San Francisco overwhelmingly supported Prop 36 — a tough-on-crime measure intended to reform Prop 47. Earlier this year, they approved drug testing for welfare recipients and expanded police policies.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was re-elected. And with Supervisors Aaron Peskin departing, the board will lose at least one progressive. Much has been said in recent years about San Francisco’s shift toward downtown, and it may well have continued last night.
“We still have a lot of votes to count, so we don’t know exactly how things will go,” said Sachin Agarwal, director of GrowSF. “But what we really hope to see in a potential new era in San Francisco politics is more cooperation between people.”
Agarwal thinks big, and why not? His GrowSF group launched just four years ago, and since then they have successfully campaigned to recall three progressive school board members and a progressive district attorney. Earlier this year they won a series of centrist city reforms at the ballot box, and now it appears they will get one of their moderate picks for mayor and even more moderates on the Board of Supervisors.
“I don’t think it’s about any of these labels,” he said. “I think it’s just about the basic principles that work in the city, the way our government here takes care of the citizens.”
“What I see in this election is that they were looking for complete control and they didn’t get it,” said Tim Redmond, author at 48 Hills. “Now it seems they haven’t gotten it. The progressives are still holding their own in some areas. Let’s keep in mind that we haven’t had a progressive mayor in San Francisco since 1987, when Art Agnos was elected. “
Redmond, a longtime writer at 48 Hills, said progressives will lose some more ground on the board in this election with two races still up in the air. But he said this needs to be put into context.
“It looks like Supervisor Connie Chan can win in District 1,” he said. “And Dean Preston could win in District 5. And Prop D is going down and Jackie Fielder, a very progressive candidate, could win in District 9. So at a time when national politics is looking very bleak, it looks like progressives in San Francisco are holding their own against a truly massive billionaire attack.”
Does he worry that after a few cycles like this, pointing out the funding will no longer make sense?
“That’s the big question,” Redmond said. “Of course it’s the same question when you know about things like ethical violations. Mark Farrell just got a huge fine. Do voters really care? Can we, as progressives, and I’m a journalist, but as you know from 48 Hills, I’m a progressive journalist. Can we make it clear that it’s not just about the money, but also about the agenda behind it?’
“You know, I think people in San Francisco just want the basics to work,” Agarwal said. “And our leaders and City Hall have failed to do that.”
Wilson Walker
