When I was in high school, both of my older brothers played soccer. To kill time after school while they practiced, I became the “soccer manager.” This was a strange title, because I didn’t “manage” anything or anyone. All I did was fill Gatorade bottles and make sure the equipment was on the bus. This experience reminds me of the presidency of the Board of Supervisors. Because being the president of the board comes with about as much authority as being the soccer manager. Read More

With nude protests at City Hall and a steady stream of consumer-product bans, it’s not a stretch to say that San Francisco’s politics are unconventional. But this year’s supervisorial races added a new chapter — with a moderate Democrat and former Willie Brown protege winning one of The City’s most leftist districts, and a progressive candidate narrowly leading the most conservative district. London Breed pulled off a shocker last week when she beat out a cavalcade of progressives in District 5, which includes the Fillmore, Western Addition and the former hippie haven of Haight-Ashbury. In a race that pitted a bevy of left-leaning politicians against each other in a contest to determine who was a “true progressive,” none of them will end up on the 11-member board. Read More

The long legal battle over removing suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi will finally reach some kind of conclusion Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors, as its 11 members decide whether the former supervisor committed official misconduct surrounding an incident in which he bruised his wife’s arm last winter. Read More

I take exception to The San Francisco Examiner article describing the small opposition to Proposition B as “powerful foes” (“Parks bond faces powerful foes,” Sunday). Aaron Peskin and Quentin Kopp are two former supervisors who carry no constituency behind them, but in fact are upset over individual decisions made by the Recreation and Park Department in its effort to serve diverse communities.   Read More