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Over the weekend, Bexar County launched the second phase of a program designed to help residents in need of plumbing repairs after last month’s disastrous winter storms.

As part of the initiative, the county will dispatch a plumber and pay up to $ 1,500 in parts and labor for repairs caused by the frost.

Those in the suburbs and outskirts of the county are more likely to have difficulty finding plumbers due to their remote location, according to Bexar County officials. In the past two weeks, the county has distributed more than 40,000 boxes of water to people in the affected areas.

“With 46 water service providers in Bexar County, many do not qualify for the SAWS / City of San Antonio utility program and still lack running water,” said Rebeca Clay-Flores, district chairperson for District 1, in the press release.

Details on how to apply for the program are available online. Residents can also call (210) 631-5000 for the reimbursement program or (210) 631-6000 for the plumbing program.

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August 5, 202

The route from Lincoln Way to Sloat Blvd will remain closed to car traffic on weekends and holidays, but will be open to car traffic during the week

San Francisco, California – Today, Mayor London N. Breed and Supervisor Gordon Mar, with the assistance of Supervisors Connie Chan and Myrna Melgar, announced that the Great Highway will have an amended operational plan tied to the pandemic emergency shutdown from Monday August 16. The Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Blvd is only open to pedestrians and bicycles on weekends and holidays, and open to motorized traffic on weekdays. The timing of this new operations plan should be combined with the first day of school to help students and families attend school and return to work during the week.

Starting Monday, August 16, the Great Highway will be closed to car traffic from Friday 12:00 p.m. to Monday 6:00 a.m. and only open to pedestrians and bicycles until 12:00 p.m. on Fridays. The Great Highway is also closed to car traffic on public holidays. This change phase of the contingency measures will continue until the Board of Supervisors is considering a bill to set up a one- or two-year pilot project in this or any other configuration that would go beyond the pandemic emergency closure.

“Using the Great Highway during this pandemic has shown what we can do to give our residents and families more opportunities to enjoy the west side of our city,” said Mayor Breed. “Closing the Great Highway on weekends and holidays ensures that residents and visitors can continue to enjoy this incredible space while also catering to the needs of our families and residents who will need to go to school and work during the week when we reopen There has been a lot of ongoing community discussions and meetings about the long-term future of the Great Highway and I look forward to continuing this over the coming months to inform the next phase of the project. ”

“Creating a boardwalk on the Great Highway during the pandemic has been transformative, with incredible benefits and real challenges,” said Supervisor Mar. “It will take new and solid investments in transit and transportation in the west to truly address the traffic impact . ”And it is unreasonable to continue a 24-hour closure without them. Meanwhile, a weekday carriageway and a weekend promenade are a sensible compromise and the way to go. We balance the benefits of this unique open space with the real need for safe and efficient traffic flow and maintaining a boardwalk when it is most used while providing some relief during the weekday commute times. I am grateful to Mayor Breed for listening and working with us on this adaptation to pandemic use of the Great Highway as we move forward to determine post-pandemic use. “

“As the chief of the Richmond District, I have heard from most of my constituents that more traffic and connectivity are needed in north-south directions, and the Great Highway has been a major access road. The future of the Great Highway must also increase public transportation and service frequency for Richmond, “said Supervisor Chan, whose borough includes Lone Mountain, Richmond and most of Golden Gate Park.” I want to thank Mayor Breed for letting her Heard the concerns of Richmond District residents and welcome their guidance for a solution that includes outdoor recreation and access to travel. “

In April 2020, the Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Blvd was closed to vehicle traffic as part of the city’s response to the pandemic and the need to make more space for people. Going forward, San Francisco officials are going through a long-term process to plan the long-term future of the Great Highway. These changes are being made to balance reopening schools and overcoming the pandemic in the city.

This press release was produced by the San Francisco Office of the Mayor. The views expressed here are your own.

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SACRAMENTO (AP) – California is dismantling its state juvenile prisons and shifting responsibility to the counties 162 years after lawmakers created the first alternative to placing children under the age of 12 alongside adults in San Quentin and Folsom state prisons.

Proponents said the move reflected their belief that children who commit crimes can be reformed and better served if kept closer to their homes.

However, proponents and skeptics said there was a lot of uncertainty as the three remaining state lockdowns halt approval on Thursday and close in 2023. Supervision of juvenile offenders will be shifted from the State Corrections Department to the California Health and Human Services Agency.

This change in mindset “has a lot of potential to be much more effective,” said Jessica Heldman, an expert on juvenile justice at the University of San Diego School of Law, “and of course, making communities safer” by addressing the needs of the people Identify and hit juvenile offenders so they can get better.

The state system has an eventful history, which is marked by suicides and brawls by prisoners. The shift to local control is the final step in a lengthy reform effort, partly fueled by class action lawsuits and incentives for counties to keep youth out of the state system.

The first facility for adolescents in need – the San Francisco Industrial School – was established by law in 1859. Two years later, Marysville State Reform School opened for boys ages 8 to 18, 10,000 teenagers.

The number of juvenile offenders has fallen to around 750. About 16% are serving for homicide, 37% for assault, one third for robbery, 9% for rape or other sexual offenses. A disproportionately high 59% are Hispanic and 29% are Black.

Previously, adolescents could be sent to the facilities as young as 12 and in some cases remain until the age of 25, although many will be transferred to adult prison when they are 18. New admissions are now being monitored by 58 probation authorities in the district.

