Chris Daly

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Chris Daly (born 1972) is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represents District 6, encompassing the Civic Center, Tenderloin and South of Market districts, as well as Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island and the northern half of the Mission District (known as Inner Mission). At age 28, he was elected to the Board in 2000, and re-elected in 2002 and 2006. In addition to being a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he represents San Francisco County on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors.

Daly is married to Sarah Low Daly, whom he met at the World Youth Festival in Havana, Cuba; they have a son, Jack. The Daly family lives in District 6.

Background

Daly grew up in Bowie, Maryland and Gaithersburg, Maryland, suburbs north of Washington, DC. His father was a federal employee and consultant, and his mother an accountant. Daly attended Duke University, where he was part of an effort to prevent the school from razing apartment buildings to build a parking lot. He moved to San Francisco in 1993, where he became involved in local politics through an advocacy group for the homeless called Mission Agenda. He was also a co-founder of the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, a community group dedicated to fighting displacement caused by gentrification.

Political career

Daly was first elected to office in 2000 in a near sweep for progressive candidates in supervisorial races. He ran on his credentials as a housing advocate in the Mission District. Like other progressives, he rode a backlash against the pro-development policies and patronage politics of then-Mayor Willie Brown. Daly was re-elected in 2002 and 2006. In the three elections, Daly received 8,472, 6,642 and 8,968 votes respectively.

Housing and homelessness

Daly's legislative record has been focused primarily on housing and homelessness. He has sponsored legislation to help low-income tenants of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residential hotels, many of whom are located in his district. Specifically, Daly instituted a Sprinkler Ordinance that requires all SRO hotels to have a sprinkler system installed in each room to prevent fires. He also helped pass policies making it illegal for hotel desk clerks to charge visitor fees and another that gave tenants the right to have private mailboxes for their units. Daly negotiated a planned development on Rincon Hill, where the developer was allowed to build above the zoning limit in exchanged for a higher percentage of affordable housing units and payments to Daly-approved charity groups operating in the supervisor's South of Market district.

In 2005, Daly negotiated a planned development on Rincon Hill, where the developer was allowed to build above the zoning limit in exchange for a higher percentage of affordable housing units and "community benefits" to non-profits in the area. Daly also cut a deal that allowed a large landlord demolish his apartment complex at Trinity Plaza - in exchange for 590 affordable units. This was the first time in California history that a housing developer voluntarily allowed new construction to be covered by rent control.

Critics of Daly's housing policies point to his attempt to ban tenancy-in-common apartment conversions, which they believe allow middle-income people to buy property in San Francisco. After the landmark State Armory building was purchased by pornographic film producers, Daly was criticized for blocking housing developments in the building and rezoning the area around the armory to keep it from being built up.

In June 2006, Daly sponsored the Eviction Disclosure Ordinance, which required real estate agents to inform buyers whether a tenant was evicted from a property they wish to purchase. The ballot proposition won with 52 percent of the vote.

In March 2007, Daly, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, introduced a proposal that would require the city to spend $28 million on low-income housing. In April 2007, Daly introduced another proposal that would also require the city to spend an additional $15 million in welfare for seniors and families. His critics argued that Daly's proposals come at a time that the city faced a projected deficit of $26 million for 2008, even after taking into account higher than expected tax revenues that created a budget surplus. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin dismissed Daly as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee in June, 2007, saying, "Fundamentally the budget process is about public policy and not about personality and it is important that we stay committed to having an outcome that ensures we have a budget that reflects the values of the people of San Francisco."

Controversial demeanor

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Daly is "either a hothead or a passionate advocate -- depending on whose side you are on."

Susan King, a leader of San Francisco's Green Party, said about Daly, "At the end of the day, I totally appreciate the fact that he is out there in the trenches. It's not 100 percent that I agree with him, but you know where his heart is and where his values are." Nathan Nayman, executive director of the Committee on Jobs, said, "Chris Daly has given the Board of Supervisors a black eye that refuses to heal. He's maniacal and he's been given to outbursts on a regular basis."

In 2001, Daly nearly came to blows with Mayor Willie Brown after Daly brought homeless activists to a meeting that was supposed to be "private." Asked to apologize, Daly replied, "I will apologize that I was lured into the mayor's finger-pointing politics." In November 2004, fellow supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier lodged a petition for censure against Daly after he told a landlord advocate to "fuck off" at a tenants' rights hearing (the petition failed by a vote of 8-2).

In 2001, Daly famously told his colleagues at a Supervisors' meeting, "I'm not feeling the love" when they rejected his proposals for balancing the budget, as he stormed out of the room. In 2002, Daly was arrested after a confrontation with police over a land use dispute concerning Hastings Law School, and reportedly told the arresting officer that he would have him fired; no charges were filed.

