October 20, 2021

The city’s roadside composting program leads the country, providing easy home composting for all San Franciscans and promoting the city’s no-waste efforts

San Francisco, California – Mayor of London N. Breed today recalled 25 years of bio-recovery as part of the most successful, comprehensive and innovative composting program in the country. Since 1996, local residents and businesses have reclaimed organic material, mostly leftover food, from landfills and dumped it on local farmland, vineyards and ranches. Today the city collects more than 500 tons from the green bin every day.

“I am so proud of our residents and businesses as they continue to move forward and redefine what it means to be a sustainable city,” said Mayor Breed. “For decades, the San Franciscans have been increasing the amount of leftover food they have collected in the green bin and helping us get closer to the Zero Waste City we want to be. This persistence and dedication has shown cities around the world what is possible to try to emulate our practices. ”

To commemorate this milestone, Mayor Breed and the Environment Department are asking residents to challenge themselves during the upcoming holiday season by using their green and blue bin more than their black bin. To support these efforts, the Environment Ministry launched an eight-week public awareness campaign in which residents were offered a free compost bin for their home. Throughout the campaign, residents will be reminded with helpful tips and resources that encourage them to rethink old habits and move towards zero waste.

“As our city’s total emissions continue to decrease thanks to decades of successful climate protection measures, we are still faced with the challenge of pulling the carbon we already have from the air,” said Debbie Raphael, Director of the Ministry of the Environment. “When you use the green bin, you’re turning food waste that would otherwise have landed in landfills into rich, nutrient-rich compost that feeds our farms while capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. There is no better time than now to improve our consumer behavior and ultimately reduce waste. ”

Composting is critical to California’s fight against climate change. When used in local agriculture, soils enriched with compost are richer in nutrients, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and improving water retention. This not only helps the plants to thrive, but also reduces the risk of forest fires. In addition, compost improves the overall quality and health of the soil, which benefits microbes and plants, which in turn sequester carbon from the air. In contrast, leftover food that is improperly disposed of in the black bin can become material that releases harmful methane gases into the atmosphere. Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide when trapping heat in the atmosphere, so a significant reduction in methane emissions is critical to meeting our climate goals.

San Francisco’s waste grocery collection for composting program, the first of its kind in the United States, began in 1996 as a community-led initiative at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market, now called The SF Market. Shortly thereafter, the city’s largest hotel chains worked with the city to implement the collection of leftover food for composting. Building on this success, a pilot compost program was launched in the Richmond District and, in 2001, roadside organic material was volunteered on all properties. In 2009, San Francisco became the first city in the country to mandate composting and recycling through the three-bin collection system that residents and businesses are familiar with today. As a direct result of San Francisco’s innovative policies and initiatives, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 1383 in 2016, which requires all jurisdictions to provide, among other things, methane reduction measures for residents and businesses, bio-collection services by 2022.

Today, leftover food and landscape scraps duly collected in the green bin are being shipped to Recology’s Blossom Valley Organics, a state-of-the-art facility near Vernalis, California. There, pollutants such as plastics are sorted out of the organic material. The filtered material is then shredded, laid out in swaths, and carefully managed to even out the moisture in the air. These steps encourage naturally occurring microbes to break down the organic matter and destroy harmful pathogens. After 60 days, the compost material is sold to local farmers to improve their soils. The San Francisco roadside food waste collection program removed more than 2.5 million tons of compostable material from the landfill.

“It is up to all of us to move forward and redefine what it means to be an environmental city. Because of this, our people have worked hard to ensure processes and best practices that are better for the planet, ”said Vanick Der Bedrossian, co-owner of San Francisco’s La Méditerranée restaurant, one of the city’s certified green businesses for his efforts to Waste reduction and a lower carbon footprint. “We are grateful to be part of a community and city that shares these values ​​and welcome others to take the next step by joining the city’s Green Business program.”

