Think "Leaving Las Vegas" starring Nicholas Cage, except the 'actors' here are the real thing - 'chronic inebriates' costing the city about $13 million annually in ambulance costs alone. It's not necessarily a 'homelessness' problem.
San Francisco metro columnist, C.W. Nevius, is well-know for reporting on hard-to-solve urban issues like poverty, blight, and crime. Here he reports on one person who "has cost San Francisco at least $150,000 the past year."
"Kenny Walters' job is to get drunk.
Recently Walters, who came from Arizona a year and a half ago, was curled up in the fetal position on the sidewalk near Masonic and Haight. "Basically he comes out here and drinks himself to this point every day," police Officer John Andrews said.
He said he gets $953 a month in Supplemental Security Income for disabled and aged citizens and pays $650 a month for a hotel room in the Tenderloin under the city's Care Not Cash program."
Read the full story: Chronic drunks' treatment costs S.F. big bucks
Bay area voters pass ‘crucial lifeline’ for transit
Proposition RTM, which will fund Bay Area transit, has approval from 61% of voters as of 9:45 p.m. on Nov. 3.
California High-Speed Rail Authority picks trainset manufacturer
The California High-Speed Rail Authority aims to start servicing passengers by 2033.
SF weighs putting data center inside abandoned mall
An unnamed technology company may buy the entire building, and convert one-third of it into what development consultants are calling a “regenerative urban energy center.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority