“We’re trying to make it affordable for all young people, so candidates please open your wallets!”
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Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Aaron Peskin. Read earlier dispatches here.
The arc of U.S. electoral politics currently leans toward gerontocracy. The median age in the House of Representatives is 57.9. The median age in the Senate is 65.3. But in the San Francisco Young Democrats, your voting days are over the day you turn 35 (you can still give the organization money, though). This might feel abrupt, says SFYD co-president Vanessa Pimentel, but you can join when you’re 14 and start voting when you’re 16. That’s plenty of time to flex as a baby-faced power broker.
On a foggy Tuesday night, Haraz Coffee House on Franklin Street is steadily filling up with attendees of one of SFYD’s political mixers — the young and politically inclined, and those who would seek their support and endorsement. A few non-SFYD-affiliated coffee shop patrons try to hold down their table territory, typing furiously into their laptops like small, rocky islands in a wild sea of schmoozing, but they do not last for long.
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“The big summer fundraiser is coming up,” shouts SFYD vice-president Ernesto Cuellar, trying to rise above the chatter. “It’s a 2010s homecoming style! I don’t know where you were, but we were in middle school! It’s going to be really fun! We’re trying to make it affordable for all young people, so candidates, please open your wallets!”
Aaron Peskin, Board of Supervisors president and current mayoral candidate, is here with his campaign field director, Michael Redmond (who also happens to be co-chair of the organization’s PAC). “It’s one of the longest-running Democratic clubs in San Francisco,” says Redmond. “Past presidents include Willie Brown and Congressman John Burton. It’s a pretty storied history.”
Peskin is here after a marathon meeting at the Board of Supervisors. Peskin’s proposal to streamline permitting for small-scale outdoor events downtown moved ahead. Another proposal that would add a measure to the November ballot that would lower the age of retirement for members of the fire department seemed budgetarily dubious to some, but not any fellow supervisors; it was moved along by unanimous vote. A similar measure that would allow some police officers to start collecting their pensions without actually retiring went on the ballot last week.
As promised, Peskin also introduced legislation that would amend the city’s administrative code to prohibit the sale or use of algorithms like the ones used by RealPage to keep rental prices high by advising landlords to keep a certain number of units vacant. “In the old days, collusion between competitors happened in a smoke-filled back room,” said Peskin. “With this ordinance, we aim to be a model for local governments around the nation in regulating this insidious use of technology, the same way that we lead on Airbnb and short-term rentals. Banning algorithmic price-gouging is real housing policy, and it’s entirely consistent with our shared goal of a functioning housing market.” It also moved ahead unanimously.
No other city has tried to do something similar and, like the city’s early attempts to regulate the use of Airbnb, it would almost certainly be challenged in court or through outright noncompliance. But, as Peskin said in a conversation the night before, Airbnb is actually pretty well-regulated now.
It was a long road to get there — early attempts to get users to pay the city’s hotel tax started in 2012, and regulation escalated until 2017, when Peskin found himself squaring off and negotiating a settlement with David Owen, one of Peskin’s former legislative aides, who had gone on to become Airbnb’s regional head of public policy. Another Airbnb policy head present at the negotiations, Matt Middlbrook, unexpectedly donated the legal maximum when Peskin announced his run for mayor. “I called him up and said, ‘Why are you giving me money?’ said Peskin. “And he said, ‘Because you were fair and you stuck to your word.”
The meeting was long, but not because it was contentious. The closest thing to a split vote was Supervisor Asha Safai’s proposal to put a measure on the ballot to cover student loans for first responders, which Peskin objects to on the grounds that it does not actually need to be a ballot measure. Peskin voted against it, but it moved ahead anyway.
Rather, it was long because of the warm and lengthy odes delivered by nearly every supervisor to Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson and General Counsel Anne Pearson, both of whom are leaving their current positions. “I was honored to work with you and Local 798, as we all voted to ban cancer-causing PFAS chemicals from your turnouts,” said Peskin. “You have been a trailblazer, not only for women, but as the first openly LGBT fire chief in San Francisco’s history. I want to thank you for your service, and look forward to many more swims in the Bay, because only the bold swim in the cold.”
“My mom dropped off my daughter yesterday, and she was like, ‘Isn’t the fire chief your favorite?’” added Supervisor Hilary Ronen. “I talk about you so much that my mom even knows. She lives in L.A. She doesn’t even live here.”
“Nothing is more irritating than having a supervisor pretending they’re lawyers,” said Supervisor Connie Chan to Pearson. “And yet, you’ve been so kind, respecting me as a pretend lawyer.”
Peskin does not wind up giving a campaign pitch to the Young Democrats. A lot of people came here to stump, and it never feels like quite the right time. Nearly half of those present at the mixer turn out to be running for some kind of office, and those who can roll out youthful bona fides absolutely do so.
There’s Ryan Khojasteh, who is running for district attorney against his former boss, Brooke Jenkins. “We have to end the school-to-prison pipeline,” says Khojasteh. “With your help, I will be the 31st district attorney of our city at 31 years old.”
And there’s Edward Wright, running for BART board. “I’m proud to be the youngest candidate in this race,” says Wright, and members of the crowd start snapping their fingers in approval. “I am also proud to be the only renter in this race, union member in this race, and the only person in this race that actually has professional experience in public transit, public policy and public budgets, which are the core responsibility of the office.”
Instead, Peskin, who is 60, spends a significant portion of the mixer being earnestly grilled by a reporter who describes themselves as being “from the Finnish NPR,” on the question of what Kamala Harris was like in kindergarten. Maybe there’s a Finnish person who’s registered to vote in San Francisco, says Peskin thoughtfully, looking for the political upside. Maybe, even though that voter lives in San Francisco, they consume a lot of Finnish media, and that person will decide to vote for Peskin as mayor, because he gave a really fun interview to Finnish NPR. And with that, Peskin is off to the Richmond for more campaigning.
MORE FIELD NOTES FROM THE MAYOR’S RACE
See how they run: Aaron Peskin is forbidden to wear the tie
See how they run: Aaron Peskin bar-crawls the Mission
See how they run: Safaí has what no other major mayoral candidate has: An MIT degree
H.R. SMITH
Heather Smith covers a beat that spans health, food, and the environment, as well as shootings, stabbings, various small fires, and shouting matches at public meetings. She is a 2007 Middlebury Fellow in Environmental Journalism and a contributor to the book Infinite City.More by H.R. Smith
