Tag: san francisco

San Francisco YMCA bans nudity after trans member exposes himself to women, children

A San Francisco YMCA has implemented new rules after a trans-identified male was seen walking around naked in the locker room in front of women and children, as well as allegedly harassing female members.

New rules at the Stonestown Family YMCA stated that “Nudity should be discreet, limited, and brief.” The rule added, “Nudity is permitted only while actively showering. Members are expected to put clothing on or be covered during use of the space outside of showering,” per the Daily Mail.

The new rules continued, “Respect privacy and personal space. Please maintain appropriate distance from others, be mindful of personal space during times of undress, and demonstrate courtesy at all times.” 

Also among the new rules are that hair dryers should be used “for drying head hair only,” and that children five and younger need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian while using changing rooms for the opposite sex. 

The new rules come after a series of complaints by female YMCA attendees against Sammy, a trans-identified male. Sammy, who had been a regular at the gym since 2024, has reportedly not been seen at the location since the new rules went into effect. 

Elizabeth Kenney, a member of the Berkeley YMCA location that Sammy also attends, recalled to the outlet seeing the male “harassing” an elderly member who had asked him to cover up. The male allegedly told the elderly woman, “If you don’t like the way I look, then you’ve got a sexual problem with yourself.” 

Kenney recalled telling Sammy, “Get away from her, leave her alone. You’re a man, you’d don’t belong here.” Sammy had also been caught on camera by Kenney’s husband, Travis, claiming to a YMCA staffer that a “drunk” woman had been lecturing him. 

Anne, who attends the Stonestown YMCA location, filed a police report in March accusing Sammy of harassment. She said that after blow drying himself while naked, Sammy had walked up to her “very close,” turned around, and used a handheld mirror to stare back at her. 

Anne wrote in the police report, “He used it as if it were a rear-view mirror to look at me behind himself. His eyes caught mine in the mirror and I froze.” She also claimed that Sammy had “paraded” around in front of Anne’s two young children in the locker room.

Elizabeth, another YMCA member, told the outlet that she had felt “repulsed and angry” to see the male “blow drying his entire naked body, including his penis, posed in front of all of the other women.”

Despite the new rules, the YMCA restated that California law allows for people to use the locker room of their self-declared gender identity.

Susan Pete, a 59-year-old member of the YMCA who was a vocal critic of Sammy, told the outlet she hopes he’s gone for good. “The transgender people ruined everything for women. They ruined sports, ruined the locker room, they upset me,” she said. “We’ve been very happy since he’s been gone, but I don’t know if he’s going to come back and cover up, or fight against it. Hopefully he just went to Seattle.”

She also raised concerns about the new rules being impractical. “So what are they going to do – having someone standing around monitoring the situation, saying ‘you’ve been naked too long?’ He’s ruined everything.”

Women Are Real, a Bay Area group defending women’s spaces, wrote in response to the rule changes, “We’ve been working to remove this guy from the women’s locker room for 2 years. He was literally there almost every day for HOURS. It’s a super tiny locker room and he spent hours in it.” 

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San Francisco plots outdoor smoking ban as locals erupt

San Francisco is rolling out a sweeping outdoor smoking ban that would snuff out cigarettes on bar patios and parklets across the city.

The move has ignited outrage among local business owners, who argue the draconian measure is just the latest example of government overreach putting neighborhood bars at risk.

The controversial ordinance, being crafted by Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Dr. John Maa of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, would require bars and taverns to follow the same smoke-free outdoor regulations already imposed on restaurants under state and local law, KTVU reported.

If passed, customers would no longer be allowed to smoke while enjoying drinks at outdoor bar spaces across the notoriously left-leaning city.

Maa, a surgeon backing the proposal, insisted the crackdown is necessary to protect patrons, workers and pedestrians from secondhand smoke.

“This is to protect the patrons of these establishments and also importantly, the employees and anyone who might be exposed to secondhand smoke,” Maa told the outlet.

He argued San Francisco should put public health ahead of business profits.

But furious bar owners have slammed the proposal as an example of heavy-handed government meddling.

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4 Baltimore Police officers will not face charges after San Francisco investigation

San Francisco prosecutors declined to bring charges against four Baltimore Police officers who have been under investigation in the California cityafter a woman says she reported a sexual assault that took place there.

The officers, including the commander of the Eastern District, have been suspended with pay and assigned to administrative duties by the Baltimore Police Department since November of last year while the Special Victims Unit of the San Francisco Police Department investigated. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office told The Banner this week that the evidence in the case was deemed insufficient to file charges.

“Although the San Francisco Police had probable cause to submit an arrest warrant for review in this case, after careful review of all of the evidence gathered, we do not believe we can meet our higher burden of proof,” the office said in a statement, adding that it would reevaluate if additional evidence emerged.

