Come this November, seven of the eleven seats on the board of supes will be up for election. Four of these races will see no incumbents running, and one will see an appointee who faces the voters for the first time. Only two will see incumbents who are certain of re-election.
Hence this election marks a turning point for the new district-elected board that first came to power in January 2001. That's a good thing. This board has not succeeded in solving any of the major problems facing the city in the last eight years.
At their 2001 inaugural meeting, board prez Tom Ammiano exclaimed "Our job is to legislate!" He meant that the new supes would assertively grapple with pressing issues, in contrast to their rubber-stamp predecessors.
However, they bungled homelessness. Chris Daly sandbagged efforts by then-supe Gavin Newsom to push homelessness to the front burner of city issues. In response, Newsom went over the heads of the supes, appealing directly to the voters. His effort was successful and propelled him into the mayor's chair.
They also looked the other way in dealing with crime, both petty and deadly. Matt Gonzalez, who succeeded Ammiano as board prez, scoffed at those who pointed with alarm at the deteriorating conditions in the city's neighborhoods. After exploding Ammiano's own mayoral quest, Gonzalez abruptly withdrew from local politics.
Today Gonzalez is Ralph Nader's running mate in the nation's presidential race. Too bad the New College has gone belly up because of gross mismanagement. Gonzalez would have been a perfect fit there.
Aaron Peskin, who succeeded Gonzalez as board prez, started out well. He knew the basics of parliamentary procedure, in contrast to Ammiano, and kept the meetings of the board in focus, with a civil tone, in contrast to Gonzalez.
However, Peskin got carried away with his own power, making drunken and bullying phone calls at night to city officials. Under his leadership, the board became ever more preoccupied with scoring ideological points against Mayor Newsom. In the meantime, crime, filth, and the deterioration of the city's infrastructure and Muni continued apace.
Not that the mayor is fault-free. His style is to highlight problems with flashy photo-ops while failing to follow through with practical solutions. The only reason he gets away with this glossy dance is because the supes come across as goofy clod-stumpers by comparison. Fred Astaire is preferable to the Three Stooges.
In the upcoming election, the voters would do well to press all the candidates for supe about the functionality of the board. What will you have the board do to reduce crime? How can the board pressure Muni to provide better service? How can the board reduce the clout of drug dealers at City Hall and their toxic impact on at-risk neighborhoods? What can the board do to improve the condition of public parks?
A slate of new faces may yet make the district-elected board responsive and practical.
Imagine that.
