from JAMIE WHITAKER
There are manufacturers who actually “make stuff” other than software in San Francisco. Who would’ve thought?!? Click here to watch.
* PDR = Production, distribution and repair, i.e. service and light industrial jobs
Category Archives: economics
Central Market CBD coming to a neighborhood near you?
The Central Market Community Benefit District (CMCBD) is getting ready to renew and possibly expand its neighborhood services in the greater Central Market and SoMa area. The CBD promises to create a cleaner, safer and more inviting neighborhood.
Learn more about the CMCBD and its neighborhood programs by attending one of two meet and greets, scheduled on March 19 and 27. Hear about the CMCBD’s renewal and proposed expansion of its community services. Meet the CMCBD Board, Staff, Steering Committee, Community Guides, Clean Team and Partners. Continue reading
Filed under art, community services, crime watch, economics, entertainment, events, meetings, open space, planning, public safety, quality of life
Planning Commission votes down Orchard Supply Hardware
By a 5-2 vote, the Planning Commission voted against the formula retail application of Orchard Supply Hardware to put a 33,000 square foot store at 975 Bryant Street. Continue reading
Proposal to raze I-280 linked to train and real estate deals
by STEVEN T. JONES
San Francisco Bay Guardian
It’s a bold idea, discussed for years behind closed doors and recently announced in a strangely understated and pro-growth way: Tear down the last mile of Interstate 280 and replace it with an wide boulevard – reminiscent of the removal of the Central and Embarcadero freeways – in order to facilitate the extension of electrified Caltrain and high-speed rail tracks into the Transbay Terminal. Continue reading →
Filed under economics, planning, politics, transportation
Folsom Fair returns to normal (schedule) this year
The Folsom Street Fair was once timed to coincide with the Autumnal Equinox. However, since 1993 the fair’s date came to be associated with the last Sunday in September.
In 2012, the fair was moved to Sunday, September 23 to avoid a conflict with Oracle Open World. For the next three years, with 2014 being the only exception, the fair will occur on the last Sunday in September.
FUTURE DATES FOR FOLSOM STREET FAIR:
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, September 27, 2015
According to Demetri Moshoyannis, Executive Director, “Next year marks the 30th Folsom Street Fair and we will revert to our normal date on the last Sunday of the month. In 2014, we will move the date up a week again to avoid a similar conflict; but, for 2015 we are back to the last Sunday of the month again.”
Filed under economics, entertainment, events, parties
Fair Play for SoMa – Why I Voted No on Prop B
Published on Nov. 1, 2012 by jamiewhitaker
I want to share with SoMa neighbors why I believe Proposition B, the parks bond, is a bad deal for SoMa and perpetuates the exploitation and neglect of SoMa residents. We should ask for a more equitable parks bond in 2013 or 2014 and refuse to accept Prop B in 2012.
Filed under community services, economics, politics
No on Proposition B – Reform is Needed at San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department
By JAMIE WHITAKER
www.rinconhillsf.org
“Recreation and Parks refuses to take the donation of a new park at 333 Harrison Street from Oz Erickson’s Emerald Fund because they refuse to maintain it at $30,000 or so per year. Did I mention that Rincon Hill’s existing buildings contribute about 20 times that amount just to the 2.5 cents per $100 of assessed value Open Space Special Revenue Fund set aside? Instead, SoMa neighborhoods like Rincon Hill are told that we have to form our own non-profits called Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) and tax ourselves a parcel tax in addition to our ad valorem property taxes to take care of any parks in our neighborhoods. When did San Francisco become a supporter of such blatant inequality between geographic regions of the City?” Read more →
Filed under community services, economics, politics, quality of life, social justice
Tech industry posts “soft-sell” pitch for Gross Receipts Tax ballot measure
The San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation (also known as “sf.citi”) has posted a video that shows proposed tech solutions to make San Francisco “smarter.” The video also advocates for passage of San Francisco’s Proposition E, a business tax reform measure.
It ends with an advertisement for Proposition E, a ballot measure on the November ballot that’ll be the subject of next week’s SoMa Leadership Council meeting. Prop E proposes to reduce the payroll tax paid by San Francisco firms and replace it with a tax based on gross receipt sales.
“The biggest gift the tech community today can give San Francisco is passing Proposition E to create jobs in San Francisco and small business,” angel investor Ron Conway said last month at a tech industry event. Conway is also chairman of sf.citi.
How much tech can one city take?
By David Talbot
San Francisco Magazine
“… ever since his Twitter awakening, [Mayor Ed] Lee has been moving quickly to align his administration with the booming technology industry, shrugging off complaints from the city’s powerful progressives that he’s gotten too cozy with tech moguls, such as investor Ron Conway. The mayor’s proposal to shift business taxes from a payroll-based plan to one based on gross receipts will be on the November ballot, with wide backing from the Board of Supervisors, labor unions, and, of course, Conway. Progressive gadfly Aaron Peskin tapped a deep well of distrust on the left last month when he told the San Francisco Chronicle, ‘The Koch brothers are trying to buy the president of the United States, and Ron Conway has bought himself a mayor.’” Read more →
Filed under art, community services, economics, planning, politics, social justice
Is the preferred alternative for Folsom Street revamp ready for prime time?
The SFMTA will propose a three lane configuration for a two-way Folsom Street to be considered in the upcoming environmental review. Click on the image above to see a high resolution PDF of the entire schematic.
If anything good can be said about the Central Corridor Plan, it might be that it gives us an opportunity to attach the final draft of the Folsom Street realignment into an environmental review study. Once the EIR is adopted, funding and implementation of the future Folsom Street Neighborhood Commercial District can begin.
Erin Miller, project manager for the Eastern Neighborhoods Transportation Implementation Planning Study (ENTRIPS), and other SFMTA staff will discuss the preferred and alternative proposals they have developed at next week’s meeting of the SoMa Leadership Council at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 15. These monthly meetings are held in the community room of the Folsom/Dore Apartments at 1346 Folsom Street. Continue reading
Filed under community services, economics, events, meetings, planning, transportation
