S.F. supervisor looks to shield HIV survivors from rent spikes
For more than 25 years, Richard Johnson has called a one-bedroom apartment in Hayes Valley home — even as the neighborhood changed and rents increased, pushing out old friends. Johnson, 59, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, is disabled and receives a monthly rental assistance voucher from the Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS, known as HOPWA. “Next year, they could raise my rent to full market price, and I would lose my apartment of 25 years because I couldn’t afford it and have no way to fight an eviction,” said Johnson, who was able to get the rent increase reduced to 35 percent. “When you’re talking about renters who are long-term HIV survivors, these are people who are disproportionally low-income or on a fixed income,” Wiener said. The HIV/AIDS federal voucher program helps people living with the disease by providing rental subsidies. Residents must make less than 80 percent of the area median income, and the voucher will cover a certain percentage of the rent, up to $1,900. When rent becomes too expensive, many of those in the program are forced to leave the city, losing access to vital medical care and city services. “If they lose their current housing, there is very little chance of finding an affordable unit in the city again,” said Jaime Rush, a housing attorney for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. […] others, like me, have to face the cold fact that our landlords can raise our under-market-rate rental units to market rate in one increase.
Suit against gun store law in Alameda County revived
The Constitution protects the right to buy and sell firearms as well as the right to own them, a federal appeals court said Monday in reviving a lawsuit challenging an Alameda County ordinance banning gun shops within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood or a school. A federal judge ruled that the 500-foot buffer zone was a reasonable measure to protect neighborhoods from gun violence. At the least, O’Scannlain said, the county must present some evidence that “gun stores act as a magnet for crime.” […] if the practical effect of the law is to ban new gun stores — something the three businessmen claim, and the county denies — the county must show that such a prohibition is the only available means to reduce crime, O’Scannlain said. The ruling is one of many attempts by lower federal courts to fill gaps in the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision that declared an individual right, under the Second Amendment, to possess firearms for self-defense, but left the scope of permissible government regulation unclear. Federal courts have upheld San Francisco’s ban on high-capacity semiautomatic weapons and its requirement that handgun owners keep their weapons stored and locked. “Given California’s legal requirements to use licensed dealers for firearms transfers and background checks, it’s important that retailers are able to open their doors — and keep them open,” Combs said. Attorney Imran Khaliq, who represented the advocacy groups Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Youth Alive, said courts uphold such laws as part of a local government’s authority to protect residents’ health and safety.
Oakland police place fourth officer on leave in misconduct probe
A fourth Oakland police officer has been placed on administrative leave as a result of an ongoing sexual misconduct investigation by the police Internal Affairs Division. Police, who remain tight-lipped about the case, said last Wednesday that three police officers were placed on leave as the department’s Internal Affairs Division looked into allegations of sexual misconduct involving officers. […] on Friday, Police Chief Sean Whent and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf held a news conference and revealed that the Alameda County District Attorney’s office would begin a parallel investigation into the misconduct case, and review the department’s handling of another case involving two suicides: the 2015 suicide of police officer Brendan O’Brien and the 2014 suicide of that officer’s wife, Irma Huerta Lopez. In April another Oakland officer, Cullen Faeth, was charged with four misdemeanors, battery, trespassing, and public intoxication, for an incident in which a family complained that a man tried to break into their home and attacked a woman who lived there. Schaaf has made law enforcement a pillar of her administration, promising to boost Oakland’s police force to 800 officers by the end of her term in 2018.
SF house fire injures 3, including firefighter
Three people, including a firefighter, were injured during a Monday morning blaze that damaged two houses in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset and left 13 residents displaced, officials said. The fire was never called in, but an engine company driving nearby spotted smoke in the distance around 11 a.m., then drove around until firefighters found the blaze in the 1900 block of 35th Avenue, personnel said. Nine people lived in the two-story house where the fire originated, Baxter said. Flames spread to another two-story home next door, where officials said a family of four was displaced but not injured.
Overturned car on I-80 injures 2, snarls traffic
A sports car heading east on Interstate 80 in Pinole crashed into the center divide and overturned multiple times Monday about noon before coming to a rest upside down and trapping a man and woman inside, police said. The driver of the 1991 Mazda Miata had minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but his female passenger sustained major injuries and was airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, according to Officer Brandon Correia, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. While the helicopter was landing at the crash scene, all lanes of the freeway near Pinole Valley Road were closed.
