The Chronicle's Victoria Colliver penned a fascinating story in today's issue, one that mentions an "online report card on the health of San Franciscans" that's being introduced today "by a consortium of public and private health groups." The report will, ideally, help improve parts of the city when it comes to public health. more ›

In response to a Census Bureau report yesterday preceding the release of the 2010 Census stating that poverty levels in 2009 were the highest they'd been since 1951, the San Francisco Food Bank issued a statement saying that 150,000 people in the city live at or below the 150% mark of the federal poverty line (adjusted for CA cost of living). The Food Bank saw a 25% increase in requests for food assistance last year, and they distributed more than 37 million pounds of food in 2009, up from 32 million pounds in 2008. [Bay City News/Appeal] more ›

Second verse, same as the first: San Francisco's unemployment rate skipped from 9.6 percent in June to 9.7 percent last month. Although, as SF Weekly reports, we're not the worst in the state, bot by the longest shot. "San Francisco County's unemployment rate of 9.7 percent is the sixth-lowest of the state's 58 counties (The state rate is 12.8 percent; the best-off county is Marin at 8.6 percent; and the hardest-up locale is Imperial at a Gaza-like 30.3 percent)." Read all about it. more ›

While some have declared the recession over, more or less, California's job rate might disagree. In August, we witnessed the jobless figure "climb to 12.2 percent last month, the highest on records dating back to the 1970's,"n according to CBS5/AP. But California wasn't the only state to see crowds converge at unemployment offices. "Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio." Sigh. more ›

While SFist is much to dainty to post such vile images of something so natural, fearless LiveJournal blogger Jameth isn't. See, ever since he's been working on Stevenson Street a few weeks ago, Jameth's has collected a harrowing image galley of the (presumably) human excrement dropped daily on the sidewalks of the SOMA not-so-hot spot. Warning: these images are graphic, depressing, and ickypoo. You've been warned. more ›

So, the Old Gray Lady hauled out the printing press to publish a story about how "cool-hunting hipsters" love Valenica Street. Sure, it's a dated piece. Wildly so, it seems. The article goes on and on Valencia Street faves: terrorist hangout Ritual Coffee Roasters, the macabre plant/carcass retailer Paxton Gate, and the God-we-love-this-place-so-much-but-wish-half-of-you-who-go-there-would-head-to-Casanova-instead Amnesia. more ›

Is this for real, or one of those ridiculous made-uppy New-York-Times-imagined-it problems? Apparently, the times reported a month ago that in SF, there are some low-income students who would rather starve than accept government-subsidized food. And now, at last, the SF Schools Blog offers a loooooong rebuttal with loads of context. Here's the gist: yeah, it's a problem, it's a problem everywhere, but we already knew about it and we're trying solve it. (The solution: switch to a debit-card system that makes method-of-payment less obvious. Cost to taxpayers: $1 million, though it'll allegedy "pay for itself.") more ›

Zombie Time has a chortle-worthy review of the Propaganda III art show -- a not-so-mildly anti-capitalist (and surprisingly anti-Semitic) exhibit -- which was held at, where else? The always-chic Bambuddha Lounge! You know, that sanctuary of fine dining, poolside lounging, and choice beats in the middle of dingy, deplorable poverty? The place where Gavin and a smattering of Trainas get shoved into a pool for an annual charity benefit? (Total hoot, anyone?) Anyway, it's a pretty interesting breakdown of the event. more ›

Submit your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com or tag them as SFist and found on Flickr. Let us know where and when you found the item and any other interesting info. This letter was found in 2004 by SFist reader smallerdemon. It was posted near a window of a downtown bookstore that had books by black authors on display. Some Thoughts Is it my hyper-sensitive poverty of imagination or is... more ›

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Hey, there's lots of stuff going on this weekend! And in exchange for telling you about it, we're going to ask again for a favor in return -- if you go to any of these events, would you mind terribly sending us your pictures of them, and we'll show them off on the site for you? Tag 'em SFist on Flickr, or mail them to editor-at-sfist.com! more ›

Bipartisan legislators introduced a bill in the California Senate Wednesday that would grant every child born within the state a $500 savings account, earmarked for higher education, a home downpayment, or retirement. We appreciate the idea of teaching young 'uns how to save for the future, sure. And we appreciate that people are working to counteract California's poverty. But, come on . . . finance lessons from the folks that have put California in the red? more ›

If a visit from Barrack Obama Superstar wasn't exciting enough, today we were blessed with a visit from New York's Senator, a Hillary something. God, we've never heard of her. Who is she again? more ›

And so begins our second-to-last comix review here on SFist. It's been fun, but it's time to try new things. And now, on with the festivities: more ›

Well, we're sorry to report that everyone's day jobs managed to succeed where Wade Crowfoot did not -- namely, in preventing anyone wearing a chicken suit from gaining access to the city's very first Question Time before the Board of Supes! What is democracy coming to? more ›

