Hillary Ronen is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors from
District 9
''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction mockumentary film directed by Neill Blomkamp in his feature film debut, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. It is a co-production of New Zea ...
, which includes the neighborhoods of
Mission District
The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...
,
Bernal Heights
Bernal Heights ( ) is a residential neighborhood in southeastern San Francisco, California. The prominent Bernal Heights hill overlooks the San Francisco skyline and features a microwave transmission tower. The nearby Sutro Tower can be seen from ...
, and
Portola.
Early life and education
Ronen's father immigrated to the United States from Israel in his twenties. Her mother was a school teacher.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
and her
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
Career
After graduating from law school, she moved to the
Mission District
The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...
, where she joined La Raza Centro Legal. She worked as an immigrant rights attorney.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Ronen was a legislative aide and chief of staff to Supervisor
David Campos
David Campos (born September 28, 1970), is a politician who is Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party. In 2008 he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented San Francisco's District 9 (Bernal Heights, P ...
. As an aide for Campos, she defended his proposals to prohibit the construction of market-rate housing in parts of San Francisco. She succeeded him on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors after winning election in
the November 2016 election.
Ronen was sworn in on January 9, 2017.
Her election created a female majority on the board for the first time in 20 years.
During the
2018 San Francisco mayoral special election, Ronen voted with the majority to remove
London Breed
London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Board ...
as interim mayor. Ronen explained her vote by stating her belief that Breed was being supported by "white, rich men" and "billionaires" such as
Ron Conway
Ronald Crawford Conway (born March 9, 1951) is an American venture capitalist and philanthropist. He has been described as one of Silicon Valley's " super angels".
Early career
Conway graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's d ...
who "have steered the policies for the past mayoral administrations . . . that have gotten us into the absolute mess that we are in today, where poor people and people of color cannot afford to live in the city."
Ronen's choice for interim mayor,
Mark Farrell, was a white male venture capitalist whose firm Conway had invested in. Breed was ultimately elected as mayor on June 5, 2018.
Positions on housing
In 2018, Ronen fought to prevent the construction of a 75-unit building on the site of a laundromat. She argued that an environmental review of the building did not consider the impact of a shadow on a nearby schoolyard, even though an environmental review conducted by officials at the
San Francisco Planning Department
The government of the City and County of San Francisco utilizes the "strong mayor" form of mayoral/council government, composed of the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, several elected officers, and numerous other entities. It is the only consolidate ...
showed that the new construction, including its shadow, would not have an adverse impact on children at the schoolyard. In October of that same year, Ronen dropped her opposition, stating that the appeal process seeking to halt the project had been exhausted, thus allowing the project to proceed.
In 2019, she co-sponsored a resolution opposing
California Senate Bill 50 which would have mandated denser housing near public transit stations and jobs centers in order to reduce the housing shortage in California.
In 2021, when San Francisco City Attorney
Dennis Herrera
Dennis Herrera is an American attorney, currently serving as Public Utilities Commission general manager for San Francisco. Herrera was previously City Attorney of San Francisco, known for his longtime legal advocacy for same-sex marriage in Cali ...
sued a real estate developer for building 29 apartments in a building lot designated for 10 apartments, Ronen celebrated the decision and said that she had complained about the building for years.
In October 2021, Ronen voted against the construction of a 495-unit apartment complex (one-quarter of which were designated as affordable housing) on a Nordstrom's valet parking lot next to a BART station. Her vote was unusual, as she was blocking construction of housing in the district of another supervisors. The norm on the board is generally to honor the wishes of the district supervisor, who in this case was
Matt Haney
Matthew Craig Haney (born April 17, 1982) is an American politician from San Francisco currently serving as a member of the California State Assembly from the 17th district, covering the eastern portion of the city. A progressive member of the ...
, a supporter of the proposed construction. After the vote, ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' editorial board wrote that the Board of Supervisors "have lost their minds on housing" and that San Francisco "needs a Board of Supervisors that won’t sabotage any and seemingly all earnest attempts to deal with this city’s housing crisis." The California Department of Housing and Community Development began an investigation into whether the San Francisco Board of Supervisors acted improperly in its decision to block the housing project. Ronen defended her vote, saying she was "pro-housing."
Controversies
District 9 is worse off since Ronen was elected, according to Ronen
"The Mission is worse than I've seen it since I took office six years so. We need more street cleaning, we need to deal with graffiti, we need more resources for the people sleeping in the Mission to be given rooms and hotels and safe sleep sites and navigation centers. And we need the vendor law to be enforced. It's a mess right now and I am angry."
Profanity directed towards other Board of Supervisors members
In April 2022, Ronen tweeted profane language towards San Francisco Supervisor
Matt Haney
Matthew Craig Haney (born April 17, 1982) is an American politician from San Francisco currently serving as a member of the California State Assembly from the 17th district, covering the eastern portion of the city. A progressive member of the ...
in response to Haney's defense of the independence of the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force: "Matt, are you really starting to believe your own bull shit or is this just more bull shit?" Ronen's direct reply to Haney was the subject of extensive criticism and condemnation in the hundreds of direct replies and quote tweets that followed, which outnumbered the total number of likes and retweets of Ronen's post.
Personal life
Ronen is married to attorney Francisco Ugarte. They live in the
Bernal Heights
Bernal Heights ( ) is a residential neighborhood in southeastern San Francisco, California. The prominent Bernal Heights hill overlooks the San Francisco skyline and features a microwave transmission tower. The nearby Sutro Tower can be seen from ...
neighborhood with their daughter.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronen, Hillary
21st-century American politicians
Living people
San Francisco Board of Supervisors members
Women city councillors in California
21st-century American women politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
Jewish American people in California politics
University of California, San Diego alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
American people of Israeli descent
21st-century American Jews