2020 SF DCCC Endorsement Questionnaire

NAME:

OFFICE RUNNING FOR: District 5 Supervisor

CAMPAIGN ADDRESS: 530 Divisadero St #210 , CA 94117

CAMPAIGN CONTACT Ian James 415.601.7362 AND CELL PHONE:

EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]

Instructions

Please complete this questionnaire and send an electronic copy to [email protected] and ​ ​ [email protected] by close of business on Monday, July 6th, 2020. ​ ​ ​

The 2020 endorsement interviews for Supervisor candidates will take place during a special meeting on Saturday, July 18th, 2020 from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The exact time will be ​ ​ communicated to you as soon as you return your completed questionnaire. Due to COVID-19, the interview will be held via the ZOOM Video Call. We advise those that have not familiarized themselves with this application to do so and, if assistance is needed, to contact the DCCC th endorsement committee prior to July 11 ,​ 2020 via email at [email protected] . ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ The SF DCCC’s endorsement vote will occur during the meeting of the SF Democratic Party on nd Wednesday, July 22 ,​ 2020 at 6:30pm. ​

Only candidates who return a completed questionnaire electronically by 5pm on Monday, July ​ th 6 ,​ 2020 will be interviewed by the committee. While it may seem that some of these questions ​ ​ do not apply to the office you are seeking, they represent important Democratic Party principles. As you may run for higher office where these questions will be relevant, we would like them addressed.

We will distribute the questionnaires to the DCCC members and post them on the S.F. Democratic Party’s website (at http://www.sfdemocrats.org) for the public to view. ​ ​

PART 1 - General Questions

1. Are you a registered Democrat?

Yes: Yes No: ​ ​

2. When did you first register as a Democrat?

Over 20 years ago. ​

3. Have you ever voted for or endorsed a non-Democrat in an election?

Yes: Yes No: ​ ​

If “Yes,” who? When?

Yes, in nonpartisan local races. For example, I voted for Matt Gonzalez for District 5 Supervisor, both when he was a Green and when he was a Democrat.

4. Please list the organizations and elected officials who have endorsed you.

Current Elected Officials: ​ ​

Aaron Peskin — District 3 Supervisor — District 4 Supervisor — District 6 Supervisor — District 8 Supervisor — District 9 Supervisor Shamman Walton — District 10 Supervisor

Phil Ting — Assemblymember Bevan Dufty — Bart Director

Mano Raju — San Francisco Public Defender Chesa Boudin — San Francisco District Attorney Alison Collins — School Board Member Faauuga Moliga — School Board Member Mark Sanchez — School Board President Shanell Williams — City College Board President Tom Temprano — Member, City College Board of Trustees John Rizzo — Member, City College Board of Trustees

Bernie Sanders — US Senator Pramila Jayapal — Congressmember Katie Porter — Congressmember

David Campos — Chair, DCCC* Anabel Ibanez — DCCC* Gloria Berry — DCCC* Honey Mahogany — DCCC* Keith Baraka — DCCC* Li Miao Lovett — DCCC* Peter Gallotta — DCCC* Sarah Souza — DCCC*

Former Elected Officials Art Agnos — Former Mayor Mark Leno — Former State Senator Tom Ammiano — Former Assemblymember Christina Olague — Former District 5 Supervisor — Former District 6 Supervisor John Avalos — Former District 11 Supervisor

Organizations Affordable Housing Alliance AFT 2121 Brownie Mary Democratic Club Nurses Association/National Nurses United Evolve California ILWU Northern California District Council San Francisco Latino Democratic Club National Union Of Healthcare Workers OPEIU Local 29 San Francisco Tenants Union SEIU 2015 Sierra Club

SF Berniecrats SF Latino Democratic Club Teamsters Joint Council 7 Unite Here! Local 2 United Educators Of San Francisco

Short Answer Questions (No more than 200 words per response)

1. Please provide a brief summary of your qualifications for this office.

I am the incumbent Supervisor, a lifelong Democratic voter, and one of California’s leading affordable housing advocates. I helped lead the fight to save rent control in 2008, formed and ran California’s only statewide tenant rights group, and wrote the only law in the nation to prevent evictions of teachers during the school year. In 2018, I wrote our city’s groundbreaking law to provide legal representation for all tenants facing eviction, and I was an early backer of 2018 Proposition C, which tackles our homeless crisis by doubling housing and mental health care to our homeless population.

