Fifteen weeks into Mission Local’s series asking District 9 supervisorial hopefuls a question each week, voters will find the sharpest contrasts around two of the neighborhood’s most controversial issues: The Valencia Street center bike lane and the vending ban along Mission Street.
The bike infrastructure project has sparked controversy since its installation last year, as drivers and cyclists alike have had to get used to the merging of bicycles in and out of the center lane. Some merchants on Valencia have blasted the lane — and its erasure of parking spaces as well as left-hand turns — for a slowdown in business.
While sales-tax data fails to tell the story of each individual business because it is aggregated, Mission Local found the latest data from the controller’s office shows that sales tax between July and September on the eight blocks of Valencia between 15th through 23rd streets was up by 3.2 percent compared to numbers from the previous year.
Nevertheless, the businesses have held fast to their opposition.
Candidates Julian Bermudez, Trevor Chandler and Stephen Torres sided with the merchants and concluded that the lane has hurt small businesses while failing to improve pedestrian safety. Candidates Roberto Hernandez, Jaime Gutierrez and h brown did not mention businesses, but agreed that the plan had failed the community. They want city officials to sit with merchants and community members to find a solution that can satisfy everyone.
Jackie Fielder called the lane a step in the right direction that still needs serious work, adding that SFMTA needs to meet with the community to come up with a new design to satisfy everyone’s concerns.
Both Bermudez and Gutierrez suggested the creation of a bike route on Capp Street as an alternative to Valencia.
Mission Vending Ban
Alongside the Valencia bike lane, no local issue has been more controversial than the vending ban on Mission Street. It traces back to March 8, 2022, when the city started to crack down on illegal street vending.
A series of efforts to control the vending shows how difficult it has been. The city first placed barricades along Mission and 24th streets to keep unlicensed vendors from taking over the plaza. When those failed, the city and the local nonprofit Calle 24 turned to a permitting process
That, too, failed as vendors without permits continued to sell items that appeared to be stolen. There was little enforcement, and legal vendors said they were afraid to sell on the plaza alongside the illegal vending. Violence increased, and included a fatal stabbing and threats to Public Works employees on the street.
Then, last November, Supervisor Hillary Ronen called for a three-month ban on all vending along Mission Street. That ban was extended until late August of this year. Once the ban went into effect, the city opened two legal vending spots, but the larger space on Mission and 17th Streets failed to attract many vendors or customers. The space recently closed, and some of those vendors have been added to the second legal vending spot at Capp and 24th streets, known as La Placita.
Since the issue of vending has proven to be a difficult one to solve, we asked candidates about it twice. Here again is where voters will find differences.
District 9 challengers Chandler and Gutierrez support the ban, which has cleared the plazas of vendors — as long as police officers and Public Works staff are present.
All eight District 9 candidates agreed that it is important to find a solution that takes into account the needs of vendors who are dependent on this income. It is unclear what that solution might be.
Chandler, for example, proposed a night market at both the 16th and 24th Street BART plazas that is well-lit and has security. He said this will increase tourism and foot traffic, benefitting vendors and small businesses in the area.
Gutierrez said that he supports the ban because of the safety concerns vendors pose when they block sidewalks, as well as the amount of trash left behind by some. Gutierrez would, however, support moving the vendors to adjacent streets if these are properly regulated.
District 9 candidates Fielder and Hernandez also talked about the cultural importance of street vending in Latin American communities. Fielder called for vendors to organize in high-foot traffic areas and for police, city employees and vendors to coordinate with each other to follow safety measures. Hernandez emphasized the need to find a long-term solution that includes different community perspectives. He said that illegal vending on Mission had “spiraled out of control.”
Candidates opposing the ban sometimes offered solutions close to what the city has tried to do with its designated vending spots — with limited success. Bermudez proposed the creation of a permanent farmers market with a stage where local artists can entertain buyers and city officials can hand out permits. Petrelis wants vendors to use empty storefronts where local artists could also perform.
Torres and brown also proposed the creation of designated spaces where permitted vendors can set up shop. brown also proposed the creation of small police station outposts at both BART plazas where officers patrol and properly monitor what happens on Mission Street. It is worth noting that the current ban has been most effective when police are at the plazas.
Housing
All of the District 9 candidates described themselves as pro-housing, but differ in how to build more units.
Chandler proposed eliminating fees on 100 percent affordable units and supporting neighborhood preference for tenants. Hernandez proposed a first-time-buyer program and pointed out that the city’s failure to build housing was most visible in the western part of the city. Torres said the city has failed to deliver affordable housing; he called for deeply affordable units.
Fielder, a longtime proponent of a public bank, sees such a bank offering low- or no-interest loans. Bermudez presented a three-step plan that consists of lowering taxes on property owners if they lower rent, creating a third-party that establishes a projected rent price for land owners to list their vacancies, at and the addition of a tax to those buildings sitting empty.
Gutierrez said the city should create housing that is both affordable and environmentally conscious. If elected, he would support policies that aid income-restricted affordable housing. As for brown, he said the city should buy land and use it for housing, with priority for people who are unhoused.
Unlike the rest of the city, District 9 voters rejected Propositions E and F in March. With the exception of Gutierrez, all of the candidates voted against Proposition F, which mandates drug screening and treatment for some recipients of welfare. As for Proposition E, which allows the police department to use drones and facial recognition technology, initiate car chases more easily, and limit the amount of time officers spend reporting uses of force, Fielder, Petrelis, brown, Torres and Gutierrez all voted against it, while Chandler supported it.
It is unclear how Hernandez voted on Proposition E; he said he appreciated some parts of the proposition, but was also concerned with other parts of it. Bermudez preferred not to share how he voted.
We will keep asking a question a week. Let me know if you have other issues on your mind at oscar.palma@missionlocal.com or drop in and visit me at Stable Cafe at 2128 Folsom St. on Thursday, May 9 at 11 a.m.
“Moving” the Valencia bike lane is not a serious idea. People bike and scoot on Valencia for three reasons: It gets them to businesses they’re going to on Valencia, it connects to other neighborhoods at the north end via Market, and it connects to other neighborhoods at the south end via San Jose. Capp does none of those things. Capp is a fine choice for some bike trips within the neighborhood, but useless for going to businesses or through travel/commuting.
The biggest problem with the center bikeway from a business perspective is that it made it harder, not easier, to stop at a Valencia business by bike. Exiting midblock and getting over to the curb is difficult and stressful. It also hasn’t been a hit with riders, yielding a mere 3% increase in biking and scooting on Valencia according to SFMTA. A proper side-running protected bike lane would bring many more bikes and therefore more customers onto Valencia.
Just remember the so-called Mayor of the Mission Roberto Hernandez has not to date uttered a word about his fellow Calle24 Board Member and rapist Jon Jacobo. In fact, photos show they’ve hung out socially during that time. We don’t need people who coddle rapists in City Hall.