Abandoned couches and mattresses. Broken chairs and vacuum cleaners. Trash from illegal dumping has almost doubled on the streets of Oakland since 2012.

But city officials say a new pilot program of sending crews to proactively clear streets — “Garbage Blitz” teams — is improving the trash situation in areas where the program started 10 months ago.

“People feel more comfortable dumping on dirty streets than clean streets,” the city’s Public Works Director Jason Mitchell tells reporter Kimberly Veklerov. Cleaning more often, Oakland officials believe, will discourage further illegal dumping.

They’ve also introduced “bulky block parties” — complete with music and food trucks — once a month to encourage residents to drop off their large items at a city facility.

The numbers from the pilot locations show promise. In East Oakland, crews encountered a daily average of 8,600 pounds of trash in March. By May, the number had dipped to 5,400.

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Top of the News

•New board president: After months of negotiations, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors elected Norman Yee board president. A long string of public commenters ahead of the vote had urged the board to choose Hillary Ronen.

•DACA-not: Will there be a deal to reopen the government that provides cash to build a border wall in exchange for protecting young undocumented immigrants? Don’t count on it, writes Washington correspondent Tal Kopan. Both President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have brushed the idea aside.

•On the way out: Three PG&E executives are retiring from the company amid ongoing scrutiny of the utility’s role in recent wildfires.

•More math for more students: San Francisco school district’s controversial decision to not start Algebra I until the ninth grade has resulted in more students — across almost all demographics — taking higher-level math by the end of high school, data show. Some parents remain opposed to the change, Jill Tucker reports, arguing that it’s now harder for students to reach the most advanced math classes needed for competitive colleges.

•‘Useless’ tests: On the same day in December it publicly touted the value of its blood test for heart disease, Bay Area medical diagnostics company CardioDx told a state agency it was laying off 110 employees and winding down the business. What happened? Sophia Kunthara and Catherine Ho report on why Medicare stopped paying for the test.

•Will this bill end up crumpled in a pocket: In a news conference featuring a man-sized CVS receipt, Assemblyman Phil Ting introduced a bill requiring businesses to automatically use electronic receipts, unless a customer asks for paper receipts. Ting is concerned about the environmental impact of printed receipts, but the bill could also be a boon to Bay Area payment technology firms like Square, Poynt and Clover.

•Keep the laughs going: From legends to locals, we have a guide for choosing the best events at the 18th annual Sketchfest, which starts Thursday.

•A long campaign: Columnist Phil Matier says Sen. Kamala Harris will likely announce that she’s running for president close to the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The California senator is currently on a book tour.

•‘California for all’: Gavin Newsom promised in his inaugural address to “represent all Californians, not just those who voted for me.” That’s a promise he’ll be hard-pressed to keep in a state where voters in urban coastal communities far outnumber those in the rural parts of the state, writes John Wildermuth.

•Not this year: A Stephen Curry-hosted PGA Tour golf tournament at Lake Merced will not go forward after negotiations with a sponsor fell apart, reports Ron Kroichick. Lake Merced members had already voted to approve $3.6 million in course upgrades, a prerequisite to holding the tournament.

The Kicker

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Architecturally, the one square block of San Francisco bounded by Mission, Main, Howard and Spear streets isn’t much to look at.

But it’s a crash course in how downtown’s fine-grain landscape evolves, writes urban design critic John King. You’ll never see these changes in the skyline, but they tell you how a city adapts and changes.

Take a walk with John through this block.

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