WASHINGTON — (AP) — The United States is hosting the annual APEC summit of world leaders this week for the first time since 2011. Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group will gather in San Francisco to talk about how to better spur trade and economic growth across the Pacific region.

But the main summit event will actually be on the sidelines: A face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This year’s conference is happening against the backdrop of the frosty relationship between China and the U.S. and global turmoil from the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The group started with 12 members in 1989, but has since grown to 21 including China, Russia, Japan, the U.S. and Australia. Those member nations pack a lot of punch, accounting for nearly 40% of the global population and almost half the world’s trade.

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It’s a forum to promote trade, investment and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean.

The annual leaders’ conference brings together heads of nations and other top economic and diplomatic leaders. (Don’t expect much of a presence from Russia this year; it’s a pariah as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses his country’s invasion of Ukraine and will have lower-level representation.)

White House aides say the goal for this year’s summit is to try to make APEC economies more resilient, particularly in the face of growing climate issues and following a global pandemic that killed millions of people and strained supply chains.

The main event of this summit is unfolding on the sidelines: a meeting between Biden and Xi. The two leaders haven’t spoken in person since they met last November during the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. A lot has happened since then to ratchet up tensions between the superpowers.

The Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S. earlier this year. The Chinese government hacked the emails of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The U.S. government restricted the export of advanced computer chips to China, and has pushed to provide development aid to other nations to counter China’s influence.

The differences also have been exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing assertiveness in the Taiwan Strait. But representatives from the U.S. and China have been meeting with increasing frequency lately, working to thaw relations. Still, the Biden-Xi meeting isn’t expected to substantially alter the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

The forum has limited scope. It is centered on trade and the economy. There is no military component and it wasn’t forged by a world-altering event like a war.

It technically has member “economies” rather than countries. That allows room for participation by both China-ruled Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan.

APEC’s strength lies in its ability to get countries to work together on big initiatives and to ease business relations without binding agreements. Economists point to how APEC contributed to a reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade.

But the trade landscape is different now than when APEC began in a period of increased globalization. The U.S. strategy has been focused on economic competition with China rather than cooperation, even as U.S. leaders continue to stress the importance of cooperation. Biden is seeking partnerships with other nations in the region to develop alternatives to Chinese manufacturing imports such as electronic equipment, machinery, furniture, textiles and other goods.

Biden also is trying to highlight progress on the new Indo-Pacific trade deal, started last year after President Donald Trump withdrew from the more popular Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The conference has had its challenges and moments of drama in recent years.

The group met virtually in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders did gather in Bangkok last year, but Biden skipped the summit because his granddaughter was getting married and he sent Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. That decision was regarded as a snub by some APEC leaders. Then, delegates from the United States and four other nations walked out to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the Russian representative to the conference began to speak.

Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 due to mass protests. Last year, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister, prompting police to fire at the crowd with rubber bullets that injured several protesters and a Reuters journalist.

This year may give rise to friction over the Israel-Hamas war. The variety of nations involved in the summit have strong views on both sides of the conflict. Typically at the close of a summit there is some kind of joint statement by all the nations, but that’s not a given this year, in part because of those differences.

There is also some participation intrigue: Taiwan will once again be represented at the summit by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder Morris Chang. The 92-year-old’s lack of a domestic political role allows him to meet with world leaders without fear of repercussions from China.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, will be represented by Financial Secretary Paul Chan. Chief executive John Lee, who is under U.S. sanctions for his role in a political crackdown in Hong Kong, opted out of the summit, citing scheduling issues.

A potential U.S. government shutdown also could loom over the conference: The government will run out of money on Friday without a funding agreement between Congress and the president. It’s a persistent reminder of U.S. political dysfunction just as as Biden seeks to project American reliability. The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative,” citing rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress.

