San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - February 14, 2024
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San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - February 14, 2024
The Budget and Finance Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at 6:15 PM. The committee, chaired by Supervisor Connie Chan and including Vice Chair Rafael Mandelman and Supervisor Myrna Melgar, considered six items: appropriations for APEC relief, a SoMa community stabilization grant, a loan amendment for affordable housing at 78 Haight Street, a lease amendment for the YMCA at Crane Cove Park, a tax-defaulted property auction, and an extension of contracting waivers for homeless services. Public comment was heard on several items. The committee voted to forward most items to the full Board of Supervisors with positive recommendations, with one item sent without recommendation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 1 (APEC relief): Scott Rowitz (Executive Director, Yerba Buena Community Benefit District) thanked the committee and praised OEWD and the Office of Small Business for their outreach. Desi (Cultivate Labs) requested that the administrator of the relief fund charge minimal administrative fees (noting 10–20% is typical) to maximize direct support to businesses.
- Item 2 & 3 (SoMa fund and 78 Haight loan): Chris Cummings (TNDC) spoke in support of the additional funding for 78 Haight, noting the project's delay and the need for permanent repairs to neighboring Mount Trinity Baptist Church. He mentioned TNDC is seeking up to $2 million from the Weinberg Foundation for capital costs.
- Item 4 (YMCA lease): No public comment.
- Item 5 (Tax auction): No public comment.
- Item 6 (Homeless services waivers): One speaker urged the committee to be bold and not fear addressing homelessness.
Discussion Items
- Item 1: De-Appropriation and Appropriation for APEC 2023 Project ($3,500,000) – The ordinance reappropriates $3.5 million: $500,000 to SFMTA for free parking, ambassador services, and transit fares for Lunar New Year parade, and $3 million to OEWD for a relief fund for SoMa businesses and a small business transit impact relief fund. Supervisor Dorsey thanked the committee and highlighted improved interdepartmental relationships from APEC outreach. Supervisor Guardion noted that Taraval merchants reported up to 70% sales loss due to Muni track replacement and requested $1 million of the leftover APEC funds for Taraval relief. Chair Chan emphasized the need for timely distribution and future fund models. The committee voted unanimously to forward to the full board with a positive recommendation.
- Items 2 & 3: SoMa Community Stabilization Fund ($200,000) and Loan Amendment for 78 Haight Street ($35,306,233) – Item 2 authorizes a $200,000 grant from the 5M Community Benefits Agreement to the Bill Sorro Housing Program (Bishop) for anti-displacement programs in SoMa. Item 3 increases the city's loan to TNDC by $8.5 million (total not to exceed $35.3 million) for a 63-unit affordable housing development at 78 Haight Street, including 32 units for transitional-age youth experiencing homelessness. Supervisor Melgar expressed concerns about the removal of a planned childcare space due to state licensing requirements (e.g., outdoor space, proximity to parks). MOHCD and TNDC explained that Patricia's Green and other nearby parks did not meet licensing criteria, and roof redesign was cost-prohibitive. Supervisor Melgar asked about exploring a family childcare center on site. The BLA noted that the developer is investing at-risk developer fee as equity, which is an appropriate risk-sharing. The committee voted unanimously to forward both resolutions to the full board.
- Item 4: Amended Lease with YMCA for Building 49 at Crane Cove Park – The port requested approval of an amended lease that reduces seismic improvements (replacing steel reinforcement with plywood and bolts, saving the YMCA about $500,000 in rent credits but costing the city an estimated $1.4 million in foregone improvements), pushes rent commencement to October 1, 2024, and requires public restrooms open by July 1, 2024. The BLA raised concerns about the port's vetting process, noting the lease was approved just months earlier. Supervisor Melgar supported the YMCA's mission, recalling the building's history of serving low-income youth through kayaking. A clerical amendment was added to clarify lease terms. The committee voted unanimously to forward the amended resolution to the full board.
- Item 5: Public Auction of Tax-Defaulted Properties – The resolution authorizes the sale of 159 parcels delinquent for at least five years (some up to nine years). The Treasurer's office provided outreach including in-person visits and social services referrals. Chair Chan noted Supervisor Ronan's request to remove 3548-3550 20th Street (owned by Murphy Rauf) for one more year due to concrete payment efforts. The committee voted unanimously to remove that property and forward the amended list to the full board.
