Small Businesses Defend Against Displacement: Community Launches Permanent Citywide Protections
Justin Dolezal of Small Business Forward presents small business protections at SF Planning Commission Hearing on April 17, 2025. Photo by Joseph Smooke, People Power Media.
May 5, 2025
On Thursday, April 17, REP-SF and our member coalition Small Business Forward presented critical community solutions to protect small businesses from threats of displacement due to the City’s upzoning proposal. With over 5,000 businesses in the upzoning area, initial estimates are that over 50 San Francisco businesses will be displaced on average every year after upzoning goes into effect. Beyond displacement, we anticipate significant construction impacts to neighboring businesses as well.
Small businesses deserve a voice to defend against our displacement. Over 100 small businesses across the city signed onto Small Business Forward and the REP-SF Coalition’s letter to the Planning Commission, demanding that the City adopt permanent controls to protect neighborhood-serving small businesses and ensure more equitable outcomes in the face of the upzonings.
Read more in the San Francisco Examiner: SF upzoning could displace small businesses, advocates warn
Read more in 48 Hills: Small business groups push for protections from Lurie’s upzoning (and displacement)
SMALL BUSINESSES DEFEND AGAINST THEIR DISPLACEMENT:
The Small Business Forward steering committee led a presentation for the Planning Commission. After the presentation, small business owners and workers, alongside community organizers from the REP-SF coalition, delivered passionate public comments.
Sean Kim, owner of Joe’s Ice Cream and Vice President of Geary Merchant Association, spoke at public comment saying, “The last time we had a new landlord I partnered with my next door neighbor to submit an offer, but they reject it. So small business cannot buy, cannot relocate, cannot move, cannot stay. Please consider this, we need some protection.” Watch the full comment here.
Jesse Ahluwalia, owner of 1010 Wash & Dry Laundromat and The Laundry Corner in the Richmond said, “I bought my business with dreams to invest in a remodel with upgrades, so I can better serve my neighbors. But after learning how vulnerable we are, those plans are uncertain. I have no protection for the investments in the business that I want to make. Why would I, why would any San Francisco small business owner invest in their business when there is no protection?” Watch the full comment here.
Vanessa Tlahuitzo, a general manager at Easy Breezy Frozen Yogurt with locations in the West Portal, Inner Sunset, and Noe Valley neighborhoods, said, “Most small businesses in San Francisco are family-owned and operated and upzoning decisions that don’t account for that will directly affect the livelihoods of real families— the ones who keep this city running everyday.” Watch the full comment here.
TANTRUM Toy Shop owner Richard Weld said, “As renters of our apartment we appreciate what the city does for renters protection and we just want to see some of that extended to the small businesses in the city.” Watch the full comment here.
Stephen Torres, a small business worker at Flowercraft Garden Center and at Twin Peaks Tavern, said, “As commercial renters are not protected, they have no recourse from eviction and loss of business. Thousands of local workers stand to lose their jobs.” Watch the full comment here.
COMMUNITY LAUNCHES CITYWIDE PERMANENT PROTECTIONS:
Before the hearing, over 100 small businesses across the city signed onto Small Business Forward and the REP-SF Coalition’s letter to the Planning Commission, with some signers giving quotes to share:
“Our City’s small businesses are vitally important for providing culturally accessible goods and services to communities throughout San Francisco. Through upzoning, the Mayor and the Planning Department are putting into law developer giveaways to encourage more overpriced and largely vacant condo towers. All of these zoning changes mean demolishing existing buildings, business closures and displacement, and replacement with high-end businesses that our communities cannot afford,” says Joseph Smooke of the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF).
“Before this upzoning plan gets off the ground, small businesses of San Francisco deserve the assurance that they won’t be turned upside down and thrown out as speculators and developers, many from out of state, slide in and tear apart these communities. There must be controls such as prior consent, relocation assistance, including covering the difference in rent and providing moving costs, and retaining prior rent when the business does return. All this and more will help to mitigate the potentially destructive impacts of this plan. No one is against housing, but the people and small businesses affected by this plan deserve at least these permanent controls,” says Nick Parker of Mercury Cafe.
“It's tough enough to operate a small business in San Francisco. We should not have to worry about developers taking away spaces where existing healthy businesses are already running,” says Oran Scott of Relic Vintage on Haight Street.
“Small businesses are what make San Francisco the incredible city that it is! San Francisco is currently an extremely challenging environment for small businesses. We want to see more housing being built, and we also need to make sure that we don't eliminate the small businesses that provide jobs, community, and vibrancy to our amazing city!” says Eileen Rinaldi of Ritual Coffee Roasters.
“As a legacy business, I am painfully aware of the challenges that small businesses face in San Francisco. This city’s unique culture is due, in large part, to our small businesses. We don’t want to become just another city filled with generic retailers, and that is a genuine concern with upzoning as it stands now,” says Autumn Adamme of Dark Garden.
