Questionnaires posted for 8/27 candidate forum
The following candidates have returned questionnaires, and have been invited to speak and answer questions on Wednesday evening, August 27, from 6-9 pm. Our candidate forum and endorsement meeting will take place in room 302 of the Redstone Building, located at 2940 16th Street (between Mission and South Van Ness, 1 block from 16th St BART). Everybody is welcome to the forum, and active Greens are invited to stay until 10 to help us make endorsement decisions.
Supervisorial Candidates: Juan-Antonio Carballo (D2), Jane Kim (D6), Michael Nulty (D6), Jamie Whitaker (D6, 18 days late) John Nulty (D8), Michael Petrelis (D8), Tony Kelly (D10).
BART candidate: Nick Josefowitz
Board of Education candidates: Trevor McNeil, Emily Murase, Mark Murphy, Shamann Walton, Dennis Yang (6 days late)
College Board candidates: Wendy Aragon, Amy Bacharach, Brigitte Davila, Anita Grier, John Rizzo, Thea Selby, William Walker (6 days late)
Fake Turf Wars, by Mike Murphy
Fake Turf Wars
While other cities have turned away from artificial turf, SF is making a big play for fake grass
It’s Sunday morning, 5 a.m., on the ragged fringes of San Francisco, California. It is strangely quiet. Where once birdsong emanated from the underbrush, there are now signs posting the use of glyphosate (the soil toxin found in Roundup and Aquamaster), and much of the avian habitat has been removed. Where once there was an open meadow behind Golden Gate Park’s Beach Chalet, there is an imposing chain link fence that surrounds the field. Inside the enclosure is seven acres of grass – forage grounds for wildlife, and fields of play – a pastoral setting for recreation in the wilder-by-design far west end of Golden Gate Park and, now, the site of intense controversy.
photo by SF Ocean Edge, on Flickr - A rendering of the proposed light towers for the Beach Chalet soccer complex. These 60 foot tall poles and the 150,000 watts of light change this area from parkland into an urbanized space.
June 2014 Endorsements
These are the SF Green Party Endorsements for the June 2014 election. We are mailing the postcard below to all our members, so if you can donate to this effort please click the "Donate" link to the left.
Our complete Green Voter Guide is now posted with longer explanations for each endorsement; see below.
SF:
- No on A, a $400 million local bond measure that claims to fund fire and police stations, but is not actually required to
- Yes on B, the right to vote on Waterfront development that exceeds the current height limits.
- Congress, D12 - Barry Hermanson (website)
- State Assembly, D17 - David Campos (website)
- Superior Court Judge, Office 20 - Daniel Flores (website)
Statewide:
- Governor - Luis Rodriguez (website)
- Lt Governor - Jena Goodman (announcement)
- Controller - Laura Wells (website)
- Treasurer - Ellen Brown (website)
- Secretary of State - David Curtis (website)
- Yes on 41, a bond measure to fund supportive housing for veterans
- Yes on 42, a requirement for local govenments to follow open meetings and public records laws
Click below to read longer explanations for each of our endorsements:
New Office!
SF Greens are moving to a new office space in the Redstone Building!
We now have a shared office, and will hold monthly meetings and events there. The Redstone Building is at 2940 16th Street, near the 16th and Mission BART station. We will hold most monthly meetings in room #302. The building is accessible, with an elevator. Our mailing address, however, will not change.
We are having an office warming after our first meeting in the new space. On Wednesday, March 26, from 6:45-9 pm, we will make additional endorsements on state and local propostions for the June election, as well as candidates. Update: we will start a little early, at 6:45, in order to interview David Campos for the Assembly race. If you want to ask him any questions, be sure to show up at 6:45 or a little before!
After the endorsements are finished, we will celebrate the opening of our new office! If you can, bring a small dish or beverage to share. New members and guests are most welcome!
Green Party Endorsements so far:
SF:
- Yes on B, the right to vote on Waterfront development that exceeds the current height limits.
- Congress, D12 - Barry Hermanson (website)
- Still to consider: Prop A, races for State Assembly and Judge (read Prop A here)
Statewide:
- Governor - Luis Rodriguez (website)
- Lt Governor - Jena Goodman (announcement)
- Controller - Laura Wells (website)
- Treasurer - Ellen Brown (website)
- Secretary of State - David Curtis (website)
- Still to consider: other offices, and State Props (read Props 41 and 42 here)
SF Supervisors Report Card 2013
How Green is Your Supervisor?
This is a report card for the 2013 Supervisors. It shows the most important votes in 2013, from a Green Party perspective, and whether each supervisor supported or opposed our position. Some of the votes are on amendments to legislation.
It was difficult for us to pick legislation to score this year, because the Supervisors were unanimous in the vast majority of their votes. All too often, the Board served as nothing more than a rubber stamp for Mayor Lee. For example, in one boondoggle revealed by Weekly reporter Joe Eskenazi in a recent article, Mayor Lee ordered $38 million in failure-prone hybrid buses, which were paid for and arrived in Alameda weeks before an oblivious Board of Supervisors voted (unanimously, as usual) to authorize the purchase order.
While several Supervisors scored well this year, a Greener Board of Supervisors would be much more proactive about pushing for things that benefit working people, such as passing a Living Wage mandate, creating a municipal Bank of San Francisco, fixing Muni, building truly affordable housing, and creating more municipal utilities (e.g., public power, internet, and cable TV departments). As demonstrated by Matt Gonzalez in 2000, or Kshama Sawant in Seattle several months ago, the election of just one radical to a legislative body can really shift the political spectrum. We hope such people will step forward to run for office in SF this November!
Find out which Supervisor represents your neighborhood. Compare to our report card from 2012.
Key:
Supported Green Party position |
Opposed Green Party position |
Not yet appointed |
D 1: Eric Mar | D 2: Mark Farrell | D 3: David Chiu | D 4: Katy Tang | D 5: London Breed | D 6: Jane Kim | D 7: Norman Yee | D 8: Scott Wiener | D 9: David Campos | D 10: Malia Cohen | D 11: John Avalos | |
Fund Public K-12 Education | Y | N | Y | - | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y |
Appoint Corrupt Commissioner to Port Commission | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
Expose Influence Buying at DA's Office | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y |
Appoint Ethical Candidate to Ethics Commission | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y |
Non-resident fees at Botanical Garden | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
Enable Raid on Retiree Health Care Funds | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Support CleanPowerSF | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Close Parks at Midnight | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
Overall Score | 88% | 0% | 38% | 0% | 25% | 50% | 25% | 13% | 88% | 25% | 88% |
Help Greens run for office in 2014!
This January and February, we have 8 weeks to gather signatures from 10,000 voters in order for Green Party candidates for statewide office to be allowed to appear on the June election ballot.
The Green Party candidates currently running for office (in SF) are:
- Luis Rodriquez for Governor
- Laura Wells for Controller
- Ellen Brown for Treasurer
- David Curtis for Secretary of State
-
Barry Hermanson for Congress
If you can sign the petitions to help any of these candidates appear on the ballot, or if you can help gather signatures from other voters, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call Barry Hermanson at 415-664-7754. Petition gatherers and signers do not have to be registered Green, but do have to be registered to vote. The deadline for turning in all forms is Feb 20. Barry needs fewer signatures, but his all have to be from SF voters.
More info (and signature forms for the statewide candidates that you can print out yourself) are on the Green Party of California's website.