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Supervisors advance SoMa West CBD petitions after broad community support and technical amendments
Summary
Committee reviewed petitions for a proposed SoMa West Community Benefit District covering about 100 blocks and roughly 2,700 parcels with an estimated $3.8 million budget; petitioners reported approximately $800,000 in signed assessments and staff and chair offered technical amendments before forwarding the item with a positive recommendation to the full Board.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee heard a presentation and extensive public comment on a proposed South of Market West Community Benefit District (SoMa West CBD) and voted to send the petition to the full Board with a positive recommendation after technical amendments.
Chris Korgas of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development described the proposed district as covering “approximately 100 whole or partial blocks” and about 2,700 parcels with a district budget of roughly $3,800,000. Korgas told the committee that a plurality of assessments falls on public parcels — San Francisco Unified School District, City and County of San Francisco and other public agencies — which account for about 11% of the budget and effectively raises the private-weighted threshold required to trigger a special election.
Korgas explained that the 30% weighted-assessment threshold required for a special election corresponds to more than $1.1 million in this district and said the steering committee currently has about 22% of the weighted assessments signed in support. “This proposed district covers approximately 100 whole or partial blocks and has approximately 2,700 parcels in it,” Korgas said.
Steering committee members and local residents urged the committee to support the petition. James Spinello, the steering committee chair, said volunteers and petition outreach had yielded “over $800,000 in our petitions already signed to get to that $1,100,000,” and described continued canvassing and mail outreach. A range of other speakers — including Deborah Benedict, Brenda (transcript: Bridal) Tobin, Tim Figueroas and representatives of neighborhood groups — described the district’s goals of increasing street cleaning, nightlife security, alleyway maintenance and protecting recent public investments such as Folsom streetscaping.
Chair Jane Kim noted technical discrepancies in the packet and offered amendments to adjust assessment amounts for city parcels and correct owner-of-record information on specific parcels. She said some parcels thought to be owned by the city were in fact owned by the San Francisco Unified School District and should be removed from the city-parcel list. The committee agreed to amend the item and moved the amended item to the full Board with a positive recommendation.
Korgas said city signature support for city-owned parcels would help the petitioners reach the threshold but cautioned that city participation on petitions does not by itself guarantee final passage; landowner outreach and additional private signatures remain necessary. The committee forwarded the amended petition to the Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation.
