A ballot is a reflection of a city’s collective consciousness, its fears, hopes and dreams. But those dreams can easily turn into nightmares if the voters aren’t educated about the issues and candidates. That’s where this guide comes in. Below you’ll find a plain-English breakdown of the propositions and mayoral candidates, with commentary on how each would affect you.
Despite being an odd-year election, this is a big one. San Francisco is at a precipice. Most of the ballot initiatives in 2015 involve addressing gentrification in some way. Unfortunately, odd-year elections have famously low turnout. So do democracy a favor and vote in this one — it’s easy, quick and full of potentially city-changing propositions, not to mention mayoral candidates.
Proposition A: Housing Bond Issue
Also known as: “Stop San Francisco from Becoming Elysium”
Prop A opens up 310 million dollars in bond funding for the construction of more affordable housing. Half the money goes toward building and maintaining affordable housing, and the other half goes toward subsidizing middle-income earners and repairing existing public housing. There’s also a special provision included about assisting public-school teachers so they can afford to live in San Francisco.
Every 100 “market rate” units constructed “generates a demand for 25 lower-income households,” according to a comprehensive San Francisco Planning Commission study. Those market-rate units are being constructed much more quickly than affordable units, so you can see why many people think this kind of initiative is long overdue.
How it will affect you:
If you are in a lower-income quartile or are a teacher, you would have more options for housing in your price range. Some low-wage workers who work in San Francisco will no longer have to commute from distant places like Modesto and Vallejo. In general, it may slightly reduce social discord, as affordable housing stock reduces domestic violence, since many people stay in bad living situations because they fear they cannot afford to strike out on their own.
Proposition B: Paid Parental Leave for City Employees
Also known as: “Let Parents Parent”
Prop B doubles the amount of paid parental-leave time — from 12 weeks to 24 weeks — that government workers receive when they have kids. Anyone who has had a child knows that five years would still not be enough. Still, this change would put San Francisco closer to being on par with some of the world’s most, er, civilized countries. (Every country except the United States and Papua New Guinea has paid maternity leave.)
How it will affect you:
If you work for the city and become a parent, your paid-leave time will improve. Sometimes these policies have a “rising tide” effect on other sectors; for instance, having quality-of-life benefits become “normal” in government offices puts pressure on other employers to provide the same to stay competitive.
Proposition C: Registering Lobbyists
Also known as: “Follow the Money”
Prop C’s goal is to make “dark money” less dark. If you’ve been living in the caves by Sutro Baths and have never heard the phrase “Citizens United,” you might not know that figuring out who’s pulling the purse strings of our democracy is big news right now. Prop C would require that those who work as lobbyists register as such.
How it will affect you:
Prop C is a simple transparency measure. Do you like knowing who’s trying to manipulate you and what their interest is? If so, vote yes. It would have a minor increase on the city coffers in the interest of transparency — it’s estimated that it will cost the city half a million dollars annually, which is chump change for a city with a nine-billion-dollar budget.
Proposition D: Mission Rock Waterfront Development
Also known as: “Mr. Burns’s Giant Sun-Blocker Machine”
Once in a while, someone with a ton of money decides they want to build something massive that will block someone else’s view. This anodyne-sounding development basically calls for building 28 acres of mixed-use development on land owned by the Giants. Developers are committed to making 33% of the housing affordable — which, even if they build the maximum number of proposed housing units (1,950, meaning that 650 would be affordable), this would probably not make a dent in the housing crisis, given that there are 36 apartments for every 100 poor families.
This is not a cut-and-dry proposition. The only reason why it’s on the ballot is because the development would violate building-height limits, so the developers need a ballot measure to bypass them. While the limited amount of affordable housing it will produce will probably not help the housing crisis, one could argue that it’s better than nothing.
How it will affect you:
If constructed, these developments would be tall, including three 240-foot towers. If you live near them, your view may be affected. It is also predicted that the city will net around 100 million in taxes and fees from the project, although it’s unclear how much of that will be offset by other tax breaks for Mission Rock.
