacted a revised public health ordinance with two major changes to the city’s rules on indoor face covering. A redline of changes to the order can be found here and updated FAQs about the order can be found here.

It calls for me high up on a hill – the requirements for face covering indoors are relaxed

With effect from October 15, 2021, the ordinance relaxes the requirements for indoor face covering for fully vaccinated stable cohorts in offices, work vehicles, indoor fitness shops, adult lectures and classes (but not in high schools or grammar schools) and religious gatherings. Personnel in these rooms can remove their face covering indoors if the company complies with the city’s strict vaccination regulations.

The requirements for removing indoor face coverings vary slightly depending on the type of company. For example, to benefit from the new rules in offices, employers must ensure that:

• All persons entering the facility provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated;
• No person is unvaccinated because of a disability / religious exemption;
• The only people in the office are “staff” of the company. “Personnel” is defined as employees, contractors and subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors allowed to sell goods locally, volunteers and others who regularly provide on-site services at the Company’s request. When a visitor is present, everyone in the office space must wear face-covering except as noted below;
• The company controls access to the office space to ensure that anyone entering is fully vaccinated. People who occasionally / occasionally enter the practice (e.g. delivery staff) do not have to present a vaccination card, but must wear a face covering;
• There are no children under the age of 12 present;
• The company has implemented at least one of the following ventilation strategies: (1) all available windows and doors that are accessible to fresh outside air are opened for as long as the air quality and weather conditions permit; (2) fully functional HVAC system; or (3) appropriately sized portable air purifiers in each room; and
• The employer has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak (three or more cases in a rolling 14 day period) in the last 30 days.

Over the blue and windy sea, uncontrolled settings still require masks

A workplace with unvaccinated employees. If offices do not have fully vaccinated staff on site, the layout allows the offices to provide special work areas where fully vaccinated staff can remove their masks. The FAQs make it clear that these “fully inoculated” areas must be separated from one another by doors, walls or a gap. Employers must also control access to the rooms to keep anyone out who is not fully vaccinated. And all people must wear a mask when in indoor common areas such as hallways, lobbies and elevators where such access cannot be controlled.

Further restrictions for non-office businesses. The order makes slightly different demands on other types of businesses. For example, indoor classes and “other similar gatherings” may, in addition to the above cases, drop their indoor face covering requirements only if the gathering does not exceed 100 people and the class is a “stable group of people”, who meet regularly (e.g. no drop-ins for sports classes).

Your golden sun will shine for me with an acceptable vaccination certificate

The order does not change how companies can check vaccination status. The following are also accepted as proof of vaccination: (i) the CDC vaccination card, (ii) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, (iii) a photo of the vaccination card stored on a telephone or electronic device, (iv) vaccination documentation from a healthcare provider, (v ) written self-certification of vaccination signed under penalty of perjury; or (vi) a personal digital digital COVID-19 vaccination record from the state of California or similar documentation issued by another government jurisdiction or licensed private company.

The City by the Bay presents some practical challenges

Implementation. Implementing this ordinance can pose challenges for employers where small cable cars rise halfway to the stars. First, the order does not include flexibility for placement. If an on-site employee remains unvaccinated due to a religious exception or medical precaution, face-covering must be worn throughout the office unless the employer separates all unvaccinated individuals in a separate part of the office.

Metrics for overriding other face coverage rules. Second, and perhaps of more permanent concern, the city also released the metrics of when their broader order of indoor face coverings will be lifted. The city will issue a new health ordinance if:

• The number of cases in the city has been at or below the CDC level of yellow transmission for at least three weeks (i.e., fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days and less than 8% of positive tests in the last seven days). );
• The total number of patients admitted to the city due to COVID-19 is no more than 65; and
• Either 80% of the total city population (including children of all ages) have received their last dose of vaccine; or 8 weeks after the FDA issues emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties, and the city of Berkeley have reportedly agreed to follow a similar framework. And in addition to San Francisco, Contra Costa will also allow fully vaccinated groups to forego masking on November 1, 2021.

The post I Left My Masks In San Francisco—For Absolutely Vaccinated Workplaces appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.