@sfchronicle columnist & editorial writer covering CA, SF policy & politics / emily.hoeven@sfchronicle.com🌞/ “a prolific Twitter user”-@wsj / je parle français
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Articles by Emily Hoeven
‘We were a dying little town’: How Silicon Valley data centers are reshaping rural America
Ellendale, N.D., is a place most Americans couldn’t pinpoint on a map. The town of 1,100 is hardly a tourist attraction: Its faded center includes boarded-up buildings, an old grain elevator and a dilapidated opera house. But good luck trying to book a hotel room or find a place to rent in a 100-mile radius. On a recent family trip to nearby Aberdeen, S.D., it was virtually impossible to find a place to stay. For locals, rents have doubled almost overnight.
I used to mock gym bros. Here’s why I became one
People move to San Francisco and become tech bros. I moved to San Francisco and became a gym bro. This month marks a year since I began seriously lifting weights. Three times a week for the past 52 weeks, I’ve pumped iron at the gym, slowly gaining aptitude at exercises that I once associated with the impenetrable, intimidating, inaccessible world of grunting men in tank tops. It may seem absurd to say that deadlifts and squats and bench presses changed my life.
Is Gavin Newsom about to ram through one of the ‘biggest power grabs in California history’?
Whoever California’s next governor is, he’s going to be more powerful than Gavin Newsom. With one foot out the door, Newsom just convinced lawmakers to approve a radical bureaucratic reimagining that consolidates power in the governor’s office. Starting in January, almost all of the duties of the independently elected state superintendent of public instruction will be moved to the newly created position of education commissioner.
Billionaire or not, California is coming for your money
A flood of Biblical proportions is coming to California, and no, I’m not talking about the weather. I’m talking about taxes. Yes, there’s the infamous billionaire wealth tax, which Californians will officially vote on in November after Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers failed last week to strike a deal with the measure’s proponents to keep it off the ballot. Article continues below this ad But a deluge of other tax increases is also in the works. Rich or poor, California is coming for your money.
He moved to S.F. for an LGBTQ safe haven. He’s now been attacked here twice
When Joseph Shapiro sat down to enjoy a stack of pancakes in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood earlier this month, the last thing he imagined was that paramedics would soon be loading him into an ambulance and racing him to the hospital. But moments after Shapiro stepped out of Sunday brunch at the Wooden Spoon restaurant on June 7, he felt a fist connect hard with his upper right chest.
PG&E says rates are dropping. My bill says otherwise
Have you taken a close look at your power bill recently? If you live anywhere other than a big house in a hot part of California, I’d highly suggest you do — because you’re probably getting ripped off. Since March, the PG&E bill for my modest San Francisco apartment has steadily risen. It’s now nearly double what it was during the same period last year, even though I’m using less energy than I was then.
S.F. voters just banned the city’s progressive godfather from office. Here’s what he says about it
What does it feel like to have your own city’s voters effectively ban you from running for elected office? There’s only one person in San Francisco who can answer that question: Aaron Peskin, the progressive former president of the Board of Supervisors. That’s thanks to the passage of Proposition B, which establishes a lifetime maximum of two terms for supervisors as well as mayors. Prop B didn’t mention Peskin by name, and its supporters vehemently insisted it had nothing to do with him.
California’s election results are a giant red flag on this key issue
After years of insurance companies severely restricting business or leaving the state altogether — thanks to climate-change-fueled megafires and state regulations that make it near-impossible to adequately price this risk — they’re slowly beginning to return due to sweeping reforms enacted by outgoing Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. The reforms aren’t perfect, and the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires exposed issues that urgently need to be addressed.
Who cares who’s leading the California governor race? Vote for the best candidate
For voters feeling frustrated and uninspired ahead of California’s June 2 primary election: You’re not alone. The governor’s race is, to put it mildly, a hot mess. The state’s political establishment and power brokers have twice closed ranks around milquetoast candidates despite their struggle to articulate even a basic policy platform. First, it was former Rep.
