District 5 campaign has no political significance

"Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

The same could be said for the "brutal" campaign for District 5 Supervisor. All that's at stake are the political careers of the candidates themselves. Check out their websites and try to find a serious discussion of the issues---or even a mention of the city's aggressively pro-development policies---Smart Growth, Transit Corridors, Dense Development, terms that actually describe a Free Market developer's approach to housing cloaked in PC-sounding terminology. 

That terminology denotes a policy that assumes that San Francisco---already the second most densely-populated city in the country---can make room for thousands of new residents by building higher and denser, with residential highrises along busy city traffic corridors. Traffic gridlock? Let them ride bikes!

In short, it won't make a damn bit of difference who's elected District 5 Supervisor. All the candidates essentially have the same views on development, housing, and traffic, issues that are intimately related to the quality-of-life in a future San Francisco. 

Except for Daniel Everett, who hasn't really campaigned, they all groveled shamelessly before the Bicycle Coalition, whose agenda is to make traffic worse for everyone (96.5%) in the city but cyclists (3.5%). None of the candidates oppose the bike lanes on the Panhandle or Masonic Avenue that will remove hundreds of parking spaces in a part of the city where street parking is scarce.

Supervisor Olague and John Rizzo are crude opportunists who, with Ross Mirkarimi, abandoned the Green Party when being a Democrat became fashionable again after the election of Barack Obama. These hustlers understood that being on the Green Party left wouldn't help advance their political careers in the city. 

As a Planning Commissioner, Olague voted to implement the Bicycle Plan in 2005, even though that was clearly against the law. She knew she had to do that if she was going to have a political future here in Progressive Land, where the bicycle is a symbol as important as the crucifix is to Christianity.

Thea Selby is the smiley-face, happy-talking candidate with little grasp of the issues, including even those in her own neighborhood. Beyond Chron calls her a "good-natured Mom, wife and activist," which may be enough for the more feeble-minded voters in the district (And are we supposed to capitalize "Mom" now?)

Nor do either the foul-mouthed London Breed or Julian Davis have significant political differences with the other candidates. We're back in high school determining who's the most popular kid on the campus.

Hope Johnson and Andrew Resignato got together, but add both up and you come up with zero political impact because they have nothing to say that differs significantly from the other candidates.

The campaign may end with another annoying Ranked Choice fiasco like the one that made Malia Cohen a supervisor. This will probably benefit "Clueless" John Rizzo, who has even less charisma than your average zombie, but he hasn't made a lot of poltical enemies. Rizzo would win my RoboProg award if his opponents weren't also among the Living Dead politically.

Earlier posts on the District 5 campaign here and here.

My questions ignored by all the candidates. They correctly figured that even trying to answer them would make them vulnerable to attack by the other "progressive" zombies.