Nov 30, 2016 BoS Progressive majority missed by 413 votes; Sierra Club SF under attack (again); National Election fallout

Event tonight: What the Hell Just Happened?
Wed, 30 November 2016 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm The Women’s Building Auditorium, 3543 18th St

After the November 8 election the Board of Supervisors will shift to a 5–6 minority of progressives.  Progressive winners were Sandra Fewer of D1, Aaron Peskin of D3, Norman Yee of D7, and Hillary Ronen of D9.  Jane Kim in D6 is the fifth progressive.

Nov 15 Corporate Democrats, nationally and at home   Tim Redmond wonders why progressive unity didn’t materialize:

Suppose progressive leaders like Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim were active supporters of Kim Alvarenga in D11 and Dean Preston in D5.  [Alvarenga lost by 413 votes at 51%–49%.  Preston lost by a small margin as well.]  If the progressive leadership had been united behind them, that probably would have made the difference.

Nov 28 SF moderates win control of Board of Supervisors

Nov 27 The Tom and Tim Show: No more Teflon — Let’s hold all of our our politicians accountable for what happened on Election Day
Listen to this informative (and humorous) podcast by Tom Ammiano and Tim Redmond, covering local Supe races and more.

Two of the “Three Moms” Supe candidates survive attack by huge Real-estate/tech money

The “Three Moms” – Sandra Fewer D1, Hillary Ronen D9, Kim Alvarenga D11.

The “Three Moms” running for District Supervisor – Sandra Fewer D1, Hillary Ronen D9, Kim Alvarenga D11.  Their support comes from neighbors and friends, not from corporate interests.  They are committed to working hard for District residents and not for those who think San Francisco is For Sale.

Unfortunately, Kim Alvarenga was bested by a candidate funded by over $1.1 million real-estate/tech money, who won by only 413 votes!  Sandra Fewer also faced a candidate backed by over $1.1 million real-estate/tech money but won the contest decisively.  Hillary Ronen had a well-funded and well-organized campaign, and a weak opponent — real-estate/tech money stayed away from this race and of course Hillary Ronen won easily.

Sierra Club SF fights another attempted takeover by a Real Estate slate

Last year SFBARF tried to take over the Sierra Club SF executive committee and were soundly defeated.  This year they are trying again under the name “Yimby Party,” with a huge cash infusion from real-estate/tech.  Their full-color mailer went out recently with the confusing title “Save the Sierra Club!” and listed their “stealth slate.”

Don’t be fooled by this pro-real-estate slate.  If you are a Sierra Club member vote for the slate of environmental leaders:  Sheila Chung Hagen, Becky Evans, Katherine Howard, and Linda Weiner.  Voting is open now until Friday, December 16th.  Click here for more info.

Nov 28 Developer allies again try to take over Sierra Club
YIMBY Party, which wants more luxury housing, tries to take control of influential local environmental group.

National Elections

San Francisco’s Official Response to the Election of Trump:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently passed a resolution, introduced by Board President London Breed, in response to the election of Donald Trump. The resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS, On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected to become the 45th President of the United States; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That no matter the threats made by President-elect Trump, San Francisco will remain a Sanctuary City. We will not turn our back on the men and women from other countries who help make this city great, and who represent over one third of our population. This is the Golden Gate— — we build bridges, not walls; and, be it … [read more]

An editor at HuffingtonPost.com attaches the following note to articles on Trump:

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

The Jill Stein Presidential recount can proceed in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania.  The recount will need more donations since on Monday WI upped the cost by $2.5 million.

No Dig, Nov 30: “Green Patrol” neighborhood cleanup, Chinatown’s Maritime Stories

See the full calendar of events

Fri, Dec 2

First Friday Art

December 2, 2016 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
North Beach

See more details

More North Beach news

No Dig, Nov 14: Your input needed for Francisco Park and Crooked Street

See the full calendar of events

Wed, Nov 16

Francisco Park Community Meeting #2

November 16, 2016 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Betty Ong Rec Center, 1199 Mason St @Washington

Help design the future Francisco Park!

