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Board creates Super Bowl 50 impact fund and allocates $100,000 for displaced vendors, street artists
Summary
The board established a Super Bowl 50 Impact Fund to aid small businesses and permittees displaced by Super Bowl-related events and appropriated $100,000 to the fund to assist street artists and DPW permittees; the measure passed 8-2 after debate about scope and eligibility.
The Board voted 8-2 to create a Super Bowl 50 Impact Fund and to appropriate $100,000 from the General Fund Reserve to seed it, with the primary purpose of making modest payments to small permit holders and street artists who were displaced during Super Bowl 50 activities.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the author, said the seed funding was intended to provide immediate relief to people the city had directly displaced for Super Bowl events, principally citing 116 street artists licensed under the Arts Commission and certain Department of Public Works licensees and permittees. Peskin described an allocation of "$600 per valid claimant, not to exceed $100,000," and said the fund also could accept contributions from the host committee, the NFL or other sources.
Supervisor Scott Wiener and Supervisor Katy Tang (as recorded) voiced concerns. Wiener said committee amendments narrowed eligibility toward Justin Herman Plaza vendors and that the limited allocation could exclude other merchants (for example, businesses in the Castro) affected by Super Bowl traffic changes. Tang asked Arts Commission Director Tom DeCaney to explain outreach; DeCaney said the commission negotiated 10 additional spaces on Market Street and had sent notice to the street-artist license holders and was surveying to determine applicants and historical occupancy.
After debate the clerk recorded eight ayes and two nos (Tang and Wiener in the dissent). The ordinance passed on first reading.
Why it matters: City officials said the measure was a targeted, symbolic payment to show the city's willingness to aid long-time permit holders and small vendors affected by a large-scale event staged in city public spaces. Critics said the program's narrow eligibility and small per-person payment risked leaving other impacted merchants without assistance.
Next steps: The ordinance establishes program administration details and names the controller to administer the fund; the Arts Commission and the controller were noted as involved in application review and distribution. The board did not expand the appropriation beyond the $100,000 at this meeting.
