San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie Blocks Vacant Grocery Store Tax Proposal | KQED
The Affordable Groceries Act aimed to increase access to grocery stores and pharmacy chains by taxing empty storefronts and establishing a fund to subsidize groceries.
A view down an aisle at a Safeway supermarket in Walnut Creek, California, on July 22, 2025. Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, claims that Lurie stepped in to swat down the grocery store tax proposal because Amazon, which owns Whole Foods Market, had been “lobbying intensely” against the proposal at City Hall for weeks. (Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images)
“They don’t like taxes on corporations. It’s just philosophical. But the unprecedented part is that yesterday, I got a call that they are going to actively oppose this,” Mahmood said of the Lurie administration. “The only conclusion I can draw is this comes from pressure that Amazon built.”
Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, claims that Lurie stepped in to swat down the grocery store tax proposal because Amazon, which owns Whole Foods Market, had been “lobbying intensely” against the proposal at City Hall for weeks.
According to Mahmood, Amazon lobbyists requested an exemption to the legislation for the company’s shuttered Whole Foods storefront on Market Street. Mahmood declined the request.
“They said, if you do this, we will campaign against it,” Mahmood told KQED. “The explicit words from their lobbyists were, we just spent $250,000 against Prop D. We could probably do the same here again.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Proposition D, known as the Overpaid CEO Tax, appeared on the June primary ballot and aimed to tax major corporations to fill the city’s budget gaps. Opponents, including moderate political pressure groups and tech leaders, spent millions of dollars to defeat it. Lurie also urged a “no” vote. It ultimately failed to pass.
The closure of grocery stores and pharmacies has factored into affordability challenges in the city.
Nearly a third of San Franciscans living below the poverty line are food insecure, according to a 2024 report by the city’s Food Security Task Force, and nearly 110,000 residents utilize CalFresh, a food benefits program that the Trump administration has made qualifying for more difficult.
But Lurie has said Mahmood’s plan won’t help fill the city’s many empty grocery stores.
“Mayor Lurie is working to bring grocery stories to San Francisco’s communities. More taxes won’t achieve that,” said Charles Lukvak, the mayor’s spokesperson. “We support the Affordable Grocery Fund and will continue working with Supervisor Mahmood and the entire Board to bring more grocery stores to the city.”
Taxes collected on the vacant storefront proposal could have gone toward a new affordable grocery fund, which would also accept private donations if both measures passed. The fund would be intended for a variety of different affordability programs focused on healthy food.
Mahmood said Lurie urged Supervisor Connie Chan to cut the item from the upcoming Budget and Finance Committee agenda, striking its chances of going on the ballot this November.
A spokesperson for Chan said she supports the intent of the legislation but that it required more work and was not ready to go before the board or voters.
“Budget Chair Connie Chan agrees with Supervisor Mahmood’s intent for this measure — we need more neighborhood grocery stores — but she also understands that much work needs to be done to this measure to deliver that intent,” said Robyn Burke, Chan’s spokesperson. “Supervisor Mahmood has amendments he wants to make to his legislation that he is still working on.”
Mahmood said he had support from Supervisors Chyanne Chen, Danny Sauter, Stephen Sherrill and Myrna Melgar for the proposal.
He has a final Hail Mary he is holding out for that could allow the proposal to move forward after a motion next Tuesday, if Board President Rafael Mandelman steps in to initiate a vote. Mandelman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“When a proposal to make groceries more affordable gets pulled from the agenda before the public even gets to weigh in, that’s a problem no matter who asked for it,” Mahmood said. “San Franciscans deserve an up-or-down vote, in public, from their elected leaders.”
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder hosted her first community listening session Thursday night since returning from a three-month medical leave.
Dozens of District 9 residents packed the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center to welcome back Fielder and voice concerns about issues affecting their communities.
“We are thankful that you took time for yourself to equip yourself to be sitting here today,” one attendee told Fielder. “So I thank you and commend you for returning.”
Fielder returned to City Hall last month after taking a three-month medical leave.
“I’m just grateful for the outpouring of support that I had and glad to be back on the job,” Fielder said. “Mental health is really prevalent, and I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I had a mental health crisis. This is a challenging job, and I’m very privileged to be here.”
