With the release of its Strategic Plan, MEDA has re-envisioned its work via five measurable results to be achieved for the San Francisco Mission District community by 2020.
This is blog #5 of 5 that have detailed these five results.
Result 5: The Mission is a Strong and Supportive Community for Latino Residents, Businesses and Institutions
Definition of result
MEDA is committed to ensuring the Mission District retains its historic and current identity as a strong Latino community, and a welcoming place for immigrants and the generations of Latino families who have long called the neighborhood home. This means that Latinos of all income levels are able to call the Mission District their permanent home, along with the small businesses and community institutions serving them. We envision a family-friendly community offering affordable retail, restaurants, child care, housing, arts and culture, blue- collar jobs, parks and transit that create a neighborhood of opportunity.
Description of need
Since the year 2000, 8,000 working-class Latino residents have been displaced from the Mission District — that’s over 25 percent of this community. Additionally, hundreds of family- owned businesses, arts and nonpro t organizations, and child care facilities have been displaced from the Mission District because of skyrocketing commercial costs.
Mission Street’s commercial corridor is the lifeblood of the community. Over the last 15 years, the corridor has been experiencing a dramatic cultural shift, as established culturally relevant, family-serving business are closing or being evicted. This is evidenced by the signi cant change of use almost entirely from Retail Sales space to Food/Beverage Handling. According to San Francisco Planning Department data, just since 2012 the Mission Street commercial corridor has lost 23 retail permits based on change of use, while gaining only two new retail permits. This indicates more retail spending occurring outside the neighborhood, a loss of longtime mom-and-pop businesses and fewer remaining local shopping resources within the neighborhood for the Mission District’s lower- and moderate-income residents. In this same period, the Mission Street commercial corridor has gained 18 new restaurant permits, while losing only one, indicating a substantial changeover from established retail businesses to new restaurants, the latter a catalyst for higher market-rate commercial rents and augmented consumer prices.
Furthermore, City data shows that the rate at which established San Francisco businesses close or change location continues its trend of acceleration when compared to newer businesses, increasing from 20 percent of all businesses opened in 2010 to a projected 28 percent in 2017. This rate of change is three times as much as the rate of change happening to all businesses in the city (6 percent versus 2 percent). Given that protections exist for some of these older businesses, the surprising fact that they are closing more rapidly than newer businesses likely indicates that signi cant demographic shifts — and other cultural and economic trends — are playing a major factor in the health and sustainability of businesses along the Mission Street commercial corridor.
Since 2012, the Mission District has lost eight of its arts spaces — approximately 20 percent of the arts spaces in the neighborhood. A San Francisco Arts Commission survey showed that 70 percent of artists in the city had been or were currently being displaced from their workspace, their home or both.
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MEDA will be creating outcomes for the community around Result 5. This blog will showcase our results being achieved.
Please join us in this work.
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Read of all five results — and the entire 60-page strategic plan — via our online flipbook.
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