District 3 Supervisor Julie Christensen opened her campaign headquarters this Saturday, August 1st at 241 Columbus Ave.

She was joined by supporters, including Mayor Ed Lee, who appointed her to her current seat in January, and two of her fellow supervisors: District 5's London Breed and District 8's Scott Wiener. Vicki Hennessy, candidate for sheriff, and Alex Randolph, a City College of San Francisco board appointee up for election, were also by her side as she spoke to the group.

Christensen with supporters.

An estimated 100 or so supporters showed up on Saturday morning to watch Chinese lion dancers outside of the storefront, before going inside to hear Christensen and others speak. They chanted "Julie, Julie, Julie!" as she addressed the crowd.

"We can work cooperatively, cohesively and positively," Christensen said in her speech. Mayor Lee also spoke, issuing a dig at Christensen's opponent, Aaron Peskin. "We do not need more obstruction. We need collaboration. Julie has already proven she can unite this district and unite this district with other districts."

"We are finally coming together and making progress and moving forward as a city and the last thing we need to do is let that slide," said Weiner. "We need to come together as a coalition and win in November."

Breed agreed, telling attendees that "we have a cooperative board that believes in making progress." She praised Christensen as smart, a consensus-builder, and "an amazing woman ... we're finally moving toward change in our city."

Map: SF Department of Elections

Several supporters echoed Breed's "consensus-builder" sentiments, saying they were helping Christensen campaign because she gets things done. That, in fact, is her campaign slogan: "Julie Christensen Gets Things Done." Her campaign cards champion her 20-plus years as a community advocate on projects such as parks and libraries. It also mentions her current work on affordable housing creation, rent control, Muni reliability, and pedestrian safety improvements. She supports the Central Subway—a point of contention for many in North Beach—and wants to see it extended to the northern waterfront.

"I am not anymore merely somebody fighting for my neighborhood or my district. I realize I hold the dreams and the concerns and the wishes of all of the constituents of District 3," Christensen said to supporters. "You are my motivation and you are my compass."

Christensen's main opponent is Peskin, a fellow longtime North Beach resident and fellow Democrat. Formerly a supervisor from 2000–2008, he opened his Polk Gulch campaign headquarters in early June, and later added a location in North Beach. At the former opening, he cited "over 2,000 reported evictions last year, and three times that unreported," he said. "The response from City Hall? The silence is deafening." 

Wilma Pang is also running against Peskin and Christensen, as a Republican.

Teresa Dal Santo and Tina Moylan.

Tina Moylan of Russian Hill said she supports Christensen because "she's a worker. She gets her hands dirty ... She's honest. Works hard. She takes the lead. When she saw a problem, she envisioned a solution. She collaborates, collaborates, collaborates. I can honestly say she could collaborate a nut from a bolt."

Edward Sullivan.

Sunset resident Edward Sullivan doesn't live in District 3, but attended the opening of Christensen's headquarters nonetheless. "Normally I don't volunteer, but this race is really important," he said. "It could swing [the Board of Supervisors] over to the far left side with Peskin, and we don't need that."

"It was terrible for the city" when Peskin was on the board, said Sullivan, who believes Peskin and his allies caused "a lot of the problems we're dealing with now." He added, "We need problem solvers, not ideological bomb throwers. [Christensen's] a problem solver."

North Beach resident Jenny Chan praised Christensen's efforts at championing the North Beach Branch Library. "I live right across from the North Beach library, and there are a lot of children running around and enjoying their time in the new library," she said. "I remember when it was a parking lot and not anything anyone actually utilized. I know [Christensen] worked really hard to get that happening." She added, "She's not just climbing the political ladder. I think she's here to get it done for us."

Stay tuned for more on both Christensen's and Peskin's supervisorial bids as we continue to cover the District 3 race.