Ahsha Safaí (born 1973) is an American elected official in San Francisco, California. He serves as a member of the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

representing Supervisorial District 11. District 11 includes the neighborhoods of

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

, Ingleside, Oceanview, Merced Heights, Ingleside Heights, Mission Terrace, Outer Mission,

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada * Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinoi ...

, and Crocker Amazon.

Early life, education and career

Safaí was born in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1973, and moved with his mother to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

at the age of five. He attended

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Ca ...

, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science and African-American studies. He later went on to receive his master's degree in city planning from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

(MIT). In San Francisco, Safaí served as political director for the janitors union local.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

In 2008, he ran for the District 11 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors against

John Avalos John Avalos is an American politician. He served two terms as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2008 to 2016. Avalos represented District 11 in San Francisco, consisting of the Crocker-Amazon, Excelsior, Ingleside, Ocean ...

, losing by a close margin. Safaí ran again in 2016, successfully, replacing Avalos who was

termed out A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

of office. During the 2016 race, he ran against Kimberly Alvarenga; Safaí was endorsed by the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. He worked with Dean Preston and Aaron Peskin to delay the construction of thousands of units in the Hub so that TODCO, a prominent anti-housing group in San Francisco, could perform a race and equity study on the project within six months. More than two years later, TODCO had not begun the study and the group said it had no intent to do so. In 2021, Safaí said he would oppose the building of modular housing for the homeless in San Francisco unless it used labor from San Francisco; a Vallejo company had up until then provided modular housing complexes faster and cheaper than other companies could. In 2021, Safaí supported a proposal by Mayor London Breed to streamline housing production in San Francisco. In April 2022, Safaí voted against keeping cars off the east end of John F. Kennedy Drive in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the developm ...

. The ordinance passed 7-4.

Personal life

Safaí, his wife Yadira, and their children live in San Francisco's

Excelsior District The Excelsior District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Location The Excelsior District is located along Mission Street, east of San Jose Ave, south of Interstate 280 Southern Fwy, west of John McLaren Park, and somewhat north of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Safai, Ahsha Living people 1973 births 21st-century American politicians Iranian emigrants to the United States American politicians of Iranian descent California Democrats San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Northeastern University alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Asian-American city council members