Thu, Nov 17

Free Housing Clinic

November 17, 2016 @ 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Telegraph Neighborhood Center, 660 Lombard St @ Mason

More North Beach news

Nov 2, 2016 — $1 Million Supe races in D1 & D11; Voter slate cards; where to vote

Holy Guacamole!  Real-estate and tech money is flowing into District 1 and District 11 Supervisor races, making opponents of Sandra Fewer (D1) and Kim Alvarenga (D11) rich as heck.  As of this writing each opponent has about $1 million!

All other Supervisor campaigns, including Fewer and Alvarenga, have about $200–300K collected by their campaign and about $100K of 3rd Party Expenditures, also known as Independent Expenditures (IE).  Opponents of Fewer and Alvarenga have about $700K in IE.  (Source: Third Party tab at SFEthics.org)  See the graph below:

Graph showing $1 million available to the opponent of Sandra Fewer (District 1) and $1 million available to the opponent of Kim Alvarenga (District 11), as of Nov 2, 2016. (Source: SFEthics.org)

In District 1 $1 million is working on behalf of Sandra Fewer’s opponent (blue line in the graph above).  In District 11 nearly $1 million is working on behalf of Kimberly Alvarenga’s opponent (gold line in the graph above).  (Source: SFEthics.org)

Real-estate and tech interests, including SF and Silicon Valley tech moguls, and SF realtors, have given generously to buy a Board of Supervisors seat.  They have set their sights on District 1 and District 11.  See this October 14 story that traces the money, from the tech or real-estate donor’s check to the 3rd party or IE fund.  Note that in the article the $375K of 3rd party money in each of the D1 and D11 campaigns, as of mid-October, has grown to about $700K each as of November 2, with more being added each day as Nov 8 approaches.

What you can do: Donate money, door-knock or phone on behalf of Sandra and Kim.  People on the ground will make the difference in these Supervisor races.  Show up at their campaign offices shown below, anytime up to Tuesday November 8, and they will put you to work (and feed you ;-):

Sandra Fewer D1 Website   Donate   Headquarters at 4239 Geary @ 7th Ave
Kim Alvarenga D11 Website  Donate   Headquarters at 4458 Mission St @ Excelsior Ave

Recent news stories

Nov 1 — The sleaze reaches high tide in SF election
The big-money lies are staggering.  Phony Bernal slate card, Ahsha Safai’s bogus D11 affordable housing project, real-estate backed “Parents PAC” supports Wiener, and “keep in mind that almost everything arriving in your mailbox may be paid for by some of the worst players in local politics.”

More at In the news.

Important voting info

Vote now thru Election Day at City Hall rm 48.  M-F 8–5, Sa-Su 10–4
Tues, Nov 8 Election Day.  Vote at your polling place or at City Hall rm 48, 7am — 8pm.

Find your polling place, and other info at SF Dept of Elections

Haven’t voted yet?  Download The SF Bay Guardian’s Clean Slate.  Print this and bring it with you to the polling place.

The “Three Moms” Supe candidates are under attack by huge Real-estate/tech money

The “Three Moms” – Sandra Fewer D1, Hillary Ronen D9, Kim Alvarenga D11.

The “Three Moms” running for District Supervisor – Sandra Fewer D1, Hillary Ronen D9, Kim Alvarenga D11.  Their support comes from neighbors and friends, not from corporate interests.  They are committed to working hard for District residents and not for those who think San Francisco is For Sale.

Below are the Ed Lee / Real-estate / Tech mogul candidates running for District Supervisor: Marjan Philhour D1, Josh Arce D9, and Ahsha Safai D11 (shown with Mayor Ed Lee).  All think San Francisco is For Sale.

The Ed Lee/Real-estate / Tech mogul candidates: Marjan Philhour D1, Josh Arce D9, and Ahsha Safai D11 shown with Mayor Ed Lee.

Each currently has about $400K backing from Real-estate/tech interests: Ron Conway, Airbnb, Salesforce, and every tech giant in the area.  This backing could increase dramatically for each candidate by Election day.  This is three times the funding that the “Three Moms” each have.

For news stories on the huge real-estate/tech cash infusion into SF 2016 ballot candidates and measures see the Oct 14 stories at In The News.

