1-2-3, Anyone But Lee

by Denise Sullivan

The last time we checked in on San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee (appointed to fill Gavin Newsom's vacated seat and elected for a full term in 2011) was set to run unopposed in the November election. But as candidate, community organizer, and singer Amy Farah Weiss (also known as "YIMBY" for Yes In My Backyard) has been quick to point out, there are in fact now five official alternatives to Lee on the ballot, though local media refuses to acknowledge their respective campaigns. In response to the black-out, Weiss and her fellow candidates, educator and organizer Francisco Herrera and columnist and comedian Broke-Ass Stuart Schuffman have come together as a coalition. The trio could conceivably pose a triple threat if voters take seriously their directive to rank them 1-2-3 in a bid to oust Lee. Weiss has even adapted the old Bobbettes number, "Mr Lee"  as a campaign song, a clever attempt to give voters a catchy way to remember the strategy (candidates four and five are Reed Martin and Kent Graham of whom I could find out little).



Though all new to potential public office, Weiss and Herrera have community organizing experience in their respective neighborhoods, the Western Addition and Mission, while Shuffman, an Examiner columnist, has humor and a sharp tongue on his side.  Referring to his yet-to-be-revealed platform on his website he writes, "The thing that most people don’t get though is that platforms are rolled out throughout a campaign. Like, what’s Hillary Clinton’s platform? You have no idea, right? Hillary has been running for President for like eight years and she hasn’t even announced her platform yet…"

On Monday, the three candidates came together for a "cakewalk," organized by Weiss as a response to wags calling Lee's run a shoe-in and to call for Lee to agree to publicly debate his opposition which he has so far refused. Turn-out was small, but awareness of the candidates and their respective campaigns is growing. I asked Dale Duncan, a friend and longtime Mission District resident why he chose to support Shuffman: "He seems earnest and I didn't know of anyone else bothering to run against Ed Lee, the worst mayor in my 35 years here. If it had only been Matt Gonzalez instead of Gavin back when."

In 2005, Gonzalez (who went on to run with Ralph Nader in the 2008 Presidential election as the Green Party candidate) lost to Newsom in a run-off by a very slight margin. But what he achieved by mobilizing young and disenfranchised voters was monumental (he is presently the chief attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender's Office). And while it might seem the population who cast their votes for Gonzalez has since been squeezed out of town, it's possible they've simply lost their advocacy and the work of mobilizing the working, immigrant and artist populations here has fallen to Herrera, Shuffman and Weiss. I'm acquainted with both Weiss and Herrera who've made themselves known to the communities for cultural preservation as advocates of arts, literacy, and education. As performing musicians, they join in a great San Francisco tradition of politically engaged artists who begin by voicing their dissent, using their stage as a platform, and reminding us all that democracy is a participatory practice, if not a theatrical one.

Readers may remember San Francisco circa 1979, when Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra emerged as the people's candidate in a race against Dianne Feinstein: Among his most practical ideas, Biafra proposed the police department be elected, that cars be banned from the city limits and squatting in vacant buildings be legalized. He also suggested businessmen wear clown suits and that statues of Dan White (killer of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk) be erected and the Park department earn revenue by selling eggs for throwing.



"One thing I will attempt to do is bring government out from behind closed doors," he said in a televised interview at the time. To naysayers who declared his candidacy a publicity stunt or a joke, Biafra replied, "They should keep in mind it's no more and no less of of a joke than anyone else they care to name." A couple of decades later in 2007,  punk rock bassist and cultural agitator "Chicken" John Rinaldi tested the city's then-new ranked choice voting system and grabbed 11 percent of the vote from Newsom. Not long after, he lead an inspired campaign to rename the local sewage treatment plant after George W. Bush. There were likely others, now forgotten, though it must be said, the City's troubles began long before Lee, Newsom, or even Feinstein. The value of campaigns like Jello's, Chicken John's and the 1-2-3 efforts by Herrera, Shuffman and Weiss-- which admittedly appeal to counterculture, revolutionary and disaffected voter sensibilities-- is to tear away the curtain of conformity and corruption that has long shrouded our local government.

In light of the recent news of the FBI probe implicating Lee, alleging he took "substantial bribes in exchange for favors" and with the substantial base of labor, neighborhood, and activist organizations working to effect necessary policy, far from a done deal, change-seeking San Franciscans have every reason to remain hopeful. Two ballot initiatives concerning limit short term rentals (Airbnb) and housing in the Mission, and a supervisor's race that could replace Lee appointee Julie Christensen with progressive Aaron Peskin in District 3 could be the things that begin to set things back on course here. And while for decades we've been hampered by a largely irresponsible and inert daily paper, uncommitted to investigative reporting or to taking a stand, our best hope has always been our citizenry, especially those willing to take on public service and a radical stand. Though they may frame matters goofily, in a confrontational way, or inelegantly, the candidates bring to the discussion issues from housing and human rights to jobs and open space that are of concern to everyday San Franciscans. I'm going to assert there's still time for three dark horses who share one vision for a more equitable, livable, and affordable San Francisco, to pick up more supporters and some steam. A vote for 1-2-3-- anyone but Lee-- could serve as an important step on the way toward reclaiming San Francisco.

