City Budget Hits $16.9 Billion
PLUS: Great Highway makes the ballot, school zone speed limits, grocery stores, and Dolores Huerta endorses Scott Wiener
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of July 19, 2026:
- City Budget Hits $16.9 Billion
- Great Highway Vote Returns
- School zone speed limit drops to 20mph
- Mahmood Pivots to Grocery Incentives
- Dolores Huerta Backs Scott Wiener
City Budget Hits $16.9 Billion
Published July 25, 2026
The Facts
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $16.9 billion budget on July 21, according to Alyce McFadden at the Chronicle.
The budget relies on two main elements:
About $300 million in recurring changes: Roughly half comes from higher future tax and public-health revenue. The rest comes from lower staffing, contract, grant, and operating costs, according to the Controller’s analysis.
$696.1 million in one-time money: This includes $505 million in unused money carried forward from prior years and $191.1 million from reserves. Most will be used in the second year, according to the revenue plan.
The $300 million and $696.1 million figures measure different things. The first reduces the annual mismatch between revenue and spending. The second is temporary funding used across the two-year budget.
About $80 million of the recurring savings is supposed to come from future staffing reductions, but the affected positions have not been identified, according to an S&P credit review.
The Board also restored $28.6 million for Free City College for residents, youth jobs, health care, senior services, and other programs.
The Context
Federal funding changes represented $306.3 million of the original $642.8 million two-year deficit. Revenue was expected to grow slowly because remote work continued to weaken downtown activity and commercial property values, while tourism remained below its pre-pandemic strength. Salaries, benefits, and voter-mandated spending continued to rise.
The GrowSF Take
A stronger economy and real spending reductions helped, but one-time money only buys time. City Hall must complete the promised staffing reductions and control recurring costs while ensuring departments are delivering what residents are paying for.
Great Highway Vote Returns
Published July 23, 2026
The Facts
A measure to reopen the Upper Great Highway to private cars on weekdays has qualified for November’s ballot. It would allow cars most weekdays while keeping the road car-free from Friday at 6 p.m. until Monday at 4 a.m. and on holidays; implementation may require Coastal Commission approval.
The Context
Voters approved Proposition K in November 2024 with 54.73% support, permanently closing the two-mile road between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard to private cars. Sunset Dunes opened in April 2025.
Reopening would require at least $10.75 million in roadway and signal work, although some signals were already due for replacement, according to Samantha Kennedy at KQED.
The GrowSF Take
Just like California’s repeated dialysis initiatives, voters are yet again being asked to decide the fate of a two-mile stretch of coastal road.
Ballot fights like this drive home the need for Mayor Lurie’s reform to raise the signature threshold for citizen ordinances from 2% to 8% of registered voters. It should take more than roughly 10,000 signatures in a city of more than 800,000 people to put something to a vote.
School zone speed limit drops to 20mph
Published July 23, 2026
The Facts
The SFMTA Board approved citywide school zones of 15 or 20 mph on July 21, replacing remaining 25 mph zones with a 20 mph default while retaining 15 mph limits on qualifying two-lane residential streets.
SFMTA will replace speed-limit signs around six school campuses before the new school year, then install the new signs citywide over two years, according to Rachel Swan at the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Context
California’s AB 382, signed October 10, 2025, lets cities establish 20 mph limits within 500-foot school zones before a statewide framework takes effect in 2031. It also allows 15 mph limits on qualifying residential roads with no more than two traffic lanes.
Lower limits work best with enforcement. After one year, San Francisco’s 33-camera network recorded a 79% reduction in vehicles traveling at least 10 mph over the limit, from 11% of drivers to 2%, or roughly 40,000 fewer speeding incidents daily.
The GrowSF Take
We’re glad to see it! But taking two years to swap out speed-limit signs is unacceptably slow. SFMTA should finish this straightforward safety upgrade in weeks, not years. And it’d be great to throw in some automated speeding cameras to punish drivers putting kids at risk.
Mahmood Pivots to Grocery Incentives
Published July 23, 2026
The Facts
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood is taking a new approach to getting more grocery stores open in San Francisco.
Mahmood is introducing legislation that would waive some city fees in underserved neighborhoods, make it easier to divide large, empty supermarkets into smaller spaces, and encourage housing projects that include a grocery store.
The plan will go through the Board of Supervisors instead of appearing on the November ballot.
The Context
San Francisco has struggled to keep grocery stores open — and to replace the ones it loses. When the Fillmore Safeway closed in February 2025, it left the neighborhood without a full-service grocery store, and three grocers have since walked away from plans to reopen the site.
The GrowSF Take
The best way to get more grocery stores is to make them easier and less expensive to open.
Mahmood’s plan addresses the reasons stores struggle to open and survive: high costs, rigid zoning, large retail spaces, and too few nearby customers.
Dolores Huerta Backs Scott Wiener
Published July 23, 2026
The Facts
Labor and civil-rights icon Dolores Huerta has endorsed Scott Wiener for Congress. “I know the difference between a politician who talks about justice and one who fights for it,” Huerta said in her endorsement statement.
The Context
Huerta co-founded United Farm Workers, but she and the union make endorsements independently. Her support gives Wiener a powerful labor movement validator.
The GrowSF Take
Congrats to Senator Wiener for earning Huerta’s endorsement. We support Wiener because he builds coalitions and turns pro-housing and civil-rights goals into state law. Huerta knows his record and agrees.