San Francisco’s Civil War
YIMBYs! Socialists! The only thing the Bay Area’s tenant/'tɛnənt/ activists/'æktɪvɪst/ hate more than high rent is each other.
By Henry Grabar
Local politics is always, in one way or another, about housing. In San Francisco, a deep blue city whose fault lines long ago ceased /sis/ to resemble/rɪ'zɛmbl/ America’s, that politics is a vitriolic/ˌvɪtrɪ'ɑlɪk/ civic/'sɪvɪk/ scrimmage/ˈskrɪmɪdʒ/, where people who agree about almost every national issue make sworn/swɔrn/ enemies over zoning, demolition, and development. It’s like a circular/'sɝkjəlɚ/ firing squad at a co-op meeting.
On June 1, members of a group that advocates/'ædvəkət/ for housing growth to lower rents called San Francisco YIMBY (for “Yes, In My Back Yard”) helped organize a panel in downtown San Francisco: “The Political Dynamics of Housing.” Over food and drink, a group of local experts and activists tried to talk through why, despite widespread local consensus that something must change, San Francisco continues to be the country’s most expensive city for renting an apartment.
The day before the event, the San Francisco chapter of the Democratic/'dɛmə'krætɪk/ Socialists of America—an organization founded in 1982 whose membership more than tripled, in the 12 months ending in March 2017, to 19,000 dues-paying members—included a note in their regular membership letter. “The SF YIMBY Party is a pro-development, pro-gentrification, pro-landlord organization,” it read. “DSA SF is seeking folks to come up with materials and a plan for challenging this narrative and the disinformation they will undoubtedly/ʌn'daʊtɪdli/ be spreading regarding housing at this meeting.”
That call, and an ensuing shouting match at the panel, was the most overt/o'vɝt/ skirmish /'skɝmɪʃ/ in a feud/fjʊd/ between the DSA and the YIMBYs, two groups that have more in common than you might expect. Each has harnessed/'hɑrnɪs/ the political energy of young people in West Coast cities. Each considers entrenched/ɪnˈtr ɛntʃt/ wealthy homeowners an enemy. They have a good number of members in common. And the goal, of course, is the same: more affordable/ə'fɔrdəbl/ housing.
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