Inaugural Board Meeting

On January 8, the Board of Supervisors held its inaugural meeting for the term starting in 2013. I want to welcome the two newest members of the Board - London Breed from District 5 and Norman Yee from District 7 - and I look forward to working with both. And, congratulations to Board President David Chiu, who was reelected to his post for an unprecedented third consecutive term. President Chiu has been an effective and dedicated leader at the Board, and I was proud to support his re-election to the Board Presidency.

New Committee Assignments: Land Use Committee and Budget Committee

I've received my new committee assignments at the Board of Supervisors, and I'm proud to report that I'll remain a member of the Budget Committee and will serve as chairman of the Land Use and Economic Development Committee. Good land use policy has been a key priority for me as Supervisor, and I'm happy to be able to continue this work in my new role. I also look forward to my third cycle on the Budget Committee. Among my budget priorities will be protecting HIV funding, reversing years of budget cuts to our parks and clean street programs, and continuing to fund police academy classes so that our police department stops shrinking.

New York Times and Noe Valley Voices Profiles

Scott and other city officials celebrating Supervisor Sean Elsbernd's final day in office. Sean's leadership and friendship will be greatly missed at the Board.

2013 Legislative Priorities

Saving Our Urban Forest

Our urban forest - both street trees and park trees - is a critical asset that improves our environment and quality of life. Last year I held a hearing on the state of our urban forest, and the information presented was grim. As a result of budget cuts, the city has been turning over maintenance responsibilities of our 105,000 street trees to property owners. This is a burdensome and unsustainable solution that undermines our urban forest, as not all property owners have the desire, resources or knowledge required to properly care for our street trees.

I believe the solution is to put the Department of Public Works back in charge of taking care of our trees, so that we have more consistent and cost-effective maintenance. However, to do so we need to find a dedicated funding source to pay for this work. One solution would be to assess a modest parcel tax, expressly conditioned on the city assuming full and permanent maintenance responsibility for street trees and for sidewalk damage caused by those trees. Property owners would most likely pay less under a parcel tax than they would for maintaining their trees, as maintenance and sidewalk repair can be costly. Any tax passed would be contingent on the city maintaining the trees, and if the city ever passed ownership back to property owners, the tax would be voided. You can read more about this issue in a column I wrote for Huffington Post here.

Pedestrian Safety Improvements

Part of being a transit first and neighborhood friendly city is having safe and accessible pedestrian access. This includes widening sidewalks, creating bulb-outs and improving intersections, as well as making city regulations more streamlined for allowing these kinds of projects. This year I will be working to improve the process for delivering pedestrian safety projects in San Francisco. Our current process is overly decentralized and highly dysfunctional - more or less designed to kill pedestrian safety improvements.

Project Appeal Reform

Last fall, I introduced legislation to reform and improve our city's process for project appeals under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA is an important environmental protection statute that, at times, can be used not to protect the environment but rather to oppose projects having nothing to do with the environment. While I want to ensure that people can challenge projects with which they disagree, I also want to ensure that the appeal process is predictable and transparent. Our current process is the opposite - vague and chaotic, favoring those who are experienced in the process at the expense of the general public. I've been meeting with various community stakeholders to ensure that the public has accurate information about the legislation and to receive feedback to make the legislation even stronger. I will continue to work in the coming months to ensure that this legislation passes and that it does so with strong support. We can and should have a robust appeal process that also treats everyone fairly.

Scott at the Castro Theater screening of "How to Survive a Plague"

Policy Updates

Mobile Food Legislation

For more than a year, I've been working on legislation to improve our regulatory approach toward food trucks. Food trucks are very popular in San Francisco, and we want to encourage their cutting edge approach to food. At the same time, we want to be thoughtful about how we use our public spaces for commercial activity. Because of a lack of clarity in our law, disputes between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants have resulted in many permit appeals. This chaotic situation isn't good for anyone. I'm working with various stakeholders to formulate a compromise that embraces an interesting and diverse food scene in San Francisco, including both food trucks and traditional restaurants.

Condo/TIC Lottery

Last year, I introduced legislation, with my co-author Supervisor Mark Farrell, to provide much-needed relief to TIC owners while protecting tenants. Many TIC owners - often first-time homeowners - purchased believing that they would be able to convert their properties in 5-7 years. They now have to wait 20 years or more. Many are under water, they can't refinance, and they have a shared mortgage. The situation isn't sustainable.

The legislation - which is scheduled to be heard at Land Use on January 28th - will allow TICs that are eligible to be in the condo lottery - i.e., meeting a threshold for being owner-occupied, not having certain kinds of past evictions, such as Ellis Act evictions, and so forth - to pay a significant fee ($20,000 per unit) to bypass the lottery and to convert. The money will be dedicated to affordable housing. Eligible TICs are primarily owner-occupied, but any tenants residing in these buildings will receive lifetime leases. I insisted on these tenant protections, as I want to be sure that any tenants involved in this process are protected. In the regular condo lottery, tenants in converted buildings receive a one-year lease and only receive a lifetime lease if they are senior or disabled. By contrast, the current legislation is more protective in providing lifetime leases to all tenants, regardless of age or disability.

