Traffic tickets are up 50% in San Francisco. These are the most common violations
Compared to the same period last year, tickets were up nearly 50% in the first four months of 2025, a Chronicle analysis found, building on increases in early 2024.
Just under half of the violations this year were in the 'Focus on Five' category, which includes the infractions most likely to cause a collision: speeding, running red lights and stop signs, failing to yield while turning and failing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
Despite the increase, traffic tickets are still a long way from what they were in years past. Traffic enforcement plummeted with the onset of the pandemic shutdowns in 2020 and stayed low the next three years — hitting a low of less than 200 tickets in June of 2022.
By contrast, police issued more than 3,000 tickets in June of 2019. In June of 2015, they issued more than 10,000.
The stunning and sustained drop prompted outcry from safety advocates and citizens worried that police had begun to ignore a key responsibility, especially as the city struggled to meet its Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths on its streets.
Concerned about the enforcement decline and increasing street fatalities, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman called for police to increase enforcement once more, holding four hearings on the issue between October 2022 and December 2024.
In those hearings, police pointed to a number of interconnected reasons behind the drop, including a lack of staff in the traffic division and a 2015 state law that requires officers to carefully document whom they stop to guard against racial profiling, which makes each stop take longer.
But police traffic commander Nicole Jones acknowledged in a hearing in December that these changes could not fully explain the precipitous decline. She noted that the pandemic had shifted the department's priorities away from traffic enforcement.
While traffic citations had been increasing in the first half of 2024, they dipped again in the second half. Jones said in the hearing that she was hopeful that a bevy of new strategies rolled out over the last year would help. Since then, the numbers have fluctuated monthly but trended back up.
Those new strategies include targeted enforcement in problem areas, including having high-visibility officers at intersections to deter bad behavior, training officers not assigned to the traffic unit to use lidar for speed detection and flooding resources to certain areas at different times.
Evan Sernoffsky, a spokesperson for the department, said that such strategies enable the department to 'maximize' its resources, even amid a yearslong staffing shortage. He said that traffic safety was a 'top priority' for the department.
'We are taking a very rigorous and data-driven approach to have the maximum impact,' Sernoffsky said. 'At the end of the day, we just want to make sure that our streets are safe for everybody.'
Asked whether it was possible for citations to reach pre-pandemic levels, Sernoffsky said that the department's goal is to continue increasing enforcement through citations as well as by having officers visible on the street and issuing warnings for deterrence.
In the December hearing, Jones noted another factor that would help bolster street safety, and one not captured in police data: automated enforcement.
The city's 19 red light cameras already issue thousands of tickets a year, and its 33 new speed cameras will also begin issuing citations as early as August. The cameras have already begun issuing warnings, and, in April, logged almost 32,000 speeders
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San Francisco Chronicle
9 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
California parents have a new option to save for K-12 private school — but there's a catch
The GOP tax megabill signed into law in July had a provision tucked into it that could help parents who send their kids to private school. As students head back to school this month, a disproportionate number in the Bay Area will be at private schools: In several counties, rates of attendance are more than double the 8% statewide average. Nearly one-third of K-12 students in San Francisco attend a private school, according to data website Private School Review. That attendance comes with a hefty price tag. The average amount a family would spend to send their child to private school in San Francisco from kindergarten through high school graduation is about $520,000, according to a Chronicle data analysis. To help cover those costs, parents will soon be able to leverage an increased amount from 529 education savings plans. What are 529 plans and how are they changing? Created by Congress in 1996 and named for a section of IRS code, 529 plans are tax-advantaged investment accounts operated by states or educational institutions designed to help save for a child's education. They were originally intended to cover college or trade school costs, but since 2018, the law has allowed families to withdraw up to $10,000 annually from 529 plans for K-12 tuition without paying a penalty or federal taxes on the growth. Starting next year, under the tax and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, the K-12 withdrawal limit increases to $20,000. The bill also expanded what K-12 expenses could be covered. Under previous law, only tuition for K-12 was eligible for federal penalty-free 529 withdrawals; under the new law, expenses like books, tutoring, standardized and AP test fees, and educational therapies for students with disabilities are all considered qualified expenses. Some states have changed their laws so parents