San Francisco, CA
San Francisco has a tax plan to save Muni
A parcel tax plan to rescue Muni would charge most homeowners at least $129 annually if voters approve the policy in November.
The finalized tax scheme, which updates a version presented Dec. 8, comes after weeks of negotiations between city officials and transit advocates.
The plan lowers the levels previously proposed for owners of apartment and condo buildings. They would still pay a $249 base tax up to 5,000 square feet of property, but additional square footage would be taxed at 19.5 cents, versus the previous 30 cents. The tax would be capped at $50,000.
The plan also adds provisions limiting how much of the tax can be passed through to tenants in rent-controlled buildings. Owners of rent-controlled properties would be able to pass through up to 50% of the parcel tax on a unit, with a cap of $65 a year.
These changes bring the total estimated annual tax revenue from $187 million to $183 million and earmark 10% for expanding transit service.
What you pay depends on what kind of property you or your landlord owns. There are three tiers: single-family homes, apartment and condo buildings, and commercial properties.
Owners of single-family homes smaller than 3,000 square feet would pay the base tax of $129 per year. Homes between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet would pay the base tax plus an additional 42 cents per square foot, and any home above 5,000 square feet would be taxed at an added $1.99 per square foot.
Commercial landlords would face a $799 base tax for buildings up to 5,000 square feet, with per-square-foot rates that scale with the property size, up to a maximum of $400,000.
The finalized plan was presented by Julie Kirschbaum, director of transportation at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, at a board meeting Tuesday.
The plan proposed in December was criticized for failing to set aside funds to increase transit service and not including pass-through restrictions for tenants.
The tax is meant to close SFMTA’s $307 million budget gap, which stems from lagging ridership post-pandemic and the expiration of emergency federal funding. Without additional funding, the agency would be forced to drastically cut service. The parcel tax, a regional sales tax measure, and cost-cutting, would all be needed to close the fiscal gap.
The next steps for the parcel tax are creating draft legislation and launching a signature-gathering campaign to place the measure on the ballot.
Any measure would need review by the city attorney’s office. But all stakeholders have agreed on the tax structure presented Tuesday, according to Emma Hare, an aide to Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose office led negotiations over the tax between advocates and City Hall.
“It’s final,” Hare said. “We just need to write it down.”
San Francisco, CA
Sunset Night Market makes official return to San Francisco
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San Francisco, CA
Giants scratch Rafael Devers from lineup with tight hamstring
Friday, February 27, 2026 9:48PM
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The San Francisco Giants scratched slugger Rafael Devers from the starting lineup because of a tight hamstring, keeping him out of a spring training game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
The three-time All-Star and 2018 World Series champion is starting his first full season with the Giants after they acquired him in a trade with the Boston Red Sox last year.
Devers hit 35 home runs and had 109 RBIs last season, playing 90 games with San Francisco and 73 in Boston. He signed a $313.5 million, 10-year contract in 2023 with the Red Sox.
He was 20 when he made his major league debut in Boston nine years ago, and he helped them win the World Series the following year.
Devers, who has 235 career homers and 747 RBIs, led Boston in RBIs for five straight seasons and has finished in the top 20 in voting for AL MVP five times.
Copyright © 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco court clerks strike for better staffing, training
The people cheering and banging drums on the front steps of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice are usually quietly keeping the calendars and paperwork on track for the city’s courts.
Those court clerks are now hitting the picket lines, citing the need for better staffing and more training. It’s the second time the group has gone on strike since 2024, and this strike may last a lot longer than the last one.
Defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges agree that court clerks are the engines that keep the justice system running. Without them, it all grinds to a slow crawl.
“You all run this ship like the Navy,” District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder said to a group of city clerks.
The strike is essentially a continuation of an averted strike that occurred in October 2025.
“We’re not asking for private jets or unicorns,” Superior Court clerk employee Ben Thompson said. “We’re just asking for effective tools with which we can do our job and training and just more of us.”
Thompson said the training is needed to bring current employees up to speed on occasional changes in laws.
Another big issue is staffing, something that clerks said has been an ongoing issue since October 2024, the last time they went on a one-day strike.
Court management issued their latest statement on Wednesday, in which the court’s executive officer, Brandon Riley, said they have been at an impasse with the union since December.
The statement also said Riley and his team has been negotiating with the union in good faith. He pointed out the tentative agreement the union came to with the courts in October 2025, but it fell apart when union members rejected it.
California’s superior courts are all funded by the state. In 2024, Sacramento cut back on court money by $97 million statewide due to overall budget concerns.
While there have been efforts to backfill those funds, they’ve never been fully restored.
Inside court on Thursday, the clerk’s office was closed, leaving the public with lots of unanswered questions. Attorneys and bailiffs described a slightly chaotic day in court.
Arraignments were all funneled to one courtroom and most other court procedures were funneled to another one. Most of those procedures were quickly continued.
At the civil courthouse, while workers rallied outside, a date-stamping machine was set up inside so people could stamp their own documents and place them in locked bins.
Notices were also posted at the family law clinic and small claims courts, noting limited available services while the strike is in progress.
According to a union spokesperson, there has been no date set for negotiations to resume, meaning the courthouse logjams could stretch for days, weeks or more.
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