Economist.com Cities Guide: San Francisco Briefing - August 2005

News this month

Homeless go home

The controversial policies launched by Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco, to combat chronic homelessness seem to be working. In early August, city officials reported that they were sending a monthly average of 70 people living on the streets to real homes. The city’s “family reunification” programme helps the homeless reconnect with family or friends who will take them in. The city buys one-way bus tickets for the homeless to travel to the hometown of such friends, and gives them money for meals and an escort to the bus station.

The family unification programme began years ago, but applications usually took up to a week to process. Under reforms introduced by Mr Newsom in February, a city worker now simply makes a telephone call to make sure a homeless person has someone to take them in, then puts him on a bus within hours. Since February, some 450 people have used city-bought bus tickets. Care Not Cash, a programme that Mr Newsom introduced in May 2004, has met equal success. The scheme cuts monthly welfare checks from $410 to $59, giving recipients a shelter bed or permanent room instead of the extra cash. Since then, the number of homeless on welfare has dropped 80%, from 2,497 to 595.

Where will the tourists sleep?

San Francisco will commission a study to determine whether creating condominiums out of guest rooms in some of the city’s luxury hotels will hurt hotel workers, the city’s tourism industry or other aspects of the city’s economy. The study’s launch prevents any large hotel from converting rooms into deluxe homes for at least 18 months.

Interest in such a study was sparked when the owners of the Fairmont Hotel, a landmark on Nob Hill, announced plans to convert 226 of the hotel’s 591 rooms into 60 housing units. Another luxury hotel, the Palace on Market Street, is considering a similar scheme. The conversion of hotel guest rooms into residential units is not unique to San Francisco—similar plans are already underway in New York, Chicago and Washington, DC. The Fairmont's owners say the conversion could help alleviate the city’s housing shortage, generate up to $1.5m in taxes and revenues each year and create 300 jobs. But San Francisco’s supervisors worry that hotel workers will lose their jobs and the public will lose access to the nearly 100-year-old Fairmont, one of the city’s most historic buildings.

Memoirs of a paedophile

Police in San Jose are investigating a 64-year-old man who may turn out to be one of the nation’s most prolific sex offenders. Dean Schwartzmiller, who has lived in seven states, most recently California, has a 35-year record of convictions or arrests for sex crimes. He has been in custody since June on charges of molesting two boys who lived in his San Jose neighbourhood. Police are combing log books in which Mr Schwartzmiller recorded his sexual acts over 30 years. In more than 36,000 entries, the paedophile allegedly writes about molesting children in Brazil, Mexico and America.

The case highlights longstanding concerns that, since police are unable to keep track of convicted sex offenders, a paedophile may settle in communities that know nothing of his record. Some safeguards are in place. In California, as in most other states, convicted sex offenders are required to register annually with local authorities. The public can also obtain limited information about sex offenders’ criminal records and whereabouts. Still, it is estimated that 17,800 sex offenders in California are unaccounted for.

Fair pay?

On August 8th, Wal-Mart urged three federal appeals judges in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the company discriminates against female workers. Wal-Mart is facing the country’s largest-ever discrimination suit, which claims that as many as 1.6m current and former female employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions. The case could be a substantial blow to the Arkansas-based retailer, which operates 3,400 stores, employs 1.3m people and earned $10 billion last fiscal year. If the company loses this suit, it must pay billions of dollars in damages to female employees.

The suit was brought by a greeter at the Wal-Mart in the East Bay town of Pittsburg, who had worked at Wal-Mart for ten years and was earning only $8 an hour when, she argued, she could have been a manager earning up to $60,000 a year. A federal judge last year agreed that the plaintiff’s lawyers had enough anecdotal evidence of widespread discrimination to warrant a class-action trial. At the hearing on August 8th, Wal-Mart’s attorneys denied such discrimination existed and said the case’s class-action status would hinder the retailer’s ability to defend itself. The appeals court judges did not say when they would issue a ruling.

A mother's plea

A Northern Californian woman whose son died in Iraq has become the centre of a national debate over the war. Cindy Sheehan set up camp outside George Bush’s Texas ranch to demand a meeting with the president, refusing to leave until Mr Bush explains “the noble cause” for which her son, Casey, a 24-year-old army specialist, died in April 2004.

Ms Sheehan, who lives in Vacaville, a town north-east of San Francisco, arrived in Crawford, Texas, where Mr Bush is spending much of August, on August 6th. Since then, her vigil has ballooned into a phenomenon, with the media spinning the story of the anguished mother, and hundreds of sympathisers flocking to her side. Ms Sheehan has received advice from well-financed organisations such as MoveOn.org, a left-leaning group. Meanwhile, conservative commentators have argued that Ms Sheehan is shamelessly exploiting her son’s death to advance an anti-Bush political agenda. Mr Bush issued a statement extending his sympathy, but has shown no sign that he will meet Ms Sheehan. The two talked briefly last year, but Ms Sheehan says the president’s answers were unsatisfactory.

Catch if you can

September 2005

The Art of Richard Tuttle

Until October 16th 2005

Thirty years ago, the Whitney Museum of American Art created a stir when it showcased the works of Richard Tuttle. There was nothing offensive or terribly avant-garde about his sculptures, paintings and assemblages, yet few knew what to make of “important” art that was not showy or dripping with meaning. Mr Tuttle’s works were often small and shockingly simple, as though they had been slapped together as an afterthought.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art offers the first full-scale retrospective of Mr Tuttle’s work since the show at the Whitney. Over the years, he has been identified as a member of the post-Minimalists—a group that includes Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra. His multimedia constructions, improvised wire wall-hangings, and quirky wood reliefs in bright, sunny colours certainly define a kind of informal bareness. But in the end, his work is hard to categorise. His odd creations, which seem to float in space, radiate a playful curiosity.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St. Tel: +1 (415) 357-4000. See the museum's website.

More from the San Francisco cultural calendar