David Sjostedt

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez |David Sjostedt |Jonah Owen Lamb |Kevin Truong

By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, David Sjostedt, Jonah Owen Lamb, Kevin Truong, and Han LiPublished Apr. 14, 2025 • 6:00amIn politics, 100 days can seem like an eternity — has it really been only three months since Trump took office again? — or a blink. Assessing a mayor’s — or president’s — tenure at the 100-day mark is a convention, but an imperfect one, an exercise in judging beginnings without knowledge of the endings.

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | David Sjostedt

The surge in drug use on the city's waterfront coincides with an influx of shelter clients, the city says. George Smyth lay dead in a blue planter when staff from his homeless shelter found him. His hand clutched a plastic straw he’d used to smoke drugs. A small bag filled with the meth and fentanyl that killed him was within reach. Even four doses of Narcan, an overdose antidote, weren’t enough to save him, the death report states.

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | David Sjostedt

By May 30, all programs must move drug paraphernalia distribution indoors or to controlled spaces. City-funded public health programs will no longer distribute drug use supplies without providing counseling sessions or connecting recipients to services, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Wednesday. The policy shift, effective April 30, applies to all city programs distributing sterile syringes and smoking kits and prohibits the distribution of smoking supplies in public spaces.

4 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | David Sjostedt |Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

A strategy developed during the AIDS crisis has fallen out of favor during the fentanyl epidemic. Its advocates say people will die. “Stop using drugs,” read the usual note that overdose victims were handed as they left the hospital during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Arms covered in track marks. Dragged in against their will. Spoiling for a fight with staff. Almost always on death’s door.

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | David Sjostedt

For more than 30 years, Jim’s Restaurant has been the Mission’s destination for pancakes and chicken-fried steak. Now it’s entering a new era. Jim’s Restaurant — the greasy spoon that’s stood vigil on its shifting stretch of Mission Street for decades — has thus far resisted the never-ending march toward modernity. The bold WordArt-style lettering on its signage, the extended accordion awning, and the wood-planked facade all feel delightfully unmarred by a focus group.