Eleni Balakrishnan, reporter
Abigail Vân Neely’s stories documenting the city’s encampment sweeps and their aftermath were difficult but necessary reads. Many advocate for this approach to homelessness without quite seeing the extent of the impact. These stories put faces and names to the process.
I enjoyed seeing the outcome of a data/graphics project from Xueer Lu and Kelly Waldron, where multiple reporters went out to count more than 2,000 planters across the Mission District meant to discourage homeless encampments. While I and others have reported on this phenomenon, our team went out to actually capture its magnitude and display it visually, with maps and photos, kicking off additional conversation across the city about this practice.
I loved the story about Reymundo Jimenez, a 78-year-old man who has been selling churros in the neighborhood for years. I’ve seen this man around, but Oscar Palma got to know Jimenez and shared his story, which was inspiring and beautifully written. The photos captured something extra about this man who, quite simply, loves what he does, and his quote, “while the rich get rich, I get happy,” stuck with me.
Yujie Zhou, reporter
Eleni Balakrishnan’s profiles on the five major figures in the Bob Lee case.
Abigail Vân Neely’s Angel Island solo camper.
Kelly Waldron, data reporter
I particularly enjoyed Naomi Beth Marcus’ piece on Sheila Rubinson Ash, a remarkable woman and the owner of Noe’s Nest Bed and Breakfast. I must have reread the first paragraph a dozen times the day it was published.
It really goes without saying that Will Jarrett’s BigMoneySF project was a monumental feat, one that unraveled a complicated web of political players and financial disclosures, and presented them in a way that is easy to digest. I find myself going back to search through the interactive visualization often.
I also devoured Heather Smith’s coverage of Aaron Peskin’s campaign for our “See How They Run” series. The one where Peskin explains rent-increasing software to the tipsy, and visits the “zoning panic zone” were my favorites; they were informative and a delight to read.
Xueer Lu, data reporter
I really liked Joe Eskenazi’s piece on Michael Moritz; so well-reported and excellently written. It’s very long, but definitely an enjoyable read.
Kudos to Kelly Waldron’s election results page: Clean, accurate, informative, easy to navigate, and taking Mission Local’s design to the next level.
Yujie Zhou’s piece on San Francisco politicos embracing Josephine Zhao was a really good get for this election year, when Asian votes are ever so important. Yujie’s other stories about the Asian community in this election are really good, too, (and are the one-of-a-kind reporting that’s rare and important), including the pieces on Dear Community, Forrest Liu, the Chinese building, and so on.
Junyao Yang, data reporter
I love Yujie Zhou’s story on how Daniel Lurie won San Francisco’s Asian votes. We knew that money helped, but it was eye-opening to learn that Lurie’s campaign, at its peak, had 23 Chinese canvassers and a dedicated team for each Asian neighborhood. I think no other reporter explained this better than Yujie did.
I also enjoyed Kelly Waldron’s “See How They Run” stories on Mark Farrell. In the later half of the election season, Farrell’s campaign had completely frozen her out, not giving her access to any of the events. But it was impressive to see how Kelly pulled it off and produced great, informative stories with such little access.
We were all sad when Laku on Valencia Street closed its doors, but I’m glad to have Eleni Balakrishnan’s piece on the last day of Laku — a store that is chaotic in the best way — that Yaeko Yamashita ran for 30 years. It was beautifully written, and always touched me when I reread it.
Sandra Salmans, volunteer editor
Abigail Neely’s story about supervisor candidate and sometime daycare pioneer Michael Lai.
Yujie Zhou’s story about the three founders of Dear Community, with a sidebar about the explosive Forrest Liu.
Sara Miles, head of newsletter
All of Eleni Balakrishnan’s stories on the Potrero Hill projects: Deep reporting, great writing, real impact. Once again, ML got a huge story in a criminally overlooked part of San Francisco by poking around, sticking around and following up.
H.R. Smith’s “See How They Run” coverage of Aaron Peskin. Funniest overheard campaign asides, complete with actual political reporting about key issues.
Joe Rivano Barros on TogetherSF was one of the stand-out pieces in ML’s superb election coverage. It’s hard to combine this level of detailed research without losing the big picture; Joe made the story utterly readable, and an indispensable resource for following the campaigns.
Oscar Palma, reporter
I loved Abigail Vân Neely’s piece on “When a sweep becomes a spectacle for SF homeless resident ‘Pineapplez,’” because it showed a human and compassionate side to homelessness. I believe that many outlets covered the tent sweeps really well, but failed to connect with the subjects. I read it twice.
“The only-in-California rule that’s misinformed voters for 93 years” was one of my favorite columns by Joe Eskenazi this year. Great reporting and very informative.
Emmanuel Fonseca, social media lead
This year did not miss when it came to drama. Eleni Balakrishnan’s coverage of the Bob Lee murder trial in San Francisco left me at the edge of my seat week after week with her detailed descriptions of everything that took place in that San Francisco courtroom. Every piece of content, from the daily recap videos on socials to her stories on our site, up until the verdict piece wrapped it all up nicely in a tight bow.
Speaking of drama, a particular piece from Yujie Zhou left me speechless from its impeccable reporting to the content itself. The Cal Academy cutting its youth program after the kids showed solidarity with the museum’s workers left me in utter shock. From the reaction it had on social media, to the response the museum gave, to the article, it sparked a much-needed conversation which ultimately is what journalism is all about.
Lastly, in lieu of the 2024 presidential election results, Oscar Palma captured the Latinx community’s response to yet another Trump presidency. This was not just my favorite because I had the privilege of working on a video that paired with this piece, but because I was with him while he reported this story and got to see what an amazing reporter he is.
