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A little more than a year after the Calle 24 Cultural District Corridor was established to protect San Francisco’s endangered epicenter for Latino culture and commerce, Calle 24 and several community members are calling for more protections amid skyrocketing rents that are threatening the existence of small, mom-and-pop businesses.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee approved by a 2-1 vote July 13 an urgency ordinance that calls for a 45-day pause to commercial storefront mergers within the Calle 24 corridor to be voted on before the Board of Supervisors on July 28.
“These interim controls that are before you make sense for a number of reasons,” said District 9 Supervisor David Campos, who along with the mayor’s office is sponsoring the ordinance. “Smaller business spaces are more affordable and accessible to many businesses, something hugely important in today’s market where commercial rents are simply exploding.”
Supporters of the ordinance, such as the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, view the merger of small storefront businesses as a direct threat to smaller businesses, because larger spaces are more expensive. Supporters also fear merging storefronts will open the door to more high-end restaurants, further displacing small local businesses within the corridor.
For more than two hours, the committee—composed of supervisors Jane Kim and Malia Cohen, who both voted for the ordinance, and Scott Wiener, who didn’t—heard presentations by Diana Ponce de Leon of the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and Diego Sanchez of the Planning Department. Both Ponce de Leon and Sanchez support the ordinance.
But perhaps the most telling testimony came from the 46 people who spoke during public comment, 36 of whom supported the measure.
“It is modest, and it will help to pause some of the horrific gentrification that’s going on in this city, in this one district,” said Kate Walker, who hopes a model can be formed for businesses in other districts that haven’t been hit by gentrification yet.
One of the most ardent opponents of Calle 24, the interim control and the proposal of a special use district is a group called Open 24th, whose presence was noted during the meeting.
Toby Segaran, who is a staff software engineer at Google and who is married to Open 24th president and Ebay employee Brooke Segaran (who didn’t speak at the meeting) advocated for “getting rid of empty store fronts on the street,” claiming that there were 19 on 24th street. Segaran said there needed to be “more community involvement.”
Members of Open 24th have gone as far as to publicly accuse Calle 24 of being exclusionary to non-Latinos.
“I have a seat at the table,” countered Brooke Oliver, a business owner of 20 years within the Latino corridor and member of Calle 24. “We will continue to welcome others’ voices in our meetings. We don’t welcome being condemned publicly for having a lack of integrity.”
Brion Spensieri, a growth product analyst at Uber, also opposed the ordinance claiming that the vacant and early closing storefronts are not being kept up and often host “dangerous activity,” such as drug dealing, intravenous drug use and “defecation on the streets.”
Erick Arguello, president and cofounder of Calle 24, presented a petition with 2,922 signatures supporting the interim control and special use district, 53 signatures belonging to merchants. Arguello said he spoke with Mission Police Station Captain Daniel Perea about crime in the neighborhood, citing that there are more police calls to Dolores Park on the weekends than on 24th Street. Arguello said Parea cited more crime where there is more foot traffic and nightlife, such as bars and restaurants.
“We have 33 percent bars and restaurants on our street,” said Marie Sorenson with Calle 24. “I think that’s enough.”