On June 7, 2022, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin will face a recall vote. The campaign to remove him from office is backed by wealthy donors and has strong support from different communities, but it’s not deeply rooted in fact. T

13. Reopening Great Highway: neighborhood politics vs. climate change

Sep 19th, 2021 18m 15s

In April 2020, about a month after San Francisco declared a state of emergency to slow the spread of COVID-19, city officials closed Great Highway, an expressway that runs along Ocean Beach. Over several months, it became the second-most popula

12. A historic tragedy: inside San Francisco's school renaming initiative

Feb 16th, 2021 17m 50s

In May 2018, San Francisco’s Board of Education adopted a resolution to create a formal plan for renaming the city’s public schools. The resolution specified that the process should be led by a blue-ribbon committee.In January 2021, the board

11. Eight months into the pandemic, COVID-19 is surging in San Francisco

Nov 26th, 2020 16m 11s

Eight months after San Francisco became the first U.S. city to order its residents to shelter in place to stem the spread of COVID-19, the number of new coronavirus infections spiked in the last month.The city is helping businesses ride out th

10. From Matthew Johnson to George Floyd

Jun 22nd, 2020 14m 29s

In September 1966, a white San Francisco police officer shot and killed Matthew Johnson, an unarmed 16-year-old Black boy in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood whom he suspected of stealing a car.Within hours, outrage stirred the community

9. Early days of the coronavirus

Mar 16th, 2020 17m 29s

As COVID-19 begins to spread via community contact in the Bay Area, San Francisco's government, businesses and residents are changing myriad aspects of daily life. From my perspective, this was the week the city really began to transform, so th

8. The Tuesday Noon Siren

Feb 11th, 2020 16m 16s

For decades, every Tuesday at noon, San Francisco residents heard a siren followed by a public safety message via a network of loudspeakers. In a city that was forged in a crucible of earthquakes and fire, the 15-second message was a reminder t

7. Murder in Golden Gate Park (Part 2 of 2)

Nov 26th, 2019 29m 31s

In the conclusion to this two-part episode, crime reporter and author Vivian Ho reads the complete first chapter of Those Who Wander: America’s Lost Street Kids and talks about why she expanded her coverage of two murders that grabbed San Franc

6. Murder in Golden Gate Park (Part 1 of 2)

Nov 19th, 2019 25m 17s

San Francisco’s street kids are highly visible and poorly understood.No one has a firm grasp on how many of them live on our streets, as a good number are transient and belong to the community of “Travelers” who congregate in Haight-Ashbury.F

5. The Clinton Park Boulders

Oct 30th, 2019 24m 19s

In September 2019, a group of residents on a quiet street placed enormous boulders on their sidewalk to discourage homeless encampments and drug sales. But when city officials and politicians sided with the people who installed the hostile arch

4. Eric Raymond

Oct 10th, 2019 40m 44s

Thanks to a listener in Los Angeles, Eric Raymond dropped by to talk about his career as a writer and novelist in San Francisco. His first novel, "Confessions From A Dark Wood," is a satire based on his experiences working in global brand mana

3. San Francisco to Little Rock

Sep 18th, 2019 47m 53s

In May 2015, I interviewed Chris Dumas as he was preparing to return to his birthplace of Little Rock, Arkansas after living in San Francisco for 12 years. In September 2019, we spoke again about his experiences readjusting to life in his homet

2. Tales From Mount Sutro

Sep 3rd, 2019 1h 9m

Mount Sutro's urban forest is the locus for several gripping tales, including a kidnapping, a forest fire, a rich man's greed, and a flock of hard-working professional goats. In this episode, journalist Eve Batey and artist Tim Ehhalt buckle in

1. The Notes

Sep 3rd, 2019 33m 32s

After I shared a photo on Twitter of a mysterious note I found taped to a utility pole in the Central Sunset, resident Pete Mummert let me know that he's been collecting these messages for years -- and had a personal encounter with the elusive

Trailer

The Golden City - Introduction

Sep 3rd, 2019 2m 43s

Join host Walter Thompson for The Golden City, a podcast that presents stories from San Francisco’s past, present and future. Each episode explores unique aspects of the city’s news, history and culture that often go overlooked. Whether you’re

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