The protests were last week, but the Board of Supes (due to a technical item in the City Charter) had to continue the budget vote until Tuesday/15. So now we will see if any members are willing to defy Mayor Daniel Lurie and vote No—and if four members will stand up to his attempts to seize the Prop. C affordable housing money for short-term shelters that don’t work and that he hasn’t been able to build anyway.
There will be separate votes on the budget and on the Prop. C money, which is considered “trailing legislation.” Sup. Jackie Fielder and Sup. Shamann Walton have come out against the idea of letting the mayor spend that money how he wants (and not how the voters earmarked it). The proposal needs eight votes, so if two more refuse to cede that authority, Lurie’s plan will fail.
The supes will also vote on a resolution opposing Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 79, a bill that could make it easier to demolish rent-controlled housing. The resolution, by Sups. Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, and Jackie Fielder, urges the Legislature to defeat the bill
unless amended to give Local governments adequate ability to formulate local plans through its local legislative process, in which local governments and residents have adequate review and oversight of community planning, including affordability requirements, and residential and commercial tenant protections.
The resolution has no binding impact; the state Legislature can just ignore it. But it puts a major city on record opposing a signature bill by its own state Senate representative—and it will be a litmus test for board members.
Nearly every major tenant group in the state opposes the bill. The Yimby groups all support it.
Also a test: The supes are scheduled to vote on a bill that would essentially ban RV use in San Francisco, forcing more families onto the streets.
The measure has drawn widespread opposition from homeless advocacy groups. From a rally in June:
At a rally in front of City Hall before the meeting, activists and RV residents pointed out that many of the people whose lives would be disrupted were Latinx immigrants. “You don’t kick immigrants out of a sanctuary city,” Gabriel Medina, director of La Raza Community Resource Center, told the rally.
Dozens of speakers, some in tears, told the MTA board members about losing their homes. “Where can I go?” one RV resident who is a cook at several local universities, asked. “It has become a nightmare. My son and I looked into other housing, but it’s too expensive.”
The board meeting starts at 2:30
