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News + PoliticsJulie Christensen's favorite (Ellis Act) house?
News + Politics

Julie Christensen’s favorite (Ellis Act) house?

By Tim Redmond
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Windows where rent-controlled tenants once lived are now full of Christensen signs

48hillsjuliebuilding

By Tim Redmond

OCTOBER 20, 2015 — I can count at least ten Julie Christensen window signs in this house on Greenwich Street.

That’s interesting, because nine tenants were evicted from the place under the Ellis Act in 2013, according to the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.

There’s only one Aaron Peskin sign, in the window of the sole tenant who is fighting the eviction.

It’s a study in contrasts: Peskin has the support of every legitimate tenant group in the city, and Christensen has, among other things, the CEO and chief lobbyist for the Board of Realtors.

She has tons of other real-estate money. You can get a great snapshot of who has donated to the two major D3 candidates at the city’s Ethics Commission website.

BTW, Ron Conway, who is a big investor in Airbnb, donated the maximum $500 to Christensen, as did four of his partners in SV Angel and his administrative assistant. I’m glad he’s paying her well enough to afford a $500 political donation.

Conway’s also given $50,000 to an independent expenditure committee that opposes Peksin.

 

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Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.
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111 COMMENTS

  39. When a middle of the road San Francisco Liberal who is a life-long Democrat who even flew to Miami to campaign for Obama in 2008, is a 25 year member of HRC and the ACLU and a die hard conservationist is considered a “far right” person, I think you might want to consider how extreme your point of view has become.

    I voted for the majority in 12 of 12 local initiatives last election, I expect I will do about the same this time. You guys have become the Tea Party Progressives.

  41. Yeah, and look at all the Conways Jane Kim gets money from. Oh, wait…

    BTW, here are Christensen’s donors who have given the $500 max (when they call, she will have to answer the phone):

    • Stewart Alsop, venture capitalist
    • Sam Altman, venture capitalist
    • Michael and Xochi Birch, owners of The Battery
    • Frank Caufield, venture capitalist
    • Christopher Conway, a Ron Conway relative
    • Gayle Conway, Ron Conway’s spouse
    • Michelle Conway, a Ron Conway relative
    • Ronny Conway, Ron Conway’s son
    • Peter Fenton, venture capitalist
    • Ben Golub, CEO at Docker
    • Ann Hatch, heiress and philanthropist
    • Carol Hays, Shorenstein heiress
    • David Kelley, IDEO founder
    • Richard Kovacevich, former Wells Fargo CEO
    • Don Mattrick, former CEO at Zynga
    • Marissa Mayer, CEO at Yahoo
    • David Oppenheimer, Google engineer
    • Justin Osofsky, VP at Facebook
    • Sean Parker, Facebook co-founder
    • Brian Pokorny, angel investor
    • Keith Rabois, venture capitalist
    • Elliot Schrage, VP of PR at Facebook
    • Evan Sharp, co-founder of Pinterest
    • Ben Silberman, CEO at Pinterest
    • Robert Simon, venture capitalist
    • Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder

  45. Quite the contrary, I think my money was well spent if it aggravated you. It seems easy for me to do. Stun me with your sharp wit and I’ll do it again…

  46. While I’m not a fan of Clint Reilly, he isn’t a slimeball like Conway. Can you imagine the staunch Republican Conway writing this:

    “But the value of a day’s labor in America has become dangerously distorted.

    The eye-popping paychecks in the financial services industry are dangerously undermining the egalitarian ethic that helped make America the greatest country on earth.

    Wall Street’s outrageous pay packages are luring a disproportionate percentage of our most talented young people away from science, engineering, technology, teaching, medicine, architecture and the arts – jobs that are vital to America’s future competitiveness.

    In the December issue of The Atlantic magazine, James Fallows interviewed Gao Xiqing – who oversees 10 percent of China’s dollar holdings. He expressed serious skepticism about Wall Street salaries: “I have to say it: you have to do something about pay in the financial system. People in this field have way too much money. And this is not right.

    “Individually, everyone needs to be compensated. But collectively, this distorts the talents of the country.”

    Xiqing noted how many bright, clever young people he encounters in China who seek to become financial wizards instead of scientists or engineers. When he asks them why, they point out all of the money made by their peers in the financial sector.

    The passionate pursuit of an occupation is one of life’s most satisfying experiences. I know an artist who spent a major part of her life teaching so that she could practice her art, which now hangs in museums worldwide. . .

    . . .These workers are vastly under-compensated compared to their Wall Street counterparts.

    http://www.clintreilly.com/whats-your-job-worth/

  47. Not Sam. Go ahead. I am also sure that Christensen is aware of what advertising goes out in support of her using her image. These independent expenditure situations are really just so that candidates are able to spend money and accept donations that they are legally not allowed to do as the candidate.

  48. So you’re also sure, $am, that Conway’s anti-Peskin ads are coordinated with Lee/Christensen and that the Alice B. Toklas billboard is coordinated with Lee’s nominee to the CCSF board. If so the next time I see Lee’s CCSF nominee I’ll let him know that you think he’s a liar.