Proposition E: Requirements for Public Meetings
Also known as: “Chat Roulette for City Council”
“The problem with democracy is too many meetings,” Oscar Wilde famously quipped. Nowadays, most of us work from nine to five and can’t attend those meetings anyway. Enter Prop E, which proposes putting all public meetings on an online live stream and soliciting digital comments from anyone who wants to chime in.
Nowadays, Americans work longer hours than we used to, and few of us have the freedom to skip work for a few hours to attend a civic meeting. If this passes, one could “attend” meetings online instead.
How it will affect you:
In theory, it would make it easier to participate in a civic meeting that you can’t attend in person. That’s why the Electronic Frontier Foundation has gotten behind this proposition.
Unfortunately, because of how the law is worded, anyone — not just San Franciscans — could solicit a comment. “Imagine what would happen if Bill O’Reilly [could] post a link for [his] viewers to give video public comments, and our San Francisco Board of Supervisors were required to broadcast those comments during its meetings!” wrote Smart Open Government SF, the coalition against the measure.
Proposition F: Regulating Short-Term Rentals
Also known as: “Don’t Convert San Francisco into a Giant Bed and Breakfast”
This is the big one that’s been making national headlines, partly because Airbnb has been pouring money into defeating it — so far, almost nine million dollars, which is 96% of the total opposition money. Interestingly, Prop F is pretty modest: it would limit the amount of time to 75 days per year that a host could rent out their home as a short-term vacation rental. Also, affordable housing and non-bedroom dwelling spaces (like garages and storefronts) would no longer be able to be used as short-term rentals.
So why is Airbnb sweating? Well, since two-thirds of San Franciscans rent rather than own, unscrupulous landlords have taken whole houses off the market and turned them into permanent vacation rentals, since they can make much more money (a cut of which goes to Airbnb). This map shows how many houses in San Francisco have recently turned into vacation rentals — almost 7,000. To put that into perspective, only 3,454 new housing units were built in San Francisco in 2014. That means that Airbnb could have actually reduced the amount of housing stock in SF last year.
How it will affect you:
If you take more than two and a half months of vacation a year, you wouldn’t be able to rent out your house on Airbnb for any longer than that amount of time.
If you’re an average Jane, this will probably slightly stabilize or reduce rents in the city over time. Rents in San Francisco rose by 13% last year, partly because vacation rentals were taking existing stock off the market.
Proposition G: Defining Clean and Green Energy
Proposition H: Nullifying Proposition G
Also known as: “Don’t Disturb the Powers That Be”
Props G and H are the product of a turf war for electrons. Recently, the city of San Francisco created an alternative-power company called CleanPowerSF, which buys power from mainly alternative and renewable sources in a cooperative model — basically, the Rainbow Grocery of electrical-power generation. CleanPowerSF’s electricity is the same price as PG&E’s, so the program is designed to be opt-out — i.e., you would automatically begin paying into the program, unless you specifically opted out.
Prop G was the product of PG&E and its unions (who have since changed their mind and thrown support to Prop H) and seeks to stop many San Francisco customers from jumping the shark over to CleanPowerSF. It achieves this by changing the civic definition of “clean” and “green” and requiring that the city mail out flyers that say that CleanPowerSF is not as green as they’ve claimed it is. It’s a tricky ballot initiative since the wording is so confusing.
How it will affect you:
If you think CleanPowerSF is a good idea and that communities should come together to seek alternative modes of power generation, you should vote no on G and yes on H. Even the unions that originally supported Prop G have jumped to support Prop H.
If you are worried that CleanPowerSF will cut into the profit of a 15-billion-dollar utility company with questionable regard for human life, you should vote yes on G and no on H.
Proposition I: Mission District Housing Moratorium
Also known as: “Don’t Whitewash the Mission”
The Mission is ground zero for the gentrification of San Francisco. Condos have been sprouting up like poppies after a winter rain, while high rents have been incentivizing landlords to evict longtime tenants to make way for richer white tenants.
Prop I slaps a moratorium on the construction of new condos in the Mission so the city can regroup and figure out how to stop a lively and thriving neighborhood from Marinating.