S.F. made this neighborhood a ‘hyper-concentration of poverty.’ One group’s demand? More luxury housing
Whenever dystopian images of San Francisco flash across your social-media feed — of tent encampments, naked people in the throes of a mental-health crisis, piles of needles or human waste — there’s a good chance they were taken in the Tenderloin or South of Market neighborhoods. For decades, these two areas have served as de facto containment zones for San Francisco’s most pervasive social woes; they account for 60% of the city’s homeless shelters and transitional housing facilities.
California expects you to vote on judges — but makes it nearly impossible to see their records
Many documents from the San Francisco Superior Court civil courthouse, pictured in 2017, are not available online, and many records can only be requested in-person or via mail. Dominic Fracassa/S.F. Chronicle Judicial elections — and judges themselves — are increasingly being subjected to the same political pressures and hyperpolarization that define the rest of American politics.
Exclusive: Mayor Lurie explains why he won’t back off street check-ins after viral fight
Mayor Daniel Lurie visits an after-school center during the teachers strike in San Francisco on Feb. 10. Lurie’s Instagram feed shows him in every corner of the city. Camille Cohen/For the S.F. Chronicle Mayor Daniel Lurie greets spectators at the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco on Saturday. Man-about-town boosterism is a central component of his mayorship.
In his recently published memoir, Gov. Gavin Newsom takes readers along on his hurried journey of self-discovery. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle What, exactly, does Gavin Newsom believe? It’s hard enough for us Californians to answer that question. It’s probably even more difficult for the typical American voter in other states, who will determine whether he has a shot at the presidency in 2028. There are, after all, a lot of contradictions.
Exclusive: Half of front-line UCSF social workers say they’ve been sexually assaulted or harassed
University Professional and Technical Employees union members rally outside San Francisco General Hospital on Dec. 11 in response to the fatal stabbing of social worker Alberto Rangel. Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle As a clinical social worker at San Francisco General Hospital, Julia Williams works closely with people whom many residents go out of their way to avoid. Her patients have severe mental illness, substance use disorders and difficult-to-manage behaviors.
Are California Democrats already heeding Newsom's demand to be more 'culturally normal'?
Emily Hoeven If concerns over public safety dominated the 2024 election in California - culminating in voters' overwhelming approval of Proposition 36, which rolled back criminal justice reforms that just a few years earlier felt politically sacrosanct - affordability is shaping up to be the animating issue of 2026 . At the California Democratic Party convention last weekend, gubernatorial candidates one-upped each other in their pledges to bring down the state's absurdly high cost of living .
I was assaulted by a homeless woman on my way to see a billionaire preach the gospel of economic populism
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer speaks to supporters after a news conference on Thursday in San Francisco. He is proposing a ballot measure that would exempt commercial property from tax limitations in Proposition 13. Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle California’s gubernatorial race is growing increasingly absurd. Progressives are accusing San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who recently jumped into the electoral fray, of being a pawn of the tech billionaires donating heavily to his campaign.
Neighbors say a machete-wielding man is terrorizing their local park. S.F. has no idea what to do about it
Sebastian Luke points out a plant in Jefferson Square Park in San Francisco on Jan. 21 that he believes was damaged by Ignacio Dzul, a homeless man who lives at the park and has a history of destroying plants. Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle Broken tree branches at Jefferson Square Park could be the work Ignacio Dzul, a homeless man with a history of damaging the landscape at the park. Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle Sebastian Luke picks up a plant that could have been damaged by Ignacio Dzul.
Can Wikipedia survive the age of AI?
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales doesn’t view artificial intelligence as a fundamental threat to Wikipedia’s existence. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/Picture Alliance via Getty Images In a chaotic world where global politics can be upended by a single tweet and mass shootings are livestreamed, few corners of the internet feel comforting and stable. A key exception: Wikipedia.
Gavin Newsom's final State of the State address was full of contradictions
One of the strangest, most dissonant lines in Gov. Gavin Newsom's final State of the State speech on Thursday came near the end. "To those with California Derangement Syndrome, I'll repeat - it's time to update your talking points," Newsom said in an address to state lawmakers at the Capitol in Sacramento.
