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Roger posted an update in the group Mission News 9 years, 6 months ago
Legacy laws can help the Mission retain its vibe – San Francisco ChronicleAfter more than four decades of working on asset building for a primarily Latino immigrant clientele, the Mission Economic Development Agency hears firsthand the dreams of newcomers to the neighborhood, still mostly from Mexico and Central America. With escalating commercial rents and block after block looking more and more like trendy Valencia Street every day, these Latino immigrants cannot make their business models work in the Mission. To keep the Mission diverse and help prevent longtime, community-serving businesses from being displaced, it will take a concerted effort from politicians, the corporate world and all San Franciscans who love this neighborhood. Politicians need to support legacy-business legislation — slated for a vote by the Board of Supervisors in a few months — whereby 30-year and older business ventures are provided financial incentives, including tax breaks, to stay in operation. There is also an issue of commercial vacancies causing neighborhood blight, as landlords wait for exorbitant rents to be met; to combat this issue, there has been talk around City Hall of proposing a vacancy tax on commercial spaces that are not rented for long periods of time. Residents need to engage in community forums about affordable housing and small-business displacement — but most of all do business with these small, community-serving enterprises.