Ella Yitzhaki has avidly followed politics since she was 10. She can discuss the platforms of the myriad Democratic presidential candidates. She knows the issues she cares most about are immigration reform, gun control and health care.

In words perhaps never uttered by another teenager, she said she dreams of becoming the next Jon Favreau or David Axelrod, President Obama’s speechwriter and chief campaign strategist, respectively.

But despite all this, she won’t be able to help select the candidate that Democrats will run against President Trump in November 2020. That’s because she won’t be 18 on March 3 when California holds its primary election. She’ll turn 18 in July and will be able to vote for the first time in the presidential general election, which she considers being able to participate halfway.

The 17-year-old Lowell High senior has become a key advocate for a California constitutional amendment which would give 17-year-olds the right to vote in primaries as long as they’ll be 18 by the time the general election rolls around.

“It’s really just that we want a fair vote, a just vote and a full vote,” Yitzhaki said. “I’m trying to make California a state that allows all those in limbo to not be in that limbo anymore.”

She has testified in Sacramento about the amendment’s importance and helped its key backer in the state legislature, Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), advocate for its passage. The state assembly passed it in August, and it will head to the state Senate early next year. It would then need to be approved by state voters.

Mullin has long backed the proposal, as did his dad, Gene Mullin, a former high school civics teacher, when he served in the state Assembly in the early 2000s. The younger Mullin counts 23 other states plus the District of Columbia that allow 17-year-olds the right to vote in primaries, but California lags behind.

“Studies have shown that voting is habit-forming, and it is a habit worth encouraging,” Kevin Mullin has said. “If a voter is eligible to vote in a general election, why wouldn’t we want to allow them to also have a say in who they will be voting for in that election?”

Yitzhaki said she has heard some ridiculous arguments against the idea — including that 17-year-olds don’t own homes and don’t pay taxes. The notion only property owners should be able to vote is incredibly old school, and Yitzhaki pointed out 17-year-olds do pay taxes including sales taxes and income taxes if they have part-time jobs.

She said that despite some Republicans saying advocates of the change just want to get more Democrats in the voting pool, the issue really isn’t partisan and is just meant to expand civic engagement. Plenty of red states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries, she pointed out.

“It’s so funny to say California is behind South Carolina, Virginia and Ohio because we pride ourselves on being California, the Golden State, the greatest state in the country,” Yitzhaki said. “I hold my state to a higher standard.”

To hear my entire interview with Yitzhaki about this subject, as well as what it’s like to grow up in San Francisco, listen to the latest episode of our podcast, San Francisco City Insider, at sfchronicle.com/insider.

In August I told you about the long-stalled effort to demolish the notorious McDonald’s at Haight and Stanyan streets to prepare for the construction of affordable housing.

The city bought the blighted property, which long attracted violent crime and drug deals, in April 2018 for $15.5 million and plans to build 100% affordable housing on it.

The McDonald’s was supposed to be demolished quickly, but that didn’t happen. Max Barnes, spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Housing, said in August the demolition was set for shortly after Labor Day, but that didn’t happen either.

The restaurant is still standing, covered in sheets of plastic because asbestos was found inside. The entire site will be closed to the public through Nov. 22 to allow environmental remediation to proceed. Demolition will still happen — eventually. Apparently, PG&E’s work to turn power off at the site for demolition is also slowing things down.

Meanwhile, the battle over whether to activate the site while development plans proceed continues. The Mayor’s Office of Housing had asked the community to come up with ways to enliven the space and got two solid proposals, its top choice being one centered on soccer fields, food trucks, an urban farm and an art garden. A separate proposal focused on providing homeless services, but would require financial support from the city.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing, despite asking for the proposals, then said never mind to both. Instead, it opted to wait for the outcome of the $600 million affordable housing bond in November. In theory, passage could speed the development of housing, meaning less time available at the property for an interim use.

Instead, the city turned the site into a free parking lot. But that, too, is off the table during the environmental remediation of the McDonald’s building. Merchants had been told the lot would be resurfaced and relined and available for the holiday season — but now they’ve been warned not to count on it.

Supervisor Vallie Brown said she’s open to an interim use of the site for 18 months to two years, the amount of time she thinks pre-development will take if the affordable housing bond passes.

“I would like to see it activated, absolutely,” she said, adding demolition of the restaurant is taking longer than she hoped. “It’s taking a long time. ... I’m hoping to get that out of there as soon as possible.”

When it comes to sloth-like City Hall, “as soon as possible” means pretty much nothing.

One of my favorite parts of being a Chronicle columnist is getting to participate in fun events around town. Last week I got to judge the 55th annual cable car bell ringing contest in Union Square, one of those days that reminds you why this city is still magical despite all its obvious flaws.

Congratulations to Byron Cobb, the defending champ and last week’s winner. He’s now won the contest eight times and is closing in on Carl Payne, who holds the record of 10 wins. Payne even has a big gold ring that looks like the Giants’ World Series rings, with a cable car on the front and the years he’s won listed on the side.

On Tuesday night, I’ll be at Manny’s at 3092 16th St. to host a “debate” between the four candidates for district attorney. It’s not really a debate, but four 15-minute one-on-one interviews. (For a recent podcast episode with the popular venue’s owner, Manny Yekutiel, visit sfchronicle.com/insider.)

The quizzing begins around 8 p.m. or whenever the Democratic presidential debate, which is being screened at Manny’s, concludes. So who knows. It could begin at midnight.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf Instagram: @heatherknightsf