Young people from the age of 14 who could have gone to a state facility earlier can instead be accommodated in “safe youth treatment facilities” in the district at the instruction of the juvenile judge.

That’s a disturbing replica of state lockdowns at the local level, said Meredith Desautels, an attorney at the San Francisco Youth Law Center.

“My biggest concern is that we will actually see teenagers who would never have gone to (government facilities) to spend more time in safe custody than they were before the closure,” she said.

The counties are determined to get the law up and running, said Larry Morse, legislative director of the California District Attorneys Association, but “frankly, the details are still a little opaque and we haven’t really been able to pinpoint exactly how this will play out. “

Prosecutors want to know where teenagers who commit “the most egregious and terrible crimes” are being held and how they are being helped, he said.

District officials fear that smaller districts may have difficulty providing special programs for young people who, for example, commit sex crimes or have serious mental health problems.

The state will send the counties $ 212 million annually to pay for their new responsibilities – about $ 225,000 per youth.

But the California State Association of Counties said the funding formula penalizes districts that rely the most on the state system and therefore need the most help developing local alternatives.

The district’s probation officers, meanwhile, will attempt to strike a balance between reform advocates’ focus on rehabilitation and juvenile judges who, at prosecutor’s request, could send 16- and 17-year-olds to adult detention centers for the most serious crimes.

Approximately 35,000 juvenile offenders are being treated in California’s counties, of whom more than 3,600 are being held in youth homes, camps and ranches. But when juvenile judges have faced the most recalcitrant or restless juveniles in the past, they have had the option of sending them to the state juvenile justice department.

“And then you would have a huge $ 200 million system for that one kid to develop the necessary case plan. That gave the court confidence it didn’t have to go to the adult system, ”said Karen Pank, Chief Probation Officers of California.

With that option gone, officials and lawyers alike are seeking advice from the emerging state youth and community recovery agency.

A consortium of 40 youth advocates recently asked lawmakers to budget $ 30 million for the office – four times what Governor Gavin Newsom last proposed – to ensure better oversight of all juvenile justice, not just juveniles, who previously came into state custody.

“There was mass confusion at the county level with very little state guidance,” said attorney Frankie Guzmán, director of the California Youth Justice Initiative at the National Center for Youth Law.

This has often resulted in probation agencies being at the top by default, while law enforcement agencies are suspicious in the eyes of many proponents, said Guzmán, who spent six years in California juvenile prisons for armed robbery.

Heldman warned that the state cannot simply absolve itself of responsibility for the youth it is now pushing back into the counties.

“This is what I call Pontius Pilate: the state washes its hands on these wards,” said Republican Senator Jim Nielsen, a former state probation officer, during a law change debate this spring.

But Democratic Senator María Elena Durazo promised that her budget subcommittee will oversee an orderly transition “so that all young people stay in our communities, rather than in youth prisons far from the resources and support they need to heal trauma and the course to change “their life.”

“This was a moment of hope,” Durazo said of lawmakers voting for the postponement. “It was also an acknowledgment that we had to get it right and it wasn’t going to be easy.”

© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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After restaurants and other businesses in San Francisco began serving customers outdoors on Friday, the city also began reopening for retailers on Monday, among other things.

The recent reopening of businesses with additional changes marks Phase 2b of the city’s plan to reopen in the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Phase 2a began earlier this month with the reopening of places like daycare, open air museums and historical sites, botanical gardens, and outdoor roadside service retail stores.

In Phase 2b, al fresco dining is allowed for up to six people at a table, and indoor retail stores may allow people inside as long as the number of people inside does not exceed half the store’s capacity limit. In addition, outdoor gatherings cannot exceed 12 people.

In addition to outdoor dining and indoor shopping, other business and activities that resumed Monday included lager making; non-emergency medical appointments; private household services such as house cleaning; some offices; Outdoor worship services and ceremonies; Outdoor fitness classes; Entertainment and sports facilities without spectators; Summer camp; and other small outdoor gatherings.

“Retailers and San Francisco residents have waited a while to get to this next stage and we are determined to keep making progress on reopening so people can get back to work and get a sense of normalcy in their lives.” Mayor of London Breed said in a statement.

As business and activities continue to increase, city officials are urging residents to continue to take precautions against COVID-19, including wearing required face coverings and washing hands regularly.

“When we reopen we want to make sure that we do it carefully and safely, and that we are ready to adjust if we see an increase in certain cases. Our success depends on each person doing their part, precautionary measures meets and is attentive, “said Breed.

“The virus is spreading very quickly and can quickly overwhelm communities and healthcare systems. While we hope this will not happen in San Francisco, we must be vigilant and flexible in this new phase. Residents must continue to take precautionary measures and maintain habits that brought us to where we are today, “said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Department of Health.

The city’s reopening plan is based on state guidelines and is also based on the city’s health indicators. is used to track data such as the number of new infections and the number of available hospital beds, among other things.

As part of the reopening plan, the next phase 2c would not start until July 13th and allow restaurants to be reopened in restaurants with some modifications, hair salons and barber shops, and real estate open days only by appointment.

After that, Phase 3 would begin sometime in mid-August and likely include various sub-phases that could reopen such places as schools, bars, gyms, playgrounds, swimming pools, indoor museums and nail salons, massage parlors, tattoo shops, and other personal services.

Eventually, Phase 4, for which a date has not yet been set, will reopen concert halls, live audience sports and performances, nightclubs, festivals and hotels.

More information on the city’s step-by-step reopening plan can be found here.

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