why lawmakers in the north bay are excited, but as max darrow shows us, it is cautious optimism. >> experts say the fire risk could get worse as summer progresses and everything dries out even further, but all the rain we have had this week has made a difference. his vines look healthy, and well it is too early to tell how good the quality will be, he is confident that these plants will produce a great vintage. >> it feels amazing. it feels super exciting. we know there is water below us. >> reporter: even though this year has been shown to be mild and wet -- >> we are already into weve t h days. arnot letting their guards down. >> the 2017 fires, that hillside was on fire. the only thing that would've been separating us would've been the silverado trail. >> reporter: he runs the wildfire interdisciplinary research center at san jose state university and routinely measures fuel moisture. >> last year during the severe drought period we had almost full curing by april 1st. >> reporter: however, he says that the mind-set is spot on. >> even though we have had this great winter and fuel moistu

but we will have much more on the story tonight at 11:00 with max darrow. again, some people are saying downtown is going downhill. others say it is changing and this is part of that. >> i caught max in the hallway and i said max, what are you doing here? he was saying that there were so many applications that the city was surprised at the number. >> right. that says something about the interest in downtown and the direction it could be going. >> i like that phrase pop up. do we know what the pop-ups are? >> i know you want a sneak preview and the cliff notes! you will have to watch! >> what time is your show again? >> it is at 11:00. >>> sonoma county begins the largest construction project of its kind. we will tell you about the ♪♪ alex! mateteo, hey how's s business?? greaeat. you knonow that loan has reallyly worked wowon. that's whahat u.s. banank is . and you'rere growing in c california?a? -y-yup, socal,l, norcal.... -m-monterey? -a-all day. -a b branch in v ventura? ththat's for s sure-ah. atmsms in fresnono? fres-yes.. encicinitas? yes,s, indeed-usu

max darrow shows us what they are up to. >> reporter: he did not decide to open here for what downtown is like today. with a record amount of office space open, for him it is a long play. when there was more of a boom time we were already in place and not behind the curve, essentially. >> reporter: there are small businesses that will fill vacant spaces with businesses from food and beverage starts to entertainment to retail and more. >> through our program we will be able to show what a vibrant downtown can look like. >> reporter: the executive director of sf new deals is the first of three application periods closed and the response of nearly 900 applicants exceeded expectations. >> we are offering free rent, but i don't think that is the thing that is driving the large response that we are seeing. people in san francisco in the region who care about the city want to envision the future. >> reporter: walking through the neighborhood of his new restaurant, philip hopes the program helps out, but he says it is one piece of a bigger, trickier puzzle. >> i don't think san francisco can b

max darrow shows us what they are up to. >> reporter: it has been two months since philip opened up his restaurant in downtown san francisco. he did not decide to open here for what downtown is like today. with a record amount of vacant office space and for lease signs up on almost every block, for him it is a long play. >> we wanted to set our roots down at a time and without the financial district needed people to do that. we wanted to make sure that we were not behind the curb. >> reporter: revitalization efforts in downtown san francisco are underway. this includes the pop-up program, where small businesses will fill vacant businesses for a three month period in hopes of bringing more people downtown. >> through our program we will be able to show what a vibrant downtown could look like. >> reporter: simon bertran says the first of three application periods recently closed, and the responses of nearly 900 applicants exceeded their expectations. >> we are offering free rent and a stipend, but i don't think that is the thing that is driving the large response we are seeing. was drivin

as max darrow reports, one small business owner is hopeful the push to bring business workers back will bring more revenue. >> reporter: just below several high-rise office buildings in san francisco, you'll find amber wilcox at her office. >> we specialize in group training and fitness, but we also offer the gym memberships. >> reporter: she appreciates the clients who come to the facilities, many of whom live and work in the area, the east neighborhood. she says they are often busier on the select days of the week where they have people working in the offices. >> there is really no one around here except for the residents. and those two days a week when you have consistent people coming in and you've got the black rock coming in twice a week and sometimes people are coming from meta twice a week and to return to office in this area and that it would create more foot traffic, which will be fantastic for us to build our member base. >> reporter: a major push for that is starting to unfold. some big companies are moving towards less remote work and more time back in the office. and googl

