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Good News out of Sausalito and San Diego

San Diego – Cities Can’t Assume Infill Development Reduces VMT 
By William Fulton – March 30, 2025
CEQA, Infill, San Diego County, SB 743, VMT
In a major opinion that could unravel implementation of SB 743 throughout the state, an  appellate court has ruled that cities and counties can’t assume infill development will  automatically lead to lower vehicle miles traveled.
The case was published and therefore  can be used as precedent around the state…  read more about the case: San-Diego_Infill_VMT_4thAppealsCourt
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Supply Constraints do not Explain House Price and Quantity Growth Across U.S. Cities

By Schuyler Louie,  John A. Mondragon  & Johannes Wieland : nber – excerpt

The standard view of housing markets holds that the flexibility of local housing supply–shaped by factors like geography and regulation–strongly affects the response of house prices, house quantities and population to rising housing demand. However, from 2000 to 2020, we find that higher income growth predicts the same growth in house prices, housing quantity, and population regardless of a city’s estimated housing supply elasticity. We find the same pattern when we expand the sample to 1980 to 2020, use different elasticity measures, and when we instrument for local housing demand. Using a general demand-and-supply framework, we show that our findings imply that constrained housing supply is relatively unimportant in explaining differences in rising house prices among U.S. cities. These results challenge the prevailing view of local housing and labor markets and suggest that easing housing supply constraints may not yield the anticipated improvements in housing affordability… (more)

RELATED:
New study by Fed economists directly contradicts Yimby narrative on housing prices: Dramatic data suggests gentrification and income inequality are far more important than ‘constraints’ on development as the cause of high housing prices. By Tim Redmond : 48hills

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The Average PG&E Utility Bill Has Gone Up Nearly 70% Since 2020

By Matthew Green : kqed – excerpt

The average utility bill for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers increased by about 67% over the last five years, driven in large part by a steep hike in electricity rates.

That’s according to a KQED analysis of PG&E charges, which found that residential ratepayers now pay an average of about $300 a month for their combined gas and electric service, up from $179 in 2020.

Electricity charges, which make up well over half of most ratepayers’ bills, have increased by more than 60% over that time period — from a monthly average of roughly $125 in January 2020 to about $202 in January 2025.

The utility’s gas rates have also risen markedly in recent years, including an additional 8.6% rate increase that went into effect in January.

The increasingly steep cost of keeping the lights on and the heat flowing comes as PG&E last week asked California regulators if it could increase the rate of return for its investors, to 11.3%, up a percentage point from the current limit — a move that would result in yet another rate hike.

If PG&E’s application is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the average ratepayer would see an increase of about $5.50 per month, PG&E bistarting in January 2026 at the earliest, according to the utility.

The company said in a statement that it pays the lowest dividend in the utility industry and that the increase is needed to attract investors, who provide the upfront capital for crucial system improvements, wildfire mitigation and safety and reliability projects. PG&E is California’s largest utility, serving more than 5 million customers across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California…(more)

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Planning Commission – Big Meeting on April 8

I’m reaching out to make sure you are aware of an important small business anti-displacement hearing taking place at City Hall Thursday April 10th at 1pm.

In the face of upzoning plans on commercial corridors driving small business displacement, as was recently seen in the Fillmore (1) (2), the Race and Equity in all Planning coalition and Small Business Forward have written a letter to the Planning Commission asking for permanent controls for neighborhood-serving businesses for equity and protections in displacement situations.

Please review the Permanent Controls for Neighborhood-Serving Businesses Letter here https://bit.ly/controls-neighborhood-serving

We are collecting sign-ons from representatives that can speak for small business names that will be listed on the letter. We started collecting signatures this week, currently the list includes Bangin’ Hair Salon, SF Beauty Network (Geary Blvd Merchants Association), Joe’s Ice Cream, Booksmith, Bar Part Time, Mercury Cafe and many others. We are looking to get as many small business names on the list as possible, especially in upzoned areas! You can see the upzoning map here https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/6e0e399f9c82456dbda233eacebc433d
Please reach out to discuss more at 415-649-0522 and I hope your small business and merchant association can sign onto the letter which will give small businesses more protection and equity in the face of displacement.
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SF takes another step toward public power

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

First report released on buying out PG&E. 

San Francisco is taking another big step on the path to create a municipal public power system, a plan that would reduce carbon emissions, bring in hundreds of millions a year in revenue—and fulfill a legal mandate that dates back to 1913.

