§ 107.2. FINDINGS, PURPOSE, AND GOALS OF CREATING CULTURAL DISTRICTS.

(a) Findings. San Francisco is a world-class city known for our patchwork of ethnically and culturally distinct neighborhoods, and we have deep pride in our diversity.

These distinctive neighborhoods are also the backbone of our economy. Tourists come to San Francisco to immerse themselves in the unique cultures, aesthetic, and artistic tradition of each neighborhood. Last year, more than 25.2 million visitors spent almost $9 billion in our restaurants, shops, galleries and theaters.

Our culture is also a major contributor to our city’s other economic sectors. Studies show that our strong cultural identity is what attracts our skilled and educated workforce, which in turn attracts innovative companies and firms. Even our manufacturing and light industrial sector benefits from our city’s brand and its strong association with diversity, history, and innovation.

The individual character and culture of our neighborhoods have never been more at risk. President Trump is proposing to eliminate all federal funding for the arts and culture in his budget, and has slashed funding for affordable housing and community development.

San Francisco’s families are being displaced. The benefits of our booming economy are not being equally shared. According to a study by the Brookings Institution, San Francisco has the fastest-growing income inequality of any city in the nation. We are losing our diversity as our decades-old ethnic communities are being forced to move away.

Our artists and arts organizations are disappearing. As rents continue to rise artists and arts organizations can no longer afford rent in their neighborhoods, and they are leaving the City. Without these artists, the City is at risk of losing the murals, festivals, theater, and music that make our city a destination for inspiration.

Our historic small businesses are at risk. Commercial rents in most neighborhoods are doubling and tripling, and otherwise healthy businesses that act as anchors for our commercial corridors are being closed down for good. Business closures are up over 800% from 25 years ago.

Too much is on the line, and we must respond. San Francisco has the power and the obligation to create an effective strategy to protect, stabilize, and strengthen areas of the City that represent unique cultural heritages.

(b) Purpose. San Francisco’s Cultural Districts program seeks to formalize a collaborative partnership between the City and communities and bring resources in order to stabilize vulnerable communities facing or at risk of displacement or gentrification, and to preserve, strengthen and promote our cultural assets and diverse communities, so that individuals, families, businesses that serve and employ them, nonprofit organizations, community arts, and educational institutions are able to live, work and prosper within the City.

(c) Goals. The City creates Cultural Districts to advance the following goals:

(1) preserving, maintaining and developing unique cultural and historic assets;

(2) preserving and promoting significant assets such as buildings, business, organizations, traditions, practices, events, including their venues or outdoor special events and their geographic footprints, works of art, and public facing physical elements or characteristics that have contributed to the history or cultural heritage of San Francisco and its people or are associated with the lives of persons important to San Francisco history;

(3) stopping the displacement of residents of Cultural Districts who are members of ethnic or other vulnerable communities that define those Districts, and promoting affordable housing opportunities and home ownership within the Districts while also developing and strengthening new tools to prevent displacement;

(4) attracting and supporting artists, creative entrepreneurs, cultural enterprises and people that embody and promote the cultural heritage of the District, especially those that have been displaced;

(5) promoting tourism to stabilize and strengthen the identity of the district while contributing to the district’s economy;

(6) celebrating, strengthening, and sharing the unique cultural and ethnic identity of vulnerable communities, and providing opportunities for community neighbors, supporters, and advocates to participate;

(7) creating appropriate City regulations, tools, and programs such as zoning and land use controls to promote and protect businesses and industries that advance the culture and history of Cultural Districts;

(8) promoting employment and economic opportunities for residents of Cultural Districts;

(9) promoting cultural competency and education by diversifying our historic narrative on the history of San Francisco’s many diverse cultural and ethnic communities, with an emphasis on those who have been previously marginalized and misrepresented in dominant narratives;

(10) promoting culturally competent and culturally appropriate City services and policies that encourage the health and safety of the community, culture, or ethnic groups in Cultural Districts;

(11) slowing down gentrification and mitigating its effects on vulnerable, minority communities; and

(12) promoting and strengthening collaboration between the City and communities to maximize cultural competency and pursue social equity within some of the City’s most vulnerable communities.

(Added by Ord. , File No. 171140, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018)