June 2018 San Francisco Endorsements

Measure A - SF PUC bonds for clean power - Yes

The Public Utilities Commission can issue bonds for water and sewer projects with a 2/3 Board of Supervisors vote. Measure A would let them issue bonds for power generation too, a step toward offering an alternative to PG&E in SF. Measure A also says all power generation would have to be from green energy. Sounds good to us.


Measure B: Appointed board members forfeit positions when running for office - No

Measure B would supposedly prevent someone with power in government from taking advantage of their position when campaigning for office. Oh, but only if that person was appointed; elected incumbents are free to do this as much as they want. So if you're a city commissioner and want to run against the people who appointed you, you first have to quit your job, so maybe you just won't run. This doesn't appear to be in the interest of the electorate so much as the Board of Supervisors.


Measure C: Tax leasing of commercial space, give money to kids - No
Measure D: Tax leasing of commercial space, give money to homeless instead - No

Do you want to give money to child education programs or homeless programs? If both of these pass, only the one with the most votes goes into effect. We mostly like the sentiment behind these measures, but do not like the political gamesmanship behind them, so we'll be voting against them both.


Measure E - Prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products - Split

Half of us don't like prohibition of various substances, even ones that could be characterized as being aimed at kids (even though you have to be 21 to buy them). The other half does like prohibition of smoking, so there you have it.


Measure F - Eviction legal defense program - Yes

If you got evicted, would you have the resources to fight it legally? Many people would not. This would spend about $5 million per year to provide that service to tenants. Given the spate of evictions in SF lately, we like this.


Measure G - $298 per year parcel tax, give money to education - Yes

OK, a modest tax with the money going to schools. Fine. But we don't think this will really do much. But fine. We like schools.


Measure H - Taser policy - No

Should the electorate be setting police policy regarding tasers at the ballot box? Probably not. But really, this is the SFPD going around their bosses (the Mayor and Board of Supervisors) to get the taser policy they want written in stone. Bad idea.


Measure I - Don't encourage sports teams to move to SF - Split

Some of us think taking the Warriors from Oakland just when they were getting good was an un-neighborly move. But then probably we should let voters decide on each specific sports team proposal, should one ever arise. Pretty sure this is non-binding anyway.


Results

Measure A - Yes
Measure B - Yes
Measure C - Yes
Measure D - No
Measure E - Yes
Measure F - Yes
Measure G - Yes
Measure H - No
Measure I - No