Three property owners who say their garbage bills increased astronomically when Oakland’s new contract with its trash and recycling haulers went into effect last July have gone to court seeking relief. Some of what they pay Waste Management, the plaintiffs argue, is returned to the city by the garbage giant in the form of $25 million annually for the privilege of keeping the contract. “We’re seeking to right the many wrongs and injustices created by the city’s failure to properly negotiate,” Wayne Rowland, president of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, said at a news conference at the Oakland Marriott hotel. In addition to promoting composting and recycling, the contracts require that all of Oakland’s garbage be collected by union workers and dumped into new natural gas-powered trucks, all of which drives up costs. “This is a really egregious, incompetent move the city has made,” said Zolly, one of the three plaintiffs, who said he was flabbergasted by the rate increases for the 31-unit apartment building he owns in Oakland’s Adams Point neighborhood. Since the new contracts began, his trash and recycling bills have more than doubled — from $736 per month to $1,562. Zolly has long taken pride in giving his tenants little amenities — like a courtyard with palm trees and tropical plants that he advertises as “a little Hawaii in Oakland” — but he said that with the ballooning cost of waste collection, he can no longer afford to upgrade the building. Clayton, one of the other plaintiffs, said at the news conference that annual garbage costs have nearly doubled for the six-unit apartment building he owns on 38th Avenue in Oakland’s Allendale neighborhood, from about $4,800 annually to just over $8,000. To avoid those charges, Clayton chopped down a tree that overlooked the building and trimmed several others so that a garbage truck could pull into the driveway. A spokeswoman for Mayor Libby Schaaf referred questions to the city attorney’s office, whose spokesman declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Trucker killed in fiery Sonoma County crash
A 31-year-old Los Angeles man was killed Wednesday when the big rig he was driving veered off Lakeville Highway in Sonoma County, crashed into a row of eucalyptus trees and burst into flames, California Highway Patrol said. The tractor-trailer was southbound on Lakeville Highway, south of Old Lakeville Road No. 2 near Petaluma, when it drifted onto the right shoulder, ran into a eucalyptus tree, and became engulfed in flames, he said. Officials were investigating why the truck drifted off of the road, which is commonly used by truckers driving from Highway 101 to Interstate 80, Leon said.
Girl rescued from burning East Bay house fighting for her life
A girl was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after firefighters rescued her from a smoky fire that broke out on Wednesday in a single-story home in the unincorporated Cherryland neighborhood between San Lorenzo and Hayward, the Alameda County Fire Department said. Two other residents of the home, both boys, were also hospitalized with less serious injuries. Clouds of black smoke filled the sky after the fire broke out around 8:25 a.m. at the home near the intersection of Gribben Avenue and Mero Street.
Fire breaks out on roof of Union Square Macy’s
The one-alarm fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. on the roof of thte six-story department store at 170 O’Farrell St. in the city’s bustling shopping district, firefighters said. The store was closed at the time, and finding the fire was challenging for crews who were trying to pinpoint the origin of black smoke that was seen wafting into the night sky, fire officials said. Several people posted pictures of the flames on social media before the fire was extinguished.
2 teen girls struck by station wagon in Oakley, 1 dies
2 teen girls struck by station wagon in Oakley, 1 dies The girls, believed to be 15 or 16 years old, were walking west on East Cypress Road around 2:45 p.m. when a middle-aged woman driving east hit them, said Lt. Eric Navarro, an Oakley Police Department spokesman. The other victim was flown to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where she was on a ventilator in critical condition, he said. There was no sidewalk on the part of the street where the crash occurred, Navarro said, adding that there were conflicting reports on where the girls were walking.
