Fillmore/ Lower Fillmore Neighborhood Association Questionnaire
Submitted by John Rizzo, Candidate for
District 5 Supervisor
Contact: Tim Robertson, twrobertson@gmail.com,
987-4870
1) Describe in your own words what is the purpose of a
Supervisor representing a District in San Francisco? (2000 characters including
spaces)
The purpose of a San Francisco Supervisor
is to proactively seek out the problems facing communities and to work with
constituents to solve them. This requires three things: being an active member
of the community, being an effective policymaker, and acting as a watchdog. As
an elected official serving as President of the Community College Board, I have
the experience and record that demonstrates that I have been all three.
As a community member, I will not
hide from my constituents in City Hall, but will continue to be active in the
community. No one knows the needs of District 5 better than its residents and small
business owners, and only through speaking with them regularly can a Supervisor
enact solutions that move the community in the right direction. As an elected
official, I have found that constituents often have some of the best ideas on
how to fix problems. As a member of the Community College Board, I spend far
more time out in the community than at Board meetings.
As a policymaker, a Supervisor
must be able translate the needs and concerns of the District into policy
solutions that work. A supervisor can’t just propose solutions, but must be
able to fight for them and gather the votes to pass them. On the City College
Board, I have worked with both progressive and conservative members to pass initiatives
that I am proud of. For instance, a “student equity initiative” has helped
disadvantaged students succeed, raised grades, and lowered the dropout rate.
I’ve created new green jobs training programs for disadvantaged youth and
pushed for greener building standards. My Local Hiring initiative has created
hundreds of construction jobs for San Francisco residents. These all follow the
values of District 5, and I look forward to continue pressing for them on the
Board of Supervisors.
As a watchdog, a Supervisor
must ensure that the city is behaving equitably and in a just manner. There are
a powerful interests in San Francisco that often have undue influence on how the
city is run. The District 5 Supervisor must hold down its community values on
the Board and fight to ensure that powerful interests are not given power that
the community should have. While in elected office I have the experience in standing
up to corrupt interests who were diverting public resources away from vital
programs. I’ve proven that I can hold the line and fight corruption at City
College, and now I intend to do so for all of San Francisco.
2) What do you believe are the three most pressing
problems/challenges in the Lower Fillmore and what is your strategy to address
and resolve them? (4000 characters including spaces)
I
believe that economic development and employment opportunities, access to
quality education, and housing are
among the most important challenges for the Lower Fillmore.
1. Economic development, jobs, and business opportunities. We must start by helping small business become more
sustainable. While corporations often bring in workers from outside of the
city, small business is vital to full employment in San Francisco. I plan to
streamline the permitting process, lower permit fees, and create one-stop
centers where businesses can get everything they need to move forward.
I also believe the city must stimulate the local
economy. For instance, I helped pass the GoSolarSF program, which has helped
struggling small energy companies, created hundreds of jobs, and got solar power
for low-income families. The program also incentivized the hiring of disadvantaged
residents. However, the city has drastically cut back funding for this program,
which granting large tax breaks to corporations. I would fight to refund
GoSolarSF, and use it as a model for other stimulus programs.
Such economic stimulus can be paid for by
streamlining the management of city government. At City College, I helped
balance $200 million operating budgets and a $750 million construction budget
by instituting dozens of new oversight and fiscal reforms. As a result, the
College District had more funding for social services and facilities. I am the
only candidate that can bring this type of governmental fiscal accountability
in order to pay for things we need.
It is disappointing to see the city give
tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations without asking them
to play a role in training and hiring our residents. I will work to change
that.
On the City College Board, I authored and
passed a “hire local” resolution that ensured CCSF construction projects would give
jobs to San Franciscans, particularly to residents of low-income neighborhoods.
San Francisco then followed and passed similar legislation, which I supported. As
Supervisor, I will expand local hiring beyond construction to other areas that
the city is involved with. Encouraging job growth for San Franciscans will grow
the local economy and provide more tax revenue to the city to provide vital
services.
2. Access to quality education. As President of the City College Board of Trustees, I have seen
first-hand how access to education can change lives, and in some cases, literally
save lives.
The city government does not do a good
enough job at education and training. The city’s workforce development agency
focuses on low-paying jobs. We must aim higher.
At City College, I worked to expand the
Second Chance program, which gets formerly incarcerated individuals not just
minimum wage jobs, college degrees. For example, last year, the valedictorian
the City College graduation was a drug addict for two decades, in and out of
jail. Today, he is studying at UC Berkeley. Many Second Chance graduates go on
to masters degrees.
I have also supported shorter educational
programs that train disadvantaged people for high paying careers, including the
2-year medical technician and nursing programs at the John Adams Campus.
As supervisor, I will work to get the city
to do a better job of community outreach to residents and help students move
towards a rewarding and gainful career. I will work to have the city collaborate
better with the school district. Studies have shown that third-grade attendance
can be used as an accurate predictor of one’s future situation.
Whether creating new programs or improving
old ones, modernizing infrastructure and ensuring student access to technology,
I fought through the bureaucracy to make sure that our students were best
prepared for the next phase of their lives. While the City College is just one
piece of the education picture, my experience in turning around City College is
the kind of experience Supervisors should have.
