Supporting Matt Letters

I supported Matt on a number of issues---he was usually right, after all---as long as I thought there was a chance he would do something---anything---about what I still think is the most important issue facing the city, homelessness. I had to give up on him, because I finally realized it wasn’t going to happen.

Words of Encouragement for Matt
Subject: Housing Authority
Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 12:30:40 -0700
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
Stick to your guns on the housing authority issue. That your opponents are playing the race card is despicable. Good job so far, but what about the homeless? Don't let the bean counters plead city poverty because of the declining economy. We should raise taxes on the rich if there's not enough money to take care of people's needs. They've pushed housing costs through the roof and clutter up our streets with their SUVs; let them pay higher taxes to help those in need.

Positive Reinforcement for Matt
Subject: Good Job
Date: Thursday, 31 May 2001
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
Hope you will support one of the anti-TIC proposals. Rental housing stock must be maintained at around a 50% level, so that scum like me can stay in the city.
Glad to see you support the raise for supervisors. It simply demeans the office---and democracy itself---to pretend that what you're doing is worth only part-time pay. Supervisors are the most important policy-makers in the city and should be paid at least as much as supes in Alameda County.
You know you're on the right track when Ken Garcia doesn't like you.
Regards,
Rob "Landslide" Anderson

Waiting for Matt on Homelessness
Subject: Rest of the Story
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
In today's Examiner, Burgin only reprinted part of my message. I'm forwarding the part omitted, which was a serious political argument against the peculiar idea that somehow the Sixth St. disaster area is the immediate responsibility of the supervisors.
Any initiatives on homelessness in the works? I read somewhere that Chris Daly had something on the fire. Don't rely on the activist left for initiatives on this issue: they seem to be deficient re the "vision thing." Maybe they've been on the defensive so long they're no longer thinking about actually solving the problem. Why can't we do a $100 million bond issue to deal with homelessness like they did in Seattle?

Rob Keeps Trying
Subject: Homelessness
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 10:37:14 -0700
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
As you can see from the morning papers, homelessness as an issue isn't going to go away. Why not suggest a commission to come up with a solution/solutions? Clearly there's no consensus now, but one could be formed with some effort and no expenditure of political capital. The board of supervisors could appoint a commission to reflect their districts and their concerns, emphasizing that this is not just another way of putting the problem on the back burner.

P.S. Sorry to see you with a cell phone in your hand the other day. Hope you were talking to a girl friend or your dealer and not doing a political errand. Don't let the process eat up your personal life!

And Trying…
Subject: [Fwd: Greens Should Run Again in 2004]
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 13:40:53 -0700
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
…Remember, just because Amos Brown is saying how unacceptable it is having people live on the streets doesn't automatically make it untrue. He's right, and Willie Brown is pathetic in his defense of his move-them-on policy. But where is the Ammiano---i.e., the Democratic Party---left wing on the issue? Mostly playing defense against the Mayor and the cops. No policy initiatives, nada.

And Trying…
Subject: Homelessness (What else?)
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
As the recent story on Paul Boden shows, he and his organization are dedicated to defending and serving the needs of the homeless within existing city policy. These are worthy things to do, but what about some new initiatives?
I've attached a speech I submitted to the Ammiano campaign during the last mayoral election. It was ignored and unacknowledged, of course---he ran an oddly timid campaign, even for a Democratic Party liberal. You could give a variation on this speech and thus change the public dialogue on homelessness completely. One supervisor doesn't have much power without allies, but there's always the bully pulpit!

Rob Supports the Living Wage
Subject: [Fwd: Homelessness and Dirty Streets]
Date: Sat, 01 Sep 2001 16:10:52 -0700
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
…Good proposal on extending the living wage. They always cry poor whenever a minimum wage proposal comes up. Grass is going to grow in the streets if people on the bottom are paid a living wage. Last year I was working as a dishwasher (I still am, actually) and living in the Hotel Chase on Market St., which cost $170 a week, no cooking, bathroom down the hall. (Dead mouse outside my door one morning. A message from one of my opponents in the 5th District?) At least in an SRO you have a hot plate and a refrigerator! Make the bastards pay, and don't forget that you always have the humane political option of raising taxes on the rich, i.e., every property owner in the city. Such a rise would pay for an aggressive approach to dealing with homelessness in a serious and humane way.

Matt Flanks Hallinan on the Left
Subject: Left of Hallinan
Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2001
From: Rob Anderson
To: Matt Gonzalez
Matt:
Got a kick out of Garcia's latest. "A hot-tempered attorney" while in the public defender's office? Funny I didn't see that side of your personality during the campaign. You seemed rather laid back to me. Of course Garcia is conflating your alleged radicalism with personality traits. He's over in Warren Hinkle territory any more, not that he's ever been too good. He did a very useful story several years ago on homelessness in Golden Gate Park but oddly did almost no follow-up, though I of course urged him to stick it to the liberals. That was a good stick to beat them with, and god knows they deserve it.
To "the left of Terrence Hallinan"! Now there's something you can have carved on your tombstone. If Hallinan is left in any meaningful sense of the word, it's the goofball Stalinist left. He told Carlos Petroni once that he was a dialectical materialist! As far as I'm concerned, that's on a par with Christian fundamentalism intellectually.
And good vote on the Olympics bullshit. It would only mean huge traffic jams and an actual loss of money for the city. Atlanta actually lost money the last time around. But the Chamber of Commerce types and the Development Democrats like Willie love that kind of bullshit, even though it degrades the quality of life for everyone else. Mindless boosterism…Sorry I couldn't make it to the art thing in your office, but I appreciate the invite. Don't give up on me, though I don't imagine my support is worth much politically, though you can always list me as one of your supporters. You have good political instincts, Matt. Don't let the bastards grind you down