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Bay View Voters Guide for the June 3 election
Editorial by Willie Ratcliff
“Recent polls conducted by developer Lennar Corp.’s ‘Yes on G’ campaign show that while the measure is ahead 50 percent to 30 percent, Daly’s ‘companion’ Proposition F is leading by an even wider margin – 58 percent to 31 percent. And even if Prop. G gets more votes, Prop. F needs only simple majority approval to take effect.
“If that happens, ‘it’s all over – we absolutely can’t do the project at 50 percent (affordable housing),’ said Kofi Bonner, head of Lennar’s San Francisco office.”
That’s the thrilling bombshell dropped Wednesday morning by Chronicle columnists Matier & Ross that I had to report to you along with the Bay View Voters Guide for the June 3 election.
We’ve all been seeing Lennar’s glossy mailers promising 10,000 homes in a gleaming new neighborhood, and some of you may be worried that if Lennar pulls out and never builds, will the dream of a good job and a new home become another festering dream deferred?
When I returned to San Francisco from Alaska a couple of decades ago, I brought my experience creating jobs for large numbers of Black and Brown people. Contracts I won on construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline employed 550 workers, nearly all Black and Native.
So if Lennar’s Proposition Greed is trumped by our Proposition Fairness and Lennar decides it can’t make a big enough killing building on the priceless land San Francisco is giving it for free … are our job seekers up a creek without a paddle? No! We can build those homes ourselves.
Yes, we can – and why not? San Francisco neighborhoods weren’t built by corrupt, bankrupt “Master Developers” from Florida like Lennar. San Francisco was built lot by lot by local builders with local workers – some with experience, some in training. That’s how we’ll renovate our solid existing homes and commercial buildings in Bayview Hunters Point and build new ones.
With good financing, we could have done it all along. But Black neighborhoods were redlined, then attacked by predatory lenders. Now we have the power to obtain favorable financing for both the builders and the buyers.
So if you want a good job and a new home, help win a huge victory for our Proposition F for Fairness by manning the phone banks and wearing holes in your shoes walking door to door to convince San Franciscans across the city to VOTE YES ON PROP F! Call Alicia Schwartz or Jaron Browne at POWER, (415) 864-8372, ext. 303, to volunteer.
Why Migden instead of Leno?
The Bay View Voters Guide recommends the re-election of state Sen. Carole Migden rather than replacing her with challenger Assemblyman Mark Leno. Why? Because Leno, beginning with his service on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, sided with downtown and opposed the interests of Bayview Hunters Point.
As soon as he was elected to the California Assembly, he teamed up with Supervisor Sophie Maxwell to introduce a bill to put the Hunters Point Shipyard under an authority that would have cut the community out from having any say in our own development. Thanks to the vigilance of Francisco Da Costa and others, that proposal failed. If it had succeeded, the same developers and managers running Treasure Island would have moved into Bayview Hunters Point and moved us out.
As Supervisor Chris Daly wrote last week: “(W)hen it comes to San Francisco politics, the two (Migden and Leno) are in warring political factions. Carole has used her position in Sacramento consistently to help progressive candidates and causes in San Francisco, while Leno is a kinder, gentler Gavin Newsom.”
And the Bay Guardian, while rather reluctantly endorsing Leno, observed, “Migden stood with the progressives in denouncing Newsom’s budget – and Leno stood with the mayor.”
Recommendations for the June 3 primary election
Be sure you and everyone you know is registered so we can VOTE 100% this election. You may register until May 19. Early voting is now open at San Francisco City Hall and, for Alameda County, at 1225 Fallon St., Room G-1, Oakland. You may take your Bay View newspaper into the voting booth with you. And you can still request to vote by mail. Call (415) 554-4411 or (510) 272-6973 for information and help with voting. Call the Bay View at (415) 671-0789 if you still have a problem.
Congress, District 6: Lynn Woolsey
Congress, District 8: Leave it blank this primary election; in November, vote for Cindy Sheehan – not Nancy Pelosi
Congress, District 13: Pete Stark
Superior Court, Seat 12: Gerardo Sandoval
State Senate, District 3: Carole Migden
State Assembly, District 13: Tom Ammiano
State Assembly, District 14: Kriss Worthington
State Proposition 98: No
State Proposition 99: Yes
San Francisco Proposition A, School parcel tax: Yes
San Francisco Proposition B, City retiree benefits change: Yes
San Francisco Proposition C, Benefit denials for convicts: No
San Francisco Proposition D, Appointments to city commissions: Yes
San Francisco Proposition E, Board approval of SF Public Utilities Commission appointees: Yes
San Francisco Proposition F, Bayview Affordable Housing: YES
San Francisco Proposition G, Lennar’s ticket out of bankruptcy: No
San Francisco Proposition H, Campaign committees: No
San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, 12th Assembly District: Eric Mar and, if you like, the rest of the Hope Slate
San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, 13th Assembly District: Chris Daly and, if you like, the rest of the Hope Slate
Alameda County Board of Supervisors, District 5: Keith Carson
Oakland City Council, District 3: Greg Hodge
Oakland City Council, District 5: Mario Juarez
Oakland City Council, At Large: Clinton Killian
Oakland School Board, District 3: Jumoke Hinton Hodge
Alameda County School Board, Area 3: Celsa Snead
Alameda County Measure J, Telephone-user tax: Yes
Contact Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff at (415) 671-0789.
