SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco police officers are set to receive a 14% pay raise over the next four years, thanks to a tentative deal between their union and the City and County of San Francisco.

The deal was unanimously approved by the San Francisco Police Officers Association Board of Directors on Wednesday. The next step in making the deal a reality is rank-and-file officers voting on the deal by April 1.

The measure also requires approval from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

What we know:

Negotiations for the pay raise began in January. In addition to the pay increase, there will be a retention bonus of 3% for officers who have been with the department for a minimum of five years. That bonus is designed to retain experienced officers as well as recruit new ones to join.

SFPD recruits, starting on their first day at the police academy, earn a salary of $119,262 a year.

“This agreement is a balanced one,” Louis Wong, the President of the SFPOA said in a press release.” It provides meaningful improvements that recognize the dedication, sacrifice, and professionalism of our officers, while also being fiscally responsible at a time when San Fancisco is facing a significant budget deficit.”

By the numbers:

San Francisco is facing a projected $877 million two-year deficit, which raises questions about how city leadership will maintain other programs and simultaneously fund the raises for the police department.

A recent report from think tank SPUR — the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association — published earlier this month states police and firefighter contract negotiations will be “among the most significant financial decisions the city makes.”

“These contracts affect nearly $1 billion in annual spending — about 39% of the city’s discretionary budget. The current deficit projections assume that wages for police officers and firefighters will grow roughly in line with projected inflation, currently 3% to 3.3% annually,” the report states. “A wage increase just 2% above inflation could add $58 million to the deficit for police and fire alone, cutting into the city’s discretionary funds that would otherwise be spent on other services.”

The report notes that offering no raises will make it harder to recruit new officers to the department. Lurie in May, 2025 signed an executive order aimed at adding 500 new officers to the department. Then-Interim Chief Paul Yep announced in October of that year the department was seeing a surge in new recruits.

Big picture view:

The potential SFPD raises may further complicate Lurie’s already tense budget discussions going forward. The city in 2027 will negotiate contracts with its 31,000 other employees, and precedents set now could affect the entire workforce.

Earlier this month, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office shared a plan to reduce expenses by cutting at least 500 jobs.

The city’s health department alone is expected to cut roughly $20 million in staff costs, equal to around 100 staffers.

An email sent to department heads from the city’s budget director, Sophia Kittler, said the city must eliminate at least $100 million in personnel spending. That email, obtained by the San Francisco Standard, was critical of the proposed budgets that departments sent to the mayor’s office earlier in the year.

Those proposals suggested eliminating roughly 100 positions.

Civic Center has for decades welcomed Denver’s biggest public festivals, packing hundreds of thousands of visitors into its two dozen acres of grass, concrete paths, flower beds, and neo-classical architecture.

But with construction taking over most of the park this year, its biggest events will have to move, shrink or split into pieces. That’s due to the lack of regular space for beer tents, music stages, vendors and the public. The first phase, which includes reorienting the iconic Greek Theater on the south side of the park, is set to be completed by summer 2027.

“We are working with permit holders to continue to have limited activations in the park,” said Jenna Harris, downtown parks program manager for the city. “We’re doing our best to accommodate events as they come up, but it is a major, $50 million construction project. The more we delay it for big events that are about to happen around the perimeter, the harder it is to meet those milestones.”

The renovation project, which officials say will refresh Civic Center for another 100 years, includes glowing up the Greek Theater with a better stage and seating. “A new canopy arched over the stage will support contemporary theatrical equipment and provide shade and rain protection,” city officials wrote in a statement. “The design also improves accessibility and circulation through interconnected paths that better connect the park’s various outdoor spaces, including a new plaza commemorating the Gang of 19 protest and disability rights movement.”

The changes will close much of the park, including the Greek Theater, Central Promenade, and South Plaza of Civic Center, where big festivals often set up stages and vendors line the curving sidewalks. To continue at Civic Center this year, events must adapt.

Here’s what we know so far:

Mile High 420 Fest, which celebrates cannabis culture every year on April 20, is still scheduled to take place in Civic Center, according to city records. Event producers couldn’t be reached for comment, but general admission will cost $28.52 this year. Expect live entertainment and food vendors, although performers had not yet been announced at the time of this writing.

Cinco de Mayo, May 2-3, draws about 400,000 total visitors each year. In 2026, the vibrant celebration of Mexican independence and culture will still take over parts of Civic Center, while shutting down Broadway just east of the park.