don't pay a state penalty or tax on those K-12 withdrawals either. But not in California. K-12 expenses are still considered nonqualified expenses, so you'll pay a 2.5% penalty plus state income taxes (as high as 13.3%, depending on your household income) on the taxable growth when you withdraw 529 funds for those purposes. Given that, does it ever make sense in this state to use your kid's 529 funds to pay for their private school tuition or other pre-college educational costs in California? It could. Here's what experts say. The case against using a 529 for K-12 expenses Richard Pon, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner, has a son who's enrolled in private school in San Francisco. He said he doesn't use 529 money to pay for it. The first reason is the state income taxes and the 2.5% penalty. The other reason is the flexibility of 529 funds: Even if your child gets a free ride to college with room and board paid for, those funds could be used to pay for graduate school, professional certifications like a CPA license or nursing license, or get rolled into an IRA. You could also roll the 529 funds into an account for another child or relative, or a friend. And if you're using 529 funds to pay for elementary school, that means they don't have time to grow in the market before your child goes to college — though, of course, there's always a chance they could drop between now and then, too. If you're really in a financial bind and paying for your kid's private school tuition from their 529 means the difference between paying your mortgage or not, then yes, it could make sense to tap those funds — though many 529 accounts are protected by federal law in bankruptcies, so if you're truly at the edge of financial peril, you may want to leave the money in that account alone. In general, Pon said, 'I would think about holding this (money) as long as possible instead of saying, 'Hey, I'll use it for K-12.'' The case for using a 529 to pay K-12 expenses For some families in California, it might make sense to pay K-12 educational costs from a 529, said Sean Pyles, a certified financial planner and the host of NerdWallet's 'Smart Money' podcast. He said to think of 529s less as college savings accounts and more like flexible education savings accounts. When it comes to the tax question, parents can do the math and see if using the funds for K-12 expenses pencils out. 'What it's going to come down to for each person is figuring out whether they are going to be coming out ahead by actually reaping tax benefits from this account, or if, given the amount (of taxes and penalties) that California imposes, it's just not going to be financially beneficial to them at this point,' he said. For parents making the investment in private schools for their kids, it's probably worth checking with an accountant, financial planner or other tax pro to see if the math makes sense.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Danger to the public': Mission District residents say one man is causing chaos — exposing S.F. failures
It's a familiar story in San Francisco: A person living on the streets of a neighborhood spirals, bringing chaos while neighbors vent their frustration at how the city deals with those in crisis. In a small pocket of the Mission District, one unhoused man has been arrested at least four times over two months for allegedly assaulting people, damaging vehicles, vandalizing a bar and repeatedly violating restraining orders, according to jail and court records. In most of those instances, he spent a handful of days in jail before being released on the condition that he appear at a future court date. But he has remained in custody since his last arrest on Aug. 9. As a condition of his previous releases, he was enrolled in a program that required him to check in with staff from the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project several times a week and engage in some form of treatment. It's unclear whether he cooperated. Residents believe the 47-year-old man — whom the Chronicle is not naming under the newspaper's policies for crime coverage — set two recent fires in the neighborhood, though the causes remain under investigation by the police department, which says it is still working to identify potential suspects. The man is known to stay at an encampment on the sidewalk adjacent to Jose Coronado Playground, near the corner of 21st and Shotwell streets. A friend said he struggles with addiction and mental illness and deserves compassion. Residents say he is putting the community in danger and argue that the recent events were 'not only traumatic for our community but also preventable.' In a letter to Mayor Daniel Lurie, a group of about a half-dozen residents blames the city's 'permissive culture toward encampments' and an 'apparent breakdown in enforcement and accountability by city agencies.' Although a majority of San Franciscans approve of Lurie's performance thus far and are optimistic about the city's future, that sentiment is not shared evenly across the city. Many residents and merchants near the Mission's Jose Coronado Playground say serious problems continue to plague the neighborhood, including sex work, homelessness and public intoxication, and that the city needs to do more. Lurie's spokesperson Charles Lutvak said the mayor's office is working with city agencies to 'get dangerous people off the street' and to reduce homelessness. 'San Francisco does not tolerate violent behavior — if you put your neighbors at risk, you will be arrested,' Lutvak said in a statement. Evan Sernoffsky, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, said in a statement that officers are in constant communication with the community regarding the man. The department has distributed information packets to city supervisors and officers at Mission Station with a copy of the man's restraining orders and other documentation related to his cases, he said. 