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by calvin welch

Lessons of No on J

THE MASSIVE REJECTION of Proposition J on the March 2 ballot has lessons for both land-use policy and progressive politics that should be discussed and applied in the future.

The policy lessons The overwhelming vote against Prop. J shows San Franciscans passionately care about the future of their city and are serious about demanding a voice in planning that future. J's defeat was a rejection of the business elite's insistence that it and it alone knows what's best for San Francisco. High-density housing can only happen in this land-poor city through a comprehensive planning process involving everyone.

The second lesson is that corporate San Francisco should stop trying to replace current San Franciscans in the name of "solving the housing crisis." For the second time in two years (Proposition R in 2002 was the first), a corporate plan aimed at replacing residents with yet-to-arrive upscale "homeowners" massively failed at the ballot. San Franciscans need permanently affordable housing, both for sale and for rent. No more games, no more "economic cleansing."

Finally, just what is Mayor Gavin Newsom's plan for affordable housing for San Franciscans now that his has been massively rejected? Newsom needs to have a conversation with a far broader group than the Chamber of Commerce and the Committee on Jobs and present a fair and inclusive plan, respecting existing neighborhoods and involving workers and residents, to increase affordable housing opportunities for all San Franciscans. And it should be soon.

The political lessons Much nonsense has been written about the political lessons of J's defeat. The San Francisco Chronicle claims J was a victim of a "smear campaign" mounted by "tenant and anti-development groups." Others claim the victory was the result of clever campaign techniques such as targeting the west side permanent absentee voters.

Both miss an essential quality of the No on J campaign: it organized workers and residents into a coalition that brought an effective message to voters throughout the city showing that J would not create "workforce housing."

Applying the lessons from the recent mayor's race, in which left-progressive forces found themselves divided between three candidates, the No on J campaign set out to create a broad coalition. The campaign received the immediate support of Matt Gonzalez and six other supervisors and more than 60 labor, neighborhood, community, and environmental groups. For the first time in a very long time, neighborhood activists and organized labor united in a common campaign. Joined by progressive campaigners who learned the lesson of coalition building on the Gonzalez campaign, the No on J campaign developed a message showing the flaws and special-interest loopholes contained in J, translated that message into the languages of the affected neighborhoods and communities, sent more than 20 speakers of all ethnicities to more than a score of endorsement meetings, and won broad support. It then mobilized more than 100 volunteers and dropped 100,000 pieces of campaign literature door to door in more than 240 precincts.

The landslide defeat of Prop. J came from applying the lessons of the recent past, building a broad-based, inclusive, progressive coalition, and then mobilizing committed and skillful activists in communicating a clear campaign message to tens of thousands of San Francisco voters who are deeply concerned about their city's future.

Calvin Welch is a San Francisco resident who worked on the No on J Campaign and, like 120,767 other San Franciscans, voted no on J.