Francisco Herrera, Stuart Shuffman & Amy Farah Weiss are mayoral candidates on the Nov. ballot in San Francisco

State of Ed Lee's San Francisco is Deplorable... And It Looks Like He's Running Unopposed For Reelection

Mayor Total Sell-Out

-by Denise Sullivan

Mayor Ed Lee issued his annual State of the City report from the shame and pity that is his San Francisco last Thursday, and while it might look good on paper, his critics are less than enthused.

Lee touts jobs and housing as major contributions to municipal welfare on his watch. Transformation of the long-suffering Tenderloin and Mid-Market area is another dramatic change he likes to take credit for, though the jury is way out on who won in that deal. Along with the general Mahattanization of our seven by seven square miles, Lee's brief resume includes generous tax breaks for tech biz, especially Twitter, and a transportation system that gives free reign to its new additions: The over-sized "Google" buses that tear up our roads and hog bus stops and a car service based here with a tendency toward intimidation and sexual assault around the world.

For artists, low to middle income earners, and the people of color who have been banished from the their homes in recent years thanks to Ellis Act evictions, Ed Lee is the villain in a tale of two very different San Franciscos and things are getting more Dickensian here by the day.

Here's a quick look at some of the things that Lee's beloved "sharing economy" hath wrought in 2014:

Uber VP threatens a disabled journalist

Developers Urban Green attempt to roust 98 year old renter from her home of 50 years

Police shoot and kill Bernal Heights resident, Alex Nieto

Progressive weekly, San Francisco Bay Guardian is shuttered after 48 years

Nation's oldest African-American bookseller, Marcus Bookstore, evicted and ransacked of 53 years worth of local history

Park spaces move toward permitting and tech bros go viral

Founding Mission arts and culture figures, Yolanda Lopez y Rene Yanez, evicted

I forget if the "Glasshole" incident at a local bar was last year or the year before but… you can Goggle it yourself. They have since scrapped the gadget.

And you probably heard the one about the recent rains outing our power thanks to failing PG&E infrastructure. There are rats in the school cafeterias, and the food banks are bare here in the land of freshly-legal foie gras. And for the first time  since…ever, homeless people are now becoming the victims of violent crime.

Perhaps most concerning, is that come election time this November, Lee will be running for a second term, unopposed. For readers curious, just who is this Edwin Lee (李孟賢), he was appointed mayor in 2011 to finish the mayoral term Gavin Newsom vacated when he ran off for duty in Sacramento. Lee vowed not to run but at the urging of some insiders, did and won. Ironically, though not to the folks who have lost their residences during his term, Lee began his political life as a housing and immigrants rights activist. I don't know much else about him except this: He's the guy who was asked on the occasion of Candlestick Park closing (it will be replaced by a luxury mall and condos) what his favorite Beatles song was and answered, "She Loves Me." No, Ed, she doesn't. The song is called "She Loves You.

Why there is no progressive candidate to oppose him comes down to two things, I suppose: Money, and well, money. Ed has tech (and "angel" investor Ron Conway), but without opposition, it surely looks like San Francisco's progressives have no one and our days are finally over and out (Harvey wept).  Not that we don't have some wonderful progressives at work here who could take on tech and make great candidates-- they just aren't interested. And neither are the young tech workers who populate the city who a)don't vote and b)if they did, would likely go right, as in red or Libertarian.

At Modern Times Bookstore Collective where I work part time booking forums and discussions with authors to debate these matters, we run our own monthly State of the City Forum to discuss just exactly how we think our city is doing in its time of extreme gentrification. Engaging local activists, artists and authors alongside community members in conversation, we have heard from locals no less esteemed than Rebecca Solnit, David Talbot, Alejandro Murguia and Chris Carlsson who all say we are a city who has lost its soul. And yet, there is no real plan afoot to turn things around. And so, next week, we turn to poetry for the solution. I've invited second San Francisco poet laureate Janice Mirikitani to speak to the matters of homelessness here and to the general state of our town. She knows a bit about sustenance, survival, and taking care of people: Not only did she survive internment in WWII, she's made a life here as an artist-- written, spoken, and on foot as a dancer. She also founded Glide Foundation where with her husband, the Rev. Cecil Williams, she tends to the poor in the Tenderloin daily. I intend to ask her what she would do if she were mayor. Heck, I might even ask her if she'll make a run for office.


To stay updated on the secrets of San Francisco, check former Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond's news site, 48 Hills where Denise Sullivan occasionally posts on arts and culture. San Francisco is a small town; it was courageous of Denise to write this post for us.