Hi there,
I’ve been asked for my opinion on some of our upcoming issues. Here’s how I’m voting on some things and my reasoning.
First, the short list. Below that are my explanations (such as they are).
Mayor:
1. Stuart Schuffman
2. Amy Weiss
3. Francisco Herrera
District 3: Peskin
Sheriff: Mirkarimi
Community College Board: Temprano
MEASURES
Proposition A – Yes
Proposition B – Yes
Proposition C – Yes
Proposition D – Yes
Proposition E – No
Proposition F – Yes
Proposition G No
Proposition H – Yes
Proposition I – Yes
Proposition J – Yes
Proposition K – Yes
My rationale:
Mayor
- Stuart Schuffman
- Amy Weiss
- Francisco Herrera
Mayor Ed Lee is expected to coast to reelection. I don’t think we should hand the office to Lee like a mint on a pillow. He is opposed by five declared challengers, none of whom have the political or financial backing to seriously challenge the incumbent. The fact no one from The City’s progressive left, such as former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano or even Sen. Mark Leno, chose to challenge the centrist Lee in this election for The City’s top executive is a shame. As a consequence, we lost the opportunity to have a civic argument about how Lee has led this city. Without a well-financed, forceful opponent, Lee has been able to largely ignore his critics and resist calls for dialogue.
District 3 Supervisor
Endorsement: Aaron Peskin
Julie Christensen is a breakout star for dirty San Francisco pay-for-play politics. She’s just as for sale as a Shotwell Street hooker, though with far more clients than an actual prostitute could service. She’s weakened the laws that should have been able to keep Airbnb in compliance with local regulation, necessitating Prop F. My policy is to avoid voting for whores where possible.
Examiner: Peskin is also the best representative for his neighborhoods, with a track record of fighting for the rights of tenants and local business owners, for health coverage, transit and a sustainable city. His experience and sharp political instincts, honed during more knock-down drag-out fights than his opponents in City Hall may care to remember, position him as a powerful advocate for those who may not feel they are heard in the current political winds of The City. He says he has matured since he was last in office, and that may be so, but we trust the lessons he took away from that time do not include holding his tongue or backing down from fighting the city he believes San Francisco should be. We need that Aaron Peskin back.
Sheriff
Endorsement: Ross Mirkarimi
I like what the Examiner had to say about him. I found their case more convincing than other endorsements of him or for opponents. The gist is that Mirkarimi is innovative. He experiments and tries new things with the department. The changes to the department have been positive: He has focused on expanding rehabilitation programs, establishing humane care for mentally ill inmates and inmates with special needs, like nursing mothers. He has moved to strengthen family connections for prisoners, grow job training programs and expand training for deputies, including certifying them for patrol to augment the police department, and has pushed to equip deputies with body cameras in county jail. He has started the process of housing transgender inmates with their preferred gender, making San Francisco the first county jail in the nation to do so, and he marched with the Black Lives Matter movement during protests.
Bonus reason: conservative / traditional deputies bristle under his leadership. I’m happiest when cops think they are being too restrained.
Community College Board
Endorsement: Tom Temprano
This endorsement comes with some chagrin. I’m familiar with Temprano – he’s been on the political scene for a while and he’s friends with my clients and colleagues. He’s gay and has a cute boyfriend. On the other hand, Temprano has a hipster beard and I am reluctant to reward that sort of behavior. Oh well.
MEASURES
Proposition A – Yes
Uncontroversial,k desperately needed low- and middle-income housing bond measure. Unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors.
Proposition B – Yes
Paid Parental Leave For City Employees. I like catching up to the rest of the civilized world and setting an example for the rest of the country.
Proposition C – Yes
Proposition C would require anyone — individuals, businesses or organizations — who spends more than $2,500 in one month for the purpose of political influence to register with the San Francisco Ethics Commission as an “expenditure lobbyist.” I’m always for more sunshine laws.
