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A Year of Results, Responsiveness, and a City on the Rise

Dear Neighbor,


Upon taking office, I made a simple promise: to be responsive, accessible, and relentlessly focused on making San Francisco a place where people can start, grow, and stay across generations.


Over the past year, my team and I have worked to deliver on that promise by showing up for constituents, cutting through bureaucracy, and focusing on the basics that make everyday life work.


Alongside a new Board of Supervisors and a new mayor, we committed to a reset in how San Francisco works. That reset is delivering results.

San Francisco is outpacing national trends. Crime (down 26% citywide) is falling faster than any other city in America. And despite Washington, DC’s bad travel policies, tourism and hotel occupancy is up (down 0.7% in the US overall).

2025’s 3 Big Things:
- Make the public safety reset stick: A pro-safety, pro-accountability approach. New police commissioners. Better technology. Stronger recruitment. Real reductions in crime — and a foundation to take on the entrenched fentanyl crisis.
- Make it sane to run a small business: Less red tape. Faster permits. Predictable rules. An end to process for process’s sake.
- Clear the path for the future: Tackling housing, affordability, and family-friendliness — including passing the Family Zoning Plan — so people can start, grow, and stay in San Francisco.What’s next:


2026 builds on this reset with a clear goal: making San Francisco the best big city in America for families - grounded in safety, thriving neighborhoods and downtown, and affordability across housing, transportation, child care, and education. San Francisco has real challenges. But with a pragmatic, data-driven approach, the city’s best days are ahead.


A City on the Rise


San Francisco is turning a corner - and the data backs it up.

Public Safety Is Improving

Crime is down 26% citywide, falling faster than in any other major city. In District 2, the progress has been even more pronounced — crime is down 39% at Richmond Station and 30% at Northern Station. As good as these numbers are - it’s not enough. Parts of the City still struggle with entrenched challenges - like the Van Ness corridor and late-night drug activity and victims of domestic violence. We need to stay focused on safety in 2026.

The Economy Is Rebounding

San Francisco’s recovery is showing up in tangible ways. Conferences are back (Moscone will host 36 in 2026 - the most since 2019), hotel occupancy is up to 65.2% (up from 62.9% in 2024) and projected to be even higher in 2026, and small business sales grew 3.4% year over year. Despite trade and travel policies from Washington
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creating headwinds (hotel occupancy is down 0.7% nationwide), tourism in San Francisco is up (23.5 million vs. 23 million in 2024).


Just last month, we saw a huge milestone: the Chestnut Street corridor reported sales tax receipts above pre‑pandemic levels for the first time!


With the Super Bowl and World Cup matches on the horizon in 2026, the direction is clear - San Francisco is on the rise - but I am clear-eyed that more work needs to be done.


My Priorities


Everything I’ve worked on this year comes back to three priorities: delivering strong constituent services, improving public safety, and supporting small businesses. Here’s what that looked like in practice.

Constituent Services: A Government that Works for You


Responsive government starts with listening, and that means meeting and calling as many people as possible.


This year, my team and I have:
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Knocked on more than 2,000 doors (and counting) across the district
- Handled 637 constituent inquiries, helping residents navigate city agencies and challenges from permits to assessments to everyday quality‑of‑life issues
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Met regularly with neighborhood associations, merchant groups, and block captains
- Canvassed 327 small businesses in the District as part of Small Business Summer (and many more throughout the year!)Some wins are small but meaningful — like getting one of the worst broken sidewalks on Green Street fixed or helping ensure property tax assessments were processed quickly and correctly.


But a few constituent wins stand out as especially meaningful:

- Installing the pedestrian walk signal at Gough & Clay, improving safety for families and seniors
- Lighting the Palace of Fine Arts for the holidays for the first time, bringing joy to the neighborhood
- Cleaning up the Lyon Street Steps, restoring a beloved public space
- Partnering with neighbors to ensure the new Salvation Army facility on Lombard Street fits into the neighborhood

At the end of the day, constituent service is about solving problems — big and small — and making sure residents know City Hall works for them.

Looking Ahead:


A critical issue directly impacts over 3,000 District 2 residents: a 2023 mandate for many high-rise residential buildings (built before 1975, 12+ stories, lacking two fire-protected stairways) to install fire sprinklers in every unit. Unfortunately, many condo owners are facing financial bills they cannot afford. Although we have
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successfully gained a 3-year reprieve , there is more work to be done to give residents the certainty that they deserve. This will be a primary legislative priority for Q1 2026.

Public Safety: Focusing on What Works


Since I took office, public safety has been my top policy priority. I’ve worked closely with the Mayor, SFPD, and community partners on an approach to safety focused on common sense and putting resources where they matter most.


Crime is down citywide (and in District 2), but I am distinctly aware that we can’t let up addressing the drug and
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mental health crises , pedestrian safety, and instances of domestic and sexual violence.


