how it works transit

How to use sfpulse

sfpulse pulls public records from SF city databases and organizes them by neighborhood. Here is a walkthrough of what you will see and what to do with it.

Step 1 — Find your neighborhood

Search your neighborhood on the home page. Try "Mission," "Hayes Valley," or "Sunset." sfpulse maps neighborhoods to SF's 11 supervisorial districts, each with an elected supervisor who votes on planning, housing, and the city budget.

You will land on your district page. Everything below is what that page shows.

Step 2 — Check if anything needs your attention this week

If there are public hearings or board meetings within the next two weeks, a red strip appears at the top of your district page. These are time-sensitive — you can only comment before the hearing date.

Example — Act this week strip
Act this week
  • Planning hearing · 2344 Market St (8-unit demolition) · Thu May 8 View →
  • Board meeting · Board of Supervisors · Mon May 12 View →
Planning hearing: email [email protected] before the hearing date. Include the address or case number and your position. Your comment goes on the public record.
Board meeting: contact your supervisor's office or email the Board clerk at [email protected].

Step 3 — Read the overview cards

Five cards summarize what is happening in your district right now. A red left border means high-impact. Amber means notable. No border means routine activity.

Example — Overview cards (three of five shown)
Displacement watch
4 eviction notices · 1 Ellis/OMI
  • 1455 Valencia St (Ellis Act)
  • 826 Guerrero St (Non-payment)
Eviction notices →
Construction & development
11 permits · 3 major · 48 units in pipeline
  • 890 Divisadero St
  • 2344 Market St
Building permits →  Housing projects →
Neighborhood conditions
143 311 calls this week · 2 spikes
  • encampments (up 78% from last week, 18 → 32)
  • graffiti (up 55% from last week, 11 → 17)
311 activity →  Cleanups →

The Displacement watch card flags Ellis Act and owner move-in evictions separately because they tend to permanently displace long-term tenants. The Neighborhood conditions card only shows spikes — categories running 50% or more above their normal rate. For BART and Muni service status, see the citywide Transit status page.

Ellis Act eviction listed: tenants are entitled to relocation assistance and right of first refusal if the building is ever re-rented. Call the SF Rent Board at 415-252-4602 or the Tenderloin Housing Clinic at 415-771-9850 for free guidance.
311 spike listed: file your own report at sf311.org or call 311. Reports tied to a specific address get routed faster.
BART or Muni disruption: check the Transit status page for current BART advisories, elevator outages, and Muni service alerts.

Step 4 — Dig into the details

Click Dig into the details below the cards to open the full data — every permit, eviction notice, news article, 311 category, board vote, and BART alert for your district. Here is what each kind of row looks like and what it means.

A high-impact building permit

Example — Building permits section
  • 890 Divisadero St $4.2M
    New construction — 24-unit residential building, ground-floor retail
    Filed 2026-04-10 · Issued 2026-04-22 · ISSUED · HIGH
    Use: vacant lot → residential · Units: 0 → 24
  • 1412 Haight St $320K
    Horizontal addition — rear extension, new bedroom and bath
    Filed 2026-04-18 · APPROVED · MEDIUM
The red border means HIGH-tier: new construction, demolition, or a permit over a cost threshold. Click the address to see the full city permit record. If the permit involves your building, the city will mail you a notice as required by law. Large projects also require a pre-hearing community meeting — check the planning record link.

An eviction notice

Example — Eviction notices section
4 eviction notices filed in the past 30 days · up 33% vs. prior period (3 → 4)
  • Ellis Act 1
    Landlord withdrawing units from rental market entirely. Learn more
    1455 Valencia St · Mission · filed 2026-04-18
  • Non-payment of rent 2
    826 Guerrero St · Mission · filed 2026-04-12
Ellis Act (red): the landlord is permanently removing the units from the rental market. Affected tenants are entitled to relocation payments. Call 415-252-4602 (SF Rent Board) or 415-771-9850 (Tenderloin Housing Clinic).
Owner Move-In: the landlord must actually live there for at least 36 months, or the tenant may have the right to return. Same contacts apply.
Non-payment (no red border): a landlord has filed. The eviction is not final — tenants can contest it.

A planning hearing

Example — Planning Commission section
  • Planning Commission — 2344 Market St May 8, 2026
    agenda
  • Planning Commission — 890 Divisadero St May 15, 2026
    agenda
Click the agenda link to read what is being decided. To submit public comment, email [email protected] before the hearing date. Include the address or case number. Comments do not require attending in person and are entered into the public record.

A 311 spike

Example — 311 Activity section
143 cases this week vs. 119 last week
  • Encampments 32
    up 78% from last week (18 → 32) · 50%+ above normal. Report via 311.
  • Graffiti 17
    up 55% from last week (11 → 17) · 50%+ above normal. Report via 311.
  • Street and Sidewalk Cleaning 29
    about the same as last week
Spikes (red, 50%+ above normal) show categories with unusual activity this week. Only non-routine categories are shown — DPW administrative requests are filtered out. To report an issue yourself, go to sf311.org or call 311. Include a specific address when possible.

BART alerts

Example — BART Alerts section
  • Planned delay ongoing
    Expect 30-minute delays starting at 9pm on Sunday–Thursday for riders traveling between Millbrae, SFO, and Daly City due to planned train control modernization work.
    Posted Apr 27, 2026
1 elevator out of service
  • 24th St Mission SF station
    Station elevator — northbound platform
Planned delays are ongoing service disruptions, not one-time incidents — plan your commute around them. Elevator outages at SF stations are flagged. For accessibility assistance, call BART at 510-465-2278 or visit bart.gov/alerts.

Staying current

Data updates automatically in the background throughout the day. Each section shows how recently it was fetched. The best time to check is a few days before a planning hearing or board meeting — that is when you still have time to comment or attend.

Bookmark your district page. Once you have visited, the site will remember your district and show a shortcut in the top navigation bar.

Not sure what a term means? The SF Civic Reference explains government bodies, eviction categories, hearing types, and more.