Board approves Central Market community benefit district after amendments; 9-1 vote

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Sept. 12 adopted a resolution of intention to form the Central Market Community Benefit District, approving an amended management plan and ordering related notices and ballots, by a 9-1 roll-call vote.

The vote follows an amendment-of-the-whole put forward and adopted on the floor that incorporated substantive changes to the management plan, including the proposed composition of the CBD management board and new language describing allowable public-safety programs.

The management-plan changes adopted on the floor specify a 10-member management board composed of 50 percent property owners and 50 percent non-property owners; of the non-property-owner seats, 30 percent would be community-based organizations or resident representatives and 20 percent would be non–property-owning merchants. The amendments also add examples of community-safety programs — such as a drop-in center, pedestrian safety programs and homeless outreach — and state that if the CBD funds the hiring of 10b officers in the future, an “at least equal amount” of funds should be spent on other safety programs.

Deputy City Attorney Cheryl Adams described the changes as technical to the resolution’s section 2 while confirming the floor amendment would achieve the management-plan adjustments. Ms. Begum, representing the mayor’s office and the steering committee, told the board the compromise was vetted by the steering committee and community organizations and reflected a position the committee “could live with.” She said the parties had been working until that morning to finalize the language and that copies of the revised plan had been submitted to the clerk.

Supervisor Daly pressed for safeguards on how safety funds would be allocated. “I think 50–50 is fair,” Daly said, urging an approach that balances law-and-order actions with preventative community services. Supervisor Ellsburn cast the lone dissenting vote, saying that police funding should be a higher priority than parity with pedestrian-safety and homeless-outreach spending and expressing concern about the board’s broader policing budget.

Board members also raised a legal and policy question about whether police officers paid for by the CBD would count toward the city’s charter-mandated police staffing level (the 1971 staffing reference). The city attorney’s office told supervisors it could not answer that question on the spot and would have to research whether CBD-funded officers would be credited toward the charter number.

At the final roll call on the amended resolution of intention (Item 12), the board voted: Ammiano — aye; Daly — aye; Dufty — aye; Ellsburn — no; Ma — aye; Maxwell — aye; McGoldrick — aye; Mercaremi — aye; Peskin — aye; Sandoval — aye (9 ayes, 1 no). The resolution orders the time and place for public hearing, approves the form of the notice and assessment ballots, and directs the clerk to give notice as required by law. The adopted package also reflects a change noted in the package that moved the election date to Oct. 31 in the management plan’s text.

The board’s action establishes the structure and management plan for the Central Market CBD and allows the district’s organizers to proceed with the next steps — ballot mailings and a public hearing — subject to the legal and procedural requirements set out in the resolution and applicable law. The city attorney’s forthcoming response on whether CBD-funded officers would count toward the charter staffing figure may affect future implementation decisions.

Copies of the amended management plan were submitted to the clerk at the meeting for distribution to supervisors and the public; the district will move forward to the public-notice and balloting phases specified in the resolution.