Newsom Establishes New Community Benefit Districts

NEWSOM ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF TWO NEW COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICTS IN FISHERMAN’S WHARF AND THE MISSION DISTRICT

Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today the establishment of two new Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) at Fisherman’s Wharf and a portion of Mission Street. The announcement came after the official tabulation of property owner ballots at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting. The Fisherman’s Wharf CBD received support from over 85% of property owners while the Mission Street CBD received over 60% support.

The CBD efforts are a partnership with the City aimed at promoting the beautification and maintenance of these neighborhood commercial districts.

A CBD is a voluntary funding mechanism where property owners are levied a special assessment to fund improvements to their neighborhood. The CBD’s in Fisherman’s Wharf and Mission Street will have an annual budget of $600,000 and $75,000, respectively.

San Francisco is recognizing what other cities have long known - that CBD’s are an effective grassroots economic development tool for neighborhood revitalization and beautification,” said Mayor Newsom. “I applaud the Fisherman’s Wharf and Mission Street neighbors for taking this important step to improving their commercial districts.”

Prior to today, San Francisco had only one CBD at Union Square. It is estimated that over 2,000 property-based district are functioning successfully in the United States. New York City and Los Angeles have over 50 and 35 districts, respectively. In the Bay Area, Oakland has six such districts and Berkeley has three.

CBD's are an exciting vehicle for empowering communities to increase the cleanliness of their streets and sidewalks, improve public safety, and promote neighborhood businesses,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood. “I congratulate the Fisherman’s Wharf property owners and merchants for taking this initiative.”

Mayor Newsom signed legislation authored by Supervisor Peskin earlier this year to make it easier to form CBD's in San Francisco. The Mayor’s Office has also granted over $40,000 to several neighborhood groups to help them with the formation costs for establishing CBD's.

Three other neighborhood CBD’s – Tenderloin, Noe Valley and Castro/Upper Market – are also in the formation process. Ballots for these CBD's will be tabulated at the August 2nd Board of Supervisors meeting.