When it comes to spending money, San Franciscans spoke loud and clear with their ballots. Four of the five city propositions we voted on this last Election Day were about money. Some of it was our own; lots more of it belongs to other people. But there was no misunderstanding the results.
Voters want better infrastructure: Proposition A has passed overwhelmingly, with more than 80 percent, to rebuild the bayfront seawall.
The voters want rich companies to pay more to help the homeless. Prop C is a winner, with 60 percent of the vote. (But now with a big snag: A lawsuit could put it in limbo.)
New cannabis companies and retailers, still searching for customers and business plans in the first year of a legal recreational market, will have to pay higher taxes. (Two-thirds voted to pass Prop D.)
Defend the arts: We have now dedicated a part of our hotel tax for arts funding (Prop E, nearly 75 percent).
Here’s an idea for an office pool: Who leaves San Francisco in greater droves? Rich tech companies pissed off about the slightly higher tax levied by Prop C, or little pot shops that just can’t deal?
No YIMBY in my backyard
As for the supervisor races, the results are rather consistent: The YIMBYs got mopped. The build-more-housing movement made for great headlines, but voters signaled with their first-choice votes that they seek establishment, antigrowth progressives to counter Mayor London Breed and her more moderate, business-friendly positions at City Hall. Breed also got a stinging rebuke with the Prop C vote. She doesn’t have a lot of time to show voters she can make things happen (or back the people who do). Remember, she’s up for re-election one year from now.
Each and every new candidate endorsed by the YIMBYs fell short fast, and the YIMBY Party acknowledged the brush-off the day after.
In the most closely watched race — District 6, which includes the Tenderloin and SoMa, and said likely to come down to just a few hundred votes — the outcome was clear from the get-go Tuesday night. The YIMBY Party founder, Sonja Trauss, came in third. She ran with Christine Johnson, a pragmatic Planning Commissioner, and both had the endorsement of the mayor. They were trounced in District 6 by school board member Matt Haney.
In District 2, which includes the Marina and Pacific Heights, incumbent Catherine Stefani apparently has fought off a challenge from the YIMBY-endorsed Nick Josefowitz. An SF Chronicle story in late October about how a clean-energy company he founded went bankrupt probably didn’t help.
In the Sunset (District 4), progressive Gordon Mar has a clear lead; the YIMBY-endorsed Trevor McNeil ended up in third place behind Jessica Ho, aide to Supervisor Katy Tang, who decided not to seek re-election. Same deal In District 10, which includes the Bayview, where the YIMBY Theo Ellington ended up behind long-running Tony Kelly and the apparent winner Shamman Walton. (The final counts in Districts 2, 4, and 10 aren’t yet official.)
The only bright spot for the YIMBY candidate slate was the overwhelming re-election of District 8 incumbent Rafael Mandelman, who faced minimal opposition.
It’s tempting to think of the results as similar to the anti-Willie Brown backlash that took place in the early 2000s — which brought Aaron Peskin, Jake McGoldrick, Gerardo Sandoval (remember him?), Chris Daly (who can forget him), and other so-called progressives to power. We don’t know where this crop of supes will take us, whether deeper into a housing and displacement crisis or out of it. YIMBYism has reframed the debate in housing, so there is greater awareness of the need for new units to come on the market. But it’s not clear in what shape, form, or location voters want them.
We can say that with Mar in the Sunset (not to be confused with his brother, former supervisor Eric Mar) and the rather NIMBY Sandra Lee Fewer in the Richmond, the goal of upzoning San Francisco’s low-density western neighborhoods will have to wait. That is a setback not only for YIMBYs, but also for housing affordability in our city, and great news for landlords and existing homeowners.
San Francisco values
Josephine Zhao was not among the school board winners. She was revealed this summer to have made homophobic and transphobic comments about her opponents in Chinese, adding to a long record of trash-talking, and later dropped out of the race, yet her name remained on the ballot. Thank you, SF, for paying attention.
The three winners were Alison Collins, Fauuga Moliga, and Gabriela Lopez. Earlier in the day, supporters circulated get-out-the-vote notes that said Collins and Moliga want the school district to develop a coherent tech policy for kids who, in many schools, are glued to their screens during lunches and recesses. Part of the tech backlash? Something to keep an eye on.
Perhaps lost in all the national hand-wringing over the extent of the Democratic Party’s midterm victories — fine, if it’s not a blue wave, perhaps it’s a blue particle — is this: California’s two senators and its governor are all San Franciscans. Oh, and the likely once and future Speaker of the House, unless the Dems have an ugly family fight so soon after a positive election. So yes, San Francisco values, ladies and gentlemen.
An update to this story corrects the spelling of Rafael Mandelman’s name.
