Features

Supervisors approve de Young museum 

SAN FRANCISCO — After a seven-year battle to build a new M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park, the Board of Supervisors have approved the project. 

The approval came Monday after fights at the ballot box, in the courts and at more than a dozen public hearings. The museum, badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, was closed to the public a year ago. 

The demolition of the old museum complex will begin this spring. Plans are for the new building to open in the summer of 2005. The $185 million project will be privately financed. 

Dede Wilsey, president of the board of trustees for the fine arts museums, has led a money-raising campaign that already has secured more than $150 million in donations. 

Nude woman found dead in the Mission 

SAN FRANCISCO — Police are investigating the death of a woman whose nude body was found earlier this week on a Mission District sidewalk. 

San Francisco Police Lt. Judie Pursell said the woman showed no obvious injuries. Her body was found at 4:40 a.m. Monday alongside a parked car at Alabama and 18th streets. 

“At this point we don’t know what happened to her, and the case is being investigated,” Pursell said. 

A San Francisco police officer found the body and called for backup. It was unknown how long the woman’s body had been on the street, Pursell said. 

The neighborhood is known for prostitution and several of the responding officers said they recognized the victim as a prostitute, Pursell said. Her name was not released pending the investigation. 

Oh, those Raiders fans 

OAKLAND — Oakland authorities have issued several citations to Oakland Raiders fans for fraudulently using handicap placards to park closer to the Network Associates Coliseum. 

“So many people were coming in with these things, it was like shooting ducks in a pond — the abuse was outrageous,” Oakland Police Lt. Dave Kozicki said Monday. 

Officers have issued 66 citations at the last three Raiders home games. Violators who use or alter somebody else’s placard can face a $1,000 fine, and the placard is revoked for a year, Kozicki said. 

Alameda County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Gary Schellenberg said deputies have handed out another 94 citations. 

Kozicki and Schellenberg said the number of citations handed out dwindled at Saturday’s playoff triumph against the New York Jets.