✏️ School board recall results
2.16.22
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Hey there, San Francisco.
Happy Wednesday.
It was a busy night last night, and the election results are in.
So let’s get right into it…
Top story: Recall results and what’s next
Just minutes after the city released initial numbers for the school board recall and wide margins were evident, the Chronicle projected that board members Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Moliga would be ousted.
And, by the end of the night, the landslide remained.
78.5% voted to recall Alison Collins
74.9% voted to recall Gabriela Lopez
And, 72% voted to recall Faauuga Moliga
As one person put it: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen 80% of San Franciscans agree on anything until now. Wow.”
On Twitter, some, many of whom live outside of the city, characterized the recall results as “the product of pent up frustration among voters with COVID rules and other measures born of the city’s liberal-leaning policies,” the Chronicle wrote.
Others opposed those takes.
“Are people outside the Bay Area seriously hearing a ‘Even liberal San Francisco is done with these COVID precautions’ spin from the school-board recall?” local tech editor Jeremy Owens wrote. “Because that is seriously not what this recall was about - it is very much about THAT board being bad at its ENTIRE job.”
Either way, Collins, Lopez, and Moliga will officially leave their posts sometime in early March, and they will be replaced by three board members appointed by Mayor London Breed.
Those appointees will need to run in the upcoming November election should they want to keep their positions past January 2023, when the terms for the three recalled board members were set to expire.
Breed said on Wednesday that she hasn’t started interviewing replacement candidates. She did say that in the coming months, “the school district has a lot of work to do.”
Haney and Campos move on
Perhaps overshadowed by the school board recall was the race to fill the State Assembly seat for District 17, which encompasses the eastern side of the city.
In that election:
Matt Haney received 37.4% of the vote
David Campos received 35.5%
Bilal Mahmood, 21.2%
And, Thea Selby, 6%
Since no candidate received at least 50% of the vote, a runoff election will now take place on April 19 between the top two vote-getters, Haney and Campos.
“I believe that when the votes are cast on April 19, the voters of the 17th assembly district will say we want someone who is beholden to the voters and not the corporations,” Campos told supporters at the Eagle Bar on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, Haney said he congratulated Mahmood and Selby on their “strong campaigns.”
“They both brought a focus on policy solutions and big ideas,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to learn from them, work together and partner closely.”
Quick bits: Bite-sized news stories
✏️ In June, San Francisco voters will decide whether to change local recall rules, potentially extending the time an official needs to be in office before recall petitions can be initiated against them and prohibiting recalls if they are to be held within a year of the regularly scheduled election. (Chronicle)
👀 On Tuesday afternoon, a parking lot shooting at the Market Street Safeway left two people injured. (Bay Area Reporter)
🏳️🌈 After a two-year hiatus, organizers say San Francisco’s Pride parade will be back in June. (Datebook)
What else I’m reading: Links to browse
No Fooling! The Van Ness Rapid Transit Project Will Be Completed April 1 (SFist)
Teachers Union Delivers 'No Layoffs' Valentines To City College Officials (Ingleside Light)
Meet the Tiger Floats of the 2022 SF Lunar New Year Festival and Parade (SFist)
And finally… Sky Tram!
Hat tip to The Bold Italic for unearthing this incredible history lesson.
Did you know that between the Cliff House and Point Lobos (near the former Sutro Baths) there used to be a… Sky Tram?
Apparently, the one-way trip took four minutes to complete and passengers were greeted on Point Lobos by a manmade waterfall.
It only ran from 1955 to 1961, and The Bold Italic notes its short tenure likely resulted from “fog, wind, and perhaps general boredom.”
Still, who knew?!
That’s all for today! Thanks so much for reading y’all and see you back here tomorrow. - Nick B.
The things I would give for that entire Safeway corner to be flattened and rebuilt in the style of the Whole Foods across the street. 500 people could live on that lot