Candidate for
Supervisor; County of San Francisco; District 9

This is the Draft Platform of the San Francisco-based Progressive Left Movement (PLM) of which I am part of together with a number of political and community organizations, labor and immigrant rights activists and representatives of communities of color.

This platform has been widely discussed in public meetings. I participated in those meetings and expressed my full support for this platform on which I am running today. Amendments and additions are being added as a product of public input. As soon as the PLM Coordinating Committee publishes the last version of this platform, I will replace this draft with the final version. None of the amendments offered change the fundamentals of this platform.

I will be pointing out the priorities of my campaign and writing on the most critical issues facing District 9 in the section titled: Lucrecia Speaks up...

Lucrecia Bermudez

DRAFT PLATFORM ON THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT MOVEMENT

Introduction:

The New Progressive Left Movement stands for full democratic, civil rights and equality under the law and within every social and institutional framework for working families, the l/g/b/t community, immigrants (documented and undocumented), African Americans, Asians, women and youth.

From their right to full political representation and economic equality, to full access, to educational opportunities and quality schools and colleges, health care and real affordable housing. From the right to a decent job at union wages to the unobstructed right to organize in communities and workplaces.

This platform is not an attempt to detail everything we stand for, but rather, to serve as a guide for action in the upcoming period, in our organizing drives in communities and workplaces and as a framework for running candidates for local offices.

We also understand that the realization of many, if not all, of these demands will not be the result of just electing a few good officials, but of the organization, strength and unity of communities of color and all other communities, labor, working families and youth.

Immigrant Rights

• Amnesty and papers for all undocumented immigrants, along with the right to seek permanent residence rights and access to citizenship.

• Extend the right to vote in local elections to all non-citizens. Support for Gonzalez' proposal to extend the right to vote for non-citizens for School Board as a first step in that direction.

• Enforcement of local legislation protecting immigrants from INS raids, as well as mandatory translations at the City's public events and meetings, etc.

• Election of representatives from the diverse immigrant communities to the Immigrant Rights Commission and the extension (with sufficient funding) to it of the right to investigate and pursue violations of Human and Civil Rights violations in conjunction with the Human Rights Commission.

• Immediate resolution of Day Laborers' issues such as a centralized Hiring Hall in City property (tentatively we propose the former building of the SFPD's Mission Station or a similar City property as the site) combined with a shelter.

• Full rights for immigrants at the workplace, including the right to organize unions and fight for better wages and working conditions without the threat of INS raids called in by the bosses.

• Elected (not appointed or self-appointed) Neighborhood Councils with the power over planning, economic development and services. The elected District Supervisors will also serve in these Councils within his/her District and represent them at the BOS in matters ranging from services to budgetary and economic development. Elections for the Neighborhood Councils should be held simultaneously with those of District Supervisors.

• Elimination of appointed Commissions and Commissioners overlapping with the functions and rights of the Neighborhood Councils.

• Property Tax Devolution: at least 80% of Property Taxes collected by the City in each neighborhood should be invested in City services in said same neighborhoods, except that an investment plan should be designed for certain neighborhoods with high property values to transfer funds to the San Francisco's struggling Eastern side neighborhoods.

• Neighborhood referendum on location of large businesses with established rules for hiring locally and contribution to the enhancement of quality of life and neighborhood character by said businesses.

• Creation of a Municipal Bank, withdrawing the Budget and Reserve funds presently invested at low interest rates in big corporate banks and inviting small businesses and individual City's residents as members.

• The Municipal Bank should be administered by an elected Board of Directors by District. The present Assessor's, Treasurer's and Controller's City Offices should be consolidated with the Municipal Bank to provide the initial infrastructure and eliminate present overhead waste.

• Create a policy of Hiring San Franciscans First for all City positions and for businesses with contracts with the City, as well as large businesses locating in SF.

• Implementation of the Minimum Wage increase to $8.50 and fight for additional increases to progressively reach $14.50 per hour as the City's minimum wage.

• Reparations for Bayview Hunters Point in the form of jobs, economic development and administration by the community of development projects in the old Navy Shipyard.

• Shut down the polluting power plants at Hunters Point and Potrero Hill

• Work towards full municipalization of the City's energy system, including ownership of some energy production and the transmission/ distribution grid.

• Adopt "Community Choice," making the City the default provider of electricity and energy efficiency services (and possibly gas); paying our bills to the City instead of PG&E; gaining local, public control over energy resource decisions and making a faster transition to affordable clean energy.

• Explore "renewable," energy resources such as tidal energy and others that reduce pollution and do not use fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, oil or nuclear); maximize use of these resources and energy efficiency and other sources of alternative, clean sources of energy production.

• Repeal the present Payroll Tax which punishes small businesses and damages job creation and replace it with a structure of progressive taxation for businesses making over $800,000.

• Approve a Real Estate Transaction Tax for properties valued over $2 Million as proposed by Supervisor Matt Gonzalez.

