Name Office Sought Website Rafael Mandelman District 8 Supervisor Rafaelmandelman.com
What San Francisco street/intersection would you choose for an epic street party and why? The corner of 18th and Castro has served as an historic and iconic gathering place for some of our city’s biggest moments. It’s been home to more protests than we can count and it has already been home to some of our LGBT community’s best parties like Halloween, Pink Saturday and the Castro Street Fair. All those rainbow flags seem to scream “Let’s party!” as they blow in the wind.
Please list the 3 endorsements you are most proud of: Tom Ammiano, the California Nurses Association and the United Educators of San Francisco.
What are the top three issues you will work on, and how will you implement solutions in a timely manner? (1250 character limit) Solving Street Homelessness: We need to expand Navigation Centers,work aggressively to keep vulnerable people housed and get homeless back into housing as quickly as possible,build new supportive housing and free up existing units by moving those who no longer need supportive housing into less expensive permanent housing, we need to dramatically expand our mental health and drug treatment capacity.
Building Affordable Housing:As Supervisor I will work to ensure that we continue to build our fair share of market rate housing; however, my passion is housing for those who cannot rent or purchase at market prices, and we continue to woefully underproduce housing at those levels. I will be a tireless advocate for getting more vacant land and existing buildings into public and nonprofit ownership, securing the revenue we need to dramatically expand our production of below market rate housing and taking a hard look at our existing housing programs to ensure we are stretching our finite affordable housing dollars as far as possible.
Making a World-Class Transportation System:We must make the investments in our public transit infrastructure and identify sufficient annual operational funds to efficiently transport people around the City
What for-profit or non-profit boards do you serve on, including political organizations? San Francisco Board of Supervisors (District 8) San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee Lick-Wilmerding High School Board of Trustees
What local and state commissions and policy bodies have you served on -- currently or in the past? San Francisco Board of Appeals Department of Building Inspection
Do you support San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS) fully divesting from fossil fuels within three years and holding SFERS accountable at the ballot if they do not divest? Yes
Have you signed up for CleanPowerSF? Yes, for SuperGreen service
If California Prop 10 passes in November, repealing Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act, will you commit to implementing vacancy controls in San Francisco? No
Would you commit to not funding any new police academy classes until the SFPD implements the Budget Analyst's recommendation to adopt a more efficient weekly staffing schedule? (Recommendation 2.2 here: https://sfbos.org/sites/default/files/BA_Report_PA_of_San_Francisco_Police_Department_0 61218.pdf) No
Do you support congestion pricing for the downtown core? Yes
In the wake of the controversy around SB 827, would you propose any rezoning or other policy changes to increase housing -- particularly affordable housing -- while protecting against displacement of current residents? I have dedicated a significant portion of my professional career to helping build affordable housing in the Bay Area. Effectively addressing housing unaffordability is one of the most important challenges of our time and place. And when it comes to the nuts and bolts of making sure af f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g g e t s b u i l t , n o o n e o n t h e B o a r d o f S u p e r v i s o r s h a s m o r e e x p e r i e n c e t h a n I d o . A s C i t y C o l l e g e T r u s t e e , I c h a m p i o n e d t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f a f f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g f o r f a c u l t y a n d s t a f f , a n d I l e d t h e B o a r d i n c o m m i t t i n g C i t y C o l l e g e r e s o u r c e s t o a d d r e s s t h e i s s u e o f h o m e l e s s n e s s a m o n g o u r s t u d e n t s , i n c l u d i n g t h r o u g h t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f h o m e l e s s s t u d e n t h o u s i n g . D i s t r i c t 8 h a s b e e n g r o u n d z e r o f o r e v i c t i o n s o v e r t h e l a s t t e n y e a r s , a n d y e t w e h a v e p r o d u c e d d i s t r e s s i n g l y l i t t l e a f f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g d u r i n g t h a t t i m e . W h e n a s e n i o r i n a r e n t - c o n t r o l l e d u n i t i s e v i c t e d f r o m h i s o r h e r h o m e i n t h e C a s t r o o r N o e V a l l e y , t h e o d d s o f t h a t s e n i o r b e i n g a b l e t o r e m a i n i n S a n F r a n c i s c o a r e s m a l l . I v e w o r k e d f o r d e c a d e s w i t h l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t s a n d a f f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g d e v e l o p e r s t o m a k e a f f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g , a n d i t s a t o p p r i o r i t y
Will you pledge to continue Jane Kim's precedent-setting affordable housing negotiations, specifically securing 40% in new large residential development? Yes
Do you support the "Our City, Our Home" tax on gross receipts of businesses to fund homeless services? Yes
Do you support the gross receipts tax on transportation network companies (TNCs) and other private transit vehicle services? Yes
Who are you supporting for D2 Supervisor? Catherine Stefani 1st
Who are you supporting for D4 Supervisor? Gordon Mar 1st
Who are you supporting for D6 Supervisor? Matt Haney 1st
Who are you supporting for D8 Supervisor? Rafael Mandelman 1st
Who are you supporting for D10 Supervisor? Shamann Walton 1st Tony Kelly 2nd
Who are you supporting for Board of Education? Martin Rawlings-Fein, Mia Satya, Alison Collins, Faauuga Moliga
Who are you supporting for Community College Board? Thea Selby, John Rizzo, Brigitte Davila
Who are you supporting for BART Board, D8? Jonathan Lyens
Who did you support for Mayor? Jane Kim 2nd Mark Leno 1st
Did you support June 2018 Prop C, Tax on Commercial Rent for Child Care & Early Education? Yes
Did you support June 2018 Prop D, Commercial Tax for Housing? Yes
Who did you support for D1 Supervisor? Sandra Lee Fewer 1st Jonathan Lyens 2nd
Who did you support for D3 Supervisor? Aaron Peskin 1st
Who did you support for D5 Supervisor? Dean Preston 1st
Who did you support for D7 Supervisor? Norman Yee 1st
Who did you support for D9 Supervisor? Hillary Ronen 1st
Who did you support for D11 Supervisor? Kimberly Alvarenga 1st
Did you support 2016's Prop D "Let's Elect Our Elected Officials" to have special elections to fill vacancies on the Board of Supervisors? Yes
Did you support 2014's Prop G, the anti-speculation tax? Yes
Is there anything else you want to tell us? (3000 character limit) I’m incredibly proud to have been endorsed by the League of Pissed Off Voters in my prior runs for public office, including my prior 2018 and 2010 supervisor races and both of my College Board elections. I consider myself to be an avidly Pissed-Off voter and have handed out hundreds (maybe thousands) of guides over the years. For those newer league members who may not be as familiar with me as some long-time members, I have spent the last 17 years building affordable housing, revitalizing commercial districts and making more livable neighborhoods in the Bay Area. I was elected to the City College Board of Trustees when the accreditor was threatening to close CCSF. I led the the charge to save City College, and as President of that Board I helped to make CCSF free for all San Franciscans. As Chair of the Board of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center I oversaw a much need renovation which added 10,000 feet of much-needed below-market non-profit office space, putting the Center on stable financial footing for the first time in its 15 years. Additionally, I have had the honor of serving as President of the Noe Valley, District 8 and Harvey Milk Democratic Clubs, member of the Democratic County Central Committee since 2006, Commissioner on the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission and Board of Appeals, and Board Chair of Livable City.