Singer Julius La Rosa, publicly fired on Godfrey show, dies
Julius La Rosa, the celebrated 1950s singer who reinvented himself as a television, stage and nightclub performer after his young career was thrown into turmoil by a bizarre and humiliating on-the-air firing by Arthur Godfrey before a national audience, died Thursday at his home in Crivitz, Wis. Like many fresh talents discovered by the powerful Godfrey, Mr. La Rosa had been plucked from obscurity, taken into the “Little Godfrey” family, paid a salary beyond his wildest dreams and exposed to colossal television and radio audiences. With his chunky-cheeked, boyish grin and dark, curly hair swept back from a widow’s peak, he crooned pop favorites for 35 million people from 1951 to 1953 on CBS’ “Arthur Godfrey Time,” a weekday morning television and radio show, and for “Arthur Godfrey and His Friends,” a Wednesday night variety program. Godfrey — a folksy, sentimental ukulele strummer to his audiences but an imperious, tyrannical boss behind the sets — ordered all his entertainers to take dancing lessons. Ed Sullivan signed him, at triple his old salary, for a dozen appearances on his national television variety show, “Toast of the Town.” In 1958, he married Rosemary Meyer, who was Como’s secretary. Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Maria Smith; a son, Chris; a sister, Sadie; and one grandson. Over the ensuing decades, as tastes in television and music changed, Mr. La Rosa was seen in mostly regional musicals and stage productions, including “Kiss Me Kate,” “Carousel,” “South Pacific,” “Stalag 17” and “The Realist,” often receiving excellent reviews. In 1950, his Navy buddies managed to promote him to Godfrey, himself a Naval Reserve officer, who gave the young singer an audition in Pensacola, Fla., where Mr. La Rosa was stationed. Impressed with his rendition of “Don’t Take Your Love From Me,” Godfrey had him flown to New York to appear on his television show, and on the air promised him a job when he mustered out. […] while his name slowly faded over more than a half century, it never quite went away, especially for those who still remember Johnnie Ray, Margaret Whiting, Georgia Gibbs, the McGuire Sisters and other voices of the “golden oldies” generation.
Man found dead in Russian River from apparent drowning
The local fire department was called to the scene, about 200 yards downstream from Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville, after kayakers found the body about 11:15 a.m., according to Sgt. Cecile Focha, a spokeswoman for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. The county medical examiner took custody of the body and was scheduled to conduct an autopsy Monday. Officials warned swimmers and beach-goers to be wary of deceptive currents.
‘Acoustic Sunrise’ returns to KFOG
“Acoustic Sunrise,” one of the shows purged in the “Evolution” of KFOG that began April 20, will return starting this Sunday, it was announced on the air Monday morning. “I’m ecstatic to be restoring our little oasis of serenity back on Sunday mornings,” said Howarth, reached by phone while on vacation in Los Angeles. Howarth, a soothing voice on KFOG for 32 years, was one of six on-air personalities fired at the end of March by Cumulus Media, which owns KFOG. Reached in Austin, Texas, new KFOG programming director Bryan Schock said it was always his intention to bring “Acoustic Sunrise” back. Howarth has been programming and hosting the program for more than 20 years, and her hallmarks are rare covers, stripped-down versions of rock classics and newer hits recorded live in the KFOG studios. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Motorcyclist, 28, dies in South Bay solo collision
A motorcyclist died Sunday evening near Los Gatos when he lost control of his bike, officials said. The man, 28, whose identity wasn’t immediately released, was traveling south on Black Road near Beggs Road in an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County when, for unknown reasons, his motorcycle overturned. The man was ejected from his 2014 Victory bike and struck a tree, the California Highway Patrol said. Officials said alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the solo cash. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kveklerov
Woman found dead in Concord duck pond
Officials are investigating a suspicious death in Concord after the body of a woman was found in a park floating on the edge of a duck pond early Monday morning. Police were called to the pond in Newhall Park about 2:30 a.m. due to reports of a possible dead body. Concord Police Department’s major crimes unit is investigating the suspicious death.
Bay Area boy, 4, dies in pool drowning
A 4-year-old boy drowned in an apartment complex’s swimming pool surrounded by family members and other building residents who didn’t notice the child had slipped off his kickboard and sunk under the water until it was too late, officials said Monday. The boy was swimming at the Sonoma Racquet Club apartment complex in Rohnert Park on Sunday afternoon when he slipped under the water about 4:15 p.m. Police said several minutes passed between the child slipping off his kickboard and him being brought to the surface. Bystanders started cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the boy was unresponsive.
