San Francisco

Overview

Founded in 1776 by Spanish missionaries and colonists, San Francisco (Spanish for Saint Francis), officially the City and County of San Francisco, population 870,000, is "the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California." (Wikipedia).

Located at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula, and at the "Golden Gate" or narrow mouth of San Francisco Bay, after which the city was named, San Francisco is about 48 square miles (124 km2) in area, the smallest county—and only consolidated city-county—in California.

San Francisco is notable for its large population and population density:

High density - With a density of about 18,581 people per square mile (7,174 people/km2), San Francisco is the most densely settled large city in California and the second-most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City.

Populous - San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California, after Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose, and the 13th-most populous city in the United States—with a census-estimated 2016 population of 870,887.

The city and its surrounding areas (encompassing nine California counties which border the Bay) are known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and are a part of the larger OMB-designated San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth most populous in the nation with an estimated population of 8.7 million.

-- adapted from Wikipedia: San Francisco.

Nicknames & Motto

The City; The City by the Bay; The Golden City; Fog City; San Fran, Saint Frank, Frisco (all 3 locally disparaged); The City that Knows How (past); Baghdad by the Bay (past); The Paris of the West (past)

Motto:Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra (Spanish); (English: "Gold in Peace, Iron in War").

Economic Growth and Diversification

Since the 1990s, San Francisco's economy has moved increasingly towards the prominence of high-tech, biotech, and medical research. Tech jobs accounted for 1 percent of the city's jobs in 1990. They had grown to 4 percent by 2010 and to an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013. The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward Metropolitan Statistical Area (a census designation) saw 90 percent tech industry growth from 2006-2016 according to a report by Praxis Strategy Group. San Francisco can now be said to be an important center for technology, Internet and social media companies (and especially for start-up businesses), attracting increasing venture capital funding compared to neighboring Silicon Valley - a trend the city has attempted to encourage with measures such as payroll tax exemptions for certain kinds of desirable companies.

A lack of new housing development and options and opposition to them coupled with this influx of new jobs and commuters who work in Silicon Valley (another Bay Area nexus of job growth) has contributed to a housing crisis in San Francisco and other Bay Area communities.

Demographics

Race and Ethnicity

Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 48 percent of San Francisco's population in 2010, down from 92.5 percent in 1940, making San Francisco a minority-majority city. As of the 2010 United States census, San Francisco's population consisted of

48% Whites - 390,387
33% Asians - 267,915 Residents identifying as Chinese constituted the largest single ethnic block at 21 percent of the population.
6% African-American/Black - 48, 870 This demographic has seen a steady decline since a high in 1970 of 13.4 percent of the population.
6.6 % Other race
Hispanics or Latinos of any race accounted for 15 percent of the population or 121,744 people.

Education, Households and Income

Following Seattle, San Francisco has the second-highest percentage of residents with a college degree of all major cities in the United States, with over 44% of San Francisco's adults having a bachelor's degree or higher.

San Francisco is a hub for the LGBTQ community with the highest percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S. cities, at 15% and the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county.

Homelessness

San Francisco is estimated to have 13,500 persons with 6,500 living on the streets.

Government

San Francisco (the City and County of San Francisco) has been in place as a consolidated city-county (the only such jurisdiction in California) since 1856 when it split from adjoining San Mateo County.

As a consolidated city-county of the Mayor of San Francisco is also the chief county executive and the County Board of Supervisors also fills the role of a City Council.

San Francisco's charter sets out that the city-county's government consist of two co-equal branches:

Executive Branch - This branch includes the Mayor and other city-wide elected and appointed office-holders, as well as the City and County's civil service

Legislative Branch - The legislative branch consists of the Board of Supervisors, elected to ten specific districts within the City, headed by a president. The Board is responsible for passing laws and budgets and the President of the Board of Supervisors steps in to fill the vacancy in the Executive Branch upon the death or resignation of the Mayor.

Note that legislation in San Francisco is also made through a direct ballot initiative/referendum process.

