Last week, we asked candidates how they intended to do to encourage San Francisco residents to vote. Their responses begged follow-up questions, which are published below.
Be the judge as to whether they answered as asked.
Joshua Arce
Civil Rights Attorney, Laborers Local 261 Community Liaison
Earlier Response: As a longtime resident of District 9, I know many people feel alienated by the political process and have become skeptical of candidates. They hear the promises but often do not see the follow-through.
However, I see voters get excited when they learn of my experience building hundreds of units of affordable housing in the Mission at this very moment. They engage because I have the track record our next Supervisor will need to build the thousands of units we need to bring us out of our affordability crisis.
Reducing cynicism and increasing hope will increase turnout.
Follow-up: Can you clarify the hundreds of units you are now involved in building, and how you go from hundreds to thousands of pledged units?
Arce: As housing costs skyrocketed, only a handful of affordable units were built in the Missionāor anywhere in District 9āin the last 7 years. This is unacceptable.
As a board member of the Missionās biggest affordable housing non-profit, weāre currently building & rehabbing hundreds of units of new and existing affordable housing. In partnership with my union, we are working relentlessly on new acquiring new sites for housing thatās affordable for all of us: low, moderate, and middle-income residents.
With this proven hands-on experience, I will bring these efforts to an even larger scale as the next District 9 Supervisor, building thousands of units of housing for all of us.
En EspaƱol: En los Ćŗltimos 7 aƱos, los costos de la vivienda se elevaron drĆ”sticamente, y solo se construyeron unas cuantas unidades de precio accesible en la MisiĆ³n, y en general, en todo el Distrito 9. Es algo inaceptable.
Como miembro de la mesa directiva de la organizaciĆ³n sin fines de lucro por la construcciĆ³n de viviendas de precio accesible mĆ”s grande de la MisiĆ³n, actualmente estamos construyendo y rehabilitando cientos de unidades nuevas y existentes para que sean viviendas de precio accesible. Nuestro sindicato y yo estamos trabajando sin descanso para adquirir nuevos lugares que nos permitan generar viviendas de precio accesible para todos nosotros: residentes de ingresos bajos, moderados, y medios.
Teniendo esta experiencia, y como siguiente Supervisor del Distrito 9, harĆ© que estos esfuerzos alcancen una escala aĆŗn mĆ”s grande construyendo miles de unidades habitacionales para todos nosotros.
Iswari EspaƱa
Training Officer with the City and County of San Francisco for Human Services Agency
Earlier Response: We are reaching out to people who are simply fed up with politics and poor representation by the local administration and City Hall. Therefore, our strategy is to provide a voice, an outlet and a choice. We will share that our campaign is not politically driven; we want to show that we are a break from traditional politics. We want folks to understand that apathy will result in having City Hall and other districts dictating local policy, and that voting is the best way to send a clear and direct message to politicians.
Follow-up: Perhaps you could be more specific when you say you are reaching out to voters. Are you going door-to-door in the Mission? What exactly does that mean and how often will you be doing this?
EspaƱa: We have 18 parks and several local events in our neighborhoods weekly. We will engage local merchants, residents, artists and anyone who cares about our neighborhoods. In our campaign, we have several folks who have committed to help us. Every weekend we will be at several locations and events talking to folks. What may seem as daunting task for many organizers/politicians, for our volunteers and me, it will be a joy as we are driven by change, as we want a better representation of our District.
En EspaƱol: Tenemos 18 parques y varios eventos semanales en nuestros vecindarios. Involucraremos a los comerciantes, residentes, artistas locales asĆ como a cualquiera que le importen nuestros vecindarios. Varias personas se han comprometido a ayudarnos en nuestra campaƱa. Cada fin de semana estaremos en diferentes lugares y eventos hablando con la gente. Lo que puede parecer una tarea intimidante para muchos organizadores/polĆticos, serĆ” un placer para nuestros voluntarios y para mĆ, pues nos motiva el cambio y queremos una mejor representaciĆ³n para nuestro distrito.
Hillary Ronen
Chief of Staff for incumbent District 9 Supervisor David Campos
Earlier Response: Tuesday voting can be difficult for working families; vote-by-mail and early voting programs increase voter turnout and should be expanded. But more importantly, voters stay home on Election Day when they feel like their vote wonāt matter. When they feel like candidates are part of the problem, give the same pat answers, and wonāt take action to affect real change. With an affordability and homeless crisis that has been largely ignored by the current Mayoral administration, District 9 voters deserve candidates who have an actual plan to address these issues and the experience to carry out that plan in office.
