Unlike the sheriff or the district attorney, people often ask me: "What exactly does the assessor do?" My answer surprises them. "The assessor is not a political position." Their reaction is almost always the same: "But you get elected, don't you?" Yes, the law requires election, but after the ballots are counted, there is nothing political about managing the Assessor's Office. In fact, it would be unethical - or even illegal - for politics to influence the appraisal or assessment of property.
After no candidate received a majority of the vote in last month's special election for assessor, the race now comes down to a Dec. 30 runoff between one contender highly qualified for the job and one seeking to politicize the office. We urge voters not to be sucked in by some of the campaign diversions amplified during the runoff. Instead, look for a candidate to replace retiring Assessor Larry Stone who will focus on doing the job.
The $210 million price is roughly half, or 47.7% below, the property's assessed value of $401.9 million. The new owners paid 31.2% less than the $305.1 million that the seller, Clarion Partners, paid for the site in 2015. The deal shows that even the presence of tech company Applied Materials as a tenant doesn't guarantee immunity from the economic maladies that have come to afflict the Bay Area office market.
