http://www.portolafestival.org/
Just got back from the festival on San Bruno, with a couple of observations... Teresa Duqué, Tony Kelly, DeWitt Lacy, Steve Moss, Lynette Sweet, Marlene Tran, Steven Weber, and Diane Wesley-Smith all had booths, while Eric Smith, Chris Jackson and Kristine Enea were there pressing the flesh. Malia Cohen was the only majorly endorsed candidate whom I didn't see there.
In talking to the candidates and voters today, one overarching theme made itself plainly clear - the candidates have GOT to show up on doorsteps and at street fairs if they want votes. Steve Weber told me that he went and knocked on a voter's door the other day, and was told that the last candidate to do so was Dan White. Dan Frickin' White, people!! A couple of voters remarked how, not only was Steve Moss at the Portola Garden Tour yesterday, but that he is at ALL the Portola and Visitacion Valley vigils and events, and really seems to get it when it comes to voter communication and engagement. Furthermore, they said that this, over everything else they're reading in the papers about him, is the most important thing to them. You get to know the people of the district by talking to them, not by sitting in a bubble thinking that you understand them or by waiting for them to come to you. This is why Tony Kelly was at the coast clean-up yesterday, to show engagement with the community. Like his politics or not, he gets out there, and that is important to voters. Like her or not, this is why Sophie Maxwell shows up to so many events, even if just to show face.
Marlene Tran, whom a couple of candidates seemed to be wooing at the League of Women Voters forum last week, made some hugely obvious points to me that only she seems to get - namely that, if you're coming to a street fair, whether you're a candidate, the SF voting commission, or a local group, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! A large percentage of the people in the Portola, Silver Terrace, and Vis Valley sections of D10 speak a Chinese language as their first language, and for many of them (60% according to Marlene), as their only language. Why did the city have two non-Chinese-language-speakers sitting in its booth trying to get people to register to vote? Ms Tran likely signed up more voters in ten minutes than the city did all day, because she knows her audience and can provide someone, herself in this case, to talk to the voters in a language they understand.
Candidates, the job of Supervisor is more than a full-time job. From the moment you filed papers to run, you gave up your personal lives. The jobs of candidate and supervisor are an every day affair, and what this election is showing us more than anything is who's up to the task. Showing up and answering a few questions at a forum is one thing, but what we need to see is you, the candidates, at every event, whether it be picking up trash, at a street fair, or just talking to people and telling them what you are about as you walk through their favorite park or down their favorite street with them.
If you chose not to come to one event because you have another to attend, that's fine, but instead of just blowing off a community-building street fair like the one today, you need to organize a crack team to work the events you can't so as to make sure you're represented. But if 80% of your competition is showing up to an event, you'd better do the same, and all the endorsements in the world won't keep you from being toast come election day. And those who do show up had better have a person with them who can cross a language barrier when it arises.