Foster City man charged with contracting scam
A Foster City man posing as a licensed contractor has been charged with felony grand theft after collecting $110,000 from a family over the course of a year in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond. In addition to felony grand theft, Otsuki is charged with felony diversion of funds and misdemeanor contracting without a license. In this case, Twomey said, the owners of a two-unit home in the Inner Richmond took on a remodeling project with Otsuki, who passed himself off as having a license to do construction work. The arrest was announced by District Attorney George Gascón, who said in a statement that “San Franciscans need to be able to trust that people they welcome into their home are who they say they are, and that they are licensed and qualified to complete the work for which they are hired.”
Witness rebuts prosecution on PG&E pipeline-testing methods
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. chose its controversial pipeline-testing methods for efficiency and safety and not — as prosecutors claim — to cut costs, a former PG&E supervising engineer testified Tuesday. During cross-examination, the utility’s lawyers questioned Chris Warner, a 22-year PG&E employee who now works for a PG&E consultant, in an attempt to rebut evidence suggesting that the company avoided the most effective testing methods to save money. The company is charged with 12 violations of pipeline-safety laws and with obstructing a federal investigation of the September 2010 explosion and fire at a gas pipeline in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Under questioning from prosecutors last week, Warner identified emails from PG&E’s financial division that said the company did not consider hydrostatic testing, injecting water at high pressure to measure pipeline strength, to be economically feasible. Sims cited a message his supervisor sent to the state Public Utilities Commission: PG&E’s priorities in pipeline assessment were effectiveness of spending and making sure we addressed the highest risks to the system. The utility sought unsuccessfully before the trial to exclude all references to the San Bruno explosion from the case, but won rulings barring descriptions of the blast or testimony that it was caused by the company’s alleged safety violations.
SF opens new full-service shelter to get homeless off streets
Safe at last under his first roof in two years, 53-year-old Gene sat in San Francisco’s second Navigation Center homeless shelter, stared into the eyes of the mayor and those who run the center, and summed up the sea change in his life in four words: The 93-bed center, like its counterpart that opened in the Mission District more than a year ago, is a one-stop complex where chronically homeless people can be moved straight off the street with their belongings and partners, then quickly routed into permanent housing. The head of Community Housing Partnership, a supportive housing and counseling nonprofit running the new center in the renovated Civic Center Hotel, says she is aiming for at least that same success rate. “Homeless people coming off the street need a pathway, need a runway to get back on track,” said Gail Gilman, executive director of the partnership. A few homeless people started moving into the Civic Center building over the past couple of months as it was being renovated, so as of Tuesday’s official opening there were already 55 people in its rooms. There are about 40 more shelter rooms to be filled, though some will be used for the case managers and counselors who will be helping the homeless people stabilize their lives. For years, the Civic Center Hotel was what Lee politely called “a house of a lot of challenges” — a roiling den of drug abuse, beatings and other crime. Kositsky asked Elaine, who is 58 and did not give a last name, what advice she had as he tries to create more supportive housing and help homeless people. Kositsky also said Tuesday that he is creating a team of outreach counselors to move the inhabitants of tent encampments into shelters and housing, and that it will be led by Jason Albertson, a longtime outreach counselor and manager.
SF civil grand jury warns of costly maintenance backlog
SF civil grand jury warns of costly maintenance backlog A new report is calling San Francisco’s $1.3 billion maintenance backlog a “slow motion train wreck,” but city officials say the numbers in the report don’t tell the whole story of how the work is managed. A civil grand jury report released this week warns that a failure to make maintaining city assets a priority will drive maintenance costs up by more than $800 million unless addressed. The report notes that this year, $11.3 million — or 0.2 percent of the city’s general fund — will go to routine maintenance like cleaning windows and filling potholes. […] city officials point out that money also comes from other sources, such as fees and bonds. “I hope they are right, and I’m sure their numbers are correct,” civil grand jury member John Hoskins, who helped write the report, said in response. The civil grand jury report — and an increased city focus on maintenance — stemmed from a 2005 report by SPUR, a nonprofit that researches planning and governance in the city. The best practice in many cities, like San Jose, is to spend 2 percent on what the current replacement value of infrastructure is, the report says. Maintenance is also tracked using something called a “facility resource renewal” model. […] the brand-new Public Safety Building will need a new camera system in 10 years. Maintenance money goes to city agencies, like Public Works, as well as hospitals, jails and fire stations. […] the city is generally doing a good job at maintaining its assets, said City Administrator Naomi Kelly.
