Prop I would direct mansion transfer tax revenue to affordable housing
Proposition I would send half of the transfer tax paid on San Francisco property sales over $10 million to affordable and social housing and rental assistance. The measure also would bar the Board of Supervisors from changing the transfer tax without voter approval. Mayor Daniel Lurie opposes it, along with the firefighters and police unions, saying the money now goes to the general fund and that the change could take funding from other programs, including police hiring.
Housing & Land Use
4 stories, 4 outletsAt Richmond District town hall on Safeway housing project, neighbors see an assault on democracy
About 60 people came to a Richmond District town hall to hear and air views on an eight-story Safeway redevelopment proposed for the Outer Richmond. Neighbors at the meeting described the project's path as an assault on democracy.
Mahmood seeks to loosen chain retail rules to speed supermarket and pharmacy openings
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has drafted legislation that would let chain supermarkets and pharmacies take over existing storefronts without a conditional use permit, and let an existing grocery or drugstore change operators without a new one. The bill would also allow supermarkets to run attached chain businesses such as banks, restaurants and pharmacies, and to use up to 49 percent of their floor area for food service. Supervisors Stephen Sherrill and Myrna Melgar co-sponsored it, and Mahmood's office expects to bring it to the Board of Supervisors within two weeks.
A former tenant, a dream bakery, and a warning that came too late
Butter & Crumble owner Sophie Smith spent thousands getting ready to open a second bakery on Telegraph Hill. She then found out about the storefront's tangled history of problems. The story traces the shop's earlier tenant and a warning that came too late.
The Man Who Hated Victorians
Landmarking is part of San Francisco's zoning politics: Supervisor Rafael Mandelman demanded protection for more sites last year in exchange for his vote on the Family Zoning Plan, and Mayor Daniel Lurie expanded the landmarking effort this year to potentially thousands of sites. Mandelman tells The Frisc he does not weigh in on specific sites and wants preservation experts to have room to do so. The piece looks back at Newton J. Tharp, the city's official architect a century ago, who considered much of what San Francisco now protects an abomination.
City Hall
1 story, 1 outletMayor Lurie’s charter measures raise stunning $11M, more than all others combined
Campaigns for the 10 measures on San Francisco's November ballot have raised more than $19 million. Mayor Daniel Lurie's charter measures account for over $11 million of that, more than all the other measures combined.
Public Safety
1 story, 1 outletPolice investigate burglary and shooting in San Francisco
San Francisco police are investigating a burglary and a shooting reported at separate times Saturday morning. Officers went to the 1200 block of 22nd Avenue around 5:08 a.m. for a burglary that had just happened; the victim fired a gun during the incident, and the suspect ran off before police could find him. About 20 minutes later, officers went to the 400 block of 47th Avenue for a shooting and found a person with an apparent gunshot wound, who was taken to a hospital with injuries police say are not life-threatening.
Education
1 story, 1 outletSan Francisco to open its first public Mandarin immersion school next fall
San Francisco Unified will open the city's first public Mandarin immersion school for transitional kindergarten through eighth grade next fall, starting at 1670 Noe St. in Noe Valley, where it will share a campus with Mission Education Center. The first year will have one TK class and three kindergarten classes of 22 students each, about 88 seats, with more grades added each year. Families can learn more at the district's enrollment fair on Oct. 24 at the Moscone Center.
Immigration
1 story, 1 outletAide to San Francisco Lawmaker Fights for Release From Immigration Detention
Ho-Yin Mo, a Hong Kong-born field representative for Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, is being held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump after federal immigration agents arrested him at the Las Vegas airport. A Las Vegas immigration attorney is asking a judge to release him on bond and, if that fails, would challenge his detention in federal court, according to University of San Francisco law professor Bill Ong Hing. A hearing is scheduled for next week, according to former colleague Joe Arellano, and immigration court records do not show an open deportation case against Mo.
Business & Tech
1 story, 1 outletLeather bars have a bone to pick with Meta’s moderation machine
San Francisco LGBTQ businesses and nonprofits, including the city's leather bars, say Meta's content moderation has increasingly taken down or restricted their posts. They describe the removals as unfair censorship.