This week’s workload at City Hall looks to be lighter than last week as the board of supervisors prepares to adjourn for summer recess through August. Nevertheless, some significant issues under the spotlight include whether to ban “whippets,” finalizing appointments to the Planning Commission, and settling sore spots in a relationship between the city and a major tech bus provider.
Last week we hinted that changes were coming to the Planning Commission, and one big manifestation of those changes occurred last Thursday when the body approved its first project under the city’s Family Zoning Plan, an 85-plus-foot condo tower on Anza Street in the Inner Richmond. The building includes eight family-size units, two of which are deed-restricted as affordable. It’s a policy milestone for San Francisco, but with fewer than 11 units, it could have been approved under recent state laws if it weren’t for the fact that it will replace an existing duplex.
On Monday, the Supervisor’s Rules Committee will review three new appointments to fill vacancies on the commission: now-former SFMTA director Mike Chen, nominated by Mayor Daniel Lurie; U.C. Berkeley planning professor Elizabeth Macdonald, from Supervisors’ President Rafael Mandelman; and Joel Koppel, governmental affairs chief at the San Francisco Electrical Contractors Association, also from Mandelman. Koppel served on the commission previously from 2016 to 2024, including two years as president. Chen resigned from the MTA board last week, which opens up a seat on that commission.
Mandelman announced his nomination of Macdonald and Koppel to the commission on July 22 along with a third candidate, Malea Chavez, who is chief program officer at the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA). The supervisors will presumably consider Chavez after recess.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the pro-housing group YIMBY ACTION sent out an email urging supporters to testify in favor of Chen and against Macdonald and Koppel on Monday. The group’s opposition, especially to Koppel, whose previous record on the commission was regarded as pro-housing and pro-permit reform, is surprising. Meanwhile, Macdonald was a significant figure in the development of Octavia Boulevard. As an executive at MEDA, Chavez is far more likely to be seen as problematic due to the group’s recent financial overextension and past anti-housing activism.
Chen, Koppel, and Macdonald are expected to go on to this week’s meeting of the full Board of Supervisors as Committee Reports.
Also on Monday, the Small Business Commission will mull District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter’s bill that would ban retail sales of nitrous oxide. First announced by Sauter in February, the bill is currently on the table at the Budget and Finance Committee due to amendments. The bill has attracted opposition from the public defender’s office and progressive groups, arguing that no studies have been conducted on local recreational use of the substance.
Sales of nitrous oxide for personal consumption as a narcotic are already illegal. Still, that use has nevertheless greatly increased nationwide, with public safety consequences, due to a loophole in current law allowing over-the-counter sales for food industry use. Several other California counties have either enacted bans or tightened restrictions on retail sales, and both state and federal bills are under consideration.
Tuesday’s full Board of Supervisors will feature, in addition to confirmation of the Planning Commission appointments and other legislation, several legal settlements, including one between the city and Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation, for over $3 million. The twist here is that Bauer’s, a company which grew from one guy and his Cadillac in 1989 to one of the state’s largest livery providers on the backs of San Francisco’s tourist, tech, and party industries, is paying the city.
In line with that growth have been several political beefs, including denial of a bus stop permit for tech shuttle service in 2016. Then District 3 member Aaron Peskin leveraged the issue to compel Bauer’s to unionize. Later, the company had disputes with the Port of San Francisco over back rent, lease extensions and site safety upgrades.
Under the agreement with the Port, Bauer’s will make an up-front payment of $859,309, followed by payments of $2.4 million plus finance fees over 60 months, and install life safety improvements on site, to continue its current lease agreements.
