The Weekly Digest (May 11, 2025)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy Mother's Day, Brionies! 💐

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

San Francisco City Hall 

  • Tuesday, May 13 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Directors (agenda here):

    • Item 1: Mayor Lurie will make his monthly appearance before the Board. Supervisor Myrna Melgar has asked the Mayor to respond to the following question: “What commitments and investments does Mayor Lurie intent [sic] to make in order to renew our goal of zero traffic deaths and establish a Vision Zero 2.0 policy?” While crosswalks and enhanced visibility are essential, we hope the conversation also addresses the collapse in traffic enforcement over the past decade. SFPD has a critical role to play in protecting the public from distracted and reckless drivers. 

    • Item 6: Ordinance appropriating $61 million to overtime in the Police Department and $30 million to the Sheriff’s Department. Nobody is happy about this one. 

    • Item 14: Resolution approving amendment to a grant to the Homeless Prenatal Program, increasing the amount by $13,826,617 and extending the time period by eight years.  

    • Item 18: Hearing to consider objections to a report of assessment costs for inspection and/or abatement of blighted property conditions. Based on the look of things, you may be surprised to know that San Francisco law requires property owners to maintain their property free of blight and graffiti. Owners who fail to do so receive citations, and if those citations are not paid, the costs are added to their property tax, along with a 12% fee. This hearing will allow owners to object to these costs. There are about 400 blighted properties on the list under review, so this may take a while. While some owners may be negligent, many are doing their best in an endless battle with prolific and unchecked taggers. As one 76-year-old property owner wrote in a public comment: “I have just painted the exteriors of the property in May of 2024, and after two weeks, the graffiti was on the wall. I want to keep my property clean and tidy. No one wants to see graffiti on the wall. I just don’t know what can I do to stop the people from spraying on my wall. I cannot afford to keep on painting the wall every week. I pay my property tax, keep myself in compliance with all the City codes and regulations. I think the City has the responsibility to protect my property from Graffiti, not just sending me a bill which does not solve the problem.” We hope the supes show grace to owners like this one and shift the focus to law enforcement, empowering SFPD to take action against the actual bad guys.  

  • Wednesday, May 14 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee (agenda here):

    • Item 5: Resolution approving amendment to an agreement with the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation to provide mental health and substance abuse services, increasing the amount by $8,911,090 and extending the term by three years. 

    • Item 8: Ordinance appropriating $218 million of General Obligation Bond proceeds to the Department of Public Health, Department of Public Works, and Municipal Transportation Agency.

    • Items 11 and 12: Resolutions relating to a 100% affordable housing development at 160 Freelon, in SOMA. The proposed nine-story building will have 85 units in total, including 22 designated for families exiting homelessness and five for HIV-positive households. The total project cost is $100.4 million, or $1,181,176 per unit. The project history notes that 160 Freelon has been in the works since June 2019 and units won’t be up for lease until October 2027. We wonder whether the eight years of disuse were included in the $100.4 million total project cost. See also: unhappy neighbors.

Happenings around town

Call to action

  • Love reading the Digest each week? Heartened by our efforts to make our city safer, our schools better, and our economy more vibrant? Consider joining the Briones Society as one of our founding members. Your support thus far has enabled us to make meaningful progress in San Francisco. A pledge to contribute as a Founding Member will amplify our impact as we continue the work ahead. Interested in learning more? Please reach out to bill@brionessociety.org. 

What we’re reading

  • Mayor Lurie announced on Wednesday that San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott will step down. Let’s hope the next chief’s tenure inspires a more glowing adjective than “complicated.” 

  • In an affront to fiscal responsibility so reckless that even the Chronicle took notice, State Assembly Member Catherine Stefani (once known as the most normal member of SF’s Board of Supes) has introduced AB569, a bill that could increase California’s unfunded pension liabilities beyond the already-staggering sum of $250 billion. 

  • There are many downsides to President Trump’s dream of turning Alcatraz back into a penitentiary – its physical condition is deplorable, it lacks sewage treatment facilities, its cell sizes (5’ x 9’) aren’t up to code, and we locals would lose an foolproof way to entertain out-of-town visitors – but “escapeability” isn’t one of them. Don’t let those “Escape from Alcatraz” triathletes fool you: swimming from Alcatraz sans wetsuit is darn near impossible.

Quick hits

This week in San Francisco history

  • On May 15, 1856, residents of San Francisco organized a Committee of Vigilance to combat crime in their rapidly growing town. Like other gold rush boomtowns, San Francisco’s population explosion raised crime levels and left residents feeling insecure. Although the Committee of Vigilance turned alleged criminals over to law enforcement officials, it is known to have taken matters into its own hands more than once.

Palate cleanser





Bill Jackson
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