WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 Breaking barriers and building moratoriums. The 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:05.799 Mabel Teng story, San Francisco politics. In 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.220 this deep dive, we explore the fascinating career 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:11.519 of Mabel Teng, a pivotal figure in San Francisco's 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.150 political history. From her early days as an 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.870 immigration rights activist in Chinatown to becoming 00:00:16.870 --> 00:00:19.010 the first Chinese American elected to the SF 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:21.070 Board of Supervisors without prior appointment, 00:00:21.670 --> 00:00:23.789 Tang's journey is packed with local government 00:00:23.789 --> 00:00:26.550 drama. We break down her high -profile battles 00:00:26.550 --> 00:00:29.250 against sweatshops, her fights to preserve neighborhood 00:00:29.250 --> 00:00:31.750 village character against corporate giants like 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.590 Starbucks, her historic role in officiating San 00:00:34.590 --> 00:00:36.729 Francisco's first same -sex marriage in 2004, 00:00:36.990 --> 00:00:39.630 and the controversies that ultimately led to 00:00:39.630 --> 00:00:42.909 her resignation as assessor recorder. Whether 00:00:42.909 --> 00:00:44.770 you're interested in Chinese -American political 00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:47.869 milestones, urban policy, or the complex realities 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.049 of grassroots activism meeting city bureaucracy, 00:00:50.469 --> 00:00:53.409 this deep dive delivers the key facts with engaging 00:00:53.409 --> 00:00:55.850 analysis. Welcome back, everyone, to another 00:00:55.850 --> 00:00:58.549 deep dive. We're really glad you're joining us 00:00:58.549 --> 00:01:00.049 today. Yeah, thanks for being here. We have a 00:01:00.049 --> 00:01:02.990 really layered one today. We do. Today we are 00:01:02.990 --> 00:01:07.650 focusing on a— Highly complex story about local 00:01:07.650 --> 00:01:11.269 government ambition. And I mean, just the messy 00:01:11.269 --> 00:01:14.629 reality of trying to make actual structural change. 00:01:14.750 --> 00:01:17.450 Right. We're looking at the fascinating barrier 00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:20.099 breaking and. and ultimately pretty complicated 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:22.780 political career of former San Francisco elected 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.420 official Mabel Tang. It is just a phenomenal 00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:29.239 trajectory to track. We are working today from 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:31.519 a really comprehensive biographical article on 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:33.579 Tang. Yeah, it covers everything from her REITs 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:36.140 in Hong Kong all the way to her influential roles 00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:38.519 in San Francisco city governance. Exactly. And 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:41.200 the goal for you, our listener, is to really 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:45.280 extract the aha moments from her career. We want 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:46.900 to understand the broader implications here, 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:48.560 like what actually happens. when a grassroots 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:51.500 activist transitions into the rigid realities 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:53.739 of local political power. That's a huge shift. 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.079 It is. How does a community organizer navigate 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:59.560 or, you know, sometimes clash with the labyrinth 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:01.620 of city bureaucracy? That's the core puzzle we're 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.280 going to dissect today. Definitely. But before 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:06.340 we get into the timeline, we do need to establish 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:08.539 a quick but absolutely necessary disclaimer. 00:02:08.939 --> 00:02:11.580 Yes, very important. Because the material we're 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.979 covering today involves some heavily politically 00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:16.719 charged topics. Labor protests, immigration activism. 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:20.000 Right. And controversial local legislative battles, 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:23.439 intensely divided election campaigns. Because 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.680 of all that, I have to explicitly state to you 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:28.520 that this deep dive does not take sides. I don't. 00:02:28.810 --> 00:02:31.930 We are not endorsing any left wing or right wing 00:02:31.930 --> 00:02:34.969 viewpoints. Our mandate here is strictly and 00:02:34.969 --> 00:02:37.930 impartially reporting the historical facts, the 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:41.069 events and the ideas exactly as they are presented 00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:43.509 in the biographical source material. Right. We're 00:02:43.509 --> 00:02:45.569 analyzing the history of San Francisco