The GrowSF Report: Aaron Peskin is running for Mayor
PLUS: Mayor Breed’s proposal for more homes
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of April 1, 2024:
- Aaron Peskin is running for Mayor
- Mayor Breed’s proposal for more homes
- Homeowners are denied insurance because of…density?!
- Rippling is making waves!
Recent & upcoming openings:
- Fisch & Flore lands in the Castro
- Rasa Rasa Kitchen rises in the Mission
Aaron Peskin is running for Mayor
Supervisor Aaron Peskin today announced that he’s running for Mayor. Peskin’s 20+ year political career has been disastrous for San Francisco. He gradually eroded executive power, mired small businesses in red tape, and consistently made it harder to build more homes in San Francisco. If you're unhappy with high crime, dirty streets, and expensive housing, blame Aaron Peskin and his allies.
Pro-growth, public-safety, and good-government advocates are already pointing out Peskin’s flaws to Han Li and Josh Koehn at The Standard:
“[Peskin] does not believe we have a housing shortage,” said Laura Foote, executive director of YIMBY Action.
“He is the person most-responsible for creating a city of haves and have nots, by limiting the amount of housing that gets built and freezing out young people from owning a home,” said Joe Arellano of Mayor Breed’s campaign.
“Peskin is abusive, toxic, and a documented obstructionist to the progress San Francisco needs to make to get back on track,” said Mayoral candidate Mark Farrell.
It’s reported that Peskin saw a path to victory with so many moderate candidates potentially splintering the vote. But the Mayor’s race is ranked choice, meaning voters get to (and should!) vote for every candidate they like (or would tolerate) as Mayor.
Mayor Breed’s proposal for more homes
Mayor London Breed proposed changes to her “Housing for All” legislation to smooth out zoning inconsistencies and make our housing plans more realistic, fair, and feasible.
Due to the financial realities associated with construction costs (labor, building materials, and inflation), high rise steel frame buildings are less likely to be built in the near future. In response, Mayor Breed asked Planning to spread out the changes across every neighborhood and to “prioritize rezoning for the type of housing that is most likely to be built,” shared J.K. Dineen at the Chronicle. The new plan will bring modest changes, like six to eight-story buildings near transit and commercial corridors, rather than a few 50+ story towers.
What this means in practice is that San Francisco will start to look a bit more like Paris than Manhattan over the next 15 to 20 years. For an example of what that could look like, take a peek at this beautiful street in Montmartre, Paris; every building here is between six and eight stories.
Every neighborhood in SF will benefit from modest height increases. We applaud the Mayor for proposing zoning that will bring jobs and new housing for families to our neighborhoods!!
Homeowners are denied insurance because of…density?
It seems outlandish, but some San Franciscans report that their homeowners' insurance renewals were denied because their neighborhoods are too “dense.” It’s hard to avoid proximity in San Francisco, which is the “second most densely packed city in the United States,” according to Megan Fan Munce at the Chronice. This is the latest in an evolving crisis in California homeowners’ insurance market, where wildfires and astronomical construction costs have resulted in higher losses than their forecasts predicted, forcing insurers to leave the state.
We did some digging, and here’s what we learned: insurance companies are tightly controlled by the state department of insurance. If companies need to raise their policy rates to account for increased risk, rates have to first be approved by the state – a lengthy process that could take years! Many insurers are choosing to leave the state rather than underwrite unsustainable insurance policies. This places a burden on the state’s FAIR Plan, which is really a plan of last resort for homeowners with only basic coverage.
You may wonder “Isn’t the whole point of insurance companies to accurately model and price risk? How did they end up underwater?” And you’d be right. But the problem is that California mandated an insufficient rate-setting process in 1988 with Proposition 103. This process requires insurers to only use backward-looking analysis for modeling risk, and explicitly doesn’t allow them to forecast rising risks due to climate change and wildfires.
But we hear there is legislation on the horizon to create greater flexibility on insurance rates. But it’s a double-edged sword: insurers will stay in California, but customers’ rates will rise (on net, this is a good, if painful, thing). Also, state leaders are considering allowing insurance companies to use forward-looking risk analysis in the underwriting process.
If passed, these changes will create a more precise and realistic rate setting process.
Rippling is making waves!
San Francisco is so back. Rippling just signed the city’s second-largest lease this year spanning nine floors and 123,000 square feet. The company is moving from 55 Second Street to 430 California Street and plans to hire hundreds of local workers. Rippling chose this location because of its “easy access to public transit and the space’s high quality build-out,” Chief Operating Officer Matt MacInnis said to Roland Li of the Chronicle.
San Francisco has struggled with high vacancy rates since the pandemic, reaching a record high of 36.7%. Rippling credits its own success to its commitment to an in-office culture (it mandates three days a week in the office). We hope that more companies consider returning to the office and investing in San Francisco. “It’s extraordinarily difficult for somewhere else in the world to take the top [city] spot,” Matt shared with the Chronicle. We couldn’t agree more.
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Recent & upcoming openings
A great city is constantly changing and growing, let’s celebrate what’s new!