Fielder said she is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings to give residents an opportunity to voice their concerns.
“To me, the biggest issue locally is the homeless issue, and it’s citywide,” San Francisco resident Maggie Weis said.
Fielder was joined by members of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Police Department to answer questions about pedestrian safety, city budget cuts and other issues.
The supervisor said one of her priorities moving forward is expanding access to clean, well-maintained public restrooms.
“[We’re] still seeing a lot of feces around the district and city,” Fielder said. “Would love to see our city have more public bathrooms and be able to maintain them as well.”
The next listening session is scheduled for July 23 at 6 p.m. at La Fénix in the Mission.
Watch the full report from KRON4’s Sara Stinson in the video player at the top of the story.
(KRON) — A 32-year-old man has been missing in San Francisco for two days, police said. Gabriel Carreon was last seen at noon on July 7, when he left his home in the Castro neighborhood to go see a movie, the San Francisco Police Department said.
The following morning, a 911 caller told dispatchers that Carreon was missing.
Police described the missing man as Asian, 5’8’’ tall, and weighing 170 pounds. He has black hair dyed pink, and brown eyes.
Anyone who locates Carreon should call 911 and report his current location, police said. Anyone with information on his possible whereabouts should call the SFPD Missing Persons Unit Tip Line at 415-734-3070.
Sick of the TSA lines? Tired of playing musical chairs at the gate? Rather sit as far from your fellow airplane passengers for as long as possible, in the comfort of your own private, luxury airport terminal?
Soon you may get your wish. And San Francisco international airport wants to be your genie – for a fee.
The airport is hoping to build a brand-new terminal exclusively for passengers who pay a premium, gaining access to a luxurious airport experience complete with private security lines and valet service from terminal to tarmac. It will service commercial flights, not business or corporate jets, and the terminal will have its own Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lines for international travel.
SFO is seeking bidders to take on the development, construction and operation of the private terminal, which is planned for a 75,000-sq-ft site located across the runway from all current public terminals. The airport will accept proposals between late September and early October, and is looking to award a contract by early December with hopes of opening the terminal in late 2028.
SFO’s interest in a luxury development comes from what airport spokesperson Doug Yakel called a “high level of demand” for “premium experiences” in travel, citing the popularity of existing credit card and premium lounges. A private terminal is essentially the next step up in exclusivity from those lounges – and the best chance at avoiding airport crowds entirely.
“Somebody that uses this product really wouldn’t see the other passengers they’re traveling with until they’re taken up the stairs of the jet bridge and onto the aircraft,” Yakel said.
Spending on “pay-to-play” luxury experiences at large is on the rise, according to a new report by Bain & Company and Altagamma. The airline industry has bought in, revamping lounge and onboard experiences with chef-designed menus and expanded premium seating for the highest-paying passengers.
Many see a market in San Francisco, where an AI-driven wealth boom is already agitating the local housing market, with homes sold at the fastest pace in five years and the single-family median home price clocking in at $2.2m.
Yakel said SFO felt now was the right time to enter the market of luxury travel.
“We see the level of interest that’s being invested onboard aircraft, inside terminals, around airports, and clearly this is something that other airports are rolling out,” Yakel said.
The price to pay for a private airport experience will be decided by whoever wins the bid for operations, and will be offered on a membership or per-use basis. The traffic experienced at public terminals likely won’t change, Yakel said.
Private terminals have become popular worldwide. London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports in Europe have long operated luxury terminals, and São Paulo/Guarulhos international airport recently opened the first private terminal in Latin America.
If SFO is successful, it would become the next major American airport to open a luxury terminal. Los Angeles, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airports all offer a private terminal through PS (formerly known as the Private Suite), a company owned by security firm Gavin de Becker and Associates. Multiple representatives from PS and Gavin de Becker and Associates attended a June conference hosted by SFO about the private terminal, and PS has said it hopes to open a private terminal at every major US airport by 2030.
Access to existing PS private terminals can cost passengers $1,295 for a one-time experience, or up to $4,850 for a yearly membership. Heathrow’s private terminal costs thousands of pounds per person.
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