MY ISSUES

1. PUBLIC SAFETY

As Supervisor I plan on addressing the real, urgent public safety issues the District is facing including car break-ins, theft and vandalism at small businesses, attacks on seniors, open-air drug trade, and illegal fencing operations. My focus on fully staffing our police department, expanding community alternatives, and resourcing bilingual victims rights services will help us turn the tide on public safety in the district.

  • I support the recruitment of more police officers for San Francisco to fill the current 500 vacant positions. Our primary issue is that we are unable to hire, train and retain existing funded positions. New officers need to be trained with a focus on community policing, de-escalation, and cultural competence.

  • I will fight for continued investment in community based initiatives focused on violence prevention, mental health services and social services. We need to evaluate and change the way policing is conducted, including expanding de-escalation methods and relying on alternatives to policing such as clinician-led teams, community ambassadors and community liaisons where possible.

  • We need a holistic approach to public safety, all of our first responders including fire fighters, EMTs, 311 and 911 operators.

    Our 911 dispatchers are one of San Francisco’s most critical safety nets, an essential part of law enforcement, and first responders. As Supervisor, I would push departments to focus on incentivizing and aggressively recruiting additional staff, including bilingual staff so that our 911 system can respond to all callers, regardless of whether or not they can speak English. 

    We also need to allocate resources to mental health crisis response programs, and invest in alternatives to policing that enables SFPD to focus on public safety issues, rather than a broad range of issues including substance abuse, mental health, homelessness.

  • I am in full support of the newly formed Office of Victim and Witness Rights. Too often, victims of crimes face barriers, judgment, or non-action when reporting their crimes. This leads to underreporting and re-traumatization of victims. We need to ensure that all victims have access to responsive, comprehensive and culturally competent services. 

  • As Supervisor, I will extend the boundaries of Central Station to align with D3 and include the Polk area. A new boundary would require an increase in their staffing to ensure that the district can be adequately covered. Matching district and Supervisorial boundaries would make a whole-community approach to policing more attainable. 

    In will also create a single point of contact position responsible for coordinating interdepartmental resources in addressing public safety issues for the district to strengthen, streamline and improve responsiveness.

2. HOUSING

As someone who grew up in public housing, I am a strong advocate for expanding all types of affordable housing, including inclusionary, public, social and co-op housing. I have and will continue to prioritize making affordable housing projects feasible, protecting renters, and advocating for housing development citywide.

  • As Supervisor, I will fight for future revenue measures, such as the regional housing bond, which will be critical to bring San Francisco the resources we need to address our critical shortage of affordable housing. 

    I will expand housing subsidies and housing voucher access so that housing that is available can be accessed.

    I will push to leverage the use of public land to expand affordable housing and workforce housing opportunities.

    As Supervisor, I will ensure that future revenue mechanisms for affordable housing have money set aside for preservation to allow us to keep tenants where they are as well as build new affordable housing.

  • I support and will push for enabling Class B and C office conversions that will help us gain housing by leveraging underutilized real estate in some of our most built up neighborhoods. 

  • I believe in streamlining and accelerating the delivery of housing but we need to ensure and protect the safety and interests of our community. I believe local government is the right authority to control land use regulations. 

    I will work closely and cooperatively with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to maintain the city’s Housing Element certification, receive a prohousing designation, so that we can access public funding and have the ability to manage our own growth. 

  • I support and will push to expand emergency rental assistance, a critical program for protecting our low income tenants and preventing eviction, which is the primary cause of homelessness. 

    I will fight for expanded good cause eviction protections so that tenants do not face eviction in the case of the sale of a property, the expiration of a rental agreement or foreclosure on a property.

    I will ensure that tenants in San Francisco have the right to counsel, to be able to defend themselves in the case of unjust evictions.

    I will fund proper outreach and education so all tenants will know their rights.