Newsom’s contradictory State of the State speech doesn’t bode well for presidential run
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s speech was rife with contradictions, underscoring warring impulses within Newsom that, if he runs, will become difficult to explain in the polarized presidential campaign. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle One of the strangest, most dissonant lines in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final State of the State speech on Thursday came near the end.
Here’s what it’s really like to be in your 20s in S.F.
A young crowd watches Nayan perform during the Third Thursdays electronic music festival in San Francisco on Dec. 18. There are fewer 20-somethings in the city due to a pandemic-fueled exodus and the high cost of living. Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle I’m somewhat of a rare breed in San Francisco. And by that I mean I’m a person in their 20s. It’s a curious experience.
Republicans are an endangered minority in California. So how does this right-wing lawmaker get so much done?
What does the Democratic Party need to do to avoid repeating its humiliating electoral losses of 2024? California Gov. Gavin Newsom offered an unexpectedly spicy take at the New York Times' DealBook Summit earlier this month: "We have to be more culturally normal." Newsom doubled down on that stance last week on New York Times columnist Ezra Klein's podcast: "We talk down to people, we talk past people. So damn judgmental.
Republicans are an endangered minority in California. So how does this right-wing lawmaker get so much done?
State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, says she gets bills through the Democratic-dominated Legislature by being laser-focused with “single-subject” bills and “common-sense legislation.” Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle What does the Democratic Party need to do to avoid repeating its humiliating electoral losses of 2024? California Gov.
Two Takes: Is a 25-story tower in the Marina District just what S.F. needs or an abomination?
Align Real Estate is proposing a 25-story housing development at the Safeway site in San Francisco’s Marina District. The grocer would open a location on the ground level. Arquitectonica QR code for Marina Safeway two takes Chronicle staff Align Real Estate recently proposed a 25-story, 790-unit housing complex in San Francisco's Marina District in place of the neighborhood’s Safeway store.
Running a small business in S.F. just got a little easier. Let’s keep it that way
Bar Darling co-owners Nate Valentine, left to right, Jamal Blake-Williams, and Jimmy Garcia pose for a portrait in new outdoor tables and chairs, permitted under Mayor Daniel Lurie's permit streamlining for outdoor furniture for small businesses, at Bar Darling on Thursday, November 20, 2025 in San Francsico.
Did Marin County just come to its senses on housing?
Voters in Sausalito, pictured in March 2020, appear willing to welcome new housing for the first time in many years. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Of all the results in California’s election on Tuesday, Marin County’s ankle-breaking pivot toward allowing new housing was the one I least saw coming. Sausalito voters approved not one, but two local ballot measures to allow hundreds of new homes.
Zohran Mamdani and Daniel Lurie couldn’t be more different, but they share what Democrats lack
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are energetic and charismatic — and political outsiders Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle, Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images In many ways, Zohran Mamdani, who was elected as New York City’s next mayor on Tuesday, and Daniel Lurie, his counterpart in San Francisco, could not be more different.
A new court ruling ‘blows up’ California housing law. Our incoming Senate leader isn’t helping
State Sen. Monique Limón is responsible for the provision in a state law that seemingly thwarts a proposal for an apartment complex in her Santa Barbara district. Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle California continues to stay in the news for its swath of lawsuits against President Donald Trump. Attorney General Rob Bonta teed up his 45th suit against the administration this week — this time over SNAP benefits.
Sausalito just sent every voter a mailer criticizing this Chronicle column. Here’s what the city got wrong
The Marinship needs revitalization, but most development in the area is prohibited. Sausalito officials could have taken steps to allow development in the Marinship, but instead want to rezone two acres of the Martin Luther King Jr. Park to make way for new housing.
A run-down Marin enclave has room for hundreds of homes. Why are officials focused on bulldozing parkland?
