Breed seeks more help for small businesses
As San Francisco’s small businesses struggle to hang on amid the pandemic, Mayor London Breed is pushing another set of reforms that she hopes will help desperate bars, restaurants and retailers and also encourage new ones to open.
Breed’s proposal will add to November’s Proposition H, which aimed to simplify the city’s arduous permitting process, but didn’t remove all the challenges businesses face.
The new legislation, which must be approved by the Board of Supervisors, will expand the neighborhoods that qualify for expedited permitting to also include downtown, SoMa and Union Square, which have been particularly hurt by the pandemic. It will also further loosen the rules around how restaurants and retailers can use their spaces, like roofs and backyards.
“As we look to recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic, it’s critical that we make it as easy as possible for small businesses to open or adapt, so that they can make it through,” Breed said in a statement.
San Francisco’s small businesses have been struggling for years, as online shopping, high rents and construction costs squeezed their bottom lines. One of the biggest complaints, however, is the months it would take to approve permits for new businesses, or to make changes to existing operations.
The pandemic has only added to their woes.
Prop. H sought to allay some of the challenges by removing the need to notify neighbors