{"id":28303,"date":"2023-09-07T13:43:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28303"},"modified":"2023-09-07T13:43:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:43:45","slug":"can-s-f-attract-universities-to-boost-its-troubled-downtown-heres-how-one-supervisor-wants-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/07\/can-s-f-attract-universities-to-boost-its-troubled-downtown-heres-how-one-supervisor-wants-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Can S.F. attract universities to boost its troubled downtown? Here\u2019s how one supervisor wants to do it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Aldo Toledo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep. 5, 2023 Updated: Sep. 6, 2023 9:36\u00a0a.m. (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"San
San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safa\u00ed is proposing a \u201cspecial use district\u201d to make it easier for universities to move downtown.Google Street View<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safa\u00ed wants the city to cut red tape and get rid of certain fees to encourage universities to build campuses<\/a> in languishing downtown<\/a> neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safa\u00ed is the latest San Francisco leader to suggest college students could be the solution to empty streets, storefronts and office space in the city\u2019s downtown core, arguing that turning hotels into dorms, offices into classrooms, and building urban village campuses will revitalize the struggling Financial District and South of Market neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cspecial use district\u201d Safa\u00ed is proposing would allow buildings to change their primary use to allow for college campuses to crop up downtown a la New York University or Boston\u2019s many downtown colleges. The legislation is also modeled on UC College of the Law San Francisco\u2019s academic village concept.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The district would encompass much of the Financial District area from Fifth Street up to Beale Street, and Market to Brannan streets. The idea is to encourage one or more universities to develop \u201cinstitutional and student housing uses\u201d within those boundaries to create \u201cclustered campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The schools would be allowed to use existing vacant space for housing and classroom use, and they\u2019ll be exempt from certain streetscape, pedestrian improvements and off-street parking requirements. Safa\u00ed is also proposing waiving development impact fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if public and private universities were interested in pursuing downtown campuses, experts say it could take many years, maybe even a decade, before potentially tens of thousands of students enlivened the business district. Other programs to boost downtown are also in the works, including a plan to streamline office-to-housing conversion and boost pop-up retail<\/a>, among many other proposals and plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SFNext<\/a> is Chronicle coverage devoted to the city\u2019s most vexing problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To become involved:<\/strong> Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to sfnext@SFChronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Safa\u00ed says the point is to get the city to not be \u201creliant on professional services or one industry in particular\u201d to deal with the vacancies in the Financial District. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this plan, \u201cYou\u2019re creating the opportunity for jobs, for people spending money and an opportunity for educational institutions to attract more people to come and thrive in San Francisco,\u201d Safa\u00ed said. \u201cAll world-class cities have universities located in their downtown. Students not only like to study \u2026 they like to live and thrive and spend money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safa\u00ed added he wants to identify city-owned sites \u201cor sites that might be donated to the city\u201d to create one location for these universities to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the supervisor isn\u2019t the only one floating the idea of bringing universities downtown.

<\/a>Most recently, Mayor London Breed and City Attorney David Chiu have joined in, cosigning a letter to the state Board of Regents testing interest in the idea of another University of California campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SF<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Get Involved calendar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Search for public meetings on top San Francisco issues so you can add your voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calendar<\/a> Submit an event<\/a> More coverage<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBringing students into the heart of San Francisco affords a set of remarkable opportunities,\u201d the letter said. The move would give droves of young people access to \u201ca vibrant and world class metropolitan center, and could also serve to alleviate some of your critical student housing shortfalls at both UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleges downtown wouldn\u2019t be a novel idea for San Francisco, which already hosts the University of the Pacific, part of San Francisco City College and UC College of the Law San Francisco, the downtown law school formerly known as UC Hastings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

California schools aren\u2019t the only potential future candidates for the area, any university wanting to capitalize on the growing artificial intelligence sector or San Francisco\u2019s historic place within Silicon Valley could consider a satellite campus downtown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump-starting a college downtown could be a relatively painless process: A state university would have the advantage of streamlined bureaucratic rules, and as a state entity the university could conduct and approve its own environmental reviews, bypassing the city\u2019s onerous permitting process and approval from the Board of Supervisors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Aldo Toledo: Aldo.Toledo@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By Aldo Toledo<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adalberto \u201cAldo\u201d Toledo is a city hall reporter with The San Francisco Chronicle covering the mayor and Board of Supervisors. He is a Venezuelan American from a family of longtime journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"HEARST\u00a92023 Hearst Communications, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aldo Toledo Sep. 5, 2023 Updated: Sep. 6, 2023 9:36\u00a0a.m. (SFChronicle.com) San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safa\u00ed wants the city to cut red tape and get rid of certain fees to encourage universities to build campuses in languishing downtown neighborhoods.  Safa\u00ed is the latest San Francisco leader to suggest college students could be the solution… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1032],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28304,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303\/revisions\/28304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}