Tesla will be relocating its headquarters from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas at some point in the near future, and CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to take another blow at San Francisco on his way out.

In response to a Fox News article about a special Tuesday election in Austin to restore law enforcement funding after it was cut last summer, Musk tweeted, “Austin should be his city, not a copycat in San Francisco.”

Austin should be his city, not an imitator of San Francisco

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021

Interestingly, after the George Floyd protests last summer, Austin went much further than San Francisco in “police discovery”.

In August 2020, Austin City Council decided to cut $ 150 million from its $ 434 police budget in 2021 – while San Francisco cut $ 80 million over two years. San Francisco has an annual police budget of around $ 700 million, meaning SF saw a 6% annual drop in police funding while Austin saw a whopping 35% drop.

Homicides have increased year over year in both cities, with Austin seeing a much larger increase (71%, according to the Fox News article) than San Francisco (5%, according to the city’s crime dashboard). Because homicides are the least likely to go unreported, some view statistics as the best measure of a city’s rising crime rate.

In response to rising murder rates and a Texas law signed by Governor Greg Abbott punishing cities that cut police budgets, Austin City Council voted in August to bring funding back to pre-summer 2020 levels.

The special elections on Tuesday will take place on a separate voting measure called Proposition A, in which the city would have to employ two police officers per 1,000 residents and provide incentives to hire officials who speak other languages ​​in addition to English.

The post Elon Musk tells Austin to not be a San Francisco ‘copycat’ appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Handy Technologies Inc. must begin treating its workers as employees immediately because the app-based Handyman platform cannot demonstrate that it meets the requirements to be classified as an independent contractor under California law, the San prosecutor said Francisco with a state judge on Wednesday.

The city sued Handy in March for its worker grading practices. In May, San Francisco filed for an injunction, arguing that under California’s strict Worker Status Act, Assembly Bill 5, workers who use the cell phone platform are white-collar workers.

Handy exercises a great deal of control over its “pros,” the city claimed in its briefing, including a request to …

The post Useful Should Deal with Employees as Staff, San Francisco Tells Decide appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Septum. 02/23/2021, 12:38 am

• App-based cleaning platform incorrectly classifies workers, the city says
• Handy argues that an injunction would force a change in the business model

Handy Technologies Inc. must begin treating its workers as employees immediately because the app-based Handyman platform cannot demonstrate that it meets the requirements to be classified as an independent contractor under California law, the San prosecutor said Francisco with a state judge on Wednesday.

The city sued Handy in March for its worker grading practices. In May, San Francisco filed for an injunction, arguing that under California’s strict Worker Status Act, Assembly Bill 5, workers who use the cell phone platform are white-collar workers.

Handy exercises a great deal of control over its “pros,” the city claimed in its briefing, including a request to …

Maeve Allsup

Legal Rapporteur

© 2021 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

All rights reserved

The post Useful Should Deal with Employees as Staff, San Francisco Tells Decide appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

MENDOCINO (AP) – Tourists flock to the seaside town of Mendocino by the thousands for its Victorian homes and cliff walkways, but visitors this summer will also find public portable toilets and signs on picket fences asking, “Severe drought. Please save water. “

Hotels closed their lobby toilets and residents stopped watering their gardens in the misty outpost about 150 miles north of San Francisco after two years of little rain drained many of the wells Mendocino depends on for drinking water.

Mendocino’s water problems were exacerbated in recent weeks when the town of Fort Bragg a few miles further north – its main reserve water supplier – notified officials that its drinking water reserves had also plummeted after the Noyo River reached its lowest flow in decades.

“This is a real emergency,” said Ryan Rhoades, superintendent of the Mendocino City Community Services District, who helps manage the water in the city’s aquifer.

Eric Hillesland and his wife would normally not have to buy water until the end of July or August to supply the Alegria Inn, their 10-room bed and breakfast right on the ocean. But the estate’s well began pumping little water earlier in the year, and by February they were ordering 3,500 gallons (13,250 liters) a week.

Then the couple stopped watering the gardens and switched from glass to paper plates to serve welcome cookies. You plan to use microfiber sheets that use less water to wash.

“We also ask our guests to be aware of the severity of our water shortage and not to take the long showers they are used to at home,” said Hillesland.

Mendocino relies on groundwater, accessible through a network of around 400 private wells, many of which were hand dug when the former mill town was founded in the 1850s. Local residents and business owners keep their water in storage tanks, including some on historic redwood water towers.

Signs warn visitors of the severe drought in Mendocino on Wednesday 4th August 2021. Tourists flock to the quaint seaside town of Mendocino for its Victorian homes and cliff walkways, but visitors will also find portable public toilets and dozens of picket fences this summer announcing the quaint Northern California hamlet: “Severe drought, please save water.” (AP Photo / Haven Daley)

The city has about 1,000 residents, but its economy depends on about 2,000 people visiting daily during the high season from May to October, Rhoades said.

Traditionally, companies had to fetch water in autumn. But after a second dry winter, many had to order much earlier than before.

Due to the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, there were few visitors last year when townspeople noticed their fountains were producing less. The Bay Area and Sacramento weekend getaway is now teeming with guests.

This has forced local residents and business owners to find sources of drinking water further away, which has doubled the price of water. Some restaurants are reducing their opening hours to save costs.

In February, Hillesland paid $ 300 for a delivery of 3,500 gallons (13,250 liters). Now it costs $ 600.

If things get worse and they need to start closing rooms, “then we are in a situation like the beginning of the pandemic – no income but still plenty of mortgages and insurance,” he said.