Teacher’s neo-Nazi counterprotest prompts Berkeley school threat
Security at a Berkeley middle school was beefed up after the principal received a “vulgar and poorly written” email threat over a teacher’s involvement in a counterprotest to a neo-Nazi rally at the state Capitol building in Sacramento over the weekend that turned into a bloody melee. The anonymous threat, emailed Sunday to principal Janet Levenson of Martin Luther King Middle School, demanded that she fire teacher Yvette Felarca in a week — or else someone would go to the school and harm children, officials said. Felarca has been involved with the civil-rights activist groups By Any Means Necessary and Black Lives Matter, and helped organize Sunday’s counterprotest outside the state Capitol building that led to clashes with members of the white supremacist group Traditional Workers Party. The emailed threat sent to Levenson was turned over to Berkeley police detectives, who contacted the FBI, said Mark Coplan, spokesman for the Berkeley Unified School District. “We’ve received lots of calls from parents and community members concerned about what we are doing to protect students,” Coplan said.
Undercover investigators accuse seven Bay Area Firestone shops of fraud
A two-year undercover investigation by regulators from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair has resulted in fraud accusations against seven Bay Area Firestone shops.
Video backing attacks shows SF landmarks; FBI questions validity
A video circulating on the Internet that appears to show allegiance to the Islamic State ends with footage of San Francisco that features shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and the 555 California street tower — an apparent threat that officials said has not been confirmed as legitimate. The video praised the Orlando shooter using a combination of news reels, screen shots from newspaper articles, and speeches from various men in a mix of a languages. KPIX 5 reports that ISIS says “Arise, o Muslims and kill the unbelievers in their own homes” when the shot of the Golden Gate Bridge appears. The video has an ISIS flag in the upper right-hand corner, and lasts more than nine minutes.
Pelosi tees off on Apple chief for GOP fundraiser
What a nice guy he is, but somebody gave him bad advice, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said at the end of an animated 15-minute phone interview Monday evening. Pelosi’s comments came in response to a piece Monday in The Chronicle about the political implications of Cook hosting a breakfast for House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The event comes just days after Apple informed Republican officials that it will not provide funding or technology for the party’s convention next month in Cleveland — a decision fueled by the company’s discomfort with presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities,” according to Politico. The most powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives doesn’t accept the idea that Cook and other Silicon Valley executives can show disdain for Trump while writing checks to the party that’s likely to put him at the top of the 2016 ticket. “Trump, he’s out of the question, but they’re going to help the Republicans in Congress?” Pelosi asked with rhetorical vigor. Cook has given private donations in the past to such Democrats as President Obama and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents much of Silicon Valley.
Jerry Brown signs $122 billion state budget without a single veto
The 2016-17 state budget sends $71.9 billion to K-12 schools and community colleges, which is the highest amount sent to schools under the state’s minimum funding guarantee. Brown wants to streamline the review process for housing proposals that meet a city’s zoning requirements, but the legislation has been opposed by unions and other groups that say it sidesteps the state’s environmental laws. The state will authorize a $2 billion bond from future Proposition 63 mental health revenues to create affordable housing programs for the mentally ill. The budget included Democrats’ long-sought repeal of a controversial limit on welfare benefits. “This balanced, on-time budget — which also responsibly grows the state’s rainy day fund — is the result of hundreds of hours of public hearings,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount (Los Angeles County), said in a statement.
