SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco city officials are reeling after nearly a million dollars worth of bond money disappeared from the South of Market Community Stabilization fund.
The money, expected to be spent on the improvement of public amenities such as parks and sidewalks, totals $925,666.
The disappearance of such a substantial sum of bond money has brought public attention to the city’s complex network of impact fees, a system in which developers pay compensation for their developments impact upon anything ranging from housing costs to traffic impact.
The city of San Francisco and the Association of Bay Area Governments, the entities responsible for the dispersal of the bond money, are reporting that the missing money was given to a developer called One Rincon Hill.
The city is currently looking into how to recover the lost funds. A community advisory committee tasked with responsibly spending the bond money on public projects, is currently looking into a means of correcting the error.
“I’m outraged that this money that was supposed to be going to neighborhood improvements was given back to a developer without so much as a courtesy phone call,” committee member Tom Temprano said. “The bottom line is we are committed to doing whatever is necessary to get the funds back from the developer and into the community where they belong.”
