For three weeks in February, art vendors like Michael Trachiotis were blocked from selling their wares from the stalls near Justin Herman Plaza for which they buy Arts Commission permits. Though Super Bowl 50 eventually made about $2 million for San Franciso, Trachiotis didn't see the benefits himself. "The NFL could've partnered with us and we could've created unique and collectible products, art items," he said at the time.
Now, many months later, Trachiotis and merchants like him are getting their due. The Examiner reports the city is paying $590 to each of the 158 artists vendors who took a hit. Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim lent an ear to their complaints in February, setting up an impact fund of $100,000 in March. Street vendors at Justin Herman Plaza had until this week to seek compensation. “If it wasn’t for [Peskin and Kim], we wouldn’t have received anything,” one artist, Michael Addario, told the Ex. "The Arts Commission basically screwed us.”
Though the gains and losses of the Super Bowl are mostly accounted for, lingering dues such as these might serve to remind us of the less quantifiable legacy of the event. That "$2 million raised" sum hardly accounts for the political capital City Hall lost as it was roundly criticized for poorly negotiating its contract with the NFL and displacing homeless residents into new encampments.
Previously: Super Bowl 50 Will Hurt Justin Herman Plaza Vendors, Impact Downtown Mail Delivery