Aaron Peskin s Private Tennis Club Progressivism

The ballot measure blocking the development passed by a landslide 62.79% vote. To me, this was astonishing. Why was this issue even up to voters?

Since moving here, I have watched dozens of new homes and small businesses blocked for years or shut down for the most trivial and bad-faith reasons.

A bakery founded by a Jewish Russian refugee from the former Soviet Union? Not acceptable to local activists because the owner isn t Latino. A laundromat was classified as historic to prevent its sale to a housing developer. Hundreds of units of below-market housing rejected because the developer hadn t delivered 100% affordable buildings. The impact of an afternoon shadow cast by new buildings, offensively white wallpaper, and the racial demographics of new residents, are among the many complaints local left-wing activists have deployed to shutter development.

via www.leefang.com

These obstacles to development probably contribute even more to the decline of San Francisco than crime does.