Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 10 supervisor candidates respond to questions each week in 100 words or fewer. Answers will be published every Thursday.
District 10 includes neighborhoods in the city’s largest southeast sector, including Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, Visitacion Valley, Dogpatch, Sunnydale, Portola, and others.
Each candidate is first ordered alphabetically, then rotated each week.
While bread-and-butter issues are top of mind for most local leaders, in San Francisco’s District 10, the stakes are dramatically higher.
The next district supervisor will be forced to contend with the U.S. Navy, which for decades, has presided over large swaths of Hunters Point’s former Naval shipyard, now-turned superfund site.
Since 1989, the Navy has been tasked with remediating the shipyard. During the Cold War, the site was used for nuclear testing, leaving much of the soil contaminated. Soon, once the land is deemed safe, it will return to the city for future development.
But the project hasn’t been without its hiccups. Tetra Tech, an engineering firm formerly contracted by the Navy, was accused of falsifying soil samples tested for radioactive waste, replacing “dirty” for “clean” samples, in 2013. The findings delayed the remediation project for years, forcing the Navy to retest much of the land’s soil. Two Tetra Tech workers went to prison, and recently, the company reached a combined settlement for $97 million dollars that went to the government and Tetra Tech whistleblowers.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed by nearby residents, arguing that the toxic waste has harmed their long-term health and that their home values dramatically declined after the false findings were uncovered. Many allege that developers at the shipyard never informed them they would live on toxic waste.
The payout to residents has been minimal, if any.
The Navy has also had its problems. Last year, the agency took eleven months to report to the Department of Public Health that it had found an alarming level of plutonium at the shipyard. It will likely be another decade until the cleanup is complete.
This week, Mission Local asked each of the candidates how they plan to hold the Navy accountable in coming years. Here is how they answered.
Theo Ellington
- Job: Executive director, Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House. Policy director, Brownstein, public affairs director for the Golden State Warriors and the first director of homelessness initiatives and community development for The Salvation Army San Francisco.
- Age: 37
- Residency: Renter and former homeowner, lifelong San Franciscan and third-generation resident, born and raised in Bayview near Third and Palou streets, has lived in the Hunters Point Shipyard in District 10 since 2016
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, walking, biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, Notre Dame de Namur University; master’s degree in urban affairs from the University of San Francisco.
- Languages: English
I live at the shipyard, I grew up downwind of it, and I was one of the lead plaintiffs in the environmental justice litigation there that garnered a $6.3M settlement.
Eleven months of silence about plutonium is unacceptable. As supervisor, I will demand the Navy reinstate the Restoration Advisory Board it dissolved and expand capacity for the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, so residents hear findings directly; insist on independent verification of testing before any land transfer; and put every delay on public record through city hearings, with our congressional delegation at the table.
Nobody handed us the truth here. We fought for it, and I will keep fighting against environmental racism.
Endorsed by: San Francisco Democratic Party, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Congressman Kevin Mullin, Former Mayor London Breed, State Senator Scott Wiener, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Former Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, read more here.
J.R. Eppler
- Job: Small business attorney
- Age: 46
- Residency: Homeowner in Potrero Hill, living there since 2010 after moving to San Francisco in 2007
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, walking and biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Stanford University; Juris doctor and MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles
- Languages: English
The Navy, Tetra Tech, and the City have failed Hunters Point residents for decades.
We need independent testing, transparent reporting, and enforceable cleanup milestones before anyone talks about accelerating development. There is no reason to rush the Shipyard when we have other waterfront sites that can absorb growth while this work is done properly.
As Supervisor, I would use every tool available: Oversight, public pressure and coordination with state and federal officials to hold the Navy accountable. District 10 has waited too long for promises. This time, the standard has to be simple: Show the cleanup is safe before moving forward.
Endorsed by: Sierra Club, read more here.
Dion-Jay “DJ” Brookter
- Job: No current job, formerly chief executive officer at Young Community Developers
- Age: 43
- Residency: Homeowner in Candlestick Point/Little Hollywood area since 2021, moved to San Francisco in 2014
- Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in speech communication, Utah State University, master’s degree in business administration, University of Phoenix
- Languages: English and some Spanish
I would demand immediate accountability, independent community-supervised verification, and full transparency.
The Navy’s 11-month delay in reporting dangerous plutonium contamination, along with the $57 million Tetra Tech settlement, shows why residents need an independent cleanup process they can trust.
I would oppose residential development or land transfer until cleanup is independently verified to the highest public-health standards. That means real-time monitoring, independent scientists with full site access, and long-term health monitoring. Cleanup must also account for sea-level and groundwater rise, which could mobilize contamination.
Bayview-Hunters Point has endured disproportionate harm for generations. This community deserves action now.
Endorsed by: Supervisor Shamann Walton, Former Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Myrna Melgar, Former Mayor Art Agnos, Former Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, Former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Former Supervisor Dean Preston, Former Supervisor John Avalos, read more here.
This electoral season, Mission Local made the decision to only include the answers of candidates who have won a major endorsement or have publicly reported campaign contributions. That narrows down the candidates from 10 to three: Theo Ellington, Dion-Jay Brookter, and J.R. Eppler. Candidates may be added to this series if they later meet this criteria.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, grammar, and to meet the word limit requirement. Do you have questions you’d like to ask the candidates? Email marina@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote here.