“Small businesses are what keep money in the local economy and continue to engage the community. They provide jobs for local residents and keep neighborhoods safe. Small businesses should be protected at all costs,” says Nicole Schwieterman of Fleetwood SF.
“Small businesses are important to all communities. We have been displaced during retrofits and shut down during COVID. Displacement could end our business and end the financial means to take care of our families and pay our high rents,” says Amanda Weld of TANTRUM Toy Store.
“This building plan, I feel, could kill our business. We have been a pillar for the community for almost 20 years,” says Josey White of The Front Porch and Rock Bar.
“The SF government shamefully chooses to champion tech and corporations, as the small businesses and artist communities are pushed out. Stand for small businesses and show other states how to uplift a thriving local economy. When small businesses thrive, we all thrive,” says Brette Howard of Many Veils.
“Existing small businesses should not be displaced. If you want all Starbucks and Subway sandwiches all over San Francisco, then you should do this. But if you want to preserve the quality of our small neighborhoods, then leave small businesses alone!” says Ariel Ford of Easy Breezy Frozen Yogurt with locations in the West Portal, Inner Sunset, and Noe Valley neighborhoods.
We are demanding that the City adopt permanent controls for neighborhood-serving small businesses. For more information, please read our letter to the Planning Commission and REP-SF's blog post on SF Planning's proposed upzonings and our community demands.
IN THE NEWS:
REP-SF and Small Business Forward featured in the San Francisco Examiner! Thank you to the SF Examiner for writing about our advocacy for permanent citywide protections for small businesses, in response to the City's proposed upzonings.
“As commercial corridors are upzoned and the value of buildings and parcels in these corridors increase as a result, we anticipate a substantial increase in landlords using these tactics to push long-term community-serving businesses out,” said Justin Dolezal, a co-founder of local advocacy group Small Business Forward.
Jesse Ahluwalia, who recently opened a laundromat on Clement Street, gave public comment at the hearing along with other small-business owners voicing their concerns at the Planning Commission hearing. “I bought my business with dreams to invest in a remodel with upgrades, so I can better serve my neighbors,” he said. But the uncertainty his business now faces as a result of the proposed upzoning map has thrown those plans into question, he said. “Why would any San Francisco small-business owner invest in their business when there is no protection?”
Community members described such small businesses as beloved local institutions that serve as valuable engines of commerce as well as highly prized communal hubs for the neighborhoods they serve. “This is what we have,” said North Beach tenant advocate Theresa Flanderich. “This is what we are afraid of losing.”
REP-SF and Small Business Forward featured in 48Hills! REP-SF and SBF told commissioners that allowing speculators to demolish buildings on commercial corridors would threaten hundreds of community-serving businesses.
Joseph Smooke, an architect and co-founder of People Power Media, talked about the Hayes Valley neighborhood between Laguna and Franklin, where a lot of new housing has been built, including ground-floor retail. “It’s one of the most exclusive business areas in the city,” he said. People who live in affordable and public housing in the area, he said, can’t afford to shop at most of the businesses.
“Existing small businesses should not be displaced. If you want all Starbucks and Subway sandwiches all over San Francisco, then you should do this. But if you want to preserve the quality of our small neighborhoods, then leave small businesses alone!” said Ariel Ford of Easy Breezy Frozen Yogurt on Irving Street and West Portal Ave.
Sean Kim, the owner of Joe’s Ice Cream in the Richmond, said he can’t invest in his business or make a long-term plan because “my landlord wants to demolish the building and build condos."
Tim Redmond of 48Hills writes, "The Planning Commission members all said they care about small businesses. Everyone always does. In the end, the upzoning will come before the Board of Supes, where some of these proposals could be included. The supes and the mayor can also call on our state Legislators, who love upzoning, to allow the city more tools to prevent small business displacement. At that point, we will see who really cares about small businesses, and who cares more about speculators and real-estate developers."
PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS:
Planning Commissioners heard our message loud and clear! Braun, Moore, Williams, and Imperial made supportive comments about our solutions to protect small businesses from the threats of upzoning. Commissioners reiterated their love and support for small businesses.
Commissioner Imperial asked for a follow-up hearing focused on small business protections. She commented that the tenant protections had a clear flow of how the policies work – problem and solution – but we need a more structured understanding of the problems and solutions of small business issues.
We are proud of how Small Business Forward and REP-SF collaborated on this important hearing, conducted outreach to businesses to sign onto our letter, worked with the Planning Commission, delivered a presentation, and closed the case by providing public testimony! This is what small business advocacy looks like!
Watch the entire 4/17 Planning Commission hearing here. Our item (Item 9) begins at 2:05 in the video, and public comment on the item starts at 2:27.
