Prop R Defeated; Prop N Passes

San Francisco is often thought of as a progressive city, but the passage of Prop. N, cutting aid to homeless people to $59 with no guarantee of services, should make it clear that San Francisco is still very much a part of the United States.

Prop. N was just a publicity stunt by a young, 33-year-old wealthy hoodlum, Supervisor Gavin Newsom, for his presumed race for mayor in 2003, in which he will most certainly face the very-experienced politician, former President of the Board of Supervisors, attorney Angela Alioto. To fall for this act is to demonstrate that San Franciscans are just as easily swayed by con artists as the rest of the country.

As Prop N is implemented, it will be a political liability to Supevisor Newsom as it will not solve the homeless crisis at all, but make it much worse. Meanwhile, very poor people will suffer.

We can be proud that Prop R, the repeal of rent control proposition, was easily defeated with 60% of the vote. That was due to a very strong campaign of precinct-walking and phone-banking and it directly affected the lives of 2/3 of the residents of San Francisco.

We can be proud but not overwhelmed by the passage of Prop S with 62% of the vote, allowing San Francisco to grow its own marijuana. However, in San Francisco, Prop 215, the state medical marijuana initiative, won 80% of the vote, so 62% is a regression for San Francisco.

Pete Camejo, Green Party candidate for governor, got a respectable 15% of San Francisco's votes, not surprising in San Francisco.

The final number of voters will be about 200,000, out of 600,000 adults in San Francisco. A high voter turnout for San Francisco is 300,000. Clearly, not enough of the workingclass is voting. Not only does the passage of Prop N reflect a weak workingclass vote, but so does the defeat of Prop L, the real estate transfer tax increase on million dollar properties paying for needed city services, and the defeat of Prop D, the public power initiative.

If anyone still thinks that voting does not matter, just think how much better it would have been if Prop N were defeated and Prop. L and D passed. One can skip the Democrat-Republican politicians, but the propositions are always worth voting on, and they do make a difference.