San Francisco has put its attempt to revive grocery store activity on hold.
The Affordable Groceries Act will not appear on the November ballot, and Amazon is one of the businesses standing in the way, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The measure calls for a vacancy tax on empty storefronts. Some pharmacy and grocery chains still hold leases to buildings in the city that they closed in recent years. The tax would apply only to stores currently serving shoppers in San Francisco for their empty retail spaces. It would also create incentives through tax credits and streamlined permitting for grocery stores and pharmacies wanting to move into vacant areas.
The measure would also establish an affordable grocery fund consisting of taxes collected on empty storefronts and private donations.
A lobbyist for Amazon threatened the company could assemble a campaign against the tax and wanted lawmakers to exempt a vacant Whole Foods store on Market Street from taxes. Supervisor Connie Chan refused to grant the exemption.
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told the Standard that Amazon “is in full overdrive trying to kill this ballot measure” and said the company does not want to be held accountable for the vacant stores.
The Whole Foods on Market Street closed in 2023 after operating for just over a year.
Mahmood said both San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and Chan, who chairs the Budget Committee, opposed the measure, which lawmakers pulled from Wednesday’s Budget and Finance Committee agenda. Before a measure appears on the ballot, the full Board of Supervisors must hear it by late July. The Budget and Finance Committee’s decision makes that chance impossible.
Chan believes the measure still needs work, and when she heard Mahmood planned to amend it, she believed it was not ready for the ballot.
Meanwhile, New York City continues to move forward with a plan to open a network of city-run grocery stores. Officials have established two locations.