Latest returns support Yes on A/No on H campaign
Guardian illustration by Danny Hellman, from our Oct. 31 cover story
The big story of this election was the improbable triumph of environmentalists over car culture and grassroots activism over downtown’s money, a story being played out in the likely approval of the Muni reform measure Prop. A and lopsided defeat of the pro-parking Prop. H.
The latest elections results show Prop. A extending its narrow election night lead to a seven point margin and Prop. H being rejected by almost 64 percent of voters, despite its poll-tested simplicity and big time backing from Don Fisher and other downtown conservatives.
As expected, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s election night high of 77.46 percent of the early absentee votes has fallen to 72.47 and will probably continue its downward trend, while progressive favorite Quintin Mecke is slowly climbing out of the electoral cellar to third place with 6 percent now, a trend also likely to continue. Harold Hoogasian has 6.83 percent and Wilma Pang dropped to 5.6 – expect both to keep falling.
Prop. E, the question time measure where Newsom invested all his political capital trying to defeat, could still go either way: 48.7 percent say yes and 51.3 percent no. That will be a big test of whether Newsom has any political pull at all, capping off a string of electoral failures since he took office.
But as I said, the big story is the Yes on A/No on H campaign, which threw a jubilant party at the El Rio last night.
“Tonight is a victory for transit justice. Tonight is a victory over global warming. We all did it,” said an ecstatic Sup. Aaron Peskin, who sponsored Prop. A and led the Yes on A/No on H campaign.
During his victory speech, Peskin singled out the labor movement for high praise: “This would not have happened if it were not for our incredible brothers and sisters in the house of labor.” He also thanked the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, environmental groups, the Bay Guardian, SPUR, and “my friend, [Sup.] Sean Elsbernd, he was remarkably stand up, it was just unbelievable.”
Elsbernd, one of the most conservative members of the Board of Supervisors, crossed many of his political allies to support the Yes on A/No on H campaign, involvement that helped win over Westside voters and demonstrated that environmentalism and support for transit shouldn’t just be a progressive position.
“If we pull this off, it’s great for public transit riders. It reinforces that this is a transit first city…Public transit is not an eastside issue,” Elsbernd told the Guardian, adding that it’s also a victory for political honesty. “It shows that people saw through the campaign rhetoric.”
The Fisher-funded rhetoric relied on simplistic appeals to drivers’ desire for more parking and used deceptive anti-government appeals, trying to capitalize on what he clearly thought was widespread disdain for the Board of Supervisors.
“The attacks against the board didn’t work,” Peskin said, noting that in election after election, the Board of Supervisors has shown that, “we have much longer coattails than the chief executive of San Francisco.”
“I think it’s a pretty thorough rejection of Don Fisher’s agenda. He was not able to fool the voters,” said Tom Radulovich, director of Livable City and a BART director, who was active in the campaign. “This was about transit and what’s best for downtown. We should be very proud as a city.”
Early polling looked bad for the Yes on A/No on H campaign, which they overcame with strong fundraising, consistent messaging, and lots of boots on the ground and volunteers working phone banks. Ultimately, people supported the city’s transit first status once they understood both measures.
“The voters of San Francisco understand what makes this city different from the rest of America. We cannot make it as a city unless Muni is amazing,” said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. “For people who want tons of parking everywhere they look, there’s the rest of the United States.”
“The people of San Francisco drove a Hummer into Prop. H,” Peskin told the Guardian. “It’s a victory in the fight against global warming. It’s a victory for public transit.”
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Comments (5)
Oh, honestly.
“It’s a victory in the fight against global warming" ???
Give me a friggin' break, LOL. The SFBG echoed that little spin snippet in their editorial supporting Prop A. What a crock. The biggest problem which the automobile in general is going to run us up against is simply dependence on foreign oil, NOT global warming. Dependence on foreign oil is going to bite us in the arse a hella lot sooner and more harshly than "global warming".
You think a couple of parking places in little San Francisco is going to put a dent in either one, either way? Get real.
Posted by ScarletPimpernel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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November 7, 2007 08:25 PM
Can somebody please edit Mr. Jones' writing before posting it in a public place? "director of Livable City and a BART director", "environmentalism", and "big time backing"- what is this, 8th grade?
Posted by KarlaLaVey | November 7, 2007 10:59 PM
Proposition H is the first tremor in an earthquake against the proliferation of high rise condos.
Proposition H highlights the disconnect between the Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods and the west side voter base when it comes to protecting the west side by allowing unlimited housing development on the east side, so that west siders and east siders can unite towards a coherent sensible housing policy that does not saddle our streets with more traffic and addresses the housing crisis that impacts livability for Mission residents as well as the kids of west siders.
Posted by marc | November 8, 2007 07:28 AM
The same daffy billionaire whose vision for San Francisco includes MORE cars and who employs child slave labor overseas to produce his tasteless clothing in his floundering company now wants to construct a hideous vanity museum in the Presidio to display his awful art sensibilities by appointment only to his brainless allies....
Posted by antennaz | November 8, 2007 01:23 PM
If I read these updated results correctly, did only 16% of registered voters actually vote? 16%?
That's sad:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/elections_index.asp?id=68841
Posted by Hank Essay | November 8, 2007 04:43 PM