John Blanchard/S.F. Chronicle Sausalito Shipyard can be seen in an area proposed for rezoning in Sausalito, Calif. on Monday, Oct. 14, 2025. The November special election focuses on housing compliance and zoning changes through Measure J and K. Measure J will rezone 12 commercial district sites throughout the city for new housing, while Measure K, which has faced criticism, seeks to zone two acres of the Martin Luther King Jr. Park to make way for 50 affordable housing units.
Katie Porter’s cringey viral flub just made the California governor’s race a lot more interesting
Gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Katie Porter attends a Democratic club meeting at the Rossmoor senior community in Walnut Creek on March 13. Noah Berger/Special to the S.F. Chronicle Until this week, the 2026 California gubernatorial race was, to put it mildly, a snoozefest. For months, the race to become the next leader of the world’s fourth-largest economy was so boring that the biggest news was who wasn’t running.
This Texas lawmaker is begging California to gerrymander. Here’s why
Texas House Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, participates in a debate over a congressional redistricting plan at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Aug. 20. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Nicole Collier has an unusual wish for a Texas state lawmaker, even a Democratic one: She wants more states to be like California. At least when it comes to Proposition 50, California’s strategy for countering Texas’ cynical gerrymandering gambit with its own.
Gavin Newsom has hundreds of bills on his desk. These ones are a window into his political future
Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigns for congressional redistricting on Aug. 14 in Los Angeles. Newsom’s possible presidential candidacy could affect his judgment on legislation. Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has finally acknowledged what even those with the faintest political pulse have long been aware of — that he’s considering a presidential run — there’s no question whether his national ambitions are affecting his governance here in California. The question is: How much?
One of California’s most powerful Democrats just discovered a new way to NIMBY
State Sen. Monique Limon inserted a specific provision in a housing bill that appears to target an apartment building in her Santa Barbara district.
California socialist pledges to ‘save our planet from capitalism.’ Can he win this statewide race?
Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas is running for California insurance commissioner. He wants to replace private insurance companies with coverage from the state. Cristian Alcaraz “Abolish the insurance companies. Save our planet from capitalism.” No, this isn’t a rant from a random Reddit account. Rather, it’s part of the campaign platform of Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, a 29-year-old socialist and Los Angeles high school teacher who’s running to be California’s next insurance commissioner.
Young San Franciscans aren’t going to bars. They’re hanging at the library
San Francisco Main Library, photographed in 2023. The library’s marketing and community engagement teams have made concerted efforts to capture the attention of millennial and Gen-Z audiences. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle It’s no secret that young people in San Francisco don’t frequent bars and nightclubs the way they once did. This has left many perplexed. If the city’s dwindling population of 20-somethings isn’t drinking and dancing, what are they doing?
This working-class neighborhood has been fighting S.F. for nearly a decade over a parking ‘nightmare’
Vehicles fill sidewalks and driveways on Monday in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood, where parking can be difficult. A coalition of neighbors is trying to get the city to implement permitted parking in the area. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle There probably aren’t many people in San Francisco begging to pay $215 a year to park in front of their own home. But Bill Holdenstern is.
Kamala Harris isn’t the only one who should drop out of the California governor’s race
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election on the campus of Howard University in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) Ben Curtis/Associated Press Perhaps the most astute campaign decision former Vice President Kamala Harris has made recently is that she won’t be campaigning to be California’s next governor in 2026.
A home remodel is dividing Sausalito and turning neighbors into enemies. But who’s really to blame?
John Blanchard/S.F. Chronicle Allegations of physical violence. Police reports. Stay-away orders. Online fights waged in blog posts, on Nextdoor, in professionally produced videos and even in one-star Google reviews of local companies. It sounds like a trashy reality TV show. But it’s actually just another day in Sausalito housing politics.
What a battle over who should clean feces in a state prison says about California politics
James Barron has Type 1 diabetes, and his job with Pride Industries included accommodations for his condition. Anna Connors/S.F. Chronicle Cleaning blood and feces smeared across the walls of prison psychiatric units isn’t exactly most people’s idea of a dream job. But for 18-year-old James Barron, doing hard, dirty janitorial work inside the California Medical Facility, a state prison in Vacaville, has been the best job of his young life — beating out fast food and retail. Why?
