The Chronicle, Schwarzenegger, Amos Brown and Dufty: Misleading Readers Twice on Same Day

From 1996 to 2000, Amos Brown served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As the Bay Guardian once described it, “nobody can offer a better example of the pro-developer, anti-neighborhood board than Amos Brown,” and that’s putting it lightly. His tenure was replete with contempt for the poor, a maniacal and disturbing hatred of the homeless, and a ravenous desire to rid the city of rent control. Only after he evicted an elderly lady and her disabled son in order to carpet-bag into District 11 for his re-election campaign did Brown lose his seat to Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, who cleverly ran with the slogan “Evict Amos.”

“Amos Brown was very unsupportive of efforts to stop the criminalization of homeless people,” said Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness for Homeless People. “His remarks reflected a stereotypical attitude that was very hurtful.” During his tenure on the Board, Brown promoted legislation that cracked down on even the most tame forms of panhandling, tried to criminalize the possession of shopping carts, wanted to seize the cars of people suspected of prostitution, and forbade the homeless from standing still on the road for more than five minutes.

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