'This activity is unacceptable, and our officers will continue to make arrests and enforce the law in the Mission and every other neighborhood in the city,' Sernoffsky said. Supervisor Jackie Fielder's chief of staff, Sasha Gaona, said her office has elevated all of the constituent concerns it has received to the appropriate city agencies. It's unclear what kind of outreach or treatment city officials may have offered the man. Officials have a couple of newer avenues for pushing treatment on people experiencing mental illness or addiction, but they both have limitations and it's unclear the man would qualify. To take part in CARE Court, for instance, a person must be diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder or another psychotic disorder and voluntarily agree to participate. Officials could try to place the man in a court-ordered conservatorship, but they must prove he is unable to care for himself and find an appropriate placement amid a shortage of locked beds. At a hearing Tuesday, the man faced an allegation that he violated a restraining order preventing him from coming within 150 yards of where he allegedly committed assault and battery two months earlier. He was assisted by a Spanish interpreter and barely spoke. His attorney argued for his release from jail, contending that the man may not have known he was sitting in the prohibited area, but the judge ruled against him. 'He is thumbing his nose at the court,' Superior Court Judge Gail Dekreon said of the man's alleged breach of repeated court orders, 'and he is a danger to the public.' All of the incidents reported to police have occurred within a couple of square blocks of Jose Coronado Playground — between Folsom, Van Ness, 20th and 21st streets. A friend who identified himself as Pedro said the man was originally from Nicaragua and that he has been unhoused in San Francisco for several years. 'I think he was using too many different drugs,' Pedro said recently while hanging out near the park. 'Mental illness is a very, very difficult thing to deal with.' Residents said they had filed several 311 complaints in June regarding the man's sidewalk encampment, but saw little response. Then, on June 17, a small fire ignited outside a garage on the edge of the playground. The building owner, Ayman Farahat, said he saw the man and a second person leaving the area moments before smoke became visible. Three days later, police arrested the man in connection with incidents in the same area. Prosecutors charged him with assaulting two people with glass bottles and vandalizing two vehicles parked on the street, one of which belonged to longtime Mission resident Pablo Carbajol. Carbajol, 66, said the man broke the windshield of his 1982 Datsun pickup, stole the vehicle's battery and damaged the ignition switch, making the vehicle inoperable. Carbajol, who is disabled, does not have the $3,000 required to repair his truck and said he's worried his car will be impounded if he can't move it for upcoming street cleanings. As part of the legal proceedings in that case, a judge ordered the man to refrain from coming within 150 yards of where the alleged assault occurred adjacent to the playground. But neighbors said he quickly returned — and that police initially ignored their reports of his violations. In late July, another fire broke out in the neighborhood. Near the corner of 20th and Shotwell streets, a car erupted in flames in the middle of the night. It's unclear how the blaze started, but residents said a person matching the man's description was captured on surveillance footage nearby and shortly before the fire broke out. The next evening, the man entered Shotwell's Saloon on the same block. It was around closing time, and he began yelling at staff when they asked him to leave, said the bar's owner, David Hall. He shouted profanities and threatened to break a window, Hall said. The next morning, Hall said he woke up to a text from another merchant informing him that the man had thrown a rock through the bar's front door. 'It's just ridiculous,' Hall said. 'He's a threat to the community and yet he was still walking around.' Later that morning, officers apprehended the man, who was charged with felony vandalism. A judge issued another restraining order to prevent him from coming within 150 yards of the bar. Since then, officers have arrested the man twice for allegedly violating his restraining orders, which prevent him from returning to the encampment he frequented. The man is expected to remain in custody until his next court hearing, scheduled for Sept. 4. Farahat, one of the residents voicing concerns about the situation, said the possibility of the man getting released from custody again next month makes the community 'very uncomfortable.' 'All of us want to be safe,' he said, 'and he's demonstrated what he can do on multiple occasions.'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Tariffs are slamming Bay Area Indian restaurants and grocers. It could get worse