Hundreds pack Oakland City Hall for coal ban vote
Hundreds of people crowded into Oakland City Hall — and demonstrated outside — on Monday as the City Council prepared to vote on a ban that could effectively block a controversial plan to coal from the port. The proposed ban, co-sponsored by Mayor Libby Schaaf and Councilman Dan Kalb, would prohibit anyone from transporting, handling, or storing large amounts of coal or petroleum coke in Oakland, on the grounds that these fossil fuels pollute the air and pose serious risks to workers and nearby residents. “I am firmly committed to adopting the strongest health and safety protections allowed by law,” Schaaf declared in a statement released Monday morning, hours before a special hearing at which the council was scheduled to vote on the controversial proposal. Concerns about the project began building in 2014, after Tagami’s shipping operator, Terminal Logistics Solutions, entered talks with four coal-mining counties in Utah. “As passionate stewards of the environment who are committed to equity, Oaklanders know it’s a false choice to say we have to pick between jobs and this community’s health and safety,” she said in in the statement. On the day of the hearing, Tagami’s attorney sent the city a letter claiming that any coal ban would violate the 2013 development deal that gave California Capital & Investment Group the right to build the bulk terminal. “As noted in our counsel’s letter, such a move exposes the City to hundreds of millions of dollars in legal liability, including the return of approximately $150 million to the State of California and another potential hundreds of millions in damages to the developer,” project spokesman Larry Kamer said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
Fire closes Hwy. 17 near Santa Clara-Santa Cruz county line
Lanes along a stretch of Highway 17 near the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties were closed Monday afternoon as firefighters battled a blaze threatening at least 20 homes in the area, officials said. Southbound lanes at Bear Creek Road closed around 3:45 p.m. and were expected to reopen Tuesday evening, said Sgt. Troy Vincent, a CHP Santa Cruz spokesman. All northbound lanes at Summit Road closed around 3:45 p.m and reopened around 5 p.m., officials said. A fire started on southbound Highway 17 near Redwood Estates in Los Gatos around 3:15 p.m., said Santa Clara Cal Fire division chief Jim Crawford.
Oakland officers catch robbery suspect after chase, crash
The Oakland police captured their suspect on Sunday — but not before a high-speed chase where two police vehicles collided. The incident began shortly before 3:30, when an armed robbery was reported near MacArthur Boulevard and High Street. The officers who collided were treated for injuries at a nearby hospital and then released, according to a statement from the police department. If anyone has information on the robbery and its aftermath, the department is asking that they call the traffic investigation unit at (510) 777-8570.
Oakland lake closed to swimming for 3rd time
For the third year in a row, Oakland’s Lake Temescal has been closed to swimmers after an outbreak of toxic blue-green algae, officials said Monday. Fishers, picnickers and hikers can still enjoy the park, but those who want to swim are out of luck, the East Bay Regional Park District announced. Park staff detected a bloom of blue-green algae, and preliminary testing found the water’s toxicity exceeded the 20 parts per billion limit, said Carolyn Jones, a park district spokeswoman. Clusters of the photosynthetic bacteria quickly multiply in warm, slow-moving, nutrient-rich water. Exposure to blue-green algae can cause skin irritation, diarrhea, vomiting and headaches.
Ron Goben, longtime Bay Area newspaper editor, dies
Ron Goben, a longtime Bay Area journalist who was a top editor at the Palo Alto Times and Peninsula Times Tribune for more than two decades, seemed to subscribe to every newspaper and magazine ever published. From 1964 to 1988, Mr. Goben was a reporter, assistant city editor, city editor, news editor and editorial writer for the Palo Alto Times and the Peninsula Times Tribune, which was formed when the Times merged with the Redwood City Tribune in 1979. “He was patient and even-tempered, in a profession that often wasn’t,” recalled former Chronicle news editor Jay Johnson, who was a cub reporter under Mr. Goben four decades ago. A series of stories by Mr. Goben in the 1970s about dyslexia was among the first to describe in detail the little-known medical condition. In 1992, he moved to the Sierra foothill town of Camino (El Dorado County), where he wrote a column for the local paper and served as chairman of the County Democratic Central Committee.