The accuser, a 39-year-old California woman, contacted the Banner saying she was frustrated with the outcomein a case she says dates to September 2024. She also shed light on the circumstances that she said led her to contact police.

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Woke San Francisco nonprofit boss charged with fraud made local library buy 1,500 copies of HER children’s book, netting her $100,000

A former California civil rights leader is accused of pocketing $100,000 by directing a library to buy thousands of her children’s books, amid allegations she siphoned funds meant for the black community. 

Sheryl Davis, former director of San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday on allegations of a ‘pervasive pattern of self-dealing,’ with prosecutors accusing her of misappropriating thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds. 

She allegedly used her partner’s nonprofit as a ‘slush fund’ for lavish personal spending, including travel, VIP party tickets and even her son’s tuition at UCLA. 

On Tuesday, an affidavit revealed that thousands of dollars were personally used toward promoting her children’s book through questionable deals and high-profile, celebrity-studded events, according to The New York Post.

The once-respected activist allegedly arranged the sale of 1,500 copies of ‘Free to Sing’ to the San Francisco Public Library, her book about a young black girl’s passion for singing despite criticism.

Davis raked in $100,000 in 2024 from book sales through her publisher, Book Baby, under the deal, according to an economic disclosure filing.

From 2021 to 2024, the nonprofit spent upwards of $30,000 on hotels and singer Goapele’s performances at two events, including $5,000 for a 2023 book launch party for Davis. 

The city’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) also spent at least $6,000 on the firm Varner PR, along with other expenses, to further promote sales. 

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San Francisco Judge Frees Man Who Killed 84-Year-Old ‘Grandpa Vicha’ in Unprovoked Attack After Citing Murderer’s ‘Traumatic Childhood,’ Releases Him on Probation

A San Francisco Superior Court activist judge has ordered the immediate release and probation of Antoine Watson, the man convicted in the 2021 unprovoked killing of 84-year-old Thai immigrant Vicha Ratanapakdee, widely known as “Grandpa Vicha.”

On Thursday, Judge Linda Colfax sentenced Watson to a total of eight years but suspended the remaining portion of the term after giving him credit for approximately five years already served in San Francisco County Jail.

Watson, now 25, was released to live with his mother in Hayward on five years’ probation, which includes weekly therapy sessions and regular check-ins.

The high-profile killing was captured on surveillance video and helped lead to the national “Stop Asian Hate” movement in early 2021.

On January 28, 2021, Watson, then 19, was recorded on video running full speed and violently shoving Ratanapakdee to the ground as the elderly man took his daily morning walk in San Francisco’s Anza Vista neighborhood.

Ratanapakdee struck his head on the pavement, lost consciousness, and died several days later from his injuries.

Watson was initially charged with murder, assault, and elder abuse.

This January, a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter and assault but acquitted him of murder and elder abuse charges.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing in the San Francisco Superior Court, Judge Colfax explained that she selected the middle term of three years for the assault conviction and added a five-year enhancement for aggravating factors, including the victim being over 70 and suffering great bodily injury.

However, because Watson had already served more than five years, he was eligible for immediate release.

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Election Fraud in Deep Blue California? Officials Investigate Alleged Scheme Paying People to Sign Ballot Petitions With Fake Names

California election officials are investigating a disturbing allegation that petition circulators in San Francisco were paying individuals to sign ballot petitions using fake names.

According to state officials, the investigation began after a video surfaced online earlier this week showing what appears to be a sidewalk operation offering cash in exchange for signatures on ballot petitions, News4Jax reported.

The footage, posted Monday on X, shows a sign reading “Sign petition for $5” with a line of people waiting along a San Francisco sidewalk.

At a nearby folding table, a woman appears to be instructing individuals on what name and address to use while filling out the petitions.

When the person recording the video asked what the petitions were for, the woman simply responded: “Just sign it.”

The video quickly went viral and caught the attention of California election authorities.

In a statement Friday, the California Secretary of State’s office confirmed it is actively investigating the matter.

“We are aware of, and investigating, the matter,” the office said.

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Caught in Broad Daylight: Ballot Initiative Signature-Gatherers in California Paying For Signatures – Backed by Billionaire PAC

On Monday, street videographer JJ Smith captured on camera what appears to be election crimes in San Francisco, California.  In broad daylight.

The video shows a line of people at the corner of 6th Street and Mission Street in the SoMa neighborhood, soliciting signatures on Monday afternoon.

The clip begins with Smith walking up on the line with a sign that reads, “Can you read & Write?  Sign Petition for $5.”

Smith asks a man in the line, “What’s the line for?”  He responds that they’re “giving five bucks to sign a petition.”

When Smith asks the two women seated at the table, “I get $5 too?”  She replies, “Yeah.”

“What is it?” he asks.

The woman responds, “Just sign it.”

The woman can then be seen highlighting a paper for another woman in the line but off camera.

