State senator Scott Wiener and SF Mayor Daniel Lurie have teamed up on a quest to add 20 more “low cost” liquor licenses to Union Square in hopes of bubbling up more economic recovery in the neighborhood.
Our state Senator Scott Wiener has frequently introduced new ways to sell booze as a method of kickstarting downtown SF’s lagging economic recovery. Back during that COVID era when bars were operating pretty much just out of parklets, a Scott Wiener bill relaxed the rules around alcohol sales in parklets and shared spaces to drum up business for bars and restaurants. And Wiener was also the driving force behind SF’s new boozy “entertainment zones” where establishments can sell to-go cocktails during permitted street events.
Now Wiener is back at it with offering beer and cocktails as the solution to downtown SF’s problems. The Chronicle reports that Wiener has teamed up with SF Mayor Daniel Lurie in hopes of adding 20 new “low cost” liquor licenses to the Union Square neighborhood. It’s currently just a proposed state law, but yes, could result in 20 new bars filling Union Square’s myriad vacancies.
We should be making it easier—not harder—for businesses to set up shop here. My administration is committed to bringing businesses back downtown. This initiative is just one of the many ways we’re breathing new life into San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/LVB34BO7lC
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) February 19, 2025
“A truly spectacular array of street fairs, special events, and new small businesses have breathed life back into our downtown over the past year. Supporting our nightlife scene - including our bars and restaurants - is critical to continuing that strong recovery,” Wiener said in a Tuesday press release. “Creating new, more affordable licenses will allow new businesses to open and attract tourists and locals alike to our amazing downtown. By bringing more nightlife downtown, we can help transform it into the 24/7 community neighborhood that San Franciscans deserve.”
Wait, what is a “low-cost” liquor license? This term does not exist among the 99 California ABC liquor license types. And it’s really just a normal-priced liquor license ($20,000). But there is a finite number of liquor licenses in any California city, and their resales can go for as much as $200,000. Wiener’s new bill would create 20 new liquor licenses — only for Union Square in San Francisco.
“To get San Francisco’s economy going again, downtown needs to be at full strength. Now, we are building on the success of last weekend with permanent solutions for this neighborhood,” Lurie said in the same press release. “This legislation will bring new restaurants and bars, new people, and new energy downtown.”
The 20 new liquor licenses would be limited to a “hospitality zone” area exclusively within Union Square, and the SF Board of Supervisors would decide on those boundaries. While the terminology is similar to Lurie’s SFPD “hospitality zone” task force, the geographic boundaries of these two zones could be quite different, though both focus on Union Square.
Hey, 20 more bars in Union Square would be great and all. But this would not seem to address Union Square’s retail exodus. Though it might fill a few vacant storefronts from that exodus in a neighborhood that for the last few years, has felt like it was on the rocks.
Image: William B. via Yelp