  • I believe we need to build all forms of housing and that government should get out of the way of market rate development. However, government's responsibility should be to champion housing that the market cannot bear. Which is why as a legislator, my focus will be on not just creating viable pathways to develop affordable housing but also expanding demand side solutions so that the housing developed can be accessed by people.

    I support streamlining the approval process for market-rate housing for projects that are compliant, do not impact the safety of the community and do not remove protected resources in historic districts. 

    While I support more density where possible on the east side of our City, I believe strongly that the west side of San Francisco needs to do its fair share in bearing solutions to our housing crisis.

3. HOMELESSNESS AND MENTAL HEALTH

In District 3, we have seen homelessness change, including more unsheltered homelessness in the lower Polk area. As Supervisor I’ll ensure that our current spending on homelessness is effective, that we adequately resource outreach, shelter, and permanent supportive housing so that people can enter our system and exit to positive outcomes.

  • As Supervisor, I will expand funding of interim homeless housing and shelters, adequately fund services for all sites so that the intervention and support is where people are staying.

  • As Supervisor, I would work to make sure that our current programs can meet the targets that we have set for them and that our providers have the resources necessary to meet the need. 

  • As Supervisor, I will make increasing the quantity and quality of behavioral health beds a priority. We cannot criminalize our way out of the crisis we see on our streets. We need to lead with what works and have real options that work for those in need. That means more beds at all levels of care. That means better wages for our frontline staff. That means supporting our City Departments and non profit providers that do this critical work day in and day out.

  • As Supervisor, I will address the lack of transparency in the selection and the performance of site operators. The City should not continue to use operators that are not providing competitive services. 

    I will hold departments accountable to reforming inefficiencies including reforming CES, reducing PSH vacancies, auditing and streamlining various overlapping street team programs and developing standards for exit planning

4. TRANSPORTATION

I believe that access to public transportation is a fundamental right and should be regarded and funded by the government in that manner. I also believe that all road users can and should be safe while using San Francisco Streets. As a former SFMTA Commissioner, I am the only candidate who has fought for more funding, championed free muni for youth, safe routes to school, improved muni operations, and a better pedestrian experience on our streets and will continue to do so as Supervisor.

  • As Supervisor, I would continue to champion reliable sources of local funding, creative ways to generate revenue, and be a strong advocate for state and federal sources. 

  • Protecting vulnerable road users will be a priority of mine as Supervisor. Pedestrian infrastructure and protected bike lanes are the best way to do this for people walking and riding bikes and I support their expansion citywide and in district 3. As with other street changes, I would look to a community process to inform which streets would make sense to receive infrastructure improvements. 

  • For our residents who can not access various modes of transportation, I will ensure that our paratransit programs are well-funded and readily accessible.

5. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

We need to continue to make it easier to do business in San Francisco. As Supervisor, I would work to support our small business community, while pushing big picture ideas to revitalize our downtown areas. 

  • I would work to consolidate and streamline the various referral processes that’s required to open a retail business. Improving the process of new retail business formation in San Francisco requires a coordinated approach that encourages entrepreneurship and supports existing small businesses. 

    I would expand support to existing small businesses by reducing the cost of doing business in the city, and increase grant funding for legacy and neighborhood-serving businesses.

  • I would leverage my public and private sector expertise to establish a proactive approach and collaborative approach to convene resources, positive narratives, and investments back into San Francisco.

    I would audit and maintain a directory of all vacant properties and establish a retail strategy through a community driven process.

    I would support street improvements and street activation effort that will create a welcoming experience for locals and visitors.

  • Revitalizing our city’s economy is a top priority for me. I have worked to drive economic development for San Francisco by diversifying our economy to bring in jobs that will stay and driving local, regional, federal and international resources. As Supervisor, I’m committed to attracting sustainable businesses and investments that will serve the long-term resilience of the city.

  • As Supervisor, I will work to create good jobs for community members facing barriers, using a multifaceted approach that addresses various aspects of the issue including education, accessibility and cost.