SF study: Heroin antidote should be prescribed with pain meds
A drug that is effective at reversing heroin overdoses isn’t just for street addicts — it should be routinely distributed to people taking prescription pain medications who may not appreciate their risk of accidental death, San Francisco public health officials said in a study released Monday. Doctors should consider regularly prescribing naloxone — a drug given by injection or nasal spray to counteract opioid overdoses — alongside narcotic pain medications, the study’s authors said. In San Francisco, naloxone has been widely distributed for more than 15 years to users and their friends and family members, a practice that has dramatically cut heroin overdose deaths — from 120 in 2000 to 30 in 2014. […] naloxone isn’t widely distributed to the larger population of prescription drug users, who now make up 90 percent of all overdose deaths in San Francisco. “This study really does show that naloxone has a substantial role to play in managing the opioid epidemic,” said Dr. Phillip Coffin, director of substance use research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and lead author of the paper, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. People on narcotic pain medications who have previously been addicted to drugs or alcohol, or who have overdosed before, are especially at risk and should always be offered naloxone, Coffin and other pain experts say. Some people may not realize, for example, that just one glass of wine on top of their Vicodin could cause an overdose, or that a new prescription for a sleep aid or muscle relaxant could create a deadly cocktail. Coffin’s research involved six San Francisco public health clinics, where doctors and other care providers were offered training for prescribing naloxone to patients taking opioid pain medications. The study found that over the following year, patients with naloxone prescriptions had about 50 percent fewer visits to an emergency room for opioid-related problems — including overdoses, falls or requests for more pain medications — compared to those who didn’t get a prescription. Sutter Health, too, has been pushing out more naloxone prescriptions on patients with a history of opioid abuse, said Dr. Josh Kayman, medical director of Sutter’s adult substance abuse inpatient program in Oakland.
Blue Angels back in the air, will perform at S.F.’s Fleet Week
The U.S. Navy’s aerial stunt team suspended three weekend performances after the June 2 crash at the Smyrna, Tenn., airport outside Nashville. The crash renewed criticism of the Blue Angels and Fleet Week by some San Francisco supervisors, because of safety concerns and ideological opposition to celebrating military force. While the investigation of the crash is ongoing, a Navy spokeswoman said Monday, the Blue Angels will return to their regular 2016 performance schedule, starting with a July 2-4 in Traverse City, Mich. “The team is proud to resume the Blue Angels mission, representing the pride and professionalism of the Navy and Marine Corps, and inspiring a culture of excellence,” said Cmdr. Ryan Bernacchi, commanding officer and flight leader, in a statement. San Francisco supervisor John Avalos said he would introduce a nonbinding resolution by August limiting the team of six F/A-18 fighter jets from flying over the city during its Fleet Week practices and air shows.
Cyclist with handlebar ‘stache pleads guilty in road-rage attack
The mustachioed road rage cyclist who allegedly bludgeoned a Zip car with a metal U-Lock during Critical Mass last year has pleaded guilty to felony assault.
Palo Alto trailer court owners lose battle over relocation costs
Tim and Eva Jisser, who have owned the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park since 1986, filed suit in federal court in November, arguing that the $8 million in payments ordered by the city to cover the residents’ costs of moving elsewhere amounted to an unconstitutional confiscation of their property. […] in a ruling made public Monday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose. said the Jissers were required to file their arguments first in state court — and that the deadline for such a filing has long since expired. Under established federal court doctrine, Davila said, property owners who contend a state or local government has violated their rights must turn first to the state court system, unless they can show it would be futile. Only after the state courts fail to remove the alleged burden on property rights or provide adequate compensation can the owners take their constitutional claims to federal court, Davila said. After the Jissers announced their plans to sell, city officials held a hearing and then gave their approval in September 2014 on the condition that the owners compensate residents for the value of their home, the moving costs and the difference between their trailer rent and the average apartment rent in Palo Alto and surrounding communities.
