See how they run: Aaron Peskin tries to remember all the acronyms

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Mission Local is publishing a daily campaign dispatch for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Aaron Peskin. Read earlier dispatches here.

On a brisk Monday, Board President Aaron Peskin walked through the heavy brass doors of City Hall and out onto Van Ness. He had a rally to get to. 

One quirk of leaving the City Hall building is this: If you are running for city office, as Peskin is, City Hall is a no-campaigning zone. If he wants to stay on the straight and narrow, Peskin can’t so much as answer a text from campaign staff while he’s inside the marble halls. Sometimes when he’s on break, he’ll go out to his car and make a few phone calls, but that’s tricky — people tend to spot him along the way, and ask him to fix something for them. 

“Like, look,” said Peskin. “There’s a pile of trash.” He pointed at an overflowing blue bin at the corner of Polk and McAllister streets, surrounded by an assortment of stained pillows. “Someone at the courthouse forgot to bring their tote in.” 

Right now, Peskin was technically on the job, because he was out to gather support for the  legislation he would introduce the following day at the Board of Supervisors. It would amend the City Charter to expand funding for the city’s SOS (Senior Operating Subsidy) program, which helps subsidize rents for seniors living in affordable housing. If the proposed amendment makes the ballot and is approved by voters in the November election, the expansion would ultimately provide $33 million to support a few thousand seniors compared to the $4 million now used to support a few hundred. 

This was at the request of nearly every housing organization that worked with senior citizens in the city. As it happens, there are a lot of these organizations. 

“YCD,” said Peskin, thoughtfully, to legislative aide Calvin Yan, as the two kept walking, briskly, in the direction of 851 Van Ness Ave. “CCDC. CTA.” Yan nodded. “YCD,” said Peskin, more quickly this time. “CCDC. CTA … ” They kept walking. 

Up ahead, at 851 Van Ness Ave., a woman held a door open, urgently waving them inside. She steered them into an empty office. Outside the office door was a sunlit courtyard packed with senior citizens sitting on folding chairs, chattering with each other cheerfully, while a different crowd — mostly young, and clad in the T-shirts of various housing nonprofits — bustled around. Peskin slipped into the courtyard and began to mingle, shaking hands and hugging grandmas.

At a podium set up in front of the crowd, a speaker was trying to namecheck all the organizations present. “Community Tenants Association!” they said. People in the crowd began to applaud. “SDA! Senior Disability Action, come on up!” More applause. San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition! Self-Help for the Elderly, come on up!” Long pause. “I know there are other organizations here who are a part of our campaign … Oh! TNDC! Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation!” Applause. “MEDA! Mission Economic Development Association! Interesting! All right. Any other organizations? Okay, we’re going to move onto our program, stay with us … stay with us … Oh! SRO Families! Oh my goodness!” More applause.

Julien Ball, housing case manager at the Bill Sorro Housing Program, stepped up to the podium. When he helps families apply for apartments that are set aside for low-income residents, he said, many don’t have enough income to pay even rents that are set at below-market rates. Rent for many affordable housing units is $1,300 per month at the low end, while federal benefits often pay far less than that per month. “We’re leaving 66,000 households out in the cold, who cannot afford even the affordable housing that we have,” said Ball. 

A few more speakers came up and told stories of seniors waiting for years, hoping for the chance to get into affordable housing that they could actually afford. Then, it was Peskin’s turn. “I want to salute the leadership that has come from all of the people in front of me next to me,” he said, as interpreters translated his speech into Spanish and Cantonese. “From YCD, from CCDC, from CTA, from BiSHoP, from the SRO Collaborative, from so many organizations. Faith in Action. Self Help for the Elderly, and so many more. A just society takes care of our grandmamas and grandpapas,” he continued. “Today is the beginning of a movement, that you all have led, to actually move us in the right direction with an additional 2,100 units. It is not enough, but it is a model of what we can do when we are committed. We’ve got a long way to go. One hundred and sixty-nine days until election day. And I need your help.” 

Afterward, Peskin talked to a cluster of reporters. One of them asked why affordable-housing projects couldn’t just charge less rent to tenants. They can’t afford it, answered Peskin. He heard from housing nonprofits that they need to charge at least 60 percent of area median income to break even. They need subsidies for everyone they charge less than that. 

Another asked if the city could really afford this, given the looming budget deficit. “It is the right policy, and economically a good policy, to help seniors age in place,” said Peskin. But, he added, the cost — $8.3 million, increasing every year until it topped off at $33 million — is basically a rounding error in a budget of $14 billion. “I was able to find cost savings last month, where we were able to renegotiate a lease and save $20 million,” said Peskin. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much money to make 2,000 people able to age in place.” 

“Thank you, everyone!” a woman shouted to the crowd as they assembled for one last photo. “We’re going to do this one more time before we leave. WHAT DO WE WANT?” 

“AFFORDABLE HOUSING!” shouted the crowd, dutifully. 

“WHEN DO WE WANT IT?” 

“NOW!”

“Okay!” she continued. “We are going to vote for this measure in the November election, and then we will all vote for Aaron, right?”  

At this point, the wisdom of holding a rally off site instead of, say, in the City Hall rotunda, becomes extremely clear. For Peskin — as well as Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Ahsha Safaí — any legislation they introduce or even support between now and the election inescapably becomes a part of their mayoral campaign. This is why Breed’s restructuring of the now $390 million Healthy, Safe and Vibrant San Francisco Bond from something exclusively public health-focused to include a wider range of projects that might be popular with a wider array of voters was viewed with no small amount of suspicion. 

The crowd responded with a faint smattering of applause. She repeated the message in Cantonese, to an even more muted response. This may be because name recognition for Peskin among Chinese seniors is not great. According to his campaign staff, he’s more commonly known as “the bearded one”— which they’ve tried to adapt to in prior races by including a line drawing of Peskin’s face on campaign materials. 

Or, it may be that Peskin has a whole lot more campaigning to do. He definitely has more legislating ahead. He shook a few more hands, and with that, he and Yan headed back to the office, and the Land Use and Transportation Committee.