The Frisconian
SIGN IN
SIGN UP
UPGRADE
The Frisconian

Archive

All of our previous posts

San Francisco's 2004 chain-store law banned El Farolito's 12th shop

Aug 24, 2026

•

7 min read

San Francisco's 2004 chain-store law banned El Farolito's 12th shop

The ordinance that invented "formula retail" still bans chains outright in three neighborhoods. Seventeen years after writing North Beach's version of that ban, the former supervisor who wrote it found a way around his own law to let a Mission taquería in.

San Francisco's Sanitation and Streets Department lasted just one budget: $116.7 million

Aug 21, 2026

•

5 min read

San Francisco's Sanitation and Streets Department lasted just one budget: $116.7 million

Voters created the agency in November 2020 and eliminated it two years later, before it produced a second year of spending.

Treasure Island created 1,318 of San Francisco's 1,534 new lots in 2026

Aug 19, 2026

•

5 min read

Treasure Island created 1,318 of San Francisco's 1,534 new lots in 2026

The island's redevelopment recorded 86 percent of every new property line the city drew this year.

Salesforce Tower Filed 7% of San Francisco's H-1B Sponsorships

Aug 17, 2026

•

5 min read

Salesforce Tower Filed 7% of San Francisco's H-1B Sponsorships

One office tower accounted for 144 of the city's 2,044 H-1B filings last quarter, more than any other San Francisco address by a wide margin. A year earlier the tower carried more filings in raw terms, 164; what grew was Salesforce's own grip on the building, from three-quarters of its filings to nine in ten, as other tenants there pulled back and nearly all of Salesforce's own filings were renewals, not new hires.

Seven San Francisco neighborhoods have zero affordable units in the pipeline

Aug 14, 2026

•

4 min read

Seven San Francisco neighborhoods have zero affordable units in the pipeline

Four others hold 53% of the 10,100 income-restricted units now moving toward completion: Bayview Hunters Point, the Mission, Mission Bay, and the Financial District/South Beach.

The Quietest Camera in San Francisco

Aug 12, 2026

•

7 min read

The Quietest Camera in San Francisco

San Francisco’s thirteen camera-enforced intersections have issued 25,467 citations since January 2024. Five of those came from the one at Market and Octavia, which required an act of the state legislature. The turn it watches has all but stopped. The injuries at that corner have not.

In 1907, San Francisco paid only 7 cents
LockSimple

Aug 11, 2026

•

6 min read

In 1907, San Francisco paid only 7 cents

San Francisco has voted on 1,998 ballot measures since 1907, and 1,212 of them were amendments to its own charter, the document that used to hold the pay of every clerk in the building. One election in 1995 closed that ballot down.

Five hundred and fifteen asks, and no answer
LockSimple

Aug 9, 2026

•

9 min read

Five hundred and fifteen asks, and no answer

One Planning file, the Flower Mart on Brannan Street, has drawn more logged lobbying than any other municipal decision in San Francisco’s sixteen-year disclosure record. The median file draws five contacts. Nine years on, the department’s own status for the case reads On Hold.

The Fastest-Growing Till in San Francisco Is in Japantown
LockSimple

Aug 7, 2026

•

6 min read

The Fastest-Growing Till in San Francisco Is in Japantown

Sales tax collected there over the last four quarters ran 62.2 percent above calendar 2019, the largest gain of the 38 neighborhoods with unbroken figures in both windows. Citywide the same measure is down 11.7 percent. The file’s own confidentiality rule rules out a single dominant taxpayer.

Load more

Subscribe to The Frisconian

The must-read newsletter for San Francisco residents who want to understand their city through data.

ARCHIVE

AUTHORS

SUBSCRIBE

UPGRADE

© 2026 The Frisconian.
beehiivPowered by beehiiv