At the end of APEC summits, the leaders typically pose together for a “family photo.” At the first leader-level meeting three decades ago, President Bill Clinton, hosting in Seattle, handed out matching leather bomber jackets similar to those worn by American fighter pilots. He apparently wanted his fellow VIPs to feel relaxed, and a tradition was launched.

Since then, the APEC leaders have posed together in batik shirts (Malaysia, 1998), Chinese jackets (Shanghai, 2001), flowing ponchos (Chile, 2004) and “ao dai” tunics (Vietnam, 2006.) The Philippines’ barong tagalog, a partially see-through, embroidered shirt sewn from pineapple fiber and silk, was featured in the 1996 summit and again in 2015.

It’s not clear if the matching outfits will be back this year. The last time the U.S. hosted the conference, in Hawaii in 2011, President Barack Obama nixed the idea. A reporter asked whether it was scrapped because the tradition felt too light-hearted amid ongoing concerns about the economy.

No. Obama just thought they looked embarrassing.

The post The APEC summit is going on this week in San Francisco. What’s APEC, anyway? – WSB-TV Channel 2 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is hosting the annual APEC summit of world leaders this week for the first time since 2011. Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group will gather in San Francisco to talk about how to better spur trade and economic growth across the Pacific region.

But the main summit event will actually be on the sidelines: A face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This year’s conference is happening against the backdrop of the frosty relationship between China and the U.S. and global turmoil from the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A look at what APEC is and how it works:

WHAT IS APEC?

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It’s a forum to promote trade, investment and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean.

The group started with 12 members in 1989, but has since grown to 21 including China, Russia, Japan, the U.S. and Australia. Those member nations pack a lot of punch, accounting for nearly 40% of the global population and almost half the world’s trade.

The annual leaders’ conference brings together heads of nations and other top economic and diplomatic leaders. (Don’t expect much of a presence from Russia this year; it’s a pariah as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses his country’s invasion of Ukraine and will have lower-level representation.)

White House aides say the goal for this year’s summit is to try to make APEC economies more resilient, particularly in the face of growing climate issues and following a global pandemic that killed millions of people and strained supply chains.

THE MAIN EVENT

The main event of this summit is unfolding on the sidelines: a meeting between Biden and Xi. The two leaders haven’t spoken in person since they met last November during the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. A lot has happened since then to ratchet up tensions between the superpowers.

The Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S. earlier this year. The Chinese government hacked the emails of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The U.S. government restricted the export of advanced computer chips to China, and has pushed to provide development aid to other nations to counter China’s influence.

The differences also have been exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing assertiveness in the Taiwan Strait. But representatives from the U.S. and China have been meeting with increasing frequency lately, working to thaw relations. Still, the Biden-Xi meeting isn’t expected to substantially alter the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS APEC?

The forum has limited scope. It is centered on trade and the economy. There is no military component and it wasn’t forged by a world-altering event like a war.

It technically has member “economies” rather than countries. That allows room for participation by both China-ruled Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan.

APEC’s strength lies in its ability to get countries to work together on big initiatives and to ease business relations without binding agreements. Economists point to how APEC contributed to a reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade.

But the trade landscape is different now than when APEC began in a period of increased globalization. The U.S. strategy has been focused on economic competition with China rather than cooperation, even as U.S. leaders continue to stress the importance of cooperation. Biden is seeking partnerships with other nations in the region to develop alternatives to Chinese manufacturing imports such as electronic equipment, machinery, furniture, textiles and other goods.

Biden also is trying to highlight progress on the new Indo-Pacific trade deal, started last year after President Donald Trump withdrew from the more popular Trans-Pacific Partnership.

FRICTION

The conference has had its challenges and moments of drama in recent years.

The group met virtually in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders did gather in Bangkok last year, but Biden skipped the summit because his granddaughter was getting married and he sent Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. That decision was regarded as a snub by some APEC leaders. Then, delegates from the United States and four other nations walked out to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the Russian representative to the conference began to speak.

Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 due to mass protests. Last year, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister, prompting police to fire at the crowd with rubber bullets that injured several protesters and a Reuters journalist.

This year may give rise to friction over the Israel-Hamas war. The variety of nations involved in the summit have strong views on both sides of the conflict. Typically at the close of a summit there is some kind of joint statement by all the nations, but that’s not a given this year, in part because of those differences.

There is also some participation intrigue: Taiwan will once again be represented at the summit by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder Morris Chang. The 92-year-old’s lack of a domestic political role allows him to meet with world leaders without fear of repercussions from China.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, will be represented by Financial Secretary Paul Chan. Chief executive John Lee, who is under U.S. sanctions for his role in a political crackdown in Hong Kong, opted out of the summit, citing scheduling issues.

A potential U.S. government shutdown also could loom over the conference: The government will run out of money on Friday without a funding agreement between Congress and the president. It’s a persistent reminder of U.S. political dysfunction just as as Biden seeks to project American reliability. The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative,” citing rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress.

FORUM FASHION

At the end of APEC summits, the leaders typically pose together for a “family photo.” At the first leader-level meeting three decades ago, President Bill Clinton, hosting in Seattle, handed out matching leather bomber jackets similar to those worn by American fighter pilots. He apparently wanted his fellow VIPs to feel relaxed, and a tradition was launched.

Since then, the APEC leaders have posed together in batik shirts (Malaysia, 1998), Chinese jackets (Shanghai, 2001), flowing ponchos (Chile, 2004) and “ao dai” tunics (Vietnam, 2006.) The Philippines’ barong tagalog, a partially see-through, embroidered shirt sewn from pineapple fiber and silk, was featured in the 1996 summit and again in 2015.

It’s not clear if the matching outfits will be back this year. The last time the U.S. hosted the conference, in Hawaii in 2011, President Barack Obama nixed the idea. A reporter asked whether it was scrapped because the tradition felt too light-hearted amid ongoing concerns about the economy.

No. Obama just thought they looked embarrassing.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

The post The APEC summit is occurring this week in San Francisco. What’s APEC, anyway? appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

WASHINGTON — The United States is hosting the annual APEC summit of world leaders this week for the first time since 2011. Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group will gather in San Francisco to talk about how to better spur trade and economic growth across the Pacific region.

But the main summit event will actually be on the sidelines: A face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This year’s conference is happening against the backdrop of the frosty relationship between China and the U.S. and global turmoil from the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A look at what APEC is and how it works:

WHAT IS APEC?

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It’s a forum to promote trade, investment and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean.

The group started with 12 members in 1989, but has since grown to 21 including China, Russia, Japan, the U.S. and Australia. Those member nations pack a lot of punch, accounting for nearly 40% of the global population and almost half the world’s trade.

The annual leaders’ conference brings together heads of nations and other top economic and diplomatic leaders. (Don’t expect much of a presence from Russia this year; it’s a pariah as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses his country’s invasion of Ukraine and will have lower-level representation.)

White House aides say the goal for this year’s summit is to try to make APEC economies more resilient, particularly in the face of growing climate issues and following a global pandemic that killed millions of people and strained supply chains.

THE MAIN EVENT

The main event of this summit is unfolding on the sidelines: a meeting between Biden and Xi. The two leaders haven’t spoken in person since they met last November during the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. A lot has happened since then to ratchet up tensions between the superpowers.

The Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S. earlier this year. The Chinese government hacked the emails of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The U.S. government restricted the export of advanced computer chips to China, and has pushed to provide development aid to other nations to counter China’s influence.

The differences also have been exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing assertiveness in the Taiwan Strait. But representatives from the U.S. and China have been meeting with increasing frequency lately, working to thaw relations. Still, the Biden-Xi meeting isn’t expected to substantially alter the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS APEC?

The forum has limited scope. It is centered on trade and the economy. There is no military component and it wasn’t forged by a world-altering event like a war.

