Happy to be part of SF YIMBY who also endorsed Wong. Its tough to get the urbanist crowd out to D4, a notoriously "suburban" and anti density district in the context of SF, for canvassing but we are gonna try. Hope the GrowSF Endorsement gets Wong the positive media and we can provide some volunteers
First of all Noah, I must commend you for taking on your home team. We need more people in both parties to take them on.
I also wish you luck. While I was born in SoCal, I loved SF. Brunch in Sausalito was spectacular on sunny days.
One final note, your desire for a center left pragmatic public official is highly understandable. I would love to see a Rockefeller Republican run, a Nikki Haley. MAGA is flat out nuts.
Anyway, for your party, I have to believe that in order to stave off the aggressive progressive wing of your party, Moderates are going to have to get a little aggressive, call them out. Explain why their polices fail, but most of all, they have themselves been incompetent in managing a city.
As for Republicans? I must admit I don't get them. As a Reagan Republican, I am lost. I don't understand populist economics on the right or the left. Apparently, it is untethered from simple math. In words of my native SF language of yesteryear. Keep on Keeping on
I’m curious but what are your thoughts on State Sen. Scott Weiner? I don’t live in SF but I know he’s like a legend in YIMBY circles. He seems like a great choice to fill Pelosi’s seat.
Wong will likely win imo and Mandelman has been a reliable enough vote that pragmatic technical reforms—like the Downtown Revitalization District or Bilal’s Build Act—will probably continue to pass. That said, more ambitious upzonings (sans those mandated by the state) are unlikely to occur without more progressives who support development at least to the level of Mamdani—a phenomenon that doesn’t exist much in SF beyond oddball cases like Melgar. And there are so many NIMBYs in the Mod’s voter base that, with declining crime and increased development, they may start to increasingly prioritize blocking new housing.
So my subscription is going toward a decent cause, good. I'm a NIMBY by temperament and would be interested in the full breakdown of what could be done to assure home owners that the value of their prized patch of real estate won't evaporate when development starts in the back yard. Hoping for space requirements to turn Japanese isn't going to be a good bet. I'm guessing you have already laid it out in old posts?
Many props (and thanks!) to Mayor Lurie, but much of the improvement in permit issuance and the pressure for up-zoning came after SF's egregiously bad under-building led to the loss of its powers of discretionary building approvals under SB 423, courtesy of State Senator (and soon Congressman, I hope) Scott Weiner, patron saint of California YIMBYs.
Is there a simple explanation for why municipal governments adopt policies you would expect from anarchists? Is it ideological? Are there material interests involved?
He literally proposed putting a measure to reopen the GH before the voters, but none of the progs on the board would support it, so it failed. At the time I was confused as to why, but this makes the reason plain. They hate housing even more than they love cars.
I loved SF. I lived there for a couple decades. I still go back to visit because a dear friend lives there. But the city just got *gutted* post-COVID. I don’t know how much of it was COVID and shifting buying patterns (fewer people working in the office, more people shopping online), a how much was the crime wave, but the retail sector just went poof. No more Nordstrom, no more Barney’s (not like it was in my price bracket but oohing and aahing are free), a million little stores just closed down. Really, when one is supposed to be enjoying a lovely Christmas-season afternoon out with friends, one isn’t supposed to ruin the fun by sitting down and bawling in the middle of Powell Street, but, I sat down and bawled in the middle of Powell Street. (Or rather, on a bench, if I’m going to soil my pants I’ll do it myself, thanks.)
I know crime, per se, was higher in the 80’s and 90’s, but things didn’t feel as *destroyed*. And while there were a lot of homeless, there weren’t the “fent tent cities” which are thankfully now gone. The bus stop island at 7th and Market used to actually be one huge homeless encampment!
I wish I could move back to SF; maybe if they built housing I could afford it! Thanks for fighting the good fight, or donating the good money, Noah.
Good for you for donating to GrowSF, Noah. If you’re a San Franciscan that values economic vibrancy, public safety, and good governance in general donating to GrowSF is one of the highest leverage ways to deploy your money.
I dont think SFs problems were/are the same as other blue cities. I think they were much worse before the pandemic, and worse after and other blue cities kinda got painted with the brush of SF, which wasnt fair to them.
But nice piece. Hope the sunset keeps its current leadership
Happy to be part of SF YIMBY who also endorsed Wong. Its tough to get the urbanist crowd out to D4, a notoriously "suburban" and anti density district in the context of SF, for canvassing but we are gonna try. Hope the GrowSF Endorsement gets Wong the positive media and we can provide some volunteers
First of all Noah, I must commend you for taking on your home team. We need more people in both parties to take them on.