politics, 00:02:45.830 --> 00:02:48.909 not debating the ideological merits of it. And 00:02:48.909 --> 00:02:51.550 that neutrality is critical. It really is. Because 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:53.430 it allows us to look at the raw mechanics of 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:56.270 how political power is built, wielded and sometimes 00:02:56.270 --> 00:03:01.300 lost without. our own immediate biases clouding 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:03.819 the analysis. Exactly. So let's start at the 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:06.020 beginning, which involves some rather extreme 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:08.539 geographic and cultural shifts. Yeah, you wouldn't 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:10.599 necessarily expect this path. Right, because 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:12.639 a lot of people might assume a San Francisco 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:15.039 political fixture spent their entire life in 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:17.639 the Bay Area. But Tang actually grew up in Hong 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:20.219 Kong. And then for high school, she relocates 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:22.379 to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ann Arbor. I mean... 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.840 What does a transition like that do to someone's 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.360 formative understanding of community, moving 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:31.180 from an incredibly dense international metropolis 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:35.560 like Hong Kong to a snowy, collegiate, Midwestern 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:38.379 city? Well, it forces adaptability, first and 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:41.400 foremost. You are essentially placed in environments 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.210 with... vastly different social contracts, economic 00:03:44.210 --> 00:03:47.949 structures, racial demographics, navigating that 00:03:47.949 --> 00:03:50.349 kind of massive environmental and cultural shock 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:53.189 during your high school years, it often builds 00:03:53.189 --> 00:03:56.050 a foundational, almost hyper -awareness of how 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:58.150 different groups interact. How outsiders integrate. 00:03:58.530 --> 00:04:01.050 Exactly. How outsiders integrate and how communities 00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:02.909 define themselves. And we see that awareness 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:05.629 translate directly into her early career because 00:04:05.629 --> 00:04:07.990 she doesn't begin in a polished legislative office, 00:04:08.210 --> 00:04:10.250 right? Right, at all. Her political genesis is 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.330 out on the streets as an activist with Jesse 00:04:12.330 --> 00:04:15.250 Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. Which is a highly 00:04:15.250 --> 00:04:17.790 specific and telling place to begin. How so? 00:04:18.189 --> 00:04:21.009 Well, the entire philosophy of the Rainbow Coalition 00:04:21.009 --> 00:04:24.389 was about building power by uniting diverse, 00:04:24.689 --> 00:04:27.610 frequently marginalized demographics, bringing 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:30.029 together different racial, ethnic, and economic 00:04:30.029 --> 00:04:33.310 groups to forge a single, undeniable political 00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:36.569 force. Sort of recognizing that isolated groups 00:04:36.569 --> 00:04:39.449 might not have power on their own. Exactly. Isolated 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:42.500 they struggle. but a meticulously organized coalition 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:45.160 that has power. And she takes that blueprint 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.600 for organizing and applies it heavily to her 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:50.800 own community. She co -founded the Chinese Progressive 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.439 Association in Boston. And then after making 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.860 her way to the West Coast, she becomes the co 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.040 -chair of the San Francisco branch of that same 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.139 organization. Right in the heart of Chinatown. 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.319 Yeah, she is embedding herself deeply into immigration 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.360 rights and community advocacy. And this is where 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:08.899 we see the architecture of her future political 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:11.779 base really being constructed. This heavy background 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:14.439 in community organizing isn't just about protesting. 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:16.540 What is it about? It's about building networks 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:19.480 of trust. It laid the essential groundwork for 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.980 her transition into formal governance. Which 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:24.920 happens in 1990. Right. In 1990, she takes that 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:27.959 crucial first step by joining the board of trustees 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:30.160 of the San Francisco Community College District. 