The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to lease the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for 20 years to a music promotion company planning big renovations to create an improved concert venue. The agreement will bring the city $100,000 annually, but some workers are left wondering if they will be retained by the new building management.
Category: City Hall
Posted inCity Hall, Health, Homelessness
Brakes put on indigent transportation program
The homeless and disabled are facing proposed cuts to a program that provides them with transportation to pick up prescriptions and obtain medical treatment. Mobile Assistance Patrol is facing a $300,000 reduction in funds for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which means that the transportation service will operate for shelter clients only at night.
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Posted inCity Hall, Health, Homelessness
Marathon public hearing decries cuts in health services
An overflow crowd at San Francisco City Hall testified into the early morning hours over proposed cuts in the public health budget. Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2010-2011 budget would trim $6 million from mental health and substance abuse services in the city.
Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Education, Health, Labor, Neighborhoods, News, Technology
Heart, neuroscience buildings to boost UCSF economic impact
The University of California, San Francisco, is slated to begin several large new projects at the Mission Bay medical center, including buildings dedicated to cardiovascular and neuroscience research. UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, who shared a new report on the impact the university has had on the city, said the university is the second biggest employer in the city.
Posted inCity Hall, Education, Elections, Government & Politics, Public Safety
San Francisco props A and B pass; millions more for school, safety retrofits
San Francisco voters approved measures to retrofit schools and emergency services facilities Tuesday in an election in which five of seven local propositions passed. Twenty-three percent of voters showed up at San Francisco’s 590 precincts, passing propositions A, B, D, E and F. Proposition A, which will extend through 2030 a special property tax that was enacted in 1990, was approved by 69.9 percent of voters. Proposition B, the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond, was approved by 79.2 percent of voters.
Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Land use
Supervisors support fee deferment to encourage building in the city
Although one supervisor questioned whether allowing developers to delay paying some fees would spur building in the city, officials say the accommodation will create more jobs and spur the economy.
Posted inCity Hall, Public Safety
Supervisors consider sidewalk policing as public debate heats up
The simmering debate on Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed restrictions on sitting and lying on the streets, the so-called “sit-lie” legislation, lined up advocates on both sides in what one city supervisor termed a culture war on San Francisco’s streets. Regardless of what the Board of Supervisors does with the plan — and they are likely to pan it — it could find new life on the ballot if the mayor presses forward.
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Posted inCity Hall, Transportation
Muni cuts begin Saturday; drivers fear backlash
A reduced Muni schedule begins on Saturday, with longer wait times between buses and service that starts later in the day and ends earlier at night. The cuts are part of an effort to close a $12 million budget gap in the current fiscal year’s budget. Drivers are worried that frustrated passengers will vent their anger at them.
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Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Land use
Two business tax plans aim to encourage new jobs in SF
In an effort to increase revenue and spur the local economy, San Francisco’s Office of the Controller is proposing two revised business tax plans that may end up on the November ballot.
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Posted inCity Hall, Community, Land use
Neighbors scuttle plan for condo tower near Transamerica pyramid
After nearly five hours of public debate, the Board of Supervisors halted plans for the development of a 38-story condominium tower Tuesday night. Many of the project’s opponents were concerned with the possibility that the building would harm surrounding parks — Maritime Plaza, Sue Bierman Park and the privately owned redwood grove at the foot of the Transamerica pyramid. Specifically, they emphasized the impacts of shadows, wind and interrupted bird migration routes.
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