Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.
As San Francisco lags on its goal of building 82,000 new homes by 2031, more than half of those affordable, many disagree over what that should look like in practice.
In 1999, voters decided that several parcels of land — newly available from the Central Freeway demolition — were to be used as housing. But Parcel K, a quarter-acre site adjacent to Patricia’s Green park in Hayes Valley, hasn’t seen any progress on that front. Meanwhile, over the past 25 years, the neighborhood has rapidly gentrified.
The city leased Parcel K to [community theater] Proxy in 2009, and today, an outdoor gym and coffee and juice stands in shipping containers sit there. Occasionally, the plot of land serves as an outdoor cinema or performance space.
Now, some say we need to move forward with the stalled the affordable housing plan, while others say its time has past.
This week’s question is: What should we do with Parcel K?
We are also welcoming a new candidate, Scotty Jacobs, this week.
Note: I will be at Mercury Cafe, 201 Octavia St, on Thursday, June 13 at 5:30 p.m. Come say hi and share your thoughts about District 5.
Bilal Mahmood
- Job: Founder of private and philanthropic organizations
- Age: 37
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since May 2023
- Transportation: Walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, master’s degree from University of Cambridge
- Languages: English, Urdu
District 5 can build affordable housing while also prioritizing vibrant, open community spaces for families already here.
This can mean building adjacent to Parcel K, or even building affordable housing on the parcel, but with an atrium on the ground floor to preserve the open space, as proposed by several Hayes Valley leaders.
This parcel has been debated for more than 20 years — it’s time we focus on progress over parcels. Let’s focus instead on where we can build affordable housing fastest, and put our attention to streamlining the permitting process which is the actual impediment to building more housing.
Endorsed by: San Francisco YIMBY, State Senator Scott Wiener and DCCC Chair Honey Mahogany.
Dean Preston
- Job: Incumbent, tenant attorney
- Age: 54
- Residency: Homeowner, in District 5 since 1996
- Transportation: Public transit
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College, juris doctor degree from University of California Law, San Francisco
- Languages: English
It’s a testament to the success of the interim use that many in the community want to continue it, but Parcel K, a city-owned paved lot across from a park (Patricia’s Green), was promised for affordable housing more than 20 years ago, and I’m committed to delivering affordable housing there.
We need homes for low-income and working-class people and their families, and that means taking advantage of every opportunity, particularly on city-owned property.
Endorsed by: Bernie Sanders, United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Tenants Union, National Union of Healthcare Workers.
Scotty Jacobs
- Job: Marketing
- Age: 30
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since November 2022, homeowner
- Transportation: Public bicycle
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Washington University
- Languages: English
We cannot afford to let ideology-led supervisors block high-quality construction projects any longer. Our current leaders have failed to make meaningful progress on the state-mandated 82,000 affordable housing units we need to build in San Francisco.
I am in favor of developing Parcel K into a mixed-use development; this project should have retail spaces for small businesses on the ground floor and a mix of market-rate and affordable housing above to ensure we continue to foster neighborhoods that reflect the texture of our city.
* Note: Jacobs refers to 82,000 affordable housing units, but this is the total mandated — about 46,000 units must be affordable.
Allen Jones
- Job: Activist
- Age: 67
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since November 2021
- Transportation: Wheelchair
- Education: Teaching Bible studies at juvenile hall
- Languages: English
I did not know of how Parcel K came to be until I researched it for this week’s question.
That said, I have traveled through this area for years and always found it to be a pleasant community hangout. The fact that “affordable housing” has been planned for this parcel for more than 20 years reminds me of why I am in the “use it or lose it” camp.
Parcel K and all city blueprint promises that seem to have collected more dust than a Donald Trump Bible will not get new life if I am elected.
Autumn Looijen
- Job: School board recall co-founder
- Age: 46
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since December 2020, landowner
- Transportation: Public transit
- Education: Bachelor’s from California Institute of Technology
- Languages: English
Parcel K should remain Hayes Valley’s town square. I wouldn’t build housing on a park, and I wouldn’t build housing on a community’s town square either.
Our needs have changed since Covid. Today you can live your entire life from inside your apartment — work remotely, order groceries online, and have your meals delivered. Loneliness is an epidemic. Town squares and parks are where we make friends and build community — and our neighborhoods need that more than ever.
Hayes Valley has not been shy about building affordable housing, and is happy to welcome more — but not on its town square.
Endorsed by: San Francisco police union.
Money raised and spent in the District 5 supervisor race
For
Money spent
Against
Dean Preston
$10,530
$301,458
$26,174
$156,791
Bilal Mahmood
$6,846
$63,387
Allen Jones
$0
Autumn Looijen
$0
$0
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
Money spent
For
Against
Dean Preston
$10,530
$301,458
$26,174
$156,791
Bilal Mahmood
$63,387
$6,846
Allen Jones
$0
Autumn Looijen
$0
$0
$100K
$200K
$300K
$400K
Source: San Francisco Ethics Commission, as of April 3, 2024. Chart by Junyao Yang.
The order of candidates is rotated each week. Answers are capped at 100 words, and may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the District 5 questions here, and the entire “Meet the Candidates” series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
Glad to see there are more contenders running. Preston was tone deaf to residents issues during the pandemic, he doesn’t not deserve a 2nd term.
Patricia’s Green should remain as a town square, the area has so little open space and Proxy has many positive uses and can be utilised by all in the neighborhood. Dean lives in Alamo square so he already has his own park, the rest of us in the valley value this open space.
While the open space of Parcle K is nice, its actual use is hella lame – overpriced juice for an outdoor gym on heat reflecting black top. Maybe a movie a few times a year. Not worth it.
Dean Preston: against building housing on a Neiman Marcus parking lot but in favor of it on a community space.
When there is such a dire need for affordable housing in San Francisco, the question as to whether to build it on a former parking lot owned by the City that’s currently occupied by a coffee stand—as if there’s no place in Hayes Valley to buy coffee–and an outdoor gym is a no brainer. Any person running for my supervisor who doesn’t unequivocally support building housing there certainly does not deserve my vote. While I do not always agree with Supervisor Preston in this case he is spot on. Glad to see there are two other candidates who are open to the idea too, though I’m left wondering where adjacent to Parcel K Mr. Mahmood would build the housing when there is no other site available? And contrary to what he said, except after the City unexpectedly put the project on hold last year, once San Francisco voters approved a referendum in 1999 to build affordable housing on Parcel K, there has been no debate or question about what the lot would be used for. He needs to brush up on his homework. As for being Hayes Valley’s “town square”, that distinction applies to Patricia’s Green across the street that like a real town square has some grass, is not covered with asphalt nor is privatized space occupied by a members-only outdoor gym. Otherwise I find it ironic and irresponsible that Ms. Looijen, who is endorsed by the SF Police Union and presumably a law and order advocate, would flagrantly violate the will of San Francisco voters who passed a referendum mandating housing on Parcel K 25 years ago. Perhaps she adheres to a Trumpian view that votes only count when we agree with the outcome.
Scott, Mahmood very explicitly states he supports building housing on Parcel K with a ground floor atrium. Please read more carefully instead of just showing up to complain about who you see as the “real” challenger to your guy.
Parcel K has been promised as affordable housing for more than 20 years, and as recently as last year, Mayor Breed was still promising to move the development along. It’s outrageous to speak of canceling it because of a temporary arrangement to use the empty lot for an outdoor gym and Ritual Coffee.
The need for affordable housing after 20 years of rising rents in Hayes Valley is not less, it’s greater. SF YIMBY should rescind its endorsement of the anti-housing Mahmood.