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October 13-19, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7
Ballot measure endorsements San Francisco Propositions Proposition A. School Bonds. YES. This authorizes the issuance of $531 million of General Obligation bonds to be used for school construction, repairs and related equipment purchases. Proposition B. Road Repaving and Street Safety Bonds. YES. This authorizes the issuance of $248 million in General Obligation bonds to make necessary capital improvements to streets and roadways. It will pay for needed street repaving as well as pedestrian and bike improvements. It is a needed investment in the city’s infrastructure. Propositions C: Pension and Health Benefit Reform for Municipal Employees: YES. Failure to adopt city employee retirement benefit reform will sooner rather than later make it impossible for the city to deliver necessary services. Costs are increasing at an alarming rate. Proposition C is a sensible reform measure that will save taxpayers $1.3 billion over the next decade while providing a safety net for hardworking lower wage city employees by keeping contributions to benefit plans at current levels for those making less than $50,000 a year. It is a consensus measure negotiated by the mayor, Board of Supervisors, public employee unions, and other stakeholders. Proposition D: City Pension Benefits: NO. This competing measure to Proposition C does not address health benefit reform as does Prop C. It was put on the ballot as a result of a signature drive led by Public
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Editorial
From page 6
in a confidential setting. The victim is invited. There are no lawyers, although a prosecutor is supervising the cases. While in a limited number of locations now, Gascón plans to expand them throughout the city. It’s the type of alternative program that fits San Francisco values and saves resources for more serious crimes that the DA’s office prosecutes. On the death penalty, Gascón told us that he does not believe in it. It’s not necessarily a good law enforcement tool, he told us, and cited issues such as wrongful convictions and the high cost of keeping a prisoner on death row. And while he said it is state law now, it is doubtful that a San Francisco jury would ever convict in a capital case; he has also pledged to work to repeal it. Gascón has been aggressive in prosecuting hate crimes, and equally assertive in urging people to report them. “Egregious behavior and hate are unacceptable in our community,” he told us. “No one should be fearful walking [on a] street.” The DA is aware that his move from the police department to his new office can cause conflicts when dealing with officer-involved incidents. But he told us that he has created a trial integrity unit and is holding police accountable. Asked if there was a conflict, he said, “I’d say the opposite.” He discussed the development of policies to provide information to prosecutors and judges regarding officers because a more formal structure is needed. In his brief tenure as DA Gascón has provided leadership that is in tune with San Franciscans, including the LGBT community. He is committed to public safety and supports reforms of the criminal
Defender and candidate for mayor Jeff Adachi. It was not the result of compromise and consensus, as was Prop C, and is actively opposed by the mayor, the Board of Supervisors, public employee unions and other stakeholders. It contains provisions that make it vulnerable to legal challenge and if adopted over Prop C would likely result in no reform at all. Vote YES on Prop C and NO on Prop D. Proposition E: Amending or Repealing Legislative Initiative Ordinances and Declarations of Policy: YES. San Francisco voters are often called on to vote on as many as 20 ballot measures submitted to them each election. About 20 percent of those measures are put on the ballot by the mayor or any four members of the Board of Supervisors, often without any real analysis or thought and generally at the last minute. If adopted, they cannot be modified in any way without returning to the voters, even to correct an obvious mistake. This measure, proposed by Supervisor Scott Wiener, would allow the Board of Supervisors and mayor to amend or repeal these measures after a certain period and with a super-majority vote of the Board of Supervisors. This makes common sense and is a necessary reform in the much over used initiative process. This proposition does NOT apply to initiatives put on the ballot by voter signature. Proposition F: Campaign Consultant Ordinance: YES. Lobbyists are required to register and to make certain public disclosures, such as amounts of political
justice system. In short, he is a DA that fits well with the city and he has our support.
Mirkarimi for sheriff San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey is retiring after 30 years on the job and with a reputation as the most progressive sheriff in the country. Jail is no place anyone wants to be, but when people are in custody in San Francisco they have access to educational and counseling programs that are rare inside a locked facility. While rehabilitation is often touted as a goal of incarceration, the reality in most jails and prisons is the exact opposite. San Francisco is different. And among the candidates vying to replace Hennessey, Ross Mirkarimi stands out as the one best suited to continuing the county’s innovative programs. Mirkarimi, now in his second term as a San Francisco supervisor representing the HaightAshbury and Western Addition, is also endorsed by Hennessey. One of the most critical issues facing San Francisco – and every other county in the state – is realignment, which started October 1. Spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the state must release some 30,000 prison parolees statewide to reduce overcrowding. All the candidates for sheriff agree that San Francisco can expect to receive approximately 700 prisoners, although it’s important to understand they won’t all be arriving at once. The other important factor is that the county’s jails do have space for these prisoners. The parolees that are being released have nonserious, non-violent, and non-sexual offenses. Mirkarimi, as chair of the Board of Supervisors public safety committee, has been intimately involved with the sheriff’s department and the
contributions. These rules have not applied to campaign consultants who play as important a role in the political process as lobbyists. Prop F is a transparency measure that applies similar registration and disclosure requirements to campaign con-sultants as apply to lobbyists. It also makes technical changes in the 1997 ballot initiative regulating local political consultants. It would allow future changes to the ordinance to be made by a super-majority of the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors, without the necessity of going back to the voters. Proposition G: Sales Tax: YES. The 1 percent sales tax imposed by the state Legislature expired July 1. Proposition G increases the city sales tax by one-half percent but only if the 1 percent tax that expired is not reimposed. The money is earmarked for public safety programs and for services for seniors and children. Proposition H: School District Student Assignment. NO. This declaration of policy initiative was put on the ballot by signature petition. It calls on the school board to revise its policies to make assigning students to the school closest to where they live the number one priority. This is an example of the abuse of the voter initiative process. Running the city’s schools is the responsibility of the elected members of the school board who should be able to consider all relevant factors, such as diversity and racial and ethnic balance, in making assignment decisions.▼
chief probation officer, the two agencies that will deal directly with realignment issues. It is largely due to Hennessey’s innovations in jail programs and services that San Francisco has options for dealing with these state prison inmates. Decisions on where these prisoners will be placed will be made on a caseby-case basis. Mirkarimi sees realignment as a tipping point. If it’s done well it may provide options for a smoother reentry into society for those convicted of crimes once they complete their sentences. He also said that it will force the various law enforcement agencies to work together. Mirkarimi describes himself as pragmatic and during his time on the board fought to bring community policing to the Western Addition. “I wanted the police to get out of their cars,” he said, “and walk the streets.” He does not anticipate any major shake-ups in the sheriff’s department if he wins and wants to identify areas where deputy sheriffs could augment security duties with the police at special events, which would save the city money as they aren’t paid at the same level. Mirkarimi is a staunch ally of the LGBT community (“I’m straight but I’m not narrow,” he said) and has always been with us on our issues, including trans and HIV/AIDS matters. He pledged to continue to enhance treatment of transgender prisoners and ensure that they are in a well structured and safe environment. He would use the bully pulpit to advocate for reform of the state’s three-strikes law so that it would not apply to non-violent felonies. We endorse Ross Mirkarimi for sheriff and believe he will continue San Francisco’s progressive approach to running the jail.▼