Little Free Libraries have sprung up across the Bay Area in recent years in curbside boxes that are as unique as their stewards, from a Victorian steampunk-style version in San Jose to a midcentury mod in Pinole. They’re not outliers, either. The nonprofit that promotes these little book-filled houses has registered more than 150,000 throughout the world.

The idea began in 2009, when Todd H. Bol erected a book-sharing box outside his home in Hudson, Wisconsin. Word spread. Soon, other book lovers began making their own curbside libraries. By 2012, the Little Free Library had incorporated as a nonprofit to promote and inspire neighborhood book exchanges.

The goal is simple: Encourage literacy and the joy of reading by providing free access to books of all kinds. Stewards of the curbside libraries implore their visitors to take a book and to leave one, too. You can keep a book for as long as you like, then pass it along to a friend, return it to the library or replace it with a different one. No one is standing guard or levying late fines.

The Bay Area has hundreds of Little Free Libraries scattered through neighborhoods in every city. You can find a Little Free Library — or the inspiration to create one yourself — via littlefreelibrary.org. Meanwhile, let us introduce you to some of the stewards in Bay Area neighborhoods.

The Victorian steampunk library

Michael and Lori Tierney, 368 N. 64th St., San Jose

Established: 2014

Michael and Lori are both chemists, although Michael is semi-retired. Their Little Free Library, built by Michael with a nod to steampunk and San Jose’s Hensley Historic District, was one of the first 2,000 libraries registered. It’s officially No. 1,878.

“My wife and I both love libraries and books,” Michael says, “and we thought it would be a neat thing to do.”

The couple put stickers in each book that passes through the library, and have so far seen more than 7,000 books come and go.

A few years ago, the library was vandalized — twice — and Michael considered taking it down. When neighbors heard, they rallied behind the little library, encouraging him to continue it and donating money for repairs and books to restock. Michael needed no other convincing.

What’s in the library: At the moment, options include “Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from the Great Outdoors” by Jim Burnett, “Red Storm Rising” by Tom Clancy and “CMOS VLSI Design” by M.S. Suma.

A cottage of books

Gillianna Diaz, 430 Boulder Drive, Antioch

Established: 2020

Gillianna’s Blessing Library, contained in a cottage-style box, is the work of 13-year-old Gillianna Diaz, a seventh grader at Antioch’s Holy Rosary Catholic school. Gillianna has always wanted to help others in her community. When she learned about the Little Free Libraries, she told her mother she wanted to open one.

To raise funds for the library, Gillianna used the money she’d earned doing chores to buy chocolates that she sold outside her house, lemonade stand-style. When word got out about what she was trying to do, people from all over Antioch began contributing. She raised $500 in three days.

Sticks and Stones Creations, a local company that does custom carpentry, offered to make Gillianna’s library box on two conditions: that she help build it and that she donate the money she would have paid for the box to charity. No problem. Gillianna enjoyed learning how to build the box. Already a volunteer for Hijas Del Campo, a group that assists migrant farm workers, she used the money to purchase Christmas baskets for the workers and their families.

Although Gillianna has struggled with her own reading, she recognizes the importance of books and literacy, says her proud mother, Nereida Sarat.

What’s in the library: “Dune” by Frank Herbert, “A Feast for Crows” by George R.R. Martin, “Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville

The Miniature House

Rynn Liana Boyden, 263 Sullivan Court, Pleasanton

Established: February 2022

When COVID shut down communities, many people found themselves with a lot of free time. Rynn, a barista who attends Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, began taking walks around their neighborhood, which boasts several Little Free Libraries.

An avid reader, Rynn decided to open their own library. Embarking on a little research beforehand, Rynn checked out all the libraries they could find, taking note of the style of the box, the colors used and the selection of books inside. They borrowed a book from each library to include in theirs, then purchased a custom-made box from Etsy, painting and decorating it to match their own suburban home.

The library is stocked with Rynn’s own favorite books and those they purchased thrifting.

