Happy Sunday! It’s drizzling as we write this, but City Hall is heating up as supervisors quiz the mayor on affordable housing, homelessness and mental health conservatorship. Meanwhile, all eyes are on the March 2024 ballot, as deadlines loom and candidates lock in slates for a critical race. 

Here’s what’s on tap: 

• Breed at the board
• Progressives’ DCCC drive
• APEC security pushback
• Union Street sinkhole emergency
• More mayoral rumors...

Board of Supervisors [agenda]

• QUESTION TIME: At her regular appearance before the board, Mayor London Breed will be answering more than the usual number of queries. Supervisor Dean Preston will ask, perhaps rhetorically, about the city’s affordable housing goals. Under the Housing Element, San Francisco is required to accommodate 46,000 new affordable housing units, and Preston, a booster of “social housing,” has often been at loggerheads with Breed about how to build them. 
  
  Breed will also take questions from Supervisor Myrna Melgar about homelessness services in her district and a query from Supervisor Rafael Mandelman about fulfilling the promises of Senate Bill 43, a recently passed state law that expands eligibility for conservatorship.
  
  
• APEC PUSHBACK: Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Preston are pushing a non-binding resolution urging the city to mitigate the impact of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on residents. Much of Downtown will be under tightened security for the mid-November event as scores of world leaders descend upon San Francisco. In anticipation of protests from climate activists and others, the resolution also urges city officials to protect free speech.

Rules Committee [agenda]

• BALLOT BINGO: The committee will look at a stack of measures proposed for the March 2024 ballot, including Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s “100 new cops a year” measure. Supervisor Ahsha Safai also has some in the hopper, including an ordinance that would mandate regular police foot patrols. The supervisor originally introduced the item as an ordinance for the board to vote on, but told Power Play he’s looking to put it on the ballot “just in case.” 

Land Use and Transportation Committee [agenda]

• CASTRO ZONING: The committee will likely approve a zoning change that allows new second-story uses on Castro Street, in part to support changes to the Castro Theatre. They’ll also be considering Board President Aaron Peskin’s Special Use District to help preserve the former San Francisco Art Institute. Both items will be sent to the full board this week, even though the Art Institute item is still making its way through the Historic Preservation and Planning commissions.

Budget and Finance Committee [agenda]

• BONDS AND BREAKS: This committee will likely give the go-ahead to an emergency declaration approving $5 million for repairs of the Sept. 10 water main break that flooded areas around Fillmore and Green streets and caused a giant sinkhole. They’ll also likely green-light a number of items in support of a $300 million affordable housing bond planned for the March ballot.

Small Business Commission [agenda] 

• GRAFFITI BOARD: On Monday, this commission will review Chan’s legislation to renew the Graffiti Advisory Board, which was created to help with anti-tagging efforts. This item also goes to a Board of Supervisors vote the following day. According to the Office of Small Business review of the legislation, the new version of the board “will likely have a wide arrangement of perspectives regarding graffiti.” (No word yet whether the infamous "Goer" will be in the running.)

Bicycle Advisory Committee [agenda]

• BIKE SAFETY: The committee will hear an update on the Arguello Safety Project. The project is aimed at making the boulevard, often used by cyclists traveling between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, safer. The corridor has seen numerous collisions between cars and bicycles, prompting calls for protected bikeways on Arguello. Those calls increased after champion cyclist Ethan Boyes was killed in a collision on April 4.

• FARRELL FOR MAYOR? Polls don’t always predict the future, but they do make for quality gossip. One survey that recently made the rounds asked for residents’ opinions on a ballot measure lowering the retirement age for firefighters. But more intriguing were the possible mayoral candidates listed. 
  
  They included the usual suspects—Breed, Safai, Daniel Lurie and rumored candidate Peskin—along with a blast from the not-too-distant past. That was former Mayor Mark Farrell, who served for around six months in 2018 before exiting political life. It’s not the first time we’ve heard Farrell, a native San Franciscan who previously served on the Board of Supervisors, mentioned as a moderate alternative for those who aren’t thrilled with the current menu.
  
  Farrell, an attorney and investor, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Reached for comment, Breed campaign advisor Conor Johnston responded with a gif of a demurely smiling Mariah Carey saying: “I don’t know her.” 
  
  If Farrell ran, it would be an ironic throwback to the biggest political spectacle of 2018. Following the sudden death of Mayor Ed Lee, the Board of Supervisors passed over then-Acting Mayor Breed to appoint Farrell as interim mayor in a dramatic meeting. Since his appointment expired in July 2018, Farrell has kept a low profile but stayed busy during the pandemic taking a travel-focused company public. 

• DCCC BATTLE: You’ll be hearing a lot about the race for Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) this March. Last week, we previewed an effort by moderate political groups to take control of the local Democratic chapter, which will issue endorsements for key November 2024 races. On Friday, progressives announced a slate of 24 DCCC candidates dubbed the “Labor & Working Families Slate.” 
  
  Its headliners include labor activist Sal Rosselli, Supervisor Connie Chan and former Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer. Moderates have argued that the heavily progressive local party is out of touch. In a statement, current DCCC vice-chair Peter Gallotta said: “We need the San Francisco Democratic Party to stand tall and defend San Francisco values, which are under attack across the country.” As ever, those values are in the eye of the beholder.

• CARETAKER AFTER ALL: Sen. Laphonza Butler, the former president of EMILY’s List and labor leader who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, announced that she will not run for the seat next year.

• DISGRUNTLED VOTERS: Moderate political group GrowSF commissioned a poll of 458 residents and found what they called “deep disillusionment” on city issues, particularly crime. Homelessness was described as the most serious issue overall. Breed had low favorables, but her potential challengers didn't rank much better. 

• RACIST ATTACK: The Board of Supervisors voted to end most remote public comment on Oct. 17, and a clearer picture is emerging of the events that led up to that decision. Jewish members of the board received disturbing, antisemitic postcards around the same time as racist, violent public comments hijacked a Sept. 27 board meeting. 
  
  The postcards appear to be associated with the self-styled “Goyim Defense League,” a hate group suspected of disrupting government meetings in Northern California this year. The group has also distributed hateful flyers in San Francisco and elsewhere. 

• FRINGE BENEFITS: San Francisco supervisors are expensing some interesting things, including sofas, flags, white noise machines, giant scissors and fistfuls of phone chargers, as part of two approved expense accounts.