The South of Market neighborhood is located adjacent to San Francisco's financial district and is bound by Market Street and the Civic Center and Tenderloin neighborhood to the north, the waterfront to the east, and the Mission District to the south and west. The South of Market (SoMa) area is a diverse community not typically thought of as a residential neighborhood. However, the area is home to many of the City's low-income, immigrant families, who work in the service industry that the neighborhood has been a center for since it was first settled in the late 1840's.
SoMa has been at the center of the City's high-tech industry and economic boom in the past several years, reflected through the luxury “live/work” condominiums that have been erected on almost every block. The contradiction between the district's prosperous redevelopment and the unmet basic need of a safe, supportive environment for its immigrant and lower income residents could hardly be more extreme. While recognized by civic leaders as generally positive, SoMa's redevelopment has, in most cases had a negative impact on the neighborhood's low-income and immigrant residents including fear, stress, poor health and loss of employment due to displacement.
According to the 2000 Census, in 1999 (an economic boom year):
- 40% of households in SoMa earned less than $10,000
- 51% earned less than $15,000
- 60% earned less than $25,000
- While for San Francisco as a whole:
- 77% of households earn over $25,000/year
- 68% earn over $35,000/year
- 55% earn over $50,000/year
Additionally:
- 25% of residents in SoMa (over the age of 25) did not graduate from high school
- 82% do not have a college education
- 63% are non-white
- 33% speak little or no English
- 44% are foreign born
These statistics support the reality that SoMa residents are faced with many challenges, yet lack resources needed to address these neighborhood issues. In addition, while there are civic avenues available to express concerns or seek assistance, these services are often:
1. intimidating
due to the complex nature of the system
2.
incomprehensible due
to a language barrier
3.
feared due to immigration concerns, which
have escalated over the past few years, or
4.
residents are
unaware of them, therefore do not have access.
The South of Market faces a growing number of public-private partnerships that provide opportunities to enact policies that could stabilize a diverse and healthy community rather than codify the development of homogenous neighborhoods that mirror current stark conditions of the “haves” and “have nots.” In a district of less than two square miles, four redevelopment project areas have been initiated:
• The Downtown Neighborhood & Transbay Project Area will develop an elaborate Transit Hub within a multilevel shopping promenade, to support the financial district.
• The Yerba Buena Center Project Area has completed two side-by-side national Convention Centers and will next focus on the development of a high-end museum district.
• The Mid-Market Project Area will create a Hotel and Theater District.
• The 6 th Street Corridor Project Area is proposing a tree-lined commercially revitalized business corridor.
Each of these project areas plan to target San Francisco to a regional, national and international user base, with little thought given to the broad based participation of working families, low-income individuals and immigrants who work and live in the neighborhood.