By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Annie Gaus, Gabe Greschler & Han Li

An older man with gray hair and glasses speaks at an outdoor podium. A man in the background watches, and a blurred figure is in the foreground.

Moderate Democrats gave progressives a bloody nose in November. District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, a lefty incumbent, was knocked out of office. In District 3, moderate Danny Sauter clinched the win over his progressive opponents. Now, a new push to get progressives back in the game is taking shape, insiders tell Power Play.

The effort is led by Sunny Angulo, Aaron Peskin's former chief of staff, we are told. While neither offered comment, word is the new entity will be the progressive answer to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the moderate-aligned group backed by billionaire Republican political donor William Obendorf.

The new group, which may be organized as a 501(c)(4), would rally other progressive Democratic clubs and advocacy groups around the cause du jour; for example, offering public comment before votes at the Board of Supervisors or herding cats to rally for reform at a Police Commission meeting. Peskin talked openly about planning this org after losing the mayor’s race, saying progressives need “better coordination and leadership.”

Mike Redmond, a progressive organizer who worked for Peskin’s mayoral campaign, said he didn’t know any details about Angulo’s venture. But he added “there’s obviously a big need” for a new organization leading up to the 2026 elections, when progressives have the opportunity to win back the board. Redmond said they need to make sure they’re in lockstep on kitchen-table issues: protecting renters from price gouging, fighting Muni cuts, and preserving small businesses. “For a while, I think, progressives were dominant in the supervisor races because they were so organized,” he said, “and the big money folks caught up.”

In the pipeline

FLAGRANT FOUL: After a labor spat short-circuited Steph Curry’s planned development in Dogpatch, a neighborhood group is urging Mayor Daniel Lurie to step in and salvage the project.

The Dogpatch Business Association, a merchants group with around 50 paying members in the up-and-coming neighborhood, was gutted last week after Thirty Ink — a collection LLCs and entities owned by the Warriors star — yanked plans for a five-story office and event space at 600 20th St. The reason, according to Thirty Ink's press release? Its commitment to using 40% union labor was “deemed unacceptable” by Jacob Adiarte, director of organizing for the Nor Cal Carpenters Union.

Jay Bradshaw, the carpenters’ executive secretary treasurer, said in a statement that the union expects Curry’s company to give “100 percent” to local labor. But Bradshaw seemingly left room for negotiation, adding that the union “[looks] forward to the opportunity to work with Mr. Curry and Thirty Ink to ensure they retain contractors that respect Carpenter labor standards.”

“It’s a really bad look for San Francisco,” said Susan Eslick, treasurer of the Dogpatch group, which sent a letter to Lurie asking him to help broker a resolution. The group’s president, Adam Gould, wrote that Curry’s investment would have been “transformative” for the neighborhood and the termination “perpetuates the perception that San Francisco is inhospitable to business investment.” The group has a meeting scheduled with Thirty Ink to voice support for its plans.

Charles Lutvak, Lurie’s spokesperson, said the mayor’s office is “aware of the situation.”

“We won’t comment on private conversations, but Mayor Lurie will work with anyone who shares his commitment to San Francisco’s comeback,” Lutvak added.

HOUSING HULLABALOO: What better way to spend a sunny Saturday morning than watching San Franciscans yap at each other about land use policy?

A walking tour of North Beach — led by YIMBY champion Jane Natoli, with a celebrity appearance by state Sen. Scott Wiener — brought out sharp rebukes from a small crowd of preservationists like Katherine Petrin, who’s defending an effort to designate the neighborhood as a historic site.

Natoli’s gathering was loaded with irony. The roughly 25 attendees were brought to parking lots, burnt-out buildings, and auto repair shops — obvious housing opportunities, Natoli argued, that would be stopped in their tracks by the historical designation. (For their part, Petrin’s side says the label won’t stop development.)

Wearing a microphone and speaker on her hip, Natoli had to repeatedly cut in and play peacekeeper between the warring parties on the tour.

“You two could probably do this all day, and I would enjoy it,” she said to two quarreling attendees while standing in front of infamous landlord Sophie Lau’s decrepit Good Earth Realty, Inc. office on 785 Columbus Ave. Other stops included a 1906-era horse stable turned parking garage on Filbert Street and the old Buon Gusto Sausage Factory.

It wouldn’t be a proper North Beach housing tour without a mention of Peskin, the ex-supervisor and YIMBY nemesis. “Despite what Mr. Peskin says … This district will have profound housing and land use ramifications in North Beach,” Wiener said.

RECALL REUNION: The recall campaign against Supervisor Joel Engardio is growing, and it’s looking like a Peskin alumni reunion. The campaign named Forrest Cameron as field organizer and volunteer coordinator; this follows the hiring of Jamie Hughes and Otto Pippinger. All worked on the former supervisor’s mayoral campaign.

The three “have a great working relationship,” said Vin Budhai, who’s leading the recall effort. Budhai added that signature gathering is "going strong," saying there are so many volunteers that they needed to bring on additional staff. The clock is ticking: The campaign has about 45 days to gather about 10,000 signatures, equivalent to 20% of registered voters in the Sunset.

Asked for comment, Engardio's anti-recall campaign texted, “mazel tov.” Anti-recall spokesperson Jason Galisatus later elaborated, saying it’s no surprise the recall crew turned to ex-Peskin staffers for help. “As we saw from his mayoral campaign, he is an expert in appealing to only 20% of the population,” Galisatus said. Ouch!

AVALOS SAYS ADIOS: Speaking of progressives, John Avalos, the fiery former supervisor, is departing as executive director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations. Avalos confirmed to Power Play that he’s bidding the affordable housing group adieu, saying President Donald Trump’s flirtations with facism have inspired him to fight back in new ways. “Personally, I'm interested in doing more direct organizing, to do worker organizing again,” Avalos said.

Taking the reins of the progressive group, familiarly known as Choo Choo, is a name old-time politicos may recall: Quintin Mecke, who ran against Gavin Newsom in his 2007 mayoral reelection bid.