El Tecolote

28/06/2025

One of the Mission District’s most recognizable fruit vendors, gray-haired Óscar Olguín, 56, has opened his first storefront: What’s Up, Coco.

The compact, 275-square-foot space sits directly across from his usual corner at 2669 Mission Street, close enough not to lose his regulars.

Olguín and his wife spent years saving to open the shop, investing $20,000 in refrigeration, supplies and setup. They now pay $2,800 a month in rent — an expense Olguín hopes to cover with just a few days of steady sales.

Through it all, he remains ever the optimist.
“El sol brilla para todos,” he says with a smile.

The sun shines for everyone.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

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23/06/2025

ICE is detaining immigrants during routine check-ins and court hearings, including families with young children.

In just the past few weeks, more than 20 people have been arrested in San Francisco, according to immigrant rights groups. Some were detained during scheduled ICE check-ins. Others were taken into custody after attending their asylum hearings.

These are not random raids, lawyers say. They’re targeted arrests of people already trying to comply with the system. Some weren’t even aware they had a removal order.

At the link in our bio, we break down:
• Why immigrants are being detained in courthouses
• What’s happening at ICE check-ins
• What legal options people have
• Where detainees are being sent

Have questions about detentions in S.F.? Comment below or send us a DM.

22/06/2025

Communities of color are always hit the hardest when it comes to the criminalization of drug use and overdose deaths.

Dr. Gail D’Onofrio says harm reduction strategies — like test strips that detect fentanyl — can prevent fatal overdoses. “All these things contribute to the de-escalation in opioid overdose.”

But harm reduction services are shifting under City Hall. Some residents recently protested at 16th and Mission, calling for abstinence-only approaches. Meanwhile, Mayor Daniel Lurie has already begun scaling back publicly funded programs that offer clean pipes, foil, wound care, and other supplies.

Experts and advocates warn: these shifts come with real consequences — and lives are at stake.

Follow the link in our bio to read more.

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18/06/2025

The SFMTA just voted 6-1 to approve a new “refuge permit” — a major step toward enforcing San Francisco’s citywide two-hour parking limit for RVs.

The permit will only be available to people who:
* Were living in RVs in SF before May 31, 2025
* Provide detailed info about their household and vehicle
* Agree to case management with city departments like HSH, DEM, and SFPD

Here’s what it means:
* Valid for 6 months, extendable once
* May be extended further at the discretion of the Director of Transportation in consultation with HSH
* Can be revoked for breaking permit rules, refusing services, or giving “false” info
* If housing is offered and declined, the permit can be pulled
* If revoked, an RV can be ticketed or towed, even if no viable housing is available

The SFMTA said it will “make reasonable efforts” to give 72 hours’ notice before revoking a permit.

If the second part of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan passes at the Board of Supervisors, RVs parked for more than two hours anywhere in the city without a permit could also face towing.

Advocates say the law repeats harmful enforcement tactics, like those used to displace the RV community on Winston Drive, just under a new name.

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17/06/2025

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie unveiled a citywide plan last week to ban RVs from parking for more than two hours. Framed as an effort to “reclaim public space” and reduce vehicular homelessness, the ordinance introduces a new permit for residents enrolled in housing services. It heads to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) Board for a vote today at 1.p.m.

The time limits on RVs are backed by multiple supervisors and city departments, who say the proposal is a compassionate intervention that will offer housing subsidies, outreach services and a six-month “Large Vehicle Refuge Permit”  for RV residents actively seeking or awaiting housing.

But internal emails and public records reviewed by El Tecolote show that many of the tactics outlined — time limits, towing threats overnight parking bans and limited housing subsidies — have already been used to displace vehicle residents. Housing advocates say the new law would codify a pattern of reactive parking enforcement that has left many families without shelter, and often without their only remaining asset: their vehicle.

“S.F. is facing an affordability crisis, and people who are mostly people of color, immigrant, working, retired, disabled are attempting to shelter themselves by living in RV’s,” said Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness in a press release. “They have been consistently harassed, towed, and evicted simply because of their economic status and the look of their vehicles.” 

Follow the link in our bio to read more.

📝: .lens
📸: with .io

16/06/2025

For months, El Tecolote documented the targeted displacement of a tight-knit RV community in San Francisco, made up of Latinx families living in the shadow of the city’s housing crisis.

Our investigation reveals how city officials weaponized parking codes to push RV residents from one street to the next. As officials sidestepped accountability, the burden of displacement fell on working-class families who were shuffled into some of the city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods.

