Welcome to “Meet the Candidates,” where Mission Local asks supervisor hopefuls questions in the lead-up to the November election. In District 7 โ which includes the Inner Sunset, Parkmerced and West Portal โ Matt Boschetto and Stephen Martin-Pinto are running against incumbent Myrna Melgar.
Between now and the November election, Mission Local will ask each candidate one question per week, and candidates will get 100 words to respond. Take a look at all the answers from District 7 candidates here.
Here’s our fourth question: What must District 7 do to help San Francisco meet its required housing construction targets?
Matt Boschetto
- Job: Small business owner
- Age: 35
- Housing: Homeowner
- Transport: Car
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Saint Mary’s College of California
- Residency: Living in District 7 since 2014
As District 7 Supervisor, I will work with the Planning Department to incentivize the completion of large projects that have community support, like Stonestown and Parkmerced. There are many opportunity zones and projects in the District 7 pipeline that can be developed with the support of neighbors, and without replacing sound housing stock. While accessible housing is the biggest line item in the affordability crisis, we must take care not to continually over-politicize it and forward a balanced policy, one that supports the completion of projects with consideration for who and what is already there.
Stephen Martin-Pinto
- Job: Firefighter/major, U.S. Marine Corps reserves
- Age: 46
- Housing: Tenant in SF, property owner and landlord in Lemon Grove, California
- Transport: Fairly evenly split between car, Muni and walking
- Languages: Spanish, Russian, Georgian
- Education: University of California, Davis
- Residency: Living in District 7โs Sunnyside since 2014, and earlier from 1983 to 1998
The city must reform burdensome permitting processes for housing developments before any district is to make any substantive progress. SF Chronicle claims that it requires 87 permits, many of which are redundant and contradictory, to develop a project. These permits must be deconflicted and reduced in number, and we must employ a split-permitting process. Parkmerced and Stonestown have proposals for the addition of several thousand new units total, which I support. We can add stories to buildings on corridors such as West Portal and Ocean Avenues while protecting and preserving our single family home and historic park neighborhoods.
Endorsed by: Former District 7 Supervisor Tony Hall, former Planning Commissioner Michael Antonini, former Police Chief Tony Ribera, drug policy advocate Tom Wolf, BART Board Director Debora Allen … read more here
Myrna Melgar
- Job: District 7 supervisor
- Age: 56
- Housing: Homeowner
- Transport: Bike
- Languages: Spanish, French, Swedish
- Education: Bachelor’s degree, Excelsior College; master’s degree in urban planning, Columbia University
- Residency: Living in Ingleside Terraces since 2011, and lived in District 7 while in college at SF State between 1987 and 1991
District 7 must build all kinds of housing to help San Francisco meet its targets, but it must also do it to meet the needs of our own people today and tomorrow. We have a diverse population; we need housing for middle-class folks, and we need low-income housing. We need larger units for families, and we also have an aging population so we need smaller units for seniors. We need housing for students; District 7 is home to SFSU, City College and UCSF. This past year we made it much easier for homeowners to add in-law units… read more here
Endorsed by: SF Labor Council, SF Tenants Union, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Supervisor Hillary Ronen, Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor Catherine Stefani, Senator Scott Weiner, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins … read more here
Candidates are ordered alphabetically. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at kelly@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.
Did Melgar actually say anything in that answer?
It seemed very Mahmood; i.e., lots of buzzwords but not position taken.