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.199 Which is interesting. Why? Start there. Why is 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.680 a community college board the launchpad rather 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:37.939 than running straight for city council or the 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:40.980 state legislature? Because it is the perfect 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:43.740 bridge. We actually see this pipeline frequently 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:46.300 in local politics. Oh, really? Yeah, because 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:48.759 a community college district is deeply intertwined 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.839 with the daily lives of the working class, immigrants, 00:05:52.100 --> 00:05:54.379 and young voters. Which are the exact demographics 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:57.240 she was already organizing. Exactly. But unlike 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:00.079 pure street activism, sitting on the board of 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:03.000 trustees forces you to deal with the realities 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.310 of governance. The red tape, managing massive 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:08.709 budgets, negotiating contracts, dealing with 00:06:08.709 --> 00:06:11.449 administrative bureaucracy. It proves to the 00:06:11.449 --> 00:06:13.470 political establishment that an outsider activist 00:06:13.470 --> 00:06:16.269 can actually govern. And she clearly proved it 00:06:16.269 --> 00:06:18.709 because just four years later, the political 00:06:18.709 --> 00:06:22.170 landscape shifts dramatically. It's 1994 and 00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:24.589 Tang is elected as a member of the San Francisco 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:26.689 Board of Supervisors. This is a massive milestone. 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:29.689 It's huge for you to know. She becomes the very 00:06:29.689 --> 00:06:31.970 first Chinese -American elected to the board 00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:33.949 without having been appointed to the position 00:06:33.949 --> 00:06:37.079 first. And that distinction between being appointed 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.240 versus being elected outright is paramount to 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:42.300 understanding her power at that moment. Because 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:44.220 historically, it didn't happen that way. Right. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:46.720 Historically, if a Chinese American was on the 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.259 board, it was frequently because a mayor had 00:06:49.259 --> 00:06:51.920 appointed them to fill a sudden vacancy. It was 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:54.519 the political machine bestowing power. Handing 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.189 it down. Yes. By winning the election directly, 00:06:57.410 --> 00:07:00.089 without that mayoral head start, she demonstrated 00:07:00.089 --> 00:07:02.949 that she had independently assembled a powerful, 00:07:03.129 --> 00:07:05.949 undeniable coalition of voters who could bypass 00:07:05.949 --> 00:07:08.490 the traditional gatekeepers. She ended up serving 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:11.189 two terms on the board. And her legislative style 00:07:11.189 --> 00:07:13.790 during those years is fascinating. It's highly 00:07:13.790 --> 00:07:16.310 recognizable to anyone who follows modern urban 00:07:16.310 --> 00:07:18.449 development. She becomes heavily involved in 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:21.050 what you could call moratorium legislation. Yeah, 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:24.250 she uses temporary legislative freezes as a zoning 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:28.579 weapon. Let's look at September 1996. Tang calls 00:07:28.579 --> 00:07:31.680 for an 18 -month moratorium on any new alcohol 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.819 licenses within the Inner Sunset neighborhood. 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:36.279 She wasn't acting without precedent here, though. 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.959 She actually modeled this specific legislation 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:43.379 after a 1994 move by Supervisor Susan Leal. Oh, 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:45.839 in the Mission District, right. Exactly. Leal 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.980 had prohibited new alcohol licenses for non -restaurants 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:51.379 over in the Mission. But Tang's justification 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:54.639 for the inner sunset was rooted in stark statistics. 00:07:55.370 --> 00:07:57.329 The crime rate in the inner sunset at that time 00:07:57.329 --> 00:07:59.949 was 18 percent higher than the city's average. 00:08:00.029 --> 00:08:02.350 18 percent. But it is an interesting leap to 00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:05.389 use zoning and business licensing as a primary 00:08:05.389 --> 00:08:07.970 tool for crime reduction. You are essentially 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:11.110 restricting commerce to engineer public safety. 