“Reading is very important for our community. I love doing it,” Rynn says. “I think (this) is also a good place for people to donate books and to share what they read.”

What’s in the library: “Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever” by Richard Scarry, “A Light in the Attic” by Shel Silverstein, “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins

The Midcentury Modern Library

Nicole Botha, 960 Barkley Court, Pinole

Established: 2020

Nicole was still a newcomer to Pinole when she came across her first Little Free Library. She thought it was not only a great idea in general, but a good way to get to know her neighbors and become part of the community.

“I’ve lived in areas where I never got to know my neighbors,” she says. The Little Free Library “has been a bright spot for the community.”

Nicole and her husband built the library box themselves, giving it a midcentury modern feel, and keep it well stocked with help from random donations, including boxes of books left alongside the library.

What’s in the library: “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul on Tough Stuff: Stories of Tough Times and Lessons Learned” by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, “A Time for Mercy” by John Grisham; “Port Mortuary” by Patricia Cornwell

The Eagle Project

Brian Coons, 557 Kahrs Ave., Pleasant Hill

Established: 2018

The Little Free Library outside Pleasant Hill’s Episcopal Church of the Resurrection is one of the larger libraries in the area, with six shelves packed with a variety of books. The library box was an Eagle Scout project done by then College Park High student Brian, who did all the planning, fundraising, construction and initial stocking of the library.

Now that Brian is at UC Davis, his dad, Richard Coons, has taken over stewardship of the library. He says it is organic and pretty much takes care of itself. People take books and drop off books. The shelves always are filled, and Richard just keeps an eye on it to make sure nothing is amiss.

What’s in the library: “Treasure Island” by Robert Lewis Stevenson, “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown, “Dancing in the Light” by Shirley MacLaine

Little Free Libraries by the numbers

Some 250 million books have been shared through registered Little Free Libraries, profoundly increasing book access for readers of all ages and backgrounds.

More than 1,500 Little Free Libraries have been opened at no cost in communities where they are needed most, through the organization’s Impact Library Program.

Eleven cities have adopted the Read in Color initiative, which has distributed more than 30,000 diverse books celebrating BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized voices, and other communities have joined the Native American initiative to provide books on reservations.

Worldwide, 115 countries have joined the Little Free Library network.

The new law is intended to ensure that seniors and other adults — in particular those who rely on cannabis for medicinal reasons — have access marijuana vaping products. Proposed by Supervisor Diane Burgis, the ordinance allows permitted cannabis retailers located in unincorporated areas to sell and deliver the products.

The ordinance passed 3-2 with supervisors Federal Glover and Candace Anderson voting no.

During the first reading of the ordinance on Dec. 6, Burgis said the motivation behind the revised ordinance was that the 2019 law hurt seniors and other adults who rely on cannabis vaping products for both recreational and medical reasons. In particular, it affected homebound seniors in unincorporated areas, she said.

“What we’re trying to do by having policies here in Contra Costa County is to give people a way to access safe products,” Burgis said.

At the December meeting, both Glover and Anderson voted against the ordinance, saying it would send mixed messages to the public and betray an effort led by Contra Costa youth who wanted the ban in the first place.

“We clearly took a leadership position back in 2019 when we had a number of our students throughout this county that came before us and asked for the leadership to put this ban in place,” Glover said. “And I’m not going to turn away from that. I think it’s important that that we listen to our youth when they cry out and ask for this help.”

Glover said there is no evidence “that vaping does not cause problems to individuals” and partially lifting the ban would send “false messages or confusing messages to our public that it’s OK to do this this while at the same time saying that we want to prevent it.”

On Tuesday, groups advocating for cannabis access told the Board of Supervisors that banning pot vape products has created an illicit black market for the product and disproportionately affected vulnerable populations who rely on cannabis primarily for medical reasons.