- Item 6: Extending Sunset of Contracting Waivers for Homeless Services – The ordinance extends the sunset from May 5, 2024 to May 5, 2029, allowing the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) and Public Works to bypass competitive bidding for homeless services contracts. Chair Chan proposed a two-year phase-in for procurement compliance, but she remained concerned about accountability, citing recent issues with the 7-Eleven Post Street and 935 Kearny projects. She moved to send the item to the full board without recommendation. Supervisor Melgar, after receiving additional information, supported the legislation as is. Vice Chair Mandelman added himself as a co-sponsor. The committee voted 3-0 to send the ordinance without recommendation.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Approved (3-0) to forward to the full Board of Supervisors with positive recommendation.
- Items 2 & 3: Approved (3-0) to forward both resolutions to the full board with positive recommendation.
- Item 4: Approved (3-0) to amend the resolution with clerical edits and forward to the full board with positive recommendation.
- Item 5: Approved (3-0) to remove 3548-3550 20th Street from the parcel list and forward the amended list to the full board with positive recommendation.
- Item 6: Approved (3-0) to forward the ordinance to the full board without recommendation.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:00 PM. Items acted upon are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of February 27, 2024.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the February 14 meeting of the budget and finance committee. I'm Supervisor Connie Chan, chair of the committee. I'll be shortly joined by Vice Chair Rafael Mendelman, and here we are we have Supervisor Mirna Malgar. Our clerk is Brent Halipa, and I would like to thank SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clark, do you have any announcement? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure the soundsaw cell phones and electronic devices and not to enter our proceedings. Should you have any documents to be included as part of the file that should be submitted to myself, the clerk, uh public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called. Please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right, my left along those curtains. While not necessary to provide uh public comment, we do invite you to fill out a comment card and leave them on the tray uh by the television to your left by the doors. Uh if you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes, uh alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to myself, the budget and finance committee clerk at B R E N T dot J A L I P A Hat S F G-O V dot O R G. If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office on City Hall. That's one Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. And due to the President's Day holiday items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors Agenda of February 27th, unless otherwise stated. Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And uh would just like to remind everyone, we uh for those items that have budget and legislative and uh analysts report, we'll go to the department presentation, BLA report, then we'll follow by questions, then we go to public comments. And with that, Mr. Clark, please call item number one. Item number one has an ordinance deappropriating 3.5 million from general city responsibility and reappropriating 500,000 to the municipal transportation agency to support free to our parking in the Portsmouth Square Garages ambassador services and transit fares for the lunar new year parade in February 2024, and three million to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to support a relief fund for SOMA area business and organizations from direct APEC impacts uh and for a small business transit impact relief fund in the fiscal year 2023 to 2024. Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clark. And uh this is an item that actually continue from last week due to the increase of the dollar amount from previous uh 2.25 uh million dollars to three million uh uh three point five million dollars. And today I just want to welcome uh Supervisor Dorsey, Matt Dorsey, and Supervisor Joan Guardion to the chambers. Um Supervisor Dorsey, please, the floor is yours. Thank you so much, uh Chair Chan. Um I just want to again thank you and everyone on your team for all of your work over on this over the last few months. With this being the uh the second meeting where this item is discussed, I don't think I have much to add that hasn't already been said, but of course that has never stopped me before from repeating myself ad nauseum. So I will uh if you'll just indulge me out now. I'm I'm actually kidding. There is one thing that I did want to uh one positive aspect that uh hasn't been mentioned previously that I did feel that I wanted to express, and that was um the uh pre and post-APEC outreach um really strengthened the relationship between the Office of Uh Economic and Worse Workforce Development and the Office of Small Business. I know I gave them a sort of general thank you in the last meeting, but I do I have heard from a lot of uh businesses and residents how much they appreciate that the city has these offices and how helpful they have been. So this has been an exercise that is really worthwhile and that I think will pay dividends in uh for years to come. So I did want to say thank you to Sarah Dennis Phillips and Katie Tang, respectively from OEWD and the Office of Small Business. And then, of course, my thanks to everybody on this uh committee. And with that, I am appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you. And Supervisor Ingardeal. Thank you.
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