Proposition D – Yes
This measure would allow the planning process to go forward to develop Mission Rock. It’s additional housing. It requires no tax increases or bond sales. The mockup looks great. It replaces a big, useless parking lot. There’s no downside.
Proposition E – Sadly, no.
The “phone it in” proposition. Under Prop. E, remote persons unable to attend public meetings would be allowed to submit live audio, video or email comments during the meeting or submit prerecorded video to be played during the meeting. I believe being physically present at a meeting should be required. If you care enough to show up, then show up. Democracy is not a phone-in process.
Proposition F – YES. YES, and more YES.
Read this. And this. And definitely this.
Airbnb functions as a front allowing hosts to skirt San Francisco hosting regulations. Airbnb won’t enforce public policy themselves and they refuse to turn over their data which would allow the city to enforce it.
About half of the Airbnb hosts in San Francisco are occasional hosts who can continue using Airbnb as they are now, should Prop F pass. Prop F is aimed at the other half: the scofflaw landlords who’ve evicted thousands of our fellow San Francisco neighbors in order to open up tourist hotels.
We live in San Francisco, not some lawless, Ayn Randian libertarian paradise (like Somalia). In San Francisco, businesses are subject to regulation. Businesses have to follow the law. Right now, about 90% of Airbnb’s hosts are not registered with the city. They’re not following the law.
It really wouldn’t take very much for Airbnb to be a good corporate citizen. But they won’t do it. So Prop F will bring them to heel.
Prop F is not a perfect Proposition. But Bill Clinton once said, “never make the perfect the enemy of the good.” Prop F is good enough, even with flaws.
Propositions G and H: No on G, Yes on H
Proposition H would ensure that CleanPowerSF has a strong future, and Proposition G seeks to kill that future. Prop. H would mandate that both the Community Choice Aggregation program and PG&E follow the same state reporting rules for renewable energy, giving the city-run energy program a fair chance to compete against the energy giant.
Prop. G, now abandoned by the PG&E union that proposed it after reaching a compromise with the other side, would define green energy as only that with which is entirely greenhouse-gas free. The move would block CleanPowerSF from advertising rooftop solar as part of its green platform and limit its ability to compete in the marketplace. If both measures pass, the one with the most votes becomes law.
Proposition I – Yes.
Prop. I would impose an 18-month moratorium — which the Board of Supervisors could extend for another 12 months — on projects in the Mission that demolish, convert or build at least five units, excluding projects of 100 percent below-market-rate housing.
There is no doubt that the new wave of market-rate developments are changing the feel and the face of the Mission, long the center of The City’s Latino population.
According to Planning Department data, more than 900 low- and moderate-income families have left the Mission in the past five years, through evictions and displacement. Two dozen projects with about 1,220 units of housing are currently planned in the Mission, and as many as 85 new units could be delayed up to 18 months if Prop. I passes.
Taking a pause from the break-neck luxury development in the Mission is a good idea for the neighborhood and for The City as a whole. The more measured and thoughtful we can be about the shifting makeup of our neighborhoods, the better. This is especially true for the Mission, which is shifting quicker than most. Proposition I arose from frustration that City Hall refused to take action to ease The City’s housing crisis in the neighborhood.
Proposition J – Yes
If San Francisco is losing some of its soul and charm in this economic boom, Proposition J offers a tool to city leaders to extend a hand to the established local shops and groups that have contributed to the character of their neighborhoods. This measure would create a grant program to fund the Legacy Business Registry, established by the Board of Supervisors in March, open to small businesses and nonprofits that have been around for more than 30 years. We hope this will be a useful tool to help preserve the historic fabric of San Francisco.
Proposition K – Yes
Proposition K is another measure on the ballot this year addressing the housing crunch, looking at city-owned parcels to determine if any can be sold for below-market-rate development. It would increase the number of potential building sites by requiring city agencies and departments to report all of their land one-fourth acre or larger, rather than only submitting land they deem surplus, which is the current practice, and expands search to underutilized land.