Opinion

Leave west side of San Francisco to decide District 4 election

Ralph Lane waves to cars and pedestrians while campaigning in the Sunset district of San Francisco. Ralph Lane waves to cars and pedestrians while campaigning in the Sunset district of San Francisco. Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Leave west side of San Francisco to decide District 4 election 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

When my great-great-great-grandfather brought dairy cows to the sand dunes of what is now the west side of San Francisco in the 1850s, it was remote enough that David Broderick’s political machine ran the squatting. The political power was downtown, and that was life in the Outside Lands.

More than 160 years later, one would hope that our city has evolved to where the remote avenues are viewed as something more than just a hinterland for a political machine to exploit. But progress has been slow.

Leland Yee, Fiona Ma and Carmen Chu all left the Sunset for higher office. The scandal that removed Ed Jew from office in 2007 will be remembered for wads of cash in a safe. Having our legislators paid to misrepresent us is classic backwater politics. It’s still the Outside Lands.

After Jew’s removal, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed young, ambitious Chu to represent us instead of choosing from neighborhood leaders. While serving, she ran for assessor and vacated her supervisorial seat. Mayor Ed Lee appointed young, ambitious Katy Tang to represent us, again ignoring folks who had their own constituencies in the Avenues. When our leaders owe their existence, and thus their loyalty, to higher officials, instead of to neighborhood contests, we’re in the boonies.

The deadline to file for re-election was 5 p.m., June 12. At 5:17 p.m., Supervisor Tang announced she was not seeking re-election and designated support for her young legislative assistant, who had moved to the district in March. In the Outside Lands, longtime residents are not party to the backroom arrangements.

On Nov. 6, District Four can have an open race without someone already anointed from City Hall. There are eight candidates, and that race can be about the issues, not who will be appointed. It can be about ambitions for the Sunset, not the resume. There have been several debates. There have been lots of opinions about cannabis dispensaries, about high-density residential planning, about homeless encampments, about Proposition C (taxing businesses to fund services for homeless people), about our future.

It took a century and a half for us to develop this much democracy. I’d hate to see it go to waste. Let’s end the pattern of “pass the torch” leadership. If you’re a District Four voter, please vote. If you’re not, please stay the heck out of it.

Ralph Lane is a fifth-generation San Franciscan.