Renee Lee, a resident of the retirement community of Rossmoor who runs an organization with a mission to help seniors legally access and safety use cannabis, said the majority of medicinal cannabis users in the unincorporated community near Walnut Creek prefer vaping.

“I am so happy,” Lee said after Tuesday’s vote. “It’s like a big weight off my shoulders … (the ordinance) had been very unfair.”

Sarah Armstrong of American for Safe Access, the country’s largest and oldest advocacy organization for medical cannabis patients, said forcing people to travel medicinal marijuana “often stimulates a black market because they simply cannot go to the nearest dispensary if they don’t have one near them.”

Before the vote, Burgis emphasized that the ordinance makes no change to the current ban of tobacco and flavored tobacco vaping products; nor does it allow for new dispensaries in unincorporated areas.

“This does allow the sale of one particular set of cannabis products, which are already sold in many cities of Contra Costa County and are available to purchase in nearly every other part of the state that has approved cannabis retail sales,” she said.

In passing the ordinance, the board also directed Contra Costa Health Services to begin working on an awareness program about the dangers of youth cannabis vaping. Supervisor John Gioia said creation of such a program was a major factor in his decision to support the new legislation.

Utility crews raced to restore power to large chunks of the Bay Area as officials in the region’s urban centers reported hundreds of downed trees and numerous washed-out roads from the latest powerful atmospheric river to roar ashore this week. To the west — most notably in Capitola and Rio del Mar along the Santa Cruz coast — one of the largest storm surges in recent memory caused significant damage to waterfront businesses and tourist attractions.

The damage assessments came as meteorologists warned of more rain in the forecast over the next several days, with a parade of storms marching across the Pacific Ocean toward Northern California promising to further inundate the Bay Area this weekend and early next week.

“Be ready for more heavy rainfall with high probability of flooding, especially as we go into early next week,” said Rick Canepa, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “Just be prepared, try to do as much storm prep as you can. I know it’s a bit relentless.”

Unlike previous systems to hit the region over the last couple of weeks, the storm that hit Wednesday and Thursday brought punishing winds that gusted to 101 mph in central Marin County on Wednesday evening. In Oakland and San Francisco, the wind gusts of about 60 mph tore through each city — dislodging drought-weakened trees into power lines and onto roadways.

Across the state, some 440,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers lost power during the storm, the utility provider announced. By Thursday afternoon, 115,000 people remained in the dark, a figure that was expected to drop to 75,000 by the end of the day. In the Bay Area, more than 66,000 people remained without power at 2 p.m. Thursday, including about 24,000 people in the North Bay and 17,000 people in the Peninsula. Another 15,000 people remained in the dark in the East Bay, while nearly 8,000 people were left without power in the South Bay. About 2,200 people were without power in San Francisco.

Authorities in the North Bay blamed the storm for two fatalities, one of them a toddler. The 2-year-old boy, who has not been identified, died in the Sonoma County town of Occidental on Wednesday night after a tree fell into a mobile home, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Juan Valencia said Thursday.

The boy was sitting on the couch in the living room at about 5:15 a.m. when he was crushed, Valencia said. Fire paramedics tried to revive the child with CPR and other live-saving efforts, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 19-year-old woman also died Wednesday morning when her vehicle hydroplaned on a standing patch of water and slammed into a pole in Fairfield, local authorities said.

The potent system was fueled by a “bomb cyclone” — a swirling area of intense low pressure that churned in the Pacific before slamming into the West Coast, sending a swell of moisture into California that was accompanied by dangerously strong winds.

The storm dropped 4 to 6 inches of rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains and 1 to 2 inches across much of the rest of the Bay Area, including San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco.

Across the Peninsula, the East Bay and the South Bay, local emergency response officials voiced relief that their most dire fears about the storm failed to materialize. Even so, they raced to make repairs ahead of the next deluge.

“Overall, we’ve fared pretty well,” said Leslie Arroyo, a spokesperson for the City of South San Francisco, after the community largely endured only downed trees and a toppled gas station canopy. “We’re pleased with how things have been very minimal.”