Young people are leaving S.F. Can an obscure change to the city’s code help bring them back?
From left: Josh Masimore, Geetika Kapoor and Brandon Chow have breakfast at their co-living space in Russian Hill on Wednesday. Anna Connors/S.F. Chronicle The co-living space includes a shared backyard. Anna Connors/S.F. Chronicle Four years ago, Josh Masimore was living alone in Texas. And he was miserable. Lonely and isolated in his one-bedroom apartment, he craved community, but didn’t know how or where to find it.
This rich California city is losing its mind over a housing project — and it shows why new rules are needed
The city of Menlo Park wants to build affordable housing on three downtown parking lots it owns near public transit and shops. Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle Most Californians are intimately familiar with stories of cities going to comically absurd lengths to block new housing. Sausalito tried to argue it could build affordable units on underwater eelgrass. La Cañada Flintridge in Los Angeles County flirted with bankruptcy to fight its first multifamily development in more than a decade.
Trump’s authoritarianism is the greatest thing that could have happened for Newsom’s career
Sparring with President Donald Trump is allowing Gov. Gavin Newsom to regain some political clout by embracing the macho persona that defines much of our politics these days. Evan Vucci/AP, Jeff Chiu/AP Gov. Gavin Newsom should send President Donald Trump flowers. Yes, Trump eerily hinted the other day that Newsom should be arrested. But such acts of naked authoritarianism are doing more to boost Newsom’s career than anything the governor has done on his own in years.
Can S.F. pick a new police chief without a knife fight? We’re about to get a preview
The future of public safety in San Francisco and the city’s international perception could depend on the next police chief. Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle For all the heightened tension and rhetoric surrounding San Francisco’s budget deficit, there is a potentially more fraught and fractious decision on the horizon — the selection of the next police chief.
People are ‘obsessed’ with Daniel Lurie’s Instagram. But will it actually help S.F.?
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie records a selfie for social media outside of San Francisco City Hall on May 15. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle It’s 8 o’clock on a Thursday morning, and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is standing in front of me in his shirtsleeves, recording himself on an iPhone he’s holding at arm’s length. “All right, everybody, it’s Bike to Work Day!” he exclaims, grinning. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of me in this,” he adds, holding his bike helmet up to the camera.
This S.F. cafe nearly closed over a permit nightmare. Mayor Lurie’s new plan promises a fix
A woman passes by Cafe Isabella in the rain in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. After a 311 complaint, city inspectors told owner Hilda Mendez she needed to apply for a permit for her outdoor table and chairs. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Over the past eight years, Rich Lee and his wife, Liza Otanes, have built Spro Coffee Lab into a San Francisco institution.
Gavin Newsom’s new homeless encampment plan is just cheap PR
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement on homelessness policies for local governments contained little that was new. Noah Berger/Associated Press If you skimmed the national headlines on Monday, you might come away thinking that Gov. Gavin Newsom had just unveiled a bold, aggressive new policy for dealing with the homeless encampments that have proliferated across California. “Newsom asks cities to ban homeless encampments, escalating crackdown,” blared a New York Times headline.
She was S.F.’s most moderate supe. Is she now ‘carrying a bag’ for unions in California’s Assembly?
Assembly Member Catherine Stefani introduced AB569, a Teamsters-backed effort that could increase unfunded pension liabilities across the state. Benjamin Fanjoy/S.F. Chronicle When last we checked in on former San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani, she was departing the board after helping to spark a local pension arms race.
California Dems keep using the same plan for political failure.
From left, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire got themselves twisted in knots over Prop 47.
Are California Democrats actively trying to make themselves irrelevant?
Maggy Krell, then chief counsel of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles in 2018, with Xavier Becerra, then the state's attorney general. Now an Assembly member from Sacramento, Krell is the center of a storm around AB379, a bill about prostitution that she authored.
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