Despite concerns over the unusual agreement with a nonprofit overseeing management of the Japantown public parking garage, a new 10-year lease was approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.
In the 1950s, the nonprofit parking garage model was established for debt issuance. But when the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was given debt-issuance authority by voters in 2008, that function became obsolete. Since then, a city controller’s audit has advised discontinuing the practice. Such arrangements have been terminated in other garages.
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Clothing boutiques, beauty salons, dog groomers, financial providers and art galleries are going mobile in San Francisco, and city officials are drafting regulations as they anticipate a boom similar to food trucks.
When startup hopefuls walk into City Hall about once a week seeking permits for their mobile businesses, those working the counter at the Office of Small Business, overseen by the Small Business Commission, can only shrug; no such permit exists. But that could soon change.
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Discussions between tenant advocates and owners of tenancy-in-common units continue to delay a vote on controversial legislation related to condo conversions.
The Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee was scheduled to vote Monday on the legislation, but postponed action for the second time as board President David Chiu said negotiations between the dueling sides are continuing.
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Finding herself “directionless” and apart from her child, Western Addition resident Melissa McDermott underwent 14 weeks of training on solar installations through the Asian Neighborhood Design nonprofit. She was then connected to the founder of solar installer Luminalt, who hired her.
McDermott is still working there and is now living with her 10-year-old child. The 35-year-old credits the city-operated GoSolar program for turning her life around.
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A proposed ban on new bars along a popular section of Polk Street was rejected by the Small Business Commission, while a community group is calling for even tougher restrictions and asking the question, “Is Nob Hill a new Las Vegas?”
The contrast in positions illustrates the challenge in striking a balance between the Nob Hill residents upset over nightlife disruptions and the bar owners enjoying the flood of business.
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Lingering concerns about the impact on homeless people are delaying enforcement of San Francisco’s ban on overnight parking of motor homes and other large vehicles in certain neighborhoods.
The law, passed by the Board of Supervisors in September and slated to be enforced starting in March, raised the ire of homeless advocates who saw it as an attack on the less fortunate and were worried it would force more people onto the cold San Francisco streets. Such concerns reverberate as The City prepares to enforce the law.
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Well-connected community members rallied Wednesday in support of extending an unusual Japantown parking garage lease with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency as members of the Board of Supervisors questioned the deal.
The nonprofit parking garages begun in the 1950s allowed The City to issue bonds to expand and improve the structures. The main role of such organizations became obsolete when voters in 2008 approved a ballot measure granting the transit agency the power to issue bonds.
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Mayor Ed Lee carefully weighed in Tuesday on the hotly debated condo conversion bypass proposal by encouraging a compromise to bring relief to thousands of tenancy-in-common owners amid worries about the loss of rent-controlled units.
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The condo conversion debate is gaining more political intrigue less than two weeks before a Board of Supervisors committee holds its second hearing on the controversial legislation. A vote was already postponed to allow the opposing sides to negotiate.
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To succeed where his predecessors have failed, Police Chief Greg Suhr will have to overcome a strengthening message of opposition to his plan to outfit some officers with stun guns.
The last of three community meetings on the stun gun proposal, held by Suhr in collaboration with the Police Commission, is scheduled for this evening at the Bayview Opera House. The commission will use the input from the meetings as it makes a decision on whether some officers can use the devices, which are intended to immobilize people by delivering 50,000 volts of electricity.
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Residents who predate the current tech boom could benefit from having access to jobs in what has become San Francisco’s most exciting and talked-about business sector, under a plan by Mayor Ed Lee.
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Sunset district residents will have to wait 30 days before they find out who will be appointed to represent them on the Board of Supervisors.
Mayor Ed Lee announced Wednesday that he plans to name current District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu to the vacant assessor-recorder position, setting off political intrigue over who will eventually replace her.
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After years of debate and study, San Francisco on Tuesday laid out a plan to make “soft-story” buildings more resilient during the next big earthquake.
The proposal targets the 4,300 wood-frame residential buildings of three or more stories that contain at least five units and were built before 1978. Nearly 3,000 such structures are mostly found in the Mission, Western Addition, Richmond, North Beach and Marina neighborhoods.
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Developers of residential projects would be able to exceed parking caps by adding spaces designated only for car sharing, under legislation that advanced out of committee Monday.
While the proposal was praised by supervisors on the board’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee, others called the legislation a wrongheaded approach to tackling the adverse environmental impacts associated with cars.
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One of the supervisors whose support is seen as instrumental to passing a condo conversion bypass proposal may have committed to support the controversial legislation when on the campaign trail last fall.
The most politically charged issue at City Hall these days is whether there are enough votes on the Board of Supervisors to pass legislation that would give relief to San Francisco tenancy-in-common unit owners who are complaining about high mortgage rates and the long wait to convert to a condo, which would allow them to refinance.
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