City Hall
The image on the left shows a two-story Victorian building. The top floor has bay windows and is painted beige. The ground floor is painted red and displays commercial signage for Lee's Liquor Store. The photo on the right shows the sidewalk along a nondescript one-story building with gray walls and flat windows.

Without Dropping Cash Reparations Idea, SF Investigates New Housing Reforms

03.10.2023
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San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors will review and discuss dozens of policy recommendations beyond a proposed $5 million payment to each qualifying Black resident — the option that captured national media attention and inspired a handwringing frenzy — when it meets March 14 to discuss the city’s draft Reparations Plan.

Its proposals are non-binding, with the committee noting in the plan that “it will be up to the community to create the momentum to ultimately get these recommendations officially codified into San Francisco law.”

City Hall
In this split image, the left side shows a black and white photo of Victorian Era buildings with neon signs installed in the mid-20th century advertising a jazz club, restaurant and other businesses. On the right side is a color photo showing a modern beige bank building with a flat facade and a blue awning.

Housing Program to Redress Urban Renewal Could Get Boost From SF Reparations Plan

02.28.2023
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Urban renewal was a publicly and privately funded effort across the U.S. wherein local governments acquired land in areas deemed “blighted” — often using a racially biased lens — through eminent domain, forcibly displacing residents and demolishing existing buildings with promises to rebuild. In San Francisco, urban renewal targeted Black cultural centers and neighborhoods, uprooting thousands of families and destroying lively, well-established communities.

Now, San Francisco is giving renewed attention to a program that aims to bring displaced residents and their descendants back to the city as the Board of Supervisors prepares to review a draft Reparations Plan to address historic harms against Black San Franciscans at a meeting March 14.

Elections

Proposition O — Additional Parcel Tax for City College

10.13.2022
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Proposition O, also called the San Francisco Workforce Education and Reinvestment in Community Success Act, is a proposed parcel tax to generate funding for a variety of services and programs at the City College of San Francisco. This proposed tax would begin in 2023 and continue through 2043, generating an estimated $37 million annually — though that number would increase over time as the tax is adjusted for inflation.

Elections

Proposition L — Sales Tax for Transportation Projects

10.13.2022
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Proposition L is a proposed extension of the city’s current 0.5% sales tax until 2053 to help fund public transportation projects. The measure also allows the city to issue up to $1.91 billion in bonds to be repaid with proceeds from the tax, which the city controller estimated will generate $100 million per year in its early years, increasing to about $236 million by 2052. Revenue from the tax would be used to fund the 2022 Transportation Expenditure Plan, which includes a variety of programs focused on basic transit maintenance, major transportation improvements, paratransit services, congestion reduction, pedestrian and bike safety, and community-based equity planning.