The Weekly Digest (May 18, 2025)
Happy Bay to Breakers Sunday, Brionies!
Here’s what you need to know about local politics this week and beyond:
San Francisco City Hall
Tuesday, May 20 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Directors (agenda here):
Item 1: Resolution providing for the issuance and sale of $390 million in 30-year bonds to pay for a hodgepodge of public health and infrastructure projects. This one hurts, because we warned not to vote for it. The last people in the world to responsibly allocate $390 million of your future grandchildren’s taxes are the members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Item 7: Resolution approving a $14,115,847 grant to Glide Foundation for a free meals program.
Items 11 and 12: Motions relating to a 100% affordable, 85-unit multifamily rental housing development located at 160 Freelon Street, despite neighborhood protest. We wrote about this project last week and we’re still smarting over it. Development costs are approximately $1.2 million per unit. Spending $1.2 million per unit on affordable housing in San Francisco is hard to justify, especially when there are more cost-effective ways to help more people. That money could be used to house more people in lower-cost cities or provide vouchers for private rentals. Government-sponsored housing a highly inefficient way to address housing unaffordability that benefits developers and nonprofits but doesn’t result in better housing for the poor. Just ask Milton Friedman.
Item 13: Resolution authorizing the Treasure Island Development Authority to apply for a $50 million grant for the project at Treasure Island Parcel IC4.3, of which up to $35 million would go toward affordable housing development and $15 million to housing-related infrastructure. Gentle reminder: the government-planned utopia at Treasure Island has been in the works since 2003, but the bureaucrats in charge still can’t figure out how to keep the lights on.
Items 22-29: Multiple measures and a public hearing to consider a proposed expansion by the San Francisco Golf Club (don’t try to apply, dear – you must be invited). The SFG is a 164-acre club bordered by Brotherhood Way, Junipero Serra Boulevard, Wilshire Avenue in Daly City, and Lake Merced Boulevard. The project site is a 1.7-acre portion west of Thomas More Way, immediately adjacent to the Saint Thomas More Catholic School. The school objects to the expansion on the grounds that “the project holds the real danger from dust, noise, fire, fumes and explosions; all of which are known risks to childhood respiratory systems and early childhood development.” In 2024, the Planning Department determined that the project could go forward. Supporters of St. Thomas More school filed an appeal, and now the supervisors will vote on it. Or, maybe they’ll display their typical courage and delay the vote, like they did two weeks ago.
Wednesday, May 21 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee (agenda here):
Item 6: Resolution of intention to establish the San Francisco Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing District to finance commercial-to-residential conversion projects and other authorized costs.
Item 10: Resolution approving a second amendment to a grant agreement with Episcopal Community Services for permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless adults at the Alder, Crosby, Elm, Hillsdale, and Mentone Hotels. The amendment extends the grant term by 24 months and increases the amount by $25,138,285 for a new maximum of $72,297,684. Mark our word: this cost will increase when these leases end and the hotel owners, following precedent, sue the City for damage to their properties.
Happenings around town
Briones Society events
Thursday, May 22 at 5pm, online
What is the Briones Society? What is our mission and what are our core principles? How can you get involved? And where the heck does the name “Briones” come from? Join us for a half-hour Zoom meeting to learn the answers to these questions and more. We look forward to meeting you!
Other events of interest
Wednesday, May 21, 10-11am, online
Wednesday, May 21 at 6pm, RSVP required
Northern District Station, 1125 Fillmore Street
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
Add “investment management” to the long list of things that the government does worse than the private sector. The San Francisco public employee pension (SFERS) earned a measly 8% return in 2024, versus the S&P 500 Index, which grew by 22.8%. In other words, the SFERS pension underperformed the market by approximately 14% and lost out on $5 billion in appreciation. For this, the top manager of the pension fund earned a salary of $678,381.
A week before the deadline to submit signatures to recall District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, the leader of the campaign has suddenly resigned due to "internal disagreements over campaign tactics." For the recall to appear on this year’s ballot, organizers need to collect 10,000 valid signatures by Thursday. If you live in District 4 and have not yet signed the petition, you can do so at the locations listed here.
Briones Society President Jay Donde joined the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association this week in asking San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan to kick off a competition in local good governance: “What I'd like to see is Mahan step up and challenge Lurie to take courageous, necessary steps in dealing with bloated city government and reckless public spending. A bold vision set forth by Mahan to right-size San Jose's finances will echo up the peninsula and get San Francisco residents thinking—and demanding— ‘Why can't we have that here?’”
Quick hits
SF schools cancel 151 layoffs in major win for teachers’ union
Supreme Court tackles birthright citizenship case injunctions
This week in San Francisco history
On May 21, 1979, the White Night riots erupted in San Francisco following the conviction of former Supervisor Dan White for voluntary manslaughter in the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. The lenient verdict sparked outrage, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, leading to protests that escalated into violent clashes with the police. This event marked one of the most significant uprisings in LGBTQ+ history since the Stonewall riots.
Palate cleanser