October 10, 2025 Attention: OEWDThank you … for sharing the draft Hayes Valley Entertainment Zone (EZ) Management Plan. After reviewing the document and reflecting on our conversation, we want to be transparent about the serious concerns we have and the conditions that must be met moving forward. 1. Structural Flaws and Conflicts of Interest This plan is being framed as … Read post
How San Francisco’s “Activation” Agenda Is Gutting the Neighborhood Economy Again Hayes Valley once set the bar for protecting small business. Its 2004 formula retail ban was designed to block chain stores and preserve a local-serving economy. But over the years, City Hall has quietly chipped away at those protections first by making exceptions, then by ignoring them outright. Now, … Read post
December 2025 Update:When this piece was published in summer 2025, we believed reopening Hayes Street by year’s end was both reasonable and achievable based on agency signals and public input. That did not happen. What followed instead with the quiet advancement and passage of the Entertainment Zone ordinance only reinforced the core argument of this piece: that community process in … Read post
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, … Read post
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 … Read post