San Francisco Sun

San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed is in Sacramento today to advocate for the City's Downtown recovery efforts by leveraging support for key state bills. The Mayor will be speaking alongside other city officials at the first hearing of Assemblymember Matt Haney’s Select Committee on Downtown Recovery. The goal of the committee is to explore barriers to revitalization that downtowns are facing due to the impacts of the pandemic and to find solutions to help them recover.

Mayor Breed is advocating for three pieces of state legislation, including SB 1227, AB 3068, and AB 2488, which aim to provide San Francisco with additional tools to revitalize downtown. These bills focus on creating Downtown Revitalization Zones, adaptive reuse incentive programs, and Enhanced Infrastructure Finance Districts to support office-to-housing conversions and downtown recovery infrastructure investments.

In addition to advocating for these legislative measures, Mayor Breed will testify about her commitments to continue revitalizing the downtown area. This includes her proposal known as 30 by 30, which aims to add 30,000 more residents and students to downtown by 2030 through various initiatives.

Mayor Breed stated, “San Francisco’s Downtown is changing, and we must be creative and aggressive in our work to transform our City’s core from an outdated 9 to 5 office environment to a bustling 24/7 neighborhood.” She emphasized the importance of adding more housing, students, arts, and culture venues to enhance the city's reputation as a center of innovation and excellence.

The Mayor has implemented several key initiatives as part of her larger Roadmap to San Francisco’s Future strategy, including efforts to convert office spaces to housing, tax reforms, public safety enhancements, filling empty storefronts, and improving public spaces in Downtown and Mid-Market areas.

Due to these investments and initiatives, San Francisco has started to see positive results, such as a nearly full return of international and domestic travel, increased hotel occupancy, successful conventions, strong venture capital market performance, and growing tenant demand for office space.

San Francisco's efforts to revitalize downtown are crucial for the city's economic recovery and future growth, and Mayor Breed's advocacy in Sacramento aims to secure the necessary support and resources to continue these positive trends.