San Francisco, CA
SF’s Single-Family Home Neighborhoods Could See More Apartments, 65-Story Towers Near Downtown | KQED
The city’s preliminary map proposes to rezone commercial corridors, including 19th Avenue, Geary Boulevard and Clement Street. The bulk of the proposed rezoning would stretch from Russian Hill to Parkside and could allow for taller buildings — up to 65 stories on certain commercial corridors — creating opportunities for thousands of new homes. The plan also includes increasing height limits in other neighborhoods throughout the city, including along Market Street in the Castro.
After multiple informational hearings where residents can offer comments and voice concerns, the proposal will go to the planning commission, where it could be amended or changed. It will ultimately have to go before the Board of Supervisors before the end of January 2026, when the city faces a state-mandated deadline to approve a rezoning plan.
If it misses that deadline, it could lose state funding for affordable housing and public transportation, risk lawsuits, fines and be subject to the builder’s remedy, a mechanism that allows developers to circumvent local building rules if the city is out of compliance with state housing law.
“The process for our rezoning is a bit of a fait accompli — we already agreed to this,” said Jane Natoli, San Francisco Organizing Director for the pro-housing lobbying group, YIMBY Action. “All we’re trying to do is honor the commitments we told the state we were going to do, at the end of the day, to build the housing we need for San Franciscans.”
From sand dunes to suburban homes
San Francisco’s decision to rezone the western part of the city marks a break from the area’s historically low-density character. Western neighborhoods were some of the last parts of the city to be developed.
During the mid-to-late 1800s, the Inner Sunset and Richmond districts were home to a handful of dairies, ranches, a chicken farm — even a dynamite factory — while the Outer Sunset stretched out in a yawning sprawl of sand dunes.
In the aftermath of the devastating 1906 earthquake, refugee camps sprang up on the city’s underdeveloped western side. Woody LaBounty’s great-grandparents even met at one of those camps in the Richmond area, he said. The lifelong Richmond resident and president of the preservationist organization San Francisco Heritage said tract houses soon began popping up atop sand dunes to replace the temporary camps.
After World War II, most of the Sunset and Richmond districts had been developed into suburban-style neighborhoods with single-family homes, LaBounty said.
“You have a yard for your family to play in, you have multiple bedrooms, you’ve got your own sort of little plot — your little estate,” he said, “even if it’s a 25-by-100-foot lot in the Sunset District.”
It’s for that same reason why many westside residents enjoy this part of town today. Paola Soto said she moved to the Outer Sunset five years ago so she and her husband could raise their daughter in a rented single-family home.
“We just loved the neighborhood and how family-oriented it is,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like part of the city, but you’re still in the city.”
But Soto said there aren’t many amenities or small businesses to patronize on her block. She welcomes the rezoning if it could bring more business activity to her neighborhood but said taller buildings could mean losing “this kind of neighborhood vibe” that she likes.
Picking and choosing
While residents like Soto are hoping the rezoning could bring new small businesses to the Sunset and Richmond, existing business owners are concerned they will be forced out. Yoland Porrata, an esthetician and board member of nonprofit Small Business Forward, owns a skincare studio in the Lower Haight.
Right now, she is trying to work with the city to establish new protections against displacement for small business owners, even if they do not own the building.

“Do we have a right to return?” she asked. “We already have super vulnerable commercial leases that are not nice and tidy in the way that some of the residential leases are.”
Along with small business owners, tenants’ rights groups are equally concerned about the city’s plan. San Francisco offers a bevy of tenant protections, but local groups worry the rezoning might encourage landlords to pressure renters to move out or evict them unlawfully.
Dyan Ruiz, a member of Race & Equity In All Planning Coalition, said her organization wants to make sure developers are following the city’s laws and that it can make sure tenants aren’t displaced.
“We want to increase the accountability and enforcement of existing laws and making sure that there aren’t gaps and loopholes that tenants are falling through,” she said.
LaBounty hopes the city can strike some kind of balance — allowing more housing while still retaining the neighborhoods’ quiet charm. Pointing out the coffee shop across the street from where he lives, he said he doesn’t want to see it go.
“You got a cafe, a dry cleaner and a bakery right in a row — everybody loves them, you know? Maybe don’t upzone those,” he said. “It feels to me like you could do some picking and choosing, and the neighborhood could totally help you with it too.”
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco: Anti-ICE protester gets probation for ‘depredation’ of ICE van’s tire
SAN FRANCISCO — A protester who was initially charged with misdemeanor assault has been sentenced to probation for a less serious offense, ending a federal prosecution that only started four months ago, court records show.
On Dec. 8, Angelica Guerrero, 35, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor “depredation” of an ICE van’s tire — a fancy legal term for slashing it with a knife. The same day, a federal judge sentenced Guerrero to probation, according to a minute order of the hearing.
The charge stemmed from an Aug. 20 protest, when Guerrero slashed the tire of an unmarked Chevrolet van being used in an ongoing “enforcement and removal” operation by the Department of Homeland Security on the 100 block of Montgomery Street, according to prosecutors. The complaint alleges that Guerrero “made repeated threats” against one of the officers, including stating, “I’m going to (expletive) you up” and “I’m going after your family,” as well as threatening to stab the officer.
