Moderates, progressives, and District 5

Brian Wiedenmeier and Supervisor Brown

Mayor Willie Brown, dubbed a "moderate" by city progs, appointed Juanita Owens as District 5 Supervisor in 2000. She was defeated easily by the very progressive Matt Gonzalez. 

Ed Lee, another moderate mayor, appointed Christina Olague as District 5 Supervisor in 2012, but she too was rejected by district voters who, under the flawed Ranked Choice Voting system, ended up with political blank slate London Breed as their supervisor.

The historical pattern: the liberal District 5 won't accept an appointed supervisor by a so-called moderate mayor, even though both Brown and Lee would be considered liberals anywere else in the country.

That's the problem District 5 Supervisor Vallie Brown faces in next month's election, since she too was appointed by a so-called moderate Mayor Breed.

Under the banner of the defunct SF Bay Guardian, Tim Redmond makes some baffling election recommendations:

The real race for mayor of San Francisco was in May, 2018, when London Breed narrowly defeated Mark Leno, with Jane Kim in a close third. Breed, as widely expected, is now running with no serious opposition.

Breed ran in 2018 as the candidate of the status quo, someone who would not disrupt the tech boom or try to make any dramatic steps toward addressing income inequality. Her administration has been much as we expected. She opposed Prop. C, the measure to tax tech wealth to address homelessness. She’s continued the homeless sweeps. Her office is leading the opposition to a measure that would increase the impact fees developers pay for affordable housing.

Breed is pushing for a $600 million affordable housing bond, and supports the tax on Uber and Lyft to pay for Muni. We’re glad she’s supporting a buyout of PG&E. But she’s not a mayor who will lead the city in a direction of greater equity; she’s not offering anything close to the profound and dramatic changes San Francisco needs. She will be re-elected easily, but we can’t support her for another term.

Rob's comment:

Okay, Breed has no "serious" opposition, but there are several other candidates on the ballot, including Joel Ventresca. Why doesn't Redmond endorse one of those as a protest against the inevitable Breed victory?

Not surprising that Redmond likes the Bernie Sanders socialism of Dean Preston for District 5 Supervisor:

You can see the difference equally clearly with the Chronicle’s recent endorsement of Brown. The paper backed her because she specifically said that commercial, market-rate development is a key part of the city’s affordable housing future. That’s never worked before. Brown has been largely a vote for Breed’s agenda. 

She refused, for example, to support a measure to create a commission to oversee homelessness, something progressives supported and the mayor opposed. D5 is one of the most progressive districts in the city---and at a time when San Francisco desperately needs major political change, Brown is not the candidate. We strongly support Dean Preston for D5 supervisor.

A "commission to oversee homelessness"? Hard to believe that's a significant political move in San Francisco, not to mention that the Bay Guardian left has long been clueless on the homeless issue. 

Besides, why would a commission be better than what City Hall is now doing about homelessness? Redmond opposes the city's sweeps on homeless encampments, with the implication that those encampments are acceptable in city neighborhoods.

See also The Bird.