Public and Governmental Resources

San Francisco Planning Department https://twitter.com/sfplanning
San Francisco Rent Board
San Francisco Human Rights Commission

Neighborhoods and Internal Geographic Designations

City-designated "Analysis Neighborhoods" (41 neighborhoods)

San Francisco Planning Neighborhoods

San Francisco Realtor Neighborhoods

Supervisor Districts (Numbered 1-10)

District 1 - Northwest District 2 - Central West District 3 - Southwest District 4 - Twin Peaks West District 5 - Central District 6 - Central North District 7 - North District 8 - Northeast District 9 - Central East District 10 - Southeast

San Francisco Police Department Districts (10 districts. Note that the Presidio is policed by the United States Park Police)

Neighborhood Associations

Progress Noe Valley http://www.progressnoe.com/

Issues

Affordability

Cost of Living

Housing

Rentals

Home Prices

Affordable Housing

Transportation

Public Transit

Regional Transit

Cycling

Walking/Walkability

Food Access

Tens of thousands of San Francisco residents have difficulty accessing affordable, wholesome food because of a dearth of supermarkets in the areas of the city in which they live. These food deserts are concentrated in the Bayview, Hunter's Point and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods. In Hunter's Point alone, its 40,000 residents must travel miles to the nearest grocery store.

Publications and Blogs

(In progress)

San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Business Times
Mercury News
Sacramento Bee
Curbed San Francisco

Housing and Urbanist Organizations

(In progress) This list is not specifically YIMBY/pro-development. See the YIMBY Organizations Directory for a listing of SF Bay YIMBY organizations.

SFYIMBY Party http://www.sfyimby.org
YIMBY Action https://yimbyaction.org
Grow SF http://www.growsanfrancisco.org
Tech for Housing http://techforhousing.org @Tech_Yimby http://www.twitter.com/Tech_Yimby
SF Bay Area Renters' Federation http://www.sfbarf.org/
San Francisco Tenants' Union https://www.sftu.org/
SPUR (The San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association) http://www.spur.org/
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition http://www.sfhac.org/
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Home Ownership SF http://homeownershipsf.org/
Walk San Francisco http://walksf.org/

Developers/Development

People

(In progress) Local Bay Area influencers, activists, journalists, leaders, politicos, researchers, change agents, strategists, and commentators...

Sonja Trauss @sonjatrauss
Laura Foote Clark
Christine Johnson - San Francisco Planning Commissioner; SPUR, San Francisco Director
Andrew Szeto
Brian Hanlon
Toshio Meronek
Annie Fryman
Matthew Yglesias
Corey Smith
Blanca Torres - Covers real estate and economic development for the San Francisco Business Times
Roland Li - Real estate reporter with the San Francisco Business Times
Scott Weiner - California State Senator
Rachele Trigueros - Bay Area Council
Victoria Fierce - YIMBY Action Board; East Bay Forward @tdifischer
Gabriel Metcalf - President of SPUR
Tim McCormick - Houslets; YIMBYwiki
Laura Fingal-Surma - Founding board member, YIMBY Action; Co-Founder Progress Noe Valley
Dan Fingal-Surma

References

San Francisco Analysis Neighborhoods https://data.sfgov.org/Geographic-Locations-and-Boundaries/Analysis-Neighborhoods/p5b7-5n3h/data

San Francisco Indicator Project Geographic Boundaries http://sfgov.maps.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=e4927a261ae044959ec4d4932b047ff8

San Francisco (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

The Cities Creating the Most Tech Jobs in 2017 http://www.newgeography.com/content/005564-high-tech-and-stem-rankings-2017

"New San Francisco Tech Boom Brings Jobs But Also Worries" New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/us/san-francisco-tech-boom-brings-jobs-and-worries.html

List of City Nicknames in the United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames_in_the_United_States#California

America's Worst 9 Urban Food Deserts - https://newsone.com/1540235/americas-worst-9-urban-food-deserts/