Graffiti is disappearing from San Francisco — or at least complaints about it. Reports of graffiti to the city’s 311 complaint center in November hit an all-time low since the city started tracking the data at the start of 2016.

There were 3,371 calls in November, compared with 7,611 during March, according to city officials, who credit the drop to an aggressive, focused enforcement push.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón says graffiti costs the city “millions and millions every year” to clean up. He’s not talking about larger wall art, often commissioned by building owners or art groups, but hastily scribbled signatures — often known as tags — and crudely sprayed drawings.

And that vandalism can be costly for property owners, who get a $320 fine from the city if it’s not cleaned up in 30 days after public works officials first see it.

Most of the damage, Gascón tells reporter Evan Sernoffsky, is done by a small number of vandals. So his office focused on building cases against repeat offenders. In one July indictment, Gascón’s office charged 52 felony counts of vandalism against seven people.

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The taggers’ pride in their work may have undone them. Police collected security video of sprayers in the act and uncovered online postings of the handiwork to catch repeat offenders.

“One of the things with graffiti — taggers are proud of their work,” Gascón says.

Top of the News

•Better, but not enough: The first snow survey of the season shows an “adequate” level of frozen water supply in the Sierra Nevada, state officials say. But a lot more snow will have to fall to fill reservoirs and protect against the dry conditions that heighten fire risk.

•Madame Speaker, again: Rep. Nancy Pelosi retook the Speaker’s gavel on Thursday, praising the “optimism, idealism and patriotism of this transformative freshman class” in the new Congress. Pelosi’s first order of business was passing a pair of bills to reopen government — a move her Republican counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, called a “non-starter” on his side of the Capitol.

•No charges: A domestic violence charge against former 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster has been dismissed by Florida prosecutors, citing “insufficient evidence.” Foster was released by the 49ers after the November arrest — his third in 10 months — for allegedly hitting his on-and-off-again girlfriend. Related: The many, many problems of the 49ers 2018 season.

•Amazing and amazingly awful: Film critic Mick LaSalle says we’re in the best month of the year for movies. January features both quiet gems — good movies that didn’t want to get lost in the Christmas rush — and true innovators in the realm of bad. Here’s what January 2019’s offerings look like.

•Nobody home? BART Board Director Debora Allen and some of the transit agency’s managers are urging a crackdown on absenteeism among after a spike in station agents calling in sick on Christmas Eve. Five stations were without agents when the system closed at 1 a.m. Christmas morning.

•Uber-supervisor: San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors are jostling among themselves to decide who will become Board President. The responsibilities are largely administrative, reporter Trisha Thadani writes, but the real power is setting the tone for how the board will work with the mayor.

•No tips, please: The next time your order delivery, the food may come without a human. General Motors’ autonomous car division Cruise says it’ll be running a pilot of robot food deliveries in San Francisco in 2019.

•First homicide: A 61-year-old former professional ballet dancer who battled addiction was about to move to Florida. Then she stepped outside of her building in the Tenderloin and witnessed an attack. Veronica Soliz started recording the attacker on her cell phone, and he turned on her with a fatal blow, police say, making her the first person killed in San Francisco in 2019. “It just seems so bizarre,” her ex-husband told The Chronicle. “She was packed and ready to go and change her life and she ran into this.”

•Warriors mailbag: Is Damian Jones a bust? When will DeMarcus Cousins be ready to play? Warriors reporter Connor Letourneau discusses Dubs’ fans burning questions in the weekly column.

•A Dem candidate who voted for Trump: West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda’s (he pronounces it O-JET-a) stopped by It’s All Political podcast to talk about his nascent presidential campaign. He’s a long shot for a whole host of reasons, writes political reporter Joe Garofoli, but big-name Democrats should worry about him hammering on how out of touch they are.

The Kicker

He’s been the governor, attorney general, Oakland mayor, state Democratic party chairman and repeat Senate and presidential candidate.

Now Gov. Jerry Brown is stepping away from a 50-year political career. Ahead of Brown’s last days in office, The Chronicle is publishing an in-depth interview with Brown as he leaves, and a timeline of his wide-ranging life in politics.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers’ email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com