Priorities

Housing is the reason most people I talk to in D8 are worried about their future here. My signature policy is social housing: permanently affordable, mixed-income, city-owned housing that isn't subject to market swings, and I'd introduce it as legislation on day one.

I was the only candidate in this race who opposed slashing inclusionary housing requirements from 15 percent to 5 percent. That's real affordable housing walking out the door, and every other candidate let it slide.

Now the Mayor is fighting Prop I, the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act, which would dedicate 2020's voter-approved transfer tax revenue to affordable and social housing instead of the general fund. I support Prop I, and I support Prop C, which locks in over $125 million a year for our Housing Trust Fund through 2058. Those aren't competing measures. They're both pieces of the same fight, and San Francisco needs both to pass. I'd fight for all of it.

D8 has 63 empty storefronts right now, and every one of them is a corridor that's less safe and less alive. I've proposed a Vacant to Vibrant program that extends city investment and support to a full two years, instead of the current three months, so small businesses actually have a shot at getting established. I'd pair that with commercial rent stabilization, so existing businesses aren't priced out the moment their lease turns over.

Active storefronts are also a public safety strategy. Well-lit corridors with real foot traffic give us the eyes on the street that actually keep people safe, and that's the kind of vibrancy I want to bring back to our commercial corridors.

Public safety is grounded in community care and community policing, feeling safe on our streets and on transit, not living under a surveillance state. I oppose expanding Flock cameras in San Francisco. They create a mass surveillance system that tracks where people travel and can be shared with entities beyond local control, and that tradeoff isn't worth the threat to privacy, civil liberties, immigrants, and communities of color.

I support accountable community policing, well-lit streets and transit stops, violence prevention outreach, and real investment in the Street Crisis Response Team. On open drug use specifically, my approach follows four pillars: prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement. The RESET center's $14.5 million for recliner chairs isn't treatment, and the City Attorney's own office called it a "very high legal risk." That money should go toward actual prevention instead.

I was proud to stand at the City Hall kickoff, because Muni has been a lifeline for me since I arrived in 2006 without a car, and it still is today as a daily 37 rider.

I want to build on Supervisor Melgar's free Muni for youth, because that promise shouldn't end the day someone turns 19. We already spend about $5.8 million a year on it, and extending it through age 25 would likely cost $12 to 16 million more. I'd get SFMTA to do a public fiscal analysis and a real funding plan first, so we expand opportunity without cutting the reliable service riders depend on. A young adult should be able to get to class, work, or a doctor's appointment without a fare being the barrier. That takes real operating dollars, which is why I support both Prop H and the Regional Transit Measure this November, to save Muni for everyone who depends on it.

I won't be a rubber stamp for the Mayor. I oppose his Clean Up City Hall measures that would raise the ballot initiative signature threshold and expand mayoral power over hiring and firing department heads. Those checks exist for a reason.

As an elected official in the Democratic Party, I've worked with people across the political spectrum, and I know how to build coalitions with people I have real disagreements with. I disagree with the Mayor on a host of issues, but I'm able to have a cordial working relationship with him, and I believe in building coalitions around the issues we all agree on, like universal child care, and fighting for bold solutions at City Hall that make a real difference in people's lives. I'll be that fighter. At the same time, we have to hold the line on our progressive values and know whose side we're on. I will absolutely, unequivocally be a voice for the voiceless at City Hall.

I was the only candidate standing with the HIV Advocacy Network in the Castro this year as we commemorated the 45th anniversary of the first AIDS cases in this country. I did AIDS Lifecycle three times, and it changed my life and my view of an epidemic that has not ended.

We have a Mayor who wanted to cut these life-saving services deeply, and it took real people power and organizing to reverse those cuts. I can't believe we live in the richest city in the richest country in the world and all we can talk about is cuts. We shouldn't cut any services, especially for people living with HIV and AIDS. It isn't right, and this community deserves better.

To me, the Castro is not just a home worth fighting for. It's a refuge for LGBTQ+ people everywhere, especially now, when our community faces unprecedented attacks and the cost of living crisis is hitting LGBTQ+ people the hardest.

I've been an LGBTQ+ activist for over two decades, and I'm on the side of the artists and culture makers who make the Castro magical. Right now, they're priced out. They're not producing shows here because they can't afford to live here, can't open a business, can't experiment with new work in front of new audiences, and because young people can't afford to go out anymore. People stay home, connecting through apps instead of in person. Tourists still come here for our history, but if we're honest, a lot of the real innovation in LGBTQ+ culture is happening outside the Castro now.

I want to bring it back, by filling our empty storefronts with LGBTQ+-owned ventures. That means commercial rent stabilization and expanding Vacant to Vibrant to the Castro: two full years of support, not three months, because most small business owners are just regular people who need real support to make it past year one.

I believe this is more than half of the Supervisor's job. What I hear at the doors and at farmers markets is that people expect a Supervisor who's actually accessible and responsive. I'd treat the residents of District 8 like my clients, the same way I do in my law practice, and I move mountains for my clients.

I've also been a community organizer for two decades, and I know how to meet people where they are, not wait for them to come to me. That means regular town halls and weekly office hours. Most D8 constituents are busy living their lives. They just need City Hall to work for them. I'll be the Supervisor who anticipates the needs of regular San Franciscans, not the corporations and wealthy few who aren't paying their fair share.

San Franciscans just voted to spend $535 million on earthquake and emergency response, including our firefighting water system, and that matters. But that's a citywide fix, not a wildfire plan for District 8. This year, a city watchdog report warned that Glen Canyon's old, dried-out eucalyptus trees and built-up brush are a real fire danger on hot, windy days, right next to people's homes on a steep hillside with limited hydrant access.

The answer isn't to clear-cut the canyon. That could cause landslides. It's a real plan: clear out dangerous brush, thin and maintain the trees, remove the sick ones, keep evacuation routes open, and get Rec and Park, Public Works, the Fire Department, and the PUC all working off the same plan instead of talking past each other. Our green spaces are part of what makes District 8 special. We protect them by taking care of them, and by making sure they're safe for the people who live right next to them.

Education is very important to me. Without my public education, I could not have gone to law school. I'd like to see the Board of Supervisors collaborate more with the school board and our state delegation to make sure we have the schools our kids deserve and that the rest of us can be proud of. It's sad that a third of students here go to private school. This is why I'm a big champion of Prop 13 reform, which would bring $1.1 billion back to schools and local government in San Francisco. It shouldn't take a parcel tax or a bond measure every cycle to fund basic things at SFUSD and CCSF. We live in the richest city in the richest country in the world. This should be a priority.

I applaud Mayor Lurie for his affordability package, but I wish he would do more. Evictions are at their highest level in years, and as a renter, I experience this rent emergency firsthand. People are leaving San Francisco all the time because of the cost of living, and people like me, who came here young, broke, and queer twenty years ago, can no longer afford to move here today.