Many longer-term solutions are being considered, including providing water by barge, plane, and train, and adding community storage tanks up to 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters), with the U.S. National Guard or Army Corps of engineers are being asked to set up a mobile desalination plant and even mist detection. But all of them are expensive, and the city needs state and federal government support, Rhoades said.

A company that had developed a new technology to detect moisture in fog suggested setting up a free test site in Mendocino and selling the water to the community. However, Rhoades said the infrastructure would detract from the city’s scenic views and getting a permit would be a challenge. A desalination plant would face similar licensing and environmental hurdles.

“Transporting treated water from an inland source could be a faster solution, even if it is expensive,” he said.

Robert Pinoli, president of the Mendocino Railway, which operates the historic Skunk Train, said he was ready to help. The Willits train has been traveling through redwood forests and river canyons to Fort Bragg since 1885.

Pinoli said he could quickly find tank cars, attach them to the locomotive, and deliver up to 200,000 gallons (757,000 liters) per trip. He identified a source for tank trucks in 2015 when Fort Bragg was experiencing a water shortage and was considering buying inland water to transport it to the coast. Officials scratched these plans after it rained.

He said that if Willits decides to sell his water and Fort Bragg chooses to buy it, “we will become a logical vehicle for moving water on a fairly large scale.”

Willits officials recently decided against selling their water to the parched city.

Right now, Mendocino residents rely on people like Brian Clark, who sells water from his well outside of town and transports it by truck. Clark said he couldn’t keep up with demand.

“I really hide from the phone because I get a lot more calls than I have water and I hear from people I have never met, never heard from, and who I cannot help,” he said.

Clark, a longtime resident, said Mendocino hadn’t had such water retention issues since the 1970s, when California experienced the worst drought ever.

District officials’ short-term solutions include waiving the permit requirements for storage tanks that can hold up to 5,000 gallons (18,900 liters) and identifying wells with excess water near Mendocino. Officials are also asking the state to help fund the larger private tanks, Rhoades said.

“Now, while their wells are reasonably productive, I want residents to be able to store more water to survive the next four months. And when you have to buy water, you get the best bang for your buck, ”he said.

© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The post Dry Mendocino Desperately Tells Guests ‘Please Preserve’ – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Seyfarth Synopsis. On December 18, 2020, San Francisco imposed a 10-day quarantine on most people traveling or returning to the city for more than 24 hours. The order does not apply to travel within the larger Bay Area or to certain visitors, including those who stay no longer than 24 hours, those seeking medical treatment, and those coming into town to provide essential services. While the regulation does not require employers to monitor their employees’ personal journeys, the order does require employers to prohibit workers from returning to work if they become aware of the journey. Any non-working time due to this travel quarantine is regulated by the employer’s existing leisure time guidelines. The order is valid until at least January 4, 2021. Fortunately, the order is unlikely to affect a famous traveler on December 24, unless their sled fails and they have to stay in town for more than 24 hours.

In response to COVID-19-related concerns about vacation travel, San Francisco has issued a mandatory quarantine order for many people traveling in and out of the city. The order runs from December 18, 2020 to January 4, 2021 and requires most people to travel to the city for more than 24 hours or return home after 10 days of quarantine. While affected individuals may leave home to be tested for COVID-19, a negative test does not shorten the 10-day quarantine period.

Exceptions.

The order makes exceptions for some travelers. For example, this does not apply to:

• People who started their trip before December 18th;
• Individuals who move through San Francisco but do not stay longer than 24 hours; and
• Other Bay Area residents (defined as people from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties).

However, the order encourages residents and individuals in the Bay Area who began traveling before the order went into effect to adhere to the quarantine policy.

For parents and children concerned about the Order’s impact on Santa, the 24-hour exemption is likely to apply to his December 24th work.

The order also excludes a number of key workers and others who come to the city for specific assignments, including:

• Licensed Healthcare Professionals
• Anyone who comes to San Francisco to work in an acute hospital
• Individuals who perform essential government functions or work on essential infrastructure
• People caring for minors, the elderly or people with disabilities
• People receiving medical care
• Individuals asked by their employer to enter the city to work for an essential San Francisco company due to a staff shortage
• Individuals traveling for law enforcement or a court order
• Individuals who are members of professional or university sports teams and who travel for a game
• People who are part of a film production, provided they meet certain requirements

Impact on employers.

The city’s FAQs make it clear that employers may have some responsibilities as part of the ordering process. Corporations are not required to (and cannot under applicable California law) restrict their employees’ personal travel, nor are businesses required to inquire about where their employees have traveled. However, if an employer learns that an employee has traveled outside of the Bay Area, the employer must prohibit the employee from returning to work during the quarantine period.

The appointment does not require companies to approve paid employee quarantine time off. Instead, it deviates from the normal guidelines of an employer. If the employee is entitled to free time under these guidelines, they should be given it. However, if the employee’s conduct or leisure time is contrary to the employer’s normal guidelines, the employee may be disciplined.

Note.

The only companies asked to order are transportation facilities. You must notify incoming travelers by either giving the travelers a copy of the notice accompanying the order or by posting the notice and making periodic announcements.

While hopefully this is a quick caveat, employers should brush up on travel order in San Francisco and be prepared if they learn of employees traveling outside of the Bay Area on vacation.

Seyfarths Workplace Solutions can help you with these and other COVID-19 questions.

The post San Francisco’s 10-Day Journey Quarantine Order Tells Vacation Vacationers to Keep House, Although Santa Probably Excepted | Seyfarth Shaw LLP appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.