San Francisco is a city in need of some positive energy.
It’s been beaten up like an aging prizefighter, stomped on like grapes at an old-school winery, discarded like an old girlfriend in favor of a new beauty.
Large retailers – Nordstrom, Banana Republic and more than 100 others – have left the city along with the entire Westfield mall in Union Square and hotels, including the Parc 55 and Union Square Hilton, the latter taking its near-rooftop Citiscape lounge with it. Crime and homelessness have been citied as the primary reasons for the demise of this once thriving area.
So to save “the City” as locals call San Francisco, the city is turning to one area that could revive it: nightlife.
To promote pubs and clubs, it is cutting back on more than 100 restrictions. Legislation is being introduced that would change six categories in the planning code:
• Enable priority processing for nighttime entertainment, bars, and restaurants
• Lift restrictions on bars and restaurants
• Incorporate new liquor license for music venues
• Ease legalization process for existing outdoor patios
• Remove certain public notice requirements
• Allow more business uses on the ground floor
“The success of our recovery requires us to keep making changes to how we support small
business in this city,” Mayor London Breed told KRON4 News. “Small business owners are some of our most creative people and we want our City to work in concert to get them to ‘yes’ when it comes to bringing their ideas to life. We must change our system of burdensome regulation, taxes, and fees.”
If this works, instead of a Nordstrom’s or a Banana Republic in Union Square, you may see a bar, pub or even a nightclub.
Breed’s proposal waives the cost of initial registration fees, initial license fees, first-year permit, and other applicable fees for qualifying businesses in a program called First Year Free.
“Since the First Year Free program started in 2021, approximately 3,910 businesses have enrolled in the program, with 2,494 of these completely new, and the remainder are existing businesses adding a new location. The city has waived more than $1.37 million in fees since the program started,” the Mayor’s Office stated.
More:
• San Francisco’s Summertime Street Festivals
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