Breed's plans for a reimagined downtown San Francisco

Mayor London Breed delivered her annual "State of the City" address Thursday focusing on San Francisco's post-pandemic recovery and calling for a reimagined downtown area.

Why it matters: The vitality of our city center continues to be a major concern, with workers staying home and office vacancy rates continuing to rise.

Details: During the speech, Breed announced her "Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco's Future," aimed at retaining and recruiting a more diverse set of businesses to the city like those in the finance, health care and biotech sectors.

• The mayor's plan calls for tax breaks for new companies as well as more flexible zoning to accommodate the "widest possible range" of business use cases.
• Breed is also interested in converting some downtown offices into housing.

What they're saying: "San Francisco downtown as we know it is not coming back. And you know what? That's OK," she said. "It's a call to action, to reimagine what our future holds."

Of note: Breed wants to designate downtown as an arts and cultural zone to help bring more nightlife and entertainment experiences to the area.

Catch up fast: The mayor also spoke about public safety and the hiring needs at a San Francisco Police Department that's understaffed by at least 500 officers, she said.

• Breed addressed San Francisco's ambitious housing goals as well, saying the key to building more units would lie in removing bureaucratic barriers.
• "We must build and we must build now," she said.