The Weekly Digest (June 29, 2025)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy Pride Sunday, Brionies! 

Here’s what you need to know about local politics this week and beyond:

San Francisco City Hall 

  • Before we get to the Board of Supervisors agenda for this week, a quick update on city budget negotiations. In the wee hours of Thursday morning, the three supervisors on the Budget and Appropriations Committee voted to restore most of the positions that Mayor Lurie had proposed to cut. So, facing a historic budget deficit of $800 million, San Francisco is on track to lay off a grand total of 40 of its 34,800 City workers, 0.1% of the workforce. Does that seem like the right call for a city/county that employs 20% more more workers per capita than any other US city/county? 

  • But even that is too many for Budget Committee Chair and D1 Supervisor Connie Chan, who said it was the intent of the Board of Supervisors to “restore all the proposed layoffs.” We wonder: Who does Supervisor Chan work for? The employees of the City and County of San Francisco, or the citizens? How does she expect to balance the budget without laying anyone off?

  • Meanwhile, the latest deal gives the mayor a fraction of the flexibility he was seeking to reallocate Proposition C funds (business taxes to fund homeless services) away from housing and toward more shelters. He’ll be able to redirect $19M without a supermajority vote from the Board of Supervisors, down from the $88M he was seeking. The Committee also restored various other funds the mayor had proposed to cut, including $6M for a code enforcement program for SRO hotels and $2.1 million for immigrant case management.

  • The Budget Committee will consider last-minute changes at a July 9 meeting before the full board considers the budget on July 15. By law, the mayor must sign the budget before August 1.

  • Tuesday, July 1 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisor (agenda here):

    • Item 4: Ordinance to allow separate conveyance of certain Accessory Dwelling Units and associated primary residences as condominiums. This would allow homeowners to construct Accessory Dwelling Units (also known as “Granny Flats”) and record them as condominium units. Each unit could be sold separately, despite being on the same lot as the primary residence. Supervisor Engardio believes this will incentivize homeowners to create more housing…in the backyard. There are concerns about how this could harm the character of single-family neighborhoods by increasing density and making parking harder to find.

    • With the upcoming July 4th weekend, most committees are not meeting this week.

We’re Hiring!

  • Are you or someone you know eager to advance a solutions-oriented conservative movement in America’s cities? The Briones Society is looking for a Content and Operations Manager to write for the News Digest, lead Briones operations, and help build a vibrant volunteer network. Please see the job description here. Please reach out to diana@brionessociety.org for more information.

Happenings around town

  • Briones Society events

    • Briones Society Monthly Happy Hour

      • Thursday, July 10, 5:30-7:30pm, location provided upon RSVP

 

What we’re reading

  • San Francisco’s “Vision Zero” initiative, which aimed to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024, has failed. According to the article, despite years of investment, “[2024] traffic fatalities hit their highest level in nearly two decades, and the San Francisco Police Department has effectively stopped enforcing traffic laws.” Time to get back to basics and enforce those laws. (Fun fact: it’s illegal to text while crossing the street in Honolulu.)

  • “Abundance” is the buzzword of the moment among a certain set of Democrats. Led by Ezra Klein, proponents of this idea argue that progressives often sabotage their own goals by imposing so many regulatory hurdles that it becomes uneconomical for the private sector to build what society needs—like housing. This is almost certainly what Governor Gavin Newsom had in mind when he proposed loosening some environmental and labor standards for state-funded affordable housing. But the unions were not amused. As Politico reports, the executive director of the Sacramento Building and Construction Trades Council told lawmakers the bill “will compel our workers to be shackled and start singing chain gang songs.” That seems a bit unhinged, given that Newsom’s proposal merely aims to ease government-imposed cost drivers that make housing harder to produce. Yet many Democratic legislators seem unwilling to support the change—likely because it would offend their union benefactors. If we want “abundance” in practice as well as in theory, we may need a new generation of lawmakers less beholden to environmental and labor interest groups.

  • More housing drama right in our backyard. Cow Hollow residents shared their unhappiness with Mayor Lurie’s upzoning plan at a forum this past week. Is the mayor’s plan “terrible” because “it’ll change the character of the city forever,” as attendee Leslie Dickey said, or is it a way to “make the city affordable for generations of San Franciscans,” as Mayor Lurie contends? 

  • Zohran Mamdani, an avowed Democratic Socialist, won a surprise victory in the Democratic primary for New York City Mayor. In San Francisco, moderate Dems see Mamdani’s win as a troubling flashback to the rise of radical progressive policies that deepened urban dysfunction on the West Coast. We have a more optimistic view. If Mamdani wins, we’re going to see an exodus of young, smart people from New York back to San Francisco, reversing recent trends. Mamdexit. You heard it here first.

Quick hits

This week in San Francisco history

  • On June 29, 1776, Spanish colonists established El Presidio de San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Assísi, laying the groundwork for what would eventually become today’s city.

Palate cleanser

Bill Jackson
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The Weekly Digest (June 22, 2025)