My San Francisco ballot recommendations. Your results may vary.
Prop A – Community College Bonds – NO.
The proposition lists a laundry list of “possible” things they’ll do with the bond money, but doesn’t prioritize or guarantee that they’ll do any of them. Moreover, the college board of trustees had 2 NO votes against putting this wording on the ballot.
Prop B – Street and Sidewalk Improvement Bond – NO.
I believe bonds should be for one-time capital expenses. This bond issue is for routine repairs. That should come out of the City’s operating budget.
Prop C – Ethics Commission Budget – NO.
No organization within the city should control its own budget and be able to ignore the overall needs of the city. I love little babies, mothers, and ethics. But, that doesn’t mean the people on the Ethics Commission are in a better position than the Mayor or Supervisors to gauge City priorities.
Prop D – Appointment of Transportation Agency Directors – NO.
No, no, no. The Board of Supervisors should not have management responsibilities in the City. They should not appoint people to run anything. They are the legislature not the executive. I want someone to blame with things go wrong. Prop D would make it even more difficult to point a finger when MUNI screws up. If members of the Board of Supervisors want to run the City, they should get elected Mayor. Ooops. I guess many of them have tried and failed at that.
Prop E – Election Date of Assessor and Public Defender – YES.
Sure. It’s a natural follow-on to the changes in the election format the voters have approved in previous years.
Prop F – Neighborhood Firehouses – NO
This is another feel-good, bad government proposition. We all love firefighters and no one wants to burn up. But that doesn’t mean that the citizens should mandate spending levels for the fire department. If the fire department gets more and the voters reject taxes (like we did three times last election), then SOMETHING is going to get cut. What will it be? Health? Homeless aid? Police? Street repair? Moreover, the firefighters’ union protects such jobs as drivers (chauffeurs) for the deputy chiefs when, in reality, if those fully-trained firefighters were allowed to be reassigned to stations, all stations could be open.
Prop G – Access to Underground Parking at Golden Gate Park – YES
If both Gavin Newsom and Chris Daly want this, then who am I to second guess them?
Prop H – Firearm Ban – NO
This will only cost the City legal fees and won’t result in any guns getting banned. State law will override any city ordinance in this area, so even if a ban was the best course of action, the proposition will only make a few lawyers richer. It’s not worth the money to me for the City to make an ineffective statement.
Prop I – No Army Recruiters in Public Schools, Scholarships for Education and Job Training – NO
Proponents want this to be a referendum on US policy in Iraq. Unfortunately that’s not what is really on the ballot.
I object to the patronizing of our young people implied by this initiative. If parents and the community have educated the young adults about democracy and human rights and good and evil, these 18 year olds should be allowed to make their own decision about joining the military. There are lots of bad ideas out there. Joining the military right now might be a very bad idea. But, that’s up to each young adult to decide for his/herself. We cannot shelter all young adults from all bad decisions they might make. Let the recruiters knock themselves out — I hope that they are unsuccessful. But, the success or failure should not be my decision.
In addition, this is another “make the lawyers rich” proposition. If the City doesn’t let recruiters in, then they’ll be suits against the City and the City will have to sue to keep its Federal grant money. What a waste of energy and money.
Assessor-Recorder:
1- Phil Ting (appointed by Newsom, incumbent)
2- Chun (unknown)
3- Sandoval – the one I don’t want. He’s a termed out supervisor looking to stay in some office, any office.
Treasurer:
1- Cisneros (appointed by Newsom, incumbent)
2- Valle (unknown)
3- Calvin Louie – perpetual candidate.
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I see you’re a cynical old bastard, too. 🙂 This is probably how I’d vote if I lived up there. The only exception is if I knew the sidewalk bonds were to be paid for by an improvement district; that is, an assessment on those benefitting over time. In that case, bonds indebting that district are a reasonable way of sealing off the risk from the city as a whole.