Special treat this week, kids: a review. Oh, yeah, and the usual previews too. more ›

-Dick met Bush yesterday and in one of his speeches Bush talked about how he's going to end poverty and bring world peace. No, just joking, he talked a lot about terrorism, Iraq, 9/11 blah, blah, blah. But that's not the big thing. No, the big thing is, and we kid you not, there is an actual George W. Bush Elementary School in Stockton. And the library is the Laura Bush Library. We'll leave it up to you to make with the jokes, but if you want a starter joke, the obvious one is if the library carries "My Pet Goat?" more ›

Ain't no better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than by watching the Coney Island Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition: our buddies at the mothership Gothamist even liveblogged the whole thing! (yes, yes, it's terrible that Americans waste so much food when people in Africa are starving. We promise to give money to Jeffrey Sachs's End of Poverty program to atone for our rapacious delight today, okay?) And what's our local connection? Second-place eater and up-and-coming American star Joey Chestnut, who almost dunk-and-swallowed top dog Takeru Kobayashi out of first place with a strong start out the gate. Chestnut's a San Jose State engineering student! Yay Area whut! Alas, Chestnut started to flag about 6 minutes in, allowing Kobayashi to peristalsis his way back up to the top at the end. A nail-biter, to be sure -- but now Chestnut's claiming some malfeasance might have occurred -- at around dog 50, people noticed that Kobayashi might have suffered what the eating competition circuit delicately terms a "reversal of fortune," which is an automatic DQ from the competition. Witnesses say that Kobayashi spit up into a cup, but that he (warning, it's gross) swallowed it back down before it hit the table -- which doesn't count. Chestnut's decided to view it as a bad refereeing call, and promises to be back again next year. This summer, Chestnut's training regimen included drinking 2 gallons of warm water every morning to stretch his stomach; eating 40 dogs a day 3 days a week, and the day before he left for New York, he ate 54 dogs in a practice run. We may be betraying our Bay Area affiliation here, but we're hoping they were Rosamunde dogs. Picture from the Chron by Laura Morton. more ›

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with new plays that unapologetically explore the state of the nation? more ›

We were going to blame our missed post on Hurricane, Tropical Storm, Summer Shower Albert, but you see how that went, so we have to level with you. We were in Orlando last week on business, holed up in another convention center, this time without a laptop. We were supposed to be sharing one with someone from work, but if you've ever had to do that, or if you've ever had siblings, you know how well the sharing thing goes with something as valuable as that. ˙In any event, this absence meant that when we went to visit all our lovely SF blogs, well. . . there were quite a few. So, in the spirit of misanthropy towards all of blogdom and its never-ending torrent of text, our first link this week will be to le blog exuberance. Then, after we've ended poverty, we'll need somewhere to go to unwind. May we suggest the Santa Cruz mountains? And then, rested and refreshed, we're back into blogging. more ›

Our Little Ms. Possible Future Speaker of the House is up for a very special election today on Wonkette, the Congressional Catfight Contest. The point of the vote is to determine, via brackets and seeds, just who is "The Biggest Beeatch" in congress. more ›

, we were ready to just crawl off to some quiet corner of the Kabuki Theatre and lie down quietly to wait to die. more ›

A battle has been raging behind the scenes at Wikipedia. No, it's not over copyrights or veracity or how well an article explains its premise. It's over whether or not the entry on San Francisco's Marina District should include an explanation of the term Marina Girl (and, by extension, Marina Guy). The main arguments for deletion is that it's a stereotype and that the content of the article is heavily biased against the Juicy Couture clad set at The Matrix. But if you look at the standing article at the SFGate, it describes to a tee the Marina Girl without actually mentioning the term:

Today the apartment buildings, shops and restaurants seem to be bursting at their seams with beautiful, young and fit 20- and 30-somethings. The singles scene is hopping on Friday and Saturday nights, with lots of fresh-faced postgrads with cocktails in one hand and cell phones in the other. Union is arguably the best street in the city to window-shop the hours away on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and, a few blocks down, Chestnut has an incredible variety of high-quality restaurants catering to every palate.

The Mission Hipster is a twenty-something self-proclaimed 'artist,' usually seen drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon at dive bars when not riding up and down Valencia on their track bike. They take pride in their relative poverty (though more than a few have wealthy families), working jobs as baristas or bike messengers. Their signature look includes a fauxhawk (male) or short bowl cut (female), aviator sunglasses, an ironic t-shirt, ripped jeans and Chuck Taylors. They can be found in great number at Slim's or the Bottom of the Hill on any given weekend where they prefer the sounds of acoustic guitars played by troubled singer-songwriters and upbeat post-punk-pop. They often avoid the upper Mission on those same nights, complaining that it's overrun by 'slumming yuppies from the Marina.'

