Bay Briefing: Fentanyl epidemic worsens in San Francisco

Good morning, Bay Area. It’s Monday, June 24, and there’s a new leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in San Francisco, the homelessness crisis is playing out nightly at one BART station, and the future of PG&E’s land holdings is uncertain. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

A leading killer in San Francisco

Fentanyl, the synthetic painkiller that has ravaged drug users on the East Coast, is now fully embedded on San Francisco’s streets, surpassing prescription pills and heroin as the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the city.

In 2010, just six overdose deaths in the city were attributed to fentanyl. In 2018, that number hit 57. By comparison, 39 overdose deaths were attributed to heroin last year and 53 to prescription opioids such as oxycodone and codeine.

In the first two weeks of June, 10 people suffered fatal opioid overdoses in the city — more than twice the usual number, and all from fentanyl.

“A couple of years ago we started seeing fentanyl powder popping up on the street and normalized as an additional opioid in San Francisco. And now it’s fairly established,” said Dr. Phillip Coffin of the city’s Public Health Department. “It’s not going away anytime soon.”

The end of the line for some homeless

A scene takes place every night in Pittsburg: At around 1:21 a.m., two police officers stride enter the platform at Pittsburg/Bay Point BART Station as the last train rattles in.

The officers start at the back of the train and walk toward the front, shooing passengers off every car. Some are sprawled across the seats. Several lug duffel bags or bicycles. A few seem disoriented.

As homelessness soars across the Bay Area, signs of abject poverty are becoming more evident on BART, where commuters mingle uneasily with transients seeking shelter on the trains. Nowhere is this more visible, Rachel Swan reports, than Pittsburg/Bay Point Station at closing time.

Underneath their feet

If Ken Holbrook has his way, the Humbug Valley, a sprawling tract of alpine meadow high in the northern Sierra, will become California’s first American Indian tribal cultural park. He envisions guides leading hikers around Tásman Kojóm, the valley’s Maidu name; public campgrounds; and classes on basket-weaving and the nearly lost Maidu language.

But before that can happen the Maidu need to procure title of their ancestral land from an unlikely owner: PG&E. The bankruptcy utility’s land holdings are, combined, four times the size of San Francisco, and many transfers it agreed to the last time the company declared bankruptcy are still being held up.

So what will happen to PG&E land when its back in bankruptcy court?

More: Newsom pitches wildfire claims relief plan for PG&E — with conditions.

Housing boom?

The recent stock market debuts of San Francisco’s Uber, Lyft, Pinterest and Slack — collectively worth more than $120 billion — sparked fears of even more frenzy in what’s already the country’s most expensive housing market.

But the latest figures show no such spike in prices or activity — so what’s going on, and will there be a wave of new buyers when company lockout periods end?

Reporter Roland Li investigated the short- and long-term effects IPOs are expected to have on the housing market in the Bay Area — here’s what he found.

Background: We reported this story in response to reader requests made through our Assignment Editor tool. Take part in our latest Assignment Editor survey here.

One-wheel wonder

San Francisco’s early adopter culture has been on full display with the electric scooter craze. But more niche electric transport modes like electric unicycles have also gotten a hearty welcome here.

“You can ride up the steepest hill in San Francisco, where people on bikes are struggling, like California Street or Lombard Street, no problem,” said 34-year-old Kevin Grandon, a software engineer who doesn’t own a car and runs a YouTube channel documenting his one-wheeled travels. “It’s an extremely practical, compact, super fun way to get around. It’s been life-changing for me.”

Reporter Carolyn Said profiles a small but dedicated group of enthusiasts who ride these battery-powered unicycles.

Around the bay

• Pricey ‘city’: Kaiser Permanente isn’t saying how much it’s paying to call the area around the Warriors’ new S.F. arena Thrive City for the next 20 years — but according to one document, the total for the naming rights and other costs could hit $295 million.

• Changing with the times: As tech takes over city, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce seeks to adapt.

• ‘Clusterfyre’: Clusterfest turns into an overcrowded and uncomfortable event as fans flock to John Mulaney sets during sold-out Saturday.

• Then and now: Fifty years after Stonewall, is the LGBTQ community fully liberated?

• Remembering Phil: Long after the Camp Fire, one resident’s death opens wounds.

• Safe haven: Oakland opens Bay Area’s first 24/7 parking area for homeless RV dwellers.

• Nice catch: California fishermen report the biggest salmon season in a decade.

• Fundraising prowess: Silicon Valley foundation’s crypto assets plunged, but donations rose in 2018.

Chronicle Food + Wine

Josh Skenes’ second restaurant, Angler, opened in the fall on the city’s Embarcadero to a cascade of critical acclaim. The Chronicle, Esquire, GQ and the James Beard Foundation have all called it one of the best new restaurants in the country. It recently earned its own Michelin star.

But in April, Skenes officially walked away from his first restaurant, Saison, handing complete control and co-ownership of the restaurant to chef Laurent Gras. That abdication is unheard of in American restaurants of Saison’s standing.

Skenes is making a break for it, but writer Patrick Heij asks whether the chef is running toward or away from something.

One thing is clear: He’s heading for the woods.