Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier Speaks to San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Members

Your BOMA Advocacy Team attended the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's Supes for Lunch meeting on Wednesday with Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier. Supervisor Alioto-Pier represents District 2, which includes the Presidio, Cow Hollow, Marina, Pacific Heights as well as part of the Richmond neighborhood.  She also serves as a member of the San Francisco Disaster Council and is the Board Representative on the State Legislative Committee.  The following are the highlights from the meeting:

Open for Business

Supervisor Alioto-Pier is dedicated to her constituency and is a fervent advocate for economic well being of the neighborhood businesses within District 2.  As in the rest of San Francisco, the commercial corridors in the district--Union Street, Chestnut Street, Sacramento Street and the Fillmore--have been hit hard by the economic downturn.  The Supervisor mentioned that on Union Street alone, there are 24 empty store fronts, most of which were occupied by local business owners.

The Supervisor mentioned that she's supportive of removing barriers to opening a business. She also does not support mandatory bans or moratoriums against formula retail establishments, so-called “chain stores”, but she does support conditional use as a means of giving the proposed new business and the existing residents and neighborhood businesses the opportunity to negotiate through the planning process for a win-win resolution. She suggested, upon reaching her term-limit as a supervisor, that her successor would feel the same way.  The Supervisor was concerned that the introduction of too many chain stores would take away from the unique character of our city’s neighborhoods.  This scenario occurred, Supervisor Alioto-Pier stated, after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake where a number of local businesses had to close due to earthquake related destruction in the Marina and the subsequent lack of pedestrian traffic.  Most of the shuttered neighborhood businesses were, over time, replaced with non-local national retail establishments.

Politics

Supervisor Alioto-Pier contended that barriers to businesses in San Francisco have been exacerbated by the onset of district supervisor elections in 2000.  The supervisor fervently suggested that the city's leaders need to have not only a social conscience, but a good in depth understanding of basic economics, and how the city fiscally operates. They need to "think outside of their districts".

San Francisco Budget Woes

The City and County of San Francisco has serious immediate and ongoing budget problems, and Supervisor Alioto-Pier stated that the Board of Supervisors will have to make some very tough decisions regarding City-funded services in the very near future.

BOMA San Francisco appreciates our relationship with Supervisor Alioto-Pier and looks forward to working with her in the future.  Supervisor Alioto-Pier is also a declared candidate for California Insurance Commissioner, and will be on the Democratic Primary ballot next June for that state office. For details on that effort, click here.