Reset San Francisco | Phil Ting for Assembly 2012

Reset Reviews San Francisco’s Cab Apps

Hailing a cab in San Francisco is near impossible

Reset Reviews San Francisco’s Cab Apps

While LA may have survived Carmageddon, San Francisco’s impending Cabmageddon, is set to make getting a cab even harder, as cab drivers are planning a 24-hour strike on August 2. This is the second cab strike to hit San Francisco in the past few months.

San Franciscans know - getting a cab in San Francisco is a daunting feat. You stand in the cold in front of your favorite dive bar waiting and waiting, and freezing as you wish for a cab to magically appear.

A Controller’s Report from 2006 found that 33% of San Franciscans looking for a cab on a weekend night had to wait more than 30 minutes. Part of the problem lies in the fact that San Francisco does not have a sufficient citywide taxi dispatch system. Without a unified system, several smartphone apps have emerged promising to make getting a cab in San Francisco easier. Read More

San Francisco More Negative Than Other Bay Area Cities

A new survey shows San Francisco is the most negative Bay Area city when it comes to city residents’ outlook on local government.

A telephone survey by the Leo T. McCarthy Center at the University of San Francisco measured the public’s attitude about the economy, government, schools and other institutions, and found that San Francisco respondents generally held a more negative opinion about these topics than other Bay Area residents. San Franciscans were 6% more likely than other Bay Area residents to assert that our local government is “run by a few big interests.”

According to survey conductors, San Franciscans tend to be more involved in local issues and government, which means they are generally more informed. Read More

Housing Teachers on San Francisco School District Land

Santa Clara’s Casa del Maestro complex provides teachers with housing The ability of the San Francisco Unified School District to educate students depends heavily on the quality of its teachers. Developing and retaining excellent teachers is challenging, especially when considering the high cost of living in San Francisco. The average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco costs $1,500 per month.

So it is no surprise that nearly one-third of San Francisco’s 4,587 public school teachers live outside the city, according to the United Educators of San Francisco. Additionally, 75 percent of the 1,463 teacher aides commute from around the Bay Area. The high cost of living in San Francisco often makes it impossible for many educators to live in the communities they educate. Read More

The Muni Grand Prix: The Race Between the N-Judah and the NX Judah Express Bus

SFMTA invested $1.8 million on a pilot express bus line designed to get commuters from the Financial to the Sunset. It's called the NX Judah Express Bus, and it's SFMTA’s proposed solution to the overcrowded N-Judah, which transports about 30% of all Muni customers - that's nearly 40,000 people daily.

At Reset, sometimes we’re skeptical of all things Muni, so we just had to crash the “party bus” to see for ourselves how great this NX commute really is. So, the Reset team decided to conduct a Muni race between the N-Judah and the NX Judah Express Bus.

The Muni Grand Prix! Check out the video and Read More.

Proposed bill to ban social media during public hearings… Really?

We know it is illegal (and dangerous) to text while driving – what about tweeting while lawmaking? While tweeting, texting, Facebook, and e-mail are a constant presence in the daily lives of many individuals, several states and cities have recently enacted bans to prohibit social media usage by public officials during meetings.

In Texas, a proposed bill would make it illegal for legislators to send or receive a text, e-mail, instant message, or make posts to websites during public meetings. If enacted, Texas would be the first state with a law of this kind. A similar ban already exists in the California Assembly – California lawmakers are prohibited from text messaging lobbyists or lawmakers on the Assembly’s floor or in its committees. Read More

Let the Facts Guide Us in the Care Not Cash Debate

By: Phil Ting

In the fog of political rhetoric and personal opinion – facts are a welcome beacon.

That’s why as the rhetoric on repealing Care Not Cash starts to thicken, we should look to the real facts to guide us to a fair outcome. And a review of the facts show a program that is working successfully to house and support formerly homeless San Franciscans.

Prior to the adoption of Care Not Cash by nearly 60% of voters in 2002, San Francisco was the only urban county in California that still provided direct cash payments to homeless aid recipients. Because we provided cash, our county became a magnet for many who preferred a cash payment rather than guaranteed food and shelter. And partially as a result of this cash incentive, our homeless population soared. Read More

How do I reserve a room in a San Francisco Public Library?

Looking for the best place to hold your neighborhood book club? Follow the Bernal Book Club’s lead and locate the regular meetings in a local library.

The San Francisco Public Libraries have made it possible [to a certain degree] to reserve the public meeting rooms online [as long as you meet the list of stipulated requirements] so that [qualified] residents can more readily take advantage of these great [but guarded] communal spaces. Gov 2.0? Read More

San Francisco Department of Election’s Step Toward Gov 2.0 Highlights Digital Divide

Electronic Voter Pamphlets in San Francisco Can Save Us Money. In addition to si

San Francisco Department of Election’s Step Toward Gov 2.0 Highlights Digital Divide

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi recently introduced legislation that would allow voters to opt out of receiving voter information pamphlets by mail. Instead voters could choose to receive their sample ballot, voter pamphlet, notice of polling place and associated materials electronically via e-mail.

In addition to simplifying the process for those who prefer to receive voter information electronically, the law, the Mirkarimi law would allow the San Francisco Department of Elections to save the cost of printing and mailing paper versions of voter information pamphlets. Read More

Pavement to Parks = Progress

San Francisco’s 15th Parklet Opened Last Week

An earlier rendering of the Powell Street Parklet that opened this week to the public in the heart of downtown San Francisco.

Reset was excited to read that there is yet another parklet in San Francisco. This time, the parklet is taking congested streets head-on by constructing a pop-up park on the busy intersection of Powell Street between Eddy and Geary in the heart of a bustling thoroughfare downtown.

Read More

How do I reserve a computer in the San Francisco Public Libraries?

The San Francisco Public Library has many public use services one can reserve online, excluding the single, public-use typewriter located in the typewriter room on the 5th floor of the Main Library.

As more and more government services become available online, public institutions like libraries are the go-to for bridging the digital divide, providing computers to those who maybe are without. But are these services the equivalent of a digital divide rope bridge or our reliable Golden Gate? (At the very least, they are merely Band-Aids until Universal Access is implemented.)

Each library-card-bearing resident is granted an hour of library computer use per day, and keep in mind: reservations are held for a grace period, three minutes at the branches and seven minutes at the Main, and then the booking is automatically canceled with the passed time deducted from the user’s daily allotment. And, still, despite these regulations, many complain these computer stations are over-crowded. Read More