Property MattersDecember 2010
 
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FirstArtBoard of Supervisors Race Decided
 
After weeks of counting San Francisco's ranked-choice votes, the results of San Francisco's board of Supervisors race are finally in.  The result is a board that is very similar to the past Board, which had a hard time passing any tenant-friendly legislation.

 

The Results

 

District 2: Mark Farrell won the spot, beating out Janet Reilly

 

District 4: Carmen Chu, who ran unopposed, soundly won her district.

 

District 6: Jane Kim will be taking over Chris Daly's seat in District Six.  The San Francisco Apartment Association had endorsed candidate Theresa Sparks.  Although she didn't nab the seat, Janan New, Executive Director of the San Francisco Apartment Association, said Kim is unlikely to be "as openly antagonistic toward us as Daly was." 

 

District 8: San Francisco Apartment Association-endorsed Scott Wiener claimed victory after days of vote-counting to take over for Supervisor Bevan Dufty

 

District 10: Voters elected Malia Cohen as its new Supervisor. Malia will replace the aloof Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and is someone Landlords can talk to and work with. Initially it appeared that Tony Kelly, a tenant-friendly candidate, would give tenants one more vote on the Board but after all the 2nd and 3rd choices were counted under the Instant Runoff System, Cohen claimed victory.

 

The end result is that the new Board will be pretty similar to the current Board, which gave the tenants six solid votes on all new legislation (Avalos, Campos, Chiu, Kim, Mar and Mirkarimi).  Cohen will sometimes side with tenants, sometimes with landlords.  Chu, Elsebernd, Farrell and Wiener almost always side with landlords. 

 

That's about what we have now: Daly (who Kim replaces) always voted for tenants, Maxwell (who Cohen replaces) sometimes voted for tenants, and Alioto-Pier & Dufty (who Farrell & Wiener replace) never voted for tenants.

 

Of course, Mayor Gavin Newsom's election as lieutenant governer means landlords lose an ally in City Hall.  The individual, who replaces him, will be appointed by the Board of Supervisors and remains to be seen.

SecondArticleProposition N Transfer Tax Increase to Become Effective December 17

 

The City has advised that the new real property transfer tax rates for properties selling for $5 million or more will become effective on Friday, December 17, 2010. According to the city, the increased tax will apply only to transactions entered into after December 16.

The rates are being increased as a result of the passage of Proposition N which appeared on the November, 2010 municipal ballot in San Francisco. The proposition increased the real property tax as follows:

When the consideration or value of the interest of real property conveyed is:

  • At least $5,000,000 and less than $10,000,000, a tax at a rate of $20 for each $1,000 or fractional part thereof for the entire value or consideration, including, but not limited to, any portion of such value or consideration that is less than $5,000,000; or
     
  • At least $10,000,000 and above, a tax at a rate of $12.50 for each $1,000 or fractional part thereof for the entire value or consideration, including, but not limited to, any portion of such value or consideration that is less than $10,000,000.

Proposition N garnered the support of 58.66 percent of the electorate. According to the city, the proposition required only 50 percent + 1 affirmative votes for passage. There may be a question concerning whether State law requires 66 percent + 1 affirmative votes for passage and, in that regard, the San Francisco Association of Realtors is investigating the matter.

In commenting on the reasons for passage of Proposition N, most writers have cited the soak-the-rich attitude that prevails among many of the city's tenant voters. Tenant voters outnumber owner voters two to one in the city.

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