LOS ANGELES -- San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee proposed placing a $400 million bond measure for earthquake safety and emergency response before city voters on the June 2014 ballot.
The proposal builds on the ESER bond that was approved by San Francisco voters in 2010, which allowed the city to finance seismic upgrades and strengthen its aging emergency response infrastructure for first responders.
This second ESER bond would continue to upgrade and replace old fire and police facilities, including the city’s emergency response firefighting water system.
“The next phase of the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response program is necessary to continue the critical work required to repair and improve our city’s infrastructure so that we can quickly and effectively respond to a major earthquake or a disaster,” Lee said in a statement released Dec. 10. “This bond program will save lives, save money, improve our city’s recovery efforts and create jobs — all without raising property tax rates.”
The ESER 2014 bond is the second of three planned bonds for first responder facilities outlined in the city’s ten-year capital plan, according to the mayor’s office.
The plan is adopted annually by the mayor and the Board of Supervisors to prioritize capital needs across all city departments.
The new bonds would only be issued once the city pays off previous bonds that funded the construction and improvements to other public assets, such as neighborhood parks and libraries, the Laguna Honda Hospital, the Academy of Sciences and the Asian Art Museum.
