SF Mayor unable to stop downsizing bill while anti-stack-and-pack Supe dangles mayoral run
G.R. Fardon / UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Mayor Breed isn’t happy about Supervisor Peskin’s bill, which defies a statewide mandate to cram housing units into urban areas. Breed says it turns SF back toward being a “city of no.” But preserving Gold Rush era buildings in the heart of San Francisco might get voters to say “yes” to the idea of a Mayor Peskin. Gloria Rodríguez, Amanda del Castillo, and Luz Pena report for ABC7 News reports.
This [overruling of the] veto is technically putting the brakes on the construction of high-rise developments along the northeast waterfront and in Jackson Square -- two historic areas in the city.
It all started last summer when Supervisor Peskin worked with Mayor Breed and the Planning Department to re-zone that area to allow for new housing, but then state laws created what he called a loophole for developers to "supersize luxury towers."
"That would have allowed historic buildings in one of San Francisco's most special areas the largest collection of Gold Rush era buildings in Jackson Square to be demolished and replaced with 270-foot high luxury condo towers. The board of supervisors got it right," said Supervisor Peskin.
Mayor Breed calls the Board's vote a setback on housing. In a statement she said in part: "I will not let this be the first step in a dangerous course correction back towards being a city of no. We will not move backward."
Luz Pena: "You are also potentially going to run against her?"
Aaron Peskin: "Listen, if I run or I don't run, I will always stand up for good legislation that protects San Francisco's treasured history, and that it continues to allow us to be pro-housing and pro-neighborhood."
In a statement, Peskin responded to the veto, saying: "...The Board of Supervisors proved that the City can be both pro-housing and pro-neighborhood. The Mayor's political and unprofessional veto of legislation that her Planning Director and Planning Commissioners recommended has been overridden by common sense."
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