The Weekly Digest (May 5, 2024)

Written By Bill Jackson

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo, Brionies!


Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:


City Hall

  • Monday, May 6 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Rules Committee (agenda here)

    • Item 1 – Motion appointing Supervisor Hillary Ronen to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). Story time! In 1963, California established LAFCOs in every county in the state, tasked with “approving, establishing, expanding, [and] reorganizing...cities and special districts,” as well as approving all outside service extensions. Naturally, SF’s LAFCO is stretching its area of “expertise” (as only an SF governmental agency can) and is supporting a municipal bank, which would put politicians who don't do anything well in charge of lending your money to projects they deem worthy. To get a sense of what this could look like, consider that Ronen, if appointed, might be the most reasonable person on this commission. Current members include Dean Preston, Connie Chan, Hope Williams (Co-Director of Radical Real Estate, whatever that is, who espouses “break(ing) the rules to our advantage in order to elicit change”), and Shanti Singh, former co-chair of the local Democratic Socialists of America. The Public Bank Commission, by the way, was founded by DSA-er Jackie Fielder. Yeah. These people want to run a bank. Funded with your money.

  • Tuesday, May 7 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here)

    • Item 8 – Resolution approving amendment to a contract with the Adult Probation Department for Minna Program, a 72-bed supportive housing site with wraparound services at 509 Minna Street. The target population for Minna Program is “justice-involved individuals” who are homeless with a dual diagnosis (substance use and mental health challenges). The amendment increases the grant by $10,776,676 for a total not to exceed $18,336,834 and extends the performance period by two years and ten months. The Legislative and Budget Analyst recommends the contract amendment even though the program failed to meet one of its five objectives: to assess whether clients recidivate.

    • Item 11 – Resolution approving amendment to the grant agreement between Compass Family Services and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for supportive services and administration of a Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool program for families; extending the grant term by 24 months and increasing the agreement amount by $20,183,620 for a total amount not to exceed $29,151,597.

    • Item 14 – Resolution authorizing the Mayor to apply for, accept, and expend a community development grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in an amount of up to $19,808,788. San Francisco has come to rely on big grants like this from the feds, but not everyone is happy to see federal funds flow to cities that refuse to enforce federal laws. 

    • Item 18 – Resolution approving a loan not to exceed $41,036,048 to finance a 146-unit permanent supportive housing development at 1633 Valencia Street and a grant not to exceed $80,785,406 to subsidize operations and debt service for the project. 

Happenings around town

What we’re reading

Bill Jackson
Previous

The Weekly Digest (May 12, 2024)
Next

The Weekly Digest (April 28, 2024)