In part two of a continuing series, we cut one slice at random from the epic timpano that is contemporary design and try to pick out the meaty bits. Today, the story is a city: Dateline San Fran, where all is not well. Strap on your bullet point vests.

• Says the Times: “Extinction threatens The San Francisco Chronicle.” Among the divers eccentricities that may make the paper unfit for survival? “It is one of a handful of papers with an architecture critic, John King.” Does the sword of Damocles hover close above the head of the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist?

• Sued! Ironically, a report from the San Francisco Gate, the Chronicle’s website: “San Francisco officials are taking an unusual approach to the age-old problem of cost overruns in municipal projects, suing the architects who designed the city’s new juvenile hall—a project that came in $11 million over budget and almost two years late.” Getting it in the ear are the local firms Design Partnership and Del Campo & Maru. Let’s just hope the San Francisco municipality’s creative solution to recouping their losses doesn’t catch on.

• But we may not have to worry: In San Fran, innovation is no longer hip. Designer Gadi Amit, head of local outfit NewDealDesign, has this to say in Fast Company: “Promoted as the in’ word in design circles in recent years, ‘innovation’ has become a mantra devoid of meaning.” His suggestion? Stop innovating, start intuiting.

There it is, San Francisco in a nutshell. (Not a surprising place to find it, really.) If you’re on the leftmost coast, let us hear your bite-sized updates—commentatorize us, or slip us a mash note at tips(at)edificial(dot)com.