Sasha’s November 2019 SF Voter Guide
Better late than never, right?
So yeah, this is ridiculously late. On the other hand, it’s a short ballot, so you still have time to vote!
San Francisco only, since there’s no state ballot this year.
Disclaimer: Now that I’m a City Employee, I’m not feeling comfortable making individual endorsements for Mayor or Supervisors. My organization shouldn’t suffer for my opinions, and honestly, I’m not sure I can guarantee that won’t happen. I’m going to reevaluate this stand for next year, but at the moment, I’m going to hold off.
Propositions:
A — Affordable Housing Bond: Yes. $600 million is a lot of money. On the other hand, housing is the biggest issue we’ve got to contend with in the city, so what better to spend it on?
B — Department of Disability and Aging Services: Sure. It’s dumb that we. have to vote on a simple name change for a department, but we do, since it’s in the Charter. The new name will better reflect what the department does, and there’s some feeling that the existing name keeps people from getting access to vital services.
C — Vapor Products: No. This is a cynical effort to override the Board of Supes and write detailed policy by initiative, the latter of which is almost always a mistake. It’s also been abandoned by its main proponent.
D — Traffic Congestion Mitigation Tax: Yes. This tax is an effort to mitigate some of the negative effects of Uber and Lyft (one mile of every 8 driven in San Francisco is an Uber or Lyft driver. They’ve increased traffic congestion by 40%) by charging a small tax on every ride and using that money for public transit. It seems unlikely that such a small tax will change behavior much, but by state law it’s the largest we can charge, so it’s the best we can do. Still will mean $30 million or so for transit.
E — Affordable Housing and Educator Housing: Yes. This will do some small tweaks to make it easier to build affordable and teacher-targeted housing. Will it move the needle substantially? Probably not, but every little bit helps.
F — Campaign Contributions and Ads: I guess. Another minor tweak to campaign finance law. This isn’t likely to make a giant difference, but the people most tuned into this issue think it’ll help so let’s do it.
Candidates:
Mayor and D5 Supervisor: As I said, I’m not endorsing in these races this time.
DA: Chesa Boudin. A month ago, this looked to be the first time in more than a hundred years (!) that we would have a DA election without an incumbent. However, at the beginning of October, the lame duck DA George Gascon abruptly resigned, and the Mayor immediately appointed Suzy Loftus as the new DA. While this has been widely seen as an effort to tilt the election in Loftus’s favor, it almost certainly had little effect, and in fact has caused a fair amount of blacklash.
Still, though, we’re here to choose candidates on the merits, not on the machinations done in their name. This is a pretty tough race. There are two candidates with a shot at winning: Chesa Boudin and Suzy Loftus. In a positive development, discussion has centered around how to reform the city’s criminal “justice” apparatus. I’m pleased to see both candidates call out corporate corruption and ending “incarceration as we know it” or “mass incarceration” depending on the candidate.
While I believe that either candidate will make a better than average DA, I come down on Boudin’s side for three reasons:
- Ending Cash Bail. While both candidates support this, Boudin’s made it a top-level goal of his campaign. I believe it’s one of the most important ways to end the criminal justice trap that people get caught in.
- Closing Juvie. Locking up kids in a big institution doesn't make for a great future. In addition, we have a huge facility that’s currently mostly empty. It’s time to do better.
- Police Union. The SFPOA is one of the most pernicious outfits in all of San Francisco politics. Their only goal seems to be to protect their members from the consequences of even their most egregious actions. Racial profiling? Sure, why not? Racist texts? No problem. Shoot someone? OK. The SFPOA has spent more than half a million dollars attacking Boudin, and done it with their usual measured style (“domestic-terrorist enabler”, “favorite candidate of gangbangers and criminals”). Holding the police accountable was the biggest failure of the outgoing DA, and it’s time to end than nonsense.
School Board: Jenny Lam. She’s the only serious candidate. I wish she were stronger on charter schools, but she’s what we got.
Community College Board: Ivy Lee. She’s not been on the Board very long, but her work so far has been good.