It technically has member “economies” rather than countries. That allows room for participation by both China-ruled Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan.

APEC’s strength lies in its ability to get countries to work together on big initiatives and to ease business relations without binding agreements. Economists point to how APEC contributed to a reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade.

But the trade landscape is different now than when APEC began in a period of increased globalization. The U.S. strategy has been focused on economic competition with China rather than cooperation, even as U.S. leaders continue to stress the importance of cooperation. Biden is seeking partnerships with other nations in the region to develop alternatives to Chinese manufacturing imports such as electronic equipment, machinery, furniture, textiles and other goods.

Biden also is trying to highlight progress on the new Indo-Pacific trade deal, started last year after President Donald Trump withdrew from the more popular Trans-Pacific Partnership.

FRICTION

The conference has had its challenges and moments of drama in recent years.

The group met virtually in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders did gather in Bangkok last year, but Biden skipped the summit because his granddaughter was getting married and he sent Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. That decision was regarded as a snub by some APEC leaders. Then, delegates from the United States and four other nations walked out to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the Russian representative to the conference began to speak.

Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 due to mass protests. Last year, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister, prompting police to fire at the crowd with rubber bullets that injured several protesters and a Reuters journalist.

This year may give rise to friction over the Israel-Hamas war. The variety of nations involved in the summit have strong views on both sides of the conflict. Typically at the close of a summit there is some kind of joint statement by all the nations, but that’s not a given this year, in part because of those differences.

There is also some participation intrigue: Taiwan will once again be represented at the summit by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder Morris Chang. The 92-year-old’s lack of a domestic political role allows him to meet with world leaders without fear of repercussions from China.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, will be represented by Financial Secretary Paul Chan. Chief executive John Lee, who is under U.S. sanctions for his role in a political crackdown in Hong Kong, opted out of the summit, citing scheduling issues.

A potential U.S. government shutdown also could loom over the conference: The government will run out of money on Friday without a funding agreement between Congress and the president. It’s a persistent reminder of U.S. political dysfunction just as as Biden seeks to project American reliability. The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative,” citing rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress.

FORUM FASHION

At the end of APEC summits, the leaders typically pose together for a “family photo.” At the first leader-level meeting three decades ago, President Bill Clinton, hosting in Seattle, handed out matching leather bomber jackets similar to those worn by American fighter pilots. He apparently wanted his fellow VIPs to feel relaxed, and a tradition was launched.

Since then, the APEC leaders have posed together in batik shirts (Malaysia, 1998), Chinese jackets (Shanghai, 2001), flowing ponchos (Chile, 2004) and “ao dai” tunics (Vietnam, 2006.) The Philippines’ barong tagalog, a partially see-through, embroidered shirt sewn from pineapple fiber and silk, was featured in the 1996 summit and again in 2015.

It’s not clear if the matching outfits will be back this year. The last time the U.S. hosted the conference, in Hawaii in 2011, President Barack Obama nixed the idea. A reporter asked whether it was scrapped because the tradition felt too light-hearted amid ongoing concerns about the economy.

No. Obama just thought they looked embarrassing.

The post The APEC summit is occurring this week in San Francisco. What’s APEC, anyway? | Enterprise appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Francisco’s prophesied real estate reset—a revaluation of buildings that could bludgeon the city’s budget—has started to take root.

Last year, the city projected a $720 million two-year deficit due in large part to the negative revenue impacts caused by the shift to remote work and the hit to commercial real estate.

When it came time to actually pass the budget, however, what resulted was a year of record spending, with city leaders plugging the gap by shifting around sources of revenue and pulling from its financial reserves. 

But those tactics have not changed the underlying calculus leading to years of anticipated shortfalls expected to rise to $1 billion by 2026. Moreover, increasing signs of stress are showing up in the numbers.

Few Transactions

The city’s transfer tax revenue—which is directly tied to the sale of buildings—has fallen off a cliff due to far fewer commercial properties trading hands. Home sales in San Francisco, which provide a smaller portion of transfer tax revenue, have also dropped from their 2021 peak.  

