News Pix: Mirkarimi Reinstated, Big Spending to Defeat Richmond Soda Tax and More

We're back with photos of the news from around the Bay this week. Check 'em out.

Eliana Lopez waves her hands in the air to support the speaker during public comments. The Mirkarimi supporters had been ordered to keep quiet but showed their support with hand waves at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting. The meeting reinstated Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff of San Francisco following his plea to one count of false imprisonment.  (Deborah Svoboda/KQED)

This years Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival held at Golden Gate Park on October 5-7 saw thousands of attendees who had to park their bicycles at the hundreds of bike racks as they were not allowed into the staging area. Bicycles were locked in heaps, some even on top of signposts, as desperate cyclists got creative with keeping their rides safe. (Pearly Tan/Richmond Confidential)

A river otter made a rare appearance at the ruins of Sutro Baths Wednesday morning. It relaxed in the sunshine on one of the foundation walls, curled up in the vegetation at the edge of the water, rolled around on the wall near a great blue heron and seemed at ease in the remains of what once was one of San Francisco’s busiest attractions. (David Cruz/Ocean Beach Bulletin)

After nearly a year of construction work, the Safeway on Shattuck Avenue in the heart of Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto has reopened. The revamped store a stone's throw from Chez Panisse, is unsurprisingly, promoting its organic produce section, fresh fish and meat counters, as well as expansive deli. (D.H. Parks/Berkeleyside)

The beverage industry and movie theater industry have come out strongly against Richmond's proposed tax on sugar sweetened beverages. Since January, Washington D.C. based lobby group American Beverage Association and Texas-based Cinemark USA Inc. have bankrolled an Independent Committee opposed to Measure N to the tune of $1.6 million. (Tawanda Kanhema/Richmond Confidential)

Engineering and computer science student from UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle Team drove Impulse, the solar powered vehicle designed and built at the Richmond Field Station over the John T Knox Freeway Saturday. (Tawanda Kanhema/Richmond Confidential)

A 315-foot bridge provides safe passage for pedestrians and bicyclists on their way to the nearby shopping center or school. In 2005, a toddler was hit by a train, helping to spur funding for the $10.5 million project. (Janice Rombeck/NeighborWebSJ)

A man sleeps behind a parking lot in Berkeley. (Anna Vignet/San Francisco Public Press)

This photo is part of a photo essay on homelessness entitled "Architecture of Homelessness." The photographer's statement on the project is included below.

Initiatives to help San Francisco’s homeless find shelter, jobs or medical treatment remain controversial. One recent law, the “sit-lie” ordinance, made it illegal to sit or lie down on city sidewalks. Some homeless people say this law takes away their right to dwell freely — essentially the right to be alive. How does one build a place of one’s own in a city where other opportunities are not available? We all have the need to create a sense of home, even in extreme circumstances. In these photos, the lines between public and private, urban and domestic, blur. They reveal the architecture of homelessness, and contribute to the understanding of a displaced people who make their own spaces.