League of Women Voters Debate - Recap

Tom Sinkovitz (NBC Bay Area) moderated the debate
In attendance: Malia Cohen; Kristine Enea; Chris Jackson; Tony Kelly; DeWitt Lacy; Geoffrea Morris; Steve Moss; Eric Smith; Lynette Sweet; Diane Wesley-Smith

Questions from the audience were submitted beforehand and at the event, and candidates were given one minute to respond to each. The forum lasted two hours.

The questions included:

1. Many residents have to travel miles to get to a grocery store. What is your plan to bring fresh food to D10.

2. The D10 Supervisor must represent three growing, distinct neighborhoods. How do you balance your attention to their varying needs?

3. In D10, we have unacceptably high rates of asthma and overall have the worst health in the city - what do you propose we do? - See article in today's SFGate

4. The new D10 Supervisor could determine the balance of power between left and right on the BOS - whose side are you on?

5. Do you support more housing or more business in D10 development?

6. How can you bring tourism to D10?

7. Whom would you support for position two or three on the ranked choice ballot?

8. A recent SFGate article article mentioned the city was adopting not just a transit-first policy, but a 'cars last' policy - do you agree with this?

9. What as supervisor can you do to preserve public housing?


1. Many residents have to travel miles to get to a grocery store. What is your plan to bring fresh food to D10.

Cohen: nearest grocery miles away. - Cow Palace farmers’ market and shops on Leland Ave an example of what she wants to bring; partner with developers to ensure grocery stores included in development
Enea: open the Fresh and Easy on Third St; ensure the Schlage lock redevelopment has grocery; use city funds to help remodel SuperSave in Bayview; use India basin for urban farming
Jackson: prioritize D10 to grow healthy food; liquor store reform to ensure dedicated floor space for fresh produce; SLUG (SF League of Urban Gardeners); use local school as hosts to farmers markets
Kelly: this is where land use gets real; need to improve education; support Fresh and Easy; D10 has lost most of greenhouses it once housed – needs to reverse that
Lacy: introduce more local farmers markets and create local farms; more support for Friends of Alemany Farms; have public housing development residents grow fresh food on-site
Morris: Bayview has tried a farmers market that didn't work due to lack of participation; improve the FoodCo and support Fresh and Easy; Cala needs to be accountable
Moss: lack of grocery indicative of larger community needs; SF Community Power worked with SuperSave to provide refrigeration; Jerrold Ave produce mart an asset we should use; use school lunch monies to buy locally produced food
Smith: Fresh and Easy - first, make them union; SF Bay Railroad already uses goats at Alemany Farms; Schlage Lock redevelopment must include grocery
Sweet: FoodCo inadequate for residents; expand into a Progress Market; Fresh and Easy would be a good compliment; utilize and expand community gardens
Wesley-Smith: we don't have enough; partner with large business to create, for example, a mini-Safeway in each area

2. The D10 Supervisor must represent three growing, distinct neighborhoods. How do you balance your attention to their varying needs?

Enea: create functioning network with deputies in each neighborhood who report to her; D10 has the most children, so invest in schools;
Jackson: there are parallel issues, such as safe neighborhoods, jobs; need to have a cohesive district vision; he would maintain a district office, attend meetings of various citizens groups
Kelly: examples in past decades - was involved in effort during redistricting to keep D10 together instead of dividing it at Islais Creek; has created alliances in various neighborhoods
Lacy: create alliances; create blue ribbon community council made up of local residents and business owners; make quarterly appearances at neighborhood meetings
Morris: utilizing community Yahoo groups (Better Bayview; Potrero Neighbors; The Portola; and Valley Eye) has helped her to know what's going on in the community; open door policy and office in community; enhanced virtual communication
Moss: is the only candidate to collect 1000 signatures; San Francisco is a city of neighborhoods that feel distinct; best to honor characteristic differences while finding commonalities and common solutions
Smith: find a common thread and use outcome-based social services for schools and housing; we want services we pay for
Sweet: her BART district covers nine cities and three counties, so she has dealt with diverse populations and their needs before with an open door policy; not possible to prioritize, so must find commonalities within a diverse population and address those issues
Wesley-Smith: grew up across D10; old leadership has failed us; homeowners issues in Portola not same as other issues elsewhere; need to meet individually with neighborhoods, then come together
Malia Cohen: many faces of D10 in the audience; this is what the district looks like; use 21st cent technology to reach out; she is a unifying candidate getting endorsements from many communities; cannot look at things in terms of 'left' and 'right' politics


3. In D10, we have unacceptably high rates of asthma and overall have the worst health in the city - what do you propose we do? - See article in today's SFGate