In East Palo Alto, workers drained water from the large subterranean garage at the 160-unit Woodland Park Apartments, where cars flooded up to their wheel wells Saturday. Shoveling deep mud from an adjacent sidewalk, one worker, who asked not to be identified, said that “it’s a lot of work — it’s extensive.”

Almost 300 trees fell in San Francisco over a 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. Thursday, according to Department of Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon. In the West Portal neighborhood, one of those trees knocked down 500 feet of bus lines, forcing riders to be rerouted while crews worked to restore service.

In East Oakland, a roughly 40-foot section of a eucalyptus tree fell on a two-story, eight-unit apartment complex Wednesday evening at the end of Lynde Street, along Peralta Creek. The hole allowed rain to pour in and flood the homes, forcing the complex to be evacuated.

As daylight broke Thursday, Victoria James marveled at how her family narrowly avoided tragedy. A 10-year resident of the building, James recalled being with six other members of her family in their second-floor unit when they felt a strong shaking and saw the lights go out.

“We thought it was a 6.9 earthquake,” said James, 39, after getting her first daylight look at the damage. “We had to leave right away because the tree was going to block the door. We left with what was on our backs.”

James, like several of her other neighbors, had moved to a local hotel with hotel with her family — and she shuddered at how they narrowly avoided tragedy.

“These trees should have been cut down a long time ago,” James said. She and another decade-long resident, Patty Bigornia, voiced concerns that local officials did not do enough to mitigate the tree risk, despite residents having raised concerns about it in the past.

“I’m just glad nobody was hurt,” said Bigornia, 54. “But this was 100% preventable.”

Several roads remained washed out or closed due to debris Thursday, including nearly a dozen in Santa Clara County.

The next round of rain should arrive late Friday evening, dropping light to moderate rain through the weekend, said Canepa. A second, more powerful atmospheric river should arrive late Sunday night — bringing even more potential for flooding to the waterlogged Bay Area.

“Everything is saturated. The soils can’t really handle hardly any more,” Canepa said.

Lisa Krieger and Gabriel Greschler contributed to this report. 

Around 8:15 p.m. March 27, police responded to reports of a shooting outside Pinole Valley Lanes, 1580 Pinole Valley Rd. When officers arrived, they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. A shooting suspect, initially described only as male with a long ponytail and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, managed to evade a police perimeter.

Investigators said they learned that a fight inside the bowling alley between two groups of people later spread outside, where a male pulled out a gun and fired shots that injured people and damaged vehicles.

Shortly after the shooting, police named Sirjantz Moliga as a person of interest, and U.S. Marshals took him into custody around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Hayward address.

Moliga was listed in custody Wednesday afternoon on $900,000 bail, with no listed hearing dates in a records check. A Contra Costa County District Attorney’s spokesman said Tuesday that prosecutors had received and were reviewing case information, with a charging decision to come at a later date.

Anyone with information may call Pinole police at 510-724-1111 and reference case No. 2022-0449.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.

But with 40 seconds left, a 36-yard touchdown run by senior running back Larry McDonald extended Pinole Valley’s lead to 34-21. The Spartans finally could relax and let the celebration start a little early.

The score held up as time expired, and the Spartans (9-4) raced to celebrate with coach Troy McConico, who had just led his alma mater to their first state championship in program history.

“I’m kind of speechless,” said McConico, a 2005 graduate of the school. “This is a proud moment, it’s something that we’ve worked for all season. We expected this with this senior class. I’ve seen them come in as freshmen and it’s the perfect time to let them go out at this level.”

“He’s a great coach and has great leadership,” Pinole Valley quarterback Maddux Wu said. “He put us in the right place and has done the right things for us.”

Final:

Pinole Valley 34 – Mendota 21

The Spartans are CIF 7-AA State Champions! pic.twitter.com/3yImMml0bV

— Jesús Cano (@Jesus_Cano88) December 4, 2022

Wu also put his team in a position to win.

