What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of October 4, 2026:
- Gary McCoy Still Backs Drug-Use Sites in District 8 Race, Out of Step With Voters
- New State Laws Expand Recovery Housing and Strengthen Public Safety
- SFUSD Sends Students Home Without Recording Suspensions
- Torn Mailing Envelopes Don’t Invalidate Intact Ballots
- Uniqlo Returns to Market Street October 9
Election Countdown
24 days until the November 3 SF General Election — the one that decides whether our commonsense Board majority survives. Read the GrowSF Voter Guide for the November election
GrowSF’s full endorsements:
San Francisco
Board of Education: Autumn Brown Garibay
Board of Education: Phil Kim
Board of Education: Tim Tung
Community College Board: Elijah Ball
Community College Board: Monroe Lace
Community College Board: Erwin Tam
Community College Board, Partial Term: Ruth Ferguson
BART Board, District 8: Sara Barz
Assessor-Recorder: Joaquín Torres
Public Defender: Mano Raju
Supervisor, District 2: Stephen Sherrill
Supervisor, District 4: Alan Wong
Supervisor, District 6: Matt Dorsey
Supervisor, District 10: Theo Ellington
Read our full endorsement rationale in the GrowSF Voter Guide.
Gary McCoy Still Backs Drug-Use Sites in District 8 Race, Out of Step With Voters
Published October 9, 2026
The Facts
District 8 supervisor candidate Gary McCoy still supports supervised drug-use sites, where people consume drugs under observation. He opposes arresting people for fentanyl use.
The Context
In GrowSF’s September 2023 poll, 69% of San Francisco voters supported arresting and prosecuting people using fentanyl, meth, or heroin in public, and 64% preferred sending those arrested to sobering centers rather than jail or somewhere else. The same survey found 74% supported requiring homeless people with drug or alcohol addiction to enter treatment to obtain housing or other services.
The GrowSF Take
McCoy remains dramatically out of step with voters on open drug-use sites. Voters have repeatedly told us, in our polling, that they want treatment, not to enable people with drug abuse issues.
New State Laws Expand Recovery Housing and Strengthen Public Safety
Published October 9, 2026
The Facts
Recovery housing has a clearer path to state funding under Assemblymember Matt Haney’s Assembly Bill 1556, just signed by Governor Newsom. The new funding rules require relapse support, protect prescribed addiction medications, and prohibit eviction solely for relapse without another lease violation.
Haney also passed Assembly Bill 1897, covering evaluations of whether people leaving prison must receive involuntary mental-health treatment as a condition of parole. Evaluators must consider specific risk factors, including violence tied to the person’s mental illness, current mental condition, treatment response, and ability to inflict harm. The law preserves the existing legal standard for involuntary treatment.
The Context
California’s “Housing First” policy prioritizes housing without requiring sobriety. That left recovery-housing providers uncertain about how to maintain drug-free environments while qualifying for state funds, as Haney’s office explained. AB 1556 sets rules for supporting residents seeking sobriety without returning people who relapse to homelessness.
AB 1897 followed the case of Bill Gene Hobbs, convicted of repeatedly targeting women in San Francisco. Clinicians agreed his severe mental illness was not in remission but disagreed about his dangerousness; a court ordered his release from a state hospital. Those conflicting assessments prompted the legislation, according to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, whose office co-sponsored it.
The GrowSF Take
We’re thrilled to see Haney and Jenkins tackle these big issues to improve recovery housing and public safety. People seeking sobriety deserve a supportive place to live, and release decisions should account for both treatment progress and violence history.
SFUSD Sends Students Home Without Recording Suspensions
Published October 9, 2026
The Facts
San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) schools are sending students home for discipline without recording suspensions, reports Jennifer Wadsworth at The San Francisco Standard. One Guadalupe Elementary parent says his third-grader was sent home without written notice, yet the school reported zero suspensions that year. District student-services chief Tony Payne says these undocumented send-homes are illegal, but SFUSD cannot say how often they happen.
The Context
Low suspension numbers can hide lost learning. Stanford researchers found that SFUSD educators used unrecorded removals while struggling with classroom safety and staff shortages. One employee said schools were “so scared of having bad suspension data” that they used exclusions that would not be documented.
The GrowSF Take
Children still miss school; the statistics just look better. Off-the-books discipline hides whether students are getting help and whether classrooms are better learning environments. Superintendent Maria Su should enforce the documentation requirement, and ensure every principal is complying.
Torn Mailing Envelopes Don’t Invalidate Intact Ballots
Published October 8, 2026
The Facts
Some San Francisco ballot packets arrived with torn outer envelopes, but voters can still use the ballots if the contents are intact, reports Aidin Vaziri at the San Francisco Chronicle. The Department of Elections says postal processing equipment caused the tears and the U.S. Postal Service switched remaining packets to manual processing. As of October 7, officials reported no damaged ballots or evidence of tampering; the number of affected envelopes was unknown.
The Context
Check your packet for four ballot cards, a postage-paid return envelope, and an instruction insert with an “I Voted” sticker. The damaged outer envelope is separate from the envelope you use to return your vote.
If anything is missing or damaged, request a replacement through the Voter Portal or contact Elections at 415-558-6100. Sign the return envelope. You can use one of the city’s 37 official drop boxes, open around the clock until 8 p.m. on November 3, rather than mailing your ballot.
The GrowSF Take
Hey, mistakes happen, and we’re glad the post office addressed the problem promptly. We have full faith and trust in the Department of Elections and the U.S. Postal Service to run this election well.
Uniqlo Returns to Market Street October 9
Published October 8, 2026
The Facts
Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing retailer that used to have a store on Powell, reopened yesterday at 801 Market Street.
The Context
The store replaces Old Navy, which left in 2023. Mayor Daniel Lurie has personally courted retailers, and city staff helped recruit Uniqlo employees at $21.50 an hour, report Jillian D’Onfro and Jessica Blough at The Standard in their retail recovery coverage.
More residents are shopping downtown: the Controller’s 2026 City Survey found 60% reported downtown shopping in the previous three months, up from 44% in 2023. That measures participation, not sales.
The GrowSF Take
Welcome back, Uniqlo! We’re glad to see City Hall treating retailers as partners worth recruiting. A downtown worth visiting needs places to shop, eat, and spend time, not just offices.
Paid for by GrowSF Voter Guide. Not authorized by any candidate, candidate’s committee, or committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.