The Planning Department just released its Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project, which will come before the commission for a public hearing April 17.

Much of the material in the DEIR is technical, and involves how the city would take over, rebuild, or connect to the Martin Substation on the border with Daly City. That’s the facility that turns high voltage power from the city’s own Hetch Hetchy generating facility and other sources into commercial and residential electricity.

The report suggests several options for that facility, and for the modest amount of trenching that might be needed to connect power lines.

But the real information is here … (read the details online)

The city has asked the state Public Utilities Commission to come up with a number for the value of PG&E’s assets. When that happens (and it keeps getting delayed, now we are hearing 2026), San Francisco can go to court, condemn the property under eminent domain, and buy it at the market price.

None of this will cost the taxpayers a penny, and will have no negative impact on the city budget. The SFPUC can issue revenue bonds, backed only by the projected income from retail electricity sales. There would be zero financial risk to the city; if the project doesn’t pencil out, Wall Street’s not going to buy the bonds anyway.

But the upside is huge, both in terms of clean energy and finances. PG&E has just asked the state PUC to allow it to raise rates, yet again—this time to offer more profit to the shareholders. The Budget Analyst and the Controller would have to run the numbers, but every time I’ve looked at this, the data shows the city would net more than $500 million a year—after paying the interest on the bonds, and paying to move PG&E workers into the city system in the same union at the same pay, and maintaining the lines and every other cost. And rates could be much lower.

Meanwhile, the city could move quickly to encourage solar panels on roofs and develop wind power and head toward a carbon-free grid …(more)

As we have noted, the state of California through the SFPUC, is doing everything in its power to encourage big energy companies to raise the utility rates and discourage private solar power production. Please support all the efforts of https://solarrights.org to protect and expand independent solar production in California.

When you consider who to support for the next governor and state representatives, you might consider who is LEAST likely to continue the assault on independent producers and other renewable sources of energy at lower costs to consumers.

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Letter to the Editor: Plenty of Questions About the New Ocean Beach Park

via email from richmondsunsetnews – excerpt

Editor:

To Mayor Lurie and the Board of Supervisors:

Don’t you think you had better slow down ramming this park idea down our throats and what artwork should be commissioned? The sand, wind, and graffiti will make quick work of destroying whatever you plan to put up. The graffiti on the art sculptures at the end of the Taraval line have had graffiti on them for months. Who’s in charge of cleaning it up?

Who is in charge around here anyway, giving away taxpayer dollars without the community allowed any input? Have other supervisors of the City had any input? Why don’t you use the money to buy art and school supplies for the children and public schools in the City? Our schools are broke, laying off teachers and cutting programs. Trump is talking about cutting off funds that San Francisco and California badly need. This is not a playground for children, it’s for adults who want to see the ocean from their high rise condos. The people backing this are mostly out-of-town millionaires. Their skin in the game is making money.

We already have over 250 parks and playgrounds in the City. Why don’t you paint murals at our schools and playgrounds and better maintain what we already have? The schools are laying off staff, and contemplating closing schools and you folks want to paint murals on the ground and walls next to the sand? Isn’t the purpose of going to the beach, is to go to the beach, lay in the sand and look out at the ocean and watch the waves? Art is nature itself! How many statues and murals do you see when you go to Yosemite or Yellowstone national parks?

I am including all of the supervisors whose areas suffer from a lack of funds in their own areas. SFMTA and Muni are millions of dollars in debt. They are cutting Muni lines, and want to raise parking fees to raise money. Our large and small businesses are leaving. Is it OK for all of you to approve money for art projects, money that we don’t have? How many of you supervisors have had input in this Ocean Beach playground? How many of you know what the city budget is for this two-mile playground? We have a lack of transparency!

Maybe you should have murals of high rise condos painted to match the view looking east.

Friends of Ocean Beach Park have become the Elon Musk of the west side of the City. Like Elon, Friends of Ocean Beach Park are not part of the city government, yet they are out there making decisions for the City. The same with the San Francisco Bike coalition and Walk SF who are funded with taxpayer dollars yet are not part of the city government. It’s rather embarrassing.

