College student to South San Francisco mayor in 3 years

In 2020, South San Francisco Mayor James Coleman made headlines when the Harvard University student ran for and won the District 4 City Council seat, defeating incumbent and former Mayor Rich Garbarino. 

Then 22 years old, he had returned to the Bay Area due to the pandemic and began attending local City Council meetings with his peers, largely as a result of ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd, and wanted to hold the city accountable for police brutality that had occurred in their own backyard. That included addressing underlying law enforcement issues that caused the 2012 killing of 15-year-old Derrick Gaines by a South City police officer. 

“He was only three years older than I was. A lot of my friends and I knew him personally, and we knew his family, and we wanted to take this national fervor and channel it into real change in South San Francisco,” he said. 

After growing frustrated with the then-council’s decision to disallow public comments, coupled with upcoming district elections, Coleman made the decision to run against Garbarino — who happened to live down the street — citing a need for younger, more progressive voices. 

His bootstrapped campaign, run by “a bunch of broke college students,” was successful, and he became not just the only Gen Z councilmember, but also the first openly LGBTQ individual the city had elected to such a position well. 

But the campaign was largely bolstered by the events of 2020, with movements characterized by a feverish surge in demands for political and social reckonings. And with a dissipation in such zeal over the last few years, leaders elected during that time, including Coleman, are figuring out how to ensure their platforms can weather the fluctuating sentiments and priorities of their constituents. 

“Definitely the environment is different,” he said. “Right now, people are more concerned about one, the cost of living broadly, but two, how are you going to afford a home or how are you going to pay rent?”

Not long after his election, the council moved forward in creating the Commission on Racial and Social Equity, which in part was meant to recommend police department policy changes. And while addressing instances of police brutality are still important, his approach to criminal justice and public safety has become more holistic. 

“I think I’ve definitely evolved when it comes to public safety and what we need to do,” he said. “It’s not just, change your police department, and everything’s going to be great. For public safety, it’s such a larger issue. … Our criminal justice system brings people in and then it just spits them out, and of course they recommit crime. It’s so much geared toward punishment and not toward rehabilitation. It requires officials to be held accountable, but to meaningfully address public safety, you can’t just attack one arm of the system.”

He attributes key social programs, such as well-funded child care, as critical investment in public safety, as such services lead to better health outcomes long term. The Parks and Recreation Department’s child care program — which started in the 1980s and offers child care subsidies for qualified families — is particularly generous compared to many other cities in the area, but he said there is still a long way to go. In particular, he praised San Francisco’s Proposition C, which helps fund more expansive early childhood education services.

“They have better facilities. Their teachers are getting paid a lot more than they were in the past, and so what you’re seeing is a big shortage of child care workers and teachers in San Mateo County because a lot of them have just been going to San Francisco to work,” he said.  

Housing

But his top priority as mayor revolves around affordable housing, and he’s shown a penchant for championing large-scale solutions, one of which, publicly run housing, would require modeling themselves off of other countries, rather than nearby cities. Social housing, as Coleman says, is something that could and should be a desirable place to live, not something bridled with stigma and seen as a societal blemish. 

He cites his recent trips to Singapore and Hong Kong as examples of social housing done well, in addition to the more noble attitudes of approaching housing security as a right, not a luxury. 

“The idea behind social housing is that it would pay for itself. Because it’s a mix of incomes, the high income units would subsidize the low-income units and it would be cost neutral just like any other private development. It could be a bond in addition to subsidies and grants at the state and federal level,” he said, referencing funding possibilities such as lease revenue bonds, which would not impose a tax on residents but would be paid for via rental payments. 

And by functioning as a state enterprise, the government is seen less as a money sink and more as an economic engine, he said. The closest model he’s found in the United States for such an enterprise is in Montgomery County, Maryland, which operates a housing fund that provides short-term financing to developers who can build affordable housing units, when they otherwise would have to construct market-rate buildings based on the private funding they’re able to receive. 

Small steps

Not everyone shares the same vision though. In the leadup to the Measure AA vote last year, which authorized South City to develop or acquire below-market-rate housing, many residents lodged criticisms at Coleman for such measures, stating that, despite his claims, such an effort would indeed fall on taxpayers to overwhelmingly fund. And on top of addressing cost concerns, such progressive proposals hold the burden of deconstructing long-held beliefs about certain state-run services such as public housing, which, rather than just being rooted in unfounded stigmas, for some people old enough to remember, are also paired with memories of neglect and the perpetuation of intergenerational poverty. 

While he acknowledged such a vision might take five or 10 years, well beyond his time as mayor, he’s hoping the small steps the City Council and staff take this year will be an overture to more fruitful discussions and progress in the future. 

“I want to make sure that we are prepared when it makes the most sense to embark on social housing,” he said. Building blocks would be making sure we are identifying pieces of land, whether we already own it, or acquiring pieces of land that can develop or redevelop into mixed-income housing. Or making sure staff is ready to issue bonds or put forward a measure and do research into lease-revenue bond options.”

State policy interest

He’s also learned a lot about crafting housing policy through his full-time work with Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, as well as his own race for the District 21 Assembly seat last year. Despite the loss, he said it was eye-opening to meet power players at the state level that, in turn, has helped inform him of how best to approach some local-level policies. 

But the experience also left a sour taste in his mouth and reaffirmed his belief in reforming campaign finance rules, especially after seeing special interest groups spend almost $900,000 in support of now Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, and about $450,000 in opposition to the runner-up candidate and former Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale, partially by running the ads comparing her to former President Donald Trump. Independent expenditures in support of Hale, by contrast, hovered around $78,000. 

“We need real campaign finance reform at the federal and state levels. It’s just so immoral putting out ads like this. No one can look at the ads that were coming out of 2022 and say this was an ethical race,” he said. 

Representation

While he doesn’t rule out another state-level campaign in his future, his sights are focused on South City for now. Even with big ideas for housing and a possible future in state politics, the 24-year-old reiterated his other priority this year is simply making routine events like flag-raising ceremonies more appealing for residents his age and installing benches at bus stops, not to mention, as the first openly LGBTQ mayor, soaking in the feeling of being another “first” on the City Council. 

Former Mayor Flor Nicolas was the first Filipina woman as mayor, and before her, Mark Nagales was the first Filipino to lead the city. Councilmember Mark Addiego previously held the position as the youngest mayor when he first held the position in 1980. 

And while in years past, an openly LGBTQ mayor may have stirred controversy, he said he hasn’t received any negativity, aside from fringe comments he simply ignores. 

By having such a diverse representation of councilmembers, not just ethnically but also generationally, the South City native said he’s proud to be a part of a council that is so reflective of where he lives. 

“It’s important to have representation of all ages and backgrounds and all ethnicities. If you had a council full of 20-year-olds, you wouldn’t have the perspective of seniors. If you have a council of seniors, you wouldn’t have the perspective of younger people. We have Gen Z, we have two people in their 40s, we have people in their 60s. We’re really balanced.”

Such a position hasn’t come without its downsides, however. While many of his peers are pursuing lucrative careers, embarking on a career in the public sector means accepting a different financial path. But despite still living at home, he still feels like a regular 20-something.

“I definitely sacrificed an income,” he said. “But I still go out with friends and all that. I’ll go to Dave & Busters sometimes, watch Netflix or go to the gym.”