By Sri Ravipati
Welcome back to another daily roundup of San Francisco stories for Feb. 16.
Wednesday's top story is San Francisco Bay Area residents can embrace freedom again as statewide and local mandates that require vaccinated individuals to wear COVID masks in most indoor settings were lifted. People can go maskless indoors in every Bay Area county except Santa Clara County.
How do you feel about masks being removed indoors in most settings now? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Now, onto other noteworthy local news.
1.) Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga ousted from school board
The San Francisco school board recall election results are in: Residents voted to remove Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga on Tuesday in the city’s first recall election since 1983, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The three school board members — the only ones who had served long enough to be eligible for a recall — will be replaced by mayoral appointments 10 days after the election is officially accepted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The new board members are expected to take office in mid-March.
Due to the national attention this recall election has garnered, Mayor London Breed held a press conference Wednesday about the announcement.
2.) After two years online, SF Pride to return in-person
After going virtual for 2020 and 2021, San Francisco Pride will be returning in full force for 2022, with its signature parade and in-person events scheduled for June 25-26, Datebook reports.
The 2022 theme is “Love Will Keep Us Together,” a celebration of a sense of return for the purportedly largest annual gathering of LGBTQ individuals and supporters in the country. The schedule will be announced later.
“We know that our communities are concerned about the spread of the omicron variant,” the organizers wrote in a newsletter. “We also know that people are mourning the passing of LGBTQ+ icons like Betty White and Andre Leon Talley, losses that hit us harder than usual after two years of nonstop loss, false starts and disappointments.”
They continued, “We are focused on making #SFPride2022 the safest and most welcoming event in our history.”
San Francisco Pride is currently accepting registrations for parade marchers and exhibitor spaces, as well as votes for Community Grand Marshals.
3.) Van Ness Rapid Transit Project will be completed April 1
SFMTA says the long-awaited Van Ness Transit Project will be completed by April 1, SFist reports.
After nearly 18 years of red tape, buses can finally ride through red lanes, assuming it's not an April Fool's Day joke. SFMTA is planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony, big party and to-do.
More San Francisco news:
- Police arrest two 14-year-old boys in shooting of 16-year-old in Potrero Hill
- SF Hunters Point concrete plant cited amid dust complaints
Thanks for reading today's S.F. news roundup! Did any of these stories hit home for you? Let me know in the comments.
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