Update (4:50 p.m.): Police released this photo of Lorenzo Jimenez, who was shot to death after hanging out with friends at the Double Dutch bar on Friday night. According to police, Jimenez was confronted by as many as 10 Hispanic men while he was at the bar. After leaving the Double Dutch, Jimenez was "viciously beaten by this group of men in an unprovoked attack." One of the assailants pulled out a gun and shot him to death.
San Francisco police arrested two men in connection with the death of 22-year-old Calvin Sneed who was shot as he drove through the Bayview last week.
According to Sgt. Michael Andraychak, Lupe Mercado, 37, and Barry Gilton, 38, both of San Francisco, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of homicide. The two were booked into San Francisco County Jail.
On June 4 about 2 a.m., Sneed was driving along Le Conte and Mead Street in the Bayview when he was shot in the head, causing his car to crash into another parked vehicle, police said.
It's a bit disappointing that Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy doesn't campaign more on his experience as a Real World: Boston housemate. Surely, living in a lavish house with six other narcissistic strangers holding diametrically opposed world views as camera crews capture every moment is ideal preparation for a career in Congress.
Nobody asked us, but there's something incongruous about a broke-ass city like San Francisco doling out financial advice to anyone.
But amid its own money troubles, namely that never-ending deficit, city workers with the San Francisco Treasurers Office are taking out some time today to teach all you financially troubled people out there how to manage your bank accounts.
Mayor Ed Lee is asking residents to call the S.F. Financial Advice Line starting at 4 p.m. today. "Seasoned experts" -- as opposed to inexperienced experts -- will be on the other end of the line waiting to proffer tips on how to stay out of the red.
Huh. Can you save money by forcing your kids or roommates into furlough days? Call and find out!
It's a little late for spring cleaning, but don't tell that to Supervisor Scott Wiener, who has big plans to sweep away the city's old and somewhat unnecessary laws that don't really do much for us anyway.
"As legislators, we pass a significant amount of legislation to address issues facing San Francisco," Wiener says. "It's also important to continually reevaluate existing legislation and repeal or amend laws that are past their useful life."
Ironically enough, Wiener plans to unveil some more legislation just to get rid
of old legislation that he says doesn't really serve any purpose.
In a sad note for the city's music lovers, yet another brick-and-mortar niche wonderland is readying for its swan song.
Music Center of San Francisco, the place to obtain a trove of scores and the musical instruments and other accoutrements with which to play them, will close its doors at the end of the month. "ALL INVENTORY AND FIXTURES MUST BE SOLD!" blares the store's website. Among those who do a double-take when wandering past, say, a Gershwin songbook, this depressing announcement already has traveled through the grapevine. The musically inclined have been beating a path to the inconspicuous second-floor outlet a stone's throw from Union Square for, literally, one last score.
It turns out, no matter what you learned from Avenue Q, the Internet is good for more than porn. It also does a damn fine job of relegating print materials of all sorts to history's dustbin, and putting businessmen like Warren Leong in a bad spot. "A lot of people are calling and saying they heard we're going out of business," says Leong, who has worked at or owned the Music Center for 45 years. "But they haven't shopped here for years."
This probably will stand as the best story of the week: Ars Technica reports that Matthew Inman, creator of the web comic "The Oatmeal," has raised $100,000 from his fans to counter a lawyer's demand that he fork over $20,000 to a fifth-rate website that Inman had complained was stealing his work.
Police investigators are still trying to figure out whether the suspicious devices found inside a woman's North Beach home yesterday are dangerous.
The bizarre incident started at 4 p.m. when an employee at 101 Market Street noticed that one of her co-workers was "exhibiting signs of psychiatric distress," Officer Carlos Manfredi said.
The woman was taken to San Francisco General Hospital for evaluation, and while talking to police, she said she had fired a
round inside her home, Manfredi said.
Update 5 p.m.: A Wells Fargo representative called us to chime in on this debate. Ruben Pulido, spokesman for the bank, said they are proud to have Alfredo Pedroza on their team. "Alfredo has lived in the Mission District his entire life. For the vast majority of his career he has worked in the nonprofit sector -- for example, by organizing neighborhoods to take back their park -- and then working for the City of San Francisco to advocate for the needs of some of San Francisco's most underserved neighborhoods," Pulido said.
(Update 8:23 a.m.): We've just been informed that Occupy has postponed the planned march over to Alfredo Pedroza's house tonight while they negotiate with Mayor Ed Lee. According to Buck Bagot, the group is hopeful they can make progress today "toward the cancellation of scheduled foreclosure-related property auctions and evictions."
(original story): The only regional Occupy group that hasn't lost steam is over in Bernal Heights, where neighbors are planning yet another visit to Wells Fargo folks that's sure to be, at the very least, entertaining.
Tonight, Occupy Bernal will walk over to the Mission District home of Alfredo Pedroza, director of California Local Government Relations for Wells Fargo, and demand he put an end to the senseless foreclosures he's fostering in his own neighborhood.
Occupy Bernal claims that in his current position, Pedroza has negotiated one too many foreclosures on behalf of the big bank, especially for minorities. They plan to ask him to help 16 of their neighbors who are currently being threatened by Wells Fargo.
Here's what Occupy Bernal says:
Update: Police released a photo of the persons of interest in the murder of Stephen Martin. Above is a picture showing a man in a 49ers jersey and a female in an orange tutu. Police are asking for the public's help in identifying them. Martin is pictured on the far right-hand side wearing a green troll doll wig.
(Original story: June 11, 2012): The man who was clinging to life after being sucker-punched in Golden Gate Park after the Bay to Breakers race has died.
Medical authorities confirmed that 30-year-old Stephen Martin of Santa Clara died Friday after his family took him off life support. He had been in the hospital with "unrecoverable brain damage" since the May 20 incident.
According to press reports, Martin's family released the following statement:
As per the doctor's recommendation we took him off life support Friday morning -- and allowed nature to take its course. Thank you all for your prayers and support.