My Residential Parking Simplification legislation went into effect on January 1, 2013. The law simplifies the process for small property owners who rent out a few spots to pay parking tax by making it easy to pay and eliminating onerous administrative requirements.

I sponsored this legislation because the tax collector was starting to seek back payment, with penalties and interest, against property owners for uncollected parking taxes, resulting in large bills for owners who had no idea that they even had to pay the tax. Moreover, the city made it very challenging for small property owners to pay parking tax, treating small property owners the same as a large commercial garage. A small property owner leasing just a few spots had to pay monthly, install expensive monitoring equipment, pay a fee of approximately $1,000 annually, post a bond, and get fingerprinted at the Hall of Justice. My legislation, which applies to residential property owners who rent out up to five spots to non-residents, does several things. First, it simplifies the process of paying parking tax by eliminating the fee, bond and fingerprint requirements, and equipment requirement. It also makes the tax payment annual instead of monthly. Second, the legislation creates an amnesty. Property owners who come forward from January 1 through June 30, 2013, and register will be liable for no more than two years worth of back taxes, with no penalties or interest. Third, the legislation eliminates the restriction on renting out a space only to someone who lives within 1,250 feet of the building. Instead, the renter must reside in San Francisco.You can learn more about the new law and access the parking form at the Treasurer's website here.  

 

Scott at a City Hall press conference talking about the Supreme Court's decision to take up marriage equality.

 

Last year there was an alarming increase in robberies on our streets and on Muni, especially robberies involving personal mobile devices, like smart phones and iPads. These thieves often act during broad daylight hours. SFPD is working hard to address this threat to public safety. Last year, I called for a hearing from SFPD and the District Attorney on strategies being employed to address this problem and to educate the public about how to avoid being a victim. Now that committee assignments have been set, I expect this hearing to occur in the beginning of February at the Neighborhood Services and Safety Committee.  

Community Updates   

Castro Street Sidewalk Widening

I helped secure funding for this project, which will make Castro Street between Market and 19th Streets wider, safer, and more attractive. The sidewalks will be widened from their current 12 feet to around 18 feet or so, which will make the sidewalks far better for pedestrians and neighborhood businesses. These streetscape improvements are a great example of the kinds of pedestrian projects I will be championing in the coming year. 

As part of the Streets Bond passed in 2011, I was able to secure funding for pedestrian safety improvements in Noe Valley, along 24th Street. In coming months, I'll be working with the Noe Valley Association and city departments to convene community meetings for input on the best ways to improve pedestrian safety in the neighborhood.

Award from Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club

I was recently honored by the Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club with the first annual Milton Marks III Public Service Award. Milton passed away last year after many years of honorable community service. Milton's wife, Abby, was at the award ceremony with me. I'm deeply humbled by this honor.

Scott with Milton's wife, Abby

Twin Peaks Tavern Declared Historic Landmark

On January 15th, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation I sponsored declaring the Twin Peaks Tavern as a historic landmark. The Twin Peaks Tavern represents the LGBT community's proud movement out of the shadows and into the open. As the first known gay bar to feature full length open plate glass windows, it has been a visible beacon in the LGBT movement for over 40 years. Today it is a gathering place where young, old and everyone in between join together to celebrate our community.

Dolores Park Renovation Update and Open House

Duboce and Church Streetscape Improvement Celebration 

In December, I was joined by representatives from MTA, the Arts Commission, DPW, the Transportation Authority, and community groups to celebrate the completion of the MTA's Rail and Streetscape project. These great improvements not only make for a smoother and faster journey for the Muni vehicles rolling down Duboce and Church, but they have also greatly improved pedestrian and bicycle experiences through enhanced safety measures and streetscape beautification.

Scott at the Duboce and Church Celebration with other local officials

SFPD Seeking Help Identifying Suspect In Attempted Sexual Assault

On January 6, 2013 at approximately 2:40 in the morning a 31-year-old San Francisco woman was attacked on 23rd Street near Church Street. The male suspect grabbed her by the head, threw her to the pavement, then straddled her and slammed her head onto the concrete. In the struggle, the victim was able to free herself and screamed for help. A person in the neighborhood heard the screaming, looked out the door and yelled at the suspect to leave the victim alone. The suspect then ran eastbound on 23rd toward Valencia Street.

The suspect is described as an Asian or Hispanic male, 25 years of age, 5'10", 160lbs, with a buzz haircut and slight beard growth. He was wearing a dark hooded shirt and dark pants. A forensic sketch of the suspect is posted on the police department's Web site, www.sanfranciscopolice.org. Anyone with any information is urged to contact San Francisco Police anonymously at (415) 575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD typed in at the beginning of the message.