Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods
Advocating for a healthy city
KPIX CBS News
This is a problem that someone should be able to fix as soon as the new administration steps in.
We understand there is a well-managed private RV park close by that cost less to operate than the city managed one. Perhaps there is someone better able to manage this safe parking site and our new Mayor will find that person in time to save it. Trailer parks are a perfectly legal and widely accepted lifestyle for many. Why San Francisco opposes them is somewhat of a mystery.
Mayor Blocked 3 Permanent Drug-Free Housing Projects
Mayor Breed allocated $3.7 million for permanent drug-free SRO housing in her 2023-24 budget. None of this money has been spent.
Did drug problems end in San Francisco? No. Did other permanent drug-free housing options available to graduates from transitional programs emerge? No.
The mayor did not spend a dime of the $3.7 million allocated for permanent supportive drug-free housing in the 2023-24 budget year. Instead, Mayor Breed intervened three times to block the program she claimed to support.
The North Beach Hotel
“I think a project like this could be a game changer, and very transformative and exciting for so many people who deserve a second chance to live a life free and clean and sober in the city and county of San Francisco,” Breed said.”–SF Chronicle, February 8, 2024…
The San Remo Hotel
The San Remo Hotel, 2237 Mason, was completely vacant (it is legally a tourist hotel). I met with Peskin to assess his support. Peskin not only supported the project but said he would take responsibility for community outreach and community support. I thought that was great. But when I conveyed that to the mayor’s office I was told they didn’t want Peskin doing that. They wanted me to do the outreach.
So I began outreaching to North Beach groups. None expressed opposition. Some asked that I meet with their Board and this was scheduled. All was going well when the mayor’s office told me that wanted one of their close political allies, Cedric Akbar of Westside Community Services, to do door-to-door outreach around the San Remo.
I thought that was odd. We did not need Akbar’s help to do outreach. Akbar was running for the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee at the time and I assumed the mayor was looking to help his campaign by assigning him outreach to potential voters (he was elected). Wanting to move the project forward, I said fine to Akbar’s plans…
Steve Adami of Salvation Army also said that permanent drug-free housing didn’t work. I thought that was odd because the Salvation Army was co-sponsoring Matt Haney’s statewide bill mandating money for permanent drug-free housing. After our call I alerted the Bay Area Council about this contradiction (they were co-sponsoring Haney’s bill) and heard from Salvation Army that Adami did not speak for them. He later recanted his opposition to permanent drug free housing expressed at the meeting.
Residents in Westside/Salvation Army programs do not get tenants’ rights. These are transitional “programs” that residents must leave to get the permanent drug-free housing they need.
What I realized was going on here was Mayor Breed trying to shift $3.7 million from the Tenderloin Housing Clinic to her favored nonprofits. The mayor was also reversing her support for THC’s plan to provide a bridge to permanent drug-free housing for those graduating from transitional programs. The Salvation Army and Westside do not provide permanent drug-free housing so that was not where the mayor now wanted this money to go.
What I anticipated would happen after that meeting did happen. The mayor killed her once heavily promoted permanent drug-free housing plan…(more)
Reading this makes me feel some-what vindicated. For some time I have watched Breed flit from one shiny new object to another, never giving any of her proposals time to work. What is particularly galling is the facts that she blame everyone else for not building any affordable housing, when all along it was her holding onto the money, and or, frittering it away on someone else. We shall soon see what she did with it if it is not in the coffers waiting to be spent.
By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez : sfstandard – excerpt
In an interview with The Standard, Peskin said that despite speculation, he isn’t interested in serving as, for instance, chief of staff for mayor-elect Daniel Lurie or the city’s first inspector general. (Regardless, Peskin would be barred from such roles by a rule that prohibits employment at City Hall for a year after leaving.) But Peskin did call Lurie to offer any help he could, he said.
Instead of a staff role, Peskin plans to unite a loose collection of progressive Democrat groups — neighborhood groups, Democratic clubs, civic organizations, and labor — to push back against the influence of wealthy power players in local politics.
A cadre of folks whose net worth borders on the bonkers — including billionaire Bill Oberndorf, who backs Republicans nationally, and The Standard chairman Michael Moritz — have channeled millions of dollars into political groups like TogetherSF, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, and GrowSF.
In this election, such well-heeled donors dropped coins aplenty: Moritz spent $3.1 million; Oberndorf spent $1.1 million; former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, $1.4 million; Ripple CEO Chris Larsen, roughly $1 million; and tech angel investor Ron Conway, $438,000. That’s to say nothing of the city’s new mayor, Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, who self-funded his campaign to the tune of $8 million.