Guerrero was released within 48 hours but complained of “barbaric” conditions inside Santa Rita Jail, during an interview with ABC7.
San Francisco, CA
Beloved 11-Year-Old Bay Area Italian Restaurant Is Closing Its Doors For Good
BAY AREA, CA — Vespucci, a longtime Italian restaurant in San Mateo, will close permanently at the end of the year after 11 years in business, its owners announced this week.
Dec. 31 will be the restaurant’s final day of service, according to a message shared by owners Manuela Fumasi and Francesco Zaccaro, who reflected on more than a decade of serving the local community.
“From the moment we opened our doors, this community welcomed us with a warmth and kindness we will never forget,” the owners wrote. “As Italian immigrants, far from our first home, you made San Mateo feel like our home.”
The couple described the restaurant’s run as a “beautiful adventure,” acknowledging that it was often challenging but filled with meaningful connections, friendships and lasting memories. They thanked customers for celebrating milestones with them and for supporting the business over the years.
“This decision hasn’t been easy, but we know it is the right one for us at this time,” they said.
Vespucci has been a fixture in San Mateo’s dining scene since opening in 2015, offering Italian cuisine and serving as a neighborhood gathering spot for residents and regulars alike.
Inside, all of the artworks displayed were created by Maestro Vittorio Fumasi, with several pieces having been exhibited in major art shows in Italy and internationally. While some works predate the restaurant, others — including the low-relief piece “Italy” and the high-relief portraits of Vespucci — were commissioned specifically for the space.
Fumasi has also adorned Vespucci’s dining tables with her own artwork, and said some of those pieces will be offered for sale after the restaurant closes, allowing longtime customers to take home “a piece of Vespucci,” she told the San Mateo Daily Journal.
“We are going to miss you all,” the owners wrote. “With all our affection.”
The restaurant is located in downtown San Mateo at 147 E 3rd Ave. The menu can be found here.
San Francisco, CA
What have San Francisco police been doing at 16th and Mission?
It’s been nearly 300 days since Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a plan to clean up the 16th Street BART Plaza.
To mark the occasion, Mission Local is adding a new tool for tracking his promises: A dashboard, updated daily, that notes the arrests and citations issued by San Francisco police officers in a 300-meter radius around 16th and Mission streets.
Our dashboard uses daily incident reports filed by officers to track the enforcement of common violations, including drug-related offenses or disorderly conduct.
The San Francisco Police Department releases incident reports with a 24-hour lag. Our dashboard updates daily at noon to include the most current data: Arrests and citations issued the day before.
While the number of incident reports may form the basis of official crime statistics, it would be wrong to think of them as the “official” count, according to the SFPD. There are groups doing outreach work in the plazas, like Ahsing Solutions, that do not regularly release public data quantifying their activities, for example.
What this police data does show, over time, is where the police department is focusing resources and attention.
For example, reports show that in March 2025, after Lurie stated his intention to crack down around 16th and Mission streets, there was a massive spike in arrests and citations. This does not necessarily mean drug-related crimes increased in the vicinity, but simply that, spurred by the mayor’s statement, police officers began enforcing more proactively.
Use our interactive graphics to explore the number and reasons for arrests and citations issued, and keep tabs on trends in SFPD’s enforcement around the 16th Street BART plaza.
You can read our ongoing coverage of the crackdown on 16th Street plaza here.
Arrests and citations issued in last 6 months around 16th and Mission
You can access our archive, with arrests and citations data from 2018, here.
The calendar below shows a snapshot of the arrests and citations issued around a 300-meter radius of the 16th Street BART Plaza for the last six months.
The darker the date, the more arrests and citations took place that day.
The department continuously updates the status of incident reports as they are investigated, and it is possible that the official statistics reported by SFPD to the California Department of Justice may differ from our numbers.
The data below should be considered the most accurate moment-in-time representation of arrests and citations on the day they were filed. Hover over each date to see the reasons for each arrest or citation.
Drug incidents around 16th and Mission
Arrests and citations issued for drug-related offenses skyrocketed earlier this year, after Mayor Lurie made the plaza one of his targets to show how the city can make a difference.
Explore the number of drug-related arrests and citations issued by SFPD around 16th and Mission each month since 2018.
Data for the most recent month will always be incomplete (and consequently lower) because it includes only arrests and citations through yesterday, while previous months reflect full monthly totals.
Drug incidents at 16th and Mission vs. citywide
In most years, the area around 16th and Mission accounts for a majority of the Mission’s drug-related police enforcement.
In the spring of 2025, this area, which accounts for a mere 0.2 percent of the city’s geographical landmass, was responsible for nearly 27 percent of San Francisco’s drug incident reports that resulted in an arrest or citation.
During the pandemic, drug-related arrests and citations dropped to an all-time-low around 16th and Mission but it has recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Most common incidents around 16th and Mission
The table below shows the top 15 offense categories at 16th and Mission, ranked by total number of arrests and citations, over the past 12 months. The sparkline — the small line chart — shows how each category has changed month to month, and the percentage compares the current year to the year before.
We use a rolling 12-month window (365 days from yesterday’s date), rather than a calendar year, so the data stays current. Because the dashboard updates daily, the most recent month will always be incomplete, but using a full year of data minimizes the impact of any one partial month on the overall totals.
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