He completed eight of 11 pass attempts for 186 yards and threw two touchdowns. This was a drastic improvement from last week’s performance in the Division VI North Coast Section championship where he only completed one of his nine passes, although that one pass ended up being the game-winning play.

“We weren’t going to ask him to throw the ball a lot, but when we needed him to throw he was able to make those important passes,” McConico said.

In the first drive of the game, he connected with Ellis Shasmid-Deen for a 38-yard touchdown pass to put the Spartans up 7-0.

It was the beginning of a back-and-forth first quarter.

Mendota (9-6) responded back in its first possession as Chris Mejia tied the game on a 16-yard run.

James Gordon III gave Pinole Valley a 14-7 lead on a 1-yard run, but the Aztecs had an answer when they got the ball back. Mejia ran in for a 33-yard touchdown to make it 14-14.

With 20 seconds left in the first half, Wu threw his second touchdown to Shamsid-Deen. The 25-yard touchdown pass gave Pinole Valley a 20-14 lead and momentum heading into halftime.

“I just had to complete more of my passes (compared to last week),” Wu said. “Ellis is that guy. I just gotta give him the ball and he does all the magic.”

That’s what happened in the fourth quarter. With 8:18 left, Wu handed the ball off to Shamsid-Deen, who ran through a pile of Mendota linemen and into the endzone for a 72-yard touchdown run to put Pinole Valley up 27-14. Shamsid-Deen ended the night with 189 offensive yards and three touchdowns.

Q2: With 20 seconds left, Maddux Wu connects with Ellis Shamsid-Deen for a 25-yard touchdown pass. PAT is blocked.

Pinole Valley 20 – Mendota 14 pic.twitter.com/esRlpQRT87

— Jesús Cano (@Jesus_Cano88) December 4, 2022

“We knew that our team had tons of potential,” Shamsid-Deen said. “If we locked in, stayed disciplined and did the little things no one can stop us.”

Mendota was still fighting as a 3-yard keeper from quarterback Juan Ceja cut the Aztecs’ deficit to 27-21, but ultimately they weren’t able to catch up to Pinole Valley.

Just two years into his tenure as head coach, McConico was able to lead his team to its first section championship since 1979 and walk off the field as a state champion.

“It’s Spartan pride. That’s all it comes down to,” McConico said.

Q4: That should be it. Larry McDonald’s 36-yard touchdown run puts Pinole Valley up 34-21.

39 seconds left

If this holds, the Spartans are going to be CIF 7-AA state champions. pic.twitter.com/WFP5OcTWtA

— Jesús Cano (@Jesus_Cano88) December 4, 2022

The Spartans beat Justin-Siena 7-0 on Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Napa to win the North Coast Section Division VI championship.

“I can’t even describe this feeling,” said Pinole Valley coach Troy McConico, a 2005 graduate of the school. “This win is for so many guys who didn’t have the chance to play for an NCS championship. It’s a proud moment.”

Justin-Siena (7-6) had not allowed a single point during its playoff run — until the third quarter Friday.

That proved costly for the Napa school.

With 3:11 left in the period, Pinole Valley quarterback Maddux Wu sailed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ellis Shamsid-Deen for the decisive play. Wu did not complete any of his seven pass attempts in the first half but was determined to make a change in the second half.

“New quarter, new me. I just had to do better,” Wu said. “They couldn’t guard Ellis. I gave him a nice lead and we got the touchdown.”

Wu isn’t a quarterback by trait, but Pinole Valley (8-4) operates on a run-heavy single-wing offense. McConico knew from the beginning that Wu was the guy to control the offense.

“Maddux is a great player, but in our offense, we don’t play with a traditional quarterback,” McConico said. “We just got a guy that can manage everything and throw the ball when we need to. He stepped up to the plate.”

