{"id":36154,"date":"2024-09-14T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36154"},"modified":"2024-09-14T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:00:21","slug":"live-tv-mayoral-debate-shows-sharp-contrast-between-peskin-and-the-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/14\/live-tv-mayoral-debate-shows-sharp-contrast-between-peskin-and-the-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Live TV mayoral debate shows sharp contrast between Peskin and the others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rent control, affordable housing, vicious attacks on the unhoused set clear distinctions in the mayoral race.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By TIM REDMOND<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor London Breed didn\u2019t show up for the live, televised KPIX\/SF Examiner debate Wednesday, but she played a large role in the discussion. All the challengers said Breed was doing a terrible job, and for whatever reason, she decided not to appear and defend herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed had confirmed in writing that she would appear when the debate was scheduled; a few days before the event, she cancelled, saying that she\u2019s too busy running the city to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Four candidates took the stage. One of them sought progressive votes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we learned a few things from the discussion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014None of the candidates except Peskin would expand rent control if state Prop. 33 passes in November. Both Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell said that expanding rent control was the worst thing the city could do because it would discourage new housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Both Lurie and Farrell have gone full Yimby, with both saying that allowing more density for market-rate developers would bring down prices so working-class people could afford to live here. There is absolutely no evidence that\u2019s true or will work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell: \u201cWe should build new housing across the city, have more density in every neighborhood.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie: \u201cIt takes 33 months to get a permit, that\u2019s why we have an affordability crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Sup. Ahsha Safai said the theme of his campaign is \u201cyou shouldn\u2019t have to be rich to live in San Francisco.\u201d But he also said that if the 40,000 new market-rate units that are in the pipeline get built, prices will come down to the level they were when the janitors he worked for as a union rep could buy a house in District 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Both Farrell and Lurie said some incredibly harsh things about the unhoused. Farrell: \u201cWe have enough shelter beds (untrue).\u201d When he was interim mayor, he said, \u201cwe\u2019d take away their tents. After a second or third encounter \u2026 some people left San Francisco because we made it inconvenient for them to sleep on the streets.\u201d Lurie: \u201cI will stand on the steps of City Hall every day and say, you can\u2019t come to San Francisco to sell drugs or do drugs and you can\u2019t come here to sleep on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Peskin, who has a new ad running contrasting him to the candidates who are \u201crunning to the right,\u201d tried to make that difference clear. When Examiner reporter Adam Shanks asked him if he believed in the \u201cfundamental laws of supply and demand,\u201d (a weird question since those \u201claws\u201d rarely work as economics 101 teachers describe them), Peskin talked about his record\u2014and affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have voted to approve 100,000 units by working with the neighborhoods, not against them,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are 70,000 shovel-ready homes that are not being built because of high interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the only bit of sanity in the entire housing discussion: The 33 months, the zoning, none of that is holding up massive new housing development. It\u2019s the market; money goes where the return is highest, and thanks to the federal reserve, building market-rate housing in San Francisco right now doesn\u2019t give investors enough return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin has proposed an innovative idea, which is to use the city\u2019s ability to issue revenue bonds to fund new housing for middle-class people at a lower interest rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin made clear at the end where he differs from the others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will protect elderly renters from eviction. They won\u2019t. I am a champion of affordable housing; they prefer luxury. I have a comprehensive homeless strategy; they prefer sweeps, which are ineffective. I am a grassroots candidate; my opponents are supported by billionaires.\u201d (Safai correctly noted that he has no billionaire backers. He\u2019s also polling far below the others.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only way Peskin wins this election is if he gets the solid support of the 25-28 percent of voters who identify as progressives. That\u2019s what his messaging is about right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full disclosure: My son and daughter both work on the Peskin for Mayor campaign.<\/em><\/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":"

Rent control, affordable housing, vicious attacks on the unhoused set clear distinctions in the mayoral race. By TIM REDMOND SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 (48hills.org) Mayor London Breed didn\u2019t show up for the live, televised KPIX\/SF Examiner debate Wednesday, but she played a large role in the discussion. All the challengers said… 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\/36154"}],"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=36154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36156,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36154\/revisions\/36156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}