Friday San Francisco News Roundup
TEACHERS RATIFY DISPUTED CONTRACT WITH SF ARCHDIOCESE
Members of a Bay Area Catholic schoolteachers’ union ratified a
new contract Wednesday with the Archdiocese of San Francisco, church
officials said.
The contract extends to 2018 and covers 236 full-time teachers at
four Catholic high schools, according to the archdiocese.
The schools are Archbishop Riordan High School and Sacred Heart
Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco, Marin Catholic High School in
Kentfield and Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.
Teachers and the archdiocese disputed the contract and a teacher
handbook for a year because of questions about the teachers’ rights under
labor laws.
Diocese officials proposed wording that called teachers
“ministers,” putting teachers outside of the protections of the National
Labor Relations Act, according to the California Federation of Teachers.
The Catholic schoolteachers’ union, the Archdiocesan Federation of
Teachers Local 2240, is a California Federation of Teachers union’
“I’m happy that the contract dispute has been settled,” said union
representative Ted DeSaulnier, a teacher at Archbishop Riordan High School.
“We are now in a place to more forward.” DeSaulnier said he was a strong
opponent of the original contract language, but it changed.
“He changed,” DeSaulnier said of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone,
who agreed to a compromise on the contract language.
“I want to thank the union and administration negotiating teams
for their hard work over the past few months in coming to this agreement,”
Cordileone said in a statement.
“I also very much appreciate that the negotiations included a rich
discussion about the mission and purpose of Catholic education and the vital
role that our high school teachers play in carrying out that mission,” he
said.
The vote was close, union leaders said. Ninety teachers voted yes,
while 80 voted no.
The agreement gives teachers a 7.5 percent increase in salary over
three years and extends the previous contract’s health care benefits, union
leaders said.
It also provides for a collective bargaining grievance process,
instead of administrative fiat, for questions about teacher behavior on and
off the job.
“I am very proud of our union for standing tall in support of dignity and fairness,”
union president Gina Jaeger said in a statement. “Nowis the time to heal
after a tumultuous year.”
UPPER MARKET GETS RED LIGHT TURN RESTRICTIONS, PAINTED PED SAFETY ZONES
Safety measures implemented as part of San Francisco’s Upper
Market Street Safety Project were unveiled Thursday including right turn
restrictions at red lights, bolder crosswalks, and painted pedestrian safety
zones.
The Upper Market Street Safety Project, a multi-phased effort to
improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists on Market Street
between Octavia and Castro streets, uses a data-driven approach to determine
the locations where collisions are occurring and to make changes for the
better.
The Upper Market corridor, which is part of the 12 percent of San
Francisco streets where 70 percent of serious traffic collisions occur,
connects the Castro District to Duboce Triangle, the Mission District, and
beyond.
The corridor, however, saw around 150 serious collisions between
2007 and 2012, according to Ed Reiskin, the San Francisco Municipal
Transportation Agency’s director of transportation.
In that five-year period, between Octavia and Castro streets there
were 27 collisions involving vehicles and pedestrians, 32 vehicle-bicycle
collisions and 102 collisions between vehicles, according to the SFMTA.
As of Thursday, motorists on 15th and 16th streets approaching
Market Street are no longer allowed to turn right on red. They must come to a
complete stop and wait for a green light before proceeding. The SFMTA has
posted traffic signs to reflect that change.
The SFMTA has also painted ten large khaki-colored safety zones at
three intersections that are designed to act as a sort of bulb-out where cars
are prohibited from entering and where pedestrians are discouraged from
standing.
The goal of the new painted sections is to allow pedestrians to be
more visible to drivers and to allow drivers to have a clearer view of
pedestrians crossing Market Street.
Five major intersections on the corridor have also received
upgraded zebra crosswalks, according to the SFMTA.
SHERIFF’S WIFE’S ONE-WOMAN PLAY STARTS NEW 3-WEEKEND RUN FRIDAY
A one-woman play starring the wife of San Francisco Sheriff Ross
Mirkarimi and that tells the story of the pair’s involvement in a 2012
political scandal will get three more weekends on stage starting today.
Following well-received reviews for its debut run back in May at
the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, the bilingual play also starring
Eliana Lopez will return to the stage beginning Friday.
The limited-run performance will take place at the Victoria
Theatre, located at 2961 16th St., and will run for three consecutive
weekends through Sept. 6.