I also wish you luck. While I was born in SoCal, I loved SF. Brunch in Sausalito was spectacular on sunny days.
One final note, your desire for a center left pragmatic public official is highly understandable. I would love to see a Rockefeller Republican run, a Nikki Haley. MAGA is flat out nuts.
Anyway, for your party, I have to believe that in order to stave off the aggressive progressive wing of your party, Moderates are going to have to get a little aggressive, call them out. Explain why their polices fail, but most of all, they have themselves been incompetent in managing a city.
As for Republicans? I must admit I don't get them. As a Reagan Republican, I am lost. I don't understand populist economics on the right or the left. Apparently, it is untethered from simple math. In words of my native SF language of yesteryear. Keep on Keeping on
Mr. Smith,
I’m curious but what are your thoughts on State Sen. Scott Weiner? I don’t live in SF but I know he’s like a legend in YIMBY circles. He seems like a great choice to fill Pelosi’s seat.
"Now, most of that is gone — the streets aren’t clean, but they’re closer to NYC than to ____"
Fill in the blank? Bartertown.
Thanks, fixed!
Give "em hell, Noah!
I'd rather give em housing!!
You're too young to remember, "Give 'em hell, Harry!" The 1948 presidential campaign slogan.
Somewhat related: I wrote a bit about the structural dangers of SF relying on its slim moderate majority to get housing built here: https://boredofthesfboard.substack.com/p/2025-proved-moderates-cant-tackle?r=ajg5u&utm_medium=ios
Wong will likely win imo and Mandelman has been a reliable enough vote that pragmatic technical reforms—like the Downtown Revitalization District or Bilal’s Build Act—will probably continue to pass. That said, more ambitious upzonings (sans those mandated by the state) are unlikely to occur without more progressives who support development at least to the level of Mamdani—a phenomenon that doesn’t exist much in SF beyond oddball cases like Melgar. And there are so many NIMBYs in the Mod’s voter base that, with declining crime and increased development, they may start to increasingly prioritize blocking new housing.
So my subscription is going toward a decent cause, good. I'm a NIMBY by temperament and would be interested in the full breakdown of what could be done to assure home owners that the value of their prized patch of real estate won't evaporate when development starts in the back yard. Hoping for space requirements to turn Japanese isn't going to be a good bet. I'm guessing you have already laid it out in old posts?
Many props (and thanks!) to Mayor Lurie, but much of the improvement in permit issuance and the pressure for up-zoning came after SF's egregiously bad under-building led to the loss of its powers of discretionary building approvals under SB 423, courtesy of State Senator (and soon Congressman, I hope) Scott Weiner, patron saint of California YIMBYs.
Longer term, I think SF really needs to make supervisors at-large.
Is there a simple explanation for why municipal governments adopt policies you would expect from anarchists? Is it ideological? Are there material interests involved?
If he would support reopening the Great Highway this wouldn’t be an issue
He literally proposed putting a measure to reopen the GH before the voters, but none of the progs on the board would support it, so it failed. At the time I was confused as to why, but this makes the reason plain. They hate housing even more than they love cars.
I loved SF. I lived there for a couple decades. I still go back to visit because a dear friend lives there. But the city just got *gutted* post-COVID. I don’t know how much of it was COVID and shifting buying patterns (fewer people working in the office, more people shopping online), a how much was the crime wave, but the retail sector just went poof. No more Nordstrom, no more Barney’s (not like it was in my price bracket but oohing and aahing are free), a million little stores just closed down. Really, when one is supposed to be enjoying a lovely Christmas-season afternoon out with friends, one isn’t supposed to ruin the fun by sitting down and bawling in the middle of Powell Street, but, I sat down and bawled in the middle of Powell Street. (Or rather, on a bench, if I’m going to soil my pants I’ll do it myself, thanks.)
I know crime, per se, was higher in the 80’s and 90’s, but things didn’t feel as *destroyed*. And while there were a lot of homeless, there weren’t the “fent tent cities” which are thankfully now gone. The bus stop island at 7th and Market used to actually be one huge homeless encampment!
I wish I could move back to SF; maybe if they built housing I could afford it! Thanks for fighting the good fight, or donating the good money, Noah.
Good for you for donating to GrowSF, Noah. If you’re a San Franciscan that values economic vibrancy, public safety, and good governance in general donating to GrowSF is one of the highest leverage ways to deploy your money.
The east coast example of this is Burlington Vermont. Except it is still years behind San Francisco.
I dont think SFs problems were/are the same as other blue cities. I think they were much worse before the pandemic, and worse after and other blue cities kinda got painted with the brush of SF, which wasnt fair to them.
But nice piece. Hope the sunset keeps its current leadership
Talk about hanging by a thread.