Covering the Streets: The Legend of Street Sheet

35 years ago in 1989: San Francisco was in its first decade of mass homelessness since the Depression era.

The City opened emergency congregate shelters a few years earlier, but it would later turn away already homeless people to accommodate housed people displaced by the Loma Prieta earthquake.

That same year, Street Sheet printed its first issue. The newsletter—originally an internal memo for members of the advocacy organization Coalition on Homelessness—was printed on 8½” x 11” paper,

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Writing for Street Papers for Over Two Decades

by Jack Bragen

When I was young, in my 20s, I took pride in being able to get letters to the editor published. For a young adult with severe psychiatric illness, a letter to the editor in a paper is pretty good, but I wanted more. I really wanted to become a writer. Occasionally I submitted stories to publications, and considering the level of the writing I produced back then, I stood little or no chance of getting something accepted. 

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Organize Like Our Lives Depend on It Because They Do

by Pete White

Today we gather, not in shock, but in a profound sense of sorrow.

Many of us are standing here with a calm face, but beneath it runs a river of despair. Our deepest fears have been laid bare for the world to see. This was never a battle of right versus wrong. This was never just another election. The wound we carry—the wound our nation carries—now lies open and raw,

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Cash Ruled Everything Around Us This Election Season

The 2024 election is likely to be recorded in history as the year of the billionaires. Their money has influenced this year’s ballot from presidential contests to state and local races. 

But even people with ten-figure net worth didn’t get everything they wanted. 

Daniel Lurie prevailed in San Francisco’s mayoral race. Lurie is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, and spent over $8 million in his largely self-financed campaign.

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Coalition to SF Mayor-Elect: Act on Homelessness Solutions in First 100 Days

San Francisco elected Daniel Lurie mayor. On January 3, 2025, he will assume office and inherit a homelessness crisis that has long bedeviled previous administrations. 

The City’s approach to homelessness was a key issue of Lurie’s campaign—as well as those of his opponents. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Grants Pass v. Johnson, incumbent Mayor London Breed called for a “get tough” approach—or get even tougher,

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