Power Play: Let the D2 games begin | Ethics fine over women’s summit

Power Play

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The District 2 race was already heated when Mayor Daniel Lurie kicked up the spice level Wednesday with his endorsement of incumbent Supervisor Stephen Sherrill.

Shocked? Don’t be. Lurie and Sherrill are moderate peas in a pod, working hand in hand on issues such as public safety and the mayor’s Family Zoning Plan, of which the supervisor was a strong proponent.

Sherrill was appointed late last year by Mayor London Breed after Catherine Stefani vacated the seat to head to the state Assembly.

Lurie said Sherrill is “exactly the kind of leader District 2 needs to continue the progress we are making across San Francisco.”

“We’re working really well together to bring San Francisco back to where it needs to be,” said Sherrill. “It has been great to work with him.”

The endorsement could be seen simply as one pal supporting another — but that support will be critical in what’s expected to be a bruising battle next year.

Sherrill’s YIMBY-like tendencies could land him in hot water with development-resistant constituents he represents in ritzy enclaves like the Marina, Presidio Heights, and Pacific Heights. The race is sure to energize wealthy, politically connected residents who aren’t pleased about the possibility of taller buildings and who may view Sherrill as being out of touch with the district on such a key issue.

Sherrill faces a formidable challenger in neighborhood activist Lori Brooke, an opponent of the Family Zoning Plan who has capitalized on worries about rampant development.

“Mayor Lurie’s endorsement of Sherrill, after he voted for the upzoning plan and distanced himself from legitimate concerns about the Marina Safeway project, isn’t leadership — it’s damage control,” Brooke said. “San Franciscans are tired of politicians covering for each other while our neighborhoods pay the price.”

Sherrill’s campaign has been busy preparing for 2026, raising more than $200,000 so far. The supervisor recruited his former City Hall aide Veronica Lempert and Dan Rottenstreich of Amplify Campaigns to help.

Brooke, who has raised close to $70,000, hired as campaign staffers Jamie Hughes and Forrest Cameron, both of whom helped lead the effort to oust District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio in September and worked on Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s failed 2024 mayoral bid. Rumor has it an independent expenditure committee is being set up to support Brooke.

But Brooke’s strategy of making the race all about upzoning is a risky one. Polling commissioned by the Lurie-aligned political group GrowSF shows support for the plan from 71% of those surveyed in D2.

Speaking of GrowSF, the group previously committed to raising $500,000 in support of Sherrill through an independent expenditure committee.

— Gabe Greschler

Are you a City Hall/adjacent staffer who loves Power Play? Want to hang out with us over a drink at an ~exclusive~ Dec. 16 happy hour? Send an email to ggreschler@sfstandard.com for an invite.

In the Pipeline

A woman with a pink bullhorn stands in front of a crowd. She wears sunglasses, a leather jacket, and a pink shirt. People in the background are clapping.

ETHICS OOPSIE: Remember the Department on the Status of Women’s lavish $600,000 summit last year featuring massages, an expensive hotel, and a fashion show? One of the department’s commissioners was slapped with an ethics violation over her role in the fête.

The Standard reported in March that Sophia Andary received a $1,000 speaker fee as part of her role at the “Shift Happens” women’s policy summit in San Francisco, which was hosted by the political organization Ignite National. Months before the April 2024 event, Andary and her commission colleagues approved a grant agreement for Ignite to host. This rendered Andary’s acceptance of the honorarium an ethics violation, because city officials are prohibited from receiving compensation — for a year — from an entity with a city contract they helped secure.

In interviews with city investigators, Andary said Kimberly Ellis, the Department on the Status of Women’s former executive director, told her that the speaking role posed no conflict of interest. Ellis, who was axed in April amid allegations of financial improprieties, is embroiled in a lawsuit against the city over her ouster.

