This is an archive of a past election.
See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/sf/ for current information.
LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund If you appreciate our service to voters, please consider helping us with a donation.
Smart Voter
San Francisco County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
Proposition A
Earthquake Retrofit Bond
County of San Francisco

2/3 Approval Required

Fail: 162266 / 63.24% Yes votes ...... 94324 / 36.76% No votes

See Also: Index of all Propositions

Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Arguments |

EARTHQUAKE SAFETY RETROFIT DEFERRED LOAN AND GRANT PROGRAM GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, 2010. To provide deferred loans and grants to pay the costs for seismic retrofits of certain multi-story wood-frame buildings with vulnerable soft-story construction at significant risk of substantial damage and collapse during a major earthquake and funded by a qualified governmental housing finance agency for permanent or long-term affordability, or single room occupancy buildings owned by private parties, and pay related costs, shall the City issue up to $46,150,000 of general obligation bonded indebtedness, subject to citizen oversight and regular audits?

Summary Prepared by The Ballot Simplification Committee:
The Way It Is Now: In 2009, the City's Department of Building Inspection commissioned a report (the Report) concluding that many soft-story buildings in San Francisco are vulnerable to collapse or significant damage in an earthquake. Soft-story buildings are multistory wood structures where at least one floor has large outside wall openings, such as garage doors. The Report identified approximately 2,800 soft-story buildings in San Francisco constructed before 1974. Of these, 125 buildings include affordable housing units funded by government agencies. An additional 31 buildings consist of single-room occupancy units, which are usually rented to low-income tenants. There are 8,247 affordable housing units in these buildings.

The Proposal: Proposition A is a bond measure that would authorize the City to borrow up to $46,150,000 by issuing general obligation bonds to fund loans and grants to pay for seismic retrofitting of soft-story affordable housing and single-room occupancy buildings.

Projects funded by the bond would include:

  • A deferred loan and grant program to pay for seismic retrofitting of soft-story affordable housing buildings funded by government agencies. Up to $41,330,000 could be used for this program.
  • A loan program to pay for seismic retrofitting of soft-story single-room occupancy buildings. Up to $4,820,000 could be used for this program. The City agencies responsible for implementing these programs would set the terms and conditions for the loans and grants. But a property owner would be required to repay these loans and grants immediately if the property owner reduced the number of affordable housing units as part of a sale or transfer of the property.

Proposition A would require the Citizen's General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee to provide independent oversight of the spending of bond funds. One-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of the bond funds would pay for the committee's audit and oversight functions.

Proposition A would allow an increase in the property tax to pay for the bonds. It would permit landlords to pass through 50% of the resulting property tax increase to tenants.

Two-thirds of the voters must approve this measure for it to pass.

Fiscal Impact from The Controller of San Francisco:
City Controller Ben Rosenfield has issued the following statement on the fiscal impact of Proposition A:

Should the proposed $46,150,000 million in bonds be authorized and sold under current assumptions, the approximate costs will be as follows:

  • In fiscal year 2011-2012, following issuance of the first series of bonds, and the year with the lowest tax rate, the estimated annual costs of debt service would be $1.0 million and result in a property tax rate of $0.0007 per $100 ($0.70 per $100,000) of assessed valuation.
  • In fiscal year 2015-2016, following issuance of the last series of bonds, and the year with the highest tax rate, the estimated annual costs of debt service would be $4.4 million and result in a property tax rate of $0.0025 per $100 ($2.50 per $100,000) of assessed valuation.
  • The best estimate of the average tax rate for these bonds from fiscal year 2011-2012 through 2033-2034 is $0.0016 per $100 ($1.60 per $100,000) of assessed valuation.
  • Based on these estimates, the highest estimated annual property tax cost for the owner of a home with an assessed value of $400,000 would be approximately $9.46.
  • Landlords would be allowed to pass through 50% of the annual property tax cost of the proposed bond to tenants as permitted in the City Administrative Code. Based on these estimates, the highest estimated annual cost for a tenant in a unit with an assessed value of approximately $156,000 would be $1.98.

These estimates are based on projections only, which are not binding upon the City. Projections and estimates may vary due to the timing of bond sales, the amount of bonds sold at each sale, and actual assessed valuation over the term of repayment of the bonds. Hence, the actual tax rate and the years in which such rates are applicable may vary from those estimated above. The City's current debt management policy is to issue new general obligation bonds only as old ones are retired, keeping the property tax impact from general obligation bonds approximately the same over time.

 
This election is archived. Any links to sources outside of Smart Voter may no longer be active. No further links will be added to this page.
Links to sources outside of Smart Voter are provided for information only and do not imply endorsement.

