Three challengers are running against Supervisor Vallie Brown, who previously served as Mayor London Breed’s aide and was appointed by the mayor in July. We conducted interviews with Brown, candidate Dean Preston, a tenants rights advocate, and candidate Ryan Lam, running as a Republican. Candidate Nomvula O’Meara was not available for an interview by the time of this posting.
Category: San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Propositions A to F, Supervisor District 5, School Board, District Attorney, Other Races.
Voters will decide which direction the city takes on approving and financing affordable housing, renaming a city department, taxing ride-hailing services, how e-cigarettes should be regulated and what political donors should disclose in local elections.
Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Politics, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Proposition F
Proposition F would add restrictions and requirements to campaign contributions in city elections.
Corporations are already barred from donating to campaigns, but this ballot measure would extend that ban to other entities: limited liability companies and limited partnerships.
The measure would also restrict contributions from people with a financial interest in big development projects pending before the city.
Finally, Proposition F would expand the requirements for disclaimers on campaign advertisements. Any ad funded by an independent political committee would have to name that committee’s top three financial contributors, and how much they paid.
If you want to hear more analysis of Proposition F, click below to hear from San Francisco State University associate professor of political science Jason McDaniel.
Posted inElections, Housing, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Proposition E
Where Proposition A seeks to inject money into affordable housing, Proposition E seeks to streamline the process of approving it.
If passed, the measure would legalize the construction of “affordable housing” and “educator housing” on public land.
This affordable housing would be for residents earning up to 120% of the median income for the region. That’s an annual household income of about $118,000 for a family of two.
In the educator housing, at least one resident would have to be an employee of either the San Francisco Unified School District or City College. Resident incomes could fall between 30% and 160% of the regional median.
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If you want to hear more about how teachers in particular are affected by the housing crisis, listen below to two educator’s stories:
Posted inElections, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide, Transportation
Proposition D
A 2018 study by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority found that people take about 82 million trips in the city each year on Uber and Lyft combined, and most of those drivers live outside San Francisco.
In light of the report, legislators initially tried to take aim at Uber and Lyft with a gross receipts tax, a tax on company revenue. But after weeks of negotiations, that proposal gave way to what is now Proposition D, which the companies support: a fare tax of 3.25%, with shared rides and rides in zero-emission vehicles receiving a reduced rate of 1.5%. Passengers would pay the tax.
If you want to hear more about Proposition D, here’s an excerpt from Civic’s conversation with Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez about the proposal:
Posted inNews, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Proposition C
If passed, this ballot measure would overturn and replace existing e-cigarette restrictions in San Francisco.
Current restrictions include a ban, which goes into effect in January 2020, on the sale of any non-FDA-approved e-cigarette products, as well as a blanket ban on flavored tobacco products.
Proposition C would overturn the restriction on non-FDA-approved products, replacing it with a limit on how much of certain products could be sold within a certain timeframe. It may also overturn the city’s current ban on flavored tobacco for e-cigarettes. Proposition C would also prohibit advertising designed to appeal to kids, including advertising on social media platforms with audiences that were primarily under the age of 21.
Civic spoke with San Francisco Examiner reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez about the election. Here’s what he had to say about Prop C:
Posted inNews, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Proposition B
This ballot measure would change the name of an established city department, the Department of Aging and Adult Services, to signal to people with disabilities that this department also exists to serve them. The new name: the Department of Disability and Aging Services.
It’s not just a name change, though. The ballot measure would also change the qualifications for three of the seven members of the department’s commission. One member would have to be at least 60 years old, one would have to have a disability, and one would have to be a veteran.
Posted inNews, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Proposition A
This is a proposal for the city to issue $600 million in bonds to build and preserve affordable housing, which is rented or sold at prices below the market rate.
“Affordable” in this case means that the housing is managed by a city program or nonprofit that cannot charge more in rent or mortgage than what’s affordable to certain income levels. The bond would fund housing for a wide range of incomes, topping out at 200 percent of the median income for the area.
The biggest chunk, $220 million, is for about 1,000 new units of “low-income housing,” which is priced for individuals with annual incomes up to $68,950, or families of three with annual household incomes up to $88,700.
Posted inElections, Government & Politics, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
2019 Election: Single-candidate and Other Races
Other Local Races The races for several elected offices have either only one contender — like Paul Miyamoto, who is running unopposed for sheriff, or José Cisneros, the only candidate for treasurer — or only one well-financed contender who is widely expected to win. Mayor London Breed is running for re-election against five challengers, […]
Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Law & Justice, San Francisco 2019 Nonpartisan Election Guide
2019 Election Local Races to Watch: District Attorney
The Public Press hosted a forum with all four candidates running for the post of district attorney, the county’s chief prosecutor. This is an unedited recording of the event.