WATCH: Top San Francisco mayoral candidates detail vision for city, tackling crime, homelessness and more
ABC7 News teamed up with our media partner The San Francisco Standard and their political and business reporter Annie Gaus, along with Kara Swisher, author and host of the "On with Kara Swisher" podcast to talk to Peskin and the other candidates about the issues facing the city, like crime, homelessness, the economy, tourism, and the recovery of downtown.
Watch the video above to see how Peskin answered tough questions from Reggie Aqui, Annie, and Kara.
Here's where Peskin stands on some of the major issues:
San Francisco Revitalization
Union Square falls within Sup. Peskin's district and has seen big names leave the area over the past few years. When asked about what he would do to change that, here's what he had to say.
"I passed legislation to actually fill those vacancies with residential and as a matter of fact just today we announced those first conversions for 120 units," said Peskin.
He went on to say he will work on bringing more arts, culture and entertainment residencies to the downtown area which it has not traditionally seen.
"In order to revitalize downtown and Union Square we need a mix of uses, we need it to be a 24-hour neighborhood. We need to have a residential component so it's alive in the evenings. Union Square actually has not been marked by a robust nightlife and this is an opportunity to do that," said Peskin.
The supervisor believes that not only does the focus need to be on revitalizing Union Square but also the central part of San Francisco.
"Market Street, downtown should become the headquarters of the center of international tech diplomacy," Peskin said. "Bringing together academic institutions and market forces. Talk about AI. Fill our convention center. Fill those empty office spaces."
Addressing Housing Concerns
Peskin says his voting record shows that he is committed to building more housing in San Francisco, especially homes that are affordable for everyone.
"I have voted to approve over 100,000 new homes in San Francisco at all income levels," said Peskin.
The supervisor says there are currently 73,000 units that a ready to be built but aren't due to interest rates being too high. Peskin says his plan to address this is for the city to offer revenue bond financing to be able to start building those units.
Public Safety
Peskin's plan to address the issue of public safety in San Francisco is called "From Crisis to Care" which he believes will move the city forward in this area.
"The first step is systemic management reform to wrangle the nine city departments and 248 nonprofit service providers to a much more rational, much more accountable structure," said Peskin.
He says the second step is a regional approach to address the city's substance abuse and mental health crisis. He plans to work with the nine Bay Area counties to refurbish unused state facilities to give people the treatment that they need.