The outcome of all that spending was mixed.…(more)
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new requirements Friday for cities and counties receiving state money to address homeless encampments.
Newsom, who has been cracking down on local governments that refuse to accommodate new housing projects or homeless shelters, said that the state will “claw back” funding for localities that fail to comply with their housing goals.
San Francisco became the first city to fall out of compliance with the housing element law, the California Department of Housing and Community Development ruled in July. San Francisco is required to plan for 82,000 new units between 2023 and 2031, but the city authorized just over 3,000 new units in 2023 and 831 units in the first half of this year, according to the city’s Planning Department. The state announced in August that San Francisco was back on track to return to compliance.
Under a law passed in 2023 by San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, cities that fail to comply must streamline the approval of most projects.
Newsom also said Friday that cities must follow “all state housing and homelessness laws” to hold on to their millions in state aid from encampment resolution funds…(more)
How did we end up with an anti-San Francisco governor and an anti-San Francisco Senator? What is wrong with our city that no one who likes us runs for state office?
Prop. 33 on the Nov. 5 ballot would overturn Costa Hawkins. If that happens, and Peskin’s bill passes, every apartment build between June 14, 1979 and Nov. 5, 2024 would come under the city’s rent control law…
The legislation, sponsored by Sup. Aaron Peskin, would extend rent controls to the tens of thousands of units that are exempt under state law, if and when that state law is repealed or amended.
Under the Costa Hawkins Act, any apartment built after June 13, 1979 is exempt from any form of local rent control…(more)
Not sure why no one is asking the Mayoral candidates about this. They do a lot of lip service to “the high costs of housing”, but avoid talking about the corporate takeover and control of rental pricing. There is even less talk about the exorbitant costs of fuel and utilities. Most of these are state problems, but they need to be on the table for discussion every time the price of rent is raised, in my opinion.
by Carol Harvey : sfbayview – excerpt
Read the article before you view the videos. Watch the entire one and one-half hour event by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRITuQhUO3g&list=PLHrKWOo7hlZBqhGnknzClH3RqOO_sR4Lz.
Watch a 14-minute video summary by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/KlcWvBFn36Q.
Watch an eight-minute summary by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/zbHBfGQjK3Y.
If you live on Social Security and Medicare, you and I are not alone.
It has now become too expensive for 65 million Americans to live in the United States of Money. People need food, shelter, healthcare and a basic income. Social Security and Medicare are our safety nets…
On July 30, 2024, with flare and a sense of fun, the California Alliance of Retired Americans (CARA) threw Social Security and Medicare a birthday party. I videoed the event, which took place at the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francesco. I swear I gained weight just looking at the red, white and blue frosted birthday cake held up by Hene Kelly, CARA vice president, and Kory Powell-McCoy, Nancy Pelosi’s district director…
“Scrap the Cap” signs were everywhere. So what’s the cap?
For Immediate Release : via email
New Police District Would Cover Hospitality Zone to Better Deter Crime Targeting Businesses and Tourists Downtown
SAN FRANCISCO– Today, Daniel Lurie announced a plan to create a new police district that covers San Francisco’s hospitality zone, from Moscone Center to Union Square. The new police district would encompass the Convention Center, San Francisco Centre, Yerba Buena Gardens, and Union Square, with a station located in the district once Lurie’s plans to fully staff the police department are implemented. Currently, the hospitality district is split between three police districts, dividing already limited police resources across an area with unique public safety needs.
“The Union Square shopping area is ground zero for retail theft,” said Daniel Lurie, a longtime non-profit executive, father of two, and lifelong Democrat. “From deterring crime in our shopping corridors to ensuring tourists feel safe in an iconic San Francisco neighborhood, this area has unique needs that require dedicated and specialized resources. Revitalizing this area is key to San Francisco’s economic recovery. The current and former interim mayors caused a morale crisis in our police department which has spurred an exodus of officers, but I’m confident we can turn this around with new accountable leadership.”
Union Square, historically the region’s premier shopping area and the most important city-center shopping district west of Chicago, has been hit hard by retail theft, threatening businesses and deterring foot traffic, putting the economic vitality of downtown San Francisco at risk. This specialized police district would focus on protecting the heart of San Francisco’s economy, which contributes 75% of the city’s GDP and 40% of the city’s jobs. The plan for a new police district is coupled with Lurie’s existing plans to increase police staffing numbers citywide, create a downtown climate innovation hub, ensure certainty in zoning and permitting, and transform downtown into a 24/7 vibrant urban core.
