Trevor Chandler accused fellow candidate Jackie Fielder at a Wednesday night forum of changing her mind about the police — at one time supporting the call to disarm it, and now no longer doing so.
Fielder, like all of the candidates running in District 9, supports a fully staffed police department. When she ran against Scott Wiener in 2020 for State Senate, she called for defunding the police.
“I have already talked about my holistic program for public safety,” Fielder said in response to the attack. “Everyone can see my whole plan on my website.” She has spoken in the past about how her view on policing has evolved after speaking with neighbors — but also been critical of the burgeoning $821 million police budget.
She then attacked Chandler on cultural districts. “He doesn’t support cultural districts, and he will dismantle them if he becomes supervisor. That’s why he’s attacking me, because we’ve fought over this.”
The forum at the Women’s Building was, in fact, organized by a number of these districts, including the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District and the American Indian Cultural District. It was moderated by Susana Rojas, the president of Calle 24, and Sharaya Souza, the executive director and cofounder of the American Indian cultural district. The Mission Economic Development Agency also sponsored the bilingual forum, which was attended by seven out of eight candidates, minus h brown.
Chandler, later in the forum, said he would not claim to understand the experiences and struggles of the communities who benefit from these cultural districts, but acknowledged their importance.
An example, he said, was his presence at the forum, regardless of his criticism of Calle 24’s leadership for what he said was improperly handling Sasha Perigo’s 2021 accusations of sexual assault against Jon Jacobo, a former board member of Calle 24.
At that point in the forum, he turned on Calle 24, which is largely supporting another front-runner, Roberto Hernandez, for failing in 2021 to act on the accusations of sexual harassment made against its then-vice president, Jacobo.
“I called them out very publicly for their failure to handle accusations of sexual assault for many years, and I’m still willing to work with them, because we’re going to have disagreements,” said Chandler. “In me, you have someone who is going to be an active listener, but also is going to hold the powerful accountable throughout the district.”
In a statement shared with Mission Local following the forum, Calle 24 said Chandler has never reached out to them to inquire about the situation. In fact, they said, it was the first time the candidate even greeted President Rojas.
The first accusation against Jacobo came out on Aug. 6, 2021. The same day, Calle 24 put out an Instagram post asking the public for time to respond. The very next day, the organization announced that it was putting Jacobo on leave until further notice.
After the San Francisco Standard ran a story on April 16 of this year with additional charges of violence and rape, Jacobo resigned from his role at Calle 24.
About 120 people attended the Wednesday forum. Every candidate except Chandler and Stephen Torres made an introduction in Spanish and, for the rest of the forum, a group of four — Julian Bermudez, Roberto Hernandez, Jaime Gutierrez and Fielder — answered in both Spanish and English..
Support for cultural districts was, in fact, a question of the night.
“What has your experience been, so far, working with San Francisco cultural districts and, as supervisor, how do you envision your administration prioritizing the needs and supporting the policies, programs and initiatives of cultural districts in District 9?” co-moderator Souza asked.
Fielder, who was up again, called for fighting against displacement and gentrification to preserve these communities. Gutierrez signaled to the work he has done helping people at the Friendship House, an organization helping Native Americans through the process of healing by spiritual connection.
“I’ve helped a lot of people there, and it’s very gratifying. It’s also a way to help myself, and I practice that every day,” said Gutierrez.
Bermudez called to support community organizations like Calle 24, because he knew firsthand the importance of the work they do.
“I wouldn’t be here talking to all of y’all if it wasn’t for Calle 24. If it wasn’t for all the organizations that helped me from a young age,” said Bermudez. “These organizations do help. I’m here. I’m an example. It works.”
Hernandez said this is a work he is already familiar with as one of the co-founders of Calle 24. He said forming the organization was in response to the “brutal” gentrification the Mission District experienced.
Torres touted his experience working with cultural districts in his time at City Hall as an entertainment commissioner, and took the time to criticize Proposition D, a well-funded measure to cap city commissions.
“I will do something for them right now, which is to strongly advocate that you vote no on D,” said Torres. “This is our own little version of Project 2025 here in San Francisco in order to dismantle your voice, erase you.”
The TogetherSF-sponsored Prop. D would limit the number of city commissions to 65, and give more power to the mayor and police chief. The proposition has raised some $8.7 million, with huge chunks coming from the billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz, the benefactor of TogetherSF, a public pressure group.
