San Francisco shifts focus from grocery retailer tax to entry incentive

A controversial plan to slap a brand new tax on vacant grocery shops in San Francisco has been abruptly shelved after operating into resistance from Metropolis Corridor and the enterprise group.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood mentioned Sunday he’s dropping the proposed tax and can as a substitute pursue a metropolis ordinance geared toward increasing entry to grocery shops by way of incentives, funding and zoning reforms.

The reversal comes simply weeks after Mahmood unveiled his “Reasonably priced Groceries Act,” which initially referred to as for 2 measures to go earlier than voters in November.

One would have established a city-run fund that would assist nook and comfort shops increase their contemporary meals choices and assist new grocery shops.

The opposite would have focused giant chains that go away former grocery retailer places sitting vacant with a brand new tax.

However the tax proposal rapidly bumped into opposition from Mayor Daniel Lurie, enterprise pursuits and issues amongst Mahmood’s fellow supervisors.

Mahmood will now give attention to advancing the grocery fund by way of an ordinance relatively than asking voters to approve the unique pair of poll measures.

The revamped effort would divert funding towards serving to comfort shops inventory contemporary produce whereas utilizing incentives and zoning adjustments to encourage new supermarkets to open.

“In the end, it’s clear there isn’t any consensus at Metropolis Corridor on company accountability or on options that blend carrots and sticks at the moment,” Mahmood wrote on social media.

“However we now have to be pushed by outcomes and discover a path ahead on options which are attainable to drive consensus round right this moment.”

The unique proposals got here as San Francisco grapples with a string of main grocery store closures which have left some neighborhoods with fewer choices for groceries and contemporary meals.

Mahmood had beforehand mentioned his proposals have been impressed partially by New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for city-run grocery shops as a approach to deal with meals prices.

San Francisco’s plan stopped wanting having town itself function supermarkets.

As a substitute, the proposed fund may have used personal nonprofit donations or income generated by the emptiness tax to assist grocery shops, whereas the tax was additionally supposed to encourage main chains to maintain places open.

Lurie opposed the tax method.

A spokesperson for the mayor advised the San Francisco Chronicle that Lurie was working to carry extra grocery shops to town however didn’t consider imposing a emptiness tax was the best way to do it.

The proposal additionally drew pushback from the Chamber of Commerce and Align Actual Property — the developer searching for to show the shuttered Fillmore Safeway right into a housing advanced.

Mahmood additional revealed that Amazon — proprietor of the empty former Complete Meals location in Mid-Market — was “actively lobbying” in opposition to the proposed tax.

The measure confronted one other main impediment earlier this month when Supervisor Connie Chan, who chairs the board’s price range committee, didn’t put the tax proposal on the committee agenda.

Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman additionally raised issues that taxing vacant grocery properties may have “unintended penalties” as San Francisco tries to lure companies again following the pandemic.

Mandelman mentioned he was “involved that measures like this ship a special message that is a bit more adversarial and that imagines that San Francisco can tax and regulate our approach to restoration.”

Mahmood’s remaining grocery retailer fund ordinance is about to be heard Monday morning by the Board of Supervisors’ guidelines committee.

He thanked Supervisor Shamann Walton, who chairs the committee, for transferring the proposal ahead and signaled that abandoning the tax doesn’t imply he’s giving up on the broader effort.

“This isn’t the top of the dialog,” Mahmood wrote. “That is just the start of a bigger effort to handle our affordability disaster, and I received’t cease preventing till each neighborhood has dependable entry to inexpensive, wholesome meals.”

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