{"id":45387,"date":"2025-12-02T12:06:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45387"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:06:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:06:53","slug":"new-d4-supe-faces-defining-vote-on-luries-rich-family-zoning-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/new-d4-supe-faces-defining-vote-on-luries-rich-family-zoning-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"New D4 supe faces defining vote on Lurie\u2019s Rich Family Zoning Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plus: A way to control corporate campaign spending, and saving car-free Market St …. That’s The Agenda for Dec. 1-7<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 30, 2025 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost everyone who claims to care about democracy agrees that Citizen United<\/a><\/em> was a terrible decision, and that getting big corporate money out of politics has to be a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most politicians, like Gov. Gavin Newsom, wring their hands and say: Nothing we can do. The Supreme Court has ruled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that might not be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Reich, public policy professor at Berkeley and former secretary of labor, makes a good point (that had never occurred to me) in a substack post<\/a>. He points out that corporations are creatures of the states, not the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporations are legal entities that have extensive rights, including the right to do business, to hire and fire people, to donate money \u2026 many of the things human beings can do. By creating a corporation, business people can avoid personal liability for a wide range of actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those rights are entirely the purview of the state that grants the corporate license\u2014and, Reich says, states can place any restrictions they want on those licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, they could withhold the right to make political contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A measure to do that is headed for the 2026 ballot in Montana<\/a>. From Reich:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

When a state exercises its authority to define corporations as entities without<\/em> the power to spend in politics, it will no longer be relevant whether corporations have a right<\/em> to spend in politics \u2014 because without the power<\/em> to do so, the right to do so has no meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delaware\u2019s corporation code already declines to grant private foundations the power to spend in elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, a state that no longer grants its corporations the power to spend in elections also<\/em> denies that power to corporations chartered in the other 49 states, if they wish to do business in that state.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, corporations can move their charters; lots of them already incorporate in Delaware, which has limited transparency and low taxes<\/a>. But if a Delaware corporation wants to do business in California, and California denies corporations the right to spend money on politics, that corporation has to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the movement succeeds in Montana, it can spread. As Reich points out, 75 percent of voters want to overturn Citizens United<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s a good issue for the Newsom for President campaign. He could start right here at home; the Legislature will be back in session in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a series of hearings and a few amendments, Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s Rich Family Zoning Plan<\/strong> is headed for the Board of Supes Tuesday\/2<\/strong>\u2014and immediately, his new pick for D4 supervisor, Alan Wong<\/a>, will be facing a tough vote<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wong, a member of the Community College Board<\/a>, has run in the past with progressive and labor support, and was an aide to progressive former Sup. Gordon Mar. Much of the progressive community opposes or has serious concerns about the upzoning proposal, which also is unpopular on the West Side of town.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New Sup. Alan Wong will immediately be tested on an upzoning plan unpopular in his district. SFGOVTV photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

IT would allow for the demolition of existing commercial spaces and rent-controlled housing in buildings with fewer than three units<\/a>. It includes no new sources of money for the state-mandated affordable housing. And data shows it <\/a>will fail to bring down housing costs by more than a trivial amount<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called and texted Wong Sunday afternoon, but he hasn\u2019t responded. I get that; his phone must be blowing up. And unlike Lurie\u2019s previous pick, Wong has a lot of political experience; he\u2019s not likely to stir up trouble for the mayor the same day his appointment is announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he only has one free day before he has to cast a vote that could have a huge impact on his political future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SFMTA is moving to allow more cars on a stretch of Market Street<\/strong> that has been closed to anything except buses and taxis (real taxis). The Mayor\u2019s Office has already allowed some Waymos to pick up and drop off passengers in the no-car zone<\/a>\u2014and now there\u2019s a plan to allow Uber and Lyft to join the party<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SFMTA\u2019s Citizens\u2019 Advisory Council voted to recommend the cars not be allowed on Market.<\/a> The Keep Market Street Moving coalition opposes the idea<\/a>. So does WalkSF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the SFMTA staff argues that the additional private vehicles haven\u2019t slowed transit service<\/a> (yet), and recommends that \u201call day operations by service providers\u201d be allowed to continue and expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full SFMTA Board will hear a presentation on the project Tuesday\/2<\/strong>, and it\u2019s projected to come up around 4pm. Car-free Market advocates are encouraging people to show up and present public testimony. The meeting\u2019s at City Hall Room 400.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit\u00a0here<\/a>. We also invite you to join the conversation on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: A way to control corporate campaign spending, and saving car-free Market St …. That’s The Agenda for Dec. 1-7 By Tim Redmond November 30, 2025 (48hills.org) Almost everyone who claims to care about democracy agrees that Citizen United was a terrible decision, and that getting big corporate money out of politics… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45387"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45388,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45387\/revisions\/45388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}