During a recent lull between customers at Alameda's Shanvi Indian Kitchen & Grocery, owner Vikas Aggarwal took some time to update his prices on a point-of-sale tablet. Sacks of basmati rice, fragrant spices and packs of frozen naan will now cost customers 10%-20% more, and prices may rise further due to the Trump administration's 25% tariff on Indian imports, which took effect Aug. 7 — and which the president has threatened to increase to 50%. When Aggarwal buys his goods from distributors, 'Now even the invoices mention to 'please increase prices at the store,'' he said. Indian restaurants, grocery stores and food importers around the Bay Area are beginning to feel the shock of one of the highest tariff rates placed on a major U.S. trading partner. And unlike earlier rounds of tariffs, business operators told the Chronicle they must now pass on higher prices to customers — an example of the way that sometimes delayed tariff impacts are finally catching up to U.S. consumers. The Trump administration is justifying its tariffs on India as a sanction for purchasing Russian oil, with President Donald Trump vowing to increase tariffs further if U.S. and Indian leaders do not come to an agreement by Aug. 27. Last year, U.S. goods imports from India totaled $87.3 billion. San Francisco's oldest Indian grocer, New India Bazar, is preparing for that possibility. 'No deal could be signed before the deadline,' predicted owner Auro Bhatt. 'India has also got a very strong stance and the countries are not talking about a compromise.' At his Polk Street store, customers from across the city shop for lentils, dosa batter, spices and Hindu idols. Bhatt recently received an invoice for an $800 order, with an added-on $80 tariff fee clearly itemized. He has adjusted his prices accordingly, but still opts to take small hits to prevent total sticker shock. A bag of lentils may have to go by 50 cents, for example, but he may raise the price only 40 cents. Yet because customers often fill their baskets, the small increases add up quickly. 'It comes as a shock to them that they will be buying the same amount of items, but the total bill has gone up by a lot,' he said. Shanvi owner Aggarwal works with around 15 distributors, which has allowed him to shop around to offset tariff-related increases. Still, he said customers are quick to express dismay at checkout. 'They'll tell me, for example, 'last time a product was $2.99, why is it $3.50 now? '' Amod Chopra operates Berkeley's popular Vik's Chaat, as well as a wholesale distributor and market. He has been paying the extra duties to get to his shipments of saffron, beer, rice and other goods from the Port of Oakland. For some time, he did not pass on the new costs to customers, having built up an inventory brought in at a lower tariff rate. Now that these reserves have run out, he's been forced to finally raise prices. 'I don't have 10%, 25% or 50% in my margins to just eat that cost,' Chopra said. 'When the previous inventories deplete, you have no choice,' Chopra already had to contend with higher demand and increased freight prices during the peak buying season for Indian goods earlier this summer, when tariffs were just 10%. A shipment of lentils, rice, pantry goods plus the spices he will be using at Vik's Chaat for the next year were much higher than he's paid in past years, he said. To retrieve a $66,000 shipment, he had to pay $6,600 in tariffs. That price would have been $16,500 under the new rate. Escalating tariffs can often take several weeks to be felt, Chopra said, as the fastest sea freight route from India can take 40 days to arrive. The impact is more immediate for air freight. Shipments en route to the U.S before a tariff increase will have the lower levies, even if they land after a higher rate is in effect. Trump has justified his tariffs, considered a form of tax, by declaring a state of emergency to bypass Congress. In theory, his goal is to increase U.S. production of goods. But the U.S. does not have the appropriate tropical climate to grow in-demand spices such as cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. India is the world's largest exporter of spices, and spice imports from India into the U.S. in 2024 were valued at more than $410 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Diaspora Co., one nationally acclaimed Bay Area business that imports high-quality spices from India to the U.S., was on track to turn a profit for the first time in three years in 2025. Then came the new tariffs. If they stay in place, the company estimates it will pay $200,000 in tariffs this year, founder Sana Javeri Kadri said. Diaspora has already spent $25,000 in tariffs to date — essentially, the business' profit margin. If the 50% tariff takes effect, rather than implement a blanket price increase, the Diaspora Co. website will show customers how much tariff they're being charged per order. The 50% tariff would translate to an additional $1.50 per tin, Javeri Kadri said. This means single-origin black pepper, Diaspora's best seller, would cost $13.50, and saffron grown by a third generation farmer in Kashmir, almost $20. 'We so deeply don't want to pass on prices to consumers,' Javeri Kadri said from Mumbai, where she was on business. 'It really is a lose-lose.' Higher tariffs are also expected to squeeze Indian restaurants. Chef Srijith Gopinathan is perhaps the best known Indian chef in the Bay Area. At his celebrated Cal-Indian restaurant Copra, he taps into his memories to highlight the flavors of his native Kerala. He uses fresh produce and meats from Bay Area purveyors across the Bay Area, offering a break from tariffs. Still, his kitchen is filled with irreplaceable Indian ingredients and equipment like grinders and special biryani pots. 'To make a biryani, you would need cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Indian cooking is all about blends,' he said. 'You cannot get Basmati rice from a different country,' he went on. Versions of the crop can be produced elsewhere, but like Champagne, it's a geographically indicated product grown on the Indian subcontinent. 'It has to be from India,' he said.
