Mayoral Candidates Seek to Save San Francisco’s Downtown

Can Downtown San Francisco be saved? Just ask the leading candidates for mayor.

The candidates running for the election next month agree Downtown needs attention, with its sinking revenue from property and business taxes because of too-few commuters, vacant storefronts and empty office towers, the San Francisco Standard reported.

Mayor London Breed, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin and Mark Farrell each weighed in to questions posed by readers about the most critical challenges facing the city.

Downtown was designed for office commuters, not residents, Breed said, and that needs to change.

She has unfurled a “Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco Future,” which gives incentives for businesses to open Downtown and a plan to bring in 30,000 residents and students.

The mayor said she’s open to office-to-residential conversions, known to be technically challenging. She has also pushed for Downtown concerts and events.

Nonprofit founder Lurie said he would place a premium on Downtown safety and cleanliness to make it more attractive. He wants to loosen regulations around keeping small businesses intact and rejigger taxes to draw company headquarters.

“We must better consolidate City Hall’s available tools and resources to revitalize Downtown and increase support for small businesses in the form of tax breaks, grants, loans and marketing,” he said in a statement. “And we need safe and clean streets, smart investments and a vision for economic recovery that builds on the talent of our local small businesses.”

Board of Supervisors President Peskin pitched a Center for Tech Diplomacy that he said would attract business startups. He pledged to work with large businesses to keep them Downtown.

Peskin pointed to legislation he and Breed led last year that makes it easier and cheaper to convert offices into homes. He also also co-authored bills for “entertainment zones” that have sped up the permitting for organizing events.

“As mayor, I will implement my middle-class financing plan to lower interest rates on construction and speed these conversions even faster,” Peskin wrote. “We must use a combination of lower office costs, residential conversions and new amenities such as parks, libraries and art to bring people back to Downtown.”

Former interim mayor Farrell said he’s committing to cutting the commercial vacancy rate in half by the end of his first term in 2028. Office vacancy now stands at a record 37.3 percent.

Farrell was the only candidate who responded to an inquiry about work-from-home policies, according to the Standard. He said he’d offer tax incentives for businesses requiring employees to work from the office at least four days per week.

He also pledged to offer financing and tax incentives for businesses, housing construction and conversions, and to repurpose downtown buildings for mixed-use projects.

“I believe San Francisco has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to completely reimagine the possibilities and vision for our Downtown neighborhoods,” he wrote. “My vision for Downtown is one that is safe, clean, and thriving 24/7.”

— Dana Bartholomew