That was Wu’s only completion of the game, but his struggles throwing the ball may have benefited Pinole Valley, as Justin-Siena coach Tyler Streblow said his team wasn’t expecting a pass on the key play.

“I think we were kind of lulled to sleep a little bit,” Streblow said. “I think we were expecting a run and they got us on one. That was a great play call, great execution, great throw.”

“We made one mistake. They did a great job and made us pay for it.”

The touchdown provided a jolt to the Spartans’ defense, which locked down Justin-Siena and forced the Braves to turn the ball over on downs with 3:47 left in the game.

Pinole Valley found itself in trouble when it fumbled moments later. Justin-Siena recovered and returned the ball to Pinole Valley’s 25-yard line.

Once again, Shamsid-Deen was there to make a game-saving play.

With the outcome in doubt, Justin-Siena went for it all on fourth down by throwing a deep pass, but Shamsid-Deen made an interception and returned the ball to around midfield. Pinole Valley ran out the clock and the celebrating began.

“We got the pick and secured the win,” Shamsid-Deen said.

Pinole Valley could have gone into halftime with some momentum.

With less than a minute left before the break, Larry McDonald, who led the team with 228 rushing yards, escaped for a 75-yard run and was tackled at Justin-Siena’s five-yard line.

Pinole Valley called its last timeout when some of its players started cramping. Ultimately, the Spartans were held at the 1-yard line as time expired.

Luckily for the Spartans, that sequence didn’t come back to haunt them

“It worked out for the best,” McConico said with a laugh. “But we should have been on the ball way faster.”

Pinole Valley will now move on to a CIF Northern California regional championship game next week. The matchups will be announced Sunday.

“It’s a great time to be a Spartan,” McConico said.

One-year-old “Chanel” had fled from the suspects’ car after it crashed Nov. 17 in Berkeley.

Pinole Sgt. Justin Rogers said Wednesday the dog was found Tuesday by someone in Berkeley who took her to a local veterinarian. The vet was able to read an implanted computer chip that led her to being reunited with her owner Tuesday.

The robbery happened about 12:36 p.m. Nov. 17 at an apartment in the 500 block of Sunnyview Drive.

Multiple suspects forced open the door and held the 41-year-old woman inside at gunpoint, police said. The suspects ransacked the apartment and stole some of her property, including the dog.

The suspects fled in a black Dodge Charger that had been reported stolen out of Tracy two months ago, Rogers said. California Highway Patrol officers spotted the Charger driving westbound on Interstate 80 near Fitzgerald Drive and began pursuing it before terminating the pursuit due to safety concerns.

After the pursuit ended, the Charger was involved in a two-vehicle collision on I-80 near University Avenue in Berkeley. The three suspects fled the car but were soon captured and arrested on robbery and weapons charges, police said. Chanel also ran from the vehicle and was not found at the time.

Police found a rifle, two pistols and items belonging to the Pinole woman inside the vehicle.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call the police Criminal Investigations Division at 510-724-1111.

That scenario could soon become a possibility for Bay Area cities large and small should they fail to convince the state they’re doing enough to help solve a deepening housing crisis.

It’s all thanks to a little-used section of state housing law known as the “builder’s remedy.” Uncertainties remain, but the three-decade-old provision could enable developers to push through projects of virtually any size almost anywhere they please, as long as a portion of the building includes affordable units.

The builder’s remedy would only apply to Bay Area cities without a state-approved plan to meet their upcoming homebuilding goals, which are updated every eight years. The penalty doesn’t kick in until early next year, but many jurisdictions appear unlikely to have plans ready in time.

Housing experts and advocates say that means a surge of proposals may be on the horizon, especially in wealthier areas that have made it challenging to build denser housing, but where developers stand to see higher profits if they can build.

“If you’re not going to tell developers where they can build multifamily housing, the state is saying they don’t have to follow your rules,” said San Francisco real estate attorney Daniel Golub, adding he’s received “very substantial interest” about the builder’s remedy in recent months.