Since taking office last year, I have authored legislation that permanently protects anyone from ever getting evicted for rent they missed during the state of emergency because of the financial impacts of Coronavirus, pushed the city to house homeless people in hotels, opened San Francisco’s second safe sleeping site in my district, and successfully stopped Muni fare increases for the next two years. I also helped derail increased health care co-pays on city workers, rallied with striking McDonalds workers, and marched at every opportunity in support of racial justice and against police brutality.

I have lived in District 5 over 20 years. I believe everyone deserves a dignified, productive, and healthy life through universal policies like Medicare for All, social housing and free education. I also believe that we must center the voices of those most vulnerable, including fighting unapologetically for black lives. I have just gotten started in this office, and would welcome the opportunity to continue ramping up our advocacy with a full four year term.

2. Please describe your contributions to the Democratic Party at the local, state and or/national level in the last 4 years.

I’m a lifelong registered Democrat, and I’ve volunteered, knocked doors and made calls for democratic candidates at all levels of government. I have also donated tens of thousands of dollars to progressive Democratic PACs and individual Democratic candidates in recent years.

In 2016, in the midst of my first race for supervisor, I included reform slate lit in our extensive door-knocking and lit dropping programs. As we engaged D5 voters early in our campaign, we prioritized winning a progressive DCCC, and winning the majority necessary to replace the chair, so that we had a chair independent of the real estate industry. Again, after taking office in 2019, I supported the Social Justice Democrat slate, appearing at mobilizations, lending volunteers, and making financial donations in support of the progressive victory for the DCCC.

I have also worked to enfranchise, register, and turn out tenants across California through my work as head of the only statewide tenant organization which supports and connects over 50 local tenant groups in California. There are over 17 million tenants in CA - disproportionately Democrats - and increasing their participation in the democratic process is crucial to strengthening the Democratic party and winning progressive change.

3. If elected, what are the three top issues you will work to affect?

Affordable housing and tenants rights - I’ve been a tenant attorney and affordable housing ​ advocate for 20 years. We need to fully implement Prop. F (right to counsel), create 10,000 units of social housing, and hold developers accountable. We also need to make sure nobody is displaced because of the COVID-19 health crisis.

Homelessness - The revenue from 2018’s Proposition C must be spent in a timely fashion according to the plan approved by voters. I was an early backer of the proposition, and my team led District 5 outreach. I will continue to support the safe sleeping site that my office helped to establish. Expanding affordable housing is a key part of any plan to transition people into permanent housing. I continue to oppose sweeps.

Transportation - An immediate goal is protecting our public transportation system without raising Muni fares. I am committed to making Free Muni a reality and making sure that Muni comes out of this crisis strong. I’m also proud to have established several slow streets in District 5 and the planned Fell bike lane. We need a network of slow streets citywide that make walking and bicycling safe and attractive options for residents. Reaching Vision Zero

is a serious priority.

4. What have you done to mentor women and people that are not White in your field?

I’m proud of my record running a nonprofit and a campaign, both of which were largely ​ run by women and have prioritized mentoring and training future women and POC leaders. When I left Tenants Together, which I founded, last year, it had a board of 50% women and 50% POC, and likewise our staff was a majority female and POC, and our coalition of 50 organizations across the state were overwhelmingly led by women, and women of color in particular. My political campaign team last year was 80% women and 60% women of color. My City Hall staff is 50% people of color and 50% women. My chief of staff is a woman. I believe leaders — electeds and hiring managers — have a special responsibility to uplift women and POC voices to make sure that we prioritize those who have had to take a back seat and lower pay for too long. Finally, outside situations where I have direct hiring authority, I have always prioritized making myself available as a resource and mentor to activists and emerging leaders who are women and people of color in the community.

5. Define affordable housing.

In San Francisco, the term affordable has been repurposed to refer to almost anything that is below market rate. Yet much of the below market rate housing in new developments in San Francisco is not affordable to working class San Franciscans. I support higher levels of inclusionary housing that includes a commitment to both low income levels and middle income levels. I support redefining “affordable housing” so that the term references the actual San Francisco AMI and, even better, neighborhood AMI, rather than an aggregation of incomes in SF, Marin and San Mateo.

6. As Supervisor, how do you plan to push for and ensure racial equity in San Francisco's neighborhood planning and individual project development process and ensure that we are building more deeply affordable housing and other community assets (ie. childcare, parks and open space, grocery stores and small businesses) are distributed more equitably throughout San Francisco?