How bee rampage terrorized neighborhood, killed 2 dogs
The Concord beekeeper who set off an attack by a swarm of suspected “killer bees” over the weekend was an experienced hobbyist who had the beehives for 15 years and didn’t notice anything amiss with his honeybees until he tried to move the hives so his father could do some backyard landscaping. […] when he tried to move the second one, those bees went berserk, stinging him despite his bee suit, attacking his parents and rampaging out into the neighborhood around Hitchcock Road, stinging neighbors, passersby, a mail carrier and pets. The terrifying incident comes months after scientists confirmed that Africanized killer bees had migrated from Southern California and were in the Bay Area, at the edge of Briones Regional Park. If DNA tests confirm that the insects are Africanized bees, the incident would be the first known attack in the Bay Area of the invasive species, whose ominous movements northward have been documented for decades. The pugnacious bees spread out along Hitchcock, near Cowell Road and Treat Boulevard, attacking pedestrians, swirling around cars and harassing police officers who arrived to help. Two guys in a pickup truck stopped to help her, and the bees attacked them. Malley said he tried to help the postal worker, Melissa Weisner, who was “was covered in bees.” A jogger running down Hitchcock Road on Saturday also got swarmed by bees, Malley said. The furious onslaught continued Sunday in the well-kept neighborhood of one- and two-story houses, and very few people were venturing outside. The bees, however, buzzed around people’s heads and stung those who stepped out of their cars, including several reporters. Arthur Janke moved the hives Friday to a ranch the family owns in Clayton and on Saturday sprayed them with warm, soapy water when they clustered into a ball for the night, a recommended technique for killing them. The Jankes were still struggling Sunday to get rid of the bees as members of the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association collected samples to submit for DNA testing. Africanized honeybees, also called killer bees because of their tendency to aggressively pursue and repeatedly sting animals and people over distances of as much as 500 yards, were found in the Bay Area in 2014 in Lafayette, near Briones Regional Park, by UC San Diego researchers. The Africanized honeybee is a hybrid of the European bee and the African bee, originally brought west to Brazil to improve honey production. Africanized bees have killed animals on chains and in fenced enclosures in Southern California and Texas. In August 2015, a swarm of Africanized bees killed a construction worker and injured two others in Riverside as the workers graded land for a parking lot, unaware that an underground vault housed a hive. Lott said the killer bees can move into an area and form hives of their own, usurp a honeybee hive or have drones mate with a honeybee queen, forming a hybrid bee. A community alert was still in effect and police were patrolling the area warning passersby about the danger. When in a safe location, call a local bee professional and emergency personnel.
Texas man wins the Bay to Breakers with a run time of 35 mins, 23 secs
The costumed participants in the race, so-called, were heavy this year on all things scary, such as political candidates. The early arrivals for the race, which has attracted 1.8 million runners since it began in 1912, negotiated a maze of steel barricades, outhouses, homeless folks in doorways, cops, guards and more outhouses. Runners were bound by race rule 142 (Competitors must wear clothing that is clean, designed and worn so as not to be objectionable) although it was not clear how that applied to a zombie with spikes coming out of his head. […] that was the case because Isaac Mukundi of Grand Prairie, Texas, crossed the finish line with a time of 35 minutes and 23 seconds, exactly one second ahead of second-place finisher Tsegay Tuemay Weldlibanos of Tampa, Fla. At the finish line, the winners and the tens of thousands of runners behind them were fully entitled to receive shiny finisher’s medals, energy bars, freebies, loud music and all the bananas they could consume on the premises. While fleet of foot, the 2016 winners were well off the course record set in 2009 by the legendary Sammy Kitwara of Kenya who, in 2009, crossed the finish line in 33 minutes and 31 seconds without benefit of an outhouse. In the sidestreets of the South of Market area were waiting hordes of unregistered runners who traditionally slip into the passing throng and run for free, dodging course marshalls along the way who are empowered to kick them out. Other course marshalls were watching for folks relieving themselves without benefit of outhouse, another iconic element of the race despite the “no public urination” signs. Cops tucked away in strategic spots monitored the passing runners to make sure that the stuff they were hydrating with was the stuff they were supposed to be hydrating with. Jim Guida and his brother, Ralph, were running as the movie icons, the Blues Brothers. Dennis Bott was Hulk Hogan (he gets people excited) and John Hearney ran with a basketball hoop on his head that strangers kept trying to dunk various items into, to his growing annoyance. […] in the mix were T-shirted members of something called “Team F— It Up,” a Rubik’s Cube, an ersatz Golden State Warriors strarting five, a woman wearing a T-shirt that said “Sometimes I Open my Mouth and My Mother Comes Out,” along with any number of Batmen, Supermen and Spidermen. Halfway through the course, on the fabled, fearsome Hayes Street Hill, all the extra weight from all the heavy costumes were making their owners work twice as hard as their fellow runners in lycra. A dozen people carried a 20-foot-long Star Destoyer spaceship from the Star Wars film franchise. Instead of blasting out laser weapons, it blasted out dance music, attracting hordes of other runners who danced beside the space ship as they ran.