“First name is going to be Carol, last name Sanderson.  This is the address right here.  This is the city, Avila Beach, and this is the zip code,” she tells the woman.  As the woman takes the paper and pen to sign it, the worker says, “So remember, first name is ‘Carol’”.

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Democrat Mayor of San Francisco Slowly Walks Away as His Security Team Violently Attacked; Officer Left with Severe Head Injury

San Francisco’s Democrat Mayor Daniel Lurie calmly walked away as his security team was violently attacked on the street in the Tenderloin District on Thursday evening.

One San Francisco officer assigned to Lurie’s security detail was bleeding from his head after he was bodyslammed.

Lurie was not injured.

According to Mission Local, Lurie “hopped out” of his SUV to confront the three people who were standing in the street and blocking his vehicle.

The officer instructed the men to move out of the street when one of the men came at him.

The officer tried to fend off the attacker and grabbed his arm. The suspect slammed the officer to the ground.

Two suspects were arrested.

Mission Local reported:

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s police security detail was attacked at the edge of the Tenderloin on Thursday evening just before 6 p.m., according to witnesses and a video obtained by Mission Local.

The mayor was unharmed. One unidentified San Francisco police officer, who was part of Lurie’s security team and was in the black SUV used to ferry Lurie around alongside the mayor and his driver, was left bleeding from the back of his head.

He panted as he spoke to Mission Local and gave a statement to fellow police officers who responded to the scene.

The officer said that three people blocked the car shortly prior to the attack, and that Lurie “hopped out” to ask them to move. They began to “comply,” the officer told his fellow cops, but, at some point, one man began “talking gibberish.”

The officer then intervened and asked the man to move out of the way. The man did at first, but then came at him, he told officers.

The officer held onto the man’s upper body and then “fell back” with the man on top of him, and hit his head on the pavement as he fell.

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So-Called ‘Moderate’ San Francisco Mayor Signs Ludicrous Reparations Scheme That Could Award Each Black Resident $5 MILLION

The People’s Republic of San Francisco has decided to enshrine race-based reparations into law with the help of their alleged ‘moderate‘ mayor.

As the Daily Mail reported, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie gave black residents of his city an early Christmas gift by signing a reparations bill that could grant each one of them a whopping $5 MILLION in reparations. The legislation was signed on December 23.

Per The Daily Mail, here is how this scheme will unfold:

The ordinance establishes a reparations fund, as recommended by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) in its 2023 report.

The legislation establishes the fund but does not allocate any money to it, setting up the framework for any future contributions, whether they be through the city or privately donated.

The AARAC is tasked with developing ‘recommendations for repairing harm in our black communities,’ according to its website. Per the 2023 report, every eligible African-American adult in San Francisco should be handed a $5 million lump sum to ‘compensate the affected population for the decades of harm that they have experienced.’

Approximately 50,000 black people live in San Francisco, and the qualifying requirements remain unclear.

This move also comes despite the city facing a whopping $1 billion budget deficit. But this did not deter Lurie in the slightest.

“For several years, communities across the city have been working with the government to acknowledge the decades of harm done to San Francisco’s black community,” Lurie wrote.

“While that process largely predates my administration, I am signing the legislation to create this fund in recognition of the work of so many San Franciscans and the unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors.”

Roughly a week before Lurie signed off on the plan, the city’s Board of Supervisors voted in favor of it.

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San Francisco Reparations Fund Now Causing Infighting Among Various Groups in the City

San Francisco passed a resolution right before Christmas, creating a reparations fund that is supposed to pay a ridiculous amount of money to black residents, despite the fact that California never even had slavery.

Bear in mind that there is no money for this. The city has a massive deficit.

To make matters worse, the divisive policy is now driving infighting among various groups in the city. It seems like this was inevitable.

FOX News reports:

San Francisco residents band together to shut down reparations fund, claiming it’s ‘dividing’ the city

Richie Greenberg, one of the plaintiffs suing San Francisco over its reparations fund, claimed the measure is divisive because it solely favors Black residents.

“It is dividing the city rather than trying to unite. So, what we really need is to be focusing on how to uplift everybody rather than focusing on one group giving everything to that one group. And then everyone else is then responsible for paying for that one group,” Greenberg told Fox News Digital…

The city was sued over its reparations fund on grounds its taxpayer money is being “unlawfully” used for a policy that allegedly violates the equal protection clause.

According to the Pacific Legal Foundation, several San Francisco residents and Californians for Equal Rights Foundation sued San Francisco Thursday, challenging an ordinance that establishes a fund for Black residents.

The lawsuit alleges that the ordinance is discriminating on the basis of race because it allows taxpayer money to be funneled into the fund. The plaintiffs said a win would protect taxpayers from supporting a government-based racially motivated program and establish boundaries for other cities implementing similar policies.

“Acknowledging past injustice does not give the government license to spend public resources on programs that sort people by race and ancestry today,” said Andrew Quinio, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

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