Fisch & Flore lands in the Castro
WHERE: 2298 Market Street
WHEN: Wednesday-Sunday
A new seafood restaurant is opening in the former Cafe Flore location right in the heart of the Castro. Fisch & Flore celebrated its soft opening this week in time for the relaunch of the Castro Farmer’s Market. The restaurant will offer a sustainable seafood menu, including oysters on the half-shell, baked clams, and tuna tartare. Fisch & Flore is open for dinner but will expand to include lunch next month. We’re excited to see this historic location evolve!
Rasa Rasa Kitchen rises in the Mission
WHERE: 2200 Bryant Street
WHEN: 11am-3pm; 5-9pm; Tuesday-Sunday
After launching a food truck in 2020, owners Joe Sharp and Patty Tang are opening a permanent Indonesian restaurant for Rasa Rasa in the Mission. You can expect spicy pork belly (rica rica), pan fried noodles, and tumeric fried chicken. If you like spice, you’re in luck! But no worries – the heat for rica rica will be served on the side.
Your Action Plan
Now that you know what’s happening, help us shape what happens next:
Support more homes in San Francisco!
San Francisco is currently undergoing a state-mandated rezoning as part of its Housing Element. The city needs to adopt a rezoning map that will result in the construction of roughly 36,000 new homes by 2031. Send a letter to Planning to support the Mayor’s proposal.
The Spirit of San Francisco
There’s a lot to love about our city and the Bay Area. Here’s what makes it great. Brought to you by The Bold Italic.
What we’re doing this week
Lord of the Rings live with SF Symphony
A Hobbit and companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth. Hear the Oscar-winning score like never before as the Symphony performs this fantastical adventure live-to-picture.
Can we say? LotR was never our favorite series, but we’re thinking SF Symphony will break our lukewarm feelings of it.
WHEN: April 11-13, 2024
WHERE: 201 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA
Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown
Since 1968, the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival has played a crucial role in fostering the enduring bond between Japan and the United States through cultural exchange. Drawing over 220,000 attendees annually, the festival captivates visitors with its vibrant displays, showcasing the rich colors and elegance of Japanese culture, and highlighting the diverse Japanese American community in San Francisco’s Japantown.
WHEN: April 13–21, with the parade at 1 p.m. on the 21st
WHERE: 1610 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA
Also coming up: “Show of Hope” gala
This event honors the Community Health Center’s commitment to providing essential healthcare services to underserved communities. We love how queer it is, and ABC7 sponsors the event, so the morning crew that attends is always a hoot. Honorees this year include Dr. Anthony Fauci and Asia SF.
WHEN: April 19, 2024 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 5 Embarcadero Ctr.
What we’re writing about
Bring Your Own Big Wheel 2024: The best race in San Francisco
While Lombard street gets all the credit, the actual twistiest street in San Francisco — Vermont Street at 20th — slumbers all year until spring, when hordes descend upon it straddling tiny, plastic trikes while my friend, dressed as Princess Leia with miniature tires instead of buns in her hair, yells through a megaphone: “Are you ready to roll?” This is Bring Your Own Big Wheel.
Hunky Jesus 2024 — Life in plastic IS fantastic
On the final day of March, Dolores Park transformed into a spectacle of glitter, glamour, and irreverent celebration as the Sisters kicked off their Easter Celebration and Hunky Jesus contest. Hosted by longtime SPI Member Sister Roma, and community activist, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, and Trans pioneer Honey Mahogany the event began with a kid friendly program, and an easter egg hunt as the revelers filed in. In addition to our main story, here’s a supplemental photo spread of Hunky Jesus by The Bold Italic.
Mrs. Roper’s Romp on San Francisco streets
Shrieks of “Helen!” echoed through the Castro on Saturday afternoon as muumuu’ed mobs of men and women with curly red wigs and colorful caftan dresses took over the neighborhood for the Mrs. Roper Bar Crawl, paying tribute to Helen Roper, the iconic landlady from the late ’70s sitcom, Three’s Company. As far as bar crawls go, it’s not as big as, say, Santacon or the Brides of March, being somewhere approaching 200 people.
20 years in, ‘Bootie’ is still mixing tracks for ‘girls, gays, and theys’
“Bootie” initially began in 2003 as a monthly Wednesday event at Cherry Bar: “A punk rock bike messenger bar turned failing lesbian club,” said Adriana Roberts, the party’s co-founder. With the advent of cheap audio software and MP3 blogs, mashups were just starting to bubble up on the internet, and she loved the DIY genre-clash of the tracks being created. Now, it’s turning 20.
New ‘Blue Room’ mixes timeless cocktails with live music in Lower Nob Hill
When Tim Stookey, his wife Leslie Cole and her cousin Aaron Cole opened Stookey’s Club Moderne in Lower Nob Hill in 2015, it stepped right out of a 1930s film. Their devoted passion for the era translated to an intimate bar of glossy blues and whites that feels like time traveling. Enter their brand new neighboring live music bar, The Blue Room, which debuted earlier this year.
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