In the last fiscal year, San Francisco pulled in $186 million in transfer tax revenue—the lowest number in more than a decade, according to Ted Egan, the city’s chief economist.

Egan said the last time the transfer tax was lower was all the way back in 2010, when the city earned just $135 million from that source in the wake of the Great Recession. 

The revenue that came in for 2022-23 was more than $100 million lower than the prior budget projections made by the city. 

Compare that with 2021-22, when the city earned $520 million in transfer tax, buoyed by major property sales like the purchase of PG&E’s former Downtown headquarters for $800 million and the $1 billion sale of the Exchange in Mission Bay. 

Although transfer tax is considered a volatile source of income for the city because of its heavy reliance on large commercial properties trading hands, it has been an increasingly common tool in recent years to pad San Francisco’s budget.  

A number of local ballot measures, including 2010’s Prop. N, 2016’s Prop. W and 2020’s Prop. I, have progressively raised the transfer tax rate on expensive properties. Currently, the transfer tax rate for properties over $10 million is 5.5%-6%, higher than the top rate of any other major city in California.   

“We have seen numbers like this since the Great Recession,” Egan said. “It’s always been very volatile, but the revenue stream is getting increasingly reliant on sales of a few properties, and that increases its volatility even further.”

Property Tax Discounts

But these declines in value aren’t just hitting the city when buildings trade hands. An increasing number of property owners are filing for temporary reductions in their assessed value, which means a property tax discount.

All told, 2,873 property assessment appeals in San Francisco were filed to the assessment appeals board in the fiscal year ending in July, reflecting more than $60 billion in total property values. The number of applications during the last fiscal year was at its highest level in nearly a decade.

San Francisco property tax revenue is currently projected to fall between this year and next, and the city is expecting to refund around $167 million in property taxes over the next two years because of successful assessment appeals. Updated numbers from the Controller’s Office are expected later this year. 

A skyline view of Downtown San Francisco with Salesforce Tower in view as transit buses and trolleys drive up and down Market Street, in San Francisco on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

Uncertainty about the commercial real estate market, difficulties getting financing through traditional channels, sharp interest rates and what Egan terms a “lack of price discovery” has slowed the market for transactions to a crawl. 

Essentially, the lack of properties trading hands in the current market means few data points—“comps” in real estate terms—to help accurately price future deals. What deals are in the works are often coming in at prices lower than the city’s assessed value, which means a decline in incoming property tax revenue.

“We’re going to start to see these property sales having an effect on the market and perhaps accelerating the process of this sort of Downtown reset we’re all expecting,” Egan said. “I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom yet. I think when we reach the bottom is when things start moving at the bottom.”

Property taxes are the single largest source of revenue for San Francisco, earning more than $2 billion annually to pay for city services like street cleaning, public health programs and law enforcement. 

Falling Values

Cyrus Sanandaji, the founder and CEO of San Francisco developer Presidio Bay Ventures, put together an analysis of nine major buildings that have traded hands this year or are expected to sell in the near future, along with their estimated market values. He calculated the property tax the owners would pay the city both before and after the sale. 

In some cases, the new property owners would pay even more in taxes in part because Prop. 13 restricts annual appreciation to 2%, which creates a mismatch between market values and assessed values for long-held properties. In the case of 180 Howard St., which is expected to sell for around $62 million, a new owner would pay more in taxes because the previous owner was a government entity that was exempted. 

Egan also pointed out that properties are reassessed when new construction happens, so buildings getting major improvements will also see their value—and tax bill—tick up. 

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder argued that the city’s assessment roll—San Francisco’s total record of taxable property—has remained relatively stable, even through the current economic challenges, because of the impact of Prop. 13 and the diversity of real estate in the city. 