• Re-assessment of all large property, particularly in Downtown, utilizing a progressive formula by size, market value and multiple ownership of buildings in order to reduce property taxes for individual homeowners and small property owners and increase taxation for big landlords, big businesses and owners of multiple houses.

• Eliminate the practice of unfunded mandates and "set asides," as well as opposing passthroughs.

• Generally oppose bonds and all forms of regressive taxation on working class families and working class homeowners.

• Defend the system of District Elections for Supervisors and extend it to the elections for School Board and College Board as a good government first step.

• The Redevelopment Agency is a quasi-independent agency appointed by the former mayor and has ruined communities of color. Place it under the Board of Supervisors for accountability.

• Study and advocate the proposal of replacing the present BOS with a City / County Legislative Assembly composed of elected representatives from each of the 25 existing neighborhoods. City Legislators should make an average City employee's wage, which would allow this Assembly to work at approximately the same cost as the present BOS. Each legislator will be allowed to have one neighborhood legislative assistant (who should also be required to live in the neighborhood), which will both increase efficiency and reduce the cost of the present system at the BOS.

• Investigate repeated voting fraud allegations through an independent investigative commission which will investigate allegations dating back to the infamous Stadium / Mall election, all the way up to the last Mayoral Election where City employees and employees of NGOs receiving funding from the City allegedly were forced to campaign for the present Mayor and that people who are no longer residents of the City/County and dead voters cast votes.

• Immediate purge of all election rolls.

• Make the Director of Elections an elective office and make the Dept. of Elections an independent department, as in the case of the District Attorney.

• Consolidate all Elections for Mayor, DA, Public Defender, Treasurer, Sheriff, Assessor, City Attorney and half of the BOS / Legislative Assembly and School and College Board elections with the Presidential Elections to guarantee higher turnout for all races and save millions in expenses.

• Institute IRV and public financing for all races and debate the introduction of proportional representation in some if not all races.

• Institute strict campaign contribution reforms and restrictions to PACs, corporations and big donors. Extend these restrictions and other existing rules to campaigns on behalf of, or opposing, ballot propositions.

• Initiate a debate to clean up local political elections by eliminating their hypocritical and fake non-partisan character and making them partisan (where independent candidates would enjoy the same privileges as partisan candidates).

• Replace the practice of Mayoral appointment for vacant offices at the BOS, City College Board and School Board with one of special elections for these offices.

• Consolidate the City's Commissions and make them smaller and in every case possible elective and/or appointed by the City's legislature. For true empowerment and representation of communities of color, women, immigrants and l/g/b/t communities, not just token political appointments.

• Make the Police Commission elective by District, not appointed by the Mayor or the Board of Supervisors.

• Require that police officers live in the neighborhood where they are stationed and eliminate the practice of moving officers from station to station. Time requirements to serve in the same station by contract.

• Empower the Office of Citizens Complaints (OCC) to investigate, indict and prosecute police officers for abuses, corruption and other offenses. Make the office of the Executive Director of the OCC an elective office. Provide the funds necessary to make it an effective, independent watchdog office.

• Consolidate the Sheriff and SF Police Departments and make the head of the consolidated agency an elected office.

• Restrict the SFPD / Sheriff Department from intervening in labor disputes, picket lines, investigation of political controversies, collaboration with the INS on immigration issues or repression of peaceful assembly or demonstrations. The SFPD should be excluded from decisions on granting permits for First Amendment demonstrations or assemblies.

• Requirement for unrestricted union organizing for City employees and businesses contracting with the City.

• Return the right to strike on grievances and during negotiations for Unionized City employees.

• Propose legislation to further extend the right to organize unions in San Francisco, stamp out union busting practices, and streamline the right to organize in the workplace, all with the objective of reaching the status of "Labor City" again.

• Democratic and full participation of unions representing City employees in the City's budgetary, hiring and administration of pension funds policies.

• Equal pay for equal work; end wage discrimination.

• Support free Muni for the elderly, children and students as a first step in the direction of free Muni for all City residents.

• Reduce Fast Pass to $20

• Reconversion of the Muni fleet to CNG and other forms of clean, cheaper energy.

• Restructuring of MUNI lines to reach all working class neighborhoods

• Enforce the Certified Payroll at MUNI, which guarantees the rights of MBE and WBE to participate in Contracting and Employment opportunities.

• Consolidate MUNI / BART in a Bay Area-wide transportation plan

• Enforcement, extension and enhancement of alternative and cleaner forms of transportation such as bicycling.

• For a Downtown MUNI Assessment and transfer tax for big businesses to pay for their fair share of utilization of and profiting from public transportation.

• Rebuild and maintain all neighborhood parks (i.e. McLaren Park)

• Eliminate vehicle circulation and privatization of parks (i.e. for starters, close JKF Road in Golden Gate Park to transit)

• Rebuild and expand recreation centers at parks

• Increase available funds for Parks and Rec maintenance by eliminating the practice of the DPW charging over 30% for handling contracts. Parks and Rec should handle these internally.

• Defend public education; fight privatization schemes such as the Edison Project.