Half an hour into the forum, co-moderator Rojas asked candidates about street cleanliness and safety. Fielder called for more police on the streets, a survivor’s center, community policing, graffiti cleaning in 24 hours, and bilingual community ambassadors. Jaime Gutierrez called for a fully-staffed police and more garbage cans, which Bermudez agreed on, and also suggested more public bathrooms.
Roberto Hernandez called for ambassador programs that hire community members, a senior escort program that takes care of the community elders, and hiring parents to be school monitors as a way to reach youth. Stephen Torres agreed the city does need a fully staffed police department, but one that hires more from the communities it serves.
“We contract out so much of our work, and it should be coming from the community,” said Torres, who also added the city needed to invest in youth programs that offer jobs and create a sense of pride for the youth in their communities.
Chandler disagreed and said community ambassadors would not solve violent crimes. Only a fully staffed police force would work, he said.
The forum also touched on school closures; Hernandez suggested keeping schools open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to offer after-school programs and a space for parents to leave their kids while they work.
“We take care of our children from seven in the morning to seven at night,” said Hernandez. “Let’s put the money into each and every one of our schools in this community, so our parents can go to work and we can also provide breakfast to our kids.”
Chandler called for holding the school board accountable, and for proper funding. Torres, Gutierrez and Bermudez all called for fighting to prevent closures.
Fielder said she, as some of the other candidates, had benefited from school programs as a child, and wanted to secure the same for kids in the district. She made a reference to the current water situation that has kept children at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 without drinking water at the building after high levels of lead were detected.
Candidates also spoke about housing, the street vending ban, and ways to help small businesses; most of those answers were similar to their past responses at other forums.
The night ended with candidates tabling at stations set up for each one of them around the auditorium, hoping to attract voters in the last 20 days before the election.
Disclosure: Roberto Hernandez and Jackie Fielder have taken out ads in Mission Local. Ads are offered to every candidate running for office.
It really scares me that after years of failed leadership, broken promises, several dozen empty storefronts, murders at the BART stops, rampant homelessness, fentanyl overdoses, stolen goods markets, and nonprofits scamming the city, that we could end up electing the next coming of David Campos and Hillary Phone-In, aka Jackie Fielder.
I am also deeply curious how Calle24 has ANY credibility at this point, and why any self-respecting candidate for public office would reward them with an appearance at their forum.
I am so thankful Trevor Chandler was there to talk some sense at a table full of complete insanity.
I just read Jackie Fielder’s entire public safety plan. Bullet #7 is to “Reduce Waste in Law Enforcement Spending.” This is basically just a fancier, less inflammatory way of saying “Defund the police.” Jackie Fielder has NEVER said she no longer supports defunding and disarming the police. Mission Local continues to make insinuations that she does not despite providing no evidence or direct quotes for it.
I am unclear where the idea of “dismantling the cultural district” is coming from- this seems like a desperate grasp to make up a boogieman that doesn’t exist. This is not a topic that has ever come up or been debated. How would that benefit anyone? As a regular, D9 resident myself who chose to live in this particular neighborhood and city for it’s rich culture, diversity etc. I just don’t understand how anyone would be “against” a cultural district. Who or what does that serve? Like most of the average residents in D9, Trevor fully supports Cultural Districts, there is zero reason not to.
Do you know what would truly support our cultural district? How about clean, safe sidewalks our children can play on, maybe ride a scooter down without fear of needles, human feces or some deranged lunatic yelling obscenities while everyone shuffles by and shrugs? How about windows and storefronts that don’t get smashed and graffiti that gets cleaned up within 24 hours?
Hillary Ronan couldn’t reign it in, now D9 is in the toilet. Her endorsed candidate Jackie Fielder will deliver more of the same. We don’t want the same. We need change and we need accountability and we need someone who is going to call out BS when there’s BS…like the whole Jacobo-thing. That was some serious BS.
Finally, with respect to proposition D…this is our cities only hope to turn things around. City Hall is so clearly broken. It takes forever to get a permit. It takes $1.7million to build a toilet. We’ve got Dreamkeeper money going towards fancy cigars and Nantucket rentals. We do not need 130 commissions. Having this much bloat ensures status quo and everything stays the same. We need reform and we need it ASAP. Reducing them to 65 is just plain common sense. This is still 20+ more commissions than the average large city, some of them 2-3X our size. C’MON, San Francisco! Get it together!!!! Why does our city always have to be the outlier on everything, and not in a good way?
