November Election

The November election this year is turning out to be a very contentious one all the way around!

We will be choosing the next president, mayor and supervisors as well as having combative ballot measures to contend with. I will stick to my expertise and cover the real estate related measures in this column and comment on others that can have an effect on real estate.

There has been so much money poured into this election it is difficult to discern what is the truth sometimes. And, with some clever usage of AI technology, what once was ridiculous had me questioning my own sanity at times. It seems that everyone is distorting and interpreting the measures to fit their own political agenda. Maybe that should be obvious in politics, but I think it has gotten worse and worse each year.

Mayor

We have five viable candidates running for mayor: London Breed, Mark Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai.

Recent polls have moderates Breed, Farrell and Lurie in the lead. Peskin a distant fourth and Safai is far behind. This race will boil down to who can get the most second and third place votes as ranked choice voting will come into play in this race.

Breed is campaigning on a new and reborn San Francisco. Farrell is running on charges of failed policies and that changes are needed. Lurie is promoting himself as being an outsider who can do a better job running the City than all these people who have been in power. Peskin is catering to the progressive base. Safai is straddling in the middle.

My ranked choice votes are going to be for Farrell, Lurie and Breed in that order as I think we need changes in City Hall. Breed has had enough time to perform but the results have been slow in coming. Farrell has done the job before and has the experience. Lurie is a breath of fresh air and appears to be competent to get the job done. So, I am hoping for some changes in City Hall.

District 1 Supervisor

In the Richmond District, we have a rematch of the 2020 race where Marjan Philhour lost to Connie Chan by 125 votes after ranked choice voting. Marjan has stayed active in the community after that race. This year, with redistricting and with Sea Cliff moved to D-1, it will be a tough race. Ranked choice voting most likely will not come into play this time as there are only two leading candidates. Chan has served the community well but deviated from what the residents supported in recent elections. My vote goes to Philhour.

Ballot Measure

Many of the ballot measures are asking for money allocation or issuing bonds to pay for items. All the asks are for good causes. Nobody is against kids, police, firefighters, nurses, first responders, schools, seniors, families, etc. But what I am seeing is this terrible trend.

We are operating with our highest-ever budget of $14.6 billion – more than some individual states! I feel like the politicians are allocating the money to all their other pet projects first and then coming to the voters for money to fund these important essential projects that we need to run the City because they know the voters will vote for these projects but not for the ones they funded. And with all the scandals that have been going on, I hesitate to vote for more funds until they can clean up their financials.

Proposition K

Prop. K seeks to permanently close the Upper Great Highway (UGH) to private vehicles to establish a public open recreation space. This is easily the most contentious ballot measure of the year. Why District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio placed this on the ballot and is leading the charge on this measure is beyond my comprehension. This has divided the west side of town and, if you look at Nextdoor or other social media sites, you can see how passionate people are about the UGH.

During the pandemic in 2020, the UGH was closed because of shelter-in-place measures, and people needed places to recreate. After the pandemic, a compromise was reached to open the UGH from Monday at 6 a.m. to Friday at noon, leaving Friday afternoon and the weekend for people to recreate. The compromise was to stay in place until Dec. 31, 2025.

However, Engardio, along with several other supervisors, decided to put Prop. K on the ballot at the last minute without any community input. There have been studies done, and one of the main plans was to reduce the UGH to one lane in each direction leaving room for more recreation. People who use the road for commuting and other purposes are absolutely upset that they were blindsided by this measure.

There have been accusations of using false data to conclude that the UGH is no longer needed. But there have not been any disputes that 14,000 to 20,000 cars a day that use the UGH will still use the road and will be dispersed to the neighboring streets whether that is the nearby residential streets, Sunset Boulevard or 19th Avenue.

For me, I don’t like people changing the rules when there is a compromise in place. I would rather see people work together than being divisive on the future of the UGH. So, I urge a “no” vote on K so we can keep the compromise and start having a dialogue on what to do with this important road.

We live in a great country and have the freedom to vote and voice our opinions. Whether you agree or disagree with my choices, I urge you all to vote this Nov. 5, or sooner with the mail-in ballot dropping in your mailboxes in early October.

John M. Lee is a broker with Compass specializing in the Richmond and Sunset districts. If you have any real estate questions, call him at 415-465-0505 or email johnlee@isellsf.com.