Prop B Postmortem: Why Did it Fail?Ben Malleybyline‚ Nov. 18‚ 2008While November 4th was generally a good night for progressives locally, the rejection of Proposition B, the affordable housing budget set-aside, came as something of a surprise. Eight Supervisors put B on the ballot after passing a $28 million housing supplemental in May 2007, only to have Mayor Newsom refuse to spend the money. Originally slated for the November 2007 mayoral elections, Prop B was postponed a year in an attempt to take advantage of a more progressive electorate voting in the presidential election. Supervisor Chris Daly, who was chiefly responsible for putting the measure on the ballot, said he was shocked when he saw the results on election night. Polls had apparently shown the measure far ahead, but those were taken prior to the collapse of financial giants Lehman Brothers and AIG on September 15 which signaled the beginning of the financial crisis. |