Meeting the Candidates at the Youth Forum

I have to thank all of the candidates for seeming to be genuinely appreciative of what I'm trying to do here with this little blog. DeWitt Lacy was the only one who seemed a bit confrontational, looking me dead in the eye and asking, "Are you a Progressive? Do you believe in rights for the working man?" Uh, nice to meet you, too, DeWitt.


I spoke to as many as I could, some more at length than others. Marlene Tran and I talked a little about immigration, Malia gave me a big hug, but I didn't get to talk to her much after that, Lynette Sweet told me she's trying to stay out of trouble, Tony Kelly called me bald (I prefer 'hair challenged', please :D), and Steve Moss lamented that none of the candidates seem to trust him because of his position at the Potrero View, to the point where they won't even take him up on his offer of 50% discounts on ads. Ed Donaldson and Kristine Enea joked about Beth Spotwood's take on Ed as one of the best looking candidates in the race, and Kristine joked about Steve Moss and Tony Kelly wondering aloud at a previous forum as to why she's so awesome.

Chris Jackson made a good point to me about the segregation of the four distinct neighborhoods in D10 - Vis Valley, The Portola, Bayview, and Potrero Hill - and how, as a candidate, it's extremely difficult to run a campaign in this district when something comes up that might be good for one part but would be bad for another. There are commonalities, but there are also huge differences, and whomever becomes supervisor will have to have staff devoted to each segment of the district to help them sort everything out.

During the Q&A, one young audience member spoke out of turn and was subsequently ejected. What is it with people getting ejected from these forums!?! Afterward, Geoffrea Morris made a very good point that she should have been allowed to stay, because she is the face of the frustration with City Hall that D10 kids, parents, seniors, and business owners all have. People need to know that they are being spoken to and listened to by someone who understands them and their needs. The biggest frustration in life is telling somebody something and then having them ignore you. When frustrated, these kids need to be able to turn to people who will listen, give them structure, and give them praise for a job well done. Unfortunately, when parents, elected officials, teachers and employers don't seem to be there to provide that positive reinforcement, kids will, and do, turn to the bad elements of our society - drug dealers, pimps, gangs - to get the validation they crave.

One thing that struck me, having attended a few of these meetings now, was how some candidates have their stock, mirror-practiced stump-speeches at the ready for whatever question comes their way. Steve Moss is always asked about how he can know anything about the rest of D10 when he's from Potrero, and he always replies with his "I'm the only candidate who got 1000 signatures" and "I replaced 2000 toilets" speech. OK, it's good to stay on message, but the reality is that walking through a neighborhood and knocking on doors isn't the same as living those peoples' lives, which for many of the candidates is impossible to do. But, you have to make them believe that you understand their personal hardship and can offer them a possible way out. When Steve Weber reiterates that he converted his 2-BR home into a 4-BR home, how does that address any of the questions of the audience of 13-18 year-olds he's talking to? Kristine Enea with her "esoteric land use" speech may work well with people who know what 'eroteric' means, but with a group of kids who have up to 75 kids in their classrooms (yes, this is what one of the questioners reported about her school) and barely have access to text books and teachers, the delivery needs to change. I'm not saying to the candidates to "dumb it down" or patronize anyone, but know your audience and speak to them accordingly.

My take was that Lynette Sweet and Malia Cohen both brought their A-games to the forum, answering questions well and appropriately to the target audience. Some of the 'vote for me and nobody else in this ranked-voting scheme' candidates played to the audience well, too (Morris, Joshua, Wesley-Smith, Hampton). Honestly, though, there are just too darned many candidates to get anything substantive out of any of them during these forums.

Next stop, Sept 22nd at UCSF.