Civic
by San Francisco Public Press & KSFP, Mel Baker
Latest episode
Somebody's Watching You Part 2: How San Francisco Became a…
Somebody's Watching You Part 2: How San Francisco Became a…
About this podcast
Civic is the flagship audio program from the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit news institution, covering important local issues and the unique experiences of living and working in San Francisco. The radio program airs Tuesdays and Thursdays on KSFP -LP 102.5 FM in San Francisco.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 588 episodes
- Somebody's Watching You Part 2: How San Francisco Became a Surveillance City · 29 min · Episode 461San Francisco was once a national leader in protecting residents from government surveillance. Today, hundreds of license plate readers scan passing cars, police drones patrol…
- Somebody's Watching You Part 1: America's Long History of Spying on Its Own · 29 min · Episode 460Who's watching us, what does it mean for our privacy and civil liberties, and how did we get here? In Somebody's Watching You, a three-part investigative series from Civic and…
- San Francisco's AI Housing Crisis Is Breaking the Rules of Econ 101 · 34 min · Episode 459This episode of “Civic” explores the history of displacement among San Francisco's technology booms and busts. Today, major job losses are coinciding with increasing rental…
- Civic Special: Who’s Spending Big on San Francisco’s Election? · 1 h 13 min · Episode 458The League of Women Voters organized this panel discussion on money in San Francisco’s November election, held at the Internet Archive on Oct. 8. Lila LaHood, executive director…
- Civic Special: Short takes on the San Francisco and State Ballot Propositions · 29 min · Episode 457Make sense of the numerous November 2026 San Francisco and California ballot measures, with these one-minute explanations by reporters from the San Francisco Public Press and…
- Civic Special: Inside Your San Francisco Election Ballot · 1 h 4 min · Episode 456he November 2026 election is pivotal at the national, state and local levels. San Francisco voters will weigh local races and propositions on Muni funding, housing, the Great…
- End of a Healthcare Revolution: How San Francisco is Unraveling its Groundbreaking Program for Youth in Crisis · 29 min · Episode 455For nearly 60 years, San Francisco built a pioneering system to care for young people in crisis. What began during the Summer of Love with the nation's first runaway youth…
- Debate Over San Francisco Props C and D · 59 min · Episode 454Civic Special - San Franciscans will decide on June 2nd whether to tax corporations whose CEOs make 100 times the median salary of their lowest paid workers or raise a more…
- Inside San Francisco’s Women’s Jail · 29 min · Episode 453After at least 19 women in San Francisco’s county jail alleged they were subjected to a mass strip search while deputies recorded on body-worn cameras, advocates, attorneys and…
- Civic Presents - Rival San Francisco Chinatown Clubs Hold Congressional Candidate Forum · 48 min · Episode 452English Only Version - As they compete for the seat Nancy Pelosi is vacating, congressional candidates in San Francisco are taking divergent approaches to immigration and how to…
- Civic Special - Crossing State Lines for Abortion Access · 59 min · Episode 451The California Constitution guarantees abortion access. More people are traveling here to access reproductive health care as their own states pass aggressive laws to prohibit…
- Who Decides? Trans Youth, Federal Power and the Battle Over Care · 30 min · Episode 450In this episode of Civic, reporter Sylvie Sturm examines how federal policy — through executive orders, funding threats and regulatory pressure — is reshaping access to…
- Civic Special - Local experts illuminate candidate races and expected measures on city ballots in June and November · 59 min · Episode 449A panel discussion on San Francisco's 2026 elections. “Overpaid CEO Act," a major charter reform measure as well as the race to replace Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi in Congress.
