SF Election Results, from Affordable Housing to Close DA Race
On Tuesday, voters in San Francisco headed to the polls. They decided the fate of several ballot measures, including Proposition C, which would have overturned a citywide ban on selling or distributing e-cigarettes. Two housing measures appear headed for victory, including a $600 million affordable housing bond championed by Mayor London Breed. Meanwhile, there’s still no victor in the close contest to elect San Francisco’s next top prosecutor. Thousands of vote-by-mail ballots still remain to be counted. The race between interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus and Deputy Public Defender Chesa Boudin remains too close to call.
Guests:
- Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local
- Erika Aguilar, KQED senior editor, housing affordability desk
Dozens of Lawmakers Want to Turn PG&E Into Customer-Owned Utility
On Monday, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo led a coalition of mayors and supervisors in urging the California Public Utilities Commission to convert bankrupt utility PG&E into a customer-owned cooperative. More than two dozen lawmakers from Northern and Central California have signed on to the effort, representing roughly 5 million PG&E ratepayers. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom met with PG&E CEO Bill Johnson in Sacramento. Last Friday, the governor announced the appointment of a new statewide energy czar, Ana Matosantos, and said the state could take over PG&E if it doesn’t emerge from bankruptcy by the start of next year’s wildfire season.
Guest:
- Marisa Lagos, KQED politics and government correspondent
- Loretta Lynch, California Public Utilities Commission former president
“Who Owns Silicon Valley?”
A yearlong collaboration between KQED, The Mercury News, NBC Bay Area and other Bay Area news outlets investigated top landowners in Silicon Valley and their role in an affordable housing crisis that’s led to sky-high rents and hours-long commutes for many workers. The team of reporters working on the series found that Stanford University’s property holdings are worth nearly $20 billion, more than Google, Apple and Intel combined. Also this week, Apple announced it would commit $2.5 billion to combat the housing crisis, with CEO Tim Cook saying in a statement announcing the donation that the tech giant was “committed to being part of the solution.” The company joins Google and Facebook, which have also recently pledged $1 billion each to build more affordable housing and fight homelessness.