By Thomas K. Pendergast : richmondsunsetnews – excerpt

Efforts by State Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Mayor London Breed to rapidly increase the City’s housing supply are getting roasted by advocates, activists and politicians concerned about land speculators fattening their portfolios at the expense of small business owners and residential tenants.

“We’d like to prevent the displacement of small businesses and currently affordable rental housing which are the consequences of when you do blanket upzoning and you don’t have a thoughtful way to grow housing in the City,” said Lori Brooke of Neighborhoods United SF, which she said is made up of 60 neighborhood associations across the City now pushing back against Breed’s proposal to upzone major commercial corridors throughout the west side of the City.

Upzoning is a term used to describe changes to zoning codes made for increasing the amount of development allowed in the future on any given parcel. In the Richmond District, for example, the standard zoning for most parcels is 40-feet tall or four stories.

“We want to promote affordable workforce housing, which is the moderate, low and very-low-income units. We want to push for smart, affordable growth without overbuilding the luxury housing,” Brooke said.

They also want to “reset” the housing crisis narrative…(more)

Reality Check wanted! Voters will make some important decisions as they weigh in one the candidates and their plans on how to grow the city. After months of media coverage their can’t be too many people who are not aware of the importance of the density issues that effect all the neighborhoods. Throw in the street closure issues and the next city leaders should have a good idea of how the majority of the voters feel and what they want to pay for.