San Francisco City Insider

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight talks with Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, about why the city’s homeless problem doesn’t seem to get much better despite city officials spending more than $300 million a year to solve it. Hint: For every 50 people moved off the streets, 150 take their place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that she's clinched the race for the city's top job, San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed is getting ready to bear down on the city's most pressing problems. After her July 11 inauguration, Breed plans to begin immediately working on solutions to curb homelessness, treat the mentally ill roaming the city's streets and — possibly — opening the country's first safe injection site. And with her job only secured until 2020, she'll have to work fast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The S.F. mayor's race has finally come to an end, and London Breed will be the first African American woman to be elected to the city's highest office. Former state Sen. Mark Leno conceded defeat after more than a week of suspense. Listen in as The Chronicle politics team breaks down the election results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special election night podcast, the San Francisco Chronicle politics team breaks down the 2018 California primary. Listen in as John Diaz, Heather Knight, Joe Garofoli, Dominic Fracassa and John Wildermuth analyze results from San Francisco, Bay Area and California races. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Franciscans have a lot of questions about the blatant, open-air injection drug use occurring on our sidewalks. Dr. Phillip Coffin, director of substance use research for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, has answers. In an interview with Chronicle columnist Heather Knight, Coffin explains why the opioid epidemic has gotten so bad, the logic behind the city’s needle exchange program and what safe injection sites are really like.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mayor Mark Farrell has just a few weeks left in office, but says he’s determined to keep the “pedal to the metal” in accomplishing real change for San Francisco before his time in Room 200 is up. In an interview with Chronicle columnist Heather Knight, Farrell says he might order the clearing of additional tent camps as he was pleased with the result the Mission, though he admitted the city hasn’t tracked what happened to the individuals who were cleared out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk with with Jo Schuman Silver, writer and producer of Beach Blanket Babylon, the silly, only-in-San Francisco stage production that’s celebrating its 45th anniversary. While President Donald Trump has been terrible for San Francisco, he’s been great for the show, reinvigorating the production that was a little boring in the Obama years. Silver talks about how she keeps up with the ever-changing news and how she keeps her production fresh when the White House happenings are flying fast and furious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In The Chronicle's final installment of our mayoral profiles, we talk with London Breed, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She's gone from growing up as a poor kid in the city's Western Addition to ascending to the upper echelons of civic power in the city. Now, she has her sight's set on the mayor's office. She served as acting mayor following the death of Ed Lee, until her colleagues booted her from office just six weeks later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were more than 31,000 reports of car break-ins in San Francisco in 2017, but police were only able to make arrests in 1.7 percent of cases. Police Chief Bill Scott explains to columnist Heather Knight why these crimes are so hard to tackle, and also discusses how law enforcement is responding to two other city scourges: injection drug use and homeless tent encampments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angela Alioto is banking on her years of experience in San Francisco politics to separate her from the pack of mayoral hopefuls in the June 5 election. Her campaign has focused on her pledges to break through the despondency of the city’s homelessness crisis, clean up the city’s streets and crack down on street crime. In this episode, we’ll get to know Angela better and her quest to revitalize San Francisco’s soul. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim is known for big, bold ideas, only a fraction of which become reality at City Hall. But she’s centering her mayoral campaign on a very practical policy initiative: cleaning the city’s notoriously dirty streets. The wonky Stanford graduate is clearly smart, driven and committed, and points to her affordable housing credentials and her proposal of free child care as examples of how a progressive would run city hall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Progressive mayoral candidate Mark Leno has centered his campaign on a promise to "shake up City Hall." But can a veteran lawmaker like Leno, who served 14 years in the state Assembly and Senate as well as a stint as a city supervisor, convince voters that he's a true agent of change? In this inaugural episode of the "On San Francisco" podcast, we'll get to know Leno better -- from his vision for San Francisco to where he likes to go for a drink. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices