San Francisco supervisors this week will take the first formal steps toward removing Sheriff’s Oversight Board President William Palmer, whose alleged abuses of office, history of violence against women and criminal record have made him a lightning rod for controversy. The Board will also consider changes to airport workers’ healthcare benefits, homelessness oversight recommendations and allegations of tenant abuse at two Western Addition housing complexes. Meanwhile, the Planning Commission will revisit plans for the former Flower Mart site, which may now include housing, and consider easing requirements for certain corner-lot housing projects.
On Monday, the Supervisors’ Rules Committee will begin removing controversial Sheriff’s Oversight Board commissioner William Palmer when it votes on a motion to suspend him and approve misconduct charges for referral to the Ethics Commission. The motion is expected to pass the committee and move to the full board for a vote the following day. District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill introduced the motion on Sept. 15.
Originally planned in 2019 as an office-heavy commercial campus with retail and a modernized wholesale flower market, the project may now include housing as economic knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic force changes.
Supervisors appointed Palmer to the Sheriff’s Oversight Board in 2021 and reappointed him in 2023 as an advocate for formerly incarcerated people. He had pleaded guilty to kidnapping for robbery of an off-duty police officer in Riverside in 1988, when he was 17. He was sentenced to life but paroled in 2019 after serving 31 years.
Palmer’s colleagues on the commission appointed him president in 2024. He had just evaded rape charges after newly discovered evidence raised questions about the accuser’s credibility, and prosecutors said they could not proceed with the trial. Several other women have accused Palmer of assaulting them or worse, as detailed in previous reports by The Voice as well as the Chronicle. The District Attorney’s Office has not yet filed new charges against Palmer.
Additionally, Palmer is accused of abusing power and misusing his office. Last December, Sheriff’s deputies stopped Palmer for driving with an expired registration. He repeatedly invoked his position as board president and, according to the investigation, threatened retaliation against the deputies. In July, he attempted to use his official position to gain access to a woman at a psychiatric hospital. He also frequently posted antisemitic and other conspiracy theories on his social media.
If the full board approves the motion Tuesday, the charges against Palmer will be forwarded to the Ethics Commission. If that body votes to sustain the charges, the case will return to the Board of Supervisors. Nine of the 11 members must vote to remove him.
In addition to the Palmer charges, the full Board of Supervisors will likely vote Tuesday on changes to the Healthy Airport Ordinance, which helps San Francisco airport service workers get better healthcare benefits, to reflect a legal settlement with Airlines for America. The trade group sued the city over the ordinance in 2021. The amendments replace the current tiered rate structure with a single flat rate, create an alternative path to compliance for covered employers, and set an hours-based coverage threshold for airport service employees. The board will also vote to approve the settlement itself, which has no monetary terms.
Supervisors will also vote on resolutions concurring with several Civil Grand Jury reports, including one urging greater oversight of homelessness services, and appoint Gerardo Carr as County Veterans Services Officer. Carr, an Army veteran, has worked in the office as a claims officer and has been the acting director since December.
Thursday, the Supervisors’ Government Audit and Oversight Committee will hold a hearing, called by District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, probing allegations of mass evictions, tenant harassment, and poor living conditions at two affordable housing complexes in the Western Addition: the Thomas Paine Square Apartments, owned by Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and the MLK/Marcus Garvey Co-Op apartments, a resident-owned housing cooperative. Domus Management Company manages both complexes and 54 properties across 11 counties in California. Together, the two complexes represent over 300 units of subsidized housing. Mahmood first called for the hearing in July.
Also on Thursday, the Planning Commission will hear an update on Kilroy’s plans to develop the former San Francisco Flower Mart site on Brannan between 5th and 6th Streets. Originally planned in 2019 as an office-heavy commercial campus with retail and a modernized wholesale flower market, the project may now include housing as economic knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic force changes. The commission will also mull another bill from Sherrill, which would exempt corner-lot projects approved under the Housing Choice Program from impact fees and some other requirements.
