Bilal Mahmood Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Hayes Valley San Francisco

When Politics Crosses the Line: Why San Francisco Set Boundaries for Its Supervisors

February 1, 2026October 15, 2025

The Backstory — Why These Rules Exist San Francisco’s City Charter isn’t vague about this: Supervisors make laws, they don’t administer them. That line was drawn for a reason — and it goes back to incidents like Aaron Peskin’s notorious late-night calls to department heads. Those drunken phone calls and attempts to direct agency staff triggered reforms clarifying that supervisors cannot interfere with operational decisions. The Preston Precedent — Turning a Street Closure into a Political Campaign In 2023, Supervisor …

Statement RE: How a “Temporary” Street Closure Became a Permanent Political Project

February 1, 2026October 11, 2025

San Francisco’s Shared Spaces program was meant to help businesses recover. Instead, it’s been used to keep Hayes Street closed for nearly five years. What began as a temporary Shared Spaces closure on Hayes Street in 2020 should have ended years ago. By late 2023, SFMTA staff were prepared not to renew the permit — citing safety issues, merchant complaints, and the clear intent that Shared Spaces closures were never meant to be indefinite. That decision changed only after Supervisor …

The Truth About the “New” Police Ambassador Program

February 8, 2026August 11, 2025

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has been promoting what he calls a “first-time” SFPD Police Ambassador pilot in Hayes Valley and the Fillmore — retired police officers walking the beat as the “eyes and ears” for both the department and the community. The problem? This program isn’t new. Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Dean Preston rolled out the same initiative in 2023, deploying retired officers to multiple merchant corridors across the city. Later that year, the program expanded to even more neighborhoods, …

The “Abbot-Kinnification” of Hayes Valley — A Neighborhood Takeover in Real Time

March 27, 2026August 1, 2025

There’s been a quiet but calculated effort underway to turn Hayes Valley into the next Abbot Kinney. If that reference doesn’t land immediately, it should because the pattern is already unfolding in real time. Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice Beach was once a quirky, eclectic strip filled with independent shops, creatives, and community culture. But over time thanks to a toxic mix of real estate speculation, political favoritism, and design-by-marketing, it became a sterile playground of luxury brands, overpriced “experiences,” …

Spring Roundup 2025

March 24, 2026July 20, 2025

A Neighborhood at a Crossroads It’s been a busy fall, winter, and spring. With summer upon us, we thought it best to take a pause and share some updates, especially as we’ve been fielding many questions in our ongoing conversations with neighbors. Had you asked us in 2020 what our community work would look like five years down the road, we might have called today’s landscape unpredictable – or would we? As we reflect on current events, there’s a clear …

Our Statement

February 8, 2026June 18, 2025

The Hayes Valley Entertainment Zone: The Story is Unraveling San Franciscans deserve transparent governance, not a backroom deal disguised as community policy. To those of you who have stood with us – thank you. Please keep sharing this with neighbors, small business owners, and public safety and good governance advocates. Over the past several weeks, we have uncovered internal emails, planning notes, and meeting records that reveal a coordinated effort by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and his staff to deliberately exclude …

Stop the Hayes Valley Entertainment Zone Backroom Deal

February 1, 2026May 30, 2025

Update: Thursday July 3, 2025 5:35 pmThis week, we wrote again to the Mayor’s Office following the quiet signing of the Hayes Valley Entertainment Zone ordinance. We made it clear: Hayes Valley will no longer sit quietly while the consequences of failed policies continue to compound. We are insisting on a full review of this fiasco (with Sunshine and Ethics complaints already filed) and the removal of Hayes Valley from the Entertainment Zone framework. We’re also in active communication with …

Who Does a Supervisor Really Serve? Hayes Valley Deserves an Answer

February 8, 2026May 26, 2025

In light of recent developments regarding the closure on Hayes Street, we’re answering the two top questions we ask and have been asked as of late:Who does a Supervisor really serve?And have you even talked to Bilal about the closure?Yes, we did. Once. It was a meeting that left the room stunned and the community even more demoralized. What follows is our statement, written by a coalition that has been raising concerns about the Hayes Street closure since 2020. This …

The Small Business Perspective on the Hayes Street Closure

March 18, 2026May 17, 2025

An account from merchants navigating the fallout. What began as a temporary pandemic-era street closure has now stretched on for years, disrupting commerce, dividing the community, and placing growing pressure on the small businesses that helped build Hayes Valley in the first place.For many people, the weekend closure of the 400 block of Hayes Street looks like a feel-good policy. Fewer cars. More foot traffic. A celebration of neighborhood life. But for the businesses that actually operate on or near …

Immediate Action and Inclusion Demanded on Hayes Street Closure

February 1, 2026May 13, 2025

May 22, 2025 SFMTA, SFCTA and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood: We write to follow up on our recent letter (below), which outlined urgent concerns about the Hayes Street closure…chief among them: ongoing noncompliance, lack of transparency, and the exclusion of the broader community from shaping its future. We’ve learned that an event has been announced for tomorrow, Friday, May 23rd, promoting Hayes Street as a “permanent pedestrianized Entertainment Zone.” According to the notice, the event will include live music, games, and …