In 2003, serving as acting mayor -- normally a ceremonial duty -- while Mayor Willie Brown traveled to Tibet, Daly appointed two anti-Brown members to the Public Utilities Commission. After the City Attorney looked into its legality, one appointment was rescinded, but the other, that of Adam Werbach, stayed. Mayor Brown said that the appointment "clearly is a conspiracy to, in one manner or another, move away from the traditions, the rules, the customs and the conduct that has been the hallmark of this city, long before I became mayor of this city." But Daly said by way of explanation for his actions, "I'm an activist. I had an opportunity, and I took it." The custom of assigning the acting mayor position to supervisors on a round-robin basis was discontinued after Daly's actions.

In June 2007, after learning that an attempted budget maneuver would be unsuccessful, Daly, according to San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, "went ballistic—singling out fellow progressive leader Ross Mirkarimi for a tongue lashing so heated that fellow supervisors joked about calling in the SWAT team to cool things down".

On June 19, 2007, during a Board of Supervisors meeting, Daly suggested that Mayor Gavin Newsom uses cocaine and is a hypocrite for proposing public health cuts for substance abuse treatment for the poor. Daly stated that it was ironic of Newsom to propose cuts to a drug treatment program, "while the mayor of San Francisco artfully dodges every question about allegations of his own cocaine use." The Mayor's press secretary said Daly's remarks were "sleazy politics of personal destruction." The Board of Supervisors President stated that "Supervisor Daly's comments were conduct unbecoming and do not represent the position of the Board of Supervisors or its president." The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle recommended censuring Daly.

Progressive convention

In June 2007, Daly organized a "Progressive Convention" to find a candidate to run against popular Mayor Gavin Newsom. Daly stated that if the convention could not choose a candidate, he himself would run. But when the Progressive Convention did not nominate anyone, Daly declined to run himself, stating that he wanted to spend time with his family and that his wife was due to give birth shortly before the mayoral election.

Elimination of Police Chief post

Daly has suggested putting a charter amendment before voters in the November 2007 municipal election calling for elimination of the police chief post. Instead, the elected sheriff would oversee all law enforcement in the city and county of San Francisco. The suggestion arose from Daly's disagreements with Police Chief Heather Fong about the placement and use of police patrols. "If they keep the attacks on me, I’ll keep moving forward what I think is good public policy," Daly said. "What they fear is the end of their reign of terror in San Francisco."

Opposition to the Blue Angels

In June 2007, Daly announced that he was working with anti-war activist organizations such as Code Pink, Global Exchange and Veterans for Peace and considering introducing a proposal to ban the Blue Angels from flying during San Francisco's Fleet Week. Following significant negative public response and media inquiries, Daly announced that he had decided against making this proposal, blaming reporters at the San Francisco Examiner for his inability to move forward with this controversial proposal.

Removal from Budget Committee chairmanship

On June 15 2007, Board President Aaron Peskin removed Daly as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee shortly before it was to finalize the $6.06 billion budget proposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Citing Daly's bitter public conflict with the Mayor over budget priorities, Peskin stated that "Fundamentally the budget process is about public policy and not about personality and it is important that we stay committed to having an outcome that ensures we have a budget that reflects the values of the people of San Francisco."

Proposition to ban firearms

Daly was the chief sponsor of Proposition H which passed with a 58 percent majority in November 2006, and would have outlawed possession of handguns by city residents and forbidden the manufacture, sale and distribution of guns and ammunition in San Francisco. The Proposition was however never enforced, as the NRA sued on behalf of gun owners and sellers, and San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren ruled that the ban intruded on an area regulated by the state, thus invalidating the law.

Canceling of the San Francisco Grand Prix

Daly, along with Aaron Peskin, was instrumental in the canceling of the San Francisco Grand Prix, a world-class bicycle race held from 2001 to 2005, because of disagreements over the amount to be paid for traffic and crowd control and because the race's backers owed the city $89,924. In 2001 Mayor Willie Brown, who supported the race, allowed it's organizers to incur a $350,000 debt and later ordered city officials to forgive that debt. Critics alleged that the race was cancelled for political reasons including pressure from Peskin's constituents over parking issues. In Daly's personal blog, he referred to one of the chief backers of the race, S.F. banker Thom Weisel, as a "multi-millionaire Republican politico". The race, which was organized as a 1.HC event and in 2005 was part of the UCI America Tour attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators as well as world-class athletes such as seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and was regarded as one of the country's most challenging, particularly for it's famously difficult 18% grade Fillmore and Taylor street climbs. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who also supported the race, said it provided cultural, social, and economic benefit to San Francisco. A 2005 study commissioned by the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau found the Labor Day weekend race generated $10.2 million for city businesses that year.

External links

• Chris Daly at IMDb