00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:13.370 It reveals a philosophy that views neighborhood 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:16.029 infrastructure and commercial density as direct 00:08:16.029 --> 00:08:18.870 contributors to social behavior. Right. But her 00:08:18.870 --> 00:08:21.310 use of the moratorium didn't stop at crime prevention. 00:08:21.769 --> 00:08:24.529 She utilized the exact same bureaucratic lever 00:08:24.529 --> 00:08:27.129 for neighborhood preservation. This brings us 00:08:27.129 --> 00:08:30.949 to February 1997, and this one is deeply reflective 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:33.389 of the cultural anxieties of the late 90s. Oh, 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:36.269 absolutely. Tang seeks another 18 -month moratorium, 00:08:36.409 --> 00:08:38.409 this time targeting the West Portal Commercial 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:41.889 District, specifically the stretch of West Portal 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:45.230 Avenue between Ulloa Street and 15th Avenue. 00:08:45.490 --> 00:08:47.309 And she isn't just going after alcohol this time. 00:08:47.429 --> 00:08:50.429 No, she casts a massive net. She's seeking to 00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:53.570 hit pause on any new bars, full -service restaurants, 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:56.649 specialty grocers, and... Retail coffee stores. 00:08:56.909 --> 00:08:59.529 Banning new coffee stores in a major West Coast 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:02.629 city in the late 1990s is quite the statement. 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:05.129 It is entirely ironic in hindsight, given the 00:09:05.129 --> 00:09:07.590 coffee boom, but the catalyst was very specific. 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.970 Neighbors and local merchants were actively protesting 00:09:10.970 --> 00:09:13.889 the impending opening of a new Starbucks. They 00:09:13.889 --> 00:09:15.909 argued they needed to protect the neighborhood's 00:09:15.909 --> 00:09:18.389 village character. Village character. This is 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.929 a classic urban tension point. It really is. 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:23.809 How does a city manage the friction between economic 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:25.899 development, which is... often driven by well 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:28.159 -funded corporate chains, and the preservation 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:30.759 of local independent neighborhood identity. And 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:33.580 Tang made a definitive choice. She leveraged 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:35.840 her power on the Board of Supervisors to actively 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:38.740 shield a specific geographic area from corporate 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:41.519 homogenization. It is the grassroots activist 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.419 fighting the massive corporation, but doing it 00:09:44.419 --> 00:09:46.659 through municipal zoning codes. But she didn't 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:48.480 limit her battles against major corporations 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.960 to the zoning board. There is a vivid scene from 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:55.899 December 13th, 1996, that perfectly illustrates 00:09:55.899 --> 00:09:58.779 how she synthesized her activist roots with her 00:09:58.779 --> 00:10:01.759 elected office. I love this example. Mabel Tang, 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:03.879 a sitting member of the Board of Supervisors, 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:07.220 is outside the massive Macy's West store in Union 00:10:07.220 --> 00:10:10.080 Square, right alongside Supervisor Tom Amiano, 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.519 actively picketing. And they are out there with 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:14.600 garment workers and members of the San Francisco 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:18.679 Labor Council and the AFL -CIO. It is a formidable... 00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:21.090 labor presence. But what is striking is the scoop 00:10:21.090 --> 00:10:23.509 of the protest. They aren't protesting a local 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:26.009 San Francisco municipal issue. They are part 00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:28.330 of a massive national campaign organized by the 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:30.490 Union of Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:33.110 Employees, targeting federated department stores 00:10:33.110 --> 00:10:35.690 and maid department stores. They're actively 00:10:35.690 --> 00:10:38.950 protesting sweatshop labor conditions in Nicaragua 00:10:38.950 --> 00:10:41.750 and unpaid wages for garment workers down in 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:44.909 Los Angeles. Which begs the question, why does 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:47.570 a local city supervisor risk political capital 00:10:47.570 --> 00:10:50.610 by antagonizing one of the city's major retail 00:10:50.610 --> 00:10:53.549 taxpayers over international and out of state 00:10:53.549 --> 00:10:56.269 labor issues? Because for an organizer born out 00:10:56.269 --> 00:10:59.110 of the Rainbow Coalition. Solidarity doesn't 00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:01.470 