What the propositions mean

Here is a brief overview of some propositions. Prop A: San Fran-cisco Transportation and Road Improvement Bond. If passed, this proposition would issue general obligation bonds to ... Read More

Election

Election 2014 hot topics

A lively political roundtable looks at the issues and people on this November’s ballot

By John Zipperer

As California voters prepare to fill out their ballots in person at the polling booth or by mail, one of the biggest challenges is making sense of all of the different candidates, ... Read More

Union Street Scoop

A month of Sundays

By John Zipperer

One Sunday in September we took a stroll down Union Street to enjoy the weather and people watching, visit the shops, and get some food. It was a sunny day, with people mostly dres... Read More

Real Estate Investor

Airbnb goes legit?

Home-sharing service begins collecting mandated hotel tax as city clarifies regulation

By John Zipperer

Short-term residential rental companies such as Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway might be the biggest disruption to hit the real estate market since public online listings took away the ... Read More

Cathouse

Captain Skycat

By John Zipperer

There are many reasons to doubt the natural intelligence of Ashes, our little tuxedo cat. How do I know she’s not an Einstein? For the sake of research, I found some online f... Read More

Cathouse

Everything I know about cats I learned from Krazy Kat

By John Zipperer

Whenever Charlie does something particularly wild or stupid, I tell him he’s a crazy cat. Except in my mind, I’m spelling it “Krazy Kat,” even though I know... Read More

Real Estate

A tale of five cities

By John Zipperer

In my line of work, I meet a lot of people who have recently moved to San Francisco or who are hoping to move here as soon as they find a place to stay. Newcomers usually are looki... Read More

Real Estate Investor

Tenant improvements

By John Zipperer

In this densely populated, built-up city, some of the most desired property is something you can’t have. The Presidio is land like any other land, but it’s run by the P... Read More

Northsider

A very supportive neighborhood

By John Zipperer

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE The Mexican Museum at Fort Mason has inked an agreement with Mexico City’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico to bring artists and exhibits to San ... Read More

News

30 Stockton Muni station changes changed again

By John Zipperer

A change of station stops by the 30 Stockton bus appears to be short-lived, following rider reaction. Several folks complained that Muni failed to respond to their complaints, but ... Read More

Cathouse

Charlie’s bad day

By John Zipperer

Charlie is usually a very happy cat. He thinks he’s the greatest creature on the planet, and as long as the food keeps coming, he has comfy places to sleep, and we treat him ... Read More

Real Estate

Not enough housing at any level

By John Zipperer

FLIP FLOPPERS Last month, we reported on attempts by some local politicians to make it more difficult to flip homes — buying and reselling them within a year at sometimes signifi... Read More

Northsider

Getting around town

By John Zipperer

THE MUNI 30 STOCKTON What a difference a bus stop makes. That’s the message of numerous Marina residents who have written or called the Marina Times to complain about the 30 ... Read More

Real Estate

Where to go from here

Exploring what can be done to deal with city growth successfully

By John Zipperer

Final of a four-part series (Part 3, Part 2) When NPR’s comedy news quiz program Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me visited San Francisco in late July, host Peter Sagal joked, ... Read More

Community

When did S.F. become the no-go city?

Do we really want our city to be a place that doesn’t try disruptive new things?

By John Zipperer

A model of Jedi Master Yoda might be remembered as the symbol of the moment in history when San Francisco decided it wasn’t interested in growing — culturally or economical... Read More

John Zipperer