As a city, we have made significant progress this year, including:
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Appointing three new pro‑safety Police Commissioners
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Achieving a net increase in police officers for the first time since 2019
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Opening the Real Time Investigation Center (RTIC) to improve coordination and response
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Launching a speed‑camera pilot with 33 cameras citywideAt the neighborhood level, we pushed hard on straightforward efforts that directly impact daily life:
- A new foot patrol officer on Chestnut Street, increasing visibility and trust
- Re‑timing Lombard Street stoplights to prioritize traffic safety
- Targeted drug enforcement at Jefferson Square Park, keeping the park clean and usable since FebruaryBut I’m proudest of two efforts to push forward on commonsense issues that keep our families safe:
- We launched a
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first-in-the-nation safe storage program with Pierce’s Pledge to prevent gun violence and protect families and individuals in crisis
- I authored a resolution
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pushing SFPD to address illicit drug activity near family‑friendly spaces . This was the first step of many more to focus on the “displacement” that has happened due to SFPD’s actions against downtown drug markets.

Public safety isn’t about rhetoric — it’s about results, consistency, and coordination.

Supporting Small Businesses: Making It Easier to Open and Thrive


Supporting small businesses has been the central focus of my legislative agenda - because strong neighborhood corridors mean strong neighborhoods.

Key legislative wins include:
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Van Ness legislation eliminating conditional‑use permitting for formula retail, already resulting in six new storefronts open with more on the way
- Permit streamlining to make it easier for businesses on corner lots to install signs
- Creating the Union Street Entertainment Zone
- Allowing movie theaters to serve beer and wine citywide (which will be
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great for the renovated Clay Theater !)
- Extending First Year Free, waiving fees for new businesses

Some of my favorite wins came directly from being in community and didn’t require legislation:
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Working to keep the Fillmore Jazz Festival
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up and running
- Ensuring
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DPW did not repave Sacramento Street during the holiday shopping season
- Nominating small businesses, such as Studio on Chestnut and Partita Custom Design Jewelry as a few examples, to be added to the
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Legacy Business Registry
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Helping individual merchants navigate permits and inspections so they could open - or stay open - without unnecessary delays; but……for every small business we were able to help with a permit, there were others that got bogged down in unnecessary back and forth.

In 2026, we will investigate why certain permits are causing extreme delays and what we can do to alleviate the issue. Small businesses shouldn’t have to pay tens of thousands in rent while waiting for the City to respond.

Making Progress on One of San Francisco’s Greatest Challenges: Housing


Finally, I want to highlight progress on one of San Francisco’s most existential challenges: housing.


San Francisco faces real demographic warning signs — gaps in 25–35‑year‑olds and middle‑income residents, the fewest children per capita of any major U.S. city, and one of the fastest‑aging populations in America. If we want a sustainable future, we must make it easier to start the family of your choice, grow here, and stay here — and housing is central to that goal.



Over the past year, we’ve made meaningful progress:
- Supported office‑to‑residential conversion legislation to activate downtown
- Backed the Normandy Apartments Small Sites resolution to preserve affordability
- Marked the groundbreaking of two major workforce housing projects for teachers in Civic Center
- Moved forward veterans housing on Van Ness
- Introduced an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) to unlock the 3333 and 3700 California Street projects — over 1,300 new housing units
- Passed the Family Zoning PlanThis month, the Family Zoning Plan passed the Board of Supervisors and was signed by the Mayor, officially becoming law. This was a meaningful step toward building a more welcoming, sustainable, and family-friendly city.


I’m especially proud that the final plan includes all of my amendments focused on community resources and family‑sized homes. Thanks to your engagement, our office was the only one to secure map amendments in the final proposal. My team went parcel by parcel across the district with every neighborhood association and merchant group to craft the strongest possible plan — and your input was essential.


This vote also protects San Francisco’s future. We are required to complete this rezoning by January 31, 2026, and failure to act would risk losing local control over zoning and jeopardizing critical transit and housing funding. Passing this plan safeguards our ability to shape our own city.


Zoning creates opportunity, but it is not the finish line. To achieve real affordability, we must also lower construction costs, eliminate duplicative regulation, and rethink how we fund affordable housing. Still, Tuesday’s vote was a strong, forward‑looking step — and I’m deeply optimistic about what comes next.


Looking Ahead


2025 was about resetting the foundation for San Francisco based on public safety and the strength of our neighborhoods and merchant corridors. In 2026, we will build on that foundation towards an aggressive goal: making San Francisco the best big city in America for families.


That means tackling affordability head‑on - with a focus on housing, transportation, child care, and education - and continuing to make government work better for the people it serves. In January, we will gather San Francisco's architectural experts to hold a hearing on design standards, focusing on how new developments can complement the city's unique character. We will look at ways our city departments obstruct — rather than uplift — small business entrepreneurs who are opening new storefronts. And we will pass legislation that will help Clay Theater reopen as the cherished community gathering space for the arts.


In February, we'll hold a hearing focused on expanding childcare subsidies, ensuring that two parents don't have to choose between advancing their careers and affording quality childcare for their kids. Moreover, we’ll introduce our first slate of landmarks in the district to codify protections for our historic buildings.


And throughout the year, I will remain focused on the everyday challenges that we all face, starting with safe and clean streets. There is no more important foundation to a thriving city.


Thank you for your trust, your engagement, and your belief in San Francisco. I’m honored to serve you, and I’m excited about what we can accomplish together in the year ahead.


Warmly,

Stephen Sherrill

San Francisco Supervisor, District 2

GET IN TOUCH WITH THE OFFICE:

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @stephensherrill

X: @scsherrill











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WEBSITE
Office of Supervisor Stephen Sherrill

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 256, San Francisco, CA 94102

Phone: (415) 554-7752 Fax: (415) 554-7843





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