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ENVIRONMENTAL & RACIAL JUSTICE
Green Gentrification: Who Actually Benefits? Greenspaces in new developments can improve health and the environment, but they affect communities differently. | 6 SFPUBLICPRESS.ORG ⢠$1.00
WINTER 2019 ⢠ISSUE 26
PROPOSITION B
PROPOSITION C
S.F. Expanding Digital Privacy Protections Is weaker government transparency a potential trade-off? By Andrew Stelzer // Public Press
Iâ Photo by Michael Winter // Public Press
New regulations could compel firms like Skip to provide services to San Francisco customers without first collecting their data.
n the wake of the Cambridge AnalyticaFacebook scandal, and a steady barrage of new data breaches, the public has been clamoring for tighter regulation of their personal information. At the heart of the tech industry, Bay Area residents are often the guinea pigs for startups, with unknown and unpredictable side effects. On Nov. 6, San Francisco voters approved what supporters say will be the toughest data-protection policy of any U.S. city, even going beyond Californiaâs landmark Consumer Privacy Act.
Proposition B, which passed with 57 percent of the vote, will cover data collected both by government agencies and by any private entity doing business with the city â from Facebook, Google and Uber, all the way down to a bike shop, toilet-paper supplier or street vendor. The city administrator will draft the policy in the next few months, which will then be shaped by input from the Board of Supervisors, the public, privacy advocates, and major technology and business interests. The implementing legislation must be PROP B continued on Page 4
Homelessness Aid May Exceed City Projections Voter-approved business-tax increase could greatly expand housing and services By Noah Arroyo // Public Press
WHO SURVEILS THOSE WHO
SURVEIL US?
I
n the lead-up to the November election, arguments about San Franciscoâs Proposition C hinged on a few key numbers, such as homeless people who would be helped and projected long-term job losses resulting from a tax increase on the cityâs largest businesses. Seemingly conflicting figures made it difficult for voters to assess potential costs and benefits of the measure, which promised to roughly double current spending on housing, SOLVING shelters, health care HOMELESSNESS and social services to prevent homelessness. In the end, the measure passed easily, with 61 percent of the votes â but not enough to prevent it from being sucked into a legal challenge over whether such tax hikes need two-thirds approval. The day after the election, City Controller Ben Rosenfield said his office would collect the new revenue but not allow it to be spent until courts settle the legality of the homelessness levy and a similar tax increase voters approved in June. The city attorney argues that this type of tax measure needs only a simple majority to pass. But the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and commercial property owners have sued to keep the city from implementing the June measure, which also did not receive two-thirds voter approval. If Proposition C stands, it would create enough tax revenue to provide housing and social services in more than 100,000 instances over the next decade, based on a
Public Press analysis of internal government documents, as well as interviews with policy experts and a chief architect of the measure. The research, published the day before the election, yielded three key findings: â˘â˘City officials and Jennifer Friedenbach, who co-authored the ballot measure, calculated its potential impact by dividing the projected tax revenue by the average cost per client for various PROP C continued on Page 10
Photo by Judith Calson // Public Press
The new funds could pay for additional temporary shelter beds, giving residents of tent encampments somewhere to go.
Veritas, S.F.âs Largest Landlord, Sued Over Alleged Efforts to Evict Tenants By Liza Veale // Public Press
S
everal hundred sharply dressed real estate professionals made their way down a hall of the Fairmont hotel from a Champagne reception to an award ceremony in late September that celebrated Yat-Pang Au, CEO of Veritas Investments Inc., the largest residential and commercial landlord in San Francisco. The Northern California real estate community bestows its âSpirit of Life Awardâ during an annual fundraiser for its philanthropic beneficiary, the cancer researchLandlords and-treatment center vs. City of Hope. Veritas Renters donated $25,000 in 2018. But before the guests were seated and Au received his accolade, about 25 protesters filtered through a side door to pay their own tribute to Au: They brandished a âSpirit of Greed, Eviction and Harassmentâ trophy while
HOUSING
SOLUTIONS
How Oakland Privacy Advocates Have Pushed Back on Snooping Author Cyrus Farivar says communities can hold tech, government accountable for overreach. The Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission checks agencies using surveillance technology. | 3 Photos by Sharon Wickham // Public Press
singing their pointed rendition of âKilling Me Softly,â the 1970s hit song by Roberta Flack. Guests took in the scene awkwardly, some trying not to laugh, before security shepherded the protesters out of the Nob Hill landmark that has hosted notable business, social and political events since 1907. âVeritas is the biggest example of a kind of real estate business that depends on harassment and eviction in order to be profitable,â said Brad Hirn, of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, one of the organizers of the action. Hirn said that the statewide Proposition 10, which sought to repeal state restrictions in the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, represented the first step in undermining what he characterized as the companyâs business model. âThe incentive to pressure tenants to leave is created by âvacancy decontrol,ââ said Hirn, referring to the statutes that allow landlords to charge much higher, market-rate rents in regulated buildVERITAS continued on Page 9
EDUCATION
MORE HOUSING COVERAGE
YOUTHS SPEAK UP: Students take charge to question city school board candidates. | 5
SHAKY FOUNDATION? Claims about rent control derived from incomplete research. | 10
RETOOLING: As charters make inroads into traditional public schools,
BIG MONEY REDUX: Foes of S.F. homelessness-aid tax funded 2016 tent ban. | 11
debate intensifies over equality and measures of success. | 8
POLICING THE STREETS: Business districts accused of harassing homeless. | 12
BAYVIEW SQUEEZE: New KIPP charter shares space inside Malcolm X Academy. | 8
FOOD, NOT RULES: New state law complicates efforts to freely feed the hungry. | 12
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