This city has seen development resulting in mass displacement and gentrification. The city must take extra care to make sure low-income community members are involved in planning and transit decisions. I am committed to standing with vulnerable communities, and using my role as Supervisor to amplify and empower their voices in any way I can.

The city can also take a more direct role in investing in neighborhoods that have been disadvantaged by establishing a public bank. I support a public bank to fund community assets and affordable housing in neighborhoods and communities that have not received their fair share. I also support reparations for the African American community.

I’ve organized in my community and beyond to fight for affordable housing, stand up for small businesses, protect residents from displacement, and I’ve always done this working alongside community members. People want to be part of the process, and they deserve to be.

7. Did you support Rich Hillis for Planning Department Director and if so why? If you did not support, please explain who you would have supported otherwise and why?

I did not. I thought he was a status quo pick who does not sufficiently value neighborhood ​ input and will not stand up to developers. Though I don’t know all the candidates that were considered, there were certainly some well-qualified candidates, including women of color, with a track record fighting for equity. Miriam Chion was among the people under consideration — she had extensive experience, a commitment to equity, and is a woman of color. From what I can tell, she would have been a strong choice for the position.

8. Do you support the split roll amendment to Proposition 13 that would tax commercial property but not residential property?

Yes. The split roll amendment to Proposition 13 would bring billions of dollars of revenue ​ to public schools and local government at a time that we desperately need it. For too long, corporations and wealthy investors have used Proposition 13 to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes.

9. What are your top district priorities and what would be your process in addressing these issues with the community?

Homelessness. A Navigation Center was promised by our last two supervisors. Within a few months, I convened a community meeting at which there was overwhelming support and identified several sites. My office also overcame attacks from conservative neighbors (many of whom my opponent boasts as early endorsers) and a lawsuit filed by the Co-Chair of Women for Trump to open the second safe sleeping site in the city.

Affordable Housing. The two measures that I introduced for the November ballot will enable the city to create a significant amount of affordable social housing, including many sites within District 5. Community meetings have already begun for affordable housing at 730 Stanyan.

Transportation. We must restore and improve service, keep fares low as we work toward free Muni, and make sure bus operators can thrive in our City. Alongside the community and the MTA, we’ve launched two slow streets, we’re finalizing plans for a Fell Street bikelande by the Panhandle, and we’ve prioritized investments in pedestrian safety for the Buchanan Mall in the Fillmore. I continue to work towards a citywide network of bike and pedestrian friendly streets.

Pandemic Health & Recovery. We must ensure that our community members are healthy, our small businesses survive, people have jobs to go back to when it’s safe, essential government services don’t get cut, and nobody is displaced as a result of COVID-19. I’m working daily to help constituents stay healthy and safe during these turbulent times. I’m proud to serve on the city’s Economic Recovery Taskforce.

10. What specific policy changes would you propose to address the issue of chronic homelessness in San Francisco?

We need to fully fund and implement Prop C as soon as possible. There is no better plan than one written and passed by the advocates on the frontlines everyday and paid for involuntarily by the corporations that have played a large role in getting us into this mess. We also need a navigation center in District 5.

My office worked with advocates and fellow supervisors to pass legislation requiring the City to house homeless people in hotels during the pandemic. Frustrated with the pace of implementation, my team and I raised over $100,000 to move residents of two emergency shelters in D5 to a hotel ourselves. The pilot project became a model for other similar efforts around the city.

We need to reorient how we approach homelessness in San Francisco. We need to prevent people from becoming homeless in part by stopping evictions. We need to guarantee a right to shelter for those on our streets -- shelter on demand, not just the right to sit on a waitlist. We need to stop treating homelessness as a crime, but instead redirect our resources toward providing the case management, mental health, and addiction services to help people get off the streets and to help people recover from trauma.

11. We recognize that the affordability crisis and evictions has caused gentrification and widespread displacement. How do you plan to address preserving long-standing communities? What have you done to address the displacement of low-income communities in San Francisco?

San Francisco is facing one of the worst affordability crises ever. We have been witnessing the mass displacement of residents at the hands of the real estate industry, an epidemic that has hit African American and Latino communities particularly hard.

We need to create affordable housing that is truly affordable to low-income and working class people at a much higher rate and expand social housing in our city. I introduced a measure to create 10,000 units of affordable social housing in San Francisco, paid for by taxing the wealthiest real estate transactions in this city. We need to stop sacrificing affordable housing for market rate and luxury construction, preserve subsidized housing, and protect currently housed tenants from eviction.

