Pelosi Announces $2 Million to Reconnect Communities in San Francisco

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced that San Francisco will receive $2 million in federal grants under President Joe Biden’s historic Infrastructure Law to begin studying and developing plans to reconnect Japantown and the Fillmore, which were separated by construction of the Geary Boulevard underpass.

“In 1961, the construction of the Geary Expressway displaced thousands of established residents, shuttered scores of businesses and ruptured the social and economic fabric of Black, Jewish and Japanese American communities in San Francisco,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said.  “This $2 million in new federal funding is an important step to reunite Japantown, Fillmore and Western Addition neighborhoods, supporting a community-driven plan to reimagine the one-mile Geary Boulevard at Fillmore Street.  Under President Joe Biden’s visionary leadership and Investing in America agenda, Democrats’ Infrastructure Law is reconnecting communities harmed by infrastructure projects of the past – in San Francisco and across America, with equity and justice.”

President Biden’s Infrastructure Law established a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities that were cut off from economic opportunities by past transportation infrastructure decisions.  Following a letter of support for the project from Speaker Emerita Pelosi to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority will receive $2 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program to support the Geary-Fillmore Underpass Community Planning Study.