{"id":24707,"date":"2023-01-10T11:45:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=24707"},"modified":"2023-01-10T11:45:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:45:52","slug":"will-new-board-change-san-francisco-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/will-new-board-change-san-francisco-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"WILL NEW BOARD CHANGE SAN FRANCISCO POLITICS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0January 9, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Dorsey and Joel Engardio<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s Top Issues for 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco seats a new Board of Supervisors this week. Joel Engardio replaces Gordon Mar in D4.  D6\u2019s Matt Dorsey goes from appointee to elected incumbent. Aaron Peskin was elected today as Board President.  Will these Board changes impact city politics? Here\u2019s our take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board Presidency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board Presidency used to matter a lot. When I wrote Prop G to create a  new Building Inspection Commission  (passed by voters in 1994) we ensured that a progressive Board President would split appointments with moderate Mayor Frank Jordan. Split appointments are now standard for most key city commissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While today\u2019s Supervisor commission appointments have more collective input, the Board President still has the largest role. The Board President also helps decide what legislative measures get calendared and when they are heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin has proved a very effective Board President in the past. He is up to the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderate v. Progressive Control<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco politics is seen as a struggle between \u201cmoderates\u201d and \u201cprogressives.\u201d This framing continues despite these terms having lost a lot of meaning\u2014-for example, supervisors are still deemed \u201cprogressive\u201d  despite opposing new housing and protecting drug dealers over working class families (See \u201cWhy Has SF\u2019s Left Turned Against the Tenderloin?<\/a>\u201c, Dec. 5, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon Mar was aligned with a \u201cprogressive\u201d majority of Preston, Ronin, Chan, Peskin and Walton. Joel Engardio is likely to be most aligned with Stefani, Dorsey and Mandelman. The latter two are lifetime progressives who are now described by some as \u201cmoderates.\u201d Safai and Melgar align with both camps depending on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the mayor now have a Board majority she can get along with? Theoretically. But Mayor Breed needs to spend more time soliciting input and cultivating relationships with her supervisor allies if she wants to turn a potential Board majority into reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Safety<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board\u2019s new ideological lineup could most impact the city\u2019s focus on public safety. My main issue for 2023\u2014the closure of San Francisco\u2019s open air drug markets<\/a>\u2014should unite moderates and progressives across the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You would think that all supervisors would recognize that people selling deadly drugs and promoting violence hurts all of San Francisco. But many look the other way regarding activities not directly in their district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will this change under the new Board? Certainly having Sunset supervisor Joel Engardio committed to closing drug markets sends a positive message. We\u2019ll also learn how how much the new Board cares about closing drug markets when a supervisor\u2019s hearing is held on the petition signed by over 150 Tenderloin businesses<\/a>. The petition seeks a refund of business taxes and other fees if the city continues to fail to provide the level of public safety given to other neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The citywide group TogetherSF Action<\/a> is going all out to stop open drug markets. This should help make closing drug markets a top 2023 priority for all San Franciscans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to assess whether the new Board will succeed in expediting housing approvals and reducing the city-imposed disincentives to new construction. The media supports building a lot of new housing in San Francisco but voters and supervisors often do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The housing issue will be the Board\u2019s top issue in January as supervisors face an up or down vote  on the city\u2019s Housing Element. The state requires San Francisco to approve a Housing Element that will build 82,000 new units. Its been approved by the Planning Commission,  and should gain Board approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we\u2019ve learned never to take Board approval of new housing for granted. The Board has routinely overturned Planning approvals for specific projects and may object to a plan requiring San Francisco to upzone residential neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t see supervisors  rejecting the Housing Element. The consequences are too large. Rejection could  trigger the Builders Remedy<\/a> \u2013which allows developers to build projects that are far bigger than local zoning allows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wouldn\u2019t be very popular in San Francisco. Follow @TheFrisc<\/a> for the most complete coverage of the Housing Element debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Homelessness Commission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are frustrated about San Francisco\u2019s approach to homelessness. One problem is the lack of an ongoing public forum for debating homeless policies. Voters passage of Prop C<\/a> in November provides that forum through a new Homelessness Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board of Supervisors must approve all Commission appointees. Dorsey and Engardio are strong backers of the recovery movement\u2014joining Supervisor Safai and others\u2014so a representative of that movement has a great chance to be appointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new commission should endorse a sober hotel option for the unhoused, which HSH has opposed. It can also help correct what has become a mountain of misinformation about city homeless programs and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commission applications must be submitted by March 1. The Commission will be seated soon after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future of Downtown\/Mid-Market<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 should bring serious political attention to the post-COVID negative transformation of San Francisco\u2019s downtown and Mid-Market. Downtown plays a vital role in the city\u2019s economy. Planning its future must become a front-burner issue for the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, key stakeholders have been working on a plan for downtown\u2019s short and longterm future. Mayor Breed may announce key parts in her upcoming State of the City speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was invited to lunch at the beautiful  City Club last week in the Pacific Stock Exchange Building. The Art Deco restaurant was nearly vacant; pre-Covid it was routinely filled. Very few people were walking down Sansome Street. Now that a consensus exists that downtown\u2019s Monday-Friday workforce is not coming back, I look forward to the stakeholders\u2019 plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Mid-Market Tax Incentive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of us who worked closely with Mayor Lee on Mid-Market\u2019s revival saw COVID reverse its progress. It\u2019s as if we are back in the pre-2011 days when the city struggled for ideas on how to get Mid-Market retail spaces and office buildings filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022 was a lost year for Mid-Market. The city\u2019s opening a safe injection site in UN Plaza known as the \u201cLinkage Center\u201d killed prospects for new investment and hurt existing businesses. Business people in the area  still see UN Plaza as a trouble spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there are some positive developments on the horizon. IKEA plans a late fall opening of the long vacant shopping center at 945 Market. Plus the full opening of the Line Hotel<\/a> and condos at 950-974 Market and the eventual filling of arts and retail spaces there..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Mid-Market is still beset by vacant retail and offices. That\u2019s why the city should consider a new tax incentive for Market between 8th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup> Streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some incentive\u2014such as a suspension of business taxes or a modified infrastructure finance district for  the narrow area\u2014is essential for Mid-Market\u2019s revival. Offices are not coming back when they can get higher quality and comparably cost space downtown. Retail is not returning without a nearby customer base. Hundreds of new housing units in the area have helped but office workers must return to the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lee recognized in 2011 that Mid-Market needed city help. While Mid-Market splits between two supervisor districts (Dorsey and Preston), the entire Board should prioritize its revival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Better Image for SF?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco just completed a rough year. National and international media focused on open air drug markets, overdoses, and scenes of mentally impaired addicts roaming sidewalks. San Francisco has become known as the nation\u2019s Fentanyl capitol,  which hurts the hospitality industry and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never heard people across the city so upset with what\u2019s happening in San Francisco. They want the city to be like it was pre-Covid. San Francisco still had issues with drugs, homelessness and mental illness, but the problem was nowhere close to what it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you agree the city is off track, get involved with fixing it. San Francisco is filled with neighborhood association, religious groups, political organization and other groups working to make a difference. It\u2019s cathartic to post tweets showing how bad things are in the city but consider coupling that with activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire San Francisco political spectrum can work together to improve the city in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0January 9, 2023 (BeyondChron.org) Matt Dorsey and Joel Engardio San Francisco\u2019s Top Issues for 2023 San Francisco seats a new Board of Supervisors this week. Joel Engardio replaces Gordon Mar in D4.  D6\u2019s Matt Dorsey goes from appointee to elected incumbent. Aaron Peskin was elected today as Board President. … 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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24708,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24707\/revisions\/24708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}