  49. I’m sure Peskin is aware what his independent political expenditures are planning, especially when the expenditure is a slick well produced ad which runs very frequently on cable tv

  50. Peskin’s claim is probably accurate. The Peskin/Lee ad has a lot of people confused, but may work to Peskin’s advantage by undercutting Lee’s support for Christensen. In any event, it’s an independent expenditure just like Conway does in every election and, theoretically at least, can’t be coordinated with any candidate. Here’s another: the Alice B. Toklas club paid for a billboard for Ed Lee’s nominee to the CCSF Board of Trustees. Lee’s nominee said he knew nothing about it.

  54. I am pretty sure that Gollinger and Hestor think they have hoardes of fans. They both appear to be the kind of people that think the world revolves around each word they utter.

  56. I’m not sure anyone really likes any of these people. It’s an end justifies the means, sort of thing. They get results. People admire that.

  58. I like Jon Gollinger as much as I like Napoleon. San Francisco without Napoleon, Gollinger, and Sue Hestor would be such a better place.

  59. Uh: Clint Reilly. About as big money donor as they get. He just paid for a very high quality commercial playing on Comcast that says “San Francisco needs Ed Lee and Aaron Peskin”
    Peskin claims he has no idea how that happened

  63. Actually she is an ordinary citizen in her first government role. Just because she was appointed like Jane Kim does not mean she is a puppet. Look how Jane Kim turned out…..

  64. And yet Peskin is better for tenants than Christensen… Just goes to show how terrible a little Ed Lee puppet she must be!

  65. Far right? I voted with the majority in 12 of 12 initiatives in the last election. If a middle of the road San Francisco liberal is considered “far right” to you, then I think I have made my point here.

  66. Seriously? Maybe you can find out. He’s matched (or beat) Christensen’s campaign funds somehow, hasn’t he? Can you point me to where Peskin disavowed himself of big money donors, and spendy commercial campaigns, independent or otherwise?

    Plus, you know what’s equally as creepy as the Conway support or Peskin’s Clint Reilly support? The Jon Gollinger types. The Rose Pak types. The insider machine, political manipulation, constant ethic violation, types. The types who snuck in the very language in a 2012 bill which enabled Peskin to even run for his termed out seat.

    Again, neither candidate wins the moral ground here, so can we actually vet them on their records, or what?

  67. It’s funny when a Landlord Ellis Acts a building they are unable to rent it for a period of 5 years! Therefore, this is a false statement the building was Ellis Acted. Give me the address I will show you the report.

  68. That’s funny Tim is supporting a Nimby Landlord who took two rent controlled units offline while obtaining a permit to remodel the building into a single family home while Supervisor in 4 Days!

    Peskin also owns a 3 Unit Building with an eviction History. Peskin also owns another tenant building that cannot be rent controlled by the Costa Hawkins Act, therefore, Peskin charges market rate to his tenants.
    Lastly Peskin makes about 200K a year with a SF Rental Investment company who owns luxury apartment
    units charging tenants $7,000.00 a month!
    Tim needs to do his homework better since Peskin is a wealthy Nimby, not a Progressive champion of the disadvantaged or SF Tenants.
    He has prevented 0 evictions in all the 8 years in office.
    My Grandmother is more a Tenant Advocate than he is…
    I understand Tim voting on tribal lines instead of voting on integrity. I get that.

  70. We know about Conway and Christensen. Who are Peskin’s big money supporters and are they doing independent expenditures?

  77. And your inability to engage or have any kind of discussion and resort to name-calling shows everyone that YOU’RE actually the idiot. So, congrats on that and have a great day.

  78. Awe shit, you caught me!

    You want to Caltech and UCBerkeley? What did you want there? Certainly hope you’re not a gentleman professor of English!

  79. OH NO! You’re really an idiot to complain about an editorial website being editorial in nature, though.

    Then again, few if any have accused you of not being an idiot…

  80. Has Peskin evolved?

    I keep waiting to read a statement from Peskin reassuring voters, making an admission he’s a changed man, and wants to do it different this time.

    He’s campaigning on name recognition, and the Jerry Brown strategy of assuming voters have short memories (or short histories in SF). Let’s be real here, very few people are deciding based on 8 Washington.

    The Conway stuff only resonates within a certain group. It’s not some home run attack on Christensen, and we all know Peskin has big money supporters too. I can’t think of any other reason Peskin is in the race other than the windfall. He never raised this kind of cash in the old days. At least we see Christensen out there walking into walls, and throwing together pandering Legislation…what’s Peskin doing with his donations? Why isn’t his record being scrutinized? Why isn’t there talk over essentially abolishing term limits? Why isn’t he being forced to answer attacks about his improprieties with his home, for example? In his era, that would have been the equivalent of a Supervisor trying to crush AirBnb’s while running one himself.

    Christensen? She doesn’t have an identity. Her critics keep making one up for her, that’s the problem. I don’t know if she’s electable or not. She doesn’t appear to take a stance that helps anyone, unless you’re Park & Rec.

  82. There you go, get all the hate out. That is all Progressives have left: an ideology of hate and exclusion. Shouldn’t you be throwing rocks at Tech Buses?