Follow-up: We agree that people increasingly feel that their vote wonāt matter and that real change is difficult to come by. Youāve been working in city government for awhile now, what has changed that it will make it more likely that you will be able to build 5,000 new housing units, when others have failed?
Ronen: The Mayorās policy of building luxury and hoping that the 12% affordability requirements will offset displacement is both bad policy and bad math. If we need affordable we need to build affordable. And thatās exactly what weāve been doing. In the last year alone, our office has fought for and won 480 new units of affordable housing that will be built in the next few years. Weāve won $80 million exclusively for affordable housing in District 9. And every day we are negotiating in City Hall and with developers to identify land where we can build more affordable housing.
En EspaƱol: La polĆtica del Alcalde de construir con lujos esperando que el 12% de los requisitos de precios accesibles compensen los desalojos no es mĆ”s que mala polĆtica y malos cĆ”lculos. Si necesitamos lugares que sean de precios accesibles, los lugares que construimos deben serlo. Y eso es exactamente lo que nosotros hemos estado haciendo. Tan solo en el aƱo pasado, nuestra oficina luchĆ³ para obtener y ganĆ³ 480 unidades nuevas para la generaciĆ³n de viviendas a precio accesible que se construirĆ”n en los siguientes aƱos. Ganamos $80 millones que se usarĆ”n de forma exclusiva para suministrar viviendas accesibles en el Distrito 9. AdemĆ”s, cada dĆa negociamos en el Ayuntamiento y con los desarrolladores para asĆ identificar terrenos en los que podamos construir mĆ”s viviendas de este tipo.
Edwin Lindo, vice-president of external affairs at the Latino Democratic Club missed the deadline for answering our first question, but offered his later in the week.
Response: My campaign will engage communities most campaigns believe are ādisengagedā by demonstrating their voice will be heard and empowered. Residents will be proud to vote for one of their own, a Son of District 9.
Voting is difficult: scheduling around work, children, long commutes, and multiple jobs. As a San Francisco Commissioner, my colleagues and I commissioned a study on how to make voting more accessible and equitable.
I support the VOTE 16 campaign and commit to giving a political voice to undocumented parents in school board elections, with children in SFUSD. All voices deserve to be heard!
Follow-up: Who are these disengaged communities and how will your campaign make sure they turn out to vote? Why are young voters particularly important to you?
Lindo: The disengaged voters are those like my father ā a Latino immigrant who came to the Mission at 10 years old in 1960 from Nicaragua, and later became a citizen. Still, to this day, even after being a citizen for 35 years, my father has yet to vote because he never believed government did right for the people and his community. But seeing what his son stands for, he has committed to cast his first ballot. I am certain my father is not alone ā we will engage communities that never believed before.
The young voters are incredibly important because we are borrowing from their future to do the work that is needed today; and itās their voice that must be heard.
En EspaƱol: Quienes se abstienen de votar son como mi padre, un inmigrante latino que llegĆ³ a la MisiĆ³n a los 10 aƱos desde Nicaragua en 1960 y despuĆ©s se volviĆ³ ciudadano. Hasta este dĆa, despuĆ©s de tener la ciudadanĆa por 35 aƱos, mi padre aĆŗn no ha votado porque nunca ha creĆdo que el gobierno busque el bien de las personas y de su comunidad. Pero, al ver los ideales que su hijo defiende, se comprometiĆ³ a llenar su primera boleta. Estoy seguro de que mi padre no estĆ” solo. Lograremos que las comunidades que nunca antes han creĆdo se involucren.
Los votantes jĆ³venes son sumamente importantes, porque estamos tomando prestado de su futuro el trabajo que necesitamos hacer hoy, y son sus voces las que deben ser escuchadas.
43 Questions is a Mission Local effort to engage voters by asking candidates for the District 9 supervisorās race a weekly question. We began the column 43 weeks before the election, hence, 43 Questions.
If you have recently moved or have not yet registered to vote, here is the page you will need to update your registration or to register for the first time.
If you have questions to ask the candidates, please send them to info@missionlocal.com. Subject line: One Question.
Josh, bro…you didn’t answer the follow up question. Probably because you were not being honest in the first place. (Mission Local, can you look into his experience of building hundreds of affordable units of housing in the Mission and report on that?)
they should asked questions, like, “What is their motive for running in a district that you have never been part of it or live in ?” they can never build affordable housing they always fail. because the money will be missing or it got misplace.