• Rebuild the entire infrastructure of neighborhood schools through progressive taxation on big businesses. Build new schools where the children live in larger numbers: Mission, Bayview, Excelsior and other Eastern neighborhoods.

• Oppose the corporatization of classrooms

• Reduce classroom size to no more than 20 students per classroom

• A system of public school choice for parents giving priority to those living in the same neighborhood, combined with a full integration program and by lifting the quality of ALL schools by ending the competition for the few outstanding schools in the District. Long term planning for transforming the entire District in a network of small, high quality neighborhood schools.

• Eliminate all City subsidies and loopholes benefiting private schools

• Reform the school curricula to introduce issues of democracy, social justice, diversity, arts and crafts, music and sports for all children at all levels of public schooling.

• Fight for the Education tax base to remain under the jurisdiction of the City. Apply the tax base to raise the quality of education in underserved communities.

• Elementary, Middle and High schools located in proportion to population of students per District. Fair and equal opportunities for all communities.

• Creation of a continuum of education from kindergarten to college by consolidating resources at the SFUSD and City College to provide for more effective use of underused resources.

• Establish retention programs as well as community trade programs to ensure all youth acquire skills and knowledge necessary to obtain decent jobs.

• Free CCSF tuition for all City residents and lift all restrictions for undocumented immigrants living in the City.

• End contracting out and consulting that can be performed internally at CCSF and SFUSD

• Pro-rata pay for part-time faculty; design a process to track part-timers to full-time positions; reduce the cap on the percentage of part-time employees to provide for more secure full-time jobs

• Introduce the concept of student / teacher / parent co-government and administration of schools.

• Universal, multilingual immersion programs at every public school

• Substitute repression of the youth lifestyle with gang prevention education programs directed by the community.

• Remedial education should consider bilingual students and students who have dropped out due to behavioral issues. Implement procedures to ensure continuation schools provide equal or better levels of education.

• The City approved a proposition calling for universal and free health care for all San Franciscans, but nothing was done to implement it. We demand its immediate implementation, with sufficient funding. Premiums can be reduced and services increased by pooling available funds and individual accounts to provide for greater coverage Citywide.

• Each year, the DPH is used as a "sacrificial lamb" in budget negotiations; adequately fund health services for the City's low income communities.

• Keep SF General Hospital at Potrero. The neighborhoods currently served, such as the Mission, Bayview Hunters Point, Visitation Valley, and other areas will be disrupted if services are moved to Mission Bay, a toxic area.

• Neighborhood free clinics and expansion of Emergency Services at General Hospital and other health care facilities.

• Levy a Health Care Tax against identified gross polluters such as PG&E, Mirant, the concrete plants, etc., to cover the diminishing Health Care coverage in affected communities.

• Conduct a culturally sensitive public education campaign promoting aspects of good health.

• The City shall provide for a balanced healthy ecological environment for communities of color and low-income communities.

• Enforce Executive Order 12898 protecting low income and minority communities from toxics

• Enforce Title VI Civil Rights protecting the civil rights of low income and communities of color

• We defend and strive to enhance existing Rent Control Ordinances, eliminating all loopholes utilized for evictions. We demand the repeal of any exception from rent control of any unit.

• We support the defense of the existing stock of rental units and oppose demolitions of existing low income housing without guarantees of equal or better accommodations for existing tenants with rent control rights and without increases in rent.

• We demand the creation of an elected Rent Control Board with at least a majority of tenants, reflecting the City's demographics.

• Every construction of 4 or more units must include a minimum of 25% of the units for low income tenants (40% or less of the City's average income) and 25% at 50/60% of the City's average income.

• For all purposes of rent control and for abiding by proposals included in this platform, individual / family ownership of 4 or more individual units will be considered as ownership of a building with 4 or more units.

• We oppose the war and occupation of Iraq and we demand the immediate return of all US troops. We stand for the City's opposition to Bush's war drive and imperial ambitions of the US ruling circles. We oppose Prop. G, the brainchild of one of the two supporters of the war at the BOS: Tony Hall. The Proposition proposes shifting the cost of waging war to the City and acts as a recruitment tool of City employees through economic incentives.

• We defend antiwar activists in the right to demonstrate peacefully without any City Hall - imposed restrictions. We call for the dropping of all charges against all peaceful demonstrators arrested during the demonstrations after the Iraq invasion.

• We are calling upon all San Franciscans to participate in antiwar demonstrations and actions to continue the City's tradition for peace and social justice.

• We are for the repeal of the Patriot Act and all other repressive legislation. We support Prop E, which is a step in the right direction for the City to oppose the Patriot Act.

• We defend people of color, immigrants and the oppressed against all forms of discrimination, harassment and/or violation of their human and democratic rights. Coalition of Greens, independents, socialists, community and labor activists

• We are striving to form a new Progressive Left Movement uniting Greens, socialists, independents, community and labor activists, students and youth, independent of the Democratic and Republican parties, to intervene in community and labor struggles, field candidates in local elections and work in coalition with others around issues of common concern.