Commonwealth Club’s new home

In early September, The Commonwealth Club will hold the ribbon cutting for its new building at 110 The Embarcadero, the product of an eight-year effort to purchase and build out a ... Read More

News Briefs

Farrell targets guns again

By John Zipperer

In the wake of the abortive attempts at alt-right rallies in the Bay Area, District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell plans to push for a new law that would further tighten local laws agai... Read More

News Briefs

Jewelry store robbery leads to arrests

By John Zipperer

In mid-August, San Francisco police arrested three men for the Aug. 8 armed robbery of a jewelry store in the district served by Northern Station. The three suspects, each between ... Read More

News Briefs

S.F. Art Institute at Fort Mason

By John Zipperer

The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is rolling out its new campus at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The grand opening celebration will take place in a free openin... Read More

News Briefs

Approaching soft story deadline

By John Zipperer

The Department of Building Inspection (DBI) issued a reminder in August about the impending deadline for building owners to apply for permits to retrofit their soft-story buildings... Read More

Speak, don’t speak

Reflections on the meaning of free speech in the 21st century

By John Zipperer

Nat Hentoff is dead. the very broad definition of free speech that he supported might also be dead. The legendary columnist and free speech activist argued for decades for the wide... Read More

News Briefs

Facts and figures

By John Zipperer

99: San Francisco’s rank among the most “stressed cities in America” list compiled by WalletHub … Mid- to late 1990s: The era when retailers that didn’t “rush to develo... Read More

News Briefs

Picnics nab EPA Award for Presidio

By John Zipperer

The Presidio Trust was one of five organizations to receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 Federal Green Challenge Education and Outreach Award for the Pacific Northw... Read More

News Briefs

Taxing vacancies

By John Zipperer

In 2014, SPUR released a study estimating that there were more than 30,000 housing units that were vacant in San Francisco, out of 376,899 total housing units. There were many diff... Read More

News Briefs

Street Tree SF

By John Zipperer

San Francisco residents no longer have to take responsibility for the upkeep of street trees in front of their homes. The city now puts aside $19 million a year for upkeep of the t... Read More

News Briefs

What will they do with the dummy?

By John Zipperer

A man was robbed by two suspects, who fled with the man’s ventriloquist dummy, reports SFGate. The July 21 crime took place in the Polk Gulch neighborhood, when the 20-year-old v... Read More

News Briefs

City Attorney pressures Uber, Lyft

By John Zipperer

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sought court orders to force Lyft, Uber, and two of Uber’s subsidiaries to comply with subpoenas issued in early June as part of Herrer... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

The wealth gap

By John Zipperer

HALL OF SHAME As much as I am an advocate for aggressively building enough housing to accommodate everyone in San Francisco, at some point, the news is just piling on. We know it�... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

City changing neighborhood by neighborhood

By John Zipperer

YOU MUST PAY THE RENT The good folks at Zumper have released their Summer 2017 edition of their map showing rental rates across San Francisco’s many neighborhoods. Despite all of... Read More

Real Estate Investor

Ending a housing crisis

By John Zipperer

Seemingly everybody in this city talks about the housing crisis. Now, some state lawmakers are trying to do something about it. I recently discussed this with my political roundtab... Read More

John Zipperer