By Lee Hubbard
It has been a long eight years for Shamann Walton, the San Francisco Supervisor for District 10, the area that encompasses Bayview, Hunters Point, Dogpatch and Potrero Hill.
He first came to the Supervisor’s office after being elected in November of 2018. Before that, he was the former president and member of the San Francisco Board of Education. After his term ends, he will be out of city government for the first time in 12 years, when his term ends in January of 2027.
“I don’t know what I am gonna do once this job is over,” said Walton. “I am not there yet, but right now, I am trying to do the best I can do, with this job I have right now.”
Walton succeeded Malia Cohen, who was the Supervisor in the area for the previous eight years. Cohen succeeded Sophie Maxwell, who was the first supervisor for the area after San Francisco went from citywide to district elections in 2002. With district elections, many of the issues that have impacted District 10 have started to get addressed.
“We have created the most affordable housing units in San Francisco in District 10,” said Walton. “More than any other area in the city.”
The affordable housing created includes tracks of housing units on Third Street, in the Hunters Point Shipyard, housing units over near Pier 70, as well as the rebuilding of public housing in Potrero Hill, West Point and the Sunnydale area of San Francisco.
Besides the new housing, Walton cites a list of completed projects that have taken place under his watch. They include the completion of the new Southeast Community Center, Southeast Health Center, KC Jones/MLK Park, Crane Cove Park, Shoreview Playground, Hertz Playground, India Basin and Esprit Park.
“My main thing has been about my accessibility to D10 residents, affordable housing and addressing the disparities that have historically impacted D10 residents,” added Walton.
While San Francisco only has a six percent Black population, District 10 has the highest concentration of Black people in San Francisco. Some people refer to the area as the final frontier for Black people in San Francisco.
Walton knows the area well. Born in San Francisco and raised between Hunters Point and Potrero Hill, Walton left the area during his high school years for Vallejo. After attending and graduating from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, he came back to San Francisco. He started working at Young Community Developers, where he became the Executive Director of this workforce development nonprofit.
At YCD, that’s when he decided to get involved in San Francisco politics. All of this is detailed in his book, From Juvenile Hall to City Hall: Your Resume Can Change, which details his early life troubles and his life transformation.
Walton was the main Supervisor who addressed the needs of Black San Franciscans, with his push for reparations. He helped to set up a reparations task force to look at the historic injustices Black people have suffered in San Francisco. The reparations task force came up with over 100 recommendations to help improve the lives of Black San Franciscans.
“These recommendations help to address the wealth disparities that have impacted Black San Franciscans,” added Walton. “No city has put legislation on the books to address racial disparities like we have.”
While he has close to six months to go before he is out of office, he said that not starting the development at Candlestick Point ‘has been a thorn in my side.’ He said that the next supervisor in D10 has to make sure all of the affordable housing slated for the area comes into play.
He mentioned projects like the Schlage Lock development in Visitation Valley, the Candlestick Point development and further development near Pier 70.
“While everyone is focused on bringing back downtown, we need to make sure we do not ignore the southeast sector and all of the work that needs to be completed,” continued Walton.