Thanks, SFist Jackson, for the bang-up Photoshop job showing what the union of Mr. Newsom and Ms. Milos might look like! (Scientology Sea Org cap added by Jackson.) And keep those name-the-couple entries coming! We picked "CSI: Plumpjack" from the comments but that's not necessarily an indication of who's going to win! As we do our part to keep up the famed "blog chatter" on Gav-boy and Scientologist Sofia (including a shot in this week's US Weekly as a "hot new couple"), Newsom's released a frantic statement: "I'm Catholic! They didn't talk about Scientology at that dinner I went to, just psychiatry! I wasn't even listening because I was focusing on playing footsie under the table!" (okay, we made that last part up.) "I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and get back to focus on things that matter in this world, like homelessness, housing and poverty," our mayor said. Well, all right, Mr. Mayor, let's do that. According to the latest survey (as reported by anti-Newsomites Beyond Chron, even though the poll itself hasn't been officially released), Newsom's approval levels have dropped to about 50%, from his high of 80%. Beyond Chron speculates that it might be related to Newsom's inconsistent performance on crime and the SFPD. And folks on the sfwall.net are saying that apparently Newsom looked surprised on Channel 2 News this morning when they confronted him with the numbers later. Hm.... maybe talking about Ms. Milos instead (video) doesn't look quite so bad now in comparison! more ›

Summertime of Poverty pens a lyrical reflection on the modern world, but the title says it all. On that note, Ron Gonzalez gives a final state-of-San Jose speech, and San Jose Inside readers take the opportunity to lament his tenure. Up north, Michelle Slatalla plays with new real estate tool Zillow, but while intrigued, is not impressed by the inaccurate data. more ›

Dark greens last week, turnips this week. If you need proof that winter is here, the produce at local farmer's markets drives the point home. On the other hand, Kitchen photographer Melissa spotted a late batch of strawberries at the Grand Lake Farmer's Market, and we've spotted tomatoes recently as well. And we wonder why other parts of the country envy our markets. Oddball summer produce aside, root vegetable season has returned, and carrots, parsnips, and turnips are the belles of the winter ball. Turnips? Yes, turnips. We don't understand why shoppers shun these starchy bulbs. Probably the association with lean winter days and poverty-stricken rural families. Don't be misled by their reputation. The slightly sweet, peppery taste and crunchy texture complement a large number of foods, from fatty meats to other sugary ingredients to winter vegetables. If you can find them, pick up a bunch of baby turnips, which you can treat like the radishes they resemble. What you'll probably find at the market, however, are the ubiquitous Purple Tops, whose pretty purple shoulders stand out in a market stall. more ›

Over the last week in Oakland, shops have been laid waste, a store has burned to the ground, and a controversial religious organization has been implicated but denied its involvement. While our headline could be all too common, our personal experience makes the recent crimes all the more troubling. more ›

The election last night wasn't the only big decision being made around here. Yesterday, the Board of Supes finally got around to voting on the Home Depot debate and by a 6-5 vote, approved the environmental impact report, thus making the Home Depot store a go. The swing vote came down to Aaron Peskin who voted for it because he thought he should respect a neighborhood's authoritah. Progressives are not amused. more ›

Thursday night was night number two of the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The Exit Café, Fringe headquarters, wasn't very busy, but they had the beer and free pretzels ready (you can eat and drink in the Exit's theatres). Lily, the Exit's nonchalant dog, was on dropped-taquitos patrol. First up on our Fringe itinerary was Show Me Where it Hurts by Karen Ripley and Annie Larson with the Gallimaufrey Orchestra (Dan Wortman, JX Jones and Elizabeth Lee). In this 45-minute comedy with music, Ripley and Larson are a vaudevillian-like duo that endures two major Depressions: the one in the 1930s, and the one in, apparently, 2030. more ›

As the saying goes, Muni helps those who help themselves, so if you're hoping for some kind of fare relief any time soon, don't count on getting a hand from our fearless local transit agency. As you surely know, fares go up to $1.50 starting Thursday, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Luckily for the Bob-Cratchety among us, Muni's introducing a "Lifeline" bus pass this month, at a rate that's reduced by TEN WHOLE DOLLARS! Wow! All you have to do to get one is ... um ... er ... well, nobody's really sure. Have you seen any info, anywhere, about how to pick up a lifeline pass? We did some highly journalistic digging around and unearthed a Top Sekrit Ph0ne Numb3r -- it's 415-557-5900 -- to hear a prerecorded message about the new pass. You can only buy it on the last business day of the prior month or first three business days of the current month; you can only buy one between 8am and 4:30pm; you can only buy them at 170 Otis St and 3120 Mission St; and you can only get one if you're on public assistance like Medical or CalWorks, or if you've gotten the Working Families Tax Credit. more ›