Thursday News Roundup
VICTIM SHOT, KILLED WEDNESDAY NIGHT
A victim was shot and killed in East Oakland on Wednesday night, a police officer said.
Officers heard gunshots while patrolling in the area of the 8100 block of Birch Street at 11:03 p.m., according to Officer J. Moore. They responded there and found a victim down with a gunshot wound.
The victim was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later, Moore said.
Police have not provided any information about possible suspects in the homicide.
OFFICERS INVOLVED IN WEDNESDAY SHOOTING INCIDENT WERE NOT DALY CITY OFFICERS
The Daly City Police Department this morning is clarifying officers involved in a Wednesday night shooting incident in Daly City were not Daly City police officers.
The officers involved in the shooting are from other agencies within San Mateo County, according to the police department.
Around 9 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop in the area of Crocker Avenue and Brunswick Street as part of a San Mateo County Gang Task Force operation.
During the stop, an officer contacted the driver of a white Chrysler 300 when the driver proceeded to drive away, dragging the officer a short distance, police said.
A second officer, who was acting as cover, discharged his firearm into the vehicle, police said.
The vehicle continued to flee the area and was last seen heading north on Brunswick Street, police said.
Police did not know if anyone inside the vehicle was injured in the shooting.
The officer who was dragged suffered minor injuries during the incident.
Daly City police investigators were called in to investigate the incident, because it occurred in the department’s jurisdiction.
Police are pursuing leads to identify the suspect and locate the vehicle and are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the Daly City Police Department Investigations Division at (650) 991-8092.
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRE AT APARTMENT BUILDING
Firefighters this morning are at the scene of an apartment fire in Oakland.
Crews responded around 2 a.m. to a two-story apartment building in the 6600 block of MacArthur Boulevard in response to a fire.
Firefighters got the fire under control shortly after, according to the fire department.
There were no reported injuries in the fire.
MISSION DISTRICT BENEFITS FROM PIT STOP PROGRAM
San Francisco’s Mission District, traditionally a neighborhood with a high volume of requests for the city to remove human waste, is the newest neighborhood to benefit from staffed public toilets.
San Francisco Public Works opened its fifth staffed public toilet location, as part of its Pit Stop program, at 16th and Mission streets Wednesday.
Instead of the portable pit stops that have been rolled out in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, the one in the Mission uses the existing JCDecaux public bathroom structures.
The bathrooms are now staffed with attendants who, according to Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, make sure the facilities are kept clean and safe and are used for their intended purpose.
“We have seen with our Pit Stops that having staff on site is the No. 1 reason the program works,” Nuru said in a statement.
All five Pit Stop public toilet stations are located in areas with a high volume of requests for Public Works to steam clean the sidewalks in order to remove human waste.
Nuru said the pit stops not only keep the sidewalks clean, but also allow people to “find relief with dignity.”
The city’s first three Pit Stops opened in the Tenderloin in July 2014 and the fourth location opened in the South of Market neighborhood in April.
In those neighborhoods, portable toilets are set up each weekday following overnight servicing and are staffed as part of a job-training program through the nonprofit organization, San Francisco Clean City Coalition, according to public works officials.
The bathroom attendants will be stationed at the Mission District site Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to public works officials.
In addition to a toilet and sink, each Pit Stop location offers a used needle receptacle as well as a dog waste station with bags and a trash can.
As a result of the Pit Stops, requests for Public Works’ steam cleaning services related to human waste on the sidewalks, has dropped as the number of people using the staffed toilets has gone up, public works officials said.
If the hybrid model works at the JCDecaux location, it may be expanded to other JCDecaux toilets in San Francisco where on-site staffing could be beneficial, public works officials said.
JCDecaux is under a contract with the city to operate and maintain 25 self-cleaning public toilets in San Francisco in exchange for advertising rights.