Abigail Vân Neely, reporter
Eleni Balakrishnan is a great writer, but she also took one of my favorite photos of the year: Of Leon Speed, a man living in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill public housing units.
Joe Eskenazi spent days perfecting the lede of his column, “San Francisco has no idea how Daniel Lurie will govern. Does he?” It’s one of the best I’ve read. Even if you don’t care who the mayor of San Francisco is, his writing, rife with jokes and references, would make anyone want to keep reading.
Anne Li was the first reporter to obtain footage of the SFPD officer slamming a woman into a wall during a jaywalking stop. To get it, she staked out a deli an hour bus ride away every morning until they gave it to her. That’s a reporter.
Beth Winegarner, copy editor
Throughout 2024, public safety remained a top priority for San Francisco’s candidates and ballot measures — at least, the appearance of public safety did. For example, mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, when told that crime is down in San Francisco, claimed the important thing is that locals feel less safe. In February, Joe Eskenazi wrote about how Prop. E, the police-chase measure, would actually threaten public safety. In March, voters approved Prop. E anyway, by 54 percent.
I’ve covered several trials from start to finish in my career, and one of my favorite things about them is that each one develops its own internal culture. Eleni Balakrishnan captured the ecosystem of the Nima Momeni trial perfectly in this piece: “Bob Lee murder trial is often a soap opera. Here’s an inside look.”
In the bleak days after the November election, Abigail Vân Neely’s coverage of the Dev Patel lookalike contest at Dolores Park was like a balm to the soul. Even though the real Dev Patel didn’t turn up like Timothée Chalamet did in New York, the winning lookalike, Jaipreet Hundal, made a convincing stand-in.
Joe Rivano Barros, senior editor
I’m filling this out last, so luckily a lot of my choices have been named: Heather’s “See How They Run” pieces, Will’s BigMoneySF network graph (my god, how much effort that took), Eleni’s ongoing Potrero Hill coverage, and Naomi’s various People We Meets (the Chester Moody pliers profile and the recent look at Frankie from Portofino’s in particular). But there’s always another favorite.
Abi’s story on why some homeless people choose the street over shelter is a must-read: Too much of the discourse in San Francisco is about the number of shelter beds and whether those living in tents are doing so voluntarily or not, the implication being that if they are, they’re fair game for sweeps and seizure of property. Abi took time to find out what’s actually on offer. Surprise, sometimes it’s not much.
Our data team is extraordinary, and a couple accomplishments come to mind: the election results page by Kelly, which I thought rivaled and often surpassed those of much larger, more resourced outlets; and the two “How much did your ballot cost?” trackers by Xueer (for the March and November elections) that let you fill in your choices and see how much campaigns spent for your vote (it’s a lot).
Finally, the obituary for Alberto Vargas Quero by Eleni, a quick, well-written piece following his fatal shooting at a Mission barbershop, showing he’d only been in San Francisco for two days before he was gunned down.
(Joe Eskenazi had a number of very good columns that rise to the top, chiefly his piece on whether SFUSD really needs to close schools, his profile of Michael Moritz, and his interview with a jail inmate who can’t wait to get to prison. But picking an Eskenazi piece feels like cheating.)
Joe Eskenazi, managing editor
As I seem to do every year, I write about how lucky we are to have Naomi Beth Marcus writing top-level profiles for Mission Local. Everything Naomi writes will be the best thing you read that day, but my favorite was her story about octogenarian Chester Moody, who pivoted from yanking his own teeth out with pliers to a half-century career as a dental technician. It’s an amazing story; it makes “Forrest Gump” feel like a Bazooka Joe comic strip. Also, the coda of her profile of Soviet Jewish refugee Sulamis Koyfman almost brought me to tears.
One of our most-read stories this year was the election update created by Kelly Waldron. I don’t think the average reader understands how difficult it is to create such a seamless, visually appealing and rapid election results platform as Waldron did. Not only did Waldron create an interface that could near-instantly synthesize election results as they came in, it was a visually appealing and comprehensive post as well. And it was updated 437 or so times, because that’s how San Francisco elections roll. So, that’s a lot: A post that you can go back to again and again for complete election results and evocative charts that also turns around breaking elections returns on a dime. Pas mal, pas mal.
Finally, like every reader who knows the name of every dog on the block but may or may not know the name of their person, I was entranced by Abi Neely and Io Gilman’s story about the “transport queens” ferrying thousands of abandoned pets out of the Central Valley and up to the Bay Area where they aren’t facing euthanization. Yes, there are many, many excellent photos of animals. But the writing is crisp and top-notch and there’s also embedded audio of a kitty convoy. If you haven’t read this one yet: You’re welcome.
Lydia Chávez, executive editor
The election coverage was a massive undertaking for a small staff, but everyone stepped up. It illustrates how a small staff can do an awful lot when it is ambitious. Xueer Lu’s design and management of the Election Dashboard was superb, not to mention her design of our print editions in Chinese and Spanish; superb work that she did in the midst of getting married! Throughout the year, Neil Ballard produced one good illustration after another.
Junyao Yang broke the story on Mark Farrell designating himself as a “small-business owner” on the ballot. This is what reporters are supposed to do (break news) or, as Marty Baron, the former editor of the Washington Post and current board member of Mission Local, advised during his visit to our office, “break news or break ground.”
A series from this year that does both: The BigMoneySF series by Will Jarrett, Joe Rivano Barros and Joe Eskenazi: Monumental work.
Though it was not a story, what I liked the most was how Mission Local covered all the district races for supervisor in 2024. I learned a lot about fellow San Franciscans who were as passionate about helping this city as I have been for decades. And though I thought some were ???, I still appreciated all who contributed (reporters and candidates).