Power washing initiative targets dirty San Francisco sidewalks
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — With hopes of transforming San Francisco into a 'cleaner, more welcoming environment,' Mayor Daniel Lurie launched an initiative pledging to power wash more city sidewalks along busy commercial corridors, city leaders announced.
The new power-washing program will cover the Mission, Sunset, Tenderloin, Richmond, Chinatown, North Beach, and Fillmore neighborhoods, city leaders said.
Lurie said Thursday, 'Clean streets are key to our comeback. When our streets are cared for and vibrant, people come out and spend time in their neighborhoods. Investment in street cleanliness will help us continue to breathe life into our commercial corridors.'
The anti-grime initiative was backed by $3 million in funding from Avenue Greenlight and developed with San Francisco Public Works.
The mayor's office wrote, 'Each neighborhood will receive a tailored cleaning plan implemented by Civic Method, including deep steam sanitation, recurring maintenance, and real-time community reporting. The new power washing program will add coverage during critical afternoon and early evening hours, which is consistently requested by local merchants.'
Series of SF playground fires investigated
San Francisco Supervisor Danny Sauter said entrepreneurs and small business owners work hard to take care of their stores, restaurants, and offices.
'They deserve that same level of care on the sidewalks and streets that surround them. This program from Avenue Greenlight will be transformative in making our neighborhoods sparkle and creating clean, welcoming corridors for businesses to thrive and shoppers to enjoy,' Sauter wrote.
Currently, the city's public works department operates several other street cleaning programs. They include CleanCorridorsSF, a weekly deep-cleaning operation that dispatches cleanings crews to commercial corridors across the city to power wash sidewalks, remove graffiti, flush roadways, and engage with local businesses to promote ongoing cleanliness.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Exclusive: Trump administration may hit S.F. with a $140 million bill. Here's why
The Trump administration could claw back about $140 million in federal funding that San Francisco already received to cover costs the city incurred during the pandemic, the Chronicle has learned. San Francisco spent well over $400 million to shelter vulnerable homeless people in hotels to protect them from COVID-19 after the virus began spreading five years ago. After the city applied for reimbursement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency under former President Joe Biden sent $148 million — and the city was expecting even more money. But this week, San Francisco officials learned that FEMA has indicated it now believes the city is entitled to be reimbursed for just $7 million of the total amount spent on the shelter-in-place hotels. While FEMA hasn't officially requested any money back, city officials believe that determination lays the groundwork for the agency to seek a $141 million refund from the amount it already paid the city. There's a big problem: San Francisco already spent the money. And the city is in a dire financial situation, with Mayor Daniel Lurie working to close a roughly $800 million shortfall in his inaugural budget proposal expected to be announced Friday. San Francisco's government costs are rising faster than its tax revenue, which is being hampered by one of the nation's slowest economic recoveries from the pandemic. It's not clear how FEMA arrived at its determination. The Chronicle has reached out to the agency for comment. FEMA's decision, which San Francisco is expected to appeal, represents one of the largest direct hits the Trump administration has tried to take against the city this year. Lurie and other local officials are bracing for more: The mayor plans to propose a $400 million reserve to help the city defend itself against the uncertainty caused by threatened cuts to federal funding. Lurie said in a statement to the Chronicle that San Francisco endeavored to keep its citizens safe during the pandemic 'with a commitment from the federal government to cover those costs.' 'As our administration makes the tough decisions to tackle the historic budget deficit we inherited, we are navigating tremendous uncertainty at the federal and state levels and preparing for challenges that may lie ahead,' Lurie said. 'But right now, FEMA still owes San Francisco hundreds of millions of dollars, and I will continue to advocate relentlessly with our federal partners until we receive every single dollar.' Supervisor Connie Chan, who chairs the Board of Supervisors' budget committee, said the $400 million reserve being planned by city officials is intended largely as 'a guardrail' against possible federal cuts to Medicaid and housing subsidies — not to pay back pandemic reimbursements already sent by FEMA. 'San Francisco must fight Trump, not only against potentially upcoming draconian cuts, but also for this illegal clawback of the money that San Francisco has already delivered,' Chan said. If San Francisco is unsuccessful in its appeal of the FEMA decision, Chan believes a lawsuit is likely called for, saying she is looking to City Attorney David Chiu 'and his capable team to stand firm and have a strategic approach to protect San Francisco's resources.' Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for Chiu, said in a statement that her office is 'working with our clients and evaluating next steps to ensure San Francisco gets the resources it is entitled to.' In remarks to reporters after he introduced his $15.9 billion city budget proposal Friday, Lurie said San Francisco would 'fight for every dollar that our city is owed.' He confirmed that the city would appeal the FEMA funding decision and said it would take 'probably a number of months for us to find out.'
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Waymo suspends service in parts of San Francisco amid recent ICE protests
(KRON) — Waymo suspended service in parts of San Francisco on Monday, according to a company spokesperson. Service for the driverless taxi service was halted amid recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests in the city that became violent. The Waymo spokesperson did not specify where in San Francisco service will be suspended. The autonomous vehicle company says it is aware of the potential protests in the city. As a precaution, Waymo is not providing service in those areas. Waymo is in contact with local authorities in San Francisco to determine where it may need to halt service in the city. Another protest against ICE is set to take place in San Francisco Monday evening at the 24th and Mission BART Plaza. On Sunday evening, hundreds gathered outside the ICE building on Sansome Street in the Financial District. More than 150 arrests were made as the rally turned violent, with vandalism committed across the area. Multiple Waymos were vandalized in San Francisco, including one that was spray-painted (see photo below). BART station shuts down, Muni diverted due to SF ICE rally Protests against ICE are at a much larger scale in downtown Los Angeles where Waymo has suspended service in that portion of the city. Waymo received guidance from the Los Angeles Police Department to halt service amid multiple driverless taxis being set on fire and vandalized. One Waymo driverless car is between an estimated $150,000 and $200,000 each, according to a 2024 report by the Wall Street Journal. KRON4 reached out to the Mountain View-headquartered Waymo for information about the suspension of service. We did not hear back in time for this report. KTLA's Iman Palm contributed to this story. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Kaiser cuts dozens of Bay Area jobs in latest round of statewide layoffs
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Kaiser cut dozens of jobs across the Bay Area this week in the latest round of statewide layoffs from the health care provider. The layoffs will impact personnel at Kaiser Foundation Hospitals across the state, according to a filing with the Employment Development Department. In the Bay Area, a total of 40 jobs will be cut with layoffs impacting facilities in Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, Pleasanton, San Francisco, and Vallejo. Statewide, a total of 55 jobs will be cut with layoffs impacting workers in Harbor City, Pasadena, Walnut, Fair Oaks, Los Angeles County, Yorba Linda, Irvine, Roseville, and San Diego. What's behind the ongoing Bay Area tech layoffs? 'Nobody is safe,' expert says The job cuts were announced on Monday and took immediate effect. All of the layoffs were described as permanent in state filings. The latest layoffs follow a previous round of job cuts at Kaiser back in April when the Oakland-based health care provider cut 40 jobs across the state, including 17 in the Bay Area. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
