This Week's Top Stories

SoMa

SoMa at a Crossroads: Fifth Street Splits a Neighborhood Between Boom and Bust

An SF Standard investigation published September 3 finds AI-fueled revival east of Fifth Street running headlong into lingering pandemic-era emptiness to the west — one neighborhood, two entirely different realities.

South of Market is simultaneously San Francisco's hottest recovery story and one of its deepest open wounds, according to a major investigation published September 3 by the SF Standard. The piece opens at 415 Natoma — a 25-story glass-and-steel tower at Fifth and Mission streets that is gleamingly modern yet almost entirely vacant — and uses it to frame the neighborhood's unresolved contradictions.

Mission Bay

Mission Bay Elementary Is Now in Session — SF's First New Public School in 20 Years Navigates Its Opening Weeks

The ribbon was cut August 6 and the first students arrived August 17; as September begins, the neighborhood's long-awaited school is in the thick of its inaugural weeks.

Mission Bay Elementary School celebrated its grand opening on August 6, 2026, with Principal Monette Benitez cutting the ribbon before city leaders, families, and educators. The school welcomed its inaugural class — pre-kindergarten through kindergarten — on August 17, and is now in its first full weeks of the 2026-27 school year. It is the first new San Francisco Unified School District school to open in 20 years and the first public school campus ever built in the Mission Bay neighborhood.

Potrero Hill

Ten Candidates, One Open Seat: District 10 Supervisor Race Heads Into Its Final Stretch

With term-limited Shamann Walton departing, a crowded November ballot is taking shape for the district covering Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Bayview-Hunters Point, and the central waterfront.

Supervisor Shamann Walton will leave San Francisco's District 10 seat after two terms, setting off one of the most closely watched supervisor races on the November 2026 ballot. Ten candidates have qualified, competing to represent a district that stretches roughly from Potrero Hill and Dogpatch south through Bayview-Hunters Point, Candlestick Point, and Visitacion Valley — encompassing some of the city's fastest-changing waterfront territory alongside some of its most historically underserved communities. Three candidates have emerged as the frontrunners: Theo Ellington, Dion-Jay Brookter, and J.R. Eppler.

Upcoming Events

Monday–Wednesday, September 7–9

SF Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park

📍 Oracle Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, Mission Bay · Various times

Friday–Sunday, September 11–13

SF Giants vs. San Diego Padres — NL West Series at Oracle Park

📍 Oracle Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, Mission Bay · Various times

Thursday, September 24

Final SOMA Nights Block Party & Night Market of 2026

📍 Folsom Street between 6th and 12th Streets, SoMa · 5:00 PM–9:00 PM

Friday–Sunday, September 25–27

SF Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers — Regular Season Finale at Oracle Park

📍 Oracle Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, Mission Bay · Various times

Sunday, September 27

42nd Annual Folsom Street Fair

📍 Folsom Street between 7th and 13th Streets, SoMa · 11:00 AM–6:00 PM

More from the Neighborhood

SF Parking Tickets Rose 21 Percent From December to May, Per Potrero View's August Report

The Potrero View's August 2026 issue flagged a significant spike in city parking enforcement: citing data from the SF Standard, the paper reported that total parking tickets issued in San Francisco rose…

Potrero Power Station's UCSF Cancer Research Block Has Foundation Underway; Broader Project Seeks Entitlement Changes

Foundation work was reported as underway in February 2026 on Block 2 of the Potrero Power Station redevelopment in Dogpatch — a seven-story UCSF cancer research center designed by Herzog & de…