Board establishes Excelsior Community Benefit District after public hearing, ballots show 63% support

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to establish the Excelsior Community Benefit District (CBD) after a special-ballot tabulation showed 63% of returned weighted ballots in favor and 37% opposed. The board adopted the resolution by roll call; the clerk recorded 10 ayes and no dissenting votes.

The district will be a 10-year property assessment district covering a portion of Mission Street and adjacent blocks. Chris Korgas, deputy director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), described the district's size and basic budget during the hearing: “This is a small assessment budget district. It's approximately $349,500. It's 17 whole or partial blocks, consisting of approximately 195 parcels. It would [be a] 10 year district.” He said services, if the district is established, would begin in February.

Why it matters: supporters said the assessment will pay for services the city alone has not consistently delivered to the corridor — sidewalk cleaning, pressure washing and graffiti removal — and will provide ongoing funding targeted to the commercial nodes in the Excelsior. Opponents and some property owners raised concerns that the assessment would shift costs to small business tenants and asked whether those funds would meaningfully reverse long-running vacancy and turnover trends.

Supervisor Ahsha Safaie, who introduced the item and traced the project's history, said the proposal was the product of years of community planning. “This day has been about seven years in the making,” he told the board, describing a 2017 planning process and pandemic-era pauses. Safaie noted the petition and outreach work that followed and said merchants, property owners and community groups had reached the 30% petition threshold required to proceed to the special ballot.

OEWD and community representatives described the outreach and design. Korgas thanked planning staff and community partners, and named planning and election staff who assisted with the special-ballot process. Maribel Ramirez, executive director of the Excelsior Action Group and a lead organizer for the effort, urged supervisors to approve the district, saying the CBD “is needed to bring the funds to support the health and vibrancy of our corridors for our small businesses and residents alike.”

Speakers for and against the district appeared in person and remotely. Supporters included neighborhood residents, merchants, nonprofit partners and representatives of local family and early-childhood services who said cleaner, safer corridors would help families visiting community centers and preschool programs. Among opponents, several property owners said the assessment would be a hardship for small landlords and their tenants; one property owner said the assessment to her property would be “around $4,000” and worried that would be passed to tenants.

Ballots were mailed to property owners under the special-ballot procedure required for property assessment districts; Board staff and the Department of Elections handled tabulation and certified there was no majority protest among returned weighted ballots. With that result, the board approved the levy and collection resolution and ordered the district established.

The board's adoption closes the local hearing step; OEWD, the Department of Elections and the district organizers will implement formation activities and begin contracting for cleaning and beautification services if and when assessments begin to be collected.

For reference: the board read the return as “returned weighted ballots voting for the Excelsior Community Benefit District was 63%, and the returned weighted ballots voting against the Excelsior CBD was 37%,” and the clerk then called the roll, recording 10 ayes and adopting the resolution.