A more tangled web

is what San Francisco needs?

Supervisor David Campos, working with the nonprofit San Francisco Heritage, is finalizing legislation that would create a registry of legacy businesses, defined as restaurants, retailers and manufacturers that have been around at least 30 years and have contributed to their neighborhoods in a meaningful way. The program, which he says is the first in the United States, would create financial incentives that would encourage property owners to retain those kinds of businesses.

And it would also create incentives for landlords not to allow such businesses to remain in place for 30 years. To replace them before they become dangerous;

Consultant Phil Lessor, who works with developers and retailers in the Mission District, said the proposal “will limit the number of uses and opportunities for the building and the building owner. It’s giving monopolistic power to the tenant when you have just one buyer. It shifts the power to the tenant. When you have a monopoly, you have inferior product at a higher price.”

He said whatever city entity is charged with creating the registry — most likely the Office of Small Business — would be “handed an enormous amount of power.”

Which is the hidden agenda?