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Fire recovery; visit Russian River
Columnist sees Magic again
ARTS
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Wonderstruck
Nightlife events
The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 43 • October 26-November 1, 2017
FPPC fines gay SJ school trustee by Heather Cassell
Georg Lester
District 8 supervisor candidate Rafael Mandelman, left, received an endorsement from former state Senator Mark Leno.
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state watchdog agency has fined a gay South Bay school board trustee for embezzling funds from the campaign account for a school ballot measure and for misleading investigators about his Courtesy Facebook actions. South Bay school The state Fair Poboard member John litical Practices ComLindner mission in September approved the $18,500 fine against John Lindner, who serves on the board overseeing the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose, and disclosed it publicly October 19. According to the FPPC, the fine against Lindner individually was $15,000, while the remaining $3,500 fine was against Lindner and a campaign committee he controlled. Lindner, 55, who has served as school trustee since 2004 and was re-elected to his fourth term in November 2016, used $13,000 from the Franklin-McKinley for Our Kids – Yes on Measure J 2010 campaign for personal use, according to an audit performed earlier this year. Measure J was a $50 million bond to modernize neighborhood schools and equip them with technology and other capital improvements. Voters approved it by 70 percent, according to Smart Voter. Lindner, a retired elementary school teacher, was the campaign treasurer responsible for handling the finances when the Measure J committee was terminated at the end of 2015. Lindner claimed to investigators that he disbursed the funds in $90 anonymous donations to community organizations, but he couldn’t provide proof and there was no paper trail. Use of campaign funds for personal use is a serious offence. Violators legally must personally pay back the funds. The FPPC fined Lindner for failing to disclose and itemize expenditures of $100 or more on campaign statements and three counts for using campaign funds for personal use. According to the Mercury News, Lindner used the campaign debit card for personal expenditures such as restaurant meals, gasoline, clothing, movie tickets, hotel rooms, and cellphone bills. So far, Lindner has not been criminally charged in the matter. He responded to the Bay Area Reporter, writing in an email that to his knowledge, no other office has contacted him. “I have not heard from any office other than the FPPC,” wrote Lindner. Lindner, who remains on the school board, told the B.A.R. that he has paid the fine in full See page 18 >>
Leno endorses Mandelman in D8 supe race by Matthew S. Bajko
Cleaning up the AIDS grove
Rick Gerharter
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olunteers formed a bucket brigade to move dirt to the slopes of the National AIDS Memorial Grove Saturday, October 21, the final workday of 2017. During the event, Quest Diagnostics employees and executives joined community volunteers to announce a $100,000 grant to bolster the grove’s workday program in 2018. Grove Executive Director John Cunningham said
the grant was appreciated. “The community volunteer workdays are at the heart of our mission and this grant provides important funding to support keeping our 10-acre memorial a beautiful space for healing and remembrance,” he said in a news release. Quest officials said that the company has long supported the grove. For more information, visit aidsmemorial.org.
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an Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Leno has endorsed Rafael Mandelman in the 2018 race for his old District 8 seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors. Leno, a gay man who had been appointed a supervisor by former mayor Willie Brown, was the first person to win the seat, which includes the gay Castro neighborhood as well as Noe Valley where Leno resides, when supervisors reverted to being elected by district in 2000. Mandelman, a gay attorney who serves on See page 8 >>
SF releases 5-year homeless plan by Seth Hemmelgarn
those most in need get quick access to housing,” the report says. he San Francisco agency “Prioritization also saves public tasked with fighting resources, since these individuhomelessness has reals tend to be high users of public leased an ambitious five-year health and other systems.” plan that lays out goals for helpThe city will prioritize over ing people living in the city’s 6,500 existing supportive housstreets and shelters, including ing units for chronically homethe chronically homeless, youth, less people. Another 800 units are and people staying in tents. being developed and are expected But while the Department of to open in the next five years. The Homelessness and Supportive city should be able to get about Housing’s “strategic frame3,600 chronically homeless peowork” report, released in early ple into permanent supportive October, goes into depth about housing by the end of 2022, the the agency’s hopes, it provides report says. little detail about what the efAnother goal, which deals with Rick Gerharter forts will cost or where exactly the daunting maze of homeless Homeless tent encampments are under the freeways at Division and the money will come from. services in the city, is to put into 9th streets, in South of Market. The report says that about place “coordinated systems for 7,500 people are homeless in adults, families with children, and Mayor Ed Lee launched DHSH in 2016, and the city “on any given night,” and officials have youth by December 2018.” the agency says its vision “is to make homeless“lacked a coordinated, data-driven, and inteAs the report notes, “Clients’ experience of grated system to ensure these efforts result in ness a rare, brief, and one-time event.” the current system can elicit confusion and One of the biggest goals listed in the plan is permanent, sustained reductions in homelessfrustration,” as they often have to complete to cut the number of people who are chroniness. We also lack the full complement of remultiple program applications and get stuck sources needed to meet the current demand for cally homeless in half by December 2022. on different waiting lists, or deal with outreach Among other means, the city plans to use housing, shelter, and services.” workers who can discuss what programs may According to the 2017 San Francisco existing permanent supportive housing specifibe available, but can’t get them into the right Homeless Point-In-Time Count and Survey, cally for people in this population – those who services. are most at-risk for serious health problems 30 percent of the city’s homeless people iden“Like a triage nurse in an emergency room,” and other complications. tify as LGBTQ. See page 18 >> “Prioritizing this population ensures that
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