It’s already starting in Southern California – where over a hundred cities are behind on their housing plans due last year and developers have blitzed a handful of affluent enclaves with builder’s remedy proposals in recent months. That includes more than a dozen high-rise projects in Santa Monica and a 2,300-unit oceanside complex in Redondo Beach.

In the Bay Area, cities and counties have until Jan. 31 to get their housing plans certified and stave off a similar outcome. But so far, just two cities – Alameda and Emeryville – have approvals. However, the growing interest in the builder’s remedy is adding pressure to meet the fast-approaching deadline.

A big part of why developers see the provision as a viable option now, despite it being on the books since 1990, appears to be that new state laws and policies have added teeth to the planning process for housing.

Homebuilding targets set by the state have doubled or even tripled for many cities. As a whole, the Bay Area is on the hook for approving more than 441,000 units for all income levels over the next decade, representing a 15% increase in the region’s total homes.

For the current expiring eight-year cycle, the Bay Area permitted only about 190,000 units, according to state housing data. Of that amount, just 44,000 are for low- or middle-income residents, well under half the combined goal for those income levels.

This time around, state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have made clear they won’t simply rubber-stamp cities’ housing plans, and intend to hold jurisdictions accountable for actually meeting their new goals. The state is threatening fines, withholding affordable housing funding and loss of permitting authority for cities that skirt their housing responsibilities.

Paul Campos, a senior vice president with the Bay Area Building Industry Association, said despite the rush of builder’s remedy proposals in Southern California, the provision’s requirement that 20% of units be affordable makes it challenging for projects to actually “pencil out” – developer-speak for “turn enough of a profit to get built.”

In part because of that financial reality, Campos said it’s unlikely the Bay Area will see many projects that are drastically larger than what local zoning laws already allow. Instead, he views the provision as a way to “soften or eliminate some heavy-handed local regulations.” For example, developers could add a few stories onto apartment projects to offset city development fees.

The type of city where the builder’s remedy makes the most sense, Campos and other experts said, is one where rents are high and developers have often struggled to get large projects across the finish line.

Palo Alto, which has a population and median rent level roughly similar to that in Santa Monica, could fit the bill.

“(Santa Monica is) encountering now what we very possibly will be in three months,” said Palo Alto Mayor Pat Burt.

Burt said Palo Alto is “racing” to finalize its plan for where new housing should be built, but he doesn’t expect to meet the state’s Jan. 31 deadline. It’s unclear what the upscale Silicon Valley suburb, home to Stanford University, would do if faced with a flurry of builder’s remedy applications. Burt expects an eventual court ruling on the Southern California proposals will determine whether Palo Alto would need to approve them.

Sonja Trauss, founder of the San Francisco-based housing advocacy group YIMBY Law, which launched an online workshop to help take advantage of the builder’s remedy, acknowledged the scheme has not been legally tested. Potential sticking points include how the state’s strict environmental laws apply and whether a city can deny proposals by essentially self-certifying its housing plan.

Another question is whether a builder’s remedy proposal would still be valid if a noncompliant city gets its housing plan certified after the planning and permitting process for the project has already begun. The state housing department has said such projects must go through.

Still, Trauss said cities planning on challenging the provision shouldn’t expect an easy victory.

“They may go to court, and they could prevail, but it’s definitely going to be a fight,” she said.

For some local officials, a brewing clash over the builder’s remedy is only the latest result of what they say are punitive state laws and policies that are wresting away local control and threatening to damage the character of their cities. The specter of largely unrestricted development is creating a sense of urgency to push back.

“It’s the responsibility of the state legislature to step in and ensure we don’t witness a drastic overreach,” said Burt.

“It’s time to actually have enforceable standards,” Wiener said. “What’s more important, local control or having enough housing for everyone?”

For now, he said the builder’s remedy appears to be serving its primary purpose by convincing cities to get their housing plans in order sooner rather than later.

“The goal is not to ever have to invoke the builder’s remedy,” he said.

