The Weekly Digest (March 3, 2024)
Happy Election Week, Brionies!
Before we get into this week’s City Hall shenanigans, we implore you to pick up that ballot from your kitchen counter and VOTE. As of this writing, only 15% of ballots have been turned in.
Your pals at the Briones Society are running for Republican County Central Committee so that we can revive political competition in San Francisco. We believe this city deserves a responsible and effective local GOP that advocates for great ideas and helps our city solve its serious problems. If you are a registered Republican, please vote for the Briones candidates for RCCC. Regardless of your party affiliation, refer to our voter guide for recommendations on critical ballot initiatives and judicial candidates.
City Hall
Tuesday, March 5 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda and call-in instructions here)
Item 8 – Ordinance waiving competitive bidding process for homeless service providers. Expensive, poorly monitored, and inadequately measured contracts with homeless service providers are a core feature of the city’s dysfunctional response to homelessness. Greater, not less, oversight is essential.
Item 20 – Resolution authorizing the city to receive a $33,736,105 grant from the state to construct a 12-bed psychiatric inpatient hospital facility at 1001 Potrero Avenue for youth. Once constructed, this facility is estimated to cost $12 million a year to operate.
Item 22 – Resolution approving a predevelopment agreement with Potrero Neighborhood Collective LLC, including a $4,350,000 continuation payment and potential termination payment of up to $9,900,000. This expenditure relates to the Potrero Yard Modernization Project, a massive public works endeavor. Project supporters hope to create a state-of-the-art transportation facility along with hundreds of affordable housing units, but we will keep an eye on this one for wasteful spending and the potential for corruption that often attends multi-million dollar public contracts.
Item 24 – Ordinance to establish the Forgivable Loan for First-Time Homebuyers Program to assist low, moderate, and middle-income first-time homebuyers who would otherwise not be able to purchase a primary residence in San Francisco. We scoured the agenda materials for any hint as to how much this program will cost, but came up empty. We hope the Supervisors ask for the price tag before approving this program.
Item 29 – Application by Trader Joe’s for a license to sell liquor at 555 Fulton Street. Per a subcommittee report: “Trader Joe's would like to operate a grocery store to be located at 555 Fulton St. If approved, this license will allow them to sell Beer, Wine and Distilled Spirits.” We may have found one issue on which 100% of San Franciscans can agree.
Item 30 – Ordinance directing the Controller to establish measurable performance goals for contracts with nonprofit organizations. Yes, please.
Happenings around town
Vote by mail or vote in person, but for heaven’s sake, VOTE. Polls close at 8pm, but don’t let it come to that.
Wednesday, March 6, 5:30pm, City Hall, Room 400
San Francisco Police Department Station Captain’s Community Meetings
Bayview Station, Tuesday, March 5, 5-6pm
What we’re reading
This week’s can’t-miss piece is by Sanjana Friedman, who kicked the tires on California’s Covid-era Project Roomkey. At the time it was launched, presidential stand-in Governer Newsom claimed this program offered a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to massively expand housing for the homeless in California with federal stimulus funds,” by spending almost $3 billion to lease and convert around 12,700 hotel rooms into SROs. Spoiler alert: instead of solving homelessness, the state’s investment resulted in substandard living conditions for residents, mismanagement of funds by contractors, lawsuits from hotel owners who claim that residents destroyed their properties, and – most tragically of all – a shocking number of overdose deaths (at least 18 of them in a single San Francisco property, the Hotel Whitcomb). For more insight into the catastrophic failures of “Housing First” homeless policy, refer back to our podcast interview with Michele Steeb.
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