I’ve focused my professional life on improving conditions for working people in San Francisco and across the state. I’ve represented hundreds of tenants facing abusive evictions. I led the fight to save rent control in 2008 and founded Tenants Together. I wrote and passed 2018’s Prop F to give free legal representation to tenants facing eviction. We are still struggling to get Prop. F fully funded, despite data from the first year of implementation showing that doubling the number of tenants represented in eviction proceedings led to a dramatic drop in the number of people losing their homes, especially among African American tenants.

12. As Supervisor, what plans would you have to protect existing co-ops in your district? Do you believe this model should be expanded?

Co-ops are a model that should be preserved and expanded, along with land trusts and other models of affordable housing.

It’s worth noting that co-ops are a form of ownership and are sometimes affordable, sometimes not. There are luxury co-ops in Pacific Heights and other neighborhoods that do not help alleviate our affordability crisis, and there are numerous co-ops that offer affordable housing, usually built in whole or in part with government funds. Some were affordable housing with a commitment to stay affordable for a specific amount of time, and a key issue for those is to try to preserve affordability.

We must embrace social housing, including co-ops, land trusts, municipal housing, and scale efforts up. At the same time, we must do everything possible to preserve affordable housing and stop displacement of those affordably housed.

I have partnered for years with The Right to the City Alliance and Homes for All focusing on advocacy for communities of color and low-income tenants and a broad campaign for housing justice that includes expanding renters rights, winning community control of land, and development without displacement. I always stand with residents who are fighting for tenant protections, ownership, and/or greater community control of their homes.

13. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing public housing tenants in San Francisco? What concrete plans would you implement to better serve these households?

Public housing in San Francisco has weathered decades of neglect and disinvestment. And our city continues to prioritize developer give-aways over meaningful investment in public housing. The two measures that I introduced for the November ballot would be significant steps in a new direction. One would carve out a local exception to Article 34 of the California Constitution, a constitutional amendment passed in 1950 with the backing of the state Realtors Association as part of redlining and segregation policies of that era. Article 34 intended to keep low-income tenants — particularly African-American tenants and other people of color — out of affluent, white neighborhoods. With this measure, we are making it possible to create thousands of units of municipal housing, especially people of color.

The other is a transfer tax on property sales over $10 million. This will raise millions of dollars that will go towards helping tenants pay off back rent missed because of the financial impacts of Coronavirus, and towards investing in social housing.

I continue to be appalled by the living conditions that exist in some of the public housing in my district. Decades of neglect have created an unconscionable situation. We need serious investment in improving living conditions at long-neglected housing complexes in the Fillmore. Reparations must include housing investment.

14. In a recent hearing conducted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, it was found that African-Americans disproportionately experience lower hiring rates for Civil Service jobs, are the lowest paid of all ethnicities in SF’s Civil Service classifications, have the highest terminations rates, and their claims of hostile environments such as harassment, threats, and bully-tactics persist. What steps have you taken (or will you take) to address these disparities? How would you recommend legislation be drafted so that the Office of Racial Equity is able to take action on department heads who perpetuate systemic racism?

With only 15% of our city workforce being African American, it is clear we are not prioritizing the needs of the very people we claim to prioritize. In addition, the city’s municipal workers are being forced out of the city and into long commutes which is costly, environmentally detrimental, and harmful to community and family. We need to prioritize jobs for African Americans, not just at the hiring stage, but in the outreach stage, such as advertising and promoting opportunities in targeted media and neighborhoods to attract African American and Latino applicants. I’m pleased to see the Office of Racial Equity move forward, but share the concern voiced by community leaders about ensuring accountability. The Board of Supervisors needs to support the Office of Racial Equity in holding city departments accountable, both through the budgeting process and legislation.

15. San Francisco faces a $1.7 billion dollar deficit over the next two years. Which ballot measures proposed by BOS members and by the Mayor that are designed to generate revenue do you support? What kinds of taxes or revenue generating measures do you think are the most equitable?

I refuse to buy into the scarcity narrative that is used to justify massive cuts to essential city programs and budgets. For too long, the richest in this city have not been paying their fare share. What we need to do is identify new sources of revenue, like the transfer tax that I have proposed and the Excess CEO compensation tax Supervisor Haney has proposed (and I’m cosponsoring). I have and will continue to publicly oppose cuts to crucial services.

