A woman with a long black ponytail reaches up to straighten the frame of one of many black and white photographs displayed in a closely spaced array on a wall in an art gallery.

SF Reparations Plan Nears Submission, but Funding Not Yet Secure

After 2½ years of meetings, community discussions, historical deep dives and policy generation, a panel tasked with proposing how San Francisco might atone for decades of discrimination against Black residents is ready to ask the city to step up and support equity rhetoric with action.

San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee is aiming to submit its final recommendations to the city by June 30, according to Brittni Chicuata, director of economic rights at the city’s Human Rights Commission. In the meantime, the city’s annual budget process is in full swing, which may affect funding and the timeline for whatever reparations policies the board decides to pursue.

An aerial black and white photo displays an empty dirty lot surrounded by chain link fences. Two cars are parked next to the sidewalk in front of the lot. Behind the cars, a group of three people stand around a small table.

Without Dropping Cash Reparations Idea, SF Investigates New Housing Reforms

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.”

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

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.

Proposition O — Additional Parcel Tax for City College

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.

Proposition L — Sales Tax for Transportation Projects

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.