Breed pressing Farrell for answers

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London

Breed wants to know whether Mayor Mark Farrell will commit to funding a pair of her legislative priorities in the city’s upcoming budget.

Breed submitted two formal inquiries to the mayor’s office last week, which Farrell will respond to Tuesday as part of “Question Time,” the mayor’s monthly appearance before the board.

Breed asked whether Farrell would commit $14 million to raise the wages paid to contract workers covered by the city’s Minimum Compensation Ordinance to $15.50 per hour by July 1. The ordinance applies to around 21,880 San Francisco International Airport, in-home care and nonprofit workers whose unions have been lobbying for a pay raise. The citywide minimum wage will rise to $15 July 1, but the ordinance is intended to ensure that city contractors pay at least slightly more than the bare minimum.

A proposed ordinance introduced last year by Supervisor

Jeff Sheehy would lift the hourly rate for contract workers to $16.86, but the legislation has stalled at the board’s Budget and Finance Committee. The city controller’s office estimates that raising contract workers’ wages to $16.86 all at once would cost the city around $45 million next year.

Breed has advocated for a more gradual approach, but she’s seeking Farrell’s commitment to “phasing in the remainder of the proposed wage increase with new revenue sources in the coming year.”

She’s also looking for the mayor’s budget office to commit to funding half of the estimated costs of implementing legislation she introduced with Sheehy to provide attorneys for city residents facing eviction — or about $4.3 million.

The two requests, Breed said in an email sent through an aide, “will help us provide the housing stability so many of our residents need and ensure we can continue to support our nonprofit and in-home supportive care workers and their families.” — Dominic Fracassa

Stepping back a bit: A bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener prompted a raucous debate at City Hall on Monday, as progressive activists and west-side homeowners attacked the core idea: that dense development near transit corridors will help solve a regional housing crisis.

Leading the charge was Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who co-sponsored a resolution with three progressive colleagues: Hillary Ronen, Norman Yee and Sandra Lee Fewer — to oppose Wiener’s bill. They say it would impede the city’s ability to impose affordable housing quotas and other restrictions on developers.

But when their resolution went before the supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee Monday, Chairwoman Katy Tang, a moderate, persuaded Peskin to soften his stance. Instead of outright condemning Wiener’s proposal, the supervisors will call for amendments to help preserve the character of San Francisco’s neighborhoods.

That compromise seemed designed to placate neighborhood associations in Cow Hollow and residents living west of Twin Peaks, who united with the progressives on this issue. They packed the committee hearing Monday hurling colorful insults at Wiener.

One person called state Senate Bill 827 an “undemocratic power grab.” Another compared it to a “hydrogen bomb” that will “blow San Francisco to bits.”

On the other side were the “Yes In My Backyard” activists, an ascendent, younger group of political players who argue that dense housing is good for the environment, and that it will help stabilize rents.

If there’s one thing the debate showed, it’s that housing and land use are the most polarizing issues in the city. SB827 inflamed a long-stewing fight that is shaping the June 5 mayor’s race. Of the three leading candidates, Supervisor London Breed — the moderate pick for mayor — was the only one to support Wiener’s legislation unequivocally in a YIMBY questionnaire. She got the group’s sole endorsement.

One of Breed’s mayoral opponents, progressive Supervisor Jane Kim, is a member of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, but she was absent Monday. Supervisor Ahsha Safai, a moderate who constantly stumps for more housing, left the committee meeting early. He represents the Excelsior, which could be broadly affected by the state Senate bill.