Elections
A woman walks out of the Chinatown Public Health Center.

Proposition B — Bonds to Enhance Health Care Facilities and Public Spaces

10.07.2024
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See our November 2024 SF Voter Guide for a nonpartisan analysis of measures on the San Francisco ballot, for the election occurring Nov. 5, 2024. The following measure is on that ballot. Proposition B would let San Francisco borrow up to $390 million to carry out infrastructure and other projects, like upgrading health care facilities, creating homeless shelter, repaving roads and renovating Harvey Milk Plaza, the Castro neighborhood spot honoring the city’s first openly gay supervisor, who along with Mayor George Moscone was assassinated in 1978. Listen to a summary of what this ballot measure would do.

Elections
A school bus parked in front of Mission High School in San Francisco.

Proposition A — Bonds to Improve SF Schools

10.07.2024
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See our November 2024 SF Voter Guide for a nonpartisan analysis of measures on the San Francisco ballot, for the election occurring Nov. 5, 2024. The following measure is on that ballot. Proposition A would let the San Francisco Unified School District borrow up to $790 million to upgrade, repair and retrofit its campuses and other properties, and to build a facility that would produce high-quality meals for students. Listen to a summary of what this ballot measure would do.

Homelessness

Homeless Outreach Declines With Street Team’s Shifting Priorities, Staffing Woes

07.15.2024
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Street outreach by San Francisco’s premier team for helping people living on the streets has fallen for years and could continue dropping.

Years-long staffing woes and shifting work priorities have driven the decline, leaving the team less time for their core mission: building trust with unhoused people and helping them access social services and housing. Homelessness advocates approved of the team’s new efforts to bring people indoors, but worried that officials’ political motives might be influencing these changes.

Bay Area
At a City Hall meeting in San Francisco, an interpreter helps a resident make a public comment.

As Bay Area Cities Adopt Real-Time AI Translation for Public Meetings, SF Abstains

06.12.2024
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Cities in Northern California are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence-powered translation tools in an effort to make public meetings more accessible to residents who are not proficient in English. The technology could address obstacles to access in San Francisco, where people can struggle to obtain city-provided interpreters.

Should San Francisco consider following San Jose, Modesto and others in adopting AI translation? City officials say no, and some community groups are wary but open to the possibility.

City Hall
An interpreter speaks Cantonese into a device that transmits to listeners, with headsets, during a public meeting held in English.

Inadequate Language Services Leave Immigrants in the Dark at SF Public Meetings

05.30.2024
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For immigrants and other San Francisco residents who speak little English, accessible and robust interpretation services are essential in order to understand what’s said at public meetings and communicate with officials.

The city claims to have the strongest language-access policies in the nation, and a new proposal is on the way to strengthen them further. But, in practice, those policies leave a communication gap between lawmakers and those affected by their laws, community groups say.

City Hall

Proposition A — Affordable Housing Bonds

02.05.2024
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Proposition A would allow San Francisco to borrow up to $300 million by issuing general obligation bonds. The city would use up to $240 million to build, buy or rehabilitate rental housing, including senior housing and workforce housing for low-income households.

City Hall

Proposition D — Changes to Local Ethics Laws

02.05.2024
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Proposition D would amend the city’s Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code by expanding the kinds of gifts that city officials are prohibited from accepting. It also expands existing rules to bar people who have tried to influence city officials in the past or who have business with city departments from giving gifts.

City Hall

Proposition E — Police Department Policies and Procedures

02.05.2024
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Proposition E is a package of policy changes that would allow the San Francisco Police Department to engage in more high-speed chases, permit drone use in pursuits and grant the department the ability to install new security cameras in public spaces and test new surveillance technology on the public with less oversight from independent bodies.