Just five days after his pick for D4 supervisor resigned, Mayor Daniel Lurie will appear before the Board of Supes Tuesday/18 for Question Time—and none of the eligible board members has put forward a question.
That means the mayor can choose to address the board for five minutes—or, with a supermajority vote, the board can change the rules and allow an unscripted question.
So there’s no requirement at this point that the mayor discuss his bungled appointment of Beya Alcarez or say anything about what he plans to do to make sure his next choice has a longer tenure. But it would be odd, to say the least, if he simply ignored the issue.
Then on Thursday/20, Lurie will visit D1 to talk about his Rich Family Zoning Plan, which has not been well received on the West Side of town. In previous West Side meetings, Lurie has told constituents that his plan may not be perfect, but it’s way better than what the state will impose if San Francisco doesn’t adopt it.
What he hasn’t mentioned is that the reason the state is forcing cities to allow the demolition of existing housing, the construction of much denser housing, and the displacement of small businesses—with no money for or guarantee of any reasonable affordability—is the work of state Sen. Scott Wiener. Wiener is now running for Congress, and West Side voters will be critical in that campaign.
The message that Lurie has not delivered: “I hate this as much as you do, but Scott Wiener is forcing us to do it.”
But there will be plenty of time for residents of D1 to raise the issue.
The town hall meeting starts at 6:30pm at the Internet Archive, 300 Funston. Former Sup. Sandra Lee Fewer will moderate.
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Meanwhile, the zoning plan, with all the recent amendments, will be back at the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting Monday/17. The city’s economist has made clear that the supposed goal of the plan—increasing affordable housing by allowing the private market to build more—won’t work.
Neighborhoods United San Francisco is asking the committee to take five steps:
- Adopt the amendments introduced by Supervisors Connie Chan and Chyanne Chen.
- Place a pause on the process given the extraordinary and unsettled circumstances in District 4.
- Recommend a “Committee of the Whole” session before forwarding this legislation to the full Board of Supervisors.
- Request an extension from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to allow for full review, transparency, and participation.
- Require HCD leadership to attend Land Use and Transportation hearings, the Committee of the Whole, and full Board meetings to provide clear, direct answers on state compliance criteria and housing capacity calculations.
The last suggestion is intriguing. From the start of this process, Lurie and his allies, along with some planning staffers, have said that the state won’t certify any housing plan that doesn’t include most of his proposals. Sup. Myrna Melgar has suggested that rent-controlled buildings of more than three units be exempt from demolition, because any tighter threshold (preserving all rent-controlled housing, for example) wouldn’t pass HCD muster.
But nobody from the state has ever come to a board meeting to explain what the rules are, and what would qualify. (If I were the chair of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, I would also ask Wiener to appear to answer questions).
The mayor may (again) take his time finding another D4 supe, so one of the districts that will be most impacted by this legislation may not be represented when the plan moves to the full board.
That meeting starts at 1:30pm.
