Earlier this year, EAG facilitated a grassroots pedestrian level lighting campaign on the commercial corridor called Shine a Bright Light on Excelsior.  Thanks to our amazing videographer & film editor Phillip C. Wong and J. Alex, we now have a video to share with the community that introduces you to the program, its goals, and some of our youth partners who helped make the work possible.

Customer refuse rates have been traditionally based solely on the black bin and what goes to landfill. As San Francisco moves closer to its goal of Zero Waste by 2020 and the need for the black bin shrinks, the rate system must reflect the total cost of service, not just the black bin. The proposed Zero Waste Rate Structure, submitted last December, supports the City’s Zero Waste goal in the following ways:

• Maintains quality refuse and recycling collection service
• Supports over 30 recycling and composting programs
• Ensures sustainable revenue to advance Zero Waste programs and initiatives
• Increases incentives for customers to recycle and compost
• Adjusts rates to focus on the total cost of service (blue, green, black) instead of just one bin (black)
• Supports programs that remove recyclable or organic materials from the black bin waste stream

For more information, visit the following links:
Zero Waste
Zero Waste Resources

Recent court and legislative decisions threaten to eliminate the fragile safety net for California’s most vulnerable older adults –  frail elders who depend on Medi-Cal to cover the costs of medically necessary, 24/7 skilled nursing care.

In December 2012, courts gave California the go-ahead to implement Assembly Bill (AB) 97, a new law that will slash Medi-Cal reimbursements to hospital-based, distinct part skilled nursing facilities such as the Jewish Home. Under AB 97, the Jewish Home, which relies on Medi-Cal to care for 96 percent of its frail residents, will see its reimbursement rates reduced by approximately 30 percent, resulting in an approximate $12 million incremental cash deficit to the Home. But AB 97 will not just reduce future income; the cuts are retroactive to June 1, 2011, requiring the Home to repay approximately $19 million to Medi-Cal as of June 2013.

The Jewish Home of San Francisco is a historic, nonprofit facility – rated five stars for excellence by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – that counts on and receives generous community philanthropy to carry out its 142-year mission. However, the Home and its supporting community do not have the wherewithal to bridge the enormous funding gap AB 97 will create. Anticipating the profound financial impacts of AB 97, the Home has already implemented significant staffing and program changes.

Even before AB 97, though, the Jewish Home recognized the need for change and launched significant efforts to diversify its revenue stream and advance a plan for the future that reflects healthcare reform. The Jewish Home has broadened its short-stay rehabilitation program (STARS), expanded admission to its acute geriatric psychiatry program (one of the only programs of its kind in the Bay Area), and has a strategy to address the changing needs of older adults by delivering a continuum of age-in-place services and programs, including community-based services and new independent and assisted living apartments. This plan would be good for residents, good for the community, and good for California as it could save the state millions of dollars. But because of the impacts of AB 97, these plans have now been put on hold.

The Jewish Home is not the only institution affected by AB 97. Impacts will be felt across the entire distinct part nursing home industry, including Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco.

Since AB 97 was introduced, the Jewish Home has spoken out about its devastating impacts, both independently and by playing a lead role in a variety of coalitions – industry-focused, faith-based, in the city and county of San Francisco, with urban and rural partners. The Home has been an active voice in the California Hospital Association’s efforts to fight AB 97 and continues to support CHA in navigating the appropriate legal channels, including en banc proceedings and a possible U.S. Supreme Court case.

The Jewish Home is also advancing its own advocacy efforts, including a letter-writing campaign addressed to key California decision makers that engages the broader community in speaking out for the Home. To download an electronic version of the Home’s action letter, or to learn more about AB 97 and the Jewish Home’s intensive efforts to secure relief, visit its website dedicated to this important issue.  Click here to visit the website.

SAN FRANCISCO (April 1, 2013) -- City Attorney Dennis Herrera today launched a new smartphone app that offers San Francisco residents an easy way to report and track non-emergency code enforcement and nuisance issues.  Herrera's Code Enforcement Team has long maintained a code enforcement telephone hotline to enable neighborhood residents to report violations of housing, building, police and other local and state health and safety codes, but with the popularity of smartphones, the new mobile app leverages the latest in communication technology to improve government responsiveness and transparency.   

Over a year ago, Herrera initiated a move to explore more innovative, user-friendly ways for the community to report and track municipal code and state law violations utilizing smartphone technology.  The result is theUP2CODE smartphone app and web widget (web page) that is now available to residents via iPhone, Android and any browser with an internet connection. 

"UP2CODE is an easy way for San Franciscans to report and track code enforcement issues to my office," said Herrera.  "It encourages residents to be proactive by using the on-the-go smartphone app to combine efforts to improve neighborhoods and protect health and safety.  Thank you to the community groups who helped test the app last year and provided feedback which refined the app.  It's one tool we can all use to make San Francisco a safer and beautiful place to call home." 

The UP2CODE app was developed to interact with SF311, San Francisco's citywide call and information center.  The app utilizes mobile phone camera and global positioning system, or GPS, technology to streamline and coordinate code violation reporting with corresponding city departments.  SeeClickFix, the New Haven, Conn.-based mobile application developer, worked in partnership with City Attorney staff to customize the app for San Francisco's codes and neighborhoods. 

Data collected is used to better build code violation lawsuits, collect evidence and speed up remedies of nuisance code violations.  It will help other city leaders, department heads and agencies better identify and prioritize code enforcement issues.  In an effort to strive for transparency in City government, much of the data collected is accessible to app users in near-real-time.  Reported violations are viewable on interactive maps, as is the status of each individual report.  Users can even use advance features to set up "watch areas" -- from a single block to an entire neighborhood -- to monitor all reports within a specific geographic area.   

For more information (including important safety tips), social media plug-ins, and to use the web widget, visit: http://www.UP2CODE.org. 

To download the UP2CODE app on your mobile device visit: 

• The App Store for iPhones, or 
• Google Play for Android 

The Office of the City Attorney's Code Enforcement Team coordinates the efforts of the Building, Health, Planning, Public Works, Fire and Police Departments to identify and respond effectively to health and safety and other public nuisance issues in San Francisco's neighborhoods.  When a code violation is reported, the Code Enforcement Team responds by coordinating the investigation and abatement process by the relevant city agencies and, when necessary, pursuing additional remedies against violators through civil court action. 

The City Attorney's Community Relations Division is available to make UP2CODE presentations and conduct group trainings on how to use the app and its numerous functions. Contact Jen Drake, Deputy Director, Community Relations at [email protected] or (415) 554-4695.