Is Ed Lee's Unorthodox Path To Becoming Mayor Of San Francisco?

Mayor Ed Lee’s somewhat unorthodox path to becoming mayor of San Francisco is an interesting case study into the convoluted politics of the city, and how the factors of race and wealth play into determining who runs San Francisco. The first item that stands out in Mayor Lee’s bio, is that he had never won (or participated) in an election until his re-election until 2011. Mayor Lee’s image among the San Francisco voters is somewhat of a bureaucrat, which becomes clear with even a glance at his biography. Ed Lee transitioned from being an attorney for 10 years, to filling a plethora of San Francisco city positions, as varied as Director of the Human Rights Commission, to Director of City Purchasing, and finally to City Administrator. After

While San Francisco has a convoluted ranked-choice system allowing for instant runoffs, the result was not too much in doubt, with Lee beating progressive candidate John Avalos by nearly 30,000 votes. Of course, much of this was due to high Asian-American turnout, with Rose Pak estimated that “80% of Asian-Americans would vote for Lee”. Shortly after this Mayor Lee began to transform from the boring bureaucrat that he was mostly known for. To explain this change, one must take a look at the demographic changes currently roiling San Francisco. Rose Pak’s official title is “Consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce”, essentially meaning that she is an advocate for Chinese-Owned businesses, which tend to be more blue-collar, who end up living in lower-income areas, such as Chinatown. This comes in stark contrast to a competing chamber of commerce, called sf.citi, run by billionaire investor Ron Conway. As one might guess, sf.citi represents the interests of the technology industry in San Francisco. With their mostly wealthy, white backers, it is clear that the two interests are on a natural collision course. Mr. Conway’s first forays into San Francisco politics were to eradicate homelessness, not through decreasing housing costs, or opening more shelters, but by banning sitting and lying on city streets, as well as “aggressive panhandling”. During Mayor Lee’s

He was chosen by Rose Pak in order to benefit her voting bloc, which consisted of mostly lower-income Asian-Americans. Yet much like the city he presides over, he has shifted from a progressive mayor of the lower-income, to a mayor eager to draw business to the city, albeit at a high cost. Mayor Lee’s acquiesce to the technology industry has thus proved to be a double-edged sword. While San Francisco revenues have skyrocketed, the unemployment rate has dropped to a miniscule 3.6%, and homicides have fallen (most likely because the homicides in San Francisco take place in a few select neighborhoods, which have all undergone large amounts of gentrification), one must ask at what cost this prosperity comes. The chief criticism comes in the housing market-the median rent has increased by $1630 since 2011, a jump that has forced a significant amount out of the city. In order to combat this, Mayor Lee selected a goal of building an additional 30,000 housing units, by 2020. In order to build these, he put a measure on the ballot authorizing the city to issue up to $310 million in bonds, to be put towards affordable housing. However, it is up for debate how much of a dent the bond can make in the severe housing crisis facing the city, with many city politicians saying that it is simply not large enough to improve the housing shortage facing the