The bottom line: Ed Lee and his backers want to buy at least one Supervisor seat.  Are they doing this because they care about the people who live in Districts 1, 9, and 11?  Heck no.  They want to shift the balance on the Board of Supervisors to non-progressive and push through legislation that benefits real estate, Airbnb and other tech and “Company Town” interests.  Unfortunately, this will be at the expense of residents of Districts 1, 9, and 11 who want a Supervisor who will look after local needs.  The loss of the progressive majority on the BoS will also affect all San Franciscans, especially renters who fear losing their homes to real estate speculation and getting priced out by an influx of the wealthy.

Do you remember the last time Ed Lee and his backers tried to buy the election for a District Supervisor?

Ed Lee and Julie Christensen, his appointed D3 Supervisor who lost her bid for a full term to Aaron Peskin. Photo from Election day 2015.

Right, Julie Christensen who was District 3 Supervisor for 11 months and voted in the BoS as directed by Mayor Ed Lee and his backers.  There was one occasion at a BoS meeting where she said she had decided earlier to vote Yes (on a progressive measure) before she decided to vote No.  Expect the same if one of the Mayor’s chosen Supervisor candidates is elected.

Christensen and Ed Lee lost to Aaron Peskin in 2015.  All the money showered on Christensen and Lee couldn’t overcome the power of District 3  residents and their friends walking the precincts and phoning voters.  Gotta do that again this election.

What you can do

Support the ‘Three Moms” even if you do not live in their Districts.  There are lots of opportunities to walk or phone for them — Check the Calendar.  You can also donate to their campaigns:

Sandra Fewer D1 Website   Donate
Hillary Ronen D9 Website  Donate
Kim Alvarenga D11 Website  Donate

During the next few days we have to work as hard as we can to keep the progressive majority on the BoS.  Please join me and others, visit Districts 1, 9, and 11 (each with their own sort of San Francisco charm) and campaign for the “Three Moms.”

Haven’t voted yet?  Download The SF Bay Guardian’s Clean Slate.  Print this and bring it with you to the polling place.

What is ReCoTown? This blog recently wrote about “Moderates” and several readers pointed out they are anything but moderate.  They are real estate, tech and corporate interests whose first priority is making money off of San Francisco real estate, and making sure the city will continue to house their high-paid workers while pushing out regular folks who have lived here for decades if not their whole lives.  The word ReCoTown (Real-estate/Company-town folks) comes from Real-estate and “Company Town,” the title of a new documentary about a divided San Francisco in the 2015 election.

Since last week things have heated up in SF elections for Supervisors, State Senate, and ballot measures.  Check out the numerous election news items.

 San Francisco Ballot measures

Confused by all the letters of the alphabet for measures that will take hours to understand?  Vote the Easy Way – Vote No on P O U R Q – no pork!  Vote Yes on all other measures.

Vote Yes on Props D, H, L and M — Better government measures
The well-researched Pissed-Off Voters Guide for the Nov 8 election appropriately renames the ballot measures and recommends:
Prop D: Let’s Elect Our Elected Officials – Yes (ends mayor’s executive branch appointment of legislative branch BoS member)
Prop H: Create a Public Advocate – Yes
Prop L: Shift 3 of 7 MTA Board Appointments from Mayor to the BoS – Yes
Prop M: Create Oversight Commission & Kill Realtor Props P & U – Yes (Prop P: Snarl Affordable Housing in Red Tape; Prop U: Developer $ Grab from Affordable Housing)
The City has been bought by developer, real-estate, and other wealthy interests.  To stem the flow of sold-off influence, measures D, H, L and M have been put before the voters on the November ballot.  Tempering the City’s give-away to wealthy interests and returning more control to residents’ interests can be accomplished by voting Yes on  Props D, H, L and M.
Of course the Chronicle, the voice of wealthy interests and itself owned by the Hearst Corporation, a huge SF real-estate developer, recently posted: The Chronicle recommends: Vote No on S.F. Propositions D, H, L and M
Contrast this with the San Francisco Democratic Party’s Official Nov 2016 Ballot Endorsements which recommend Yes on D, H, L and M.

More at SF ballot measures.