Gabriel Metcalf: Dissident?

Gabriel Metcalf

An otherwise smart article in Bay City by Elizabeth Stevens about our "one-party" city is marred by this howler:

Gabriel Metcalf, who heads the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, or SPUR, a good-government group, was among the City Family folks who appeared at Lee’s announcement of the pension deal (though SPUR has not yet decided which pension measure to endorse). Metcalf has broken ranks with the City Family on a couple of issues in recent years, and he knows the cost. “In San Francisco, there seems to be a belief in thought crimes,” he said, “meaning that people who speak out, say things they are not supposed to say, will be shunned.”

I can't think of a single issue on which SPUR and Metcalf have "broken ranks" with City Family orthodoxy. In fact Metcalf is the embodiment of San Francisco progressivism on planning issues. So-called Smart Development, residential highrises, high-speed rail, the bike bullshit---he buys all the destructive doctrines that guide the Planning Department and City Hall as they go about busily degrading the quality of life in San Francisco. 

Of course Metcalf will endorse Mayor Lee's weak version of pension reform.