have municipal borders. That makes sense. It 00:11:01.470 --> 00:11:04.309 signals to her progressive and labor voting blocs 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:07.629 that holding office hasn't moderated her fundamental 00:11:07.629 --> 00:11:10.669 principles. She's using the inherent visibility 00:11:10.669 --> 00:11:13.450 of her office, the fact that cameras will show 00:11:13.450 --> 00:11:16.470 up if a supervisor is on a picket line, to amplify 00:11:16.470 --> 00:11:19.129 a global labor struggle. She was also utilizing 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:21.429 her legislative power to amplify marginalized 00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:25.500 communities culturally. In July 1998, she formally 00:11:25.500 --> 00:11:27.600 proposed renaming a portion of Myrtle Street 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:29.960 after the lesbian writer Alice B. Toklas. Which 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.539 was successful. Yes, it resulted in an alleyway 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:35.500 near City Hall being designated as Alice B. Toklas 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:37.600 Place. If you step back and look at the coalition 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.440 she is trying to maintain throughout the late 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.059 90s, it is incredibly broad. It's massive. She's 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:45.320 advocating for neighborhood homeowner associations 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:48.779 in West Portal, progressive labor unions targeting 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:52.159 multinational supply chains, and LGBTQ cultural 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.440 visibility. Maintaining a coalition with that 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.259 many distinct, sometimes competing interests 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.559 is an incredibly delicate balancing act. And 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:04.500 in the year 2000, that delicate balance finally 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.940 fractured. It did. Tang runs for another term 00:12:07.940 --> 00:12:10.080 on the Board of Supervisors, and she is defeated 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.100 in the runoff election by Tony Hall. But the 00:12:13.100 --> 00:12:15.580 margin is what makes this a staggering moment 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:19.179 in local political history. She loses by fewer 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:22.700 than 50 votes. Fewer than 50 votes in a citywide 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:25.360 runoff is essentially a rounding error. It's 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:28.279 nothing. It is a razor thin margin that exposes 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.139 the deep structural fault lines within the city's 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:33.320 electorate. Let's look at the map of that vote 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.480 because it tells a very specific story about 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:37.220 San Francisco at the turn of the millennium. 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.299 The demographic split is incredibly stark. Teng 00:12:40.299 --> 00:12:42.480 maintained her stronghold, winning the neighborhoods 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.759 that possessed an Asian majority. However, Tony 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.419 Hall effectively captured the city's Irish Catholic 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.500 enclaves. When a progressive coalition cracks 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:54.620 along such distinct geographic and cultural lines, 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.279 a 50 vote loss demonstrates just how deeply entrenched 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:00.440 those neighborhood voting blocs really were. 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:02.899 Losing by fewer than 50 votes is the kind of 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:05.179 defeat that typically forces politicians into 00:13:05.179 --> 00:13:08.059 early retirement. Usually, yes. But Teng pivots. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.379 From 2002 to 2005, she moves away from the legislative 00:13:12.379 --> 00:13:15.179 branch and becomes the city's assessor recorder. 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:18.139 This is a profound shift in how she interacts 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:20.879 with city power. The board of supervisors is 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.500 highly public, highly legislative, and built 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.009 on debate. The assessor recorder is the engine 00:13:26.009 --> 00:13:28.169 room of the bureaucracy. It's all paperwork and 00:13:28.169 --> 00:13:30.509 numbers. Exactly. You are managing property records, 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:32.830 calculating tax assessments, issuing licenses. 00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:35.669 It is highly administrative. And yet, even from 00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:37.649 the administrative engine room, she ends up executing 00:13:37.649 --> 00:13:39.509 one of the most visible acts of civil rights 00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:41.350 defiance in modern history. Oh, it's a pivotal 00:13:41.350 --> 00:13:44.929 moment. On February 12, 2004, Mabel Tang officiated 00:13:44.929 --> 00:13:47.470 the very first same -sex marriage in San Francisco. 