Two San Francisco lawmakers want the city to consider suing California over a state law they see as an unfair, discriminatory mandate to build more market-rate housing.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Housing Fight: Lawmakers Mull Suing Sacramento
It’s the latest development in a long, drawn-out policy battle over how the city should solve its affordability problems.
In a Dec. 26 letter, Board President Aaron Peskin and Supervisor Connie Chan asked City Attorney David Chiu to advise the Board of Supervisors on defending the city against the “unfair legislative mandates that are diminishing our City’s ability to build the affordable housing our residents desperately need.”
The letter refers to SB 423, a state law sponsored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat who represents San Francisco and is a former supervisor himself. The law forces cities to cut red tape, especially discretionary reviews, from the approval process for new housing. After much legislative foot-dragging, San Francisco recently approved a law that changed most of the city’s approval processes to comply with SB 423. Peskin and Chan were the only votes against the law.
“The anti-housing forces in San Francisco are terrified because SB 423 will actually help San Francisco address its housing shortage,” Wiener said in a statement. “This bogus (talk of a) lawsuit further exposes how badly San Francisco needs to be held accountable for its intransigence on housing. These supervisors would do well to spend more time on solutions instead of continuing to create more obstacles.”
Wiener is not the only member of San Francisco’s delegation to Sacramento to be disdainful of Peskin and Chan’s letter. In a series of tweets, Assemblymember Matt Haney remarked, “Can’t make this stuff up.”
A spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office told The Standard that they could not publicly comment on the letter.
Peskin and Chan’s letter also argues that San Francisco has kept up its end of the bargain by leading in investments in subsidized housing and that “nearly three-fourths” of the city’s housing quota is already in the city’s planning pipeline, but those units are “awaiting a more favorable economic environment to be constructed.”
The Planning Department has estimated that a little over 1,800 new housing units were cleared for building in 2023, making it one of the worst years for home building in recent memory, as high-interest rates and construction costs and an overall depressed market have made new projects hard to finance. Many in the industry say the situation could change this year.
Peskin and Chan’s letter cited a report from the city’s budget analyst that identifies 60,000 existing vacant housing units. That report is widely disputed by housing policy professionals who argue that almost all the units in the report are in fact in some sort of transition to occupancy.
Chan also cited the report in a Dec. 18 newsletter sent to constituents urging them to participate in an online survey for a draft zoning proposal from the Planning Department that would densify some corridors in “high resources neighborhoods” on the west side of the city, including Chan’s district. She described the plan in antagonistic terms as a product of “Mayor London Breed and her Planning Department.”
The letter further argues that San Francisco is being “set up to fail” under SB 423, forcing the city to “approve unaffordable market-rate housing developments across the City without any public input, well ahead of any other jurisdiction in the State. Instead, what we need from the State is a major investment in affordable housing.”
John Avalos, Executive Director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations, a coalition of affordable housing developers and tenant advocates, concurs with Peskin and Chan, called the letter “bold and neccessary” to protect San Francisco from state policies which “have been written by the real estate lobby.”
Meanwhile advocates for greater housing supply take serious issue with the letter.
Jake Price, San Francisco organizer for the Housing Action Coalition, called the letter “a cheap political stunt— This is just another example of how far certain supervisors are willing to go to obstruct desperately needed housing policy reform,” he told The Standard in an email.
“If these supervisors spent a fraction of the amount of time they do wasting city resources on trying to fight new housing instead of allowing more to be built, we could’ve addressed our housing shortage years ago,” added Jane Natoli, San Francisco organizing director at YIMBY Action.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco could vote again on whether to allow cars on the Great Highway
In San Francisco’s Sunset District, controversy continues over what to do with the Great Highway.
Friday, the newly-appointed supervisor for that district, Alan Wong, confirmed he is running to keep his job. He also shared that he would support a ballot measure that would bring cars back to the now-closed stretch of road. Some residents in the district already said they would be prepared to fight back against that ballot measure if it came to fruition.
This has been a politically tumultuous year for the Sunset District. In November of 2024, San Francisco voters narrowly approved Proposition K, which moved to close the highway along Ocean Beach to cars and to transform it into a park. In March of 2025, the stretch of road was permanently closed to cars, and in April, the area was officially reopened as Sunset Dunes Park. In September, voters recalled then-Supervisor Joel Engardio, with many in the campaign against Engardio expressing frustration with his support for turning the Great Highway into a park. In November, Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz as the new supervisor for District 4, only to have her resign a week later amid growing questions about her actions as a small business owner.
At the start of December, Mayor Lurie swore in Alan Wong as his new appointee to serve as supervisor in District 4. Wong grew up in the Sunset, attended Lincoln High School, and has served as both an elected member of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees and as a legislative aid to former supervisor Gordon Mar.
