In response to: How San Francisco Became a Failed City by Nellie Bowles
Part II
•••••••••• October 25, 2022 ••••••••••
It may not have been so clear until now, but San Franciscans have been losing patience with the city’s leadership for a long time. Nothing did more to alienate them over the years than how the progressive leaders managed the city’s housing crisis.” — Nellie Bowles (Article)
Ms. Bowles seems to have gone into her own realm of magical thinking; she thinks the progressives are to blame for the ills of San Francisco. If we can just get rid of them, everything will be alright. They stop housing being built with all their petty regulations and their ineffectual polices get in the way of business.
Contrary to Ms. Bowles' assertion, it is not the progressives who are responsible for San Francisco's current plight. The real power in San Francisco emanates from the Mayor's office and we have not had a progressive mayor in decades; not since Art Agnos in 1992. If you think Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom are progressives you and I need to have a serious talk. Newsom may be the champion of gay marriage and asylum seekers but that doesn't get in the way of the agenda of his billionaires sponsors like Gordon Getty and the Fisher brothers. Real estate development and corporate profits have always been the first order of business with privatization of the public space a close second.
The Board of Supervisors, while progressive in terms of civil and human rights, has never had a progressive voting majority and is generally compliant to the Mayor's will. To go against the Mayor is to go against the Democratic Party machine and Supervisors are acutely aware of that. A good case in point is the recent sale of City College land. You go along to get along.
Today we are reaping what was sown when Gavin Newsom became mayor in 2004. Newsom and Mark Buell, a real estate developer who also served as the first Director of Economic Development for San Francisco, had big plans for the City ... This program, inevitably, resulted in gentrification and the displacement of poor people. There is no money to be made from poor people in rent controlled apartments. The emphasis was not on building affordable housing or preserving community. The real money is in commercial real estate and high-end condos. ”
“The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to the 1,100-unit Balboa Reservoir development, rejecting an appeal filed by City College of San Francisco community members. Supervisors voted in favor of the project’s environmental impact report, zoning changes, a development agreement and $11.4 million sale of publicly-owned land to developers. … Some industry experts have estimated the sale price is well below market value.” — By Ida Mojadad, 8/12/20, San Francisco Examiner
We have had progressive Supervisors in San Francisco, but, like I say, never in a majority on the Board of Supervisors. That wouldn't be tolerated. Christina Olague, a senior and housing rights advocate, served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2012. She was an honest, thoughtful voice representing the people of San Francisco. The powers-that-be made short work of that. Appointed to the Board by Mayor Lee, she soon proved too independent so she had to go. She had voted to allow Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to remain in office when the Mayor wanted him out. Mirkarimi was a progressive and was not the preferred candidate of Lee and company. He was too independent.
The Supervisors do what they can to try and put some restrictions on real estate developers but they can't do much to stop this runaway train. By the way, did you know that 40,000 residential units are sitting empty in San Francisco? Investors have purchased them but left them empty. Progressive Supervisors are trying to get an empty residence tax passed to fund social programs. We'll see how that goes in November.
Today we are reaping what was sown when Gavin Newsom became mayor in 2004. Newsom and Mark Buell, a real estate developer who also served as the first Director of Economic Development for San Francisco, had big plans for the City. Basically, the idea was to “activate” every square inch of San Francisco, encourage high-tech businesses to locate here by giving them tax breaks, and flood the city with well-paid high-tech workers. This program, inevitably, resulted in gentrification and the displacement of poor people. There is no money to be made from poor people in rent controlled apartments. The emphasis was not on building affordable housing or preserving community. The real money is in commercial real estate and high-end condos.
Mayor Ed Lee, appointed by Mayor Newsom when he resigned to run for governor, continued the Newsom agenda. After Lee, we got London Breed, the hand-picked candidate of Ron Conway, venture capitalist, self-appointed power broker and political fixer at City Hall. It was Conway who sponsored Breed’s run for Supervisor. “He donated nearly $600,000 to San Francisco races in 2012…” (Ron Conway says he’s too busy to get involved in SF’s mayor race; Trisha Thadani, Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2018.) Breed's outspent opponent was the progressive incumbent, Christina Olague.