What would you put in a San Francisco time capsule?
Let’s pretend we have a magical time capsule. It would be something you could put anything in (like Hermione’s bag, but better) and it would be perfectly preserved for 50 years. We asked around at SFGate and the Chronicle and came up with a list of these “San Francisco items.”
Live updates from the 2016 Bay to Breakers course
George Lucas looking at Treasure Island as new SF site for museum
After a lobbying campaign by Mayor Ed Lee, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas is once again looking to San Francisco as a possible home for a museum housing his collection of illustrative art and Hollywood memorabilia — this time on a site already approved for development on Treasure Island. Lee and Lucas have already met to talk about a move to Treasure Island, and now a preferred site has emerged on the west side, facing downtown. Four years ago, he led a group that sued to block development plans on Treasure Island, citing alleged inadequacies in the environmental impact report. […] after meeting with the Lucas design team, Peskin says the museum may be “the special, secret sauce” that “could make Treasure Island work.” […] the prospects for Treasure Island might look a lot better than those in Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently came up with a complicated plan to resuscitate the project that relies on tearing down a convention hall, borrowing $1.2 billion from the state and extending several local taxes. The calls led to a private sit-down between the mayor, Lucas and their advisers a couple of months ago at the Four Seasons Hotel. […] Lucas’ designers have met a number of times with city staffers and the island’s developers, Wilson Meany and Lennar Corp. The companies have already completed the city’s required environmental review process and secured entitlements on a separate project to build 8,000 homes, 400,000 square feet of commercial space and two hotels. The city approvals also allow for construction of either a museum or community facilities on Treasure Island. Sources tell us most visitors would probably be shuttled to the museum by ferry or water taxi. Two years ago, in a last-ditch attempt to keep Lucas from going to Chicago after the Presidio Trust rejected the Crissy Field idea, the mayor offered him a sliver of land just across from Piers 30-32. If Lucas gives the go-ahead, the next step would be to negotiate a lease for the site and start developing a detailed plan. The hope is that by building on Treasure Island — where there are few neighbors to complain and no need of approvals from an alphabet soup of boards and commissions to slow the effort — Lucas will see San Francisco as his best bet.
Angry bees force cops to bar walkers from Concord neighborhood
Angry bees force cops to bar walkers from Concord neighborhood A swarm of aggressive bees suspected of killing two dogs and sending a beekeeper to the hospital has forced police to tell people in a Concord neighborhood to stay inside their homes or cars. Authorities have barred pedestrians from an area near the 3800 block of Hitchcock Road after a swarm of what are suspected to be Africanized “Killer Bees,” named for their belligerent and sometimes deadly behavior, wreaked havoc throughout the neighborhood, stinging countless residents. The bees were first identified Friday by an amateur beekeeper on the block, who noticed a different-looking group of bees in his backyard hives, Blakely said. Norman Lott, a beekeeper from the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association, suspects the bees in question are Africanized bees that have crept up from Southern California and usurped gentle European honeybee hives. Lott said the homeowner, who was raising honeybees, got rid of the hive but that only left a swarm of angry Africanized bees with no home.