“We are expecting slower roll growth in the coming year and assessment appeals and the continued effects of the pandemic on commercial real estate downtown are top of mind for our office as we prepare for and manage our workload in the year ahead and beyond,” the Assessor-Recorder’s Office said in a statement. 

By and large, though, the drop in values means lower revenue for the city. For 550 California, which is expected to sell for less than half of its 2005 price, the city stands to lose nearly $1.4 million in property tax revenue based on the current assessed value, according to Sanandaji’s analysis. 

The North Park office complex in Jackson Square is also rumored to be testing the market at a two-thirds discount to the $245 million it was purchased for back in 2018. If the property changed hands at that price, the city would stand to lose $2.1 million in property tax revenue. 

Residential buildings stand above Jackson Street in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard

Personally, the major drop in market values has provided a rare opportunity for Sanandaji. Presidio Bay Ventures recently purchased a mostly vacant 11-story office building at 60 Spear St. for $40.9 million, a 60% discount from the $107 million paid by Clarion Partners in 2014.

While the sale means a shot in the arm for transfer tax, it also translates to $975,000 less in property tax revenue for San Francisco annually. Presidio Bay plans to pour tens of millions in upgrades into the property, which will include amenities like a spa, gym, rooftop bar and restaurant. Sanandaji’s bet is to leverage the building’s low cost to create a top-tier office space that stands out from the competition. 

While alluding to the real challenges San Francisco faces, Sanandaji underscored the “perception and disconnect” that many investors have about the city. Among the positives he listed were the Bay Area’s central place in the venture capital world and the positive performance of big tech companies in the public markets.

“Perception is driving investment and divestment decisions among people that aren’t here,” Sanandaji said. “They’re on the East Coast or abroad.”  

Sanandaji also referenced the fact that major institutional investors like Goldman Sachs and BentallGreenOak have started the process of raising billions to specifically invest in distressed real estate assets as a sign things will eventually turn around. 

“Sooner than later, the numbers will go from $200 to $400 (per square foot), then $400 to $600, and before you know it, we’re back at $1,000,” Sanandaji said. “I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you exactly when, but I know that over a 10-year period, that’s going to happen.”

The picture in the short-term is a bit more clear: “It’s ugly for the city, for sure,” Sanandaji said.

The post San Francisco’s Actual Property Reset Is Already Taking place appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

When House of Brakes, 3195 24th St., closed last year after owners sold the property, many at the Mission wondered about the fate of the low-rise building at the corner of 24th and South Van Ness — and the future of a historic mural the property and a newer mural on an east wall overlooking the driveway.

Only construction is allowed in San Francisco. This could mean trouble for the towering Carnaval and Chata murals on the walls of neighboring buildings. The House of Brakes, which has been in business since 1968 and was run by Daniel Borg until his lease expired in November 2022, is only one story and set back on its property so the corner can be surrounded by art.

The 2010 South Mission Historic Survey found that the property was deemed “unsuitable” for listing as a historic building. It was a blow to some in the community as many love its short stature and, perhaps more importantly, the property in front has been used by the community for rallies, concerts and traditional Danza Azteca ceremonies for years.

Locals fear the site and adjacent murals may be lost. The Carnaval mural was completed in 1983 by artist Daniel Galvéz with funding from the San Francisco Arts Commission and renovated in 2014. The lively, lifelike dancers and musicians in the multi-story mural were drawn from actual photographs of the city’s first Carnaval celebration in 1979.

“It’s a special corner that welcomes people who come to the mission,” said Carlos “Kookie” Gonzalez, the artist behind the 2015 La Chata mural entitled “La Rumba No Para” on the east wall of South Van Ness . Micaela “Chata” Gutierrez was an activist and popular KPOO DJ who hosted a Latin music show called “Con Clave”.

“Over the weekend, people had their pop-up tents and dancers and videos in the parking lot,” he said. “This corner has seen a lot of changes.”