It’s not surprising that a TogetherSF organizer such as yourself would spread falsehoods about Prop D that were debunked in the SF Examiner article:
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/sf-prop-d-separating-fact-fiction-in-pricey-ballot-measure/article_3141f892-8c0c-11ef-9c75-a34ff50295db.html
“Reducing them to 65 is just plain common sense”. False, TogetherSF has not shared how they came up with the number 65, when asked multiple times. 65 is just a random number! That’s not common sense.
“still 20+ more commissions than the average large city”. False, San Francisco is a City and County so we have County commissions too, less than the 199 that Los Angeles County has.
“It takes forever to get a permit” – What? So we should wipe out the Library Commission and the Health Commission? Who or what does THAT serve?
Prop D is San Francisco’s very own Project 2025, and if it passes, the City will be in ruins. No Police Commission? No civilian oversight? I’m not sure what your cut is, but I beg you to reconsider for the sake of your neighbors who are suffering.
It’s also weird that you give Trevor Chandler a pass on being a Republican in college who campaigned for John McCain and Sarah Palin (against Barack Obama) but demand change and accountability from Jackie Fielder because she’s asking to reduce wasteful police overtime which somehow means “Defund”? Very confusing, please reconsider the consequences of your words. Thanks for reading!
Thank you from this Bernal resident.
The last thing we need is a Hilary Ronan 2.0. I’m voting for Chandler.
Is it coincidental that this sockpuppet post also mispels HIllary “Ronan”‘s name ? Hello Jennifer!
Thanks language police. That was very helpful. You sure did change my mind lol!
Thank-you for your reporting. It’s great that candidates “call for” measures like a fully staffed police station or more garbage cans. The follow-on questions I would like answered are: what is your plan to achieve this, is this something a supervisor has any control over, and how much will it cost?
The Bernal Heights Democratic Club endorsed Jackie Fielder and no on D.
Fielder doesn’t need to lick boots to win D9.
What you don’t seem to get is how gentrification creep works. Clamoring for cops, condos, and craft coladas drives dispossession and displacement.
Your vision for the Mission sounds like Orinda. Feces, needles, and lunatics… oh my.
Btw, it’s Ronen with an “e”. She’s been *reigning* supervisor for eight years.
Campers,
I missed the Forum because I thought that someone should attend the Final meeting of the Elections Commission before the election.
As it turned out, I was the only person in San Francisco who felt thataway.
Which should be of concern as Director Arntz came very close to losing his job last year because he has stood in the way of converting our Counting Algorithms from Proprietary to Open Source.
For 20 years !
I gave the example of having the dealer in a card game go into his bedroom to shuffle the cards and then not allowing anyone to cut them and instead dealing them and acting surprised when Mayor Breed won.
That’s how we count our votes in San Francisco and when the commission (a real gem designed by Matt Gonzalez and the Class of 2000 … 7 members appointed one each by the Mayor and the Board and the City Attorney and the District Attorney and the Public Defender and the Treasurer and I forget the other one) but they are ALL women as is their Staff Attorney and Clerk so it was just me and Arntz representing all of the other males on the planet.
Related a sample of how the Dominion machines can throw an election with a command such as:
“Hal, if Candidate Lurie get’s 1,000 votes ahead of candidate Breed you are to count every other 1st Place vote for Lurie as a vote for Breed until Candidate Breed leads Candidate Lurie by 2,000 votes.
You will continue this through 11 Rounds of Tabulation and have Candidate Breed wins the election.
My intention was to discourage Director John Arntz from allowing this scenario to take place as I believe it has in the past while counting in the backroom.
I used Lurie as an example because he is the only candidate with enough Petty Cash to pay for an immediate legal appeal and Recount after the election by an agency other than the SF Department of Elections.
For my last comment period I closed by singing a favorite Vaudeville exit song written by the other Bill Murray in 1904 …
It closes with the line …
“Always leave them laughing when you saaay Goooddbyyyee !”
Then, I walked out.
Check that one off my Bucket List.
Go to our First Place Niners !!
h.
Jackie Fielder supports a fully funded police department. She just wears and sells “Defund The Police” masks for FUN! Not because she’s actually a police abolitionist… anymore… as far as you know.
Vote for her!!!
What’s the worst thing that could happen?!?
(that Hillary Ronen hasn’t already done to D9 anyway)