The November 3 General Election represented the culmination of months of political strain with a backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that ratcheted up pre-existing tensions on the national stage. In San Francisco, that tension manifested in the form of businesses temporarily boarded up by owners who were concerned about civil unrest.
This July, Local 38 Plumbers & Pipefitters broke ground on a new development at 1629 Market Street that will span several blocks, invigorating the area with a mix of uses. The project will not only supply a new union hall, but also house the Local 38 headquarters and deliver desperately needed housing to the area.
The AFL-CIO has announced a $1 billion initiative to generate jobs and rental housing in the Bay Area over the next five years. The Housing Investment Trust was created as a response to the economic stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The money will be used to invest in rental housing construction including affordable units for low income residents and to finance permanent housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.
As many of its Parnassus Heights campus buildings deteriorate, UCSF is seeking to undertake significant upgrades to bring patient care facilities up to California’s current seismic standards. In particular, UCSF’s Moffitt Hospital that was built in 1955 is in severe need of renovation and, along with the Long Hospital lacks the number of hospital beds necessary to meet the community’s needs.
Following a contentious multi-year battle, the historic San Francisco Flower Mart is slated for a new home in Potrero Hill. Developer Kilroy Realty’s planned redevelopment of the Flower Mart’s existing location at Sixth and Brannan streets in the South of Market neighborhood for mixed-use office and retail resulted in concerns over traffic impacts for the site, given the market’s reliance on truck deliveries.
Although it can be said that every election is important, the current climate where voting rights and the rights of working people are under attack renders the upcoming November election especially prominent on the minds of many in Labor.
Viewed by many as the most important election in modern history, the stakes for the future of the Labor community are set high for November 3. For San Francisco’s Building Trades, the key to securing good union jobs comes in the form of backing elected officials at the local, state and national levels who support working people.
An elementary school in the Outer Richmond neighborhood is in the final stages of an all-union modernization project covering the entire facility that began in 2018. Lafayette Elementary School is one of several schools that received funding through the San Francisco Unified School District’s Bond Program which set aside nearly $745 million to address the city’s deteriorating school facilities.
