“Get involved in the local association.” I heard this advice numerous times over the years when I was starting my real estate career, and eventually I took it. I first joined the governmental affairs committee. And I’ll be honest, my tenure on that committee was a disaster. I felt intimidated, unwelcome, in-over-my-head, and couldn’t tell you which way was north after my first few meetings. So I stopped attending. Which eventually resulted in getting kicked off the committee for accumulating too many unexcused absences. Although I’m pretty sure the committee’s decisions wouldn’t have been any different if I attended. To be honest, it was a pretty emasculating experience. But don’t cry for me!
I’m either too tenacious or too stupid to quit. So after a few years rolled by, I signed up again and tried in an area where I felt like I had a little more background and knowledge – technology and the MLS. It’s a committee I’ve enjoyed serving, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know my fellow Realtors in a context that doesn’t relate to a particular house, client or deal.
All of which makes this post a bit, well, weird. My fellow colleagues voted to bankroll a video I find questionable. And a portion of my dues went to pay for the production of that video. [Update: political advocacy is paid for out of a voluntary contribution fund, SFAR member dues are not used for political advocacy. My apologies for the error.] So writing about a video that was green-lighted by volunteer members or paid staff that I don’t agree with and that was partially bankrolled by dues I pay to an organization I am required to be a member of in order to have MLS access in San Francisco is awkward. Not leering-in-the-dark-and-steamy-hot-tub awkward, but well, awkward. At this point, you might be wondering, what the hell am I rambling about?
The association is getting some flak for a recently produced video that was paid for by SFAR in support of District 1 Supervisor Candidate David Lee, and takes direct aim at his opponent, incumbent Eric Mar. The SF Bay Guardian, an organization that I almost never agree with, calls the video “creepy, strange and a bit homophobic.” The SF Appeal, an organization that I’m more likely to find common ground with, doesn’t blast it as homophobic, but makes note of the criticisms received on the YouTube page that have since been removed, and does a bit of digging into the origins of the video.
The video is embedded above, and the leering-dudes-in-a-darkish-hot tub segment starts at the 2:06 mark in the video. But if you’ve got a few minutes, watch the whole thing. It’s a trainwreck from start to finish, IMHO. I don’t know if I find the video to be homophobic. I find the entire video to be inflammatory, ridiculous, and a silly distraction. Childhood obesity is a real issue. Maybe you agree or disagree with Eric Mar’s approach, but at the very least the legislation around happy meals started a dialog and raised some awareness. Eric Mar is a big fan of the YMCA. He hangs out there and is willing to talk to his constituents there. Good for him. I really doubt that the hot tub at the YMCA if filled with leering guys in dim lighting. The hot tub at SF Fitness (formerly the Gold’s Castro) on the other hand… And what the hell is with kids running around banging on pans and pots? Kids can’t vote, no matter how loud they bang their pans, and using them for political props is just cheap and… inflammatory.
As long as we are on the topic of what I don’t get, why is my association – which is all about real estate – going after a guy for his record on happy meals and out-of-context hot tub remarks? It’s no secret SFAR and Eric Mar take very different views of how to create a community that balances the rights of property owners with the concerns of renters. If that is our concern with Eric Mar (which I presume it is, although I’m not privy to any conversations in which decisions were made to support candidate X but not candidate Z), why not just make a video about that?
And finally, as long as I’m on the soapbox, I just have to comment on one other video that we made for London Breed. It’s the only other video on the “Coalition for Sensible Government” page.
But anyway, poor London Breed’s video. It’s only gotten 28 views, compared to the 12,000+ views for the Eric Mar/David Lee bizarre-fest. If you watch the London Breed video (embed below), you’ll see that just about everybody endorses London Breed. Except for the menacing-men-in-the-YMCA-hottub. Which is, apparently, the key demographic this election. *sigh*
Update 10/10/12: The typo on the YouTube page has been corrected. I’d also like to be clear that I have nothing but respect and appreciation for the staff at SFAR, so I apologize for my snark about a typo. We all make them!
