How an old carwash became a key issue in S.F.’s District 5 race
A go-to criticism against District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston from his opponents — in and out of politics — is that he blocks housing. Candidates hoping to unseat him in next week’s election point to sites like 400 Divisadero St., the location of the long-shuttered Touchless Car Wash, as a prime example. A billboard on Divisadero, paid for by the public pressure group GrowSF, reads, “That car wash should be affordable homes: Bilal Mahmood will fix it.” Mahmood and fellow supervisor candidate Scotty Jacobs doubled down on Preston bashing with a Halloween-themed mock “funeral” this weekend at the carwash site, replete with cardboard tombstones lamenting the “death” of would-be homes at different addresses around the city.But the truth is more complicated: A developer acquired 400 Divisadero St. in June, and it is expected to become more than 200 units of housing. So why […]
