SF Daily Brief for October 19, 2026
Today on the SF Daily Brief: “West Portal Housing Project Now Projected at 13 Stories,” plus “A battle royal is brewing over the SF board presidency.”
- West Portal Housing Project Now Projected at 13 Stories
- A battle royal is brewing over the SF board presidency
- Six-figure income still not enough to rent in San Francisco, Zillow analysis finds
- San Francisco police investigate homicide in Bayview District
- Impacts of New Tree Legislation Approved by Supes
- Seven friends took a gamble on a Mid-Market ‘communal living room.’ Now what?
- Ballot Measure Impacts on Real Estate
- Rose Pak station keeps building community arts programming
- People We Meet: Jasper Lee, a big-time transit head all in on the T-Third
- City College board candidate Jeremy Lee calls for more Cantonese teachers and larger enrollment
- The opposite of primetime: The WNBA Finals schedule is making Valkyries fans work for it
- San Francisco ‘flight roulette’ game sends one lucky traveler to Fiji
- No Kings rallies across the Bay Area focus on early voting
- California School Test Scores Up, but Just a Little, as Progress Slows in K-12 Classes
Transcript
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This is SF Daily Brief for Monday, October 19, 2026. A housing project planned on West Portal Avenue is now projected at 13 stories, the Richmond Sunset News reports. The avenue's buildings are mostly two or three floors. There is one five-story building and a few at four stories.
At City Hall, a contest is taking shape over the Board of Supervisors presidency, according to the Standard's newsletter. The same item notes a $50,000 ad buy that landed in the wrong congressional district. It also notes difficult conversations about consent in the gay community and a former arts commission official speaking out. A six-figure income is still not enough to rent in San Francisco, a Zillow analysis found.
About 31% of rental homes in the San Francisco metro area are affordable to someone earning $100,000 and paying $2,500 a month, World Journal reports. Nationally, 77% of rentals fall in that range. In the San Jose metro area, the share is 13%. San Francisco police are investigating a homicide in the Bayview District.
Officers found a man with a gunshot wound Friday night, the department said. They went to the 1100 block of Wisconsin Street around 8:38 p.m. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police ask anyone with information to call 415-575-4444 or text TIP411.
On tree rules, an ordinance from District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong and Mayor Daniel Lurie lets smaller property developers pay a fee instead of planting or replacing trees, the Richmond Sunset News reports. The Board of Supervisors passed it 7-4 in early September. In Mid-Market, seven friends in their twenties turned an empty loft into a communal space called The Nook, according to the Standard. They hosted dance classes, art nights and science shows.
The group nearly shut it down after burnout set in. For voters weighing housing measures, columnist John M. Lee walks through five local propositions on the November ballot that touch housing costs for owners, buyers, sellers and landlords. The Richmond Sunset News column is aimed at San Franciscans deciding how to vote on the housing measures. SFMTA and community groups plan more art programming at the Chinatown-Rose Pak subway station.
They plan to use an empty retail space for exhibitions, talks and workshops, Sing Tao reports. The station is showing Threaded Histories, an installation by a fiber and embroidery artist that honors San Francisco garment workers. It is part of the Arts Commission's Shaping Legacies program. Mission Local's People We Meet column is about Jasper Lee.
He was hired to work on the T-Third light rail line and called it a dream come true. He now works on making the line run faster. City College of San Francisco board candidate Jeremy Lee calls for more Cantonese teachers and larger enrollment. He is one of eight candidates for three four-year seats on the board, Sing Tao reports.
Lee, 37, is a third-generation San Franciscan. He works in housing finance at a community organization and heads an Asian American association, the paper says. Valkyries fans are dealing with a WNBA Finals schedule that has the team playing at times that make it hard to attend, the Standard reports. The piece says the logistics create friction but should not overshadow the series.
At San Francisco International Airport, fifteen travelers gathered on a September afternoon for a contest in which only one would fly out that night, with the destination withheld, World Journal reports. The winner's trip was to Fiji. Bay Area demonstrators joined the fourth national No Kings day of action on Saturday. Rallies in Oakland and San Francisco's Mission District focused on early voting and aimed at turning protest into votes, Sing Tao reports, citing the San Francisco Chronicle.
In San Francisco, participants formed a giant VOTE on Ocean Beach and marched from Dolores Park through the Mission. Supervisor Connie Chan, a congressional candidate, joined both gatherings. California's K-12 test scores rose slightly in almost every category last year, but progress slowed after the post-pandemic surge, according to state data released this week and reported by CalMatters. Math proficiency rose just over 1 percentage point to about 39%.
English language arts rose half a point to about 49%. Science rose 3.3 points to 36%. Thanks for listening to SF Daily Brief. For the full written brief, go to sfdailybrief.com.