https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/breed-veto-housing-legislation-
over-ride-vote-19368150.php

The battle over San Francisco housing policy took center stage at City
Hall on Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors overturned Mayor London
Breed�s veto of legislation that will impose housing development
restrictions on 15-20 blocks in historic areas of San Francisco.

The legislation was sponsored by Board of Supervisors President Aaron
Peskin, who is widely expected to run against Breed for mayor in November.
Peskin and Breed have recently traded barbs over how the city should
address the housing crisis, and Tuesday�s vote was the latest battle
between them over development.

It�s the first time that the Board of Supervisors has successfully
overturned a veto from Breed.

The law will limit the height and scale of developments in the northeast
waterfront and Jackson Square, areas within Peskin�s district. Peskin
pushed the legislation as a response to a proposed 200-foot tall housing
project at 1088 Sansome St. backed by billionaire investor Michael Moritz.
The project would have taken advantage of recent changes that loosen some
development rules across the city.

The legislation initially passed 8-3, as did the vote held on Tuesday, the
minimum number of votes needed to override a veto. It previously passed
the Planning Commission with unanimous support, including approval from
four of the mayor�s appointees.

The veto override is a victory for Peskin, who told the Chronicle in
January that the project highlights �unintended and unanticipated
consequences� of a deal he struck with Breed last summer to lower the
share of affordable units that market-rate developers are required to
include in new developments.

Breed has vetoed only six pieces of legislation as mayor, including
housing legislation from the board in 2022 that would have allowed
fourplexes in all city neighborhoods, but that Breed argued would actually
hurt housing production. The board did not overturn that veto.

Peskin pushed back Tuesday on the idea that the legislation is �anti-
housing.�

�It�s responsible planning,� Peskin said. �It�s the right thing to do for
two of the city�s historic districts that date to the Gold Rush and does
not prevent housing. � This is well considered and supported by planning
experts.�

He said he was troubled that there was no interaction between the mayor�s
office and the board before the mayor�s veto.

�This is not a policy discussion, it�s a political discussion, and it�s
very unfortunate,� he said.

But Breed called the veto a �setback� in the city�s work to build more
housing, and she pledged in a statement to �not let this be the first step
down the path back towards being a city of �no.� �

�We will not move backward,� she said. �Our lack of housing is at the root
of so many challenges in San Francisco and California. Poverty,
homelessness, economic revitalization, climate change. � This is why I�m
standing for San Francisco to be a city of yes on housing.�

The mayor argues the legislation will likely make it more difficult for
San Francisco to build more homes as San Francisco struggles to reach its
state-mandated goal of permitting 82,000 homes by 2031. Very few new
housing developments are under construction in the city due to high
borrowing rates, high labor costs and slow approvals.

Peskin�s legislation has incensed both Breed and state Sen. Scott Wiener,
D-San Francisco, who has championed laws that make it easier for
developers to build all kinds of housing and that have garnered wide
support from the Legislature. On Tuesday, Wiener called the veto override
a �black eye for San Francisco.�

�San Francisco is grappling with a debilitating housing crisis, pushing
middle-income and working-class people out of our city,� Wiener said. �We
need to make it easier to build new homes, not harder. We need to zone for
more housing, not less. Today�s vote by the Board of Supervisors sends
exactly the wrong message on housing. It�s deeply disappointing.�

The fight over housing policy will likely only intensify in the months
leading to the mayoral election.

Breed in early March slammed Peskin over housing policy at a rally on the
steps of City Hall, accusing him of trying to �destroy housing production�
by scaling back existing laws that would allow developers to build denser
projects.

�I�m sick of his shenanigans,� she told a crowd of supporters.

Peskin in turn said the fact that Breed and her supporters are �choosing
to spend their energy tearing down good city policy� instead of getting
out the vote for Prop. A, a $300 million affordable-housing bond that
narrowly passed, �is another example of their inability to work toward
real affordable-housing solutions.�

Former Mayor Art Agnos pushed back on YIMBY groups who argue the bill is
anti-housing, saying the city is under attack by �a new radicalism� in a
San Francisco Examiner opinion piece.

�It�s a well-funded and dangerous �my way or the highway� rhetoric that
slams any attempt at smart neighborhood planning as �anti-housing,� �
Agnos said. �The new radical talking points corrupt the reality that
President Peskin�s commonsense approach allows developers to build higher
and bigger while protecting our precious and irreplaceable historical
resources on our shared public waterfront.�

Supervisors Myrna Melgar, Matt Dorsey and Joel Engardio were the only
votes against the legislation and the override. Heading into Tuesday�s
vote, it was unclear whether Supervisor Catherine Stefani, a Breed ally,
would change her �reluctant� vote in favor of Peskin�s legislation.
Stefani, who is running for state Assembly, stuck to her prior vote
Tuesday.

�I have and always will support policies that comply with our ambitious
housing element, that�s why I continually lead the efforts to build
housing in District 2,� said Stefani, who is shepherding a bill through
committee now to plan for more density in the northeast waterfront while
preserving historic structures.

She said that bill �will enable housing projects to maximize density while
protecting the established historic districts already rich with community
culture.�

Dorsey said the legislation sets �a dangerous precedent� and �would
prevent us� from building more housing.

�There are many other neighborhoods in San Francisco that can lay claim to
a similarly legitimate argument for being historically significant,� he
said.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Chronicle that the debate over
Peskin�s legislation has been overly politicized.

�People are freaked out that Aaron Peskin is going to run for mayor,�
Mandelman said of Peskin�s expected candidacy. �They�re no longer looking
at the merits of anything. I think this is sort of all politics.�

He said Peskin was simply attempting to correct provisions in the law that
he included �unwittingly.�

�There was a mistake,� he said. �I�m inclined to let him fix that.�

Mandelman said the vote Tuesday is a harbinger of tough battles to come,
arguing that �it�s going to be harder� for the board and the mayor to
collaborate going forward because of the upcoming election.

Reach Aldo Toledo: Aldo.Toledo@sfchronicle.com

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