In life, Victor Nguyen was unique, an individual, one-of-a-kind. In death, however, he was hardly atypical. And he became a statistic.  On May 23 of last year, Nguyen was an […]

Proposition E will lead to more risks. Voters will decide if they’re okay with that.

Whatever your thoughts about Mayor London Breed — and the results of a recent Chronicle poll indicate that few San Franciscans have happy thoughts — one must admit that she has a […]

‘We can’t kiss tech’s ass all the time:’ Mayor Breed’s looming clash

An attorney representing the Service Employees International Union No. 1021 today sent the city attorney a letter claiming Mayor London Breed violated the law in placing Proposition F on the […]

Union: Mayor Breed broke the law in putting Proposition F on the ballot

On paper, virtually every last vestige of San Francisco political power supports Proposition A, Mayor London Breed’s $300 million affordable housing-bond. Some of the most gregarious BigMoneySF groups are for […]

Mayor Breed is sabotaging her own $300M affordable-housing bond

High-impact local reporting goes international

Once — and future? — mayor Mark Farrell is today lifting the loose veil that had somewhat obscured his long-in-the-works mayoral campaign.  “I do not believe San Francisco can afford another […]

Mark Farrell enters SF mayor’s race — rips London Breed as ‘a mayor without a vision’

For the better part of 25 years, Paul Harkin has spent most of his days “in the mosh pit” of the Tenderloin, working with homeless drug users on HIV prevention, […]

Proposition F’s biggest foe shocked to find himself in Prop. F ad

The city of San Francisco is moving to expedite earlier sanctions it leveled against an allegedly predatory towing company accused of installing fraudulent no parking signs in a bank parking […]

Auto Towing owners accused of buying Lamborghini while on welfare

Listen, Ahsha Safaí has come unstuck. As one of the trio — soon to be a quartet — of serious San Francisco mayoral candidates hailing from the right side of this […]

Ahsha Safaí veers away from the SF mayoral pack. Will voters care?

In the runup to March’s contested judicial elections, the tough-on-crime nonprofit Stop Crime Action has released a “Judge Report Card.” In a January Facebook post, the organization described its publication […]

Stop Crime Action’s ‘judge report card’ misrepresents its sourcing

A law-enforcement source tells Mission Local that California Highway Patrol officers have shot a person allegedly wielding a knife on Highway 280 not far from 20th Street.  All lanes on southbound […]

CHP officers shoot purportedly knife-wielding man on Highway 280

Three San Francisco supervisors received a threatening letter at their homes on Tuesday, and two more filed police reports after Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator and a heavy […]

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan’s online rant spurs threats to supes, police reports

We humans are creatures of habit. When my parents’ favorite Chinese restaurant closed and a new one opened in its place, their behavior never changed. It’s as if the car […]

SF progressives have no candidate for mayor. But they’ll decide the winner.

A manager in San Francisco’s Department of Human Resources was arrested this morning and charged in connection to the bribery and corruption case that enveloped the San Francisco Community Challenge […]

City HR manager charged with selling tech gear — bought with quake supply money — on eBay

The latest victims of the years-long payroll debacle that destabilized the San Francisco Unified School District — during which thousands of employees went underpaid, improperly paid or unpaid — would appear […]

SFUSD payroll debacle’s latest victims: Student interns

Florence Kong, who was convicted and incarcerated for one of the more theatrical misdeeds in the Mohammed Nuru affair, has reached a settlement agreement with the city of San Francisco […]

Florence Kong, who bribed Nuru with gold watch, faces $750K fine

Despite San Francisco’s nightly portrayal on cable news as the burning dumpster fire of liberal misrule, crime fell slightly in 2023. Quips had been made decades ago — long before some […]

Daniel Lurie bips Mayor Breed’s ballot measure; hilarity ensues

It would be unfair to say San Francisco’s Ethics Commission moves very, very slowly. In order to do that, they’d have to go a lot, lot faster.  As it is, […]

SF hasn’t yet audited its 2020 candidates. It’s 2024.

The Department of Building Inspection confirmed last week that it will launch an internal investigation after Mission Local found that several veteran inspectors had overseen work performed by family members. […]

DBI chief inspectors OK’d their own family’s jobs, properties

Time, in the post-pandemic world, seems to have warped and coagulated. The past four years feel like so many more; peering back in time feels more and more like trying […]

Mayor Breed tried to kill Prop. H. In 2024, it may save her career.

Mission Local’s scoop on the arrest of Nima Momeni on charges of murdering Bob Lee broke news — and nearly broke this site. It racked up more than 1 million page […]

The most-read Mission Local stories of 2023

A throng of police officers descended upon Precita Park this evening, where a police vehicle chase came to an end. Just before 5 p.m., Mission Local’s Eleni Balakrishnan witnessed at […]

Slow-motion police chase ends at Precita Park

Four children ranging in age from 13 to 17 filed a class-action suit today against the city, its police chief, Mission Station’s police captain and a tactical squad lieutenant in […]

Teens sue SF, SFPD over police crackdown at Dolores Park Hill Bomb

There are plenty of reasons beyond beneficence and altruism for a city to establish a senior home repair program. Picking up the costs of repairing old people’s homes cuts down […]

SF senior home repair program has repaired 3 homes in 2 years

Mission Local did all right at the Society of Professional Journalists’ awards last week. Reporter Annika Hom was named the year’s outstanding emerging journalist — of course she was — and Lydia […]

Greetings, everyone. This is Joe Eskenazi.

The San Francisco Unified School District has spent more than $40 million thus far attempting to right the sinking EMPower ship and fix the misbegotten payroll system that has managed […]

SFUSD will scrap disastrous EMPower payroll system, sources say

Updated January 8, 2023: In an earlier version of this article, the only Curran-related properties on our map were the 3,021 properties the Department of Building Inspection are auditing. We […]

Did an (accused) federal criminal work on your home? Check our map.

Question: What drinks pair well with turkey?  Answer: Whaddya got?  For those in need of a brace before visiting family, unable or unwilling to visit family or hoping to hold […]

Which Mission bars are open on Thanksgiving 2023?

The loud, predawn FBI raid of a home on a sleepy Excelsior District block on Nov. 20 was tied to a shooting homicide at Crissy Field earlier this month, federal […]

FBI raid of Excelsior District home tied to Crissy Field homicide

In the company of family, friends and the community, Robyn Sue Fisher and Sen. Scott Wiener cut the red ribbon outside Smitten on Tuesday afternoon, almost one month after the […]

Smitten ice creamery reopens after vandalism

Update: The FBI confirmed on Nov. 22 that the raid was tied to a shooting homicide at Crissy Field earlier this month. The agency had on Nov. 21 confirmed that […]

FBI raids Excelsior District home