At the 2018 World Climate Summit, Mayor Breed committed San Francisco to new zero waste targets and urged other cities to make the same promise. In particular, the city has pledged to reduce municipal waste generation by 15% by 2030 and landfill disposal by 50% by 2030. Today, San Francisco recovers more material than perhaps any other city in the United States, in part due to mandatory recycling and composting. However, bold action and new investment are still vital to achieving the city’s goals.

Residents who want to learn more about the award-winning campaign and receive a free compost bin can visit sfgasrelief.org. For more information on the Department of Environment’s Green Business program, visit sfenvironment.org/green-businesses.

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

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 19: Nick Bosa # 97 of the San Francisco 49ers rushes against passers-by … [+] Jordan Mailata # 68 of the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 19, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

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The San Francisco 49ers are one of seven teams that started the season unbeaten, and while their wins weren’t entirely convincing, the areas in which they excelled suggest this is a team built for 2021 became.

San Francisco followed a 41:33 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 1 and prevailed 17:11 in a defensive battle with the Philadelphia Eagles.

With their offensive skipping early and starting with three straight threes for the first time in Kyle Shanahan’s era, DeMeco Ryans’ defense has taken a significant step.

Returning defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw blocked a field goal to force a turnover on the downs in an effective display, and the defense was somehow able to survive four games from within their five-yard line to defeat the Eagles after 91st Yard connection with Quez Watkins in the second quarter.

That prevented the Eagles from taking a 10-0 lead, and San Francisco then went 12 plays and 97 yards on a scoring drive that gave the Niners a 7-3 lead in the half. From there, it was a game the 49ers controlled on both sides of the trenches, with San Francisco’s offensive and defensive lines putting in impressive performances against a strong Eagles team on both fronts.

Garoppolo did not suffer a sack against an Eagles defensive line, which scored three in their opening win over the Atlanta Falcons, a game in which Philadelphia posted a pressure rate of 41 percent, according to Pro Football Focus.

That’s not to say that the Niners kept Garoppolo clean throughout the game, but where pressured, the San Francisco quarterback demonstrated intelligent pocket movements to dodge the onslaught and avoid negative plays.

Across the trenches, despite his ability to play with his legs and escape the pocket, the 49ers managed to get to Jalen Hurts. Nick Bosa got off to a good start after missing most of 2020 due to injury.

Aided by an outstanding performance from an understaffed secondary school, San Francisco’s defensive line helped keep the Eagles down to just 138 net loyards in the second half, while Philadelphia had a 218-yard pitch in the first two quarters.

For the offense, the strength of protection combined with a game plan where Garoppolo got the ball out quickly with short throws – his time to throw of 2.44 seconds was the second fastest time in the NFL in Week 2 according to NextGen stats NFL – and its success in moving in the pocket meant the Niners could avoid disastrous games in an intimidating street setting where they seemed almost inevitable.

According to NextGen Stats, there will continue to be many questions about how long San Francisco will stay with Garoppolo ahead of rookie third Trey Lance after finishing the goal after a feat that ended with 3.6 planned air yards per attempt in the league reached.

The Niners inevitably have to be more aggressive as a passing attack if they really want to fight for a Super Bowl this season. Lance boasts far more than Garoppolo as a downfield passer, while his ongoing threat should add an extra dimension to the San Francisco offensive that the NFL has yet to see.

But the reality is that both sides of the trenches are performing at the same level for two weeks to keep San Francisco competitive, regardless of who is below the middle. The extent to which the Niners use their men’s platform in the trenches depends on whether Shanahan loses patience with Garoppolo and hands over the keys to his dynamic but inexperienced quarterback of the future.

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August 13, 2021

Over 3,500 backpacks and 5,000 planners and activity books have been distributed to children and teenagers living in public and affordable accommodations across San Francisco

San Francisco, California – Today Mayor of London N. Breed celebrated the successful completion of the city’s annual school backpack competition. In the past two weeks, more than 3,500 backpacks of school supplies have been distributed to children and teenagers in the public and affordable neighborhoods of San Francisco to help them prepare for the 2021-2022 school year.