In her performance, Lopez plays 12 different characters, some of
whom are combinations of different people involved in the events that led up
to her husband’s 2012 suspension from his position as sheriff by Mayor Ed
Lee.
Mirkarimi was suspended after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor
false imprisonment for an incident in which he grabbed his wife’s arm during
an argument on New Year’s Eve.
Lopez, who describes the play as “a love story, with a political
frame,” said back in May that she decided to take on the performance because
she felt like she and her husband had been demonized in the public eye.
“I want to show the other side of the story, the human beings that
we are and the impact that this had on my son and on myself,” Lopez said
.
Mirkarimi, who is up for re-election this fall, has said he is
supportive of his wife and the play.
Lopez is an accomplished actress who has been in film, theater and
television productions in her native Venezuela.
ASSEMBLYMEMBER CHIU PUSHES FOR REGULATIONS TO END HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL USE AT NAIL SALONS STATE-WIDE
Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, on Thursday announced the
establishment of the Healthy Nail Salon Task Force during a visit to Sophia’s
Beauty Lounge in San Francisco, explaining that nail salons across the state
need to follow the salon’s example for the sake of their employees and their
customers.
Sophia’s Beauty Lounge in San Francisco is one of about 30 nail
salons in the city recognized as a “healthy nail salon,” with a sticker in
the window from the city verifying that the salon doesn’t use nail polishes
containing hazardous chemicals that could harm the health of their employees
and customers.
The state task force announced by Chiu will consider a similar
statewide healthy nail recognition program that doubles as an educational
campaign and an incentive for businesses to use safer products and better
ventilation.
It will also consider requiring ingredient disclosure of
professional cosmetic products and enhancing the California Safe Cosmetics
Act by expanding scope and enforcement capabilities.
The Healthy Nail Salon Task Force will work through the fall on
nail salon issues with a goal of pursuing legislation during the 2016 session
that begins in January, according to Chiu.
“Our Healthy Nail Salon Task Force will consider these sensitive
and complex issues and work hard to craft real, effective solutions,” Chiu
said.
Best of all, Chiu said, these healthy changes are good for
business and are likely to attract more customers.
He said there are over 100,000 nail salon technicians in
California, of which more than 80 percent are of Asian descent and about 50
percent are of childbearing age.
SF Environment’s healthy nail salon program, which touts the
slogan “Pretty shouldn’t stink,” is a recognition program that helps nail
salons implement changes and highlights them for their efforts.
The program helps nail salons use safer products and proper
ventilation, and gain recognition for their efforts. Since the program began
in 2010, five other counties in California have implemented similar programs,
according to Chiu.
SHERIFF’S SGT. SAVES MAN FOUND OVERDOSED IN CITY HALL BATHROOM
A San Francisco sheriff’s sergeant helped save the life of an
unconscious man suffering from a drug overdose who was found locked in a City
Hall bathroom stall Tuesday night, the sheriff’s department said Thursday.
At about 11:30 p.m., Sheriff’s Sgt. John Caramucci responded to a
call from a custodian reporting that a man in his 30s was unconscious in a
bathroom stall, according to sheriff’s officials.
Sgt. Caramucci used a pocketknife to open the locked stall door
and found the man with a needle in his arm, not breathing, sheriff’s
officials said.
Sgt. Caramucci immediately called for paramedics, an automated
external defibrillator and assistance from deputy sheriffs.
Paramedics arrived on the scene within four minutes of the call
and were able to resuscitate the man. Paramedics then took him to a hospital,
according to sheriff’s officials.
A liquid substance found at the scene later tested positive for
heroin, sheriff’s officials said.
“We’re proud of our deputies for their swift and effective work in
this case,” Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said in a statement.
“Overdosing in City Hall couldn’t be more emblematic of a
resurgent drug crisis hitting San Francisco. Heroin usage is way up and
existing treatment centers are not enough. Nationwide, reports suggest that
we’re looking at a burgeoning public health and public safety crisis,”
Mirkarimi said.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Today will be cloudy in the morning with patchy fog and possible
drizzle. Highs will be in the mid 60s to lower 70s with west winds reaching 5
to 15 miles per hour.
Tonight will be partly cloudy in the evening and then will become
cloudy with patchy fog and drizzle after midnight. Lows will be in the upper
50s and southwest winds will reach 10 to 20 miles per hour.
Saturday will be cloudy in the morning with patchy fog and drizzle
and then will become partly cloudy. Highs will be in the upper 50s and
southwest winds will reach 5 to 10 miles per hour.