How it will affect you:
The Mission will maintain its character for a bit longer while community groups and advocates figure out what they can do to maintain the Mission’s character within the limitations of a capitalist system that views housing as a commodity rather than a right. In lieu of a major political shift, it is likely that the community will be able to slow but not stop the bum rush.
Proposition J: Legacy Business Historic Preservation Fund
Also known as: “Save Adobe Books for All Eternity”
Prop J is another anti-gentrification measure, albeit one aimed at businesses. The idea: give small “legacy” businesses grants to help them survive if their rents rise. Also, incentivize landlords to offer these businesses longer leases.
Though the progressive wing of the city council floated this proposition, it doesn’t seem like the most progressive solution. If the goal of the city is to make certain that legacy businesses are able to stay in business, why not just have commercial rent control, as some mayoral candidates have proposed?
There has also been concern over whether this could become pricey in the long run if enough businesses apply for the grants.
How it will affect you:
Some of the “legacy” shops you know and love could apply for these grants and stay in business, despite skyrocketing rents. A few landlords would watch their coffers grow on the taxpayers’ dime. It might be worth voting yes just to keep El Farolito in business until some 50 years from now, when every neighboring storefront on Mission Street will be a coworking space.
Proposition K: Surplus City Property Ordinance
Also known as: “Fast-Track Affordable Housing”
This is another proposition aimed at freeing up more housing stock, but with an interesting twist. There are many city-owned properties that may be sitting unused and vacant, so why not free them up to build affordable housing? Sponsored by Supervisor Kim, the proposition also prioritizes new housing for the currently homeless.
How it will affect you:
If you’re homeless, as over 6,000 San Franciscans are, this could open up some priority housing for you. It’s unclear how much city property would be discovered that could be used for this project.
The Mayor’s Office
The mayoral election this year is essentially a referendum on current Mayor Ed Lee. Mayor Lee’s guiding philosophy has basically been “stay the course.” He often plays both sides: letting the tech sector have its way in remaking the city while proposing anodyne initiatives to alleviate an already-out-of-control housing crisis. While unemployment fell during Lee’s tenure, income inequality and city poverty actually rose. The Public Policy Institute of California estimates that poverty in San Francisco could be as high as 24.4%.
A cast of interesting and bright characters is running against Mayor Lee. They are all long shots, but thanks to San Francisco’s ranked-choice voting system, they do have a better chance.
Amy Farah Weiss cut her chops while working on John Avalos’s campaign for mayor in 2011. Weiss has a long history as an organizer in the community, and her top priorities are housing, economic opportunity and ending structural racism.
Second up is Francisco Herrera, a musician and activist with roots in San Francisco’s Latino community. Herrera is a former Jesuit from the religious left (à la Martin Luther King Jr.). Herrera’s rallying cry is “Affordable Housing for All,” and his platform is essentially that of a progressive populist.
Then there’s beloved local writer Broke-Ass Stuart, better known as Stuart Schuffman, who became well known for his guidebooks on how to live cheaply in San Francisco. He’s called for “more public bathrooms” and finding ways to fight the city’s homeless problem. “Stop giving tax breaks and start thinking about the community,” Schuffman said to Mayor Lee in the first mayoral debate.
These three candidates — Weiss, Schuffman and Herrera — form a trifecta for the “Vote 1–2–3 to Replace Ed Lee” campaign, the idea being that voters should put these three as their top choices — in any order — to defeat the incumbent mayor.
Two more candidates are officially running: Reed Martin, a transit buff and former tech worker, and Kent Graham, a hospital administrator. Martin’s proposals fall somewhere between liberal and libertarian. He supports expanding rent control and incubating small businesses on the city dime. Martin wrote a strange op-ed on Medium proposing the creation of a digital San Francisco–only currency called Sutro Cash.
Kent Graham is more of a practical populist who writes about fixing potholes, alleviating traffic problems and helping the homeless through social work. Graham touts his management and budget-balancing experience as crucial for the job of mayor.