Warm weather on tap in the Bay Area
After a weekend of cool conditions, the Bay Area should see a warm up that could bring temperatures approaching 90 degrees in some areas, forecasters said Saturday. By Tuesday, temperatures are predicted to tick up to the mid- to upper-80s in parts of the East and North Bay — a 10 to 15 degree spike from this weekend, said Matt Mehle, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey. Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Alameda County D.A. conducts parallel Oakland police inquiries
The Alameda County district attorney has begun an investigation into the possibility of sexual misconduct by three Oakland police officers and will look at whether the Police Department properly investigated the 2014 shooting death of another officer’s wife, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Friday. Suspicions of sexual misconduct by the three unidentified officers — who have been placed on administrative leave — arose in September when the dead woman’s husband, Officer Brendan O’Brien, committed suicide, Police Chief Sean Whent said at a news conference Friday with the mayor. […] news has leaked out about the allegations, and as questions have been raised about the police investigating themselves, the mayor called the news conference to announce the heightened level of oversight and to say that officers are held “to the highest standard of conduct.” Police released a written statement saying they had a receipt corroborating that claim as well as surveillance video placing O’Brien at the store around the time she died. […] Friday, regulations required police to notify the district attorney’s office only after concluding an investigation into criminal activity on the part of officers, on or off duty. The district attorney has begun “a parallel and independent investigation” into the potential sexual misconduct and how the Huerta Lopez death was handled, Schaaf said, noting that it will also look at the Police Department’s investigative process.
BART service restored between Pleasant Hill and Concord
An equipment problem on a train Friday afternoon caused BART service between the Pleasant Hill and Concord stations to stop before being restored, officials said. BART officials said the problem occurred when a train operator ran over a solar panel. County Connection bus numbers 11 and 14 were providing mutual aid between the stations, the agency said.
Traffic official urges special CHP unit to enforce carpool lanes
After being presented Friday with evidence that carpool lanes are clogged with drivers who don’t belong in them, a Metropolitan Transportation Commissioner called for creation of a special enforcement unit to crack down on carpool and toll lane cheats. During a meeting of the MTC’s Operations Committee, Haggerty called on the California Highway Patrol to create a special enforcement unit focused on carpool lanes, toll bridges and the combined carpool-toll lanes known as express lanes that are beginning to spread across the Bay Area. “It’s time we look at legislation either that CHP look at a toll enforcement arm or that we, as the Bay Area Toll Authority, have one,” he said. Andrew Fremier, MTC’s executive deputy director of operations, said the association that represents the state’s toll bridge and toll lane operators also favors creating a CHP toll enforcement unit. Jim Spering, a commissioner and Solano County supervisor, suggested that Caltrans post messages on the electronic message signs that hang over and beside Bay Area freeways displaying the number of carpool lane violations issued and reminding drivers of the fine, which starts at about $281 before fees are added. Amanda Snowden, the CHP’s assistant chief for the Bay Area, declined to comment on the enforcement unit idea, saying she would present it to her superiors.
Construction worker crushed to death at Moscone Center
A construction worker operating a large cherry picker was crushed to death when he came in contact with a concrete slab in an industrial accident at Moscone Center in San Francisco early Friday, police said. The man, who was not identified, was in the bucket of the large boom and attempting to load it onto the back of a flatbed truck when he was killed, said Officer Albie Esparza, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department. Jason Barnett, a spokesperson for the Moscone expansion project and for Webcor Builders, the construction company working at the site, said the man was crushed. The employee had come to pick up a aerial work platform also commonly known as a high reach boom at Moscone Center and take it back to the rental company.
San Francisco Catholic school teacher comes out as transgender — and finds acceptance
The announcement of support by an order of the Sisters of Mercy, which owns and operates the four-year college preparatory school for girls on 19th Avenue, offers a rare policy position on transgender rights from within an internationally respected Catholic order. While there is no official Catholic policy or doctrine regarding transgender people, church leaders, including Pope Benedict, have addressed the issue, noting God created males and females and that anatomy defines identity. […] it is likely to ripple through a growing national debate on transgender rights, including access to gender-specific facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms. The order’s leaders told staff, students and parents that the sisters prayed for guidance, and conferred with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, but ultimately came to the only decision that aligned with their values. Supporting the dignity of each person — regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identification — was paramount, Reicks said. Cordileone, who has drawn criticism for a rigidly conservative stance regarding gay rights, neither condemned nor fully endorsed the decision in San Francisco. “Often in such situations a balance must be struck in a way that distinct values are upheld, such as mercy and truth, or institutional integrity and respect for personal decisions affecting one’s life,” he said in a statement. Reicks said the decision exemplified an overarching position within the order to hire teachers without considering gender identification, race, religion or sexual orientation. […] the school’s employment contract does require teachers to be familiar with and support the philosophy and values of the school and to honor Catholic identity, regardless of personal faith. Bodenheimer, who follows the Jewish faith, said he never sought to break ground in transgender rights. School leaders, however, told the community that counselors would be available to help students and staff members process the acceptance of Bodenheimer as a male rather than female teacher.
