SFChronicle: Mayor Ed Lee raises prospect of adopting court-ordered treatment in S.F.

Mayor Ed Lee raises prospect of adopting court-ordered treatment in S.F.

Mayor Ed Lee knew he was courting controversy when he declared in his recent State of the City address that he wanted a “community-based mental health program” to help confront San Francisco’s homeless problem.

He was talking about – at least in some form – Laura’s Law, the much-debated and little-used state law passed in 2002 that allows a judge to order outpatient treatment for the seriously mentally ill.

SFChronicle: plan to fill Geary underpass at Fillmore

plan to fill Geary underpass at Fillmore

A plan to spend as much as $50 million to fill in a Geary Boulevard underpass is getting serious consideration from city officials and community leaders eager to repair some of the damage from San Francisco’s ill-conceived urban renewal projects of the 1950s and ’60s.

The project calls for eliminating the underpass beneath Fillmore Street and restoring the boulevard to the flatter, narrower, more pedestrian-friendly Geary Street that existed before 1961, when it was turned into an eight-lane expressway by the bulldozers that dug the underpass and razed the adjoining homes and businesses in the name of progress.