{"id":432127,"date":"2026-08-13T22:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432127\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:04:14","slug":"at-d8-supervisor-debate-candidate-manny-yekutiel-takes-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432127\/","title":{"rendered":"At D8 supervisor debate candidate Manny Yekutiel takes the heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The opening question at the District 8 supervisor debate cut right to the chase: \u201cThere has been press<\/a> coverage<\/a> about a sexual assault allegation from six years ago that a political activist reportedly made against Manny Yekutiel, who has denied the charge. What do you think voters should take from this?\u201d asked Patrick Hoge, the San Francisco Examiner reporter moderating the debate hosted by the United Democratic Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese allegations are untrue,\u201d replied Yekutiel, who, prior to the June accusations, was the race\u2019s most prolific fundraiser<\/a> and the presumed frontrunner. \u201cThe police investigated the allegations, they found nothing and decided not to bring charges to the DA.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this, candidate Darshini Patel shot back: \u201cI think when we consider the fact that our police department has a 14 percent clearance rate, which is half the national average, it makes it difficult for anyone to even want to come forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Nguyen and Gary McCoy, the other two candidates, kept it simple. \u201cWe should always believe and support survivors,\u201d McCoy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a community need to demand accountability and also support all survivors,\u201d Nguyen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Wednesday night debate, a crowd of around 100 people gathered outdoors in the cold at Noe Valley Town Square to hear from the four supervisor candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the opening question, the candidates discussed more typical civic issues like housing, transportation and street conditions. Still, a clear division emerged between Yekutiel and his opponents, who quickly piled on to paint many of his ideas as unrealistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about where he would direct funds for Muni, McCoy called for \u201cexpanding transit later at night and earlier in the morning. San Francisco is a service industry town.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Yekutiel offered a grand plan for a fully built-out subway system with new underground stations at 24th and Castro, as well as the Fillmore and the Marina. The Central Subway could be extended to North Beach, he added, and Muni could add tunnels under Geary and 19th Avenue.<\/p>\n

But Yekutiel\u2019s opponents threw cold water on his plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoDarshini Patel and Manny Yekutiel at the District 8 supervisor debate at Noe Valley Town Square on August 12, 2026. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to refocus on the basic things, which may not be as exciting and sexy, but certainly is what we need,\u201d Patel said. If she were elected, she added, she would focus on making sure Muni estimated arrival times were accurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in a San Francisco where we can take care of the small things while thinking big,\u201d Yekutiel countered. The Central Subway expansion<\/a> cost about $1 billion a mile, but San Francisco ought to be able to build subways for less, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elected officials should focus on homelessness, addiction and affordability right now, McCoy said, \u201cnot these huge pie in the sky ideas that are wonderful but we\u2019re not going to get there in four or eight years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yekutiel was accused of grandstanding again after he mentioned his plan to build 10,000 new housing units in District 8 in eight years \u2014 1,000 by making it easier for people to add extra units in garages, basements or backyards, 3,000 from \u201chigh-opportunity housing sites\u201d in the district, and 6,000 from creating a \u201chousing priority district\u201d on Market between Castro and Octavia where all \u201cbarriers\u201d to building new housing, such as fees, taxes, building height limits, as well as many building and planning code requirements, would be removed.<\/p>\n

The other candidates agreed that District 8 needs more housing<\/a> \u2014 they all want the Safeway at Church and Market redeveloped<\/a>, as well as speedier permitting, and McCoy and Patel support<\/a> San Francisco\u2019s recent upzoning<\/a>. But, they have not promised 10,000 units.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a drag queen and I love the fantasy,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to promise you unicorns and rainbows just to win your vote. Ten thousand units is really just not grounded in reality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

District 8 has only built 17 units<\/a> so far this year, Patel pointed out.<\/p>\n

But Yekutiel defended his plan. \u201cIt is not pie in the sky,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just need to believe it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the debate shifted to homelessness and drug use, McCoy, Nguyen and Patel once again aligned more with each other than with Yekutiel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nguyen called for more city investment in mental health outreach, citing a story from Mission Local<\/a> about a worker who helped de-escalate a woman in crisis when police were unable to. \u201cThis is the kind of humane response that we need,\u201d Nguyen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patel said her focus would be on building out the safety net for preventing homelessness, citing the statistic<\/a> that for every one person who gets housed, another three people become homeless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCoy agreed with them both. \u201cWe\u2019re not scaling up the things that we know work,\u201d McCoy said \u2014 the street outreach team is, in fact, slated to be cut by the city<\/a>. \u201cOftentimes we resort to just pushing people around our neighborhoods in San Francisco,\u201d McCoy continued. \u201cWe need to stop that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yekutiel offered a much rosier picture. Mayor Daniel Lurie \u201cis doing an excellent job,\u201d Yekutiel said. \u201cI\u2019m running because I want to keep the positive momentum that many of us are seeing in the city are continuing to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a few more questions, it was time for the candidates to give their closing statements. McCoy, Nguyen and Patel all made sure to mention how unrealistic a certain candidate\u2019s plans seemed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of seeing people running on promises instead of plans,\u201d Patel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need leadership in San Francisco that, again, is rooted in reality,\u201d McCoy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat my friend here, Manny, is talking about a lot of times is very extreme,\u201d Nguyen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Yekutiel stood his ground. \u201cIf you want the same old, same old, there\u2019s options on this stage you can choose from. But if you want someone that\u2019s actually built things,\u201d Yekutiel said, \u201cthen I\u2019m your candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election Day is Nov. 3, 2026. This race will use ranked-choice voting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

District 8 includes the Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, Dolores Heights, Parnassus Heights, Ashbury Heights, Corona Heights, and Diamond Heights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The opening question at the District 8 supervisor debate cut right to the chase: \u201cThere has been press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[109695,35072,101,103,102,104,106,105,169352],"class_list":["post-432127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-district-8","tag-election-2026","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-supervisor-race-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}