Chris Daly

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Supervisor Chris Daly
Supervisor Chris Daly

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, Treasure & Yerba Buena islands 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.[1] The Daly family lives on Stevenson Street in District 6.[2]

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[edit] Background

Daly grew up in Bowie, MD and then Gaithersburg, MD outside Washington, D.C. His father was a federal employee and consultant, and his mother an accountant.[3] Daly moved to San Francisco in 1993, having left Duke University in favor of a career in community organizing. He worked for the NGO "Empty the Shelters" in Philadelphia and in San Francisco, where he entered the world of politics as a housing rights advocate. He was a co-founder of the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, a community group dedicated to fighting the displacement of tenants, artists and poor people in the Mission District caused by gentrification.

[edit] Political career

Daly was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in a run-off election in December 2000, when San Francisco returned to district elections for Supervisor. He was re-elected in 2002 and 2006. In these elections, Daly received 8,472, 6,642 and 8,968 votes respectively.[4][5][6]

[edit] Housing and Homelessness

Daly's legislative record has been focused primarily on housing development 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. Most recently, 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.[7]

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.[8] After the landmark State Army building was purchased by ponographic film developers, Daly was criticized for blocking housing developments in the building and rezoning the area around the armory to keep it from being built up.[9]

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.[10] The ballot proposition won with 52 percent of the vote.

[edit] Controversial Demeanor

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Daly is "either a hothead or a passionate advocate -- depending on whose side you are on."[11] 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."[12] 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).[13] 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 the room.[14] In 2002, Daly was arrested after a confrontation with police over a land use dispute concerning Hastings Law School; no charges were filed.[15]

In 2003, serving as acting mayor 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."[16] The custom of assigning the acting mayor position to supervisors on a round-robin basis was discontinued after Daly's actions.

[edit] Question Time with the Mayor

In November 2006, Daly placed a non-binding Declaration of Policy, Proposition I, on the ballot requiring the mayor appear at a monthly meeting of the Board of Supervisors to answers questions from the Board of Supervisors. Daly's initial proposal was modeled after Question Time in the British Parliament. Voters approved the Declaration of Policy with 56 percent of the vote, but Newsom has declined to appear at a meeting. Instead Newsom has held town hall meetings in different San Francisco neighborhoods.

[edit] Elimination of the 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."[17]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Editors (March 11, 2005) "Interview: Mrs. Chris Daly!!!." SFist.
  2. ^ City and County of San Francisco, [1]. SFGOV.org.
  3. ^ Gordon, Rachel (January 23, 2001) "A Chance to Act: After leading protests at City Hall, S.F.'s junior supervisor gets an inside look." San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. ^ City and County of San Francisco, election results 2000. SFGOV.org.
  5. ^ City and County of San Francisco, election results 2002. SFGOV.org.
  6. ^ City and County of San Francisco, election results 2006. SFGOV.org.
  7. ^ Smith, Matt (August 31, 2005) "The Daly Deal: How the sordid extraction of $50 million from Rincon Hill developers helps Chris Daly, city bureaucrats, and Gavin Newsom -- and hurts everyone else in San Francisco." SF Weekly.
  8. ^ Smith, Matt (February 28, 2001) "A Primer on Housing." SF Weekly.
  9. ^ Garcia, Ken (January 26, 2007) In upside-down S.F., porn is OK in the Mission, but housing isn’t. San Francisco Examiner.
  10. ^ Eviction Disclosure Ordinance: Propositon B.
  11. ^ Gordon, Rachel (November 24, 2004) "Daly scolded -- but not censured: Supervisors reject formal action over his use of profanity. San Francisco Chronicle.
  12. ^ Smith, Matt (February 9, 2005) Cuss and Conquer: A more polite, nuanced approach might prove more effective for Supervisor Chris Daly. Or not. SF Weekly.
  13. ^ Smith, Matt. Ibid
  14. ^ Smith, Matt. Ibid
  15. ^ Koopman, John (June 8, 2002) "Supervisor clashes with S.F. police." San Francisco Chronicle.
  16. ^ Gordon, Rachel (November 13, 2003) "Brown cries political foul: He calls Daly's move to make PUC appointments unethical." San Francisco Chronicle."
  17. ^ Editors (September 20, 2006) "SF Supes Want to Seize Power from Police Chief." KCBS online.

[edit] External links


San Francisco Board of Supervisors
McGoldrick • Alioto-Pier • Peskin • Jew • Mirkarimi • Daly • Elsbernd • Dufty • Ammiano • Maxwell • Sandoval
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