The members of Potrero Hill Democratic Club voted at the April 6th meeting to have the opportunity to hear all candidates for the SF Democratic County Central Committee in District 13, not just the ones who have never been elected to public office. All candidates were therefore invited to schedule an appearance. Twenty-three candidates were heard from, 21 in person and 2 through surrogates. The following candidates passed the 60% threshold and got the club’s endorsement: Keith Baraka, David Campos, David Chiu, Hope Johnson, Rafael Mandelman, Aaron Peskin, Debra Walker.

We thank all the candidates for taking the time to speak to us, and for their dedication to making a difference in San Francisco.

WHEN: Monday, April 19th, at 7:00PM
WHERE: Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro @ Southern Heights

Speakers on local and state propositions included State Senator Leland Yee and SF Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Sierra Club’s John Rizzo, and Planning Commission President Ron Miguel. We had appearances by candidate for Insurance Commissioner Hector De La Torre, candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction Larry Aceves, and a campaign rep for Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tom Torlakson. Candidates for the SF Democratic Central Committee spoke to us, but the membership voted to postpone voting on that race to a later meeting, to which the Club will invite all 30 candidates. Here are our endorsements so far for the June 8, 2010 Statewide Direct Primary Election.

India Basin is the waterfront neighborhood just south of Potrero Hill which extends from Heron’s Head Park (formerly Pier 98) to Hunters Point Shipyard, and from the hilltop to the shore. This shoreline remains largely undeveloped, and the neighborhood underserved. At our March 2nd meeting, Kristine Enea from the India Basin Neighborhood Association presented its Shoreline Community Vision, illustrated with brochures, but technical difficulties prevented the showing of slides.

The endorsement process for the June 8th Primary Election kicked off for PHDC with reps from two campaigns for Attorney General: Kamala Harris and Chris Kelly. Following an introductory talk by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, we held a judicial forum of the seven candidates for the two contested seats on San Francisco Superior Court: Linda Colfax, Harry Dorfman, Roderick McLeod, Robert Retana for Seat 6; Dan Dean, Michael Nava, incumbent Richard Ulmer for Seat 15.

Continue reading “India Baseline Shoreline;Endorsement Voting: Judicial Forum” →

John deCastro of Repair California discussed the campaign for what some consider to be the only way to make sweeping changes to state government and wrestle our state back from special interests: a “limited” Constitutional Convention, only focused on governance issues. Update: Due to lack of funds, the campaign has withdrawn its initiatives.

Starr King Openspace is a serpentine grassland habitat which literally belongs to all residents of Potrero Hill. Caroline Bird, President of the Board of the newly-revamped nonprofit, and Andie Grace, another board member, described the recent changes and opportunities.

Three more District 10 Supervisor candidate introductions, amending Club Bylaws, nomination and election of 2010 Officers, and various announcements and updates rounded out a very full agenda.

Continue reading “Repair California, Protect Starr King Openspace, and more” →

That is, bring it back! California is the only state in the nation which requires a 2/3 vote for both revenue and budget. Just one sentence will fix that: “All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by majority rule.” That, in essence, is the ballot proposition for November 2010 submitted to the Attorney General by author and UC Berkeley linguistics Professor George Lakoff.

Sonoma State University philosophy Professor Teed Rockwell of the CA Majority Rule campaign spoke to us about bringing sanity back to the state legislative process. The Club endorsed the initiative. If you would like to sign the San Francisco petition to get it on the November ballot, please email contact_us@phdemclub.org .

Also, one more candidate for Supervisor in District 10 introduced herself and spoke briefly.

Continue reading “CA Majority Rule” →

This meeting we had no particular agenda other than tossing around ideas for the coming year. But we had a surprise visit from Saul Bloom of Arc Ecology, asking the membership to sign on to a letter to Mayor Newsom, requesting an extension of the 45-day public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Hunters Point Shipyard/Candlestick Point project to 90 days. We voted to do so. We also ate, drank, schmoozed and bought some of the new 94107 t-shirts, iwhich include youth sizes (worn by Zahra and Samir at left).

Members and guests brought food or drink to share, and 98 lbs of food donated to the Food Bank. Thanks everyone for a gratifying ending to our third year!

As California endures a third consecutive year of drought, PHDC hosted a spirited panel discussion about WATER: what the result of the closed-door water bill negotiations in Sacramento might mean to cities north and south, farms in the middle, fish and other wildlife; what we as individuals can do to conserve and protect this most precious resource;  and much more. Our panel of experts, who explained, advocated, argued, and enlightened, were Jennifer Clary, water policy and legislative analyst for Clean Water Action; Adam Scow, senior organizer at Food and Water Watch; Laura Spanjian, Assistant General Manager of External Affairs for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission; Jessie Raeder, Bay Area organizer with the Tuolumne River Trust. Moderator was PHDC member Loretta Lynch, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission. We thank the moderator, panelists, and audience participants for an altogether excellent program!

Continue reading “Panel on the California Water Crisis” →

At our October meeting, close to 80 people came to hear Senator Mark Leno (left) discuss health care in the City,  the state (SB 810), and the nation; his work as Chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee; budget and water issues. He thanked the Club for our letter about his bill SB 792 – even though it was a letter of opposition. He told us he took our concerns seriously and tried to address them (see links below to handouts on SB 792).  Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (right), also Chair of the Public Safety Committee (Assembly), answered questions on equally pressing issues, including AB 390, his bill to legalize marijuana, and the helipad at SF General. We met three more candidates for District 10 Supervisor (our first six were at the August meeting – more to come): Marie Franklin, Kristine Enea, and Dr. James Calloway.

Senator Leno brought three handouts to the meeting:
SB 792 Fact Sheet
State Parks Exchange Map Overall
SB 792 Sierra Club California Letter ( neutral )

Continue reading “Senator Mark Leno, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, District 10 Supervisor Race cont’d” →

Our September meeting was about elections particular and general. There were speakers for and against the five local propositions on the November 3rd ballot, and the two candidates, incumbent City Treasurer José Cisneros and incumbent City Attorney Dennis Herrera, seeking endorsement. Also, Alan Dechert, founder and President of Open Voting Consortium, discussed open-source voting: what it is, the problems it solves, and how it can be implemented.

The ballot issues were more nuanced than one would have thought, with plausible arguments on both sides. In fact, only one ballot measure gained the 60% vote necessary for Club endorsement: Yes on Prop E: (Limiting) Advertising on City Property. Both candidates earned our endorsement, and while we were at it, we unanimously passed a Public Option health care resolution.

Continue reading “Election Endorsements and Open-Source Voting” →

PHDC’s August meeting covered issues at all levels of government. First on the agenda was a national issue: Members passed a resolution, presented by antiwar activist Tom Gallagher, urging Speaker Pelosi to co-sponsor HR 2404 requiring the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress by year’s end outlining the US exit strategy for military forces in Afghanistan.

Next, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting cited a key reason California continues to fall behind: Proposition 13, which affords vast property tax loopholes for California’s largest corporate property owners while  shifting the tax burden to individual homeowners, and dramatically reducing California’s overall revenue for vital services. Mr. Ting presented ideas for closing the loophole, inviting people to join his campaign.

Then on to San Francisco politics: This month we started our year-long effort to give candidates for District 10 Supervisor a chance to meet with their would-be constituents. We welcomed 6 candidates in District 10 to have the floor for brief introductions; we will be doing many more such meetings in the coming months. The election is in November, 2010.

For an article (San Francisco FYI) about the meeting, and more photos, click HERE.

Continue reading “Afghanistan Exit Strategy;Prop 13 Revisited;District 10 Supervisor Race” →