South of Market (SoMa)

City gave up $3.5 million in community benefits before passing Twitter tax deal

Nina Frazier, SF Public Press — Jun 7 2011 - 11:17am

The April tax break for social media giant Twitter was supposed to include sweeteners to help community organizations, small businesses and the arts in the blighted mid-Market neighborhood. But just before the Board of Supervisors approved a tax exemption, which is projected to save Twitter $70 million, it abandoned a draft community benefits agreement worth at least $3.5 million, plus 1 percent of the company’s pre-tax income and myriad other community service projects. These included improvements to public parks, the opening of a neighborhood grocery store, a local hiring provision and free Wi-Fi for neighbors, the Public Press has learned. The board now has a chance to retroactively approve a committee to come up with such an agreement, but neighborhood activists say the city is in a worse bargaining position now that Twitter has its tax break.

 

Burning Man organizers eye move to redeveloped mid-Market Street arts district

Hank Drew, SF Public Press — Jan 28 2011 - 8:03am
In much the same way as they annually transform a desolate stretch of the Nevada desert into a week-long countercultural art festival, the organizers of Burning Man are now hoping to transform a desolate stretch of San Francisco’s Market Street.

Free pot for the needy

Stefan Jora and Monica Jensen, SF Public Press — Jan 24 2011 - 12:54pm

SoMa cannabis dispensary serious about philanthropy

How do you define compassion? In the tight-knit medical marijuana community, the word has become a euphemism for small, periodic donations of cannabis-based medicine to patients who cannot afford to buy it at the going rate — now about $10 to $25 a gram.

Upscale medical cannabis club aims to change image of industry

Hank Drew, SF Public Press — Jan 24 2011 - 12:03pm
The San Francisco Patient and Resource Center in the South of Market area resembles an art gallery where customers in sports coats and skirts suck THC vapors from plastic balloons and feast on cannabis-laced caramels. The medical cannabis dispensary at 1256 Mission St. was designed by Larissa Sand of Sand Studios in the South Park neighborhood with the intention of luring new customers in this evolving area, which includes the new Federal Building just two blocks away.

Temporary Transbay Terminal opens Aug. 7

Kevin Hume, SF Public Press — Jul 22 2010 - 3:57pm

Demolition of the existing Transbay Terminal will begin next month with the opening of a temporary facility, shifting the daily commute of thousands of Bay Area residents a block to the southeast. A new $1.2 billion terminal is slated to open in 2017 at the current location at First and Mission streets.

Mid-Market mogul: How Urban Realty quietly cornered San Francisco’s troubled main drag

Angela Hart, SF Public Press — Jul 7 2010 - 5:16pm

San Francisco-based developer Urban Realty has been sitting on valuable, mostly vacant real estate on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth for almost six years. Urban Realty principal David Rhoades is waiting for the Planning Commission to approve the proposed CityPlace this month before he unleashes all of his plans.

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Car accident sends two children, three adults to hospital

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jun 18 2010 - 11:09am

Accident on Mission and Sixth streets sends at least five to San Francisco General Hospital.

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A look at life along 6th St.

Shawn Gaynor, SF Public Press — Jun 15 2010 - 10:21am

This piece was produced as part of a project sponsored by The Bold Italic. Sixth Street at Market is one of San Francisco’s most well known intersections, yet one of the least understood. People from all walks of life cross paths there, but most don’t intermingle. The neighborhood is well known for its gritty liquor stores, strip clubs, and SROs, yet the landscape is changing dramatically with pioneering restaurants, cutting edge galleries, and revitilization efforts taking hold. To get a better sense of what the intersection is really like, The Bold Italic decided to stay a while — for 24 hours in fact, and got their experiences on video as well. Have a look at a day in the life on Sixth Street.

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Parents rally to save child development center

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jun 14 2010 - 5:33pm

The Children's Village Child Development Center will soon shut its doors as the San Francisco Archdiocese sold the property to a group of investors. At least 40 kids will be displaced when the center closes on August 31. Parents are trying to find ways to keep the center open, but have been unable to come to any agreement with the church or the new owners of the property.

Heart, neuroscience buildings to boost UCSF economic impact

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jun 14 2010 - 9:26am

The University of California, San Francisco, is slated to begin several large new projects at the Mission Bay medical center, including buildings dedicated to cardiovascular and neuroscience research. UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, who shared a new report on the impact the university has had on the city, said the university is the second biggest employer in the city.

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