Mayor Could Harm the Richmond

On Dec. 18, 2023, SF Supervisor Connie Chan sent an email notifying constituents that SF Mayor London Breed is preparing legislation to up-zone building height limitations in the Richmond District by early 2024.

Our Richmond District here in the northwest corner of San Francisco is remarkable in many ways, and the international community has taken notice.

Recently, “Time Out” media asked 12,000 of its worldwide subscribers to identify top neighborhoods in their cities, and editors evaluated responses based “community and social ventures, access to open and green space, and thriving street life.”

The Richmond is 27th on the 2023 list of the 40 coolest neighborhoods in the world, and one of only two California neighborhoods that made the cut. Our district’s various neighborhoods, according to “Time Out,” are “a microcosm of what makes San Francisco so special: Natural beauty, rich culture and incredible cuisine from every corner of the world.”

We know why we made the list. It suffices to say that it’s about our diverse, charming neighborhood, each section a little different – like micro-climates. It’s all about the shops and restaurants, the businesses and merchants that serve us, all the gathering places and entertainment venues, and our trees. In your mind’s eye, look at Clement and Balboa streets, between Third and Seventh avenues, and 32nd and 42nd avenues. And don’t forget California Street in the Inner Richmond and Geary Boulevard. Visualize Geary from the Masonic Tunnel to the Beach. Note how the colors of the environment pop as your travel west – you see the whole beautiful spectrum of hues and architecture, places and people, and goods and services. There is something for everyone here.

In the mayor’s plan, a building height of 65 feet equates to a six-story structure, 85 feet allows eight stories, and 140 feet in height means 14 stories. Consider what the mayor has in store for changing our crown jewel neighborhoods:

• Increase height limits to 65 feet on Clement Street, between Arguello Boulevard and 45th Avenue.

• Increase height to 85 feet on Geary Boulevard, between Arguello and 48th Avenue.

• Increase height to 85 feet on Fulton Street, between Arguello and Great Highway.

• Increase height to 65 feet on Balboa Street, between Third and Seventh avenues and 32nd and 39th avenues.

• Increase height to 140 feet at the intersections of Geary and Arguello and Geary and Park Presidio Boulevard.

• Increase height to 65 feet along 14th Avenue and along Funston Avenue, between California and Fulton streets.

• Density increased within current height limitations in the area bounded by Arguello, Geary, Clement and 45th Avenue.

• Commercial properties without residential tenants can be demolished and built to increased height, with no public hearing process required.

• Properties with residential tenants can be demolished and built to increased height with a Conditional Use Permit.

Implicit in the mayor’s legislation is that San Francisco’s housing plans fall short of state-mandated requirements. According to Supervisor Chan, a report by the City’s Budget and Legislative Analyst indicates that the current housing supply, along with units in the pipeline, exceeds state mandates. We need to determine what’s true.

The public deserves an analysis of housing needs that’s free of the yoke of partisan politics and is done through a process that gives an equal voice to all stakeholders and eschews the practice of giving more weight to those whose focus is the advancement of a particular agenda. Too often, public policy issues in San Francisco result in the creation of two groups – winners and losers. It doesn’t have to be that way.

In Joel Kotkin’s book, “The City: A Global History,” the author tells us there are three major characteristics of great cities – they are sacred, safe and busy.

A City is sacred if it inspires pride, has iconic places and structures and, in a word, is special. Safety is straight forward; cities that cannot provide safety will decline, discourage investment and cause its residents to scatter.

Speaking of safety, our elected leaders have failed us already. Their commitment to ideological inclinations has, time and time again, eclipsed good ideas and prevented implementation of policies that offer solutions to our problems. Make no mistake, they have already decimated our public safety apparatus and have at times betrayed the men and women who are our first responders. Public safety experts tell us that activated neighborhoods are safer spaces. And this legislation, which will deactivate commercial areas, will surely further undermine efforts to restore safety in our neighborhoods.

As for busy, Kotkin says that’s about a flourishing, functioning marketplace and economy with opportunities for people to earn a living, obtain goods and services and improve their economic condition.

While there’s certainly room in our future for increased housing density, the mayor’s approach is clumsy. If implemented, our commercial areas, the areas that made us 27th in the world, could be demolished. And demolished without any public input. Our neighborhoods will fall to the highest bidder, and without offsetting utility for the larger community. The mayor plans to eliminate the sacredness of our neighborhoods.

As for being a busy community, the mayor’s vision serves to eliminate our local economy, and the opportunities it portends. This legislation is a betrayal of our small businesses, our neighborhoods and evidences a lack of leadership needed to cobble together policy that balances competing interests.

This Richmond District community has good cause to reject the notion that our mayor, her appointed bureaucrats and many of our elected leaders have the capacity to harness the resiliency that is San Francisco and design a viable future for its neighborhoods. Since we’re all in this together, it’s time to gather with our neighbors and merchants and insist that this ham-fisted legislation be scuttled. Locals working together with a collaborative spirit can come to a consensus about the Richmond’s future.

Finally, when it comes time to vote in 2024, remember those candidates who have shown the ability to solve problems, seek consensus through collaboration and implement policies that leave no Richmond District resident behind.

Richard Corriea is a fourth-generation Richmond District resident, former captain of SFPD’s Richmond Station and past president of the Planning Association for the Richmond.