The Weekly Digest (September 22, 2024)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy Sunday, Brionies! 


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


San Francisco City Hall 


  • Tuesday, September 24 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here): 

    • Item 9 – ​​Resolution approving an amendment to a contract with IMCO Parking, LLC, adding operation of the Music Concourse Garage to the scope of work and increasing the contract amount by $27,000,000, for a new not-to-exceed amount of $207,000,000. As background, SFMTA operates 21 garages and contracts out their management to two parking operators: LAZ Parking California and IMCO Parking LLC. Combined, the contracts total $360,000,000, and the proposed amendment would increase that amount to $387,000,000 over a nine year period. Notably, the proposed amendment “does not have quantitative performance measures.” Instead, “SFMTA staff assess the effectiveness of the service on a qualitative basis, such as whether the vendors are effective partners in implementing parking policies and providing parking operation services.”

    • Item 15 – Ordinance designating a portion of the sidewalk on Woodland Avenue as the site of a future commemorative plaque in honor of Democratic Party activists Jane Morrison, Jack Morrison, Diana Roosevelt Jaicks, and Agar Jaicks. According to board materials, “the civic and social justice activism” of these individuals “reaches back to the 1950s and has contributed to San Francisco’s transformation into the progressive city it is today,” as their homes on Woodland Avenue were “legendary grassroots fundraising venues for generations of Democratic Party candidates,” and “for nearly 60 years their living rooms were well-known meeting places for advancing the twin causes of economic and social equality.”  

    • Item 28 – Resolution urging UCSF to address the work conditions and classification of clinical social workers represented by University Professional & Technical Employees (UPTE)-CWA 9119, and urging UCSF to “stop the implementation of a two-tiered mental health system between these workers, which further exacerbates existing injustices in the workplace.”

  • Wednesday, September 25 at 9am: Regular meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee (agenda here): 

    • Item 1 – Resolution proposing an amendment to a grant agreement between the Department of Public Works and nonprofit organization Hunters Point Family for the Pit Stop program, extending the term of the grant by nine months, and increasing the amount of the grant by $6,972,048, for a total not to exceed $16,238,479. The City’s Pit Stop program provides public restroom and handwashing facilities, as well as needle and dog waste receptacles, at 30 locations across the City. In 2023, after a competitive solicitation, DPW awarded a grant to Hunters Point Family to staff 22 Pit Stop sites. Hunters Point Family hires San Francisco residents who are eligible to work but face barriers to employment and may come from low-income neighborhoods. The organization provides training to these employees and then connects them to other employment and apprenticeship programs. Per board materials, “Hunters Point Family is close to meeting its workforce performance goal of placing 35 percent of workers into new jobs. In FY 2023-24, 32.5 percent of HPF workers exited into new jobs.”

Happenings around town

What we’re reading

  • The Briones Society San Francisco Ballot Guide has dropped! Our primer will walk you through dozens of candidates, ten statewide propositions, and fifteen local propositions on the November ballot. See above if you would also like to join us for an in-person ballot briefing (space is limited).

  • A flurry of recent articles about problems in the San Francisco Unified School District underscores why the Briones Society endorsed challenger Republican candidate Min Chang as our first choice. On Sunday, SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne announced that he would delay the release of a list of schools recommended for closure until October. A few days later, former head of the school board Lainie Motamedi gave an interview to the Chronicle explaining that she resigned from the board because of Wayne’s failed leadership and deep dysfunction in the district. According to the Chronicle, “Motamedi joins a growing number of parents and community members to call for Wayne’s removal. The list of community grievances related to his administration has grown over his two years running the district, with the delay of the closure list the latest.” One former staff member said that Wayne’s administration had a “‘deep culture of dismissiveness’ related to finance, the budget, human resources and other basic functions of government, including payroll.” Here are just a few of the challenges highlighted in the piece: a fiscal crisis, which will require at least $100 million in cuts next year; the fact that since May, state advisers have been in control of the school board’s spending; and hiring problems, like the fact that the district offered jobs to dozens of teachers, counselors, nurses and social workers, only to rescind those offers weeks or months later because of a hiring freeze enforced by state advisers, and after those individuals had made life-altering plans to work in the district. An emergency meeting to address all of these issues was scheduled for this morning. 

Quick hits



Bill Jackson
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