Well things are getting interesting: It looks like David Campos has been abusing the powers of his office as District Supervisor to solicit donations for his cash-strapped Assembly campaign by holding new planning projects hostage.

Regular readers know I don’t exactly harbor a great love for my Supe. In fact, his brand represents everything I disdain about politics – grandstanding and finger pointing instead of responsible governing and legislating. His extreme rhetoric is well-calibrated to his angry base.

Campos has spent six years calling himself the champion of the people of the Mission, making himself out to be morally pure and above the so-called corrupting influence of lobbyists and corporate interests. Well, the recent approval of a new housing development in the Mission reveals that for the right donation (and not even a very big one at that), Campos is willing to turn his back on all those lefty values. Start your bidding!

490 South Van Ness

People who closely follow housing and planning issues in the Mission are probably familiar with the long, frustrating story of 490 South Van Ness. The proposed project is a 7-story condo building with 60 market-rate units, 12 below-market-rate units for lower-income residents, 99 bike parking spots, and ground floor retail. It would replace what is currently a disgusting, abandoned gas station lot that’s scattered with trash and junk.

From this:

To this:

In other words, it is exactly the type of construction the city needs right now: mixed-use and mixed-income housing near mass transit, that fills blighted, unused space.

Unfortunately, the project has been stuck in limbo for more than 4 years, during which the developers have performed extensive community outreach and on-site environmental cleanup. In August, just as it appeared ready to go through the approval process at the Planning Commission, Supervisor Campos suddenly requested a last-minute continuance. The stated reason from Campos’ office was that the developers had not consulted with some members of the PTA of a nearby elementary school. This is after the developers had completed many conversations with school officials, and commissioned traffic and shadow studies (yes, that’s a thing) showing the building would have no major impact on the safety and environment of the school children. People who actually have to live with this blight were furious about the unexpected delay.

Campos was granted the continuance largely because an army of protesters showed up to give public comment on the project. Most of these people were from a NIMBY activist group called the Plaza 16 Coalition that sprung up recently to oppose any major new developments in our neighborhood. Campos has been a major public supporter of the Plaza 16 Coalition, and they’ve returned the favor by appearing as a “pro-tenant, anti-gentrification” group for Campos’ Assembly campaign.

After yet another month of outreach by developers, Campos’ office AGAIN moved to delay the approval process. It was inexplicable. The developers had met with the school parents as Campos requested, but apparently he didn’t think they met with them enough? Naturally, the troops from Plaza 16 reappeared in full force to back up Campos’ demand.

Fast forward to October 2nd, where the Planning Commission took up the 490 South Van Ness Project once more. Surprisingly, there weren’t many objections save a few minor grumbles from neighbors about the location of the parking entrance. There were no declarations about gentrification or school children’s safety from Campos’ office, and weirdly all the Plaza 16 protestors failed to show up. As they could have done months earlier (if not for the delays), the Planning Commission unanimously approved the development.

It was a weirdly anti-climactic ending to a ridiculously long process (even by SF’s standards). Many, myself included, were glad the neighborhood would finally see some improvements and additional housing.

Follow the Money

Unfortunately, that isn’t where the story of 490 South Van Ness ends. Taking a look at Campos’ finance disclosures released last week, I noticed in September he had received a $4,100 donation (the maximum allowed for Assembly campaigns) from a group called Residential Builders of San Francisco. This sounded oddly familiar, and for good reason.

The Residential Builders Association is a construction industry group in San Francisco run by a contractor named Sean Keighran. Anyone who attended the Planning Commission hearings on 490 South Van Ness would recognize Keighran as a representative who spoke on behalf of the project developers. Keighran was one of the many exasperated speakers frustrated about the incessant delays.

On the exact same day as the Residential Builders contribution, Campos received two additional $1,500 donations. One of these came from SJK Development, which a quick google search revealed to be one of Keighran’s companies:

The other $1,500 came from a contracting firm run by John O’Connor called Urban 49, Inc. O’Connor had spoken with Keighran at the Planning Commission on behalf of the 490 South Van Ness developers:

There was also a random $500 August donation from Reuben and Junius, the law firm representing the developers of the 490 South Van Ness project. Progressive activists have excoriated this firm many times including recently, for representing owners who seek to convert industrial buildings to office space (which are invariably leased to the Far-Left’s fave scapegoat, tech companies):

Clearly one of only two possible things went down here. Either Campos extorted the project developers by using the power of his office and calling in his activist allies to continually delay the project, or the developers approached Campos and offered money to stop the pointless and expensive delays. The total cost? A lousy $7,600—not even 8 grand.

Of course, you can choose to believe that it’s purely coincidental that Campos dropped all of his objections as soon as he received donations from the developers. OR despite the fact that Campos is a NIMBY’s wet dream of a politician, decidedly anti-development, and just spent months delaying and tarnishing their project, you can also try to believe that the developers just happened to have a change of heart about Campos. Color me skeptical, but I’ve correctly called out this questionable behavior before. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

So why would Campos so gleefully sell out his supposed values? And why so cheaply? His motives are just as transparent.

From the beginning, Campos’s Assembly campaign has been struggling to raise money. Or at least, until the most recent fundraising period, where he made a shocking comeback in the money department. Campos’s most recent fundraising report show that a lot of those new donations came from other developers and big businesses. You gotta wonder how many other projects working their way through City Hall he’s threatened to delay. Campos is making deals with parties that are despised by many of his closest supporters. Far-Left Progressives like to fantasize that they are above these types of political quid pro quos, so it’ll be interesting to see how they react to Campos engaging in this type of blatantly unethical behavior.

To be clear, it is great that the abandoned lot at 490 South Van Ness will finally become new housing and shops for the neighborhood. But sensible housing projects should not require campaign contributions in order to get approved. I certainly dont fault the contractors when politicians are primarily responsible for making this the cost of doing business. Remember, the power to delay a project is substantial because of its potential to drive up costs for a project. It’s a huge part of why building housing in San Francisco is exorbitantly expensive. That Campos has been using that leverage for personal gain is disturbing, since (1) developers pass the costs to us, and (2) neighborhood blight is a quality of life issue that shouldn’t be subject to the whims and ambitions of a politician.

In my neighborhood, anti-tech protesters love to chant “OUR CITY IS NOT FOR SALE!”

Well, maybe the city’s not. But our Supervisor, David Campos, damn sure is.