As big-dollar advertising declines, progressives are working on GOTV efforts…

The number of ballots has decreased, voting has begun, and candidates and proposals are now starting to focus on getting the votes. That doesn’t mean United States Postal Service employees are getting a break: The final weeks of campaigns will also be the busiest for direct mail, particularly for hit pieces.

Ron Conway, the plutocrat close to Mayor London Breed, just donated $100,000 to a committee opposing SUP. Aaron Peskin’s run for mayor (which, if nothing else, suggests that Breed believes Peskin has a chance of finishing ahead of her). Interestingly, Conway also donated $150,000 to the Yes on D campaign, which has become a vehicle for Farrell for Mayor’s efforts.

Mission Local has a good breakdown of the funds here.

A large part of it is sent by post. The poor mail carriers: Under Trump’s postmaster general, whom Biden never fired, the post office is severely understaffed and too few people are trying to deliver far too many political hits in San Francisco.

The progressives are now far overwhelmed: $53 million, much of it from billionaire and corporate money, is flowing into the fall election.

But sometimes elections are won not by air or mail, but in person, and most candidates running as progressives hold a unity rally Saturday/26 in Duboce Park. Among those who will be there:

Sup. Aaron Peskin, Sup. Dean Preston, D3 candidates Sharon Lai and Moe Jamil, D9 candidates Jackie Fielder and Stephen Torres, Sup. Connie Chan, D11 candidates EJ Jones and Chyanne Chen and school board candidate Matt Alexander.

The event is sponsored by groups that include the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the California Nurses Association and the United Educators of San Francisco, as well as the Harvey Milk Club, the Bernal Heights Democratic Club, SF Berniecrats and SF Rising.

The event starts at 11 a.m.

The news that a wealthy venture capitalist By using a series of front group corporations, buying up a lot of Fillmore Street real estate and driving away popular local businesses, he has stirred strong opposition in a normally politically quiet upper-class neighborhood.

Sup. Aaron Peskin has introduced a measure that would require a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission to replace an old store in neighboring business districts. The interim controls would last for 18 months.

I suspect that any of the supervisors who like to talk about the importance of local small businesses will have a hard time voting against the measure that goes before the Land Use and Transportation Committee Monday/21st.

But there is a much bigger problem here.

Mayor Breed and her Yimby allies want to upgrade all neighborhood commercial districts to eight stories. The theory is that more and denser housing will drive down prices.

But most of these districts, like Upper Fillmore, are already fully developed; There is no way to build taller and denser without demolishing existing buildings. These buildings often house small businesses serving the neighborhood. These businesses will be evicted when the building is demolished and many will never return.

The Upper Fillmore speculator wants to get rid of restaurants and bring in high-end retail. That’s because upscale retail can pay more rent than most local restaurants.

Developers who tear down three-story buildings to build eight-story buildings will be doing expensive work: Starting at around six stories in San Francisco, building codes require higher-quality framing (which makes sense in an earthquake zone). You want to offer investors as much return as possible.

Of course, the small businesses that occupy this space will have to leave during construction. Most of these facilities are connected to neighborhood communities and cannot simply go elsewhere. Many of them will not be able to afford the new, higher rent.

In addition, there are the apartment tenants in the buildings. Many of them have been around for years and, thanks to the rent cap, pay well below the market rent.

They also have to move away for demolition and reconstruction, and although they have some legal protection, new buildings are not subject to rent control. So the tenants will have to move, some will never come back and the new rents will be significantly higher.

So, in a way, this is a test case of how willing supercorporations are to limit the options of speculators in the name of “improving” neighborhoods. This meeting begins at 1:30 p.m.

Full disclosure: Both of my children work on the Peskin for Mayor campaign.