The GrowSF Report: Supreme Court considers anti-camping ordinances
The GrowSF Report: Supreme Court considers anti-camping ordinances
PLUS: 80% of new subsidized homes for middle-income families are vacant
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of Monday, April 22, 2024:
- Supreme Court considers anti-camping ordinances
- 80% of new subsidized homes for middle-income families are vacant
- Curfew for Tenderloin businesses
- Noe neighbors attempt to block home renovation and fail
- Panda-monium in San Francisco!
Recent & upcoming openings:
- Toast N’Egg to debut Korean toast
- Bar 821 reopens after four-year hiatus
Supreme Court considers anti-camping ordinances
This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grants Pass vs. Johnson, a case that could determine the legality of anti-camping ordinances, including the injunction in San Francisco preventing the city from cleaning up homelessness encampments and moving people indoors. This happened due to a lawsuit from the Coalition on Homelessness that argued SF was “destroying encampments without providing housing.”
At the heart of the Grants Pass case is if “broad anti-camping rules violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment,” according to Joe Garofoli at the Chronicle. If the Supreme Court concludes that anti-camping ordinances are allowed, it could undercut the legal grounds on which the Coalition’s lawsuit is based. This means that San Francisco could clean up homelessness encampments, move people indoors, and get them the care they need.
We’ll have to wait for the final decision this summer to know if San Francisco can once again move people into shelter.
80% of new subsidized homes for middle-income families are vacant
Nearly 200 recently developed, subsidized homes meant for middle-income families like teachers, firefighters, and nurses are sitting vacant, according to the Office of Housing and Community Development. These homes are intended for households earning between 100% to 150% of Area Median Income (AMI), which translates to a salary between $130,000-$195,000 for a 3-person household.
The city recommends lowering the rent in order to fill the units. But builders blame the time-consuming, confusing paperwork for applicants; in addition, a complex set of regulations with multiple preferences determines who qualifies for housing. This makes it challenging for families who meet the AMI requirement to move into available apartments.
The city is working to remove the red tape that makes it onerous to sign a lease for middle-income applicants. This is critical if we want to keep essential workers housed in San Francisco.
Curfew for Tenderloin businesses
The Mayor has proposed a curfew for liquor stores, smoke shops, and corner markets in the Tenderloin. Businesses would be forced to close from midnight to 5am or be fined up to $1,000 for every hour not in compliance. If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the Department of Public Health would run the pilot program for one year, and SFPD would enforce it.
"Tenderloin residents, businesses, and workers deserve safe streets not just during the day, but also at night. The drug markets happening at night in this neighborhood are unacceptable and must be met with increased law enforcement and new strategies,” Mayor London Breed shared with David Sjostedt at the Standard.
The Tenderloin has been the epicenter of the drug crisis in San Francisco, and while some businesses are actively servicing the drug trade, others are unfortunately innocent bystanders. We're glad the city is doing something to make the Tenderloin safer at night, but we wish more energy was spent on simply ending the drug markets once and for all.
Noe neighbors attempt to block home renovation and fail
A couple wanted to expand their house to accommodate children and aging parents. Despite the project complying with city codes and receiving unanimous approval from the Planning Commission, their neighbors forced a review by the Board of Supervisors this week, claiming environmental impacts weren’t considered. Among those who objected was one neighbor who recently doubled the size of his own home.
Although the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to stop the appeal and the project can now proceed, we don’t think it should have gotten to this point. As Senator Scott Wiener said to Heather Knight of the New York Times, “In San Francisco, we’ve chosen to make everything political instead of predictable. It creates a lot of bad blood.”
Panda-monium in San Francisco!
For the first time since 1985, San Francisco is getting pandas! During Mayor London Breed’s recent visit to Beijing, the Chinese government approved San Francisco as the host of the beloved giant pandas.
“We have been working closely with our local API community to advocate for pandas for nearly a year…and it’s an honor that our City has been chosen for the first time to be a long-term home for Giant Pandas,” said Mayor Breed to Greg Wong at the Examiner.