Andary said she approached the Ethics Commission after The Standard reported on her honorarium and offered to return the $1,000. According to a signed agreement with the Ethics Commission, Andary has agreed to pay the same amount in fines to the city. The commission will review the case at its Dec. 12 meeting. Andary did not respond to a request for comment.

— G.G.

WE KNEW IT: Albert Chow told Power Play that, as widely expected, he will file Thursday to run for District 4 supervisor.

The business leader and longtime Sunset resident is the latest challenger to Alan Wong, whom Lurie appointed to represent D4 as Engardio’s replacement. City Hall staffer Natalie Gee and educator David Lee have also announced plans to run.

Chow was passed over by Lurie twice during the mayor’s appointment process but has many allies among recall activists and “No on K” organizers. Chow said he knows the Sunset “much better than Wong.”

“My main thing is to get on my feet and build up a war chest,” Chow said. He added a not-so-subtle dig at Wong and the perception that he’s in Lurie’s pocket: “I don’t owe anybody any favors — I can run much more freely.”

Chow plans to distinguish himself from Wong on two key issues for the district: the Great Highway’s future and Lurie's Family Zoning Plan. Chow opposes rezoning and is a staunch supporter of reopening the coastal road to cars.

Wong, meanwhile, said he is “working hard to deliver practical results for the Sunset on public safety and make government less burdensome for ordinary people.”

“I look forward to discussing these important issues in the race ahead with fellow candidates,” he added.

— Han Li

FEELING GOOD? Speaking of the Great Highway …

An incremental development in a lawsuit to reopen the road has the anti-Prop. K coalition feeling confident.

A group of west-side residents, including Chow, filed the lawsuit in March, arguing that local voters didn’t have the power to close a roadway and that the ballot measure bypassed the California Environmental Quality Act.

In October, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ross asked the plaintiffs and the city attorney’s office to submit additional arguments on whether Prop. K, which involves a local street, should be a state-level issue.

In their responses, filed in late November, the coalition said the state’s authority over traffic control and roads precludes the local initiative power, while the city cited laws in its filings that preserve the local power to close streets and said CEQA doesn’t apply in this case.

It may seem like a boring legal development that won’t amount to much. But the fact that the judge made the request has Jim Sutton, who is representing the coalition challenging the measure, feeling that there’s good news ahead.

“Based on his request for supplemental briefing, we are cautiously optimistic that [the judge] will agree that allowing Prop. K to stand would open the floodgates to citizen initiatives closing more streets, potentially wreaking havoc on traffic throughout the city,” Sutton said in a statement.

“This latest lawsuit from the anti-park zealots has demonstrated nothing except their continued willingness to fight democratic outcomes, even if it comes with a steep legal bill,” said Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes, a nonprofit set up to support the development of the park that replaced the road.

The lawsuit’s next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5.

— H.L.

KIDS KNOW BEST: City Hall’s Room 250 — better known for hosting contentious Board of Supervisors meetings — was taken over by 40 students and their big imaginations Wednesday afternoon during a mock Land Use and Transportation Committee debate over the future of Alcatraz.

Students from Bessie Carmichael Elementary and Tenderloin Community Elementary transformed the chamber with their lively ideas on what to do with the island, which operates as a museum and made headlines this year after President Donald Trump floated the idea of reopening it as a prison.

The mock hearing was organized by the committee and board clerk as a civic lesson for San Francisco’s next generation. Students served as supervisors and city staff, debating their visions alongside two real-life supervisors: committee chair Myrna Melgar and Matt Dorsey, whose district includes Alcatraz.

While many consider Trump’s plan for Alcatraz far-fetched, we hope everyone can agree that some of the kids’ alternatives are worthy of consideration. Among them: One student detailed a bold concept to use the island as a safe place for birds. “We need to keep [the birds] safe from vehicles that can crush them. The birds deserve to have their babies in peace,” he said. “Tell the mayor or the person in charge.” Others proposed an animal resort, a “playground at the ocean,” and a water park.

— H.L.