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Aaron Peskin

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Aaron Peskin (born 1964) is the current president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was first elected to the Board in 2000, and was re-elected in 2004. In January 2005, his colleagues elected him President of the Board.

Personal Life

Peskin was born and raised in Berkeley. His mother, Tsiporah, an immigrant from Israel, taught at UC Berkeley; his father, Harvey, was a professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. Peskin is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz. He is married to land use lawyer Nancy Shanahan.[1]

Before entering politics, Peskin was an environmental activist and water rights negotiator for a non-profit organization which brokered passage and use rights for tribal lands. He first came to public notice as president of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, where lead the effort to save the Colombo building and prevent a Rite-Aid drug store from moving into the old Pagoda Theater. He is a member of the South End Rowing Club.

Political Career

Peskin was first elected in December 2000, along with other progressive neighborhood activists who had cut their teeth on Tom Ammiano's mayoral campaign. When he was sworn into office, Peskin described District 3 (Chinatown/North Beach/Nob Hill) as the "living room" of San Francisco.

As Supervisor, Peskin is known mostly for siding with a self-described progressive majority on development issues, being at odds with the pro-growth policies of mayors Gavin Newsom and Willie Brown. He has, however developed a reputation as a pragmatist, authoring an amnesty on unwarranted "in-law" apartment construction as a strategy to blunt housing costs and promoting fiscal conservatism in city spending.

He has also sponsored legislation to curb the abuses of the Ellis Act, a state law that allows property owners to evict tenants when they wish to "go out of the rental business." This law has led to many condominium conversions in San Francisco by real estate speculators, especially in Peskin's neighborhood of North Beach. Nevertheless, Peskin also angered his progressive allies by supporting legislation to bring Home Depot to San Francisco.

Due in part to actions by Peskin, the 52-year-old North Beach Jazz Festival was canceled in 2006. In that year, the Board of Sueprvisors voted to prohibit alcohol sales at the fair because of political pressure from Aaron Peskin, who has close ties to the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association, which wanted a ban on alchohol sales. Festival organizers said that without the sales the festival couldn't turn a profit, so they canceled it. "He's using these people (the Telegraph Hill Dwellers) as his foot soldiers to get even with me for not supporting him," said Marsha Garland, executive director of the North Beach Chamber of Commerce, who endorsed an opponent of Peskin's during his 2004 re-election bid.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wall, Alexandra J. (December 22, 2000) "'Doing mitzvahs' propels supe Peskin." Jewish News Weekly.
  2. ^ Bowman, Becky (May 31, 2006) "Alcohol banned at North Beach festivals." San Francisco Chronicle.
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