Arguments For Proposition A Arguments Against Proposition A
Remember Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans? More than 100,000 people were displaced from their homes, their lives devastated. San Francisco is a city prone to serious earthquakes. Unless we take steps now to retrofit and protect our most vulnerable buildings and people, we could see similar destruction in our City. This bond measure would create a deferred loan fund to pay for seismic retrofits for highly vulnerable "soft story" buildings with affordable units: 156 buildings and 8,247 units throughout the City. The working families and low-income residents living in these buildings deserve protection when the next earthquake hits. In the Loma Prieta Earthquake, we lost 7,700 housing units because of damage to soft story buildings - we must strengthen similar buildings before it's too late.

WHAT IS IT: A $46.15 million general obligation bond to fund specific seismic improvements to "soft story" buildings, which are similar to the type of structures that sustained the most damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

WHY RETROFIT: With the retrofits funded by this bond, the chance that a soft story building collapses in an extreme earthquake drops from 35% to 3%, saving lives and preserving San Francisco's housing stock.

WHY NOW: The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a 63% chance that a 6.7 or greater earthquake will hit us in the next three decades, and that on the Hayward Fault, this would likely cause hundreds of deaths and almost $100 billion in damage.

INVESTMENT: For $2.48 per San Franciscan annually, we can prevent building collapse: saving lives, preventing fires from spreading through neighborhoods, and keeping residents from being displaced and homeless.

Mayor Gavin Newsom

President David Chiu, Board of Supervisors

Joanne Hayes-White, Fire Chief*

Edwin Lee, City Administrator*

Gabriel Metcalf, Executive Director, SPUR

  • For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organization.

Rebuttal to Arguments For
PROPOSITION A BACKERS ARE MISUSING THE CONCEPT OF "EARTHQUAKE RETROFIT" TO GIVE GIFTS AND LOANS TO POLITICALLY-CONNECTED SLUMLORDS TO REPAIR THEIR PRIVATELY-OWNED BUILDINGS WITH CITY TAX MONEY! Behind the mask of "Earthquake Retrofit" sit a group of very wealth and greedy multi-millionaires who refuse to repair their highly-profitable slumlord hotels and apartment houses.

What is really needed are building inspectors who will firmly enforce the building codes against these slumlords, many of whom make political campaign donations to the so-called "City Fathers".

Proposition A's proposed $46,150,000 in giveaways and loans to slumlords is an Outrage. These wealthy individuals, having long exploited the poor of our City with substandard buildings, now want the taxpayers of San Francisco to pay their repair bills.

Dr. Terence Faulkner, J.D., County Central Committeeman*

Doo Sup Park, State Senate Nominee

  • For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organization.
SHOULD SAN FRANCISCO GIVE FINANCIAL AID TO MULTI-MILLIONAIRE SLUMLORDS AND RELATED SUB-STANDARD "FIRE TRAP" HOTELS???:

We all know that these slumlords are very wealthy and make large political campaign donations to our so-called "City Fathers".

These slumlords and substandard hotel owners are dragging their feet and refusing to make basic repairs to their poorly maintained properties. What the City really needs are firm building inspectors who will take these questionable businessmen to court and/or City Prison.

Proposition A's proposal to give these slumlords a financial aid program of some $46,150,000 in giveaways, grants, and loans is outrageous. Don't reward illegal misconduct.

Proposition A is an insult to the law abiding residents and voters of San Francisco.

These multi-millionaire building owners already have enough money to properly repair their properties.

Dr. Terence Faulkner, J.D., Republican County Central Committeeman*, (12th Assembly District)

  • For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organization.

Rebuttal to Arguments Against
EARTHQUAKES AFFECT ALL OF US Mother Nature doesn't discriminate + when the next earthquake comes, it will impact ALL PEOPLE who live and work in San Francisco.

PREVENTING BUILDING COLLAPSE IS A CITYWIDE GOAL Seismically retrofitted buildings are over 10 times more likely to remain standing after a big earthquake. When buildings stay standing, families don't need temporary FEMA trailers and tent camps. Instead, they can remain safe at home. This bond provides retrofits for 8,247 housing units + imagine the consequences for the City economy if all these people became homeless in a matter of moments. That's why seismic retrofits are critical.

FIRE SPREADS FAST Even if you don't live in a seismically vulnerable affordable housing building, there might be one on your block or in your neighborhood. In the worst-case scenario, a big earthquake may bring a building like this crumbling to the ground, starting a fire. The frightening thing about fire is that once it starts, it burns just as fast and hot in surrounding buildings that are still standing as it does in collapsed buildings. We MUST retrofit these soft story affordable housing buildings RIGHT AWAY to prevent collapse and fire. This will help keep neighborhoods intact after the next big earthquake and help us get back to our daily lives faster.

VOTE YES ON A. Mayor Gavin Newsom

President David Chiu, Board of Supervisors

Joanne Hayes-White, Fire Chief*

Edwin M. Lee, City Administrator*

Gabriel Metcalf, Executive Director, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR)

  • For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organizatio


San Francisco Home Page || Statewide Links || About Smart Voter || Feedback
Created: January 6, 2011 15:00 PST
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://cavotes.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.