As part of the city’s efforts to ensure a safe return to face-to-face learning, the Department of Public Health (DPH) dispatched mobile vaccination teams to many of the giveaway events to provide COVID-19 vaccines to attendees 12 and older. The events also provided food, entertainment, and resources related to health, wellness, employment, family support, and other social services in the neighborhood.

“This year’s competition is particularly exciting as our students are returning to the classroom after a year of distance learning,” said Mayor Breed. “The pandemic has hit us all hard, but nobody has suffered more than our youth. These backpack business gifts provide our students with the materials they need for the new school year and are a way of relieving our families financially. ” I would like to thank all departments in the city and our community partners for their hard work to ensure that our students are well prepared for the coming school year. “

In addition, the Mayor’s Office has partnered with the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF) and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) to create more than 5,000 planners and activity books with enriching tools and activities for personal and educational development to create and distribute. Exercises and prompts.

“As the children, adolescents and young people of our city prepare to return to their classrooms and school communities, we can feel their joy in returning to school and being personal. The 2021-2022 academic calendar will be the third.” School year that is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, “said Maria Su, Executive Director, Department of Children, Youth and their Families.” It has been a long and challenging journey, but we are determined to take our students and families on to support her path in the coming year. We believe in her brilliance and resilience. San Francisco children, enlighten your light, we see you. “

“It was a great pleasure to be part of this distribution to celebrate the strength, resilience and potential of our young people. Many of the youth loved the tools to help them pursue their goals and document their creativity, ”said Sheryl Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Commission on Human Rights.

The Mayor’s Office, the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) and HOPE SF have teamed up with volunteers through the nonprofit TogetherSF to pack and distribute the backpacks and other educational materials to each location.

“TogetherSF is grateful to our volunteer community for always being committed to helping,” said Kanishka Cheng, Executive Director of TogetherSF. “They quickly covered the need to pack and distribute backpacks – and had a great time doing it! We are honored to be part of the Mayor’s Backpack competition and look forward to continuing to support our community partners. “

“The City and County of San Francisco Housing Authority is honored to have helped the City family organize, deliver, and distribute backpacks to our families. Receiving a new backpack and school supplies is an exciting part of preparing for the upcoming school year and years to come as our students successfully navigate each stage of their educational journey, “said Tonia Lediju, chief executive officer of the San Francisco Housing Authority.

Other departments in the city that provided resources at the backpack raffle events were the Mayor’s Office for Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD), and the San Francisco Human Services Agency (HSA).

San Francisco is home to thousands of high school students in need of financial assistance both in and out of the classroom. Providing over 3,500 backpacks of school supplies tailored to each student’s class meets these needs while connecting students and their families with resources that can help support academic success throughout the year.

Mayor Breed is committed to ensuring all students have access to quality education as San Francisco emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Breed worked closely with the city’s departments throughout the pandemic to provide personal support for distance learning and additional enrichment programs, prioritizing children and teens with the greatest need. Additionally, earlier this year, Mayor Breed signed the city’s budget for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, which includes $ 15 million, to aid student learning loss and educational recreation for San Francisco’s children and youth fight.

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

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Andrew Benintendi’s tenure with the Royals was not optimal.

After Benintendi was transferred from the Red Sox to Kansas City in February as part of a three-team, seven-player deal, he fought during his first spring training in Arizona, which happened to carry over to the regular season.

In his first 15 games as a member of the Royals, the 26-year-old pitched an overwhelming .193 / .270 / .246 slash line, six walks and 17 strikes over with just three additional hits (all doubles), four RBI and three stolen bases 63 record appearances.

During that time, Benintendi – most notably Kansas City’s # 2 hitter – failed to serve a single ball and scored a dismal wRC + of 51 to prove his efforts.

