So, downtown SF has a lot of vacant commercial and office real estate. They'd like people to convert some of those vacant storefronts into businesses. Ok, now consider it from the perspective of a would-be businessperson considering set up shop in one of those storefronts. What will happen?

I think most would-be store openers will think of the famous ice cream shop: https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/heatherknight/article/s-f-... . The city bureaucracy of San Francisco has a reputation, and the reputation is that they will destroy you, Vogon-style. The same goes for building housing, or converting commercial space to housing, or doing anything else that involves the permitting process.

Legislation to reform the processes is nice, but I don't think SF can even credibly commit to follow the laws it passes, where bureaucratic obstruction is concerned. Solving the problem would require either much more drastic reform, or loudly announcing that staff in the relevant institutions have been 100% replaced.