00:13:47.929 --> 00:13:50.549 You have to recall the intense national climate 00:13:50.549 --> 00:13:54.509 of early 2004 for you to really grasp this. Same 00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:58.049 -sex marriage was legally unrecognized and fiercely 00:13:58.049 --> 00:14:00.669 opposed on a federal level and in almost every 00:14:00.669 --> 00:14:03.409 state. Right, it was a massive risk. San Francisco's 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.309 decision to issue those licenses was a coordinated, 00:14:06.549 --> 00:14:10.110 monumental act of civil disobedience executed 00:14:10.110 --> 00:14:13.490 by the municipal government itself. And as the 00:14:13.490 --> 00:14:16.669 Assessor Recorder... Tang was the physical mechanism 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:18.750 of that defiance. She actually did the paperwork. 00:14:19.029 --> 00:14:21.649 Yes. She utilized the bureaucratic function of 00:14:21.649 --> 00:14:24.049 issuing a marriage license to force a massive 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:26.549 national conversation on civil rights. It perfectly 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:29.389 synthesizes her entire career up to that point. 00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:32.230 The activist and the bureaucrat merged. Exactly. 00:14:32.330 --> 00:14:34.570 But beyond those historic civil rights moments, 00:14:34.789 --> 00:14:36.649 the assessor recorder position is fundamentally 00:14:36.649 --> 00:14:39.409 about municipal finance, which brings us to her 00:14:39.409 --> 00:14:42.009 highly impactful stance during the early 2000s 00:14:42.009 --> 00:14:44.110 economic recession. Right. During this recession, 00:14:44.269 --> 00:14:46.690 major commercial property owners in San Francisco 00:14:46.690 --> 00:14:49.549 aggressively sought to have the assessed values 00:14:49.549 --> 00:14:51.769 of their properties lowered. Which would inherently 00:14:51.769 --> 00:14:54.889 lower their tax liabilities. Exactly. And Tang 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:58.610 vehemently opposed this mass reassessment. The 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:00.590 argument she made was based on the mechanics 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:03.409 of the city's tax burden. If she capitulated 00:15:03.409 --> 00:15:06.269 and cut the commercial property valuations, the 00:15:06.269 --> 00:15:08.909 city would face a massive shortfall in tax revenue 00:15:08.909 --> 00:15:11.590 from downtown corporations. And cities have to 00:15:11.590 --> 00:15:14.350 balance their budgets. They do. To balance the 00:15:14.350 --> 00:15:16.830 budget, that lost revenue would have to be recouped 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:19.389 elsewhere, which meant the tax burden would inevitably 00:15:19.389 --> 00:15:22.490 shift onto everyday residential homeowners. She 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:24.769 was positioning herself as the firewall protecting 00:15:24.769 --> 00:15:27.889 the residential tax base from absorbing the financial 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:30.519 shock of the corporate sector. And she highlighted 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.100 a devastatingly effective real -world example 00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:35.419 to illustrate how commercial properties exploit 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:38.440 short -term economic dips. She pointed to the 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:41.059 Fairmont San Francisco Hotel. This example is 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:44.720 wild. It really is. In 1995, the Fairmont successfully 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.940 lobbied to have its valuation reduced from $82 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:51.639 million all the way down to $58 million. That 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:54.879 is a $24 million drop in taxable value. resulting 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.559 in an enormous tax break. But then just two years 00:15:57.559 --> 00:16:00.879 later in 1997, that exact same property was sold 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:04.419 for $100 million. It completely dismantled the 00:16:04.419 --> 00:16:06.580 argument that these commercial properties were 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:10.570 suffering long term devaluation. The Fairmont 00:16:10.570 --> 00:16:12.789 example proved that corporations were securing 00:16:12.789 --> 00:16:16.549 massive municipal tax relief only to turn around 00:16:16.549 --> 00:16:20.029 and execute a highly profitable quick flip sale. 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:22.610 And she weaponized that data point to defend 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:25.610 her refusal to grant widespread commercial reassessments. 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:28.350 It shows a fierce, almost combative protection 00:16:28.350 --> 00:16:31.269 of the city's finances. However, that reputation 00:16:31.269 --> 00:16:34.049 as a principal defender of the public trust stands 00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:36.610 in sharp, unfortunate contrast to the controversy 00:16:36.610 --> 00:16:38.950 that abruptly ended her political career. Yeah, 00:16:39.029 --> 00:16:41.330 the turning point. We have to examine the circumstances 00:16:41.330 --> 00:16:43.570 of her fall from office, which occurred right 00:16:43.570 --> 00:16:46.129 in the middle of her term as assessor recorder. 