By Cecilia M. Vega, Matthew Yi,Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco has emerged relatively unscathed from the mortgage crises sweeping the nation, but a coalition of city leaders is predicting that reality may soon change. To deal with it, the group called on major subprime lenders Thursday to change the way they do business with homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that predatory lending practices have been unconscionable and that major lenders should step up their outreach to at-risk homeowners. The number of foreclosures in San Francisco makes up just 2 percent of foreclosures in the Bay Area, city leaders estimate, and Newsom said city residents have "been fortunate to date."

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By Brent Begin
San Francisco Examiner

A joint effort between police, prosecutors and the Mayor’s Office has yielded results in one of The City’s most overlooked crime issues: smash-and-grab car burglaries. Also known as “boosts,” car burglaries are a significant problem in San Francisco: In 2006, there were more than 15,000 incidents — an average of 41 per day — prompting the Mayor’s Office to convene a special car-boosting task force to combat the growing problem. Taking a proactive route, the police conducted surveillance in addition to responding to calls from car owners. On Sept. 9, eight officers specifically targeted the most vulnerable areas in The City and conducted stings. Read more »

By Wyatt Buchanan
San Francisco Chronicle

Attention San Francisco shoppers: Plastic grocery store bags are going, going, gone. Starting Tuesday, large grocery stores in the city can no longer use the traditional plastic bags that are a staple of the supermarket checkout line, as a city ordinance passed earlier this year to ban the bags takes effect. "People are used to getting free bags and thinking there is no real consequence to them, but there is a cost," said Jack Macy, commercial recycling coordinator for the city's Department of the Environment, which is implementing the new policy.

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By Heather Knight
San Francisco Chronicle

As debate rages over how to solve San Francisco's seemingly intractable homeless problem, city leaders, academic researchers and even some formerly homeless people themselves say progress is being made every Thursday afternoon inside Department 15 at the city's gloomy Hall of Justice. For a couple of hours each week, the courtroom fills with dozens of defendants with serious mental illnesses who have been charged with or convicted of crimes ranging from misdemeanor theft to felony assault and robbery. Almost all were homeless or on the brink of living on the streets at the time of their arrests, and many of them struggle with drug or alcohol abuse.  It sounds like a scary scene, like many city residents' worst fears gathered together in one room. But it's surprisingly touching - and according to Superior Court Judge Mary Morgan, who presides over the court, it's "the most hopeful thing happening in the criminal justice system." Read more »

By Kevin Fagan
San Francisco Chronicle

The number of chronically homeless people across the United States has dropped by 11.5 percent thanks to an increased focus on providing counseling and housing rather than police crackdowns or emergency shelter beds, federal officials said Wednesday. There was no homeless count in San Francisco from 2002 to 2005, when Mayor Gavin Newsom revived the practice. City and federal officials pointed out that between 2002 and 2007, the number of chronically homeless people in San Francisco dropped 38 percent, from 4,535 to 2,771. Chronically homeless people are defined as the most troubled of the homeless population, suffering from mental or addiction troubles and living on the street for at least a solid year.

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