Okay, we’ve got numbers

Pub date November 3, 2009
WriterTim Redmond
SectionPolitics Blog

By Tim Redmond

And a couple of surprises.

With just the absentee ballots in — traditionally the most conservative votes — Prop. A is cruising to victory. No surprise there — that one was going to win easy.

Prop. B, which would take out of the City Charter the mandate that the supervisors hire no more than two staffers — is actually ahead in the absentees. That’s a big surprise — I suspected that the more conservative voters would buy the argument that the supes will just run wild and hire armies of staffers.

But there’s a message here — people LIKE district elections, and for the most part (while the reputation of legislative bodies in general ain’t that great) people seem to LIKE the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. They seem to realize that the board members have a huge amount of work to do, and need more help to properly serve voth the city and their own districts.

Prop. C, allowing the city to sell naming rights to Candlestick, is winning and will will handily.

Prop. D — the controversial measure to allow electronic billboards in Mid-Market — is losing, narrowly — but as the more progressive votes come in, that will widen and Prop. D will go down.

Oh — City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Treasurer Jose Cisneros are getting re-elected.