16. Have you accepted donations from any police officers, police officer associations, police unions, ​ ​ sheriff’s associations, correctional officers unions or the Prison Industrial complex?

Yes: No: No ​ ​

If No, will you accept any such donations in the future?

Yes: No: No ​

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above, please explain why.

N/A

Part 2 - Issues Questions

Please only mark whether you SUPPORT or OPPOSE each position.

QUESTIONS SUPPORT OPPOSE

1. Do you support or oppose affirmative action? Support ​ ​

2. Do you support or oppose privatization of essential Oppose ​ ​ government services?

3. Do you support or oppose expanding rent control to Support ​ ​ post-1979 buildings?

4. Do you support or oppose San Francisco’s Support ​ ​ sanctuary city policy.

5. Do you support or oppose the Mayor’s statement of Support ​ ​ intent to divert police funding to support Black communities?

6. Do you support a Moratorium on Rent, Mortgage Support ​ ​ payments and evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic?

7. Do you support the emergency action of securing Support ​ ​ hotel rooms and shelter homeless San Franciscans from COVID-19?

8. Do you support calling for economic relief to Support ​ ​ support undocumented workers during the COVID-19 pandemic?

9. Do you support calling on the United States Support ​ ​ Senate and Congress to enact legislation to extend immediate financial relief and support including hazard pay, for all unemployed workers, and increased family benefits for essential workers and health care workers?

10. Do you support acknowledging systemic racial Support ​ ​ inequities and calling for a coordinated response to support the Black community during the COVID-19 pandemic?

11. Do you support the call directing the small Support ​ ​ business administration (SBA) to eliminate discriminatory eligibility requirements to access needed support?

12. Do you condemn anti-Asian racism and Support ​ ​ xenophobia and urge stronger Governmental response to prevent and address attacks of the Asian American Community?

13. Did you support or oppose the proposal to close Support ​ ​ juvenile hall permanently?

14. Do you believe that public transit should be free? Support ​ ​

15. Do you support the creation of a local municipal Support ​ ​ bank in San Francisco?

16. Do you support expanding affordable child care Support ​ ​ to low- and middle-income families?

17. Do you support “ban the box” legislation Support ​ ​ statewide to ensure that the formerly incarcerated are given an equal opportunity for housing?

18. Do you support the Black Lives Matter Support ​ ​ movement?

19. Would you support overturning Costa Hawkins to Support ​ ​ support the right for localities to pass rent control laws?

20. Would you support overturning the Ellis Act? Support ​ ​

21. Should there be a moratorium on market rate Support (see ​ ​ housing in communities that have experienced below) elevated rates of displacement?

22. Do you believe that surplus public lands should be Support ​ ​ prioritized for 100% affordable housing?

23. Do you support civil or criminal penalties for Oppose ​ ​ people sleeping, sitting, or lying on the streets?

24. Do you support the practice of forced removal and Oppose ​ ​ relocation of homeless encampments or homeless “sweeps”?

25. Do you support expanding Navigation Centers Support ​ ​ throughout the city?

26. Do you support expansion of the rental subsidy Support ​ ​ program?

27. Do you support teachers and professional staff Support ​ ​ earning commensurate wages?

28. Do you support banning natural gas in all new Support ​ ​ residential and commercial construction projects, including single family homes?

29. Do you support the City's recently passed Oppose ​ ​ conservatorship policy which expands the City’s legal authority to seek court supervision of those it deems unable to help themselves?

30. Do you support expansion of new charter schools? Oppose ​ ​

31. Do you support employee rights to organize and Support ​ ​ collectively bargain and support enforceable organizing agreements?

32. Will you support Cost of Living Adjustments Support ​ ​ (COLAs) for non-profit organizations that hold contracts with the City?

33. Do you support or oppose the California Support ​ ​ App-Based Drivers Regulation Initiative to repeal AB 5?

If you need to add further explanation or qualification to any of your support-or-oppose answers above, ​ you may do so here:

21. I’m open to this, but it really depends what the impacted community wants. I believe strongly ​ that communities that have been impacted by displacement should have the say in how development in their community looks. I supported the Mission Moratorium because it was led by community members that wanted a ban on market rate housing development until affordable housing goals were met. Other communities may choose to support market rate development that brings a certain amount of affordable housing, but I don’t think it is my role to dictate to local communities that have been victims of real estate speculation what they should demand.