00:16:46.429 --> 00:16:48.629 The transition from an outsider demanding change 00:16:48.629 --> 00:16:51.669 to an insider wielding bureaucratic power almost 00:16:51.669 --> 00:16:54.409 always comes with severe ethical and operational 00:16:54.409 --> 00:16:57.110 tests. And this is where the mechanics of the 00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:59.100 political machine caught up with her. She became 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:01.360 the subject of an intense investigation regarding 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.960 her hiring and promotion practices within the 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.039 Assessor Recorder's office. Specifically, she 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.980 was investigated for hiring or promoting 16 of 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:12.619 her own campaign contributors after she assumed 00:17:12.619 --> 00:17:14.900 the office. We need to analyze what this actually 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:17.299 represents. This is the textbook definition of 00:17:17.299 --> 00:17:20.559 political patronage. In local politics, campaigns 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.859 are incredibly expensive and require massive 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:26.019 networks of donors and volunteers. When a candidate 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:28.700 wins, there is often immense pressure from that 00:17:28.700 --> 00:17:31.440 network to receive the spoils of victory. The 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.500 expectation of a reward. Exactly. By placing 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:37.059 16 individuals who financially supported her 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:40.180 campaign into taxpayer -funded city jobs, it 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:42.220 shattered the image of the grassroots outsider. 00:17:42.579 --> 00:17:45.079 It framed her actions not as public service, 00:17:45.299 --> 00:17:48.000 but as the transactional behavior of an entrenched 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.039 political insider rewarding loyalists. The public 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.690 and political pressure mounted rapidly. In May 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:56.509 2005, Mabel Tang formally resigned from her position 00:17:56.509 --> 00:17:58.910 as assessor recorder. The reasons she provided 00:17:58.910 --> 00:18:01.849 for her resignation offer a very sobering look 00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:04.710 at the reality of holding high -level local office. 00:18:05.130 --> 00:18:07.950 She cited deeply personal reasons for stepping 00:18:07.950 --> 00:18:10.990 down, specifically pointing to the suffocating 00:18:10.990 --> 00:18:14.289 bureaucracy of the office and the intense, compounding 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.619 stress it was placing on her family life. It's 00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:19.400 crucial context that at this time she was a divorced 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:22.019 mother raising two daughters living in West Portal. 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:24.119 Ironically, the exact neighborhood where she 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.779 had previously fought the zoning battles to preserve 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:29.539 the village character. Wow. Yeah. Managing a 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:31.920 sprawling city department, navigating a high 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.759 profile patronage investigation and raising a 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.980 family simultaneously clearly became an unsustainable 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:41.210 burden. It is a stark reminder of the very real 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:44.250 personal toll that local politics demands. It 00:18:44.250 --> 00:18:46.650 profoundly humanizes the arc of her downfall. 00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:49.650 It separates the abstract concept of an investigation 00:18:49.650 --> 00:18:52.289 from the reality of a person who simply hit their 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:54.269 breaking point under the weight of the political 00:18:54.269 --> 00:18:56.130 machine they had spent decades trying to master. 00:18:56.309 --> 00:18:59.509 Following her resignation, she largely retreated 00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:02.029 from the electoral spotlight. But she did not 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:04.829 abandon her community entirely. Looking at the 00:19:04.829 --> 00:19:07.230 final chapter of this timeline, we see a return 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:09.470 to her foundational roots. Back to the beginning. 