This is an archive of a past election. See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/sf/ for current information. |
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Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Mayor; City of San Francisco | |||||
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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of San Francisco and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Issues,
Issues,
Housing,
Issues
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
Answer from Amy Farah Weiss:
As a strong advocate for participatory democracy, I developed an online survey for my campaign regarding the key issues that voters wanted candidates to debate for the 2015 Mayor's race and conducted outreach to all of San Francisco's democratic clubs and neighborhood organizations (as well as my fellow candidates and the media). I asked voters to name their top three issues and then asked survey participants if they would attend a policy forum, teach-in, or candidate debate on the top 13 issues that I identified and framed as most pressing for the Mayor's race:
1. Inclusive and sustainable growth
In the open-ended question regarding the top three issues voters wanted candidates to debate, the majority of participant responses were related to the following theme: "How do we protect and develop affordable housing for a diversity of workers, culture-makers, and neighbors?". The verbatim responses from SF voters included: "Affordable Housing", "Housing speculator issues in SF", "Homes for people not houses for profit + how?", "How to manage growth", "The use of city property for the creation of both low income and affordable housing rentals for teachers and service workers", "the rate of displacement re/ Ellis Act", "How will you preserve rent control which is the largest source of affordable housing?", "Outmigration of AA", "Loss of artists/creative's due to housing prices".
Answer from Amy Farah Weiss:
Answer from Amy Farah Weiss:
For a thorough analysis of San Francisco's current housing crisis and solutions for how to invest in pro-worker and equitable development with an equitable return on investment, please view my 9/30/2015 presentation on this topic. The campaign video linked above provides a 10 minute version of my presentation, and the full length version can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KazsUpW-5PY. In a nutshell, we must require developers to equitably invest and profit from the construction of new housing that is affordable to a diverse range of our local workforce. As Mayor I will enforce the regional housing needs assessment goals for affordable housing set by the Associated Bay Area Governments, 1986's Prop M, and the 2008 Eastern Neighborhoods Plan which all call for more significant building of affordable housing.
As Mayor, I will also support the construction of additional dwelling units in our city's 37,000 existing parcels that can accommodate the addition of one or more new units. I will create an incentive plan to property owners to fund the $50,000-$250,000 addition by providing financing, design, and construction support in return for property owners renting to our local workforce (teachers, nonprofit workers, paraprofessionals, health care workers, first responders, etc) at 30% of their income.
As Mayor I will support the development of regional union manufacturing centers that can build eco-friendly pre-fab units which allow for decreased construction costs and time. For an example of this approach, look up the recently approved development by Forge Land Company at 361 Turk and 145 Leavenworth.
Answer from Amy Farah Weiss:
As a Bay Area native who has lived and worked in multiple cities and counties throughout the Bay Area, I have a unique perspective on regional collaboration and planning. Since moving to San Francisco in 2007, I have developed a vast inter-disciplinary, multi-sector, and multi-cultural network of city-wide neighbors. After graduating from SF State in 2010 with an M.A. in Organizational Development & Training that integrated the disciplines of Public Administration, Instructional Technologies, and Organizational Psychology, I initiated and developed an award-winning community service learning project in SF State's Public Administration Department that connects community-based nonprofits with graduate student teams. I designed the SF CBO Support Project to support non-profit community partners and students in their ability to apply tools of strategic planning, communications, and evaluation to their mission-serving programs.
I became activated in local politics in early 2011 when I joined my District 5 neighbors in organizing at City Hall against a Chase Bank that displaced two local businesses on Divisadero without due process of a Conditional Use Hearing through the Planning Department and Planning Commission. I learned about San Francisco's zoning laws, spoke at the Board of Appeals, Planning Commission, and public comment at the Board of Supervisors, and worked with neighbors and Supervisors to protect neighborhood culture and character by upholding and strengthening formula retail law. In late 2011, I founded Neighbors Developing Divisadero and achieved nonprofit status at the state level along with the participation and support of neighbors and local neighborhood organizations. I launched a $3.6 million campaign to revitalize a blighted theater with the support of over 500 neighbors. Through Neighbors Developing Divisadero I re-activated and managed a long-dormant community garden in my neighborhood with the support of SF's urban agriculture network, hundreds of neighbors, and New Liberation Church.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page. |