- Civic Special - Formerly Incarcerated Performers Headline Berkeley Rep’s Mainstage · 29 min · Episode 447Guest host Rosie Bultman tells the story of the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project is culminating its run as Berkeley Repertory Theater’s first “company in…
- A Return to Harm? LGBTQ Youth Conversion Therapy Supreme Court Considers Upending Protections · 30 min · Episode 446This episode traces the path from the days when homosexuality was labeled a mental illness, to bans on harmful therapy meant to turn LGBTQ minors straight, to a Supreme Court…
- Civic Special - San Francisco “Family Zoning” Housing Plan · 59 min · Episode 445As part of an effort to meet state mandated housing requirements, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has introduced a "Family Zoning Plan" that would increase building height…
- Broke-Ass Stuart, Pioneer Offline-Online Influencer, Looks Back at 20 Years of Love, Death and Dive Bars. · 27 min · Episode 444Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, started with a homemade zine, listing cheap eats, drinks and events. Along the way he became a TV travel host, publisher and mayoral…
- Why Are So Many Older Adults Unhoused, and What Can You Do About It? · 53 min · Episode 443Homelessness among older adults is on the rise in California. Nearly half of all single homeless adults in the state are age 50 and older, and many of them are experiencing…
- How Federal Cuts Threaten Research and Lives · 30 min · Episode 442When federal science budgets are gutted, the fallout reaches far beyond labs. From Alzheimer’s trials at the University of California San Francisco to cancer studies at the…
- What Medicaid Cuts Mean for San Francisco · 34 min · Episode 441President Trump calls it “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but critics say the latest federal budget will slash more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade — cutting…
- Social Security Under Strain · 30 min · Episode 440Staffing cuts, office closures and stricter rules are straining the Social Security system. In this episode, we hear from beneficiaries, workers, and advocates about increasingly…
- The Silent Killer — Chronic Hepatitis B Threatens the Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. · 29 min · Episode 439Chronic hepatitis B can lay dormant for years until the infection has caused life-threatening damage to the liver. We hear the stories of patients living with the disease, and…
- Sidelined After Service: What Federal Cuts Mean for Veterans · 32 min · Episode 438Veterans and advocates are sounding the alarm as massive federal job cuts and plans to eliminate 83,000 positions at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — championed as…
- How Do We Respond to Attacks on Public Media, DEI and Democracy? · 56 min · Episode 437The San Francisco Public Press on April 30, 2025, hosted a fireside chat recorded for this “Civic” episode about attacks on diversity, democracy and media with Ricardo…
- Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up San Francisco Street Conditions · 30 min · Episode 436San Francisco's mayor and police department are facing praise and scorn for cracking down on homelessness and visible substance use amidst shelter and treatment bed shortages and…
- Journalists Are Fighting Back Against Investors Dismantling Newspapers Around the Country · 30 min · Episode 435The U.S. news media, broadly, is under attack by a leader who calls journalists the enemy of the people. But the destruction of local newspapers has been underway for years with…
- Thousands Across Bay Area Are Mobilizing Against Mass Deportation · 40 min · Episode 434San Francisco's immigrant communities are facing a crisis as the Trump administration threatens mass deportations. For four decades, San Francisco has been a refuge for…
- RE-RELEASE: Ukrainians in SF Are Anxious and Angry · 30 min · Episode 433This week marks three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the conflict shows no signs of ending. On the eve of this grim anniversary, Russia launched its largest drone…
- A New Aggressive Anti-Abortion Group Was Founded in San Francisco · 30 min · Episode 432Ever since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, emboldened anti-abortion activists have used increasingly aggressive efforts to shut down abortion access in San Francisco. In…
- Thank you for listening 2024 · 3 minThank you for listening. To support this work, visit: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/donate/
- LGBTQ Latin Americans Offer Safety From Hostile Substance Use Recovery Groups · 39 min · Episode 431LGBTQ Latin Americans come to San Francisco seeking relief from oppression and hostility. But when they join substance use disorder support groups, many encounter scorn —…
- Why the Navy Conducted Radiation Experiments on Humans - Exposed episode 2 · 32 min · Episode 430The Navy conducted radiation experiments on humans at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, turning hundreds of servicemen and shipyard workers into unwitting…
- A Community of Color Contends With the Navy’s Toxic Legacy - Exposed episode 1 · 38 min · Episode 429Decades after the Navy closed a Cold War radiation research lab at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the mess isn't completely cleaned up. Neighbors in…
- Special Civic episodes coming Monday · 2 minWatch for a special investigative 2 episode podcast dropping Monday, November 25th.