the north beach owner says he's dealt with break-ins before, but he tells our max darrow this one hitsrently. >> reporter: surveillance video shows the moment a man broke into mackey reni's creative design in north beach. the man spends several minutes inside the shop rummaging through cases and drawers stealing what he can before taking off. the owner says aside from the items the man got away with, he stole a sense of security. >> this is the worst break-in we've ever had. we've had items stolen out of here like sneak thief. that's why we had the camera set up, but nothing like this. he missed luckily some important things, but he also took about $40,000 and a little over $40,000 worth of hand-crafted work. >> reporter: mackey hand crafts items here and runs a metal working school. some of the stolen work was his. some was from his students and teachers. >> it's really horrible when it's your hand-crafted work. we are probably going to have to do a fundraiser to cover some of their losses as well as mine. >> reporter: the break-in happened the beginning of may. this is an active and

max darrow led a grassroots movement to essentially repaint the urban landscape as we know it. >> reporter: take a walk through downtown san francisco and you will see a lot of these signs and vacant spaces. during our walk -- >> what we need is more mixed-use downtown. >> reporter: robbie , the executive director of the downtown san francisco partnership, stopped here on california street. >> it is a beautiful glass base right here at the front of california street. can we maybe get some new artists and a restaurant in here? >> reporter: silver is on a mission to bring the area back to life. it is a tall task right now. >> seeing multiple blocks with multiple vacancies is not a good look. >> reporter: he says there is currently around 150,000 square feet of ground floor vacancies downtown. according to figures from cbre, 25 million square feet of total vacant office space in the city. >> pre-pandemic our vacancy rate was about 4% and now we are at about 30%. the biggest reason for that is going to be hybrid work and also most recently layoffs. >> reporter: cbre says that although leasing

max darrow led a grassroots movement to essentially repaint the urban landscape as we know it. >> reporterrough downtown san francisco and you will see a lot of these signs and vacant spaces. during our walk -- >> what we need is more mixed-use downtown. >> reporter: robbie , the executive director of the downtown san francisco partnership, stopped here on california street. >> it is a beautiful glass base right here at the front of california street. can we maybe get some new artists and a restaurant in here? >> reporter: silver is on a mission to bring the area back to life. it is a tall task right now. >> seeing multiple blocks with multiple vanc

as max darrow shows us, they are really rooting for one dog in particular. >> reporter: it is late afternoon and ronnie seems content in his kennel at san jose animal care and services. when you look at his eyes as he stares through the slats, it is a safe bet that he would meet much happier in a home. ronnie is around five years old. he is a elgin mallon wall and he is called the shelter home for the past 100 days. he was a stray with no microchip, no tags and no owner to be found. his story is one that has become more and more common. >> it breaks my heart to see that this dog is still here. >> reporter: ronnie is part of the record high number of animals that it is hoped will be adopted. there are around 200 dogs, 600 cats and other animals, like rabbits. >> we are well beyond our capacity for care. >> reporter: he says it is tough to understand why so many animals are ending up at the shelter. >> i think after covid we saw a lot of folks that had given us reasons of their housing situation changing. it could be financial reasons. it could be the lack of access to vet care, or it could be

our max darrow had the task of riding along and hearing from a commuter. >> reporter: on a busy afternoon at the embarcadero b.a.r.t. station every few minutes people and trains come and go. priscilla is heading home on the yellow line to antioch. it's about an hour ride. she commutes to and from the city twice a week. >> it's not as scary as what people make it out to be. >> reporter: she's witnessed two encounters, but overall -- >> i feel safe, on this line i do. >> reporter: for her that's been the case for a while. for many who ride b.a.r.t., that isn't the case. and b.a.r.t. police are trying to change that. interim chief of police kevin franklin. >> every single day i'm putting out more police officers and more unarmed civilian personnel than ever before to be visible out in the system, riding trains, focussing on the core areas of the system, and being visible on trains and in stations. >> reporter: that has included the addition of up to 18 police officers patrolling trains per shift. >> it's worth trying. >> reporter: she hasn't noticed the heightened visibility. >> if they have

