Proposition A, the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond, would raise $535 million over 30 years. The property tax addition of $7.45 per $100,000 of assessed value would replace an expiring levy, so it would not raise property taxes beyond their current rate. City policy since 2006 avoids placing a new bond measure before voters until a previous one has expired.
Proposition A requires a two-thirds majority for passage.
The bond measure marks the 120th anniversary of the devastating 1906 earthquake.
The neighborhoods west of Twin Peaks are a major focus of this effort. They were sparsely inhabited at the time of the great quake and subsequent fires. After the disaster they became a place of refugee camps as the city rebuilt. The western neighborhoods then saw a building boom of suburban-style housing.
To this day, the Outside Lands — San Francisco’s western neighborhoods — have been operating with a fire control system that is more than 100 years old and has seen only modest upgrades.
Proposition A would assign $130 million to upgrade pipes and infrastructure, primarily in the Richmond and the Sunset neighborhoods.
Jack Gallagher, a firefighter union representative advocating for the proposition on behalf of San Franciscans for Earthquake and Disaster Response, told the Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club, “We’ve had previous retrofitting bonds that primarily focused on the eastern side of the city.” He said the western neighborhoods, “do not have the same high-pressure water system that the east side does.”
The western neighborhoods part of the funding would also include a new pumping station at Fort Mason. It would allow city fireboats to inject bay water into firehoses that could reach more neighborhoods if fire mains break.
The Potrero bus yard
The bond’s biggest budget item — $200 million — is for one building on the eastern side of the city. The 111-year-old Potrero Yard, a complex where buses are parked at 17th and Bryant streets, is seismically unsafe. Several critical MUNI lines spanning the city could be heavily affected if the yard were knocked out of service.
In March, the Board of Supervisors approved plans to replace the yard with a four-story enclosed MUNI building. The new structure could increase the number of buses housed there to 246 from 146. The total estimated cost would be $612 million, most of which would come from other government funds and developer fees for housing built on part of the current site.
Work on the yard is set to begin early next year with completion by 2031.
Fire and police stations
Fire stations needing seismic upgrades, with a focus on the west side, would split $100 million in bond revenue.
Police stations would share $72 million. One major goal is to move the Property Crimes Division from the seismically unsafe Hall of Justice on Bryant Street. Other funds would focus on the Taraval Police Station in the Sunset.
Proposition A has widespread support among the city’s political leaders and Democratic party groups. The San Francisco Republican Party opposes the measure.
There is no official opposition to the measure on the city’s ballot information pamphlet.
