- By James Salazar | Examiner staff writer
- Apr 23, 2026 (SFExaminer.com)
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he wants city departments to come together and share their plans for shaping the future of Market Street.
The District 5 representative on the Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing at the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting on Monday to discuss how local leaders plan to make concentrated investments along the corridor that connects the Civic Center area with downtown.
City officials have made changes to the corridor over the past year. In August, ride-hail vehicles were re-introduced to the corridor from Van Ness Avenue to the foot of Market Street following a five-year ban. Earlier in 2025, public-transportation service in the area was reduced, with buses turning around before reaching the eastern end of Market Street.
Mahmood said Monday’s hearing will focus on how investments in public transit, outdoor spaces and small businesses can meet the needs of an evolving area.
“When we have a vision of connecting one end of The City to another, Market Street has to be at the core of that vision,” Mahmood said.
Six years ago, local leaders developed a plan to transform more than two miles of Market Street between Steuart Street and Octavia Boulevard as part of the Better Market Street project. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the project’s start date.
In recent years, crews have modernized traffic signals, made sidewalks more accessible, added foliage to provide shade and cooler temperatures, and shortened the distance pedestrians have to cover when crossing intersections.
Mahmood said the upcoming hearing will give city agencies and departments opportunities to see how previous projects and others in The City’s pipeline can support future ideas, such as the supervisor’s recent push to create a Mid-Market theater arts district.
City departments will focus on Market Street between 5th and 9th streets because “when people think of downtown San Francisco and sometimes the negative perception about it, they’re really thinking about the Mid-Market area,” Mahmood said.
“Unless we solve the Mid-Market area, we’re never going to change the perception of San Francisco,” he said. “That is the image people see on TV.”
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency plans to discuss how sharing the street with ride-hail vehicles has influenced the degree to which people use alternative transportation methods such as buses or bicycling.
Mahmood said he also wants to see whether or not the Better Market Street project goals conceived in 2020 are still capable of meeting present community needs, such as making roads safer for pedestrians.
‘Unless we solve the Mid-Market area, we’re never going to change the perception of San Francisco.’
Bilal Mahmood, District 5 supervisor
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The San Francisco Planning Department and the Department of Public Works are expected to provide updates on how their agencies’ investments in publicly accessible spaces such as sidewalks, plazas and other areas are enhancing the quality of life for people who live, work, commute to and visit the Mid-Market Area.
The Office of Economic and Workforce Development is set to detail how the department is investing in small businesses, whether through filling vacant storefronts or providing grant money and other funding to established neighborhood proprietors.
To bring foot traffic into the area, OEWD worked with other city leaders to create the Mid-Market Entertainment Zone. During special events, visitors can enjoy to-go drinks outside while perusing nearby businesses.
Fernando Pujals, executive director of the Mid-Market Business Association and Foundation, said the area’s momentum has trended positively in recent months.
The area is home to five major live-entertainment venues, all of which combine to draw over one million visitors a year to the area. Pujals’ foundation has worked with other community organizations to enliven city streets by bringing in artists and performers on a weekly basis. In addition to new business openings, six buildings in the neighborhood changed hands last year, according to the association.
“What we need now is a significant increase in public investment, with all city departments moving together under a unified approach,” Pujals said.
Pujals said a vibrant Mid-Market area is one that can support the large cultural venues that call the neighborhood home, as well as elevate its cluster of independent arts groups, local shops and restaurants, individual artists, and other small businesses.
“Some of this is happening, but the scale and coordination aren’t there yet — and that’s what this hearing should address,” he said.
With local officials and elected leaders pouring attention and resources into other parts of San Francisco such as The Embarcadero and the area near Powell Street’s cable-car turnaround, Mahmood said that San Francisco has an opportunity to presently tap into an “energy in The City right now around economic revitalization around downtown.”
He said conversations with his constituents have reinforced the belief that areas near Mid-Market, such as the Tenderloin and Civic Center, should be part of San Francisco’s overall renewal.
“Without a Tenderloin or Civic Center revitalization, you will not have a downtown revitalization,” Mahmood said.
James Salazar
Neighborhoods & Culture Correspondent
