VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION D. SUPPORT THE ARTS AND RENEW MID-MARKET.

Proposition D is a community-sponsored initiative to revitalize Market Street between 5th and 7th streets and rejuvenate this historic arts and theater district while helping neighborhood youth.

These two blocks of Market Street -- once a center for arts, theater and tourism – are today one of San Francisco’s most blighted neighborhoods.

Many former arts venues have been abandoned or converted to other uses, including adult entertainment. Others are vacant or covered at night by metal shutters, creating a dark, unsafe environment.

Proposition D is a community solution, created by an alliance of artists, theaters, property owners, civic groups, businesses, labor and residents.

Voting YES on Proposition D will:

HELP REVITALIZE MID-MARKET by generating revenue through a special sign district on just these two blocks of Market Street.

RESTORE OUR HISTORIC THEATER DISTRICT which can help draw tenants and visitors back into theaters, galleries, stores and restaurants.

COMBAT BLIGHT AND RENEW AREA TOURISM by creating a safe, well-lit corridor for pedestrians between mid-Market and the Civic Center.

PROVIDE FUNDS FOR YOUTH ARTS AND EDUCATION programs for Tenderloin and South of Market children.

ENSURE NEIGHBORHOOD CONTROL by putting control over sign placement in the hands of the nonprofit Central Market Community Benefit District.

Proposition D requires an annual audit to ensure that revenues are used for community benefit, and creates tough regulations on size, placement and illumination of signs so that area and city residents are not negatively impacted.

Please join artists, theaters, residents, community groups, business, labor, the San Francisco Democratic Party, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and Supervisors Alioto-Pier, Elsbernd, Dufty, Campos and Maxwell. Vote YES on Proposition D!

Mid-Market ARTS Alliance
Market Street Association
San Francisco Democratic Party

No on Proposition D – Who Wants More Billboards?

Commercial interests have sponsored Proposition D in order to erect massive, digital billboards along a two-block stretch of Market Street, between Fifth and Seventh Streets. Only voters can grant the necessary permission for them to do so.

If passed, the most intrusive of billboard technologies would enter San Francisco. From nearby hotels and apartments as well as vantage points like Twin Peaks, one would see ads for commercial products blinking every few seconds, blazing away 24 hours a day.

Digital billboards, measuring up to 500 square feet, would appear on building facades and rooftops. At one location alone, a massive rooftop sign could be erected 200 feet above street level.

Proposition D proponents argue their billboard scheme is the best hope for revitalizing this historically depressed neighborhood. Impatience, not desperation, may be order. This neighborhood requires political leadership that transcends an opportunistic initiative.

Billboard profits are typically huge and could discourage property owners from pursuing attractive retail, office, and residential opportunities. The increased visual pollution could kill Mid-Market revitalization, too, while increasing the City’s carbon footprint.

Though a few local nonprofits would receive a share of billboard profits, the rest of San Francisco, including millions of tourists, would suffer a commercially blighted skyline.

The extreme presence of billboards along those two blocks could destroy prospects for fully restoring the whole of Market Street, San Francisco’s grand boulevard, to a world-class standard.

In 2002, 79.1% of the voters approved Proposition G, the measure prohibiting new general advertising on private property. Today, voters are being asked to make an exception to the “No New Billboards” law they had passed resoundingly. The benefits of a possible exception are highly speculative.

Save Mid-Market for a better tomorrow. Vote No on Prop D!

San Francisco Beautiful

Opponents of Proposition D have a strange idea about what makes San Francisco “beautiful.”

They argue to keep the urine-stained streets, graffiti, abandoned storefronts, adult entertainment, poverty and homelessness that exist on Market Street today.

Their opposition is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of Proposition D. Residents of mid-Market strongly support Prop D because it restores our historic theater district, creates funding for children’s art education, and pulls up our neighborhood by its own bootstraps.

Here’s the truth about Prop D:

• Proposition D comes from the community, not commercial interests. Placed on the ballot by 12,512 San Francisco citizens, Prop D is supported by residents, artists, civic organizations, tenant leaders, and business owners from the mid-Market area.
• Proposition D is controlled by the community, not commercial interests. The nonprofit Central Market Community Benefit District, representative of the community, will have full control over placement, content, quantity, and quality of all general advertising signs.
• Proposition D has strict limits on signage. Local residents, tourists, and city residents from other neighborhoods are fully protected with strict limitations on the size, brightness, orientation, and height of signs.

Across the city, diverse organizations and leaders such as the San Francisco Democratic Party, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, District Attorney Kamala Harris, Board President David Chiu and the majority of the Board of Supervisors are proud to support proposition D.

Please join residents, tenants, community groups, business owners, and artists of the mid-Market neighborhood -- and vote YES on D.