What if San Francisco Truly Valued Its Public Transportation?

Update

Looks like State Senator Scott Weiner saw my map and was inspired. However, the legislation he introduced would take my idea too far for a lot of communities here in SF. My idea is to put the power in the hands of the property owners. Mr. Weiner's would put the power in the hands of those who have the money for large scale developments. When the power is in the hands of developers, this can to lead to gentrification which is not in the interests our communities. If we can bring down the scale of his legislation to a more community-friendly version similar to mine then I can see more communities getting behind it.

San Francisco Loves Public Transportation

Public transportation has always been an amenity of living in San Francisco. Whether it’s BART, Muni, Light Rail, or even the cable cars, there has always been a way to get around the city inexpensively. And this is what many SF lovers want. They want an easy way to get around the city that doesn't include looking for parking, parking tickets or being towed. People have expressed they want to live near public trans.  So I went to our housing data to see what it would look like if we had more housing near it.

Using Assessor-Recorder Role data, I was able to create a map showing how many units could be created if we did small tweaks to our housing density near our major transport lines. Currently, the city has only made this possible, for the most part, on the street where the transit line is located. I thought, since people can walk farther than half a block, let’s expand our housing and create a larger transit buffer promoting more homes near our public transport. As a result, we could possibly increase our housing by almost 70,000 units. Wow.

New Housing Won't Happen Fast

While new homes will not be built overnight, it is a way for San Francisco to say it cares for its residents, a way to reduce its ecological footprint and way to show forward thinking beyond today.

This, combined with other ideas such as In-laws and density ideas I have mentioned at AccessSF.org, San Francisco can work for its citizens to ease the economic pressure causing Ellis Act, Owner Move-In and other no-fault evictions. These ideas are a win-win for San Francisco.

The lack of productive dialogue and constructive debate on possible solutions was one of the main reasons for me to run for County Assessor. From my experiences, and those around me, I hope to show possible outside-the-mainstream approaches to the housing crisis.

San Francisco needs City officials with the backbone to stand up for what is good for the city. This is the voice I will bring to City Hall. Seeing how the Assessor’s office can help bring housing laws out of the 1970’s and into the modern era.

- Paul Bellar for Assessor- 2018