Speaking of being cruel to the homeless, the managers of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium have taken to using loud and offensive noise as a last-ditch effort to shoo homeless people away from camping under their big awning. They're blasting a bunch of "industrial" sounds taken off of iTunes, like revving motorcycles, chainsaws, sirens, and presumably the early-90s oeuvre of Nine Inch Nails out of their outdoor speakers after 11 p.m. in order to deter the dozens of people who like to call that sidewalk home. more ›

The controversial Sit/Lie law, a.k.a. Prop L, won't be enforced until mid-February, but it already has had a chilling/gloriously cleansing effect on Haight Street, depending on how you see it. Haight Street merchants saw an immediate effect after the law passed in November, even though it didn't take effect until December 17 and still hasn't seen any enforcement from the ever vigilant Upper Haight-based police. more ›

The Sit/Lie ordinance went into effect on Saturday, but Bay City News reports (via SF Appeal) that SFPD won't begin enforcing it until February after its officers have gone through training in January. They will also be running a public education campaign explaining the ins-and-outs of the law. more ›

According to the Chron, Gavin may be well known around here for his bold moves on behalf of gay marriage, but among other mayors nationally he's recognized for major achievements in the area of housing the homeless. There have been about 6,700 people housed during his tenure as mayor, through Care Not Cash (which celebrated six years in May) and other programs, and 5,500 or so have been sent home to other cities on buses under the Homeward Bound program. So despite there still being plenty of people in the streets (and particularly the touristy areas) of San Francisco, the numbers point to success. Or do they? more ›

Today, President Obama announced the launch of Opening Doors, which will, ideally, help prevent homelessness by using a San Francisco-based model. Not so simply put, Opening Doors is "a more targeted approach by the federal government in leveraging local and regional strategies to end homelessness and building upon momentum that has been generated in cities such as San Francisco through its Project Homeless Connect program." more ›

Yesterday, several enthusiastic university students broke into the Hibernia National Bank, which was recently smeared this dated, fetishistic bit of graffiti, to protest the way the homeless are treated in the area. Which is bad. Real bad. Or something like that. more ›

Last week, if you recall, SF Chron columnist C.W. Nevius wrote about bullies with pit bull terrorizing the Haight neighborhood. A day later, SFist heard word that SFPD cleaned up said neighborhood a wee bit, making the streets safer for tender residents. more ›

You may recall this study that was released a couple weeks back by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in which San Francisco was named the 7th meanest city to the homeless, and LA was named first. Well, you may have also noticed that our little liberal sister city to the east, Berkeley, came in 10th, and The Berkeley Daily Planet is having none of it! Reporter Riya Bhattacharjee spoke to a number of Berkeley's proud homeless and local homeless advocates, all of whom swear up and down that Berkeley is actually super awesome to its homeless and this ranking must be rigged! more ›

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, who just released a report cloyingly titled "Homes Not Handcuffs," San Francisco is the seventh meanest city in the county. That is to say, we're the seventh meanest place when it comes to dealing with the homeless and homeless crisis in the U.S. Curbed reports that "out of the 273 cities the study looked into, San Francisco ranked 7th on the list." more ›

Image of Silver Terrace happening by eb78 / Flickr. more ›

Jason Everett Keller, 40, the San Mateo man who attacked another sans maison gentleman with a skateboard during a presumably heated quantum physics discussion, was acquitted of all charges on Thursday. During said conversation, Keller, according to authorities, went berserk and thrashed Stephan Fava in the mug with his board. But, after a four-day trial in Redwood City, "the jury deliberated for less than a day" and let hum off the hook. Now that Keller is free, please use discretion when dialoguing in public about splitting atoms. Hen. Meh. Yeah. more ›

According to the latest biannual census of the city's homeless by the SF Human Services Agency, there are 6,514 homeless living in the city, an overall increase of 2% since 2007. 78% surveyed said they were living in the city when they became homeless -- up from 62% two years ago, which homeless advocates point to as proving that it is not necessarily true that the city is a homeless magnet. more ›

While Gavin Newsom tours California to tout his successes as mayor of San Francisco -- not to mention spending the weekend at the insider-baseball-y Democratic Convention in Sacramento, along with practically every other SF progressive and wonk -- he hasn't solved San Francisco's ails as thoroughly as he might want you to think he has. more ›

We interrupt your holiday frivolity, wild binge drinking, and high stress levels to bring you the following event: more ›

No, not Frank Chu -- although a Gav versus a crazy would be most fascinating, indeed -- Carmen Chu. more ›