On the morning of April 21, it looked like the previous round one picks were still on their way to the regression that began in the final month of the 2019 season.

But against the Rays that day, Benintendi did something he hadn’t done in a while: make very hard contact, and he did it twice, rolling up a pair of balls in the fourth and eighth innings.

Both balls the left-handed squared went for lineouts, but the fact that he was more than once in solid contact was encouraging – and a harbinger of positive things to come.

Since then, Benintendi has been on the move lately. He hit the base on Saturday with an eight-game streak and undoubtedly put together his best performance of the season so far against the Twins at Target Field.

The Cincinnati native, who finished in seventh place and started in left field for Kansas City, hit the record with two 3-4 home runs – scoring his second and third homers of the season, two RBI and three runs while leading his squad to an 11-3 win over Minnesota.

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But now, more than four months after the region put some of the nation’s first shelter-in-place orders in effect, the Bay Area is experiencing a surge in cases and counties are rolling back reopening plans.

The Bay Area, which consists of nine counties and nearly 8 million people, is a cautionary tale for government and health officials. Even though leaders here tried to do everything cautiously and by the book, cases still eventually spiked over a month and a half, to an average of 877 cases a day at the end of July from 217 a day in mid-June.

Medical experts say a slow but steady rise in complacency is worsening the case count. Contact tracers have told public health researchers that people are getting sick after indoor gatherings. And the numbers show that Latino residents and essential workers are being hit the hardest.

Many people who live here say they are worn out — that a hermitlike existence is impossible for months on end. Tired of being stuck at home, friends and families are starting to gather again, and some parents are letting their children use still-closed playgrounds, ducking under the caution tape that has been wrapped around jungle gyms since March.

Gretchen Flores, who works in patient admissions at San Francisco General Hospital, has seen more people with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, enter the hospital in recent weeks — as well as more and more people out and about near her house in San Bruno, south of the city.

The covid-19 death rate in Santa Ana, Calif. is more than double that of Orange County. Here, Latinos make up almost 80 percent of the population. (The Washington Post)

Siva Raj, a tech worker who lives in Pleasanton, has seen an increase in riders on his occasional BART train trips into San Francisco to visit friends.

After months of barely seeing anyone, Natalie Duvalsaint, a tech recruiter who lives in Oakland, has started having small wine nights with friends, and visits with other friends outside and at a distance. The rising case counts are absolutely worrying, she said. But staying inside and not seeing anyone can take a toll on mental health.

“We need to shelter in place and [practice] social distancing, but what about people with mental health issues?” she said. “I’m very extroverted, and I get kind of down if I don’t see people for a week and a half.”

The Bay Area is still in a better place than many parts of California and other large cities. It had reported a total 53,086 positive cases and 817 deaths on July 31.

That’s still relatively low in comparison to other large communities such as Miami and Los Angeles. And California itself is experiencing a dramatic surge in cases, mostly concentrated in Southern California. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) rolled back reopening plans in mid-July, ordering all bars and indoor dining closed for the entire state, and gyms, hair salons and houses of worship shuttered for at-risk counties.

But one by one, Bay Area counties have all been added to a state watch list, which places additional restrictions on what can be open.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed — heralded early in the pandemic as an example of a public official corralling her city into compliance — issued a harsh reminder to city residents in a public message when the county was recently added to the list.

“We have a small window of time right now to get our cases under control before we could see the large outbreak that we’re seeing around this country,” she said, adding that any business reopenings would be paused indefinitely.

The sudden increase in cases comes despite the early and tough steps six counties here took on March 16, locking down businesses and closing schools. Silicon Valley tech companies — the most influential residents — set the tone in early March, sending most of their white-collar employees home to work remotely. And for months, it seemed like it was working.

“What it bought us was 3½ months of relative calm, relatively few cases, astoundingly few deaths, and an opportunity to build up capacity,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of the University of California at San Francisco’s department of medicine. “What it also bought us was a little bit of complacency.”

