Will Change Finally Come to San Francisco Planning Commission?

A major difference between the Brown and Newsom Administrations has been the sharp reduction in public criticism of the San Francisco Planning Department and Commission by progressives and neighborhood activists. All is quiet despite the fact that the Planning Department backlog is the same, the new Planning Director, Dean Macris, was activists’ chief target during the Feinstein years, and the Commission has not voted down or even significantly modified a single major development project.

While Macris, Mayor Newsom, and the Commissioners professional demeanor have insulated the Planning Commission from public criticism, it almost exclusively represents the Newsom-Dufty-Alioto-Pier-Ma- Elsbernd political bloc. Only two Planning Commissioners prioritize tenant interests, and Shelley Bradford-Bell is a Mayor Brown appointee who will soon be replaced.

The Commission’s lack of motivation toward protecting tenants is not simply reflected by public votes. Rather, it is also seen in the freedom it has given to the city’s zoning administrator to issue anti-tenant rulings.

When the Board of Appeals rules 5-0 on tenants’ behalf because the Zoning Administrator refuses to intervene, something at the Planning Department is clearly amiss

Other than Commissioner Olague, the current Planning Commission has little connection with the city’s progressive community.

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