Welcome to “Meet the Candidates,” where Mission Local asks supervisor hopefuls questions in the lead-up to the November election. In District 7 — which includes the Inner Sunset, Parkmerced and West Portal — 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 fifth question: Which mayoral candidate are you supporting?
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 a candidate for District 7 supervisor, I am laser-focused on my race, so I can be the voice our district needs at City Hall. Running for mayor of San Francisco is a major undertaking, and I applaud all the candidates for stepping up and putting themselves on the line. I am willing to work with each of the candidates running, so I can be an effective agent of change for the Westside. Whoever wins, I am confident in my ability to work with the next mayor to achieve results and advance the priorities of District 7 residents.
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 7’s Sunnyside since 2014, and earlier from 1983 to 1998
As of today, I’m ranking Daniel Lurie or Mark Farrell in first or second place (still undecided) and Mayor London Breed in third place. Breed is saying all the right things now, but this is relatively recent; she wasn’t there for us when we needed her the most, four years ago. As a leader, she hasn’t been proactive but reactive. Lurie, although an outsider, is inexperienced and seemed like he decided to run before he figured out his messaging. This has since changed, and his messaging has become much stronger. Farrell bears some responsibility for our current situation, but is experienced and has strong messaging.
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
As the list of candidates for the upcoming November election develops, I’m eagerly waiting to hear their plans on how they will manage the city to address our pressing issues, including the safety of our neighborhoods and the lack of affordable housing. I will support the candidate willing to work together with the Supervisors to come up with practical solutions instead of indulging in political bickering.
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.
Seems more than a bit early for this question, given that the filing deadline is months away and that at least one heavyweight candidate who’s reportedly planning to enter the race (Peskin) hasn’t yet even announced.
So I hope you’ll ask this question again sometime like August, when November has gotten a lot closer and the mayoral candidates’ positions have become clear. I think Melgar’s wait-and-see answer is fair enough at this point, but as a D7 voter I’ll be interested in what she and the others say when the question is ripe.
Is Stephen Martin-Pinto the only one who actually is answering the questions?