they've never seen so many animals at their shelter and as max darrow shows us, they're really rootingup in particular. >> reporter: it's late afternoon and ronny seems content in his kennel at san jose animal care and services, but when you look into his eyes as he stares through the kennel's metal slats, it's a safe bet to say he'd be much happier in a home. ronny is somewhere around 5 years old. he's a belgian malinois and called the shelter home more than 300 days. when he showed up here, he was a stray with no microchip, no tags, and no owner to be found and ronny's story says jay is one that's becoming more and more common. >> it breaks my heart to see that this dog is still here. >> reporter: ronny is just one of the around 900 animals currently at the shelter, a record high, that jay hopes someone will either adopt or foster. there are around 250 dogs, 600 cats, and around 60 other animals here like rabbits. >> we definitely are way beyond our capacity for care. >> reporter: he says it's tough to identify one main reason why so many animals are ending up at the shelter. >> i th

how do we reverse the trend in max darrow ntll to ret the e know it. >> reporter: take a walk throughand you will see these signs and vacant spaces. during our walk -- >> me mixed use torosilver, the director of the downtown partnership stopped here on california street. >> a beautiful glass base. can we get artists here, maybe a new restaurant in here. >> reporter: silver head's up the nonprofit community benefit district on a mission bring the area back to liver. a tall task right now. >> seeing multiple blocks with vacancies, it's not a good look. >> reporter: there is around 150,000 square feet of ground floor vacancies downtown. according to figures from cbre, 25 million square feet of total vacant office space in the city. >> pre-pandemic the vacancy rate was about 4%. now we are at 30%. the biggest reason for that is going to be hybrid work and also most recently layoffs. >> reporter: crbe says allow leasing activity is starting to increase, there isn't much demand right now. he thinks it will change. >> that hopefully should happen by the end of this year or early next year as

max darrow shows us what they're up to. >> i'm tristen by the way. >> reporter: it's been about two months since tristen philippart de foy opened his restaurant heartwood in downtown san francisco. >> we wish there was more foot traffic. but things have -- things have been good and about as well as could be expected. >> reporter: he didn't decide to open here for what downtown is like today with a record amount of vacant office space, for lease signs up on virtually every block, and lack of people. for him, it's a long play. >> we wanted to set our roots down in what we felt was a time when the financial district needed people to do that. when there was more of a boom time that we were -- we were already in place and not behind the curve essentially. >> reporter: numerous efforts to revitalize downtown san francisco are under way. that includes the city and sf new deal's vacant to vibrant pop-up program, where small businesses will fill vacant spaces for three month periods with pop-up experiences from food and beverage to arts and entertainment to retail and more, in the hopes of bringing

max darrow shows us what they're up to. >> i'm tristan by the way. >> reporter: it's been about two months since tristan opened the restaurant heartwood in downtown san francisco. >> we wish there was more foot traffic. but things have -- things have been good and about as well as could be expected. >> reporter: he didn't decide to open here for what downtown is like today with a record amount of vacant office space for lease signs up on virtually every block and lack of people. for him it's a long play. >> we wanted to set our roots down in what we felt was a time when the financial district needed people to do that. when there was more of a boom time that we were -- we were already in place and not behind the curve essentially. >> reporter: numerous efforts to revitalize downtown san francisco are under way. that includes the city and sf new deals vacant to vibrant pop-up program where small businesses will fill vacant spaces for three month periods with pop-up experiences from food and beverage to arts and entertainment to retail and more. in the hopes of bringing more people downtown.