We recommend voting for Darshini Patel as your #1 choice for Supervisor, District 8. However, Gary McCoy updated his platform after we endorsed Patel, and it is now more aligned with GrowSF, so we recommend that you read this write-up in full and decide for yourself.

The District 8 race has been turbulent. We endorsed Manny Yekutiel earlier this year, but we withdrew our endorsement after three credible sexual assault allegations, which he denies. Manny ended his campaign on October 1, though his name still appears on your ballot. That left three candidates: Gary McCoy, Darshini Patel, and Michael T. Nguyen. None of them are fully aligned with GrowSF's priorities, and each offers different trade-offs. Nguyen is the least aligned of the three. On October 12, we judged that Patel edged out McCoy and we endorsed her. Two days later, McCoy published a public safety platform that addressed many of our concerns, and now we see both of them as reasonably aligned with us. This race has changed so much that we chose to stick with a Patel #1 endorsement, though it's not unreasonable to pick either Patel or McCoy.

Housing

Patel and McCoy are both with us on housing. Both have run as YIMBYs, and both support Mayor Lurie's Family Zoning Plan. "Nearly 50 years after we downzoned, ending the freeze was necessary," Patel told Mission Local, and McCoy supports the plan "to expand family-friendly housing options across the city." Both also support this year's cut to the inclusionary housing rate, which Nguyen opposed.

They each have plans to get the rezoned homes built. The state requires San Francisco to plan for 82,069 new homes by 2031, and the Controller's Office of Economic Analysis projects that the Family Zoning Plan will add 8,500 to 14,600 homes over twenty years. Patel's housing platform would set permitting deadlines that escalate automatically when the City misses them, extend the fee reductions that expire this November, and build local financing tools that don't depend on federal money. McCoy wants a binding agreement with the owners of the Safeway at Market and Church streets to build thousands of homes there, and he supports changing the City rule that requires taller buildings to have two staircases.

Public safety and treatment

McCoy's October 14 public safety platform update brought him much closer to Patel, and to us. Both would arrest drug dealers and move drug users into treatment. Patel's rule is "Arrest dealers. Divert users to treatment. Measure results." McCoy says "we should arrest drug dealers while expanding treatment and step-down beds for drug users." He would also track whether people end up back on the street or in the justice system after treatment, and tie nonprofit funding to those results. Both would expand the crisis teams that respond to people in mental health or drug crises (Patel, McCoy).

They differ in emphasis. Patel leans more on court-ordered care. She told Mission Local she would expand conservatorship, "but only as a last resort when it leads to actual treatment." She also supports CARE Court (a state program that lets a judge order treatment for people with severe mental illness). District 8 has zero emergency shelter beds, and she commits to a community process in her first six months to choose a District 8 shelter site. McCoy leans more on building treatment capacity. He would fund detox and residential treatment beds "for anyone who needs them," build behavioral health campuses on hospital grounds starting at Zuckerberg San Francisco General, and send crisis teams that "actually reach the people who refuse help." He has said he won't expand conservatorship without more beds and more funding, and his platform would pay for those beds. He also says harm reduction "should be a doorway to treatment and not the end of the line."

On police, McCoy is closer to us. He supports hiring and keeping officers "until SFPD is fully staffed," and he would put foot patrols on the commercial streets of Noe Valley, Glen Park, Cole Valley, and the Castro. Patel agrees that running SFPD on overtime "costs more than staffing it properly" and wants better recruitment and retention, but says "None of that requires a bigger budget." Her focus is on controlling police overtime and sending more 911 calls to crisis teams. Both support some police technology. McCoy supports the SFPD drone program "with guardrails," speed cameras near schools, and voluntary links to merchant and neighbor cameras. Patel says the drone program "has helped track down stolen vehicles," and she supports red-light and speed cameras.

Where we disagree with both

Both would end the City's license-plate camera contract, and we would keep it. Patel would vote against renewing it, and McCoy would introduce legislation to end it in his first 90 days.

Neither supports zero tolerance for drug use on our streets. Patel says arresting people "may move the immediate problem, but it doesn't reduce it long term," and McCoy says public drug use "can't be addressed simply by arresting people." Both have also supported drug-use sites (Patel, McCoy).

Michael T. Nguyen

Nguyen opposed the Family Zoning Plan, opposed lowering the inclusionary rate, and opposes expanding conservatorship. He does not support "criminalizing drug use."

Where the candidates stand

Patel declined our questionnaire and has begun attacking us in the press after we endorsed her, which we find troubling. McCoy did not answer our questionnaire, and Nguyen did not respond to it. Their positions come from their platforms and Mission Local's coverage of the candidates on Family Zoning, housing, conservatorship, drug arrests, license-plate cameras, and harm reduction. McCoy's positions on treatment beds, crisis teams, dealers, police staffing, foot patrols, and police technology are from his public safety platform, and his support for drug-use sites is from the San Francisco Standard. Nguyen's position on police staffing is from the Bay Area Reporter's endorsement editorial.

District 8 uses ranked-choice voting, so you can rank up to 10 candidates in order of preference.