San Francisco affordable housing activists and advocates
attended a ‘Yes on Proposition F’ and ‘No on Proposition G’ campaign rally
held Friday at the Balazo Gallery in the Mission District.
Photos by Luke Thomas

By Luke Thomas

May 18, 2008

Grassroots campaign efforts to defeat a San Francisco land-use proposition that would gift public land for free to an out-of-state developer without a firm affordable housing commitment, continued Friday.

As many as 50 affordable housing activists and advocates held a campaign rally at the Balazo Gallery in the Mission District to ramp up GOTV campaign activities leading up to the June 3 election.

San Francisco voters will be asked to consider two rival propositions that will decide the future development of much needed affordable housing in the decades-neglected Bayview Hunters Point shipyard.

Proposition G, a measure backed by Florida-based Lennar, Inc., pledges to make up to 25 percent of the estimated 8,500 to 10,000 homes Lennar plans to build, affordable. It has the backing of the political establishment including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Mayor Gavin Newsom and District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.

Proposition F takes a stronger position that would mandate at least 50 percent of all housing developed on the site be affordable. It has the backing of grassroots community groups that gathered over 11,800 signatures to place Proposition F on the ballot.

“We know families are fleeing San Francisco and that the majority of those families are African-American families,” POWER spokesperson Alicia Schwartz said during the Yes on F rally. “Why are they leaving the City? Because there’s nowhere to live that we can afford.”

“Proposition F is positioned to change that. We demand that we get something that benefits us, not just Lennar,” Schwartz added.

Alicia Schwartz with Supervisor Chris Daly and Bayview activist Jim Queen.

Lennar has come under intense criticism from Bayview residents that allege Lennar operated in bad faith when asbestos dust recording equipment was discovered turned off during the grading of Parcel A. The parcel contains naturally occurring asbestos, a known carcinogen, as well as arsenic and other toxins.

The company, which specializes in Superfund site development, has a history of shoddy construction complaints and faces a string of class-action lawsuits across the country including a discrimination lawsuit filed by the law office of former San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Angela Alioto. In addition to racial discrimination, the lawsuit also alleges Lennar continued to grade Parcel A while dust-monitoring equipment recorded unsafe levels of airborne asbestos dust particulates.

Lennar, through its spokesperson Kofi Bonner, has called Proposition F a “poison pill” that would, if passed, kill the Lennar project.

Lennar has spent over $2 million on the Proposition G campaign. According to affordable housing champion Supervisor Chris Daly, who spearheaded efforts to organize against Proposition G, the Yes on F campaign, by comparison, has spent less than $10,000.

“Lennar has spent, by their last tally, $2.3 million on this campaign,” Daly said. “It will go down as the most expensive initiative campaign in the history of San Francisco, and it will go down as the most expensive initiative campaign that lost.”

“And the reason why [Proposition G] will lose,” Daly said. “People need affordable housing.”

Supervisor Chris Daly

More Info

Check out FogCityJournal’s YouTube channel to hear what affordable housing activists are saying about Proposition G and Proposition F. There’s testimony from Building Inspection Commissioner Debra Walker, Harvey Milk Democratic Club President Rafael Mandelman, College Board Trustee and Sierra Club Political Chair John Rizzo, former Harvey Milk Club President Michael Goldstein, San Francisco School Board Commissioner Jane Kim, housing activists Julian Davis and Eric Quesada.

San Francisco School Board Commissioner Jane Kim, Supervisor Chris Daly,
POWER spokesperson Alicia Schwartz, and Harvey Milk Club President Rafael Mandelman.

San Francisco Green Party spokesperson Erika McDonald and John-Marc Chandonia
with Amy Elizabeth, aged 6 months.

FogCityJournal.com columnist Elaine Santore and Sue Vaughan.