That’s something Felix Castillo, a bus operator for San Francisco’s MUNI public transit system, sees as more people catch rides every day.

“What’s scary about now is no one is scared anymore, everyone is relaxed,” Castillo said. “I think it’s the most stressed I’ve been.”

Throughout the pandemic, Castillo has been crisscrossing the city on different bus lines during his daytime shifts, attempting to enforce the city’s mask rule for riders. Most people wear them now, but he recounts tense exchanges with some who wouldn’t. His cousin, another MUNI operator, was spit on recently by a rider who refused to use a mask.

In late spring, Bay Area residents’ confidence was bolstered by how well the state and local governments seemed to be containing the virus.

“We were dubbed the ‘California miracle,’” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a medical professor at UCSF who specializes in infectious diseases. “Then Memorial Day hit, and that was probably the turning point in California.”

Justin Donnelly used to ride the Caltrain every day from his home in downtown San Francisco to work at a Stanford University chemistry lab. As the shelter-in-place orders took hold, he started driving in, breezing along empty freeways. In the past three weeks, he has noticed a slowdown on the city’s roads as he drives home midday.

For about two months the 24-year-old was only seeing two friends whom he dubbed his “quarantine pod.” But he has slowly expanded that pod to a few more friends he’ll see inside. Everything else is outside only, he said, noting that he is following research indicating infection transmission outdoors is rarer than indoors.

“It seems like a better way to manage the risk,” he said.

BART ridership is still 89 percent below its baseline amount, though it has been rising slightly since the end of May. The number of people boarding San Francisco’s MUNI buses in July is down 70 percent year over year, also a small rise from its low point in May.

But the number of people driving across the Golden Gate Bridge has doubled since its low point in early April, a sign that people returning to work and other activities are choosing driving over public transit.

Residents of San Francisco also travel across the bridge for hiking and beaches in Marin County, just north of the city. Popular outdoor destinations there were packed with cars on a recent weekend as people crowded the hiking trails and picnic areas, some wearing masks.

Some rule-breaking indoor gatherings are also taking place. One couple held a wedding with 100 guests in San Francisco in early July. The couple and several guests tested positive for covid-19, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There was also some confusion among residents as the counties, once reassuringly in sync, splintered on reopening strategies and timelines. Marin allowed hair salons to open and indoor dining for groups as large as 10 on June 29. San Mateo stayed with the state-recommended guidelines. Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Francisco allowed some outdoor dining and retail at different points in June.

Demographic data and ongoing research indicate that essential workers here are facing higher risk, especially those such as day laborers, cleaners and home health aides.

“We’re the ones out there every day,” said Jay Campos, a bus operator in San Francisco who drives the late-night lines from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Campos, who lives in the East Bay, says he has relatives in New York who fell ill and worries about keeping his three children healthy.

“We can’t ignore the fact that some of this is on the backs of low-wage workers,” Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of UCSF’s department of epidemiology and biostatistics, said of the earlier push to reopen. Bibbins-Domingo leads UCSF’s covid-19 community public health initiative, which has been blanket-testing specific San Francisco neighborhoods to study how the virus is spreading.

When the group tested an entire census tract in the city’s Mission District for the virus and antibodies, it found Latino residents accounted for 95 percent of the cases despite representing just 40 percent of the neighborhood. While most people were sheltering, the Latino population was working and sometimes bringing back the virus to more densely populated homes, Bibbins-Domingo said.

Dr. Valerie Francisco-Menchavez, an associate professor of sociology at San Francisco State University, is working on research about Filipino home caregivers during the pandemic. The workers are essential, she says, but they’re also invisible.

“In the reopening plan, I wished that the question that politicians would ask is not how many deaths can be allowed in black and brown communities. Not how many deaths can we live with so people can eat, go play golf, go to SoulCycle,” said Francisco-Menchavez.

