The Method

From August 19th to September 8th members of the SFBA Renters' Federation debated the ballot measures and voted on their endorsements online. See the online form here. Each ballot measure could be scored between 0 (hate it) and 5 (love it) or voters could pick "No Opinon/ PAC should not endorse." While voting was open, members could change our votes as often as we liked.

Discussion threads on:

• Prop A: Housing Bond.
  Like Prop I, there was almost no discussion on the Housing Bond. It went without saying that we would support it. It raises taxes a negligible amount on property owners, to raise funds to replace housing subsidies lost when Redevelopment ended on 2012. This is a renters' organization. We have no reason to vote against tax increases on property owners.
• Prop B: Family Leave
• Prop C: Expenditure Lobbyists
• Prop D: Mission Rock
• Prop E: Requirements for Public Meetings
• Prop F: AirBnB.
  We finally had a direct discussion of Prop F on the list.
  
• Prop I: Mission Moratorium. There was no discussion on the list. The Bay Area has a housing shortage. There is no reason to not build given the shortage.
• Prop J: Legacy Business.
  We almost achieved a "no opinion" vote, but barely voted to endorse No on J. The main reason for this also seems to be identity politics. J is a Campos sponsored measure, and Campos also sponsored the Moratorium. Our No on J is like an exclamation point to No on I. We're so against I, that our "no"s on I overflow the I vote and show up with regard to J as well.
• Prop K: Surplus Public Lands.
  Like the housing bond (Prop A) voting for Prop K was easy. It provides resources for affordable housing without taxing housing production.
  You may ask - why isn't Jane Kim affected by the identity politics of Campos or Yes on F? Kim sponsored the Twitter tax break. Also, her district has added a tremendous number of units. If Campos added as many units as Kim, we would like him too.

The Results

By the close of voting, if 51% of respondents voted "No Opinion ... " on a ballot proposition, the PAC did not endorse. If the average score was between 2 & 3 the PAC did not endorse. By the time of closing, 79 members voted. Final averages:

The relative sizes of the fonts in the slate card correspond to the percentage of voters that weighed in on that measure. Besides G & H, which did not receive enough votes either way to warrant an endorsement, our most tepid endorsements are of Props B & C. Only 55% of respondents weighed in on those. Our most entusiastic endorsement is No on I, followed closely by Yes on A.

Endorsing Julie Christensen Was Not Subject to Debate.

Aaron Peskin is a NIMBY for Hire.
Most recently he interfered with building Treasure Island- 8,000 units, room for 20,000 people - held up for 3 years. That's 2.5x as many people as were suppoesedly displaced in the Mission since 2000.

Peskin interferes with non-housing related public projects also.
From 2004 to 2007, San Francisco jumped on board an ambitious proposal by Google and Earthlink to bring free, city-wide WiFi to the entire city, at no cost to taxpayers. The proposal stumbled and then drowned in the city planning process. What should have taken months took years as the Board of Supervisors under Aaron Peskin dragged its feet.

Aaron is a NIMBY and a vengeful machine politician.
For example, while he was board president, developers were ready to begin construction on a nine-unit building at 701 Lombard St. But some neighborhood activists, including the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, objected, saying that the triangular property was better suited for a park. Peskin decided to take the unprecedented stance of obtaining the private property through eminent domain. The developers called it an abuse of the public process. The North Beach Chamber of Commerce agreed. Next thing you know, for the first time in its 14 year existance, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored North Beach Festival failed to get its permit to serve alcohol, which led the festival to be cancelled.

In 2005 Peskin defunded Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) leaving the Mission without an affordable housing developer for the last decade.
Then Executive Director Carlos Romero used MHDC staff time, vehicles and office supplies to help Peskin's campaign for supervisor. This activity risked both MHDC's 501(c)(3) status and their ability to receive HUD grants, so the MHDC board fired Romero. In response, Peskin defunded MHDC.

NIMBY stands for "Not in MY Back Yard." Approving projects in other peoples' neighborhoods doesn't mean Peskin isn't a NIMBY, it proves he surely is. Yeah, the Rincons were approved on Peskin's watch, and Peskin came out as No on I. None of that makes up for a decade of obstructionism.