With San Francisco experiencing healthy vaccination numbers, our tourism and workforce activity are springing back to life. While unemployment is down to 5% and large events like concerts at Stern Grove and Yerba Buena Gardens have returned, transitioning back to in-person work and socializing has come with no small amount of uncertainty for many. The City is doing its best to arm residents and visitors with resources and health guidance to keep everyone safe. The City has launched a new COVID Data Tracker which consolidates information on vaccinations, testing, school reopening, case numbers, hospitalizations and housing & food support resources. Concerns around the Delta variant have informed our decision to continue the free testing site in Portsmouth Square every Wednesday from 10:00am-2:00pm through at least the end of August. 

While major PRIDE festivities were cancelled for the second year in a row, we managed to celebrate the history and contributions of the LGTBQI community in other ways. I was thrilled to support my friend and local District 3 leader, Juanita MORE, in her bid to be crowned the Empress of the Imperial Court of San Francisco - and subsequently be honored for fundraising more than $1 million toward COVID-19 relief. I also joined Chinatown’s first post-pandemic block party to bring together cross-cultural musical performances celebrating peace, solidarity and community, organized by tenant leaders from Ping Yuen’s public housing community, Chinatown footbeat patrol officers, and members of the Community Coalition for Safety & Justice (CCSJ), including youth organizations like Community Youth Center (CYC) and United Playaz. It was truly a gift to be with the seniors, friends and families who have been through so much in the last 18 months and really feel like we all had something to celebrate. As I said to the crowds on Pacific Avenue that day: we have so much to be thankful for.

Read on to learn what investments were included in this year’s city budget and get updates on policies and projects impacting you across the District and city.

See you in the neighborhood, 

Aaron

BUDGET WINS & RECOVERY INVESTMENTS

We know that the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing social inequities and economic disparities. The Mayor, Controller and Board of Supervisors have been working diligently over the last several months to pull together a final city budget that both protects our reserves and makes significant investments in an equitable recovery for all San Franciscans - and that means addressing those disparities head-on. In particular,I’m proud that we were able to champion investments in the following areas below.

Affordable Housing & Tenant Protections - For the last several years, this has been a tireless focus for my office, as we’ve pushed everything from citywide Accessory Dwelling Units and increased Inclusionary Housing units to revenue measures for affordable housing acquisition and preservation.This budget will help fund: 

• An additional $9.3 million investment over two years in affordable housing operating and rental subsidies for seniors and disabled residents, families at risk of homelessness, domestic violence survivors, at-risk transgendered residents, low-income residents living with HIV/AIDS and at-risk Transitional Age Youth (TAY) 
• The acquisition and rehabilitation of a 64-unit SRO in Chinatown to protect low-income seniors and families
• $150,000 for the continuation of residential and commercial tenant counseling, eviction protections and landlord mediation for the dense Polk Gulch/Lower Nob Hill
• An additional $32 million for citywide rent relief 

• An additional 14 foot-beat officers in District 3’s Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf, more than half of the new community patrol officers deployed citywide
• $2 million over two years for in-language and culturally competent API victim wrap-around services and pre-charging legal guidance
• $150,000 to pilot a Safe Passage walking program for Redding Elementary School families
• An additional $1 million for trained mobile community ambassadors engaged in the Lower Polk/Northern Tenderloin alleyways and commercial corridors
• The first Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) deployed from SFFD Station 49 to North Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf and Chinatown back in May, comprised of one bilingual community paramedic, one DPH behavioral health clinician and one behavioral health peer specialist. Although we piloted the SCRT team first in District 3, we were able to fund five more teams to provide clinical interventions to street crises citywide in this budget.

• A pilot waterfront Rent Credit program designed to attract BIPOC local restaurateurs & entrepreneurs to key tourist destinations like Fisherman’s Wharf and the Ferry Building
• A culturally competent vendor permitting program for Fisherman’s Wharf to appropriately regulate safe sidewalk vending
• The creation of a $3.5 million Chinatown Arts, Culture and Tourism Recovery & Development Fund, to reopen the Chinatown Visitors Center with new programming, restore the popular “Dancing on Waverly” festival, develop tourist safety education, fund local visual artists to paint alleyway murals and parklets, and bring the Bruce Lee legacy art exhibit to Chinatown
• Bringing back the community-led “Noodle Fest”, with incentives for restaurant  participation from both North Beach and Chinatown - stay tuned for more!
• A $500,000 infusion for the Legacy Business Fund to ramp up program staffing and application processing and provide additional direct grants to small businesses. I’m proud to have nominated the most Legacy Businesses to the citywide registry and look forward to adding more!
• $1 million Chinatown Recovery Fund to provide direct small business grants to struggling restaurants, especially after news that much of the $28 billion restaurant recovery funds went into well-financed chain stores 
• $1 million over two years for new power washing machinery and cleaning staff to revive Chinatown’s alleyways and commercial corridors 

SMALL BUSINESS UPDATES

Shared Spaces Are Here to Stay

Shared Spaces are here to stay! One of the saving graces for our business community over the past year, this program has brought new life to our commercial corridors. I was a proud supporter of the Shared Spaces Program, and worked hard as a member of the Land Use & Transportation Committee to improve public access, disability access, the City’s Vision Zero goals, maintenance and public realm standards - while waiving small business fines and fees for the first two years!

