Saturday, October 31, 2015

SF Local Elections

Nothing makes me worry about an aging slide into conservatism more than local politics in San Francisco. I consider myself an extremely liberal, progressive voter. I hope for Bernie Sanders for president, and the Republicans are either insane, idiotic, or unethical. Yet local SF politics...

Sigh

In San Francisco the people who call themselves progressives with regard to local politics are the ones who tend to put up the most roadblocks to new housing development. For anyone who doesn't live in the area, housing and rental prices have exploded over the last few years. This has of course created a lot of resentment towards developers and people moving into the city, but much of the response to this has been to restrict development. San Francisco has some of the most restrictive anti-development laws in the country, and has been building far too few units over the last few decades.

Even environmental organizations that I normally support contribute to the problem. The local Sierra Club chapter has acted against a number of development initiatives and left me fuming as an environmentalist, because living in a dense urban area is far better for the environment. The alternative is pushing people further out into the suburbs, developing on currently undeveloped land, and forcing them to commute long distances.

Of course, this isn't all San Francisco's fault. Similar anti-development attitudes elsewhere in the bay area have been a major contributor.

I want more housing units, dense development, with functioning public transit. I would love to buy property in this wonderful city someday and raise a family, and am left screaming at the idiots pushing ballot initiatives to further halt development.

Thus, my endorsements for the Tuesday election closely follow those of SPUR.

A: Yes
B: Yes
C: ?
D: Yes
E: ?
F: No
G: No
H: Yes
I: No
J: No
K: Yes