http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/us/california-today-sinking-millennium-tower.html 2016-09-14 15:36:39 California Today: A Leaning Tower in San Francisco Wednesday: A 58-story skyscraper’s structural dilemma, high same-sex marriage rates, and September snow for skiers. === Good morning. Welcome to California Today, a Tell us about the Want to receive California Today by email? Thomas Fuller For years, San Francisco was a famously low-rise city. Then came the tech boom and the race was on to build the glass and steel edifices that populate the world’s great cities. But in earthquake-prone San Francisco there’s a catch: many of the city’s new skyscrapers are concentrated in a neighborhood of squishy land reclaimed from the bay. One of the new buildings, the The scandal of San Francisco’s Millennium Tower turned decidedly more political on Tuesday when . A letter sent by the city to the engineering firm spoke of “larger than usual” settlement of the structure and asked whether the consequences had been studied. Yet six months later, in August 2009, the city declared the building safe for occupancy. On Tuesday, Mr. Peskin questioned why the city allowed people to move in. “I believe, and I know this is a very serious allegation,” Mr. Peskin said, “that there was some level of political interference.” The response to the city’s query by the engineering firm, The hearings are likely to capture the attention of the California political class because the mayor at the time the building was approved, Gavin Newsom, is now P.J. Johnston Some of the owners of the building, which includes the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, are trying In August, a small army of lawyers filed Mark Garay, one of the lawyers for the apartment owners, says it is too early to pinpoint the precise causes for the building sinking, but that it had already begun significantly before work on the transport terminal started. “What we do know is that the foundation of this building does not go into bedrock,” he said. “It’s all landfill. It used to be part of the bay.” Perhaps what is most clear at this point is that all of this is only the beginning of the story. . • San Francisco has nation’s highest rate of • • More than four decades after • Gov. Jerry Brown • U.C. Berkeley took the rare step of • • Some digital networks refuse to acknowledge their power. • A $4 million settlement was reached in the • Most Oscar strategists had written off • If you are under 18 years old and out past 10 p.m. in San Diego, • No longer a star on the field, the 49ers backup quarterback • It was barely enough to paint the Sierra Nevadas’ peaks white. But the three or so inches of snow that fell on the mountains early Tuesday was plenty to set off excitement for ski season in the Lake Tahoe area. Several resorts, including “It’s beautiful,” said Kevin Cooper, a spokesman for Kirkwood. The accumulation was likely sufficient to inspire “back country enthusiasts” to pull out their gear, he said, adding, “I guarantee in the next couple days some people are going to hike out there to get some early season turns.” The September arrival, well before the start of ski season, was not out of the ordinary, said Karl Swanberg, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “It’s probably just about on time,” he said, “maybe a little bit sooner.” But those enthusiasts will have to move fast. With temperatures set to rise through the week, the snow isn’t expected to last long. California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.