The Weekly Digest (June 30, 2024)
Happy Sunday, Brionies!
Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:
City Hall
Monday, July 1 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Rules Committee (agenda here):
Item 3 – Proposal by Supervisor Peskin to place a measure on the November ballot to establish a commission on commissions charged with making recommendations to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors about ways to modify, eliminate, or combine the City’s appointive boards and commissions.
Tuesday, July 2 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here):
Item 23 – Resolution authorizing the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to accept and expend $23,368,920 in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to assist eligible residential and commercial customers who accrued water and/or wastewater arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Item 32 – Resolution urging SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne and the Board of Education to include clear equity criteria in the Resource Alignment Initiative (SFUSD’s response to declining enrollment). Proposed equity criteria include the cultural and community significance of school sites in specific neighborhoods, such as Chinatown and the Tenderloin, as well as neighborhood density, walkability, in-language services and staffing, and on-site direct support services for low-income, immigrant and BIPOC communities who may have otherwise been undercounted for a variety of reasons, as part of the decision process.
Happenings around town
What we’re reading
It was a pretty big news week, but rather than direct you to memes and hot takes on the presidential debate (ok, allow us a few), we will keep it local and focus your attention on the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Grants Pass. This decision will have a direct impact on what San Francisco can do to deal with homeless encampments, so let’s dive in.
TLDR: SCOTUS overruled the Ninth Circuit and held that cities can ban street camping without violating the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Deeper dive: like most cities, San Francisco has laws that prohibit sleeping, lodging, or camping on public property. In 2010, 54% of San Francisco voters backed Proposition L, which banned sitting or lying on public sidewalks between 7am and 11pm. Since Grants Pass in 2022 and related precedent Martin v. Boise in 2018, however, San Francisco has been limited in its ability to enforce these laws.
In December 2022, federal Judge Donna M. Ryu issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the powerful Coalition on Homelessness that prohibited San Francisco from enforcing its camping ban whenever the number of people experiencing homelessness exceeds the number of available shelter beds. Much of Judge Ryu’s order quoted Martin and Grants Pass verbatim, so her order is unlikely to hold up now that Grants Pass has been reversed. City Attorney David Chiu responded to Grants Pass by stating: “the Supreme Court’s decision will give cities more flexibility to provide services to unhoused people while keeping our streets healthy and safe. It will help us address our most challenging encampments, where services are often refused and re-encampment is common.”
Keep an eye out for an upcoming Briones Society podcast about the ruling. For perspective on strategies that actually help people exit homelessness and develop independent, productive lives (as opposed to deteriorating on the sidewalk) listen to episodes five and thirteen with Michele Steeb.
Quick hits
Nonprofit that billed San Francisco for liquor and cigars barred from city business
One SF Politico’s Statewide Push For More ‘Sober Living’ Money Just Hit a Snag
Inside Newsom’s Attempt to Keep Serial Retail Theft Legal in California
Desperation And Nihilism Behind Push To Make Gavin Newsom President