Teacher housing gains momentum rapidly
Now that there’s finally movement on teacher housing in San Francisco after nearly 20 years of talking about it, it seems as though everybody’s jumping on board.
Mayor Ed Lee, frustrated by the slow pace of decision making while the city’s teacher shortage reached crisis stage, said this month that the city would spend $44 million to build up to 150 rental units for at 1360 43rd Ave. in the Outer Sunset.
Fast forward 10 days, and Lee and new schools Superintendent Vincent Matthews have twin resolutions going before the Board of Supervisors and Board of Education. Both are to be introduced Tuesday.
In the resolutions, Lee and Matthews pledge to work with each other to develop a pilot program for the development and construction of affordable teacher housing. The resolutions, if passed by both boards, should help keep the housing exclusively for teachers in perpetuity, according to the mayor’s press office. The 43rd Ave educators nue plan is backed by the mayor’s office and school district staff in part because the cost of building each unit is projected at $326,471, lower than some other sites.
Meanwhile, Supervisor Katy Tang, who represents the Sunset, says she’s very supportive of the 43rd Avenue plan. She wants neighbors to be included in the planning process and hopes elements of the temporary park on the site can be incorporated into the teacher housing complex.
Tang’s support is also a notable step in the right direction, given that former Supervisor Leland Yee and neighbors killed a previous plan in the Sunset in 2000 for what would have been the country’s first teacher housing complex. But considering Yee pleaded guilty to felony racketeering and is now in federal prison, his career isn’t exactly one to replicate.
The eternal progressive-versus-moderate war in San Francisco politics has taken an unlikely turn. Vincent Woo, a board member of the moderate pro-housing group S.F. Yimby
Party, sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service saying the news site 48 Hills, run by former San Francisco Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond, is violating its nonprofit status by engaging in electioneering.
Redmond started the nonprofit news site shortly after the Guardian folded in 2014. Like the Guardian, the site clearly has a progressive bent. But whether it engages in electioneering is, like so many aspects of San Francisco these days, in the eye of the beholder.
During last fall’s contentious supervisor races, Woo points out, Redmond wrote, “Control of the Board of Supes is at stake — and that means the policy direction of the city. If the mayor’s allies wind up back in charge, it will be a difficult two years.” More blatantly, Redmond wrote a list of endorsements and a printable slate card on a small, revived website for the Bay Guardian on Oct. 6 and linked to it from 48 Hills five days later.
Woo, 28, runs a software company called CoderPad and argues Redmond is blatantly engaging in electioneering.
“When I found out it was a nonprofit, I was shocked,” Woo said. “I couldn’t believe that no one had said anything.”
Redmond pointed out that Mother Jones, a respected news organization with a political bent, is also a nonprofit.
“We cover races, but we’ve never endorsed a candidate and we never will,” Redmond said. “If you say nonprofit journalists can’t cover politics, you’re creating a very, very dangerous precedent.”
It’s gala time in San Francisco — that part of year when the city’s upper crust is asked to dig deep into its tuxedo pockets to give to good causes. The local chapter of Meals on Wheels held its annual fundraiser Sunday night at Fort Mason and raised $3.2 million — $100,000 more than its goal.
In March, President Trump’s “skinny budget” — a sneak peek at a full budget due to be unveiled Tuesday — showed potentially big losses for Meals on Wheels. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the program is “not showing any results.” Even though it fills the stomachs of hungry seniors every day.
Karl Robillard, spokesman for Meals on Wheels, said the gala was a big, fun success, despite Trump’s threats looming in the background. “It was just definitely in the air,” he said.
It’s good to see San Franciscans support organizations that help the poor, even if some of our leaders in Washington don’t.
Many City Hall politicos have their go-to phrases or talking points. Former Mayor Gavin Newsom often started his sentences with, “As God is my witness.” Former Supervisor David Campos was known for constantly mentioning he’s a lawyer. Former Supervisor Chris Daly was known for dropping F-bombs, even once making a New Year’s resolution to use the word during every supervisors meeting.
For former Supervisor and current BART board member Bevan Dufty, the constant talking point was that the late jazz musician Billie Holiday was his godmother. An intriguing conversation starter once? Certainly. Ten times? Not so much.
I used to tease Dufty about his affinity for name-dropping Holiday, so he was downright gleeful when he came up with photographic proof. A new photo book called “Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill” features intimate photographs by Jerry Dantzic from 1957, two years before the singer’s death.
Dufty grew up in Harlem. His mom, Maely, was a good friend of the singer. His dad, William, was a journalist and helped Holiday write her autobiography, “Lady Sings the Blues.” A toddler-aged Dufty — with blond curls — is in several photographs in the new book clowning around with Holiday. Now 62, Dufty said he had never seen the pictures before.
“It kind of blew me away,” he said. “I had one picture of Holiday and myself, so this was just like magic.”
I told him the photos were indeed pretty great. He laughed and said, “At last I win you over on the topic!”
Let’s hope a photo book of Daly dropping his F-bombs doesn’t come next.