Francisco Herrera. Photo Fernando A. Torres

“This is more than a political campaign, it’s a movement,” said Francisco Herrera, waving a check and a handful of documents as he officially registered last month for his mayoral candidacy.

The well-known troubadour and Mission District activist paid $5,568.50 to run in the November election, the sum equivalent to about two percent (according to city law) of the mayor’s salary of $285,319.

But the media has paid little attention to other candidates—even self-described progressive media—saying Mayor Ed Lee has no opponents. “Sure. If the media continues to ignore us, Lee will never have opponents,” Herrera said in his office on 16th Street, located in a community that is in danger of going extinct.

Herrera’s slogan, “A city for all,” seems simple. But considering the serious symptoms from which the city is suffering—population displacement, an out of control capital market, daily evictions and a severe housing crisis—some analysts and critics say the future San Francisco will be a place for a select few and millionaires.

Born in the border city of Calexico to Mexican parents, Herrera, 52, has a master’s degree in political science and theology. He was in a seminary and worked four years in the priesthood with the Society of Jesus and the Franciscans. In one of the poorest neighborhoods of San Diego, Logan Heights, Herrera said he “learned the faith and commitment…the faith always meant serving the community. The faith always has to lead to a social commitment, if not it’s a mockery.” From a young age, he worked with grassroots organizations and with refugees in Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

“There are many displaced people, who have been forced to leave the city. Until 2004 we were 13 percent of the population, now at the moment we are like 8 percent,” Herrera said. “We are losing people, many people. But we are not alone. There are other ethnic groups that have had to leave. People working in the city can’t live in it. Many of the things that we’ve historically seen as part of the city—the art, the culture—this great scene that was once San Francisco is being lost very quickly. With the prices they’re charging, there is no place for the artists who are leaving. Housing is a human right; it can’t be a business. We have plans to stop this situation but if we don’t have the political courage, it’s impossible to solve anything.”

Herrera doesn’t just want to immediately stop evictions, but create a visionary 12-year plan to “return the city, so we can stay, so we can flourish,” he said. Herrera’s vision is of a city accessible to all, especially to workers, “who make the city what it is.” His vision includes affordable housing, establishing a popular bank and reorganizing public transportation, such as Muni and BART.

“People have already paid (the costs) for transportation and for their high fees, people don’t save by using public transportation. We also need to ensure that large companies pay their fair share of taxes and that workers have the right to unionize.”

Herrera’s experience with grassroots communities is wide; he has volunteered in orphanages and community support centers such as Casa de Los Pobres and Casa del Inmigrante in Tijuana, Mexico. In Los Angeles, Oakland, Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Francisco he has helped in founding shelters for displaced immigrant women who are survivors of domestic violence.

Herrera has already garnered the support of various organizations and grassroots leaders such as: Roberto Hernandez of Our Mission: No Eviction, the Green Party, labor leader Frank Martin del Campo, and also the wider San Francisco poetry community. Recently poet laureates Jack Hirschman and Alejandro Murguia organized a cultural event in support and recognition for Herrera. The Eric Quezada Center on Valencia Street wasn’t only filled with people, but poetry and songs in support of the campaign.

“I’ve talked to many people and I’ve noticed that there’s a lack a vision for San Francisco. No plan. That’s dramatic. We are working on a plan that goes beyond Nov. 3 and the questions are: ‘What’s the San Francisco you envision for the next 20-50 years?’ ‘What is the city that people of San Francisco want to see?’ It’s definitely not the city that’s trying to impose developers and those who support the capital market.”

Herrera said the crisis the city faces is deep.

“We have almost 4,000 young people who have had to go and live in other cities. Nearly 1,700 children live in cars or in apartments, huddled on couches and living rooms because there’s no way to rent here.”