Community Launches Permanent Citywide Protections for Small Businesses Threatened by the Mayor’s Upzonings
PRESS RELEASE for April 17, 2025
San Francisco, CA – Today, the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF) and Small Business Forward (SBF) are launching our critical community solutions to protect small businesses from threats of displacement due to the City’s upzoning proposal.
As Mayor Daniel Lurie commemorates 100 days in office this week, it’s clear he is only looking out for big corporations, while at the same time decimating small businesses across San Francisco’s neighborhoods with his upzoning proposal. Through the City’s latest upzoning proposal, Mayor Lurie is abandoning our neighborhood-serving small businesses in favor of developer giveaways, with thousands of small businesses in the commercial corridors targeted for closures and demolitions because of the proposed zoning changes throughout San Francisco.
At today’s Planning Commission hearing, REP-SF and SBF are presenting our comprehensive solutions for small business protections to the SF Planning Commission. We are also speaking during public comment about displacement pressures, other upzoning impacts, and our community-based solutions.
WHAT: Small Business Displacement Hearing at SF Planning Commission
WHEN: Thursday, April 17, 12–4 pm
WHERE: City Hall in Planning Commission Chambers, Room 400 & SFGovTV.org/planning
WHO: REP-SF, SBF, small businesses, and community members:
Presentation on Community Solutions by Justin Dolezal and Yoland Porrata of Small Business Forward (SBF)
Public Comment from small business owners and workers across the city
Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to displacement because the majority do not own their building, they often have short-term leases, and commercial rent control is not allowed in California. Unlike residential tenants, commercial tenants do not have protections beyond what is written in their lease.
Small businesses deserve a voice to defend against their displacement. Over 100 small businesses across the city have 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.
“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.
“As a small business owner, it's impossible to justify long-term investments in my business without protections like relocation assistance or conditional use authorizations for displacement,” says Jesse Ahluwalia of 1010 Wash & Dry Laundromat on Clement 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 on Irving Street and West Portal Ave.
We are demanding that the City adopt the following permanent controls for neighborhood-serving small businesses:
Require that no demolition can proceed unless the existing small businesses provide prior consent.
Require developers to build new space(s) in their new development that conform(s) to the specifications and needs of the existing small business(es)
Require developers to provide substantial relocation assistance to the small business(es) for when they move out temporarily (could be modeled after the Uniform Relocation Act)
Require developers to pay the difference in commercial rent during the relocation period
Require developers to pay relocation costs for the business(es) to move back into their new space(s)
Require developers to pay for marketing for the small business(es) for the period of relocation and for up to a year after the business(es) move(s) back into the new development
Require developers to provide the new space(s) to the existing business(es) for their prior rent for at least 10 years with no more than Consumer Price Index rent increases annually
Conditional Use Authorization required for displacement of neighborhood-serving businesses and Legacy Businesses
Require and strengthen notice period asks
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.
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About Small Business Forward
Small Business Forward was founded by San Francisco small businesses to advocate for a better future. We believe our city can allow our diverse small business community to thrive — and we are committed to fighting for policies that forward these goals. We serve as a resource for small business owners and workers as they seek to economically prosper in the city that we love.
