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Planning-commission nominee Sue Diamond referred to full board after contentious public comment
Summary
After nearly three hours of testimony for and against Mayor Breed’s nominee Sue Diamond, the Rules Committee voted to forward her nomination to the full Board of Supervisors without a recommendation, citing deep divisions among community groups and supervisors.
The Rules Committee on Monday sent Mayor London Breed’s nomination of Susan “Sue” Diamond to the Planning Commission to the full Board of Supervisors without a committee recommendation after extended questioning and public comment.
Diamond, a land-use attorney who said she earned degrees from Stanford, Harvard Law and a master’s in city planning from MIT, described a career spanning private practice, nonprofit representation and teaching. She told the committee she would recuse herself when former clients appear before the commission and said she would “absolutely recuse myself” if a conflict arose.
Community reaction was sharply divided at the committee hearing. Supporters from nonprofit housing and senior-service organizations said Diamond’s nonprofit work and project experience make her well qualified. Sherry Koschover, speaking for the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, said Diamond “brought the highest degree of integrity, judgment, and fairness” in her work on a large redevelopment project.
Opponents, including community organizers and neighborhood groups, said Diamond lacks a consistent track record of centering equity in development decisions. Rayna Tello of POLDER said, “This nominee has failed, to reach out to community groups on the front line stakeholders,” and Jesse Fernandez of Communities United for Health and Justice said Diamond had not demonstrated accountability to working-class communities of color.
Supervisors pressed Diamond on displacement and the city’s housing crisis, asking how she would balance commercial development with housing needs and what conditions she would impose on projects to protect vulnerable residents. Diamond said the planning commission should both scrutinize individual projects and work with the planning department to propose legislation to address cumulative impacts.
Supervisor Gordon Marr moved to forward the nomination to the full board “without recommendation as a committee report.” Vice Chair Shimon Walton voted No; Marr and Chair Hillary Ronan voted Yes. The motion passed on a roll-call vote, and Ronan said this means the full Board will vote on the nomination at its next meeting.
The committee record shows the term Diamond would fill expires on June 30, 2020. No confirmation or rejection occurred at the Rules Committee level; the nomination will be decided by the entire Board.
