San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM)

Rule Changes

Reviewing housed-owner cases to evaluate the policy

San Francisco's two-hour parking limit on large vehicles, built to clear RVs used as homes, is towing people who never slept in them. Kyle Richards' camper van was towed twice in August, costing him more than $1,600. City complaint records show at least 28 housed vehicle owners told officials they were hit by the rule between November 2025 and July 2026.

Updated Sep 30

Rule Changes

Awarded the contracts the new law regulates

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to require private street-cleaning contractors to match the wages the city pays its own employees. The Clean Streets and Fair Pay Act targets the 'street ambassador' industry that expanded rapidly as the city outsourced cleanup of visible drug use and homelessness.

Updated Sep 23

Rule Changes

Coordinates street ambassador teams

Urban Alchemy, the nonprofit that helped clean up San Francisco's Tenderloin, started patrolling a beachside block in the Outer Richmond in mid-August. Its three ambassadors have so far mostly swept the sidewalk and moved homeless people along.

Updated Sep 18

Built World

Coordinating the city's heat response

The heat advisory covering the Bay Area and Central Coast runs through Thursday at 10 p.m., with inland highs expected to hit 105°F. A Spare the Air alert for Wednesday warns of unhealthy smog, and a red flag warning for fire risk is in effect overnight.

Updated Sep 10

Built World

Issued public safety guidance and coordinated response as core systems degraded

San Francisco is the kind of city that feels unstoppable—until the lights go out. On Saturday, a substation fire near 8th and Mission helped trigger a blackout that spread across neighborhoods and knocked out traffic signals. Restoration took more than two days and sparked political backlash and raised questions about whether a modern city can tolerate single-point failures in critical infrastructure.

Updated May 16