Meet the Candidate Night
Peskin First to Speak at Bookshop West Portal
Editor’s Note: The Westside Observer does not endorse candidates or issues, opinions of its authors and reporters are their own, not the Westside Observer.
• • • • • • • • • • August 28, 2014 • • • • • • • • • •
Bookshop West Portal was awash in light on June 27th, as locals gathered for the first session of a new series called “Meet a Mayoral Candidate.” Over the next two months, each mayoral candidate will have an evening to greet attendees and answer questions in a laid-back “meet the candidate” event. Long-time District 3 (Chinatown/North Beach) Supervisor Aaron Peskin kicked off the one-hour series with a short, informal presentation, then spent the rest of the hour responding to questions from the audience about various points of his political platform.
Strolling into the bookshop with apologies for his late arrival, Supervisor Peskin conveyed an air of easy conviviality and openness, as if he were a man who simply happened to find himself running for mayor. He spoke briefly about his background as a lifelong Bay Area resident, born and raised in Oakland. His transition into politics from an environment-based career path was almost accidental. While working for organizations like the National Park Foundation and Friends of the Urban Forest, he was actively involved in local politics. He decided to formally enter the City’s political arena in 2000 when he was elected Supervisor to District 3, the first of his four terms as District Supervisor. He is currently the longest-serving supervisor and has the rare distinction of being unanimously elected as the Board president not once but twice.
In reference to his mayoral bid, Peskin summarized his platform in a few points, emphasizing his intention to create “community-based policy” based on advice from the smartest, most experienced voices who have solutions to problems that have been tweaked and tailored to different areas of the City. He pointed to “one size fits all” policies as one of the primary reasons San Francisco has been going in the “wrong direction.” “I’m in it to win it”, he concluded, but becoming the mayor of San Francisco would be “the last job I’ll ever have,” a comment that seemed meant to reassure the audience that his motives for running for mayor aren’t strictly political, but based on sincere affection and concern for the City.
A large stack of notecards with audience questions was shuffled into six categories. Each category was summed up into a single question; the question-answer portion of the evening began. The first queried how Peskin would address citywide policy failures and improve or change existing policies. His answer somewhat sidestepped the question, taking the opportunity to speak about his strategies to increase the police force, which include establishing a program to recruit police cadets out of high school, guaranteeing training and a job at SFPD, as well as student loan forgiveness for serving on the force. He also spoke about investing in youth programs, including work training, gang violence prevention, and education, citing a statistic from 2008-2009, during which funding for these programs increased and the youth homicide rate dropped 50% from one year to the next.
Peskin summarized his platform in a few points, emphasizing his intention to create “community-based policy” based on advice from the smartest, most experienced voices who have solutions to problems that have been tweaked and tailored to different areas of the City.”
The two questions that received the most detailed answers were, in a sense, related – what to do about the local housing crisis, and how to manage the homelessness crisis. Regarding the former, Peskin pointed out that the city “is in the middle of an affordability crisis,” not a housing crisis. He cited his record on affordable housing, pointing to various measures he passed, including banning the use of price-increasing algorithms employed by corporate landlords that artificially inflate the cost of housing, as well as co-authoring a bill that requires builders to include affordable housing units in all new housing complexes (a later bill offered reduced interest rates for building affordable units). He added that he believes in rent control and wants to see it expanded to include buildings built in 1979 and after. He briefly addressed the speed at which new housing complexes can be built and the effect of inflation but never addressed what measures he might take to keep builders on schedule.
The supervisor was particularly adamant while discussing the homelessness crisis and how his “Crisis to Care” plan thoroughly addresses the issue. He highlighted the systemic mismanagement of homelessness, citing how nine (mostly uncoordinated) City departments and 248 service providers deal with its different aspects, making effective, humane long and short-term solutions difficult. He also spoke about his plans to fund more shelter beds, stop unlawful evictions and keep people housed, establish the office of the Inspector General (to make sure everything is copacetic), and end student homelessness, a measure that ties into supporting the SFUSD—removing social responsibilities they have been forced to take on in addition to the current challenges of public education.
Perhaps the most powerful point of “Crisis to Care” is Peskin’s intention to reframe the problem as a regional one, pointing out that homelessness is not limited to San Francisco, and we’ve failed to make effective changes while acting as if it is. Instead, he insisted, we should work with other counties to utilize the resources each one has to create a larger, more holistic solution. Isolating homelessness to individual cities has only made the problem worse—why keep going in the same way when nothing has changed?
Included among the other questions that were asked and answered was what to do about the MTA (he is definitely not a fan of what happened with the West Portal Project), how to convert his signature “micro solutions” into a citywide strategy (he wants to create a more open dialogue between the city government and different neighborhoods, promoting more collaboration), his plans for rising sea levels in the Bay Area (he pointed to his Oceanside Treatment Plan), and what he can do about the SFUSD (the City cannot interfere with the district, but Peskin described the two organizations as “sister systems” that must support each other).
The hour finished quickly, and unfortunately, there was no time for asking follow-up questions. But it was an hour that Supervisor Peskin made the most of, speaking about specific aspects of plans that might have otherwise gone unnoticed while there could be no doubt about his track record of fighting for his constituents. There was a cheerful atmosphere as the gathering broke up, and people started chatting and milling about. There was no doubt that Peskin’s case for Mayor of San Francisco was well received, and most in the audience seemed to look forward to the promise of future candidate gatherings at Bookshop West Portal.
Maura Corkery lives and works in West Portal.
October 14, 2024
