"Wiener’s bill follows a similar attempt in the last legislative session that sparked fierce debate over how far the state should impinge on local authority to shape community development amid a housing shortage that’s been estimated in the millions. The previous attempt died in a legislative committee after outcry from local governments, labor groups and advocates for low-income residents."
READ MORE related to Housing & Homelessness: New effort to push more housing near transit stations by setting state rules -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN; Millennium Tower homeowners propose $100 million solution to sinking problem -- The Chronicle's J.K. DINEEN
Op-Ed: Election results good news for air quality, climate
BILL MAGAVERN in Capitol Weekly: "Now that almost all the contests have been decided, what do the 2018 elections tell us about the future of air and climate policies in California? In general, both ballot measures and candidate races give hope to those trying to reduce emissions that are damaging human health and altering our climate."
"The environmental community strongly opposed Proposition 6, which would have crippled transportation infrastructure by repealing last year’s gas and diesel tax hikes and requiring all future increases in fuel and vehicle taxes and fees to be put on the ballot."
"Although most of the funding goes to repairing roads – and most of the campaign focused on roads – the measure would have also starved public transit and walking and biking improvements."
Many of the dead in Camp Fire were disabled. Could they have been saved?
Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK/ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS/PHILLIP REESE/MOLLY SULLIVAN: "Sixty-three-year old Ernest Foss had swollen legs and couldn’t walk. Vinnie Carota, 65, was missing a leg and didn’t have a car. Evelyn Cline, 83, had a car but struggled to get in it without help."
"Dorothy Herrera, 93, had onset dementia and her husband Louis, 86, couldn’t drive anymore. And 78-year-old John Digby was just feeling sick the morning of the Camp Fire when he refused a neighbor’s offer to drive him to safety."
"An unsettling picture is emerging in the fire-charred hills of Butte County: Many of the at least 85 people who perished in the raging Camp Fire on Nov. 8 were elderly, infirm or disabled."
SF crime epidemic: 'Porch pirates' swiping packages from dorsteps
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "Everybody knows San Francisco is the city with glittering streets — well, glittering because of all the puddles of shattered glass from car break-ins.
"But there’s another pervasive property crime here that doesn’t get as much attention because there’s no evidence left behind. It’s called “porch piracy,” and it’s the swiping of packages off people’s front steps. All that’s left is an empty doorstep and the resident’s frustration."
"Now that many San Franciscans do nearly all their shopping online, packages from Amazon and other internet retailers pile up outside front doors like giant building blocks, especially during the holidays."
California bill seeks safety for released inmates after Alameda County woman's death
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "Legislation designed to protect inmates in California from being released from jail in the middle of the night was introduced Monday in an effort to prevent tragedies like one that happened last July when an Alameda County woman died on the streets."
"State Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced SB 42, known as the Getting Home Safe Act, on Monday after the death of Jessica St. Louis, who was released from Santa Rita Jail, in Dublin, at 1:25 a.m, on July 28, a time when no public transit was available. She was later found dead on the street."
"The bill would require jails to offer inmates the choice of being released during the daytime when transportation is available."
Black children die at a disproportionate rate in Sacramento County. Here's why that rate has dropped 45 percent
Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "From 2010 and 2015, Black children died at a disproportionately high rate compared to other racial and ethnic group in Sacramento County. Five years after the county and community groups began a multi-million dollar campaign to reduce that number, data released Monday show the county is trending towards closing that gap."
"Sacramento County had a 45 percent drop in black infant deaths between 2013 and 2016, including a 18 percent decrease in black babies born preterm and a 54 percent decrease in black infants dying from sleep-related incidents, according to the most recent county data. Now, about seven black infants die out of every 1,000, compared to the overall rate for other ethnicities of about five out of 1,000."
"To see that data up there really tells the story of us really being committed to this work and educating our families,” said Jackie Rose of the Meadowview-based Rose Family Creative Empowerment Center. “They’re getting it, they’re really getting it."