Gonzalez knows all about change: Another mural of his, “Y Tu Y Yo Y Cesar,” at 24th and York Streets, along with the building it stood on, was demolished in 2020 to make way for new apartments .

The new owner of House of Brakes, local mechanic Noe Flores, bought the building last August for $1,395,000 from the Howes family, who owned it for several generations. Flores has no plans to make any changes.

“It will continue to be a mechanic’s shop,” said Flores, who founded Avenue Body Shop at 333 South Van Ness in 1995. He looks forward to bringing another business to the neighborhood. He says the city wants to get business out of the central areas, so more mechanical work is needed in the mission.

Flores and Borg are good friends. “We met when he was 18 and I was 20 when I came here from El Salvador. Last year he called me and said, ‘Hey, the house is for sale.’ I said, “Let’s buy it together. Everyone knows you, everyone knows this corner.” But he’s done.”

Too bad, said Noe, who recently turned 68. He was hoping to do business with his old friend.

Right now, workers are picking up the concrete and replacing the plumbing at the property, which Flores says hasn’t been updated since the building was constructed in 1960. After installing a sliding gate and replacing the store’s windows, Flores is considering having Precita Eyes paint the outside to prevent graffiti.

However, since the building is not a listed building, the murals are still vulnerable to the effects of development. To ensure its future, Supervisor Hillary Ronen presented safeguards for the Carnaval mural to the board on March 21.

It is now in the hands of the Historic Preservation Commission to grant landmark status to the mural, which would mean that any future development near the site would need to maintain its current visibility from the road.

The mural “has incredible historical and cultural significance,” said Supervisor Ronen’s assistant, Santiago Lerma. “We’ve made it our mission to preserve history.”

The post What’s taking place at twenty fourth Avenue’s Home of Brakes? appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Francisco 49ers admit Jimmy Garoppolo trade talks taking place. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Jimmy Garoppolo trade from the San Francisco 49ers can’t be made official until the new NFL league year opens up in roughly two weeks. In no way does this mean a trade won’t be agreed to here within the next few days.

49ers general manager John Lynch spoke to the media on Wednesday from the site of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

In doing so, the front office head told reporters that San Francisco has had discussions with other teams regarding a Garoppolo trade and plans to continue these talks as a free agency opens here soon.

The expectation has always been that San Francisco’s brass and Garoppolo will work together to find the 30-year-old signal caller a new home. Garoppolo touched on that immediately after the 49ers blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams back in January.

“I was talking to John (Lynch) yesterday about finding the right destination. I just want to go to a place where they want to win,” Garoppolo told reporters back on February 1.

MORE FROM FORBESWhy Stephen Gilmore Makes Perfect Sense For The San Francisco 49ersby Vincent Frank

Jimmy Garoppolo Shoulder Surgery And Impact On Potential Trade

There’s another pretty big backdrop to all of this. It was noted earlier in the week that Garoppolo is set to undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder and could miss up to 16 weeks. While this timeline would still make him available for some of training camp and the preseason, it complicates things further.

Lynch touched on that bit of breaking news, indicating that “it is described as a minor surgery” and “the prognosis is really good.”

Amid reports of Garoppolo needing surgery, ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted that there’s still multiple teams interested in the quarterback’s services. How said surgery might impact his trade value remains to be seen.

Common logic seems to suggest that the 49ers can get a haul similar to what the New York Jets received from the Carolina Panthers for Sam Darnold last offseason. New York acquired a sixth-round pick in 2021 as well as second and fourth-round selections in 2022.

When looking at the statistical differences between these two quarterbacks (past two seasons), it’s easy to conclude Garoppolo has performed better.

Sam Darnold: 60% completion, 4,735 yards, 18 touchdowns, 24 interceptions, 72.3 rating (6-17 record)

Jimmy Garoppolo: 68% completion, 4,906 yards, 27 TD, 17 INT, 97.2 rating (12-9 record)

Jimmy Garoppolo trade market

San Francisco 49ers could move Jimmy Garoppolo to the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Daniel … [+] Shirey/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Looking at it through the lens of quarterback-needy teams, there’s as many as 10 who could be in the market for a new quarterback. Among them, Garoppolo has been linked primarily to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Commanders.

