Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 1 supervisorial candidates who have filed to run respond to a question in 100 words or fewer.
Answers are published each week, but we are also archiving each answer on this page for District 1, to make it easier for voters to browse. This week, we added information on how long the candidates have lived in the district they are running to represent. More information on their endorsers and campaign finance will be updated in the coming weeks.
This week, our question is about street safety. In District 1, segments of Geary Boulevard, California Street, Balboa Street and Fulton Street are in the city’s high-injury network. That means they are among 12 percent of the city’s streets that accounted for 68 percent of severe and fatal traffic-related injuries, as of 2022.
Ongoing projects, such as the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project and the Fulton Street Safety and Transit Project aim to improve pedestrian safety, but it will take months, if not years, for these projects to be completed. And, not all of these changes have worked elsewhere in San Francisco.
Our question this week: What specific actions will you take to address pedestrian safety in District 1?
Next Wednesday, April 3, I will be in the Outer Richmond at Cabrillo Playground at 10:30 a.m. Drop by and share your thoughts! Can’t make that meeting? I’ll be somewhere in the district every week. Check back here to find out where.
Jen Nossokoff
- Job: Vice president of a healthcare company and physician assistant
- Age: 38
- Residency: Homeowner, living in District 1 since 2020
- Transportation: Walking, biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and master’s degree from Samuel Merritt University
- Languages: English
If I were in charge, we would start installing bollards at bus stops and near schools tonight. Eleven people, including two children, have died at the hands of traffic violence in San Francisco this year. That is unacceptable.
We need solutions that address both policy and physical design, and we need an urgent all-hands-on-deck approach to make our streets safer for our kids and community, or else this is going to keep happening. Here is my press release calling for immediate action.
Marjan Philhour
- Job: Business owner, former advisor and fundraiser to London Breed
- Age: 49
- Residency: Homeowner, born in District 1 and moved back in 2006
- Transportation: Biking, walking, driving and public transportation
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley
- Languages: English
Long-term pedestrian-safety planning is critical, and these measures can’t come fast enough. In the immediate short term, we must advocate for:
- Increasing police staffing to ensure we have the resources for traffic enforcement and monitoring to prevent side shows and other dangerous traffic activity
- Enforcing speed limits rigorously with automated speed enforcement tools like speed cameras
- Increasing the visibility of crosswalks through high-visibility striping and advanced stop lines, install pedestrian-activated flashing beacons at key intersections
By prioritizing these swift and effective interventions, we can significantly reduce the risk of severe and fatal injuries on our streets, ensuring the … read more here
Endorsed by: San Francisco Police Officers Association … read more here
Jeremiah Boehner
- Job: Marketing specialist and U.S. Army veteran
- Age: 39
- Residency: Tenant, living in District 1 since 2006
- Transportation: Driving
- Education: University of San Francisco
- Languages: English
Vision Zero has been an absolute failure. [District 7 candidate] Stephen Martin-Pinto pointed out many of our bus stops are mere feet away from fast-moving traffic. These need to be moved further away from the lanes of traffic, so buses and passengers aren’t in the way.
Street and crosswalk markings need to be well-maintained and well-lit as well. Adding bollards in front of some of our bus stops will help prevent accidents from becoming deadly when they do happen.
Finally, we need more traffic enforcement, the police commission prevents many traffic stops combined with the lack of staff, to enforce them. This needs to change.
Connie Chan
- Job: Incumbent District 1 Supervisor
- Age: 45
- Residency: Homeowner, living in District 1 since 2011
- Transportation: Driving and walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of California, Davis
- Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin
Every traffic death is tragic and largely preventable. That’s why I have funded a District 1 mobility study to redesign safety in the Richmond for pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders.
In my time in office, we have also advocated and approved funding for new speed camera installations, traffic signal and pedestrian safety improvements, and secured state funding to install a protected bike lane on Arguello from the Presidio to Fulton Street.
But money alone isn’t enough. We need the Mayor and SFMTA to implement these FUNDED projects and to increase long-delayed traffic enforcement and safety measures on our high-injury corridors.
Endorsed by: San Francisco Labor Council, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, Local 21, Service Employees International Union 1021 … read more here
Sherman D’Silva
- Job: Owner of a laundromat on Geary Boulevard
- Age: 51
- Residency: Homeowner, living in District 1 since 1973
- Transportation: Driving
- Education: Bachelor’s degrees from San Francisco State University
- Languages: English
Geary, Balboa, California and Fulton streets are dangerous because elected officials have chosen not to install timed traffic lights on these major corridors. There should not be a single block without a traffic light on these corridors.
The interim AND long-term solution to this problem is 100 percent traffic enforcement by SFPD. We need to STOP making excuses for people not following the law. Persons driving with expired tags, without valid licenses, speeding and with mechanical deficiencies should be ticketed. Bicyclists who do not follow the law should be cited. And to be fair, any person crossing illegally should also be ticketed.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically and rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at junyao@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