    I want to Caltech and UC Berkeley so I know a few educated people. But this gentlemen is a Professor at UC Berkeley.

  83. Awe cute. What do you know about educated people?

    BTW, building tons of luxury housing does nothing for anyone accept those able and willing to pay usurious rents. Idiot.

  84. You do realize that this is editorial content, and you don’t have to read it if it doesn’t agree with your shriveled little heart, right?

    Tim likes Peskin because he’s better for tenants and isn’t part of the Lee / Conway machine. Deal with it or stop reading his posts.

  90. Yeah and Bernie Sanders has outraised most Republicans. You’re totally missing the point that you can tell who pulls the strings by who gives the money: tenants groups or realtors? Ordinary San Franciscans or Ron Conway?

  91. Tim only is allowed to support Peskin because Tim, really Calvin who calls the shots, believes that Aaron will deliver for the nonprofits.

  93. Peskin is against housing, Peskin is against The Central Subway to North Beach, Peskin is pretty much anti-everything. I wish I could vote in this election.

  94. It seems that Peskin has “evolved” since his last term on the BOS. The side-by-side comparison is nearly impossible because election campaigns obfuscate any vision that either candidate may have.

    Even though I’m supporting Peskin, I’m shocked that he appears to be doing so well. He had a lot of baggage going going into the campaign and this should have been an easy win for Christensen.

    But then, voters in SF have been consistent: 8 Washington and height restrictions on the waterfront (3 times now) are both good examples of this, and it plays against the mayor and Christensen.

    And Christensen is a gaff factory. My favorite is this: “I introduced legislation for accessory dwelling units [ADUs]; we have 30- to 40-unit apartment buildings that can add more rent-controlled housing in existing unused areas like boiler rooms or oversized storage.” The character of the neighborhood won’t change, but it adds ground-level units for disabled and senior access.”

    Yeah, let’s stuff grandma in the boiler room. No, I understand what she was trying to say, but holy crap, she does something like this every week.

    Between her gaffs, her inept campaign, and the notion that voting for Christensen is a vote for Conway, she’s got a tough job to win the election.

  96. I know window posters are science, but can we actually vet these two candidates?

    The problem is they were side by side during Peskin’s reign, until the Library issue, and neither the candidate fumbling around trying to play politics, or a calculated master of corrupt politics sounds like they’re worth putting a poster in my window for.

  98. I mean, we’re out here trying to earn a living just like everyone else and he keeps harassing us for no reason. Makes me want to quite being a troll and drive for Uber instead.

  99. ” owners sent eviction notices to 24 families for things like hanging laundry in the window.”

    Come on Gary, What San Francisco jury is gonna convict for that? There’ a difference btw the indictment of a Ham sandwich and its incarceration in the penitentiary.

    That said, its strange that organized civic groups and the City itself are defending the ability of a family of people to crowd into a 100 ft sq hovel. Surely there must be a law against that kind of slum-lording.

  100. >”Is that the best you can do to counter the Christensen campaign is to count the number of signs in a window.”

    Um, yes. I think that it is the best that he can do. We’re not dealing with Hunter Thompson here.

  103. Is that the best you can do to counter the Christensen campaign is to count the number of signs in a window. Peskin who actually took units off the rental market and is in the pockets of the rich property owners of Telegraph Hill, and the best you can do is count signs in a window. I know this site is taking its direction from the Peskin campaign but this is the best they can come up with?

  104. Yeah because Napoleon is a man of the people, from his throne atop telegraph hill. Nextdoor is just a large online collection of white mouthbreather busybodies. I can’t believe some of the posts in my neighborhood. Recently a white woman posted that a black man looked at her.. This made her afraid, so she ran into a bar and called 911 to report.. That a black man looked at her. She then felt that everyone in the neighborhood should know about it. If you want to see the worst of San Francisco, join Nextdoor.

  107. Does that include moneys funding advocacy groups, in this case the anti-Peskin campaign? Every anti-Peskin card in my mailbox lists Conway as the primary donor.

    And has anyone figured out why Clint Riley is supporting Peskin?

  108. Christensen campaign literature and her supporters keep saying that she prevented 25 evictions. I’ve done a lot of searching and the only evictions prevented I can find are those at 2 Emery Lane in North Beach. That is the SRO where the owners sent eviction notices to 24 families for things like hanging laundry in the window. According to the SF Examiner, Ed Lee halted the evictions – see “Chinatown evictions halted by Mayor Ed Lee” here:

    http://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/chinatown-evictions-halted-by-mayor-ed-lee/Content?oid=2924904

    According to SF Weekly, “. . .the mayor shared some of the credit with Christensen for stopping the evictions (a politically astute move for a mayor concerned for his chosen candidate).”

    http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/04/23/supervisor-says-rent-control-caused-housing-crisis

    So all the Christensen campaign placards in the windows in an Ellised building is just another opportunity for the Peskin campaign to highlight her elitist tone deafness.

    According to what’s been posted on NextDoor, Christensen went into a business and started yelling about the anti-Christensen sign in their window. She had to be asked to leave. I hope someone follows-up on the story. I think the business has posted the owner’s side of the encounter on their window.

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