Update: Elections Results added in parenthesis
From sfgov – 35% voter turnout: 150,000 of 420,000 registered SF voters
Everybody should vote – AND should spend some time understanding what they are voting on. Do your homework – Official SF Dept of Elections (my sample ballot) and with these voter guides – False Profit, SFBG, SPUR, Green Party, SF Chronicle, Usual Suspects.
Here’s my recommendations for San Francisco:
Mayor: Newsom will win by a landslide, so have fun – Chicken John (Newsom got 74%)
Sheriff: Michael Hennessey (74% for Hennessey)
A – Yes – Muni reform (Yes 55%)
B – Yes — Commisioner Hold-over (71% Yes)
C – No — Ballot reform (68% Yes)
D – No — library (74% Yes)
E – Yes – Mayor MUST meet with Supervisors – (51% No)
F – No — Airport Police – (51% Yes)
G – No — GG Park Stables – (55% Yes)
H – NO — Parking – (No 67%)
I – Yes – Local small business – (59% Yes)
J – Yes – Wifi – (62% Yes)
K – —– Street Ads – (62% Yes)
A – Muni reform – Yes
Muni has got problems, so you might want to vote no on this, but more important is that we send a message that saying public transportation is more important than adding more parking spots
B – Commisioner Hold-over – Yes
Closes loophole reducing political pressure commissioners and board appointees, letting them focus more on their jobs.
C – Ballot reform – NO
In effect, fixes half of a broken system, allowing special interests to get away with stuff.
D – library – NO
This seems good, but not fiscally responsible enough. Hopefully this will fail and a better one will appear on the ballot next year.
E – Mayor MUST meet with Supervisors – Yes
Forces Mayor to do Q&A with Board of Supervisors once a month. Last year 55% voted yes on a similar measure – but that one was not legally binding, this one is. Some say this is just squable between Mayor Newsom and Chris Daly, some say it may won’t help and just take people’s time away from other things .. i say its a step in a right direction,
F – Airport Police – No
Give airport police retirements same as SFPD. I say no, SFPD is tougher job, more expensive city, they should get more retirement
G – GG Park Stables – No
Not fiscally responsible – doesn’t follow normal procedures – why are stables that much more important than other stuff?
H – Parking – NO NO NO
Backed by billionaire Don Fisher, this just adds parking downtown so he can easily sell more condos. Bad. But worse, is the magnitude – you want 20,000 more parking spots? HELL NO.
I – Local small business – Yes
Help local small businesses get on their feet – Good for SF, doesn’t cost much. Matches with my theory that big corporations are better for many things economically, but not ALWAYS better for society. This gives local small businesses more of an even playing field.
J – Wifi – Yes
A step in the right direction on helping get wifi to everyone
K – Street Ads – Maybe
I don’t really care about this one. Gives muni money for selling ad space on bus shelters. Good cuz it brings in money to Muni, bad cuz we don’t need more clear channel ads.