Triple-digit heat to broil inland Bay Area
Soaring temperatures Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will put some interior Bay Area cities well into the triple-digit territory, while coastal areas are forecast to be around 30 degrees cooler. The stark microclimate pattern will loosen its grip by the second half of the week, when hot inland cities will see temperatures drop down to a more seasonable range, forecasters said. “It’ll take until Thursday, but the places in triple digits will cool into the upper 80s and 90s,” said Ryan Walbrun, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The sweltering heat wasn’t expected to bust any records, but the numbers were forecast to creep close to record-high territory.
How much water are top suppliers committing to save this year? Zilch.
A year after California attacked the drought with an unprecedented water rationing program that drove cities and towns to cut back 24 percent collectively, state officials have changed course and given local agencies the leeway to come up with their own water-saving goals. Nine of the 10 biggest urban water suppliers in California reported to the state last week that they’ve set conservation targets of zero — yes, goose eggs — meaning they’re not committing to saving any water for the remainder of 2016. The self-set targets, which The Chronicle obtained from the individual agencies, come as California water supplies run short of historic norms amid a fifth year of punishing drought. The new goals — or lack thereof — are in stark contrast to the mandatory reductions of up to 36 percent ordered by the state’s water board last June, and are worrying water experts who say the agencies can’t get loose with the taps just because California enjoyed an El Niño winter that brought near-normal rain and Sierra snow. The agencies argued they were in a better position to make water decisions than the state, and many of them were losing money because of plunging water sales. The deadline for water retailers to submit their savings goals was Wednesday, and state officials say it will be at least a week before they analyze the numbers. In interviews, local officials said the El Niño storms this past winter, while falling shy of expectations, produced enough rain and snow for reservoirs to fill up in excess of the the state’s reserve requirement. Officials at some local agencies, like San Diego’s utilities department, said their water future has been secured through investments in new supplies, like desalination plants. State restrictions on such activities as hosing down driveways and over-watering lawns remain in place. […] many Californians have made conservation a habit, with some improving their homes to ensure permanent savings — replacing lawns with turf and installing high-efficiency toilets. With the new goals in hand, state officials plan to audit the calculations made by local agencies in “stress tests,” and they reserve the right to reject them. If we see high increases in water consumption,” said Max Gomberg, senior environmental scientist for the state water board, “we’re likely to go back to something in line with what we had before.
Manhunt for ‘Rafting Gone Wild’ organizer who jumped into river to avoid arrest
A man who organized the Rafting Gone Wild event Saturday evaded park rangers by jumping into the American River and floating away. Rangers were trying to cite Sammy Diaz for an not having a permit for the event when he ran from them and jumped from the American River Bridge. He floated down the river as people cheered from shore.
In vitro fertilization may save coral reefs
Marine biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have joined a new international effort to rescue endangered coral reefs from the consequences of widespread human destruction and a warming climate. Teams of research divers from the academy will set off this summer on expeditions to the Caribbean and Mexico, where they will seed two of the region’s major reefs with millions of coral larvae born from the organisms’ sperm and egg cells. Recent record-shattering El Niños have raised Pacific Ocean temperatures and caused a new worldwide episode of coral bleaching that is turning the organisms dead white. Shepherd’s group has joined with leaders of an international research and conservation group called Secore International — Sexual Coral Reproduction — whose founder and president, Dirk Petersen, led the original research into a unique method of in vitro fertilization of coral organisms. Five years ago, Petersen and researchers diving at the Caribbean Marine Biological Institute in Curacao, collected coral sperm and egg cells in the water while the corals were spawning, and reared the coral larvae in the laboratory. “This is now actually a five-year plan, and eventually it could become a global restoration project for corals everywhere,” Petersen said during a recent visit to San Francisco, where he and Shepherd completed working on details of the academy team’s role this summer. […] our people will be putting boots on the ground for a rescue experiment that’s unique — not just for proving out a new technique to restore coral reefs, but for making the technique better.
Trash piled high at Dolores Park after Dyke March, cleanup effort well underway
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