This program will continue to evolve over the next year and beyond, and I’ve asked for reports from City departments to track our progress over time, and to ensure that we’re mitigating any reduction in mechanical street cleaning, and tracking impacts on pedestrian safety projects - like recently completed projects on Polk, Columbus and Broadway. If we are going to embrace the “Shared” in Shared Spaces, we’ve all got to share in the responsibilities and benefits of this vast new program.

Thanks to everyone who called in and wrote to my office with their experiences - from North Beach Business Association to Russian Hill Neighbors, Telegraph Hill Dwellers, and numerous individuals. Read more about our office’s priorities in this public memorandum, and reach out to me or my staff at peskinStaff@sfgov.org with any further comments.

First-in-Nation Law to Prevent Restaurant Gouging Challenged by Corporations

Restaurants are an important piece of San Francisco’s economy, providing jobs and food across the City, while encouraging residents and visitors to patronize our vital commercial corridors. In some neighborhoods, restaurants account for almost 25% of active ground businesses,making up a significant proportion of the city’s ground-floor retail space. 

During the pandemic, I authored legislation to end a host of predatory business practices engaged in by this party food delivery apps like DoorDash and Grubhub - including to cap their delivery commissions at 15% of the restaurant menu price. (That’s still a large cut of a restaurant’s total revenue!) This month, my colleagues unanimously supported my legislation to make that cap permanent . In a bid to dissuade other jurisdictions from following San Francisco’s lead, DoorDash and Grubhub have filed an ill-advised lawsuit challenging that ordinance.

We share in the disappointment expressed by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. But we’re not surprised. It’s par for the course from companies who routinely show blatant disregard for small business, workers, and neighborhoods. If you have any questions about this ordinance, please contact my legislative aide, Lee Hepner.

"Love Your Local Laundromat" Legislation

I have introduced legislation to save neighborhood laundromats and stem the tide of closures of this vital service in San Francisco. My office spent over 8 months conducting research to identify the geographic patterns of closures and overall impact to key constituencies - including impacts to neighborhood commercial corridors.The staggering statistical evidence gathered by my office clearly shows that we have lost a third of our laundromat and cleaning facilities over the last decade. Protecting these essential facilities is crucial for low-income families, seniors and residents living on fixed incomes, particularly in dense neighborhoods.

Read more about the legislation and next steps here. 

SF Small Business Recovery Loan Fund Still Open!

Know Your Rights, Protecting Small Businesses from Frivolous Lawsuits

Fortuitous Opening of Lady Luck Cafe

TENANT & HOMELESS RESOURCES

Residential Eviction Moratorium and Rental Assistance

The eviction moratorium has been extended through September meaning tenants have more time to negotiate with landlords. I have proudly supported protections to combat the displacement of low-income tenants and families impacted by the pandemic. As the City and County of San Francisco has recently launched a rent assistance program, we encourage low-income tenants to submit their applications.

Contact my office at peskinstaff@sfgov.org if you need assistance or call 311.Tenants may also apply for the Housing is Key state program.

City Services for Unsheltered San Franciscans

ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATES

Aquatic Park & Pier Community Meeting

Bay Restoration in the Time of Climate Change

As a member of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, I have proudly supported preservation and restoration of the six Bayshore restoration and access projects. The projects approved at our last meeting on June 18 encompass large-scale efforts to restore and expand public access to shoreline habitats as well as planning and community engagement projects to lay the groundwork for future restoration work.Thinking of our footprint in the present and future, we must continue to move forward with proactive actions to address climate change. 

New Flood Maps Put District 3 Neighborhoods on Alert

For the first time since 2009, the state has remapped evacuation zones at risk of flooding, in the event of a tsunami. Significant portions of North Beach, Barbary Coast and the Financial District would be impacted, according to recent California Geological Survey findings recently announced in the news. While still a rare occurrence, the Department of Emergency, SF Public Works and the SF Public Utilities Commission are taking steps to prepare for the worst, protect vital infrastructure and ensure that residents are prepared in the event of an emergency. Learn more:  

Today I'm introducing a resolution to ensure voters are empowered to cut back plastic consumption clogging our California coastline in the next election. Check out news coverage of the fight here.

COMMUNITY UPDATES

Honoring Central Station Police Officer Mark Alvarez

Many of you have had a chance to meet Officer Mark Alvarez and have a story to share about this gentle public servant’s dedication to and love of community. So it was a bittersweet farewell recognizing Officer Alvarez for his 31 years of exemplary service with the San Francisco Police Department (25 years as a community foot patrol officer in North Beach) on the occasion of his retirement last month. Officer Alvarez has been a model of community policing, going above and beyond to help those in crisis and de-escalate situations utilizing his training and deep relationships in the community. He will be missed, but we look forward to seeing what new book he’s reading at Caffe Trieste in the days ahead. Learn more about Central Station and get involved in Captain Julian Ng’s Community Police Advisory Board -- and the work we’re doing collaboratively to promote public safety.

Come On In! Safe Reopenings Across North Beach

The North Beach Public Library continues to operate “SFPL-to-Go” front door holds and pick-up service, with staffing still limited across the citywide library network citywide. We  are working with our incredible leadership team at the SF Public Library to fully re-open North Beach Public Library by the second week of August - so stay tuned for more updates, including a full schedule of branch re-openings citywide. We are excited to welcome back librarians from their disaster emergency service work, and know how much it means for our communities to have access to a diverse selection of free books, especially families with kids. Check out the Italian interest and Chinese Language Collections, as well as local oral history, poems, and newspapers.