“The overall footprint is remaining almost the exact same, and we are reorganizing a few festival components that are impacted by construction,” said Austin Tafoya, special events manager for NEWSED Community Development Corp., which produces Cinco de Mayo. “Other than that, we will utilize the surrounding streets as we have in the years past.”

Outside Days, the entertainment portion of Outside Magazine’s industry event in Denver, held its second successful gathering at Civic Center May 31-June 1 last year. This year, it’s moving to the Auraria Campus due to space constraints. Taking place May 29-31, producers changed the name from Outside Festival to Outside Days, added an extra day, and booked top live acts such as Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket and Cage the Elephant.

Denver PrideFest, which typically takes place in late June and draws more than 500,000 total visitors, rivals Cinco de Mayo in size and footprint. This year they’ll reimagine the event from the ground up, said organizers at the nonprofit LGBTQ organization The Center on Colfax, CEO Kim Salvaggio said.

The Denver Pride Parade will move to 17th Street on Sunday, June 28 (from East Colfax Avenue), while the Denver Pride Festival will be held the same day on 16th Street. The annual Denver Pride 5K will take place at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, starting at Cheesman Park Pavilion. A route is still being finalized, according to Salvaggio.

Independence Eve, a free, popular program that taps live orchestral music and a drone show to celebrate Independence Day, will not take place this year on July 3, said Eric Lazzari, executive director of the Civic Center Conservancy, which works with the city to program and maintain the park.

However, there will still be smaller events in the park throughout the year, he said, such as the return of the food truck gathering Civic Center Eats, a Dia de Los Muertos celebration, and a local-vendor Night Market, among many others.

“We haven’t seen many public announcements yet about the bigger festivals, but we’ll have about 60 to 80 events over the course of the next year produced by Civic Center Conservancy and partners in the park, including some new events we’re working on.”

The long-running A Taste of Colorado festival, the food event that typically runs on Labor Day weekend, has not used Civic Center for a large-scale festival since 2022, so don’t expect that to jump to another large location. And by the time it’s fall, start looking for the wildly popular Christkindlmarket and Mile High Tree attraction to stay put at the Auraria Campus, where they moved for their 2025 event to make way for Civic Center’s November groundbreaking.

“The reality of an urban park in the 21st century is that it has to work for groups of 5,000 or 20,000,” Lazzari said. “On the other side of this construction, we’ll see a blend of what it’s traditionally been, but also how it is gathering people in smaller sizes for new events.”

Former Seattle Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford was optioned to Triple-A Rochester by the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

Seattle Mariners announce roster for 2026 Spring Breakout game

Ford, 23, was a top prospect in the Mariners’ organization and a top-100 prospect in all of baseball for multiple years after being selected 12th overall in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft, but his path to regular playing time in the major leagues was blocked by American League MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh.

After a stellar showing in Triple-A where he produced a .408 on-base percentage, .868 OPS and 16 homers in 97 games with Tacoma, Ford had a cup of coffee with the M’s last season when he was called up as rosters expanded to 28 players in September. Ford appeared in eight games and went 1 for 6 with an RBI, which included a walkoff sac fly against the Los Angels Angels on Sept. 11. He added a single in his only plate appearance during the playoffs.

With Ford’s future in Seattle murky due to a lack of opportunities at catcher, the Mariners sent him and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon to the Nationals on Dec. 6 in exchange for left-handed reliever Jose A. Ferrer, who is expected to fill a high-leverage role with the M’s.

Ford was 3 for 14 with one double, two RBIs and three walks to seven strikeouts in seven games for Washington this spring. He also went 3 for 15 with one home run and two RBIs over four games while playing for Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic.

The decision to start Ford in Triple-A means the Nationals will open the season with Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas as their catching options.

The 27-year-old Ruiz is the returning starter and a former top prospect who was acquired in a 2021 trade that sent right-hander Max Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he missed the final three months of last season due to lingering symptoms from two concussions suffered over the span of one month. Ruiz is signed through the 2030 season with club options for 2031 and 2032.

First-year Nationals manager Blake Butera told reporters Wednesday that Ford is still very much a part of the club’s plans moving forward.

“I told Harry today when we sent him down, he’s going to be a huge part of our future,” manager Blake Butera said via NatsJournal.com’s Mark Zuckerman. “Him going to Triple-A right now has nothing to do with we don’t think highly of him anymore. No, that’s not it. And it’s not anything he did or didn’t do right or wrong.”

Ford is Washington’s third-ranked prospect and No. 71 league-wide, per MLB Pipeline.

Three more top prospects among latest Seattle Mariners spring cuts

Follow @ZacHereth