By J.D. Morris, Aldo Toledo, Staff Writers July 9, 2026
Gift Article (SFChronicle.com)
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, pictured above, said Mayor Daniel Lurie, working with Supervisor Connie Chan, is delaying the proposal he hoped would be on the November ballot. Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said Thursday that a major piece of his proposal to reduce food insecurity in the city has been jeopardized by political interference from Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Connie Chan.
Inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to open publicly owned grocery stores, Mahmood last month proposed a pair of ballot measures that would seek to expand the number of affordable markets in San Francisco and dissuade stores from closing.
The first measure would create a city-run fund to convert corner stores into markets stocked with affordable produce and pantry items, while the second measure would tax large companies with vacant grocery store and pharmacy sites. The first measure could still move forward, but Mahmood was hoping his Board of Supervisors colleagues would send both measures to voters in November.
But Mahmood told the Chronicle that Chan, who chairs the board’s budget committee, informed him Thursday that she would not schedule a vote next week on the tax measure. Any delay could put the legislation at risk of not meeting the July deadline to make the November ballot.
Mahmood said Chan told him she was responding to a request from Lurie, who opposes the tax.
“It shows that she will exploit her power to block things through bad governance,” Mahmood said of Chan, who is running to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in Congress. “It’s also disrespectful from the mayor to intervene in board procedures.”
Chan’s legislative aide, Robyn Burke, told the Chronicle in a statement that Chan agrees with the intent of Mahmood’s measure but said it needs work.
“Much work needs to be done to this measure to deliver that intent,” Burke said. “Supervisor Mahmood has amendments he wants to make to his legislation that he is still working on. With that, she came to the conclusion that this measure was not ready to be agendized at this time.”
Lurie spokesperson Charles Lutvak did not comment on any discussions between Lurie and Chan but said in a statement that the mayor is trying to get more grocery stores in San Francisco.
“More taxes won’t achieve that,” Lutvak said. “We support the Affordable Grocery Fund and will continue working with Supervisor Mahmood and the entire Board to bring more grocery stores to the city.”
Mahmood has generally backed Lurie’s agenda, including acting as a key ally in the push to build more housing in the city.
Mahmood said Amazon, which has a shuttered Whole Foods store in the Mid-Market area, had been “actively lobbying” against his tax measure. The former Mid-Market Whole Foods spans nearly 65,000 square feet, meaning Amazon could face a tax of about $194,000 annually at the initial $3-per-square-foot rate. That would eventually rise to about $650,000 at the proposed $10 rate if the space remains vacant after three years.
Amazon lobbyist David Noyola did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Mahmood said he could have tried to send his proposed tax to voters by having three of his colleagues join him in placing the measure directly on the ballot. But Lurie is pushing a separate measure that would require at least six votes from supervisors to put any proposal on future ballots. Mahmood supports that idea and decided to follow it now in the spirit of good governance, he said.
“The insanity of this is that a private company can lobby City Hall, and then suddenly the progressive candidate for Congress (Chan) and the moderate mayor are both aligned in pulling a Mayor Mamdani-inspired progressive proposal that also elevates good governance,” Mahmood said. “I thought all of these cast of characters were progressive and for good governance, and this is neither of those.”
Mahmood expressed hope that Board President Rafael Mandelman might still use his authority to bring the tax measure before all supervisors in time for it to make the November ballot.
Mandelman did not immediately return a request for comment.
If that doesn’t happen, Mahmood said he will “have to reassess” the future of his grocery store proposals.
July 9, 2026
City Hall Reporter
J.D. Morris covers San Francisco City Hall, focused on Mayor Daniel Lurie. He joined the Chronicle in 2018 to cover energy and spent three years writing mostly about PG&E and California wildfires.
Before coming to the Chronicle, he reported on local government for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among the journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.
He was previously the casino industry reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Raised in Monterey County and Bakersfield, he has a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley.
Breaking News Reporter
Who they are
Adalberto “Aldo” Toledo is a breaking news reporter with the Chronicle. He is a Venezuelan American from a family of longtime journalists. Before joining the Chronicle in 2023, he reported on Peninsula governments and breaking news for the San Jose Mercury News. He also has bylines in the Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette. Raised in Texas, he studied journalism with a print news focus at the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, where he worked as news editor for the North Texas Daily student newspaper.
How to reach Aldo
Email aldo.toledo@sfchronicle.com. To share tips securely, use Signal at @aldot29.61.
