Supervisor Mark Mood urges action on Affordable Groceries Act; committee tables measure

Supervisor Mark Mood urged the Rules Committee on July 20 to tackle rising grocery prices and expanding food deserts by advancing the Affordable Groceries Act, a package that would create a dedicated fund to subsidize corner-store conversions, grants for build-outs and tenant improvements, and property acquisition or leasing to secure affordable grocery space.

"Do they pay for their food, or do they pay for their rent?" Mood asked, framing grocery cost increases as part of a broader affordability crisis facing San Franciscans. He described components of his approach: a corner-store conversion program, restored funding for Healthy Retail grants, grocery startup incentives (including an expanded first-year permit-fee exemption), storefront opportunity grants for capital build-outs, and zoning reforms to encourage ground-floor grocery space.

Mood also described a paired proposal — a proposed excise tax on large-chain owners that leave formula retail grocery or pharmacy sites vacant or use them in ways that undermine neighborhood access — intended to deter so-called "zombie stores" and to help fund the grocery program. He acknowledged the proposals were new to San Francisco and that there was not yet consensus at City Hall, saying he did not have the votes to pass the fund or the tax out of committee that day and that he would request continuance to the chair's call and bring legislative drafting requests to the board.

Several public commenters supported the proposals. A representative of Indivisible SF said rising rents and food insecurity demand immediate legislative responses. David Elliott Lewis, chair of the Tenderloin People's Congress, described large parts of the Tenderloin as food deserts with no full-service grocery or pharmacy and alleged that "corporate interests" had pushed to block similar measures involving large properties, citing a closed Whole Foods site on Market Street as an example; Lewis asked the committee to move the items to the full board so voters could decide.

After public comment, Chair Shamon Walton moved to table items 3 and 9. Vice Chair and committee members voted "aye," and the motion to table passed without objection. The committee did not adopt the fund or the tax but left avenues for Supervisor Mood to return with legislative drafts and for further departmental coordination.

What happens next: Supervisor Mood said he will file drafting requests with the board for components of the Affordable Groceries Act and pursue programs already used elsewhere (corner-store conversions, permit-fee exemptions and storefront grants). The formal committee action for the day was to table items 3 and 9; no ordinance or tax was enacted at the meeting.