Summarize San Francisco's waterfront flood-risk assessments and the multi-billion-dollar adaptation plan, and identify the decision points the BetterSF community should weigh in on.

Desk review of the San Francisco Waterfront Flood Study (Port of San Francisco and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), the Port's draft flood-defense plan documents, subarea vulnerability profiles (e.g., Ferry Building subarea), and regional resilience project lists from Plan Bay Area. Findings are organized by hazard, asset exposure, and phased adaptation strategy.

2 feet of sea-level rise, the bedding beneath the Embarcadero roadway and Muni surface tracks would begin flooding. The draft plan proposes layered defenses — raising and strengthening segments of the seawall, adaptive flood barriers at key flood pathways, and shoreline design that accommodates water rather than only blocking it.

8 billion program implies decades of phased funding; early phases focus on utility relocation and the most vulnerable subareas.

Three tension points deserve public deliberation: (1) how to sequence protection between high-value downtown assets and vulnerable eastern neighborhoods, (2) whether adaptation investments should trigger complementary improvements (parks, habitat, public access) or remain pure defenses, and (3) how local funding responsibilities align with federal Army Corps cost-sharing.

BetterSF proposals should treat flood defense as a design opportunity for the waterfront, not only a wall.