Democracy thriving in S.F.’s City Hall
I wandered around San Francisco City Hall last week. It turned out to be an uplifting exercise in these dark days of American democracy. The grand old palace of the people was hopping with events, including former state Sen. Mark Leno’s formal kickoff for the 2019 mayoral race, which he announced to a news scrum outside the Department of Elections office, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s declaration of victory in the longrunning legal battle with Airbnb, which will force the short-term rental giant to abide by local law.
The Airbnb settlement was a major win not just for the city, but for Herrera, whose squad of civil service lawyers outmaneuvered the legal army of the $31 billion corporate colossus. I dropped by the city attorney’s office to see how he was celebrating. There was no Champagne in sight, but a bit of swagger was on display.
“We never felt intimidated by Airbnb’s legal firepower,” Herrera told me. “We didn’t see it as David versus Goliath. There’s a reason this office is seen as one of the premier municipal law offices in the country. We can hire the best talent. And we’ve taken on everyone from the federal government, over issues like sanctuary, to the gun lobby.”
Herrera said he felt no heat
from Airbnb investor Ron Conway, who has been known to throw his political weight around, or from Conway’s close ally Mayor Ed Lee. “The ground has shifted,” said the city attorney. “I’m counting on the mayor’s full support to enforce the settlement.”
The next Goliath for Herrera and his staff ? Ride-hailing behemoth Uber, which last week sued the city to prevent the San Francisco tax collector’s office from compelling Uber drivers to obtain business licenses. The lawsuit echoes Airbnb’s own losing effort to operate outside of the law in San Francisco, and Herrera is confident the Uber maneuver will suffer a similar fate.
“Uber is thumbing its nose at the San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector Office, which is just trying to do its job,” Herrera said. “The city has a right to require Uber drivers to register, just as it does with other business operators. And my office will aggressively defend the city’s right to enforce its laws.”
The Airbnb settlement and looming Uber battle are part of a larger struggle between public rule and pirate capitalism. This buccaneer business ethic — with its open contempt for governmental authority — holds sway at break-allthe-rules tech companies like Uber.
“The same principle is at stake in the Uber battle as the city’s showdown with Airbnb,” said San Francisco political consultant Jon Golinger. “Will companies like Uber and Lyft be allowed to take over the city, with private fleets swarming public streets, or does the city have the right to impose some basic rules and order? The quality of life has clearly gone down in San Francisco since these companies took over.”
Herrera agrees. “The city is less livable these days. We’ve been vexed by the homeless problem for a long time, but from what I see on the streets, it’s worse now. Likewise, gentrification has long been an issue, but the city is less affordable now than ever. Added to that, we now have the nightmare of traffic congestion.”
Herrera, who lost to Lee in the 2011 mayoral race, was starting to sound like he might give it another go. When I told him I had just come from Leno’s news conference, he didn’t exactly jump on the bandwagon. “Mark has a long and distinguished record of public service, and I wish him well,” said Herrera, as if he were reading a prepared statement. “But the election is a long way off, and anything can happen in two-plus years.”
And then he cut to the chase: “I’m not ruling out a race for mayor.”
Supervisor Jane Kim is another potential mayoral name that comes up in progressive circles, so I dropped by her office as well. Kim, who will be termed out of office next year, is considering her political options but hasn’t come to any firm decisions. Still, she was happy to talk about bigpicture topics.
“Everyone is progressive in San Francisco until there’s money involved,” said Kim. “All politicians here support core social issues — but housing and land use are the dividing lines that separate the true progressives from fake ones.”
Kim is increasingly concerned about the city’s enormous wealth gap. “The disparity in San Francisco between the top and bottom is now akin to countries like Rwanda. Actually Rwanda ranks slightly better.”
She’s also focusing more these days on the challenges of automation, which will produce massive disruptions in the labor market. “I’ve already seen robots making deliveries in hotels. And there’s a robot bartender at the Folsom Street Foundry” — one of Kim’s watering holes.
Politics has a particularly foul odor these days, and for good reason. But it’s reassuring to know that at least in cities like San Francisco, the people’s profession still draws men and women who are willing to fight the big battles and grapple with the big issues.