In San Francisco, we contort ourselves crafting ambitious policies to solve problems inside the tiny plywood box California law gives us. The reason we can’t procure a bigger box from Sacramento isn’t Republicans; it’s corporate Democrats.
We can’t expand rent control because of Costa-Hawkins. We can’t stop evictions because of the Ellis Act. The state eliminated redevelopment funds for affordable housing. State law requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. Prop. 13’s protection of commercial property starves public services. Health care costs rise because California won’t regulate insurance rates. We have a drought because the state won’t regulate agribusiness and rising sea levels — because the state won’t ban fracking or oil drilling.
Do you see a pattern?