Jackson: closing power plants led by Sophie Maxwell an important start; new UCSF hospital at 3rd and 16th must provide low income care; Healthy SF must continue to be funded
Kelly: keep D10 together when redistricting comes up again; freeways in D10 are known to be a big problem - take down 280 and have it end at Cesar Chavez, creating a boulevard like that on Octavia; get people out of cars
Lacy: transportation issues need to be explored; what are particulates and where are they coming from?; ensure smart development; encourage reduction in car use
Morris: as a social worker, sees this problem first-hand; it's not only asthma, but other health problems and access to care; need mobile outreach, especially in housing projects
Moss: SF Community Power; helped Sophie Maxwell close power plants; pollutants have been identified as from freeways; new development includes provisions that residents must be protected, but existing residents don't have similar controls in place to help them
Smith: in 2007 worked with the Federal Environment Department to convert buses to bio-diesel; any vehicles used for construction for longer than a certain amount of time on a project must have certain level of emissions
Sweet: Asthma has been here for years; shipyard workers brought diseases one with them; many in her family died from mesothelioma; dirty industry must not be allowed
Wesley-Smith: growing up, at least once a week in the projects, they took someone to the hospital for asthma-related illness; objective body needs to get involved; partnerships with Lennar and others
Cohen: Sunnydale, young girl had asthma attack, and the look of fear brought this home; need smart, comprehensive approach, access to quality health care; Healthy SF; need HERC in Sunnydale housing project
Enea: air traffic an issue - supported the anti-helipad effort for new UCSF mission Bay hospital; planes at SFO seem to be taking off lower over D10, rise in pollutants; trucks need to stay out of residential areas except when necessary; truck idling needs to be dealt with through education and enforcement; need a Southeast health center; more trees


4. The new D10 Supervisor could determine the balance of power between left and right on the BOS - whose side are you on?

Kelly: is a progressive; looking to solutions such as municipal banks
Lacy: skews progressive, but has consensus ability, as seen in his endorsements from the DCCC and firefighters
Morris: kitchen table politics not left and right, but community-based; whoever has a good idea to make D10 better should be listened to; we're too hung up on titles, so she's not categorized as progressive or conservative
Moss: supports both 'community' and 'city'; helped working class families; just wants to do better for the city; labels block us from making progress; get beyond labels
Smith: pragmatic progressive; do something based in reality and best for D10 and rest of SF
Sweet: common sense public servant, which is what people need and want; build consensus with common sense; conservative endorsements make her appear conservative, and media and others will always label
Wesley-Smith: community in decline; current leadership not working; why do we keep electing them?; no one is happy
Cohen: stake claim on a label or it'll be staked for you; pockets of progressive communities in D10, but also ethnic communities with reservations about progressives; need to be pragmatic; SEIU and Peskin endorsements show both sides support her
Enea: solidly fiscally responsible and socially liberal; would consider herself a swing vote
Jackson: as chair of CCSF budget committee, created a balanced budget with no layoffs; working class progressive; has obtained support from labor; need to stop out-migration


5. Do you support more housing or more business in D10 development?

Lacy: must have both; development in BVHP with affordable housing; give businesses funds to grow
Morris: more business; also need safety to encourage patronization of businesses; more housing, but need more affordable housing
Moss: housing is easy, but need business to support it; utilize the wholesale produce mart, Schlage Lock site, and use shipyard as a jobs center; leadership needs to pick up the phone and tell employers to come to SF
Smith: need both, but have many boarded-up homes; use a co-op model - people own property and businesses; currently not sustainable; need both
Sweet: at a recent youth conference found that kids needed jobs and she went out and got fifty jobs for kids; jobs will bring D10 back, so need more business with local hiring mandates; already 10,500 houses slated for the shipyard redevelopment - don't need more
Wesley-Smith: need balance; entrepreneurs partner with businesses coming into D10
Cohen: difficult to address; first question is education; need pathways to careers, not just jobs; need sustainability; foreclosures a problem
Enea: already have much housing; phase 1 Lennar development has 1600 homes, if '49ers go away, then 4500 more, plus 11,500 in phase 2 of Lennar development; dollars need to go to businesses, not housing; create an historic district to create a
Jackson: Community needs affordable housing; solve foreclosure issues; sustainable fund for affordable housing - city fund to buy foreclosed homes to help keep people in their homes
Kelly: need both; 80% of district rezoning already has plans ready to go; we'll see double the population of district with up to 100,000 more people; need complete neighborhoods