The city government is not doing enough to
ensure that education is both exceptional and equitable from Day One. I’m the
only candidate that has the experience working with educators, students,
administrators, and politicians to make the meaningful improvements our schools
need to narrow the achievement gap.
3. Housing.
Affordable housing is critical to retaining
the character of District 5 and San Francisco. I am committee to protecting
existing affordable housing, and to finding ways to create new affordable
housing. Additionally, public housing needs much attention, to fix the
mismanagement and apply desperately needed maintenance.
3) What have you done to improve the condition of people who
were negatively impacted by The Redevelopment Agency? (2000 characters
including spaces)
When I first visited District 5 in the late
1970’s, it made a lasting impression on me to see that block after square block
of the historic Fillmore had been razed to the ground, its residents displaced.
What the community got in trade has been inadequate. The Fillmore Center and
the Community Benefits District have not done nearly enough for the community.
Once thing I have done is to beef up
District 5’s main secondary educational, workforce training, and GED testing
center. This is City College’s John Adams Campus at Masonic and Hayes, which
brings 5000 students through its doors every month. At a time when the District
was focusing on new buildings in the Mission and Chinatown, I successfully fought
for funding for modernizing John Adams with a new library, new computer
equipment, and modernized “smart” classrooms. John Adams is San Francisco’s
only GED testing center, and I voted against raising GED testing fees. I am
also currently working to relocate Huckleberry House, a non-profit facility for
troubled youth, in the John Adams facility, in order to expose these youth to
the medical technician training programs housed at John Adams.
On the jobs front, one aspect of my Local
Hiring Initiative at City College has an emphasis on serving low-income zip
codes throughout the city, including District 5.
As an environmental activist, I have been
committed to environmental justice. I lead an effort to defeat a proposal to
build new power plants in the southeast sections of the city. I have also
fought for funding for District 5’s parks and recreation facilities, and fought
against the city’s drive to impose new park fees that price low-income people
out of our parks. I’ve also fought the commercialization of parks that keep the
public locked out. I have been an advocate for muni lines that don’t go
downtown – the so-called cross-town lines, like the 22 Fillmore and the 24
Divisadero routes, which don’t get the attention or funding they require to
serve residents.
4) Do you believe the Gang Injunction helped the community, if
yes how? (2000 characters including spaces)
Gang Injunctions have not proven to be effective
in assuring public safety, and they create conditions that are actually detrimental
to public safety. They split family members apart by preventing them from
visiting one another. They separate people from the resources of their own community.
And they unfairly target people by race, as well as young people, without due
process. Gang Injunctions violate people’s right to due process and the freedom
to peaceably assemble, as in the so-called “Safety Zones.”
The fact that many of the injunction’s
targets are not gang members, or are rehabilitated members of our society only
adds to the problematic nature of gang injunctions.
The City Attorney’s figures on the effectiveness
of the gang injunctions are misleading at best. They focus on number of crimes
committed by individuals named in the injunction at one period in time, not on
the overall crime. The tragic murder of a 20-year-old Fillmore resident in
April shows that public safety is still a problem. And in last year’s multiple
gang shootings in the Mission District injunction zone, only 1 in 4 involved
were on the gang injunction list.
I believe that the path to safer streets is
multi-faceted. First is community policing with foot patrols; we must get
police officers out of their cars. Next, we must use police officers with
cultural competency who can recognize the difference between cultural norms and
actual criminal behavior, and who can relate to residents on a personal level. The
city also needs to work with early childhood education, because falling behind
at an early age propagates disadvantage throughout one’s life. Also key is
educational outreach to youth, to offer opportunities to people who are unaware
of what exists.
It’s clear that the Western Addition gang injunctions
are less about policing gangs than they are about making the area more appealing
to outside business interests.
5) What community work have you done that you are most proud of?
(2000 characters)
As President of the Community College of San
Francisco, I have brought more money from the city to help pay for programs and
infrastructure, with particular emphasis on disadvantaged students. We know
that not every student is ready for a four-year college out of high school, and
it has been my honor to lead CCSF in helping prepare young people for
meaningful roles in society.
I tirelessly fought corruption at CCSF,
taking on a system full of graft and restoring the credibility of the institution.
By restoring the financial accountability of the CCSF system, I was able to
free desperately needed resources to help students meet their goals. In this
economy, there just isn’t enough money to be wasting it lining the pockets of
bureaucrats.
While turning around CCSF was very
important, it only scratches the surface as to what I want to do for San
Francisco and District 5. I’ve proven that I can create jobs, improve the
education system, and fight corruption at CCSF, and now I’m ready to do the
same at City Hall.
I am proud of building up District 5’s John
Adams campus, and keeping GED testing fees among the lowest in the state. I
also created and sponsored a “local hire” resolution passed by the CCSF Board
to ensure that as many CCSF projects as possible created local jobs.
I am proud of leading the effort to defeat
4 proposed fossil-fuel power plants in the southeast part of the city, which
the SF PUC had approved. I also spent a lot of effort fighting for the closure
of the Mirant power plant in the southeast, which was one of most polluting
plant in California.
I am proud of the role I played in the Fix Masonic
movement, which got the MTA to produce a design for a safer street for
pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. As supervisor, I will see transportation
funding to implement this project.
Before becoming elected to the College
Board, I was appointed to the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority by Mayor
Brown. There, I worked with community advocates to getting bicycle and pedestrian
improvements into the park.