Many see the pandas’ pending arrival as a sign of improved relations between China and the United States. It will be good for the zoo, too – visitors quadrupled the last time pandas visited nearly 40 years ago. This is just what San Francisco needs now – more joy, fun and furry creatures. 🤗
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Recent openings
A great city is constantly changing and growing, let’s celebrate what’s new!
Toast N’Egg to debut Korean toast
WHERE: 1838 Irving St
WHEN: Monday-Sunday, 8am-4pm
Toast N’Egg will open on May 1. Restaurateur Cyrus Shen said the menu was inspired by his own childhood, offering nearly a dozen different kinds of Korean toasts, including beef and kimchi, pork chop, and wagyu. Toast N’ Egg will also serve sweet “croffles” – croissant waffles – in a handful of flavors like Oreo or matcha. There is something for everyone, and we’re looking forward to checking it out!
Bar 821 reopens after four-year hiatus
WHERE: 821 Divisadero St
WHEN: Thursday-Saturday, 6pm-midnight
After closing for four years due to the pandemic, Bar 821 has re-opened. It will focus its menu once again on amari, flights of Fernet, plus cocktails customized to patrons’ preferences. It will be more intimate than in the past, with 30 seats and no standing room. We’re interested in a bespoke bar experience with a drink designed to our taste.
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
Vitamin String Quartet at Palace Hotel
Returning to the Palace Hotel by popular demand, the Vitamin String Quartet blends cutting-edge renditions of classical, rock, and pop. With over 2 billion streams and counting, the quartet is currently one of the most popular contemporary string ensembles in the world, familiar to many for their music on Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton.
The evening includes a reception with light fare and features wines from Boisset Collection, HALL Napa Valley, and Treasury Wine Estates. We went last year and you can see a little reel by The Bold Italic. This is a really elegant and chill afternoon in one of our favorite performance spaces.
WHEN: April 27, 2024 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Palace Hotel
The Kentucky Derby is upon us
Our editor is actually heading to the Kentucky Derby with a huge hat in tow, and there are always a number of watch parties here in San Francisco. Yet another excuse to don festive attire in the city. There’s a 12th-annual watch party and costume contest hosted by The Guardsmen at San Francisco Brewing Co.
WHEN: May 4, 2024 — 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: San Francisco Brewing Co. at 3150 Polk St., San Francisco, and another at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate in Santa Rosa
What we’re writing about
The Stud queer bar reopens in San Francisco
Packed, wall-to-wall throngs of people came out for The Stud’s grand re-opening, as it finally threw open its doors at its new space at 1123 Folsom near 7th Street. The Stud is one of San Francisco’s oldest LGBTQ+ establishments, originally opening in 1966, not long after Wild Side West in 1962 and just before two queer women bought Twin Peaks Tavern in 1971.
SF Symphony helped me enjoy ‘Lord of the Rings’
This is a deeper experience that enables us to feel the highs of victory and the depths of despair alongside Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn. And when the final note echoes through the hall, we’ve all taken a collective journey through our emotions and imaginations.
As children sang, drummers banged and percussionists plucked, conductor Ludwick Wicki followed along on a screen that flashed big dots and vertical lines to signify where the score was on film. Soprano Kaitlyn Lusk stood up in a glittery gown to belt out some harmonies whenever Liv Tyler made an appearance.
SF LGBT Center’s annual gala radiates resilience
The San Francisco LGBT Center is a nonprofit organization that provides a wide range of services and support to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in San Francisco. Their annual party had a few distinctive features that set it apart from your typical gala: An amazing drag show, family-style eating, and a hilarious auctioneer.
420 was definitely not canceled in San Francisco
The air on Hippie Hill was still thick with the smoke of countless joints, the sound of drums and laughter on 4/20 — even though we were told the party was over.
Organizers announced in late March that San Francisco’s official “puff, puff pass” event must end due to budget constraints; Apparently the festivities cost half a million to put on each year, and like so many other budgetary narratives we’ve heard recently, they could not find the funds. San Francisco turned it out anyway for 4/20.
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