Last week, Mayor Daniel Lurie proposed a new citywide RV parking ban — one that mirrors the same harmful tactics our reporting exposed.

Read our full investigation ahead of Tuesday’s SFMTA vote on a new permit that could pave the way for a citywide ban on RVs.

📝: .lens, 

📸:  with  .io

🎨 : .lens

15/06/2025

The ‘NO KINGS’ protest in San Francisco took an urgent turn early Saturday morning, when demonstrators gathered outside 478 Tehama St. after word spread that ICE had summoned immigrant residents to the location under threat of arrest.

More than 200 demonstrators arrived at the site at 7 a.m. to show support for their neighbors. By 8:30 a.m., what began as a rapid response had turned into a peaceful protest that prevented ICE from opening the building.

“We’ve seen this around the country that they do these ruses, they call people in and they detain them even without deportation orders,” said Eisa, a representative from the Party of Socialism and Liberation who preferred to go by only their first name. “But we have the presence of people in the streets, and we’ve been successful in making sure [ICE] can’t even open their doors today.”

Protesters remained on Tehama Street until at least 10:45 a.m., when organizers headed to Mission Dolores Park, the first stop of the planned NO KINGS march. Lawyers and advocates who stayed behind confirmed that the ICE facility never opened.

By 11:30 a.m., thousands filled Dolores Park, many waving protest signs and flags, others dressed in elaborate costumes in celebration of Pride Month. (Though no one could quite explain the inflatable T-Rex.)

📸+🎥:
📝: Maura Corkery

14/06/2025

Scenes from the “No Kings” protest at Dolores Park in San Francidco’s Mission District.

🎥:

14/06/2025

Last night, federal immigration officials sent text messages instructing immigrants to appear at an unmarked ICE office at 478 Tehama Street this weekend — an unusual move outside standard weekday operations.

In response, hundreds of community members gathered at the location at 7 a.m. to monitor and peacefully protest. Organizers say they hope to prevent detentions and are calling for greater accountability from city and federal officials.

“ICE changed their tactics—because THE PEOPLE forced them to!”, wrote on an Instagram video. “Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportations!”

After the morning action, demonstrators plan to join No Kings Day, expected to be one of the largest protests against the Trump presidency and the military parade planned in Washington, D.C.

12/06/2025

For years, along a quiet stretch of Winston Drive near Lake Merced, a tight-knit RV community of Latinx families carved out fragile stability in the shadow of San Francisco’s housing crisis.

Without city support, families built their own safety net — coordinating childcare, making dinners together, sharing jumper cables. But in July 2024, it all collapsed.

Despite promises to wait for safe alternatives, Supervisor Myrna Melgar and SFMTA launched a crackdown that pushed out more than 100 RVs — accelerating a citywide RV ban so controversial it was eventually repealed.

Now, Mayor Daniel Lurie is reviving the effort with a new citywide ban.

Our year-long investigation reveals how Winston Drive became San Francisco’s quiet playbook for displacing working-class families — and why it backfired.

Follow the link in our bio to read part one of our investigative series.

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🗺️: .duranf

11/06/2025

Three immigrants were arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at San Francisco’s immigration court Tuesday morning, prompting protesters to rush to the scene and attempt to block the arrests.

According to Faith in Action Bay Area, the individuals were detained – without warrants – during scheduled court hearings. Witnesses described seeing masked agents dressed in plainclothes shoving at least one man into an unmarked silver Dodge Grand Caravan. A group of about a dozen people tried to stop the van from leaving, standing in front of it and attempting to pry open its sliding door.

The door briefly slid open before a masked agent inside sprayed protesters with pepper spray. The driver, also masked and dressed in plain clothes, continued down Sutter Street as two unmarked silver Ford Impalas with flashing dashboard lights and sirens cut across the intersection to es**rt the van away.

Protesters returned to the courthouse entrance. One young man shouted, “This is fascism!” when asked to describe what had just happened.

Follow the link in our bio to read more.

📸:
📝: Maura Corkery

11/06/2025

Three immigrants were arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at San Francisco’s immigration court Tuesday. Protesters rushed to the scene and attempted to block the arrests.

By 1:30 p.m., demonstrators were told the courthouse had been shut down.

ICE agents arrested three immigrants at San Francisco’s immigration court, triggering protests and a shutdown of court proceedings.