Lurie Backs GrowSF’s Five Supervisor Candidates

Published September 11, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-11-lurie-backs-growsf-supervisor-candidates

The Facts

Mayor Lurie has endorsed all GrowSF-endorsed Supervisor candidates: Manny Yekutiel for the open District 8 seat, Theo Ellington for the open District 10 seat, and incumbent Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Stephen Sherrill, and Alan Wong.

The Context

GrowSF endorsed all five candidates earlier this year.

GrowSF's and Lurie’s preferred candidates and measures swept the June election.

The GrowSF Take

Yekutiel and Ellington offer their districts a clear break from the politics of housing scarcity, street disorder, and endless red tape. Dorsey, Sherrill, and Wong have earned support as reliable partners in the moderate majority. Now voters should give Lurie a Board that can keep San Francisco moving forward.

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Candlestick Point Redevelopment Breaks Ground After Years of Delay

Published September 11, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-10-candlestick-point-redevelopment-breaks-ground

The Facts

FivePoint broke ground Wednesday on roads, sidewalks, and utilities for Candlestick Point, reports Kevin V. Nguyen at The Standard. The 270-acre redevelopment is planned for 7,218 homes, 2.8 million square feet of office and research space, retail, parks, and other public amenities.

The Context

After more than a decade of delays, the city amended the project in 2024 to let Candlestick proceed separately from Navy cleanup at Hunters Point Shipyard. In June 2026, the Board approved a phased final map sponsored by Supervisors Shamann Walton and Rafael Mandelman, clearing land and infrastructure work for a portion of the site. Candlestick is among roughly 20,000 approved homes still unbuilt across District 10.

The GrowSF Take

Finally! Bayview deserves the promised homes, stores, parks, and services.

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Shamann Walton Proposes Data Center Moratorium With No Projects Pending

Published September 11, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-10-shamann-walton-data-center-moratorium-no-projects-pending

The Facts

Supervisor Shamann Walton plans to introduce a 45-day moratorium on data centers, which could be extended to two years. No new data centers are currently being proposed in San Francisco, so the moratorium will have no ultimate effect.

The Context

For those unfamiliar with data centers: they are warehouses full of computers that run the internet. Every news article, every Instagram post, and every email moves through and ultimately ends up in a data center. Data centers power our modern world.

There are currently seven data center sites inside city limits, with all but one open for over a decade.

The national political dust-up over data centers is around their purported water use, but this is based on bad data. Brian Potter at Construction Physics explains why the popular narrative is wrong and that data centers use approximately 275 million gallons per day (by contrast, almond farming uses 4.4 billion gallons per day). San Francisco’s newest data center advertises water-free cooling.

Similarly, data centers across the United States collectively use less than 5% of all power. For something so absolutely instrumental every aspect of our daily lives, that hardly seems worth any concern at all. And many new data centers are building power production on-site or are powered with 100% renewable energy.

The GrowSF Take

Walton is importing a national political panic into San Francisco land-use policy. San Francisco has power problems, yes, but that's because PG&E can't keep their lines and transformers in good shape. And several of the data centers already in San Francisco already use 100% renewable power. We have no water problems to speak of.

This is nothing more than political signaling.

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Lurie Offers 12% Raises and No Layoffs to 24,000 City Workers

Published September 10, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-08-lurie-union-deal-raises-no-layoffs

The Facts

Mayor Daniel Lurie reached an early tentative agreement with 10 unions representing 24,000 city workers: 12% raises across 2027 to 2031 (3% per year) and no layoffs through June 30, 2029. Union members must still ratify the deal, report Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler, and Maggie Angst at The Standard.

The Context

The agreement heads off bargaining that was expected to become contentious after police received 14% raises. Earlier this year, unions threatened San Francisco's first major city-worker strike in roughly 50 years as Lurie pursued layoffs and spending cuts.

Lurie has already reduced the size of city government. His first budget eliminated 1,237 authorized positions in 2025–26 and another 25 the following year. His latest budget schedules 249 more position reductions in 2027–28. The Controller says that budget also contains about $300 million in ongoing savings, cutting the projected 2028–29 shortfall from $742 million to about $450 million.

The fiscal problem remains. The City's March forecast projected its annual deficit growing to $1.09 billion by 2029–30, with salaries and benefits the largest spending-growth category. The Mayor's Office has not publicly explained how it will fund the raises, but we expect it will be similar to strategies used in the past: closing open roles and counting on attrition and retirement.

The GrowSF Take

Absolutely nobody wants a City worker strike, so we're glad to lock in a mutually agreeable solution early. But committing to a new contract as we're facing a looming billion dollar deficit is a risky strategy.

The Board should approve this agreement only if recurring savings or revenue fully cover it without degrading core services.

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Targeted Policing Helped Drive Car Break-Ins to a 22-Year Low

Published September 9, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-04-targeted-policing-car-break-ins-22-year-low

The Facts

Reported car break-ins are down 75% since 2024 and at a 22-year low.

The Context

The improvement is not purely local: thefts from vehicles fell 17.7% across California and about 15% nationally in 2024. San Francisco’s 57% drop that year far exceeded both baselines.

Our earlier analysis found the sharp local decline began around September 2023, after Mayor London Breed, Police Chief Bill Scott, and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins launched targeted patrols, bait cars, and investigations into organized burglary crews and stolen-goods networks.

The GrowSF Take

San Francisco voters were right to approve Proposition E, giving police access to drones and faster deployment of public-safety cameras. San Francisco’s large, abrupt, and sustained decline shows targeted enforcement works.

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Mission BART Plaza Cleanup Continues After Modest Progress

Published September 9, 2026

https://growsf.org/news/2026-09-05-lurie-extends-mission-bart-plaza-cleanup

The Facts

It's getting a little bit better around the Mission BART plazas, according to the official numbers. Mayor Lurie’s "90-day cleanup" resulted in "534 notices of violations, 93 first-time citations, 14 second-time citations and three misdemeanors" according to Mission Local and it will now continue indefinitely.

Police assigned to the effort made 481 arrests and citations around 16th Street in 90 days, about half for drug violations.

The Context

Supervisor Jackie Fielder previously requested 24/7 ambassadors, but the administration rejected the expansion over a quadrupling of costs.

Police are able to crack down on the sale of stolen goods due to a 2025 state law authored by Senator Scott Wiener. SF now requires permits for selling merchandise commonly targeted by retail theft and can escalate repeat violations from warnings to citations and misdemeanors.

The GrowSF Take

We're thankful for some progress, but it isn't really noticeable to people walking through the plaza. Right now the plazas act as a "Schelling point," meaning sellers and buyers know they can go to these BART plazas to buy and sell stolen goods and drugs. The only way that can change is through consistent enforcement so the plazas stop being the known places to break the law.

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