PG&E Power Failures Unacceptable

In December of last year, the Richmond District experienced six blackouts, lasting more than 40 hours for most residents and almost twice that for others.

Massive noisy backup generators were installed that made it impossible for people to stay in their homes.

In January, we had two clinics with PG&E representatives to help individuals and small businesses file claims for losses experienced due to the outages. We will continue to request that PG&E meet in the neighborhood as we continue to hear from many Richmond residents and small businesses that are still having trouble and will share the details once we have them.

While the power is now back on and the generators gone, we cannot allow this failure by PG&E to go unanswered. I have put forward two pieces of legislation to hold PG&E accountable. These blackouts are the result of neglected infrastructure by PG&E, a private company more interested in profit and raises for executives than investment in safety, reliability and fair wages for workers. When San Franciscans pay our utility bills, we want to be able to invest in publicly owned infrastructure that delivers safe and reliable power to every household and small businesses in our City.

My first piece of legislation re-affirms the City’s continued efforts to acquire PG&E assets, to meet the City’s goals: affordable, safe and reliable service; protection of the environment and climate; transparency and public accountability; workforce development; and equitable access to clean, green and affordable electric power delivery and service in San Francisco.

The second urges Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to withhold PG&E’s safety certificate until all the infrastructure under its control has been properly inspected and maintained.

For too long, PG&E has been given unilateral control over the state’s power grid, without being held accountable for the maintenance of the system, leading to devastating fires, loss of life and continuing blackouts leading to loss of property and income. We must ensure that, at the very least, PG&E is complying with basic requirements to maintain power safety and security before granting a renewal of its certificate.

Upper Great Highway

Last month, I signed on to a ballot initiative for a compromise measure to reopen the Upper Great Highway during weekdays. This was part of a promise I made to Richmond and westside residents to address access and congestion issues that have plagued our outer neighborhoods with no plan or relief.

Unfortunately, this attempt to place the issue back before voters failed due to lack of planning and discipline. Although there has been plenty of time to draft legislation and solicit support, this effort was pulled together at the last moment. The final version of the legislation was not shared by Supervisor Alan Wong until the morning of the filing deadline, giving people no time to review and provide feedback. While I ultimately signed on to place the initiative on the ballot, I knew it was not likely to qualify since there had been no work done to ensure strong community support to counter the negative campaign that detractors had already secured. Without this, I saw that the other supervisors could not be moved to a position of support.

It is my understanding that there is now a community-driven effort to collect signatures to place this issue on the November ballot. While I have yet to review the language, I remain supportive of returning the Upper Great Highway to a shared use solution between those needing it open for vehicles during the weekdays and recreational use on the weekends.

District 1 Youth Council

I was excited to help launch the District 1 Youth Council last month. In 1995, San Francisco established the first chartered Youth Commission in the country to advise the Board of Supervisors and the mayor on policies and laws related to young people. It continues to be an important voice for youth in San Francisco. In 2025, the Richmond District had a record number of youth who applied to be on the San Francisco Youth Commission. We ultimately appointed Leah Mordehai, a longtime intern at the District 1 office, a junior in high school and a Richmond resident. Recognizing this interest of her peers and to keep them engaged, Leah worked with her fellow commissioners and other young leaders to expand the model started in District 7 and created a District 1 Youth Council, which held its inaugural meeting on Jan. 24 at the Anza Branch Library. This group of young people makes me very hopeful for the future of our City, our country and the world.

Connie Chan represents District 1 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She can be reached at 415-554-7410 or chanstaff@sfgov.org.