Scott Wiener has been cast as the upzoning heavy. He's fine with that.

"Sen. Scott Wiener - 6-foot-7 with the physique of an exclamation mark - looks like many things. But not a bad guy wrestler. And yet, of late, other San Francisco politicians have been more than happy to portray Wiener as the heel who'll come flying off the top rope and bring the pain to this city in its latest political smackdown."

"Both Lurie and, later, Supervisor Stephen Sherrill last week told constituents that, whatever San Franciscans' misgivings about the upzoning plan - You think bad? - to scuttle it would be infinitely worse. Both warned their respective crowds that, if the city fails to properly upzone, the state of California will amble into town and kick us right in the ass."

Sen. Scott Wiener has advanced state laws that restrict local control, enable larger and denser development, and compel municipalities to facilitate more housing. Local San Francisco leaders portray Wiener as the threat who will impose painful changes if the city resists upzoning. Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Stephen Sherrill warned that rejecting upzoning would invite state intervention with harsher consequences. Wiener spent years pushing a broad transit-oriented rezoning bill and has been persistent and direct in his advocacy. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 79, representing a culmination of those legislative efforts.

Read at Mission Local