The Weekly Digest (March 10, 2024)
Happy Sunday, and welcome back to Daylight Saving Time, Brionies!
We here at the Briones Society had what you might call a big week. Tuesday’s election was a rousing success for us (and, we like to think, for all San Francisco Republicans). The tabulations aren’t final, but barring a massive shift in the remaining ballots, our candidates have won a supermajority of the Republican County Central Committee. We couldn’t be happier, and we thank you for pushing us over the finish line!
Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:
City Hall
Monday, March 11 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Rules Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 2 – Ordinance to establish a permanent Homeward Bound Program to offer paid travel and relocation support for people experiencing homelessness. Each year from 2006-2018, San Francisco reunited between 800 to 1,000 individuals with their families under this program. Since the pandemic and a transition of responsibilities between city departments, however, Homeward Bound has not been consistently utilized. This legislation aims to codify the program and make it a permanent feature of the city’s response to homelessness.
Tuesday, March 12 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Mayor Breed will be appearing at this meeting of the Board. She might be in a gloating mood; the election went pretty well for her, too.
Item 6 – Ordinance to allow more housing on corner lots in the Outer Sunset.
Item 7 – We mentioned this one last week, and now it’s up for final passage: an ordinance establishing a Forgivable Loan for First-Time Homebuyers Fund. We asked around, but can’t seem to find out where the money for this fund will come from or how much is being allocated, but it does appear that the Human Rights Commission will administer it. That’s cool, because when we think of astute financial professionals capable of running a loan program, we think of the HRC.
(No item number) - Resolution authorizing a repayment agreement with Baker Places, a nonprofit engaged in multiple contracts with the City (and not immune from some shadiness). The Department of Public Health audited this organization and discovered that it owed San Francisco about $7.8 million. With this agreement, Baker Places agrees to repay the money over 23 years.
Happenings around town
San Francisco Police Department Station Captain’s Community Meetings
Northern Station, Tuesday, March 12 at 5-6pm
Ingleside Station, Tuesday, March 19 at 6-7pm
Monday, March 18, 6pm, Commonwealth Club of California
Stephen Martin-Pinto for District 7 Supervisor Campaign Event
Thursday, March 21, 6:30pm, Spressa Cafe, 51 Cambon Drive
Friday, March 22, 5:30pm, Hyatt Regency San Francisco
What we’re reading
Your friends at The Briones Society weren’t the only winners in the March 5th election:
Proposition B, the so-called “minimum police staffing” initiative (that was actually a poison pill tax hike) was soundly defeated. The loss probably won’t help its sponsor, Ahsha Safai, in his mayoral bid.
Proposition C seems likely to pass. The goal of this legislation is to encourage housing production by waiving transfer taxes on converting properties from commercial to residential use.
Proposition D, which will tighten conflict-of-interest laws with more explicit prohibitions on gifts to public officials, cruised to passage at 90%.
In a big, loud statement about how fed up San Franciscans are with the state of public safety, Proposition E passed. This will allow the police to use up-to-date crime-fighting technology and slightly loosen the grip of the Police Commission.
Proposition F passed as well. This requires welfare recipients suspected of being addicted to illegal drugs to undergo screening and obtain some form of treatment as a condition of receiving benefits.
Proposition G, which was a nonbinding resolution urging San Francisco public schools to offer Algebra I to students by the 8th grade, passed with 82% of the vote.
Of course, not everything was great news. Proposition A, which seems like a boondoggle to create yet another affordable housing bond (this one for $300 million), passed easily. And a local labor union sued to block Proposition F.
We like to think part of our job is to educate voters, so eyes up front, please, class: this week’s Board of Supervisors agenda includes receipt of the Annual Report and Budget Recommendations by the Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax Advisory Committee. The S.D.D.T.A.C. is one of the myriad commissions and committees that City Hall hath foisted upon us. This committee has sixteen (fifteen plus one!) voting members, three sub-committees, and a mandate to recommend what to do with that sweet, sweet soda tax money. The report is – we kid you not! – 192 pages. Just as the tax itself is something of an overreach, the committee and the report go a bit too far, including data on such things as the aerobic capacity of SFUSD students broken down by sex, race, etc.
If you’d like to learn more about the 130+ commissions/ committees/ boards in San Francisco government, let us know. We may turn “know your committees” into a regular feature.
$320 for a parking permit? S.F.’s bureaucracy even makes moving here a pain
Is this 1907 bank tower the start of a trend to turn old S.F. office buildings into apartments?
Is Union Square just going to have like six Spirit Halloween locations this October, or what?
Palate cleanser