Why do I feel way more creeped out by the London Breed video? In the words of Bill Dry, “work what works”, and this political attempt doesn’t seem to be working well at the moment. The London Breed video is barely wathcable and your post may get it’s views up to 50 or so. I was asked about the Mar video by a board member and I said that I didn’t understand the message. I think kids should go to schools in their neighborhoods and that singular message could have been addressed rather than taking on too much. I doubt voters care that Mar suggested meetings in a hot tub, unless those meetings were with former Mayor Frank Jordan. When I was a kid growing up in Sunset(of course I mean the Sunset), my brother and I would ask to be taken to McDonalds. My ill-tempered Irish father would always say the same thing “I’ll take ye to Joe McDonald’s” and we would eat open face turkey sandwiches at Joe McDonald’s Sunset Restaurant. You know they never gave me one feckin’ toy at Joe McDonalds.
I just doubled support for London Breed! On YouTube, at least
Just to be clear – I’m all for neighborhood schools. I just spent 30 minutes on the phone yesterday explaining how our neighborhood-ish school assignment system currently works. But the School Board makes those decisions, not the Board of Supervisors, so I’d have to go back and look at what vote the Board of Supes made that would impact neighborhood based schooling. And hey, when you asked for a trip to McDonalds, at least your dad didn’t take you to the YMCA hot tub. Cause that would be weird. Even weirder than London’s video
OK, so I went back and looked. The neighborhood school issue centers around Prop H on the 11/8/11 ballot. Prop H was a policy statement, which has no binding effect on the school board, and the questions was: “Shall it be City policy to encourage the San Francisco Unified School District to change its student assignment system so that it places the highest priority on assigning each student to the school closest to home, after placing siblings in the same school?” Prop H failed, I’m assuming Mar voted against putting it on the ballot, I’d have to go back and look some more. But it should be noted that policy statements are pretty much worth the paper they are written on. Even if Prop H had passed, all it would have done is “encouraged the SFUSD to change its student assignment system.” And while the school board can be encouraged or castigated, it is ultimately a different set of elected officials that made that decision.
Real estate interests in San Francisco are aiming to take control of the Board of Supervisors by defeating Sup. Eric Mar—a strong tenant advocate—and replacing him with David Lee, a landlord who is getting over half a million dollars from real estate groups like the SF Board of Realtors and Los Angeles landlord Thomas Coates (Coates financed the 2008 statewide rent control repeal ballot measure). If they succeed, landlords will have a majority on the Board of Supervisors and they will immediately begin rolling back rent control.
The Association of REALTORS has sunk to a new low in their attempt to buy our City government and roll over rent control with their offensive, homophobic attack video against Supervisor Eric Mar
“Independent expenditures” by the REALTORS and other big money special interests flowing into the District 1 Supervisors race against Eric Mar has already reached $278,000, the highest amount ever in a district supervisors race
Combined with direct contributions to David Lee’s campaign, much of it from the same sources, the total amount of funding to unseat Eric Mar has reached $557,486 and growing
The San Francisco Tenants Union needs your help to beat back this attack on rent control. We need you to (1) Know that David Lee is dangerous for rent control and renters, (2) Attend a Save Rent Control Rally at the Board of Realtors Monday, October 15, and (3) Attend an Organizing Meeting to Save Rent Control Next Wednesday, October 17. See below for more information.
Articles about the REALTORS offensive attack ad
I think the ad was bizarre bit I disagree that it was homophobic. Thanks for taking the time to express your heartfelt opinions, we definitely disagree on our viewpoints but I don’t doubt we both love our city.
Mar made it so children had to go into a lottery. In 99% of America, you can go to school close to home. It hurts families in the Richmond when they lose. He opposed Prop H, and this will cost him the election because 60% of the Richmond voted for it. This is the one thing that will cost him the election. Kids in the Richmond are only hurt by this, so he didn’t represent his neighborhood when he opposed prop H, and he also dishonestly claimed kids would switch mid year.
Fred,
My basic concern with this is that Prop H was a non-binding initiative. The SF School Board decides how students are assigned to schools, and they are independent of the SF Board of Supervisors. I support neighborhood based schools, but even if Prop H passed, it would not compel the School Board to change anything or go to a neighborhood based school system.
Lol! The video is a lie, Dianne Feinstein pulled her endorsement of London when she said “Willy Brown don’t wipe my mufuggin _ _ _ and “I don’t listen to no mutha fuckin body.” She can’t find 20 friends to stand behind her video? No people – what a joke.