There are big issues that provide the context for the San Francisco where Boudin came to power. Four major factors are at work; 1. drug addiction and the fentanyl and opioid overdose crisis, 2. homelessness, 3. lack of treatment and facilities for the mentally ill and drug addicted, 4. the pandemic. None of these were caused by the government of San Francisco and all of them are beyond the ability of San Francisco to solve on its own. If San Francisco is a failed city, California is a failed state and America is a failed nation. There is one factor, actually, that was under the control of the City administration; the unparalleled and uncontrolled development of San Francisco and the displacement of people that occurred as a result.
More people die in San Francisco from drug overdoses than from COVID.
“Four of the largest U.S. corporations have agreed to pay roughly $26 billion to settle a tsunami of lawsuits linked to claims that their business practices helped fuel the deadly opioid crisis”. — NPR 2/25/2022
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Walgreens can be held responsible for contributing to San Francisco’s opioid crisis for over-dispensing highly addictive drugs for years without proper oversight and failing to identify and report suspicious orders as required by law…U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that for 15 years, Walgreens dispensed hundreds of thousands of pills, eventually contributing to the city’s hospitals being overwhelmed with opioid patients, libraries being forced to close because of syringe-clogged toilets, and syringes littering children’s playgrounds in San Francisco. — PBS Newshour, 8/10/2022
Chesa Boudin is not responsible for San Francisco’s overdose crisis and drug problems just as he's not responsible for Trump's racist rhetoric. The City’s attempts to address the overdose crisis goes back at least to the beginning of the fentanyl epidemic a decade ago. It is ridiculous to think Boudin could do anything except recommend diversion for minor drug crimes. It’s not even his decision in any case; it’s up to the judge.
Boudin wanted to “...break the cycle of recidivism” by addressing the social causes of crime — poverty, addiction, mental-health issues Boudin was selling revolution, and San Francisco was ready. In theory” — Nellie Bowles. “Addressing the social causes of crime — poverty, addiction, mental-health issues,” is revolutionary? What are the alternatives? Relying on incarceration and punishment?
If San Francisco is a failed city it's not because progressives have been in charge.”
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On a separate but related topic, if you haven't heard, we have a problem with corruption at City Hall. Another reason why we needed Chesa Boudin. And another reason why he had to go. Mohammed Nuru, former head of the San Francisco Public Works Department, lost his job for his part in a bribery and corruption scandal. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Nuru was arrested and charged by federal officials last year for an alleged attempt to bribe a San Francisco airport commissioner, in a probe that lifted the curtain on the city’s sprawling pay-to-play and corruption scheme. Eleven defendants have been charged to date, including multiple department heads, contractors and business executives. In a separate but related investigation, officials with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office found that Recology had overcharged city ratepayers $94.5 million over the past four years by failing to account for revenue it would already receive. A settlement announced last month will require the waste company to reimburse its customers and pay a $7 million penalty to the city. — S.F. corruption scandal: Another Recology exec faces charges of bribing Mohammed Nuru by Megan Cassidy, April 15, 2021 (Nuru was recently sentenced to seven years in prison)“
The San Francisco political corruption case against two former city officials that stemmed from a wide-sweeping FBI investigation into a Chinatown gangster has ended in a pair of plea deals. The San Francisco Examiner learned Tuesday that the case against former Human Rights Commission staffer Zula Jones and ex-political consultant Keith Jackson will not move forward to trial after years of delays.Jones pleaded no contest to felony bribery in late February, while Jackson, a former school board member, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts related to making a campaign contribution in excess of $500 and in someone else’s name. Jones, Jackson and a third defendant were accused of soliciting bribes from an undercover FBI agent in 2012 to retire the campaign debt of the then-newly elected Mayor Ed Lee in exchange for political access and favors. Jones once allegedly told the agent, “you got to pay to play here.” By Michael Barba, Apr 2, 2019, San Francisco Examiner
The sad truth is, despite being a bastion of LGBTQ civil rights and an asylum city, San Francisco has been anything but progressive in creating and maintaining a livable city, a place where community comes first. When I first came to San Francisco in 1978 no one had any problem finding a place to live. Rentals were plentiful. If San Francisco is a failed city it's not because progressives have been in charge.
David Romano is an environmental activist living near Ocean Beach
October 25, 2022