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Crosscurrents

Daily news roundup for Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Here’s what’s happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW:

Buying Support for Coal// East Bay Express
 
"In a series of quiet meetings, the businessmen behind a plan to export millions of tons of coal from the Oakland waterfront have offered local churches and environmental organizations money in exchange for their support, the Express first reported on its website on Monday. According to several sources with firsthand knowledge of the meetings, Jerry Bridges and Omar Benjamin, both former Port of Oakland executive directors who now lead Terminal Logistics Solutions (TLS), the private company that wants to export the coal from the redeveloped old Oakland Army Base, met with leaders of West Oakland environmental organizations and several churches to offer them potentially millions of dollars if they would agree to back their plan. Bridges and a paid lobbyist have also been speaking at influential Oakland churches to rally support for coal."

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UC Berkley researchers make strides toward ‘Invisibility Cloak’ // NBC Bay Area

“UC Berkeley researchers are working on a big disappearing act.

According to The Daily Californian, a small "invisibility cloak" developed over the past six years has new potential for a myriad of future applications in the world.

“Team leader Xiang Zhang, who is a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and the director of materials sciences at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told the publication that they've made big improvements in designing a thin, cloth-like material that makes 3D objects appear invisible through light wave refraction and offered examples of its possible future uses, including to improve blind spots in car designs or to hide weaponry in military situations.”

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Quarterly rent report confirms: there are zero affordable neighborhoods for renters in S.F. // SF Gate

“It’s official: Though rents are higher in some parts of San Francisco than others, the days of “low,” “cheap” or even “decent” rents in certain neighborhoods are over.

The overall median price for a 1-bedroom in SF hit $3,530 earlier this month; and at the close of this quarter, San Francisco emerges not only as more expensive than any other city in the U.S., but also uniformly so, across its 7X7 square miles.

“According to Zumper’s quarterly rent analysis, “Rents remain unique in a number of ways. First, the vast majority of San Francisco remains expensive. Whereas in New York, deals can be had in places such as the Lower East Side and Harlem, few neighborhoods exist in San Francisco at affordable prices. In fact, 28 out of the 54 neighborhoods we delineate in San Francisco were priced above $3,000 for a one bedroom.”

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One Big Spill // East Bay Express

“Dan Clarke pulled a large box from a shed in his backyard. He reached inside and removed a bag holding a black rock the size of a softball.

“For the past five years, Clarke has amassed a collection of similar black rocks from his backyard in San Francisco's Marina district. Some are big and shiny, and others, small and dull. Clarke has found all of the black rocks while gardening, with the exception of the one set of rocks he discovered unexpectedly underneath his home when a sewer pipe burst in his garage. "After that moment," he said, "we realized it was everywhere."

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Mysterious 'La Boulangerie De San Francisco' files for former La Boulange // Hoodline

“Rumors have swirled of late that certain locations of the recently-shuttered La Boulange empire would be revived by founder Pascal Rigo.

Now, we've got one big clue as to what might be going on, as a business filing dated Sept. 18th has registered a "La Boulangerie de San Francisco" at 2325 Pine St., the original La Boulange location. 

“The company behind the name is listed only as "Nouveau Bakery LLC," and there's nothing officially linking Rigo to the new project. However, scuttlebutt from neighbors indicates that the rumors of Rigo's involvement hold water, and that at least the Hayes Valley and Cole Valley locations could be part of the revival.”

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How lifestyle choices cause you to use more water // ABC7 News 

“AN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Californians have cut our home water use by about 30 percent this summer. That's a serious effort that is paying off, but most of us probably don't realize a lot of our water use is hidden. ABC7 News took a look at how your lifestyle choices are soaking up an average of 10 times more water than shows up on your water bill.

“Californians use an average of 100 gallons of water a day, but that only counts direct water use -- the stuff that comes out of your tap at home. Now a growing number of water experts believe we should also focus on the rest of our water use.

“Kristi Cheng of San Francisco was surprised to learn through the water calculator she uses an average of 1,835 gallons per day. That all-inclusive number is known as your water footprint.”

Crosscurrents