- Latinx in SF Use Tech for Post-COVID Trauma Recovery · 32 min · Episode 428During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Latinx residents experienced higher rates of infection and deaths, and greater losses of income and homes compared…
- Should SF’s Great Highway Be a Park or a Roadway? · 38 min · Episode 427San Francisco’s proposition K is the most heated issue in this year’s local election. It asks whether the city should close a segment of the Great Highway, a coastal…
- Proposition G: Making Housing Truly Affordable for Seniors in San Francisco · 26 min · Episode 426Affordable housing is too expensive for many in San Francisco, leaving people in untenable living situations: rentals they can’t afford, overcrowded single room occupancy hotels…
- Bonus: San Francisco Propositions November 2024 · 25 minIn the November, 2024 election San Francisco voters are being asked to decide whether to approve a wide range of issues in the form of 15 local ballot propositions, including…
- Commission Impossible: San Francisco Governance on the Ballot · 35 min · Episode 425San Francisco commission reform is on the November 2024 ballot. If either Proposition D or E passes, they will change the city’s commissions in different ways, which have had a…
- Overdose Prevention Centers Save Lives, But Is SF Listening? · 30 min · Episode 424There’s a glimmer of hope in San Francisco’s overdose crisis as the rate at which people are dying appears to be slowing down. But the city’s health director warned the public…
- Fighting Secrecy in Local Government · 30 min · Episode 423Decisions by local and state governments have major impacts on our daily lives. But as transparency about those decisions decreases, and underfunded newsrooms struggle to get…
- Is San Francisco a Sanctuary When You Don’t Have Housing? · 35 min · Episode 422Increases in the number of migrants arriving in San Francisco have stress-tested the city’s shelter system, revealing the dire need for more housing and support for families. We…
- Unheard: The Plight of Maya Struggling with Addiction in SF · 39 min · Episode 421The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic led to a rise in fatal overdoses among the tens of thousands of Indigenous Maya living in the Bay area. That alarmed Latinx advocates and…
- Forgetting the Lessons and Losses of Covid · 22 min · Episode 420The first years of the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us and it’s time for an early reckoning of our successes and failures. An epidemiologist shares how a lack of public trust led…
- Group Helps Asian American Communities Feel Safe · 16 min · Episode 419Three years ago, when violence against Asian Americans spiked, local organizations took action to improve public safety. One group, the Coalition for Community Safety and Justice…
- Civic Roundtable: Three San Francisco Reporters Talk About Covering Drug Use and Overdoses · 49 min · Episode 418Lila LaHood, publisher of the San Francisco Public Press, talks with Nuala Bishari from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sydney Johnson from KQED, and Sylvie Sturm from “Civic” and…
- What You Might Find on Your San Francisco Ballot: Party County Central Committees · 31 min · Episode 417Election Special: Voters in San Francisco registered with the Peace & Freedom, Green, Republican or Democratic parties have extra choices in the March 5th election that only come…
- Proposition F: Tying Cash Welfare to Drug Screening · 36 min · Episode 416March 2024 Election Special: Mayor London Breed is facing one of the most pivotal moments of her political career as she campaigns for reelection amidst a dual crisis of…
- Making Sense of Voting on Judges in San Francisco · 30 min · Episode 415March 2024 Election Special: Why are San Francisco residents being asked to vote on County Superior Court Judges? We talk to University of San Francisco professor of politics…
- FIXED: The Grassroots Effort to Save Lives: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 6 · 31 min · Episode 414*Audio fixed* Fentanyl-related deaths among teens more than tripled across the U.S. from 2019 to 2021. And the CDC reports that two thirds of teens who died had someone nearby…