“I’ve got a good line, and I just trust them,” said McDonald, who finished with 148 yards on 30 carries. “I feel like nobody can tackle me, too.”

Pinole Valley’s 20-7 upset victory over top seed St. Mary’s in the North Coast Section Division VI semifinals wasn’t achieved by unloading a salvo of 50-yard touchdown runs and long bombs to deep receivers. Instead, coach Troy McConico’s team ended the previously-unbeaten Panthers’ season by calling four-yard run after four-yard run.

How the Spartans went about their business was no surprise after the first drive, but St. Mary’s could not stop the predictable when faced with crushing blocks and a bulldozer-esque Pinole Valley line. The Spartans ran for 190 yards on 46 carries, and only three of those totes went for negative yardage.

“They really were surprised by how physical we were,” junior lineman Leonardo Cruzado said. “We’re Spartans, and we never gave up on any of the plays.”

After McDonald’s first touchdown in the opening quarter, Pinole Valley’s defense locked in. With about three minutes to go in the second quarter, cornerback Donovan Robinson picked off a pass to give his team great field position. Powerback James Gordon III capitalized on the opportunity by punching in a short touchdown to put St. Mary’s into a 14-0 hole at halftime.

“We know who our guys are and that they want to play a physical game,” McConico said. “We feel like when we play our game, it’s us against us.”

Wu wasn’t asked to throw it 30 times like some quarterbacks, but he kept the offense on schedule with short passes to his playmakers. A 21-yard touchdown pass on a screen to McDonald late in the third quarter essentially ended the game and punched Pinole Valley’s ticket to an NCS championship game next week against Justin-Siena.

“They played with a high safety, and St. Mary’s saw us running a lot, so the flats were open,” Wu said. “I just kept hitting them (with short passes).”

The St. Mary’s team that scored 42 against Arcata last week was nowhere to be seen, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the team was able to crack 100 yards from scrimmage. Coach John Trotman said his team did not overlook Pinole Valley, and instead gave props to an opponent that had dismantled one of the best St. Mary’s teams in years.

“We couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively,“ Trotman said after his team could only muster one garbage-time touchdown. “They did a great job defensively of playing man across the board and putting guys in the box for us to block. Those big boys in the middle were hard to move.”

Pinole Valley, after an uneven 5-4 regular season, now has a chance to win the school’s first NCS championship since 1979 when it matches up with Justin-Siena. The team made no secret of how it expects to play next week.

“Let’s run it down their throats,” senior guard Gage Eda said. “Same thing we always do, which is ground and pound to put up points, and then we can hold them on defense.”

The move highlights lessons learned from HIV and the COVID-19 pandemic and the advantage of gathering data quickly and accurately to support the epidemiological understanding of the origins and transmission dynamics of monkeypox.

In an unanimous vote Tuesday, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors approved a contract with the state’s data management system, CalConnect, for case investigation, contact tracing, outbreak management and data collection.

The database stores demographic information such as age and gender of people who test positive for monkeypox and collects relevant clinical information, risk factor and laboratory test results for case investigation, disease prevention and surveillance.

The U.S. declared monkeypox a public health emergency in August, around the same time health officials told the Board of Supervisors that there were 31 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Contra Costa County and another 13 suspected cases, posing another hurdle for public health facilities overrun by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of Contra Costa monkeypox cases has increased to 112. Statewide, there are 5,547 cases, including 241 in Alameda County and 832 in San Francisco County. There are 28,881 known cases in the U.S. and 11 deaths confirmed to be linked to the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monkeypox is known to spread through close contact and causes symptoms including fever, body aches and often painful pus-filled skin lesions.

CDC data also shows that Black and Hispanic men who have sex with other men are disproportionately affected, leading some public health officials and community representatives to express concern about the stigmatizing effect of monkeypox in these populations.

The county plans to continue utilizing this data-sharing and surveillance strategy for the next three years.