Pittsburgh saw longtime starter and two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger retire following the 2021 season. Meanwhile, Washington started three quarterbacks under center last season.

As for the Colts, they are preparing to move off Carson Wentz after just one season. That will likely come via trade or release ahead of the new league year. It’s an open question whether general manager Chris Ballard would view Garoppolo as an upgrade over Wentz.

Other teams that could show some interest in Garoppolo this month include the Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers.

San Francisco 49ers sing Trey Lance’s praise

Trey Lance is the future of the QB position for the San Francisco 49ers. (AP Photo/John Hefti)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

When San Francisco traded up to the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to select Lance, there was some who believed that Garoppolo would be moved immediately.

That was never the plan behind the scenes. A small-school product from North Dakota State, Lance wasn’t ready to take over under center. While he displayed flashes in limited time as a rookie, growing pains were the name of the game.

Now, entering his first full offseason as a member of the 49ers, it’s time for Lance to prove that he can be handed the keys to the kingdom. Hence, why Garoppolo will likely be traded here soon.

In talking about his young quarterback on Wednesday, Lynch sounded an optimistic tone.

MORE FROM FORBESThe Finances Of A Potential Jimmy Garoppolo Trade From The San Francisco 49ersby Vincent Frank

“He’s everything we thought he was when we traded a lot to go get him and more. I really believe that. There’s a tone of excitement. Of course, there’s some unknown. There always is in this game,” San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch on Trey Lance, via NFL Network. “Trey’s made of the right stuff. Both talent wise and in his spirit of who he is, the intangibles. Guys like playing for him. Guys like being around him. We’re certainly excited to see what he can do.”

We wouldn’t expect anything different from Lynch given that San Francisco used three first-round picks and a mid-round selection for Lance. That’s especially true with Garoppolo firmly on the trade block. In reality, it’s a PR game to help hype up the youngster while attempting to create more leverage in Garoppolo trade talks.

For now, we wait and see what is going to happen with Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers. Talks will undoubtedly continue with general managers meeting up in Indianapolis during the combine this week. Perhaps something gets done in short order.

The post San Francisco 49ers’ John Lynch Admits Jimmy Garoppolo Commerce Talks Are Taking place appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In the sign of the times, the Sundance Film Festival announced today that it will go live in 2022.

The original plan was to hold the prestigious indie festival founded by Robert Redford in 1981 in a hybrid form, with a combination of online events and “personal Utah elements”. Unfortunately, all that has changed with the Omicron variant. This is what the organizers say in the announcement:

“We were looking forward to our first full hybrid Sundance Film Festival and our teams spent a year planning a festival like no other. But despite the most ambitious protocols, the Omicron variant, with its unexpectedly high transmission rates across the country, is reaching the limits of health security, travel and other infrastructures. And so we announce today: The personal Utah elements of the festival will go online this year. “

…

“While it is a huge loss not to have a personal experience in Utah, we don’t believe it is safe or doable while overwhelming thousands of artists, audiences, staff, volunteers and partners from around the world for Eleven Day Festival Communities are already struggling to provide basic services. “

The Sundance Film Festival – a program organized by the nonprofit Sundance Institute – is scheduled to begin Thursday, January 2022, and last eleven days.

Like so many arts organizations here in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the country (and in the world), Covid has been an ubiquitous and daunting challenge to live programming.

We hope that these nonprofits can continue to navigate these troubled waters and soon enough achieve the semblance of normalcy we are all looking for.

Main Photo: A still from “Nanny” by Nikyatu Jusu, an official selection of the US Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2022. Courtesy of the Sundance Institute.

The post What’s Occurring: Sundance Movie Pageant shifting on-line for 2022 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.