Rosalie Amacan is a nurse in a covid-19 unit at a hospital and a caretaker for a special-needs child. She also owns two Bay Area care homes for developmentally delayed adults. She’s kept working, and is strict about following safety precautions. But she’s constantly worried. She said reopenings happened too soon, putting workers like her at risk.

“For Filipinos, most of us are health-care workers and we go to several jobs,” said Amacan, who lives in San Francisco. “It’s because the demand is there, and I feel like I have to. It’s hard to say no.”

An increase in cases was always part of the bargain for reopening — an unspoken trade-off for some in exchange for restarting the economy. But the speed and size of the increase has created a challenge for some government officials.

“There’s always a balance between trying to protect public health and trying to get the economy running again and get people back to some semblance of normal lives,” said Nick Moss, interim health officer for Alameda County.

The county of 1.67 million people, which encompasses Oakland, has the most cases in the area. It had 11,324 confirmed cases of the virus as of July 31, up from 4,271 June 15. Like the rest of the Bay Area, Alameda’s low-income neighborhoods have been hardest hit. Just over half of the positive cases are Latino residents, despite the county’s population being just 22 percent Latino.

It’s also where the Tesla auto plant is located — which reopened before the county gave the OK and has now had workers fall ill.

Alameda County made it to stage 2 reopening, allowing some outdoor dining. Just as it was about to allow “high risk” business activity such as indoor dining, salons and barbershops at the start of July, Alameda hit the brakes.

Across the bay, San Francisco Mayor Breed hit pause on June 26, delaying the scheduled reopening of hair salons, gyms, museums, indoor dining at restaurants and outdoor drinking at bars.

Pushing the numbers up in Marin County was a major outbreak at San Quentin State Prison, where 2,170 prisoners got sick and 19 died.

To make matters worse, the surge has again stressed the mass testing apparatus, prompting delays in getting test slots and receiving results.

Veterinarian Steven Randle, who frequently interacts with people for his job, got tested on June 27 in San Francisco. His negative test results came 16 days later.

“It became completely pointless by that point in time, because I would have technically done my 14 day quarantine if it was positive,” Randle said.

Many white collar workers here have now been working from home for roughly five months, and sheltering in place almost as long.

Melinda Byerley recently saw friends in person for the first time since March. In the backyard of the friends’ Mountain View home, she carefully measured out 10 feet of space. She brought her own food, used a bathroom that had an outdoor entrance and wore a mask except when eating or drinking.

Byerley, a start-up founder, knows she is being highly cautious, usually only leaving her San Francisco home to run or go grocery shopping. But even as she stays sheltered, the region is starting to change around her.

“If you’re in your 20s and don’t have kids, the calculus is different,” said the 50-year-old. “You miss your friends. I almost can’t blame them in some ways. You move to the city for that excitement, and it’s gone for now.”

Location data from firm SafeGraph, which collects pings from cellphones, shows that people in the region were staying at home more, earlier, than much of the rest of the state.

Around the last week of April, San Francisco seemed to be the most careful, with 50 percent of the population staying home, according to Aref Darzi, research associate at the Maryland Transportation Institute, which uses location data from phones to track human movement across the U.S. By the end of May, as reopenings began, people started going out more. It’s now 44 percent.

“I think as things opened we didn’t have enough clarity of message that opening brings risks and shared responsibility,” said Srija Srinivasan, the deputy chief of health for San Mateo County. “It brings a need for more adherence, not less.”

Jason Harrison, an emergency room nurse at UCSF Health who has seen an uptick in cases, says he knows it’s hard to fathom how destructive and real the disease is when you don’t personally know someone who has had it.

He tries to make it as real as possible for the people in his circle. He tries to keep his family and friends informed about what’s safe as much as possible without coming off as a “nag.”

“To the average person, unless it’s actually affecting their friends and family, it’s still just a news story,” he said.

The covid-19 death rate in Santa Ana, Calif. is more than double that of Orange County. Here, Latinos make up almost 80 percent of the population. (The Washington Post)

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