Tony Villa, D4 resident

RELATED:
TRUMP, NEWSOM ATTACK CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION
protestors are out in force today, March 23, 2025 

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Planning Commission rejects landlord plan to convert SRO rooms to tourist hotels

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

In a huge victory for tenants, the Planning Commission rejected tonight a permit that would have allowed a residential hotel owner to convert 72 rent-controlled units to tourist use.

The voted sent a clear message to landlords: The city won’t reward you for intentionally keeping low-cost units off the market.

The vote was 5-2, with Commissioners Amy Campbell and Sean McGarry, both appointees of former Mayor London Breed, siding with the landlord...(more)

RELATED:
Commissioners also voted to support Connie Chan’s noticing legislation that seeks to return to the more traditional public noticing system.

 

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‘Political dirty work’: Lawsuit filed over Friday closure of San Francisco road

 By Madilynne Medina : sfgate – excerpt (audio)

 
 
Calmer days on the beach are turning stormy as voters fight back for their Great Highway.

Opponents of Proposition K, the contentious voter-approved ballot measure to permanently ban cars from a portion of San Francisco’s Upper Great Highway, are pushing back with a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleging that the move is illegal.

The lawsuit, which seeks to stop the closure, scheduled for Friday, names the city of San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and five current and former supervisors who backed the November initiative that authorized converting the 2-mile stretch of road between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard into a new oceanfront park. The plaintiffs, who include community members and LivableSF, a transportation advocacy group, argue that Prop. K violates California law, a joint news release from the group states.

n the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the closure was implemented without environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. First passed in 1970, the act requires developers to “disclose to the public the significant environmental effects of a proposed discretionary project.” They also allege that the measure violates the section of the California Vehicle Code that governs when a local legislative body may close a highway to vehicular traffic.

In their campaign against Prop. K, opponents argued that closing the Great Highway would cost the city too much money, cause chaotic traffic on an already congested corridor and damage the nearby neighborhoods. Plaintiff Albert Chow, a Sunset resident and small business owner in the neighborhood, said in the release that working families will be affected after “thousands of cars” will be pushed into the neighborhood when the road closes….(more)

Neither Lurie nor his supporters supported Prop K. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Looks like nothing at the moment.

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S.F. homeless families to be evicted despite reassurance from Lurie

By Xueer Lu : missionlocal – excerpt

Update: Hours after publication, both families won another temporary extension, meaning they will not face eviction again until mid-April…

 

 

 

Two steps forward and four steps back. How do we get back through the looking glass?

In last-minute reversal, S.F. homeless families avoid eviction — for now.

Two San Francisco families who were set to be evicted from their homeless shelters on Monday night have won a reprieve following protests by advocates and several press stories highlighting their plight, according to Matt Alexander, an advocate working with the families.

The families of Vilma Arias and Maria Flores, two in a group of some 30 families who are facing eviction after San Francisco reintroduced a cap on the number of nights families can stay in city-contracted homeless shelters, were told to be out of their rooms at St. Joseph Family Center by 5 p.m. tonight.

If not, shelter staff told the families, the police would be called…(more)

Whiplash politics from Washington to SF! What gives? Why don’t they do us all a favor and DO NOTHING! That is the cheapest least chaotic way to end this mind-bogging confusion we are in. Did something happen to our leaders? Did power go to their head or what? Who said we wanted mass change? I thought the public voted for border security and safe streets and an end to inflation. Nothing they are doing is gong to fix those problems!

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California is embracing psychiatric hospitals again. Behind locked doors, a profit-driven system is destroying lives

By Cynthia Dizikes and Joaquin Palomino : sfchronicle – excerpt (audio)

California is embracing psychiatric hospitals again. Behind locked doors, a profit-driven system is destroying lives…

Soon after taking office in 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to finally fix a crisis that had come to define California. Emergency rooms were overflowing with people routed by depression, drug addiction and psychosis, many with unstable housing and nowhere to go except the streets.

“This is California’s original sin,” Newsom would say, pointing to decades of government mistakes and neglect that had left the state with a severe shortage of psychiatric treatment beds and narrow restrictions on who could be forced into them. “This is the manifestation of our failure.”

For the first time in a generation, California would pour billions of dollars into mental health facilities while making it easier to lock people in some of them. Those who had long been overlooked, Newsom pledged, would receive stabilizing medication and therapy to help them return to their communities, families, schools and careers.

 Yet a Chronicle investigation has found that the institutions Newsom’s administration is increasingly relying on are themselves a public health catastrophe…(more)

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