Lurie’s plan for fully staffing the police department includes: building workforce housing for first responders, offering rent subsidies so officers can live in the communities where they work, providing child care and transportation incentives, and increasing diversity in our ranks so officers reflect the communities they serve.
In contrast, both Farrell and Breed have a track record of defunding the police. Specifically, Farrell claims to have increased police funding as budget chair, but during his tenure from 2013 to 2017, his Budget Committee actually reduced the police department’s budget by nearly $6 million over three years—$600,000 less in 2013, $1 million less in 2014, and $4 million less in 2015. Moreover, as interim Mayor, the San Francisco Police Officers Association criticized him as obstructionist on officer pay. Since Breed became Mayor in 2018, SFPD has lost 300 officers creating both a staffing and morale crisis that has further exacerbated a sense of lawlessness while stretching 911 call response times to dangerous levels.
By Alex Mullaney : sfstandard – excerpt
It wasn’t surprising when a K Ingleside train lurched to a stop moments after leaving Castro Station one Friday last month. Delays are a fact of life. But for Stephen Martin-Pinto, being told to step into the dimly lit subway tunnel and walk a mile down the tracks was new.
The 42-year-old firefighter was returning home in a two-car train with about 50 passengers when, as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency would tell state regulators, “the overhead power feeder was reported open and then closed.” In other words, the train died.
Apparently, an object on top of the train shorted out the system, a city official who was briefed on the matter later told Martin-Pinto. Electricity arced, sparks flew, the tunnel filled with smoke, and the power went out.
Moments later, the train’s batteries kicked in, and the lights came back on. The operator soon announced that a rescue train would pick up the passengers. But after 16 minutes, the operator came on again to announce a change of plans — the system had shorted out, after all — and told the passengers they could exit the train. The majority did. For Martin-Pinto, this is when serious safety questions began cropping up.
Although the smoke began to clear, the tunnel was “poorly lit and full of trip hazards,” Martin-Pinto said…
Initially, the transportation agency said it was a mechanical issue with the overhead power system — a once-common problem that has decreased in the past five years.
But no. It was something much simpler — and handheld. A few days later, Martin-Pinto asked the San Francisco Fire Department’s Transit Committee to take up the incident and learned what had shorted out the train: a regular aluminum can. Someone had thrown a can from the platform. Martin-Pinto wasn’t told exactly what kind it was — “a soda or beer can.” Whatever it was had exploded.…(more
Interesting to note that regardless of what happens it is never SFMTA’s fault. In this case a soda can exploded on the tracks and that must be vandalism. It could not have been that a soda can was accidentally dropped and rolled onto the tracks? SFMTA blames everything on someone else. No apologies and no falling on swords. For those who missed it, (Video of Stephen Martin-Pinto describing the incident at our Town Hall)
By KELLY WALDRON : missionlocal – excerpt
Melgar was invited to speak but just sat in the audience and said nothing. One of her opponents, Stephen Martin-Pinto was in attendance and gathered a lot of support last night. There were a lot of people from D-4., D-7, and D-11 that I recognized.
RELATED:
Breed’s plan is likely to spur intense debate and discussion this summer and comes as the mayor—along with two supervisors and another two City Hall outsiders—seek the city’s top job in November.
Breed’s challengers are already casting her as having squandered years of bright economic growth—and a moderate versus progressive fight is almost certain in the coming weeks over at least some of the mayor’s spending priorities.
Last year, Breed was able to plug up a similarly large deficit through the use of Covid-related reimbursements and reserve funds. But by October, Breed warned that cuts were coming and directed city departments to make 10% reductions to their budgets.
San Francisco’s supervisors will propose their own tweaks to the mayor’s budget proposal before sending it back to her for a final signature by the end of July… (more)
RELATED remarks via email
…Supervisor and Budget Chair Connie Chan blasted the mayor on Friday over what she described as the mayor’s “wasteful spending and inefficiencies” in city contracting and departments.
“My task is clear—we must comb through the mayor’s proposed budget and advance a budget that prioritizes all San Franciscans—not just the demands of the wealthy few,” Chan said.
Likewise, Safaí had some harsh words for Breed: “Her budget is out of touch with working families, and there’s no way it will pass as is.”
Other critics of the mayor echoed Chan’s remarks: “We’re going to have to understand and digest the money machinations,” said Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club President Jeffrey Kwong.