District 6 race takes shape as Haney, Angulo state intentions
San Francisco Board of Education member Matt Haney filed his official candidate’s papers for the 2018 District Six supervisor’s race Tuesday, the same day that Sunny Angulo announced she will not run.
With Angulo out, the fight to succeed Supervisor Jane Kim — who will be termed out next year — has become much more clear cut. The left is coalescing around Haney, a Tenderloin resident who is helping start a public school in Mission Bay.
He’ll face off with moderate candidate Sonja Trauss, a pro-housing evangelist and figurehead of the Yes In My Backyard Party.
“We’re all going to have to be in this together,” Haney said at a jubilant news conference that quickly turned into pep rally outside the Department of Elections in the basement of City Hall Tuesday morning. Among the crowd were leaders of several SoMa- and Tenderloin-based organizations, Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Sandra Lee Fewer, East Bay Assemblyman Tony Thurmond and CNN news commentator Van Jones, who founded the Dream Corps social justice group where Haney serves as national
policy director.
“Matt Haney has so much integrity that he’s a white dude who Black Lives Matter loves,” Jones said, drawing cheers from the throng of supporters. He added: “I love this man.”
Angulo, who was an aide to Kim and is now chief of staff to progressive Supervisor Aaron Peskin, had never officially entered the race, but was widely considered to be in the running. She is well known among neighborhood groups and would have likely inherited the leftist coalition that backed Kim and former Supervisor Chris Daly.
She said she withdrew to avoid splitting the left. District Six has gone to progressives in the past five supervisor races, but the electorate has changed as more condos have gone up and more newcomers moved in.
“The District Six community has and will continue to be my family, so ensuring a unified progressive front for this election is the most important thing I can do today,” Angulo said. “I’ve met with Matt, believe we have shared values and look forward to continuing the work together.”
Peskin and Kim have both endorsed Haney. Trauss said Tuesday she welcomes the competition and anticipates a “robust discussion” about the future of the district and San Francisco. — Rachel Swan Sky park: A 6,000square-foot rooftop park in Chinatown will finally be open early next month, the Recreation and Park Department announced this week. Rooftop Park, as it’s being called, was nearly 15 years in the planning.
The park, which sits atop the 500 Pine St. building on Quincy Street between California and Pine streets, connects to St. Mary’s Square through a public walkway and will feature planted areas, public seating and an open plaza.
San Francisco’s Planning Department approved the development of 500 Pine St. and the nearby 350 Bush St. building on the condition that a park be built to compensate for shadows cast by the buildings. The city’s Recreation and Park Commission greenlighted the construction of the park in 2003 but it was delayed because the economic meltdown delayed development.
The park “is something I have been working on with the community since my first term in office,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said in a statement. Peskin represents District Three, which includes Chinatown. “Chinatown, the densest neighborhood in the city, has long fought for a modicum of open space and recreational programming as development continues to increase around it.”
Once the new space opens, the owners of 500 Pine St. and 350 Bush St. will work with the parks department to maintain it.