“You earn voters, then you become independent. You don’t become independent then earn voters.” Supervisor Jeff Sheehy is on his third political consultant in his quest to retain his District 8 seat, a fact that has been much repeated to portray his campaign as one in disarray — and, none too subtly, claim it’s a campaign he doesn’t even really...
“London, Mayor Deblasio # is [REDACTED]. Bill, London’s # is [REDACTED],” reads e-mail from VC and mega donor Ron Conway earlier this month told the Chronicle he’s just too busy to get involved in this year’s mayoral election “I agree that the mayor’s race in San Francisco is important,” the tech titan explained to the paper of record, “but there...
A tax measure boosting childcare can beat a tax measure aimed at providing housing and homeless services, even if the former garners far fewer votes. How does that make sense? And why are voters forced to choose one or the other? Art Agnos was early. The former mayor had intended to merely endorse the reappointment of a city commissioner at...
Neighbors of the old Southern Pacific right-of-way between Harrison Street and Treat Avenue have formed the Mission Greenway group to preserve the parcel’s history as a railroad right-of-way and transform the vacant lot into a green space. “We chose the name Mission Greenway because this was formerly a railway and because there are so many other greenways in the city,”...
On a brisk, cold night in the Mission, a group of neighborhood residents gather to discuss whether or not it is appropriate to drink water out of the toilet tank. En Español
In her four years working in the real estate arm of the Mission Economic Development Agency, Karoleen Feng has played a key role in turning the program from an idealistic aspiration into a major player in the neighborhood’s housing scene. A year or two ago, Feng said, the nonprofit didn’t much impress the local development community. “I was talking to...
Planning Commissioners on Thursday narrowly approved a proposal for a microbrewery and restaurant inside the building currently owned and used by bagmaker Timbuk2 at 20th and Shotwell streets. The approval is contingent on the brewpub operator mitigating noise from the pub and smell from the brewing, closing at 10 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends, having a loading zone...
Julie Rulyak Steinberg has taken the helm of the Community Music Center on Capp Street, assuming the role of Executive Director in mid-September. She comes to the Mission from a similar program in New York. Mission Local sat down for a quick interview about her plans for the future at the 92-year-old institution. The interview has been edited for clarity...
Mission Local checked in this week with Hillary Ronen about her first year on the job as District 9 Supervisor and some of the changes in the neighborhood. Ronen talked about her goals for building 5,000 affordable units of housing in the Mission over the next 10 years, her priorities for public safety, and the complicated needs evident at the...
A derelict building at 18th and Mission streets owned by a former Facebook executive that has been decaying for years has been acquired by the Mission Economic Development Agency for $6 million, with plans to add at least 40 affordable housing units to the property. The building last sold to Owen van Natta in 2014 for $5 million. MEDA’s purchase,...
The neighborhood best known for its immigrant Latino community and culture had an ally in Mayor Ed Lee — but the alliance was strained by the fallout of Lee’s well-intentioned business and development policies. Mission nonprofit leaders, like everyone else who came into contact with him, remembered San Francisco’s late Mayor Ed Lee as almost an anti-politician: humble, gentle, considerate....
Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news. I’m sure you’ll be shocked — shocked! — to learn that gentrification in the Mission is (still) at an advanced stage. That’s the ultra-watered-down takeaway from the updated maps from the UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, which used 2015 data to study displacement. The center...
It’s been nearly a decade since the last large-scale, entirely affordable building was completed in the Mission, and it will be longer still before any of the seven affordable projects in the pipeline break ground. How long is hard to say, but already many of those seven — representing more than 770 affordable housing units — have run into their...
A Mission District nonprofit is adding a hurdle for a cafe hoping to open on Mission Street near 22nd, asking the operator to agree to concessions they say will mitigate its gentrifying effects. The Mission Economic Development Agency, or MEDA, filed a request for a discretionary review on a proposal for a cafe at 2567 Mission St. That means the...
The Trump administration’s decision Monday to end temporary protections for Nicaraguans has put hundreds of thousands of other Central American immigrants on edge. Advocates urged all residents on temporary protected status to look at ways in which they might become permanent immigrants. “We’re calling all TPS holders from all 13 countries, as well as Dreamers, to continue to seek legal...
