Mayor London Breed announced in June several measures planned for the November ballot that would seek to address high-profile challenges in the city.
The Save Our Small Businesses measure seeks to help small businesses in the city by cutting bureaucracy and modernizing zoning for commercial corridors. “Many of our small businesses were already struggling before Covid-19, and now they are barely hanging on,” said Breed.
The ballot measure would require permit applications for purposes allowed by current zoning to be reviewed within 30 days, cutting months off the process. The measure would also expand the number of businesses eligible for streamlined zoning approvals, increase certain permissible uses within a building, and help nonprofit organizations find space in neighborhood commercial districts.
A second ballot measure, the Fair Wages for Educators Act, would provide $50 million in funding for teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District. Breed and supporters of the measure say it addresses the legal limbo of the voter-approved Proposition 5, which passed with a simple majority in 2018 and is tied up in court.
Breed has also introduced the Business Tax Reform measure, which would free up about $300 million in funds already paid by businesses for addressing homelessness and childcare. Here, too, litigation has prevented those funds from being spent. This measure would also repeal and replace the payroll tax with an increased gross receipt tax, providing some possible financial relief to small and struggling businesses.
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