Sponsored link
Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Sponsored link

News + PoliticsWhat Peskin's return to the board means

What Peskin’s return to the board means

The mayor will have to work with progressives — and might have to make some tough decisions

Sup. Aaron Peskin happily settles into a chair at this week's board meeting
Sup. Aaron Peskin happily settles into a chair at this week’s board meeting

By Tim Redmond

DECEMBER 10, 2015 – I ran into Sup John Avalos Tuesday, right before the Board meeting, and he had a big smile on his face. “Now,” he told me, “we can legislate.”

Beyond all the headlines about the jail (which Peskin has not taken a public stand on) and the bicycle laws (again, he said Tuesday he hadn’t had time to review the ordinance yet), what Avalos was talking about it probably the biggest immediate impact of Peskin’s return to City Hall.

Progressives have been stuck of late playing a lot of defense, trying to stop bad things from happening. Although we’ve seen some amazing victories (Eviction 2.0 and the Campos Ellis Act payments laws got enough votes to pass and avoided a mayoral veto), it’s often been hard to count to six.

That, among other things, has been a huge benefit to the mayor, who can continue to claim that he supports tenant rights and is worried about affordability because measure that might have put him in a tough spot never make it to his desk.

(One example: It’s entirely likely now that the supes will pass a measure forbidding Airbnb from posting unregistered and thus illegal units. A mayoral veto of that would look terrible. A mayoral signature would infuriate Lee’s tech allies, especially Ron Conway. Another: The fees that developers pay for transit may come back before the board, since some progressives think they are way too low. You want a public referendum on the question of whether rich real-estate developers should pay more for better Muni service? Good luck vetoing that one, Mr. Mayor. More: The Affordable Housing Density Bonus has a lot of problems, and the board will be asked to remove rent-controlled housing from potential demolition.)

Peskin made it clear that he expects an active year: “The city government hasn’t been doing enough to ease this [housing] crisis,” he said. “There is much more than we can and should do.”

Sponsored link

Help us save local journalism!

Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. Become a 48 Hills Hero and support the only daily progressive news source in the Bay Area.

He also has a history of organizing ballot-measure campaigns, both in and out of office.

The chambers were packed with Peskin supporters, who applauded when he walked in. And his victory has been a huge boost to progressive morale.

But as my podcast partner Tom Ammiano notes, it’s a mistake to think that one person will by himself make dramatic changes on the board. The community that put Peskin in office will have to stay organized (while working on at least half a dozen other big races) and Peskin will have to work to make sure that the six-vote majority holds together on key issues (that’s something he’s good at).

So the mayor won’t be getting a free pass this spring. He will, for the first time since he took office, have to partner with the left flank of the board if he wants to get anything done. That alone will change the tone of local politics.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our FacebookTwitter, and Instagram

Tim Redmond
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.

Sponsored link

Sponsored link

Featured

‘March Madness’: Punking up opera with Nikola Printz

Mezzo-soprano channels diva chaos, mosh pits, classic cabaret, aerial acrobatics into sensational spectacle at Chan Center.

Under the Stars: Virtuoso Nubya Garcia’s ornate arrangements will leave you plucked at The Chapel

Plus: New releases from Raven, Lunchbox, and Tune-Yards bring rose-colored romps, three-year-old vocal stylings.

Newsom’s right-wing podcast love affair doesn’t seem to be working

Polling data suggests his support on the left is crashing, he's picking up no support on the right ... so who exactly is going to vote for him for president?

More by this author

This is one disease I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about. Wrong.

Plus: Is SF moving away from harm reduction and Housing First? That's The Agenda for March 17-24

Letters we answer: Pelosi, Newsom, trans athletes …

... and are taxes really too high in San Francisco?

Lurie won’t commit to an alternative approach to the opioid crisis

Mayor doubles down on law enforcement, rejects Fielder's call for a 'Four Pillars' approach that has worked in other cities

You might also likeRELATED