In the Know

The reinvention chronicles

As the economy forces all of us to rethink our careers—hell, the whole arc of our lives—a vanguard of the adventurous and the desperate is navigating an unrecognizable landscape that has little to do with résumés and contacts. Reinvention may be the Bay Area’s global brand, but as tens of thousands of us are discovering, the Great Recession has changed all the rules.

Mr. Hartman's neighborhood

With his dramatic blueprints for two San Francisco communities—including his pragmatically futuristic approach to Treasure Island—starchitect Craig Hartman has reinvented himself as an environmental warrior and one of the world’s most important master planners.

It’s a wonderful bank

The Move Your Money movement is urging consumers to switch from too-big-to-fail to small, local, and safe. An intrigued David V. Johnson sizes up the post-meltdown era’s most alluring financial revenge fantasy.

Mark Yudof’s impossible fix

To save the world-renowned University of California system from becoming as prosaic as Purdue—or, just as ominous, as pricey as a bunch of Pepperdines—the embattled UC president must convince the state, the feds, and voters to bail him out with tax dollars no one seems to have.

The Tenderloin as tourist attraction? An indecent proposal that puzzled even San Francisco’s visitors’ bureau.	5 ways to case a bank, sort of Is a bank investing responsibly in its own community? Is it about to implode, as Tamalpais Bank did? Finding out isn’t as simple as buying organic. Here’s how to figure out, as best you can, where to move your money.
San Francisco’s war on fun, HBO-style Hey, David Simon—looking to cast your next show?