00:19:09.650 --> 00:19:12.750 Yeah. In 2009, four years after leaving City 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:15.349 Hall, she became the executive director of the 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:17.430 Chinese Culture Center, located right back in 00:19:17.430 --> 00:19:21.269 Chinatown. It is an incredibly poignant, full 00:19:21.269 --> 00:19:24.569 circle conclusion to her public life. She begins 00:19:24.569 --> 00:19:27.140 her journey. deeply embedded in Chinatown advocacy 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:30.000 with the Chinese Progressive Association. She 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.960 leverages that base to rise to the very pinnacle 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:35.160 of San Francisco city government, experiences 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:37.539 a highly publicized fall from grace due to the 00:19:37.539 --> 00:19:39.759 pressures of that system, and ultimately returns 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:42.579 to Chinatown. But this time she is operating 00:19:42.579 --> 00:19:45.160 entirely outside the electoral battlefield, focusing 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.279 purely on cultural advocacy and preservation. 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:51.839 It is a sweeping, complex narrative. Let's summarize 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:54.119 the key phases of what we've unpacked today for 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:56.740 everyone listening. We started with the geographic 00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:59.279 shock of an immigrant moving from Hong Kong to 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.119 Michigan, who then channels that adaptability 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:04.700 into becoming a passionate grassroots organizer 00:20:04.700 --> 00:20:08.460 with the Rainbow Coalition. We analyzed her barrier 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:12.099 -breaking 1994 election, where she built an independent 00:20:12.099 --> 00:20:14.980 coalition to become the first unappointed Chinese 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:17.900 -American on the Board of Supervisors. We examined 00:20:17.900 --> 00:20:20.779 her controversial use of legislative moratoriums 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:22.700 to engineer neighborhood safety and preserve 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:25.650 local character in the Sunset and West. We discuss 00:20:25.650 --> 00:20:27.710 her bridging of local power with international 00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:30.890 labor protests outside Macy's. We broke down 00:20:30.890 --> 00:20:33.990 the demographic fault lines that led to her agonizing 00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:37.849 sub -50 vote defeat in 2000. We tracked her administrative 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:40.309 pivot to the Assessor Recorder's office, where 00:20:40.309 --> 00:20:43.369 she simultaneously executed historic civil disobedience 00:20:43.369 --> 00:20:46.309 by officiating the city's first same -sex marriage. 00:20:46.529 --> 00:20:48.529 While fiercely defending residential homeowners 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:51.349 against corporate tax maneuvers. And finally, 00:20:51.470 --> 00:20:54.309 we examined the unfortunate reality of her political 00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:57.940 exit. falling victim to a patronage scandal that 00:20:57.940 --> 00:21:00.180 highlighted the transactional nature of local 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:02.559 government before she ultimately returned to 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.000 cultural advocacy in Chinatown. It's just an 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:07.400 incredible arc. It really is. And as we conclude 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:09.579 this analysis, I want to leave you, our listener, 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:13.119 with a broader philosophical question to ponder 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:16.500 based on Mabel Tang's trajectory. Oh, I like 00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:19.640 this. We have traced her path. From a street 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.559 -level protest organizer to a high -ranking official 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.940 controlling property taxes and city jobs. Think 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:28.079 about the friction of that transition. Yeah. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:31.099 When a deeply passionate outsider grassroots 00:21:31.099 --> 00:21:34.200 activist finally successfully integrates into 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:36.819 the rigid bureaucratic machinery of local government, 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.740 a machinery built on patronage, budgets, and 00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:42.460 compromise, does the activist eventually succeed 00:21:42.460 --> 00:21:44.200 in changing the nature of the system? Or does 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:46.359 the weight of that bureaucratic system inevitably 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:49.680 change the nature of the activists? That is exactly 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.640 the kind of structural question her legacy forces 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.220 us to ask, and it perfectly encapsulates the 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:58.619 deep complexities of municipal power. Thank you 00:21:58.619 --> 00:22:00.740 for joining us as we explore the intricate history 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:02.880 of San Francisco politics through the career 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.920 of Mabel Tang. We appreciate you taking the time 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:07.319 to analyze these historical mechanics with us, 00:22:07.339 --> 00:22:09.920 and we look forward to unpacking another deep 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:11.059 dive with you next time.