SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Business interests didn’t mount a stronger push against the legislation because they likely saw that it would have broad support, said Jason McDaniel, a Political Science professor at San Francisco State University.
There’s a sense among many residents, McDaniel said, that San Francisco is suffering from too much of a good thing — too many high-paid tech workers, too many corporate shuttles, too many fancy restaurants.
In the current political environment, a tax on commercial real estate developers represents a “sweet spot,” he said.
“There is widespread support for spending public money on affordable housing, especially if that money is coming from fees on corporations,” he said. “Voters in San Francisco feel like more jobs is a cost, not a benefit. The idea of losing jobs is not something that scares them.”