In an interview with NBC Bay Area on Friday, Wong shared that he has not hidden the fact that he voted no on Prop. K in the 2024 election. However, in his first three weeks in office, Wong said he set out to “have conversations with different constituent groups and listen to them” about the issues.
“After three weeks of listening and having these conversations, I believe that my values and how I voted before align with the majority of the district,” Wong said.
San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong supports a ballot measure that calls for cars to return to the Great Highway.
“And as the district supervisor, I need to take a leadership role in representing the district that I am here to serve,” he continued.
Wong said he is now prepared to be one of the four supervisors supporting a ballot initiative to reopen the Great Highway to cars on weekdays.
Molly Rose, with Sunset Parent Advocates, worries that when Wong was listening to community voices over the past three weeks, some voices may have been left out.
“If he talked to the Sunset residents, he didn’t talk to me, and he didn’t talk to us– the family groups I am a part of,” Rose said.
“We are all very pro-park, we use it very heavily as a park,” she continued.
Rose said there are several hundred parents involved with her group. As a parent, Rose said her children love going to the park there.
“Sunset Dunes is the place where I take my kids to have a safe place to play,” she said.
Rose said that she has been asking for Wong to meet with her group, but has been waiting to hear back from his scheduling team.
Wong’s office confirmed that Rose is in touch with their office and that Wong’s scheduler is “actively coordinating a time” for them to meet.
“While I do think there is a very loud, anti-park contingent of people in the Sunset, I don’t think they’re the majority,” Rose emphasized.
San Francisco, CA
New SF supervisor supports reopening Great Highway on weekdays
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Alan Wong, the new supervisor for District four in San Francisco, has publicly expressed his support for reopening the Great Highway to vehicles on weekdays. This statement comes amid ongoing debates surrounding the highway’s conversion into a park last spring, which was met with mixed reactions from the community.
The Great Highway was transformed into a public park earlier this year, a change that many residents have embraced, while some local neighbors have pushed back. Joel Engardio, the former supervisor who supported this conversion through Measure K, was recalled this year, highlighting the division among constituents in District four.
Wong, who was appointed as supervisor following Engardio’s recall, filed paperwork to run for the elected position on the board. His term is set to last until January 2027, during which he aims to solidify his platform around reopening the Great Highway.
In his statement, Wong emphasized, “I believe my values align with a majority of Sunset residents who support reopening the Great Highway to cars on weekdays. As a result, I am prepared to be one of four supervisors needed to sponsor a ballot initiative to restore that compromise.” This suggests Wong’s intent to address community concerns head-on while building a wider consensus.
Prior to its conversion, the Great Highway allowed vehicles during the week and served as a park on weekends, a compromise Wong supports restoring. He aims to return to this model in response to feedback from local constituents.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
San Francisco, CA
Women’s volleyball professional team headed to San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO – Pro volleyball will soon be coming to San Francisco and this latest team is part of a surge of women’s sports.
League One Volleyball officially launched this year with six teams. Now the league has announced it’s expanding to nine teams, and that one of those expansion teams will be based in the city by the bay.
Three-time Olympic volleyball medalist Kelsy Robinson Cook is on the ownership team for LOVB San Francisco, bringing professional volleyball to the city. “Can tell you it’s going to be amazing,” said Robinson Cook. “Then, when you bring in the fandom of the Bay Area and SF I think personally it’s going to make for an incredible atmosphere.”
Team ownership said starting a team in the Bay Area is a natural with colleges and universities in the region turning out top talent. “It’s the number one sport for women and girls and I think that just speaks volumes as to where we’re headed, not only in club and college, but professionally,” said Robinson Cook.
Pro women’s volleyball is part of a growing list of professional women’s sports teams calling San Francisco and the Bay Area home.
The women’s professional baseball league announced plans for a team in San Francisco. Bay FC and the Golden State Valkyries are already proving there is a market for professional women’s sports.
When pro-volleyball was looking to expand, San Francisco was a natural choice. “You’re seeing Bay FC, the Valkyries, the success that they have, and this market loves sports, and they’ve also proven they love women’s sports,” said Robinson Cook.
San Francisco leaders said the city has already proven that it supports pro-women’s teams, and will welcome professional volleyball. Mayor Daniel Lurie pointed to the city’s rich sports history and enthusiasm to support the home teams. “Now, as we saw with the Valkyries selling out every single home game last year, there is an appetite, there is a fan base, and this new league understands that,” said Mayor Lurie.
At this time, there are still a lot of questions up in the air, including exactly where LOVB San Francisco will play. Organizers say they have a lot of plans in the works to get the team ready to bump, set and spike starting in January 2027.
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