Welcome back to our โMeet the Candidatesโ series, where the congressional candidates respond to a question in 100 words or less. Answers are published every Monday.
CA-11, the congressional district that Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are running to represent, includes most of San Francisco. Some southern neighborhoods (the Excelsior, Portola, Visitacion Valley, and Ingleside) are a part of a neighboring district.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has directed large sums of federal money back to San Francisco over the years, including more than $700 million for the Presidio, nearly $1 billion for the Central Subway, and more.ย
As a junior congressperson, San Franciscoโs next member of Congress will likely not be able to send back as much money as Pelosi did. But, as they gain seniority, they may have the chance to secure the federal funding needed to get significant projects over the line.
This week we asked: If given the opportunity, what are the top three public infrastructure projects in San Francisco you would want to fund?
Connie Chan
- Job: San Francisco District 1 Supervisor
- Age: 47
- Residency: Homeowner, has lived in San Francisco since she was 13
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, and walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis
- Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin
- Seawall and waterfront resilience: Invest in strengthening the Embarcadero and surrounding infrastructure against flooding, sea-level rise, and other climate threats.
- Downtown rail extension and subway expansion: Complete the connection between Caltrain and the Salesforce Transit Center and advance the Geary/19th Avenue subway to bring high-capacity rail to San Franciscoโs west side, connecting more residents to jobs and opportunities.
- Citywide emergency firefighting water system and electrical grid upgrade: Modernize San Franciscoโs aging water and electrical infrastructure to ensure reliable power and adequate water pressure for firefighting during emergencies, strengthening our cityโs resilience and protecting our neighborhoods.
Endorsed by: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, Congressman Ro Khanna, California Federation of Labor Unions, SEIU California, San Francisco Labor Council, Working Families Party, San Francisco Tenant’s Union … read more here.
Scott Wiener
- Job: San Francisco’s State Senator
- Age: 56
- Residency: Homeowner, moved to San Francisco in 1997
- Transportation: Public transit and walking
- Education: Bachelorโs degree from Duke, law degree from Harvard
- Languages: English, Spanish
- Raising the Embarcadero to protect it โ and the Muni/BART tunnels โ from sea level rise
- The downtown extension of Caltrain and high-speed rail
- Two subway extensions (extending the Central Subway north to Fishermanโs Wharf, and building a subway down Geary Boulevard to Ocean Beach)
Endorsed by: The California Democratic Party, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sierra Club, San Francisco YIMBY, Grow SF, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, North Coast States Carpenters Union, Dolores Huerta … read more here.
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 io@missionlocal.com or yujie@missionlocal.com.ย
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
Practically identical answers, kinda makes one wonder how differently they’d be voting on matters that come before them in the House. But one topic that may offer a difference in opinion is China, can’t open a newspaper and not see numerous articles about a thousand different topics involving our global rival. Hoping that ML can delve into that topic and the 2 candidate’s thoughts on those matter.s
Scott Wiener has authored a phenomenal amount of transformative progressive legislation (housing, civil rights, healthcare, etc.) and done the hard collaborative work necessary to get them passed into law.
He is the only candidate with the legislative chops to get things done and would be an outstanding Congressional Representative for CA D11.
Connie Chan, on the other hand, hasn’t authored a single solitary piece of significant legislation.
Chan, like her mentor, arch-NIMBY Aaron Peskin, has been a do-nothing obstructionist her entire political career.
She is anti-progress, anti-housing, anti-public transit, and anti-public space.
She is a reactionary masquerading as a “progressive”.
She is the poster-child for the failed status quo.
Agreed, Chan is a lightweight who would quite simply be ignored in DC. She has no experience or gravitas.
I don’t know what grand projects SF needs but I do know that Wiener is the only one of the two who could get them done.
I couldn’t agree more, but unfortunately I just can’t get over Scott’s support of sending more arms to Israel. I understand that he requires Israel to pay for it, but personally I wouldn’t sell a gun to a homicidal maniac even if I didn’t give it to him for free.
All of Wiener’s BS bills have been niche gentrification sellouts and can-kicks.
The fact that he didn’t figure out genocide was taking place in Gaza until his poll numbers came in underwater is a strong clue, he’s bought and paid for by AIPAC.
SF deserves better than genocide apologists who turn into windvanes via polling.
Underground trains on 19th ave and Geary? Seriously? Could we try BRT first? Who are they pandering to here other than train buffs and people ignorant of the central subway debacle? Am I the crazy one here?
I think the idea is that if you build more transit, it will become much more appealing to build up in the avenues. Take advantage of all the rezoning.