6. How can you bring tourism to D10?

Morris: 49'ers; need to reinvent itself; hasn't thought about this much, but identify landmarks and use shipyard as a tourist site
Moss: cruiseships dock in dogpatch, people get on a bus and leave; improve waterfront access; bring back wetlands, Pier 70 needs to be reclaimed; promote D10 history, weather
Smith: make Third St a destination; create business zones; celebrate heritage; Crissy Field-like park
Sweet: 9000 seat arena in shipyard plan could house a women's basketball team - discussed this with WNBA president; need a destination point to bring people in
Wesley-Smith: Provide cold-ironing for cruise ships; improve Pier 27 and the waterfront;
Cohen: D10 has the most children, but few places to take them; make family-friendly lands; create a place to go; create an artisan food district near Pier 70
Enea: D10 has water, sun, diversity, and history; but first and foremost, tourists want safety; invest more in community policing to improve safety
Jackson: stronger small businesses; tour buses drive through but don't stop - mandate that they do stop in D10 as has been done in other districts
Kelly: waterfront and arts need to be developed; is familiar with waterfront development; built a theatre on Potrero hill; Pier 70 - use as permanent home to burning man
Lacy: not sure wants BM in his backyard; need good transportation; build a locally owned and operated hotel; increase safety


7. Whom would you support for position two or three on the ranked choice ballot?

Moss: focusing on his own issues, but won't endorse anyone; voters need to vote for three
Smith: uncommitted
Sweet: punt
Wesley: would not support old guard candidates
Cohen: would support someone with similar values, background, support for working families, open space - impressed with Marlene Tran
Enea: also impressed with Marlene Tran; would support a candidate from the community who understands land use and economic development issues
Jackson: no answer, but several candidates share his views on land use, health and child care access
Kelly: likes Tran, Jackson, Donaldson, etc - neighborhood candidates; questions candidates who move their home to run for supervisor and wants to make sure that they'll keep dist interests first and not their own
Lacy: someone with a commitment to the district; it's one thing to know issues, but must be able to build consensus
Morris: tried explaining ranked voting, but seems to find it too confusing - therefore, just vote for one person


8. A recent SFGate article mentioned the city was adopting not just a transit-first policy, but a 'cars last' policy - do you agree with this?

Smith: promoting more transit good if it works; good if you can do it responsibly
Sweet: as BART board director, is an advocate for public transportation; agrees with this policy
Wesley-Smith: loves pub transit, but it doesn't work for her; must be mindful of elderly, disabled; would put cars first (may have misspoken)
Cohen: public transit is the way we need to go; challenges in our district; elderly, single moms; need a comprehensive approach
Enea: transit first yes, but don't make it hard to drive; let's build transit first, but don't make it policy to put cars last
Jackson: on CCSF board used BART and bus to help with access; this new city policy is another unfunded mandate; need to go back to the fact that there's no close grocery and shopping to get people out of their cars
Kelly: spend too much land and resources on cars; bring down I-280 at Cesar Chavez; make public transit more attractive; more reliable transfers; eventually free MUNI
Lacy: transit first, but need to expand vision of public transit; increased taxis, bike lanes, shuttles
Morris: one can appreciate MUNI when you look at A/C Transit mess; there should be a mix, but residential areas need cars; believes that buses are working efficiently in SF
Moss: winced with anti-car article; you can't make people do what they don't want to do; make transit easier; seize future by creating diff incentives to use alternate modes of transportation


9. What as supervisor can you do to preserve public housing?

Sweet: ensure residents have public housing; Hunters View redevelopment was done right; the old certificate program didn't work; must ensure that residents have somewhere to move back to
Wesley-Smith: eliminate housing projects; we're not creating a self-sufficient work force; need to restore pride to the projects
Cohen: 4 of 5 largest projects are in district 10; for Potrero Hill rebuild, must preserve access to return; must be safe, clean; need to change our thinking re public housing
Enea: Hunters View - HopeSF project is a good project; need more in the next HopeSF project to prepare them better
Jackson: must ensure residents have something to return to - currently not guaranteed they can move back; public safety - emergency transfers require eight months to move, affects safety of residents; invest in human capital
Kelly: fund it; currently renovating projects one at a time, but need to accelerate the process
Lacy: fund it - HopeSF having troubles, need state and fed money; human capital; restore pride; allow people living there the ability to build new projects
Morris: works as social worker at housing projects; HopeSF replaces one for one, but also provides important wraparound services; should no longer have areas of high density of poverty;
Moss: walked though all projects; they should not exist in current form; there is currently not enough money, but replacement needs to accelerate
Smith: most atrocious places in SF; awful that we must wait to replace them for so many years; use a co-op model; reform Housing Authority