The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve a plan to pause the development and growth of all future Amazon and other parcel delivery facilities in the city for the next 18 months Tuesday, allowing the city time to study the environmental impact of existing locations, trucks and drivers.
Amazon told Protocol that it paused its plans to develop a large delivery facility on 7th Street in response to the moratorium vote. The proposal had already proven controversial with local residents, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the local grocery workers union.
"We will continue to evaluate our long-term use of the site, and in the short-term we will work with our neighbors to look at ways to use the location to serve the community," an Amazon spokesperson wrote.
“What we’ve made clear to the politicians is, if this project goes through, and it’s a big if, it should be built union, and everybody that works in there should have the opportunity to join together in a union,” Doug Bloch, the political director for the Teamsters in Northern California and elsewhere on the West coast, told Protocol in February about the 7th Street site. No Amazon workers are unionized in any part of the company in the United States, and the Teamsters have made organizing and eventually unionizing some of those workers a national priority.
The moratorium plan, which was introduced by Board President Shamann Walton, was backed by the Teamsters. The Teamsters have successfully lobbied for similar proposals across Northern California over the last six months: Contra Costa County set a moratorium on all new fulfillment centers in December; the city of Hayward forbade Amazon from considering two sites there; and the San Jose City Council vetoed a proposed distribution center in November.
The bill will next go to Mayor London Breed's desk for signature. Her office did not immediately respond to request for comment. Amazon likewise did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE