What a week to be a Californian! Gov. Newsom put his veto pen to work and we can look forward to even more ads from ballot measure campaigns with just 39 days until the election. But first…

So long to the Swingin’ A’s

“Even more than the sadness, even more than the anger and the despair and the disgust, there is loneliness.” So writes ESPN’s Tim Keown in a heartbreaking recent piece chronicling the final days of the Oakland Athletics. On Thursday, with a sharp ground ball to A’s third baseman Max Schuemann, 57 years of rich, rollicking baseball and civic history drew to a despondent close. “The departure of a major sports franchise, let alone three, is a story most often told through negotiations and recriminations, proposals and counterproposals, public subsidies and private financing,” continued Keown. “It's the unending story of owners and commissioners and politicians, all positioning and posturing. But what bobs in the wake when teams leave, whether it's the Warriors and Raiders in 2019, or the A's this month, are those left untethered, people who lose jobs, friendships and a vital connection to their community.” The fandom and tribal emotions may not exactly align, but the same could be said for the loss of any major employer that has had a lasting imprint on the civic, economic and social life of a community. Yes, the A’s are a sports franchise that has been crudely ripped away from a community that embraced and embodied them for generations. But they are also just the most recent and visible business to ditch California for the promise of greener (hotter, seedier, dustier?) pastures elsewhere. When’s it going to stop?

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IN PICTURES

🤫 Everything you should know

- Mission Local interviewed several people experiencing homelessness about why they often choose to stay on the streets of San Francisco instead of using shelters. Some common themes emerged: poor conditions, lack of privacy, and safety concerns. This survey highlights the need for better shelter systems and a long-term housing solution to effectively address homelessness instead of kicking the can down the road. The long term solution? Build more housing, , which would reduce the number of people in shelters and end homelessness (yes, it’s possible). Curious why more people are choosing sidewalks over shelters? Read more: Mission Local

- We should be making great progress toward achieving the Advanced Clean Trucks rule (a California rule that requires 30 percent of all medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to be electric by 2028 and 50 percent by 2030). But massive delays in charging station development are leading to vast amounts of unnecessary emissions. While the industry is trying to embrace EVs and transition to a cleaner fleet, the slow construction of charging infrastructure is forcing many operators to slow-walk their efforts. Canary Media

- California's labor market showed signs of weakness as the statewide unemployment rate ticked up to 5.3% in August, the second highest in the nation. Job gains in healthcare and hospitality were offset by losses in tech, manufacturing, and particularly the public sector, which saw a sharp decline due to Sacramento's budget freeze. Despite adding 6,800 jobs, this figure fell well below the state’s average for 2024. Los Angeles Times

📚 The Housing Crisis Hits Campuses

College students in California are increasingly forced to live in their cars due to homelessness, and universities are establishing protocols as if this is the new normal. Statewide, 2 in 3 community college students face basic needs insecurity, with nearly 3 in 5 housing insecure. At Long Beach City College, a new program provides 15 parking spots, along with basic needs like showers and Wi-Fi, for students sleeping in their vehicles. Meanwhile, schools like Cal Poly Humboldt have banned overnight parking, leaving students like Caleb Chen scrambling for safe places to sleep. This is an unacceptable situation, forcing students to choose between education and survival. California urgently needs more affordable student housing to lift this burden off its youth, who deserve secure living conditions as they work toward their futures. CalMatters

Bogged Down By Bureaucracy

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