Happy Friday the 13th! Here are superstitious spots in SF that avoid No. 13
Superstitious San Franciscans delight: here are your havens from the unluckiest of numbers.
SF sees 2nd sinkhole in 3 days, rerouting traffic
For the second time this week, a sinkhole was causing havoc on a busy San Francisco thoroughfare, but the one that opened up Thursday at Polk and Post streets was much less menacing than the crater that nearly swallowed a sport utility vehicle on Mission Street Tuesday. The area was cordoned off by traffic cones, partially closing a southbound lane of Polk Street at the intersection. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Just as you suspected: Carpool cheating is rampant, study shows
Law-abiding drivers have for years cursed, fumed and complained that the Bay Area’s carpool lanes are crowded with cheaters undeterred by the threat of getting busted. On average, 24 percent of the drivers in carpool lanes during the morning commute are there without the required number of passengers, a study by regional transportation officials found. During the evening crush, 19 percent of the carpool lane occupants are thumbing their noses at the law — and the poor suckers stuck in the slow lanes. Regional transportation officials worry that the flood of carpool scofflaws will not only clog the lanes, but lead to a collapse of the system designed to entice drivers to haul along an extra passenger or two in exchange for a speedier commute. “Our fear is that the cheat level gets so high that everyone feels the only people not in the carpool lanes are chumps,” said Randy Rentschler, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which ordered the study. […] video cameras were used to help identify the number of vehicles with green and white clean-air decals that allow them to use the lanes no matter how many people are in them. While far more thorough, the study results mirror the findings of a Chronicle report in December that found a quarter to a third of drivers in the carpool lanes on westbound Interstate 80 in Berkeley were using the lanes illegally. Jeni Deal, 30, who drove to Emeryville from San Carlos to attend a conference, said she knows an attorney who cheats regularly, figuring the time saved in the carpool lane is worth the risk of a fine that starts at $380 before court costs and assorted fees. CHP officers routinely look for carpool lane lawbreakers, Fransen said, and the agency intermittently stages crackdowns in which officers, mainly on motorcycles, swarm the highways in search of violators. Continuing to fall short of those standards could, in theory, lead to a loss of federal highway funds, said Nancy Singer, a Federal Highway Administration spokeswoman, but the agency would prefer to work with Caltrans to get the carpool lanes moving. What’s more likely, Bay Area transportation officials say, is that the feds could order California to kick low-emission vehicles out of the diamond lanes or require cars to carry more passengers to use the lanes. The number of electric and other low-emission vehicles granted stickers for access to carpool lanes is surging in the Bay Area, the study found.
BART directors OK extending contracts with unions
BART directors approved labor agreements with the transit agency’s three largest unions Thursday — a move to assure passengers and voters that no strike is forthcoming. The Board of Directors voted 7-2, with Directors Zakhary Mallett and Joel Keller opposed, to approve the agreements, which extend current contracts, set to expire in 2017, until 2021. Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Service Employees International Union, and American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees locals that represent most BART workers ratified the agreements earlier this week.
Panel OKs $15 million plan to keep Bay Bridge rods from failing
SACRAMENTO — A committee that oversees seismic retrofit work for the Bay Bridge approved a $15 million plan Thursday to keep water from corroding rods designed to keep the new eastern span’s tower safe in a major earthquake. The $6.4 billion bridge opened in 2013 and has since been beset by problems, including defective steel rods and leaks that have cost millions to assess and fix. Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, said the latest bill to re-grout sleeves that hold more than 420 anchor rods at the base of the tower is a necessary expense. “Although this is money we would rather not spend, it’s money well spent,” said Heminger, who is on the three-person panel called the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee. On Thursday, Brian Maroney, Caltrans’ chief engineer for the eastern span project, said re-grouting the sleeves should keep water from flooding into them and exposing the anchor rods to the risk of corrosion. Caltrans has insisted that the rods are not vital to protect the bridge in an earthquake and that they simply provide an extra layer of protection.
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