October 18 GREENZINE SF Green Party Weekly News and Events www.sfgreenparty.org twitter.com/sfgreenparty www.facebook.com/groups/SFGreenParty/ ENDORSEMENTS: Next week, we're organizing slate card distribution and Get Out the Vote efforts for the November election. If you can volunteer with either, please come to our meeting on Wednesday the 23rd, 7-9 pm at El CafeTazo (16th St between Valencia and Mission)! If you would like to help but can't make the meeting email us at cc@sfgreens.org or call Barry Hermanson at 255-9494. We'll be distributing slate cards this weekend, so call us if you want to help. For more details on these endorsements, see our website (http://sfgreenparty.org/endorsements) or the full text at the end of this newsletter. Please forward to your friends and be sure to vote! Supervisor, District 4: write in Mike Murphy (sole endorsement) Don't forget to connect the arrow next to "write-in" as well. Local Measures: A: NO - potential raid on retiree health trust fund B & C: NO on both - wall on the waterfront / more condos for millionaires D: YES - statement in favor of cheaper prescription drugs No endorsements for Treasurer, Assessor, or City Attorney. EVENTS: Fukushima Beach Banner, Ocean Beach When: Saturday, 10:30 - noon Location: SF Ocean Beach just above Golden Gate Park, below Cliff House. Description: Stand with the people of Japan and the whole world. 1,500 people needed to make a huge human banner by laying our bodies on the beach to publicize the growing catastrophe of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Our news media is quiet about it. Why? Radiation from there is already found in W. coast fish. We are all connected by oceans. The words FUKUSHIMA IS HERE will be made from our many bodies. A helicopter has been hired to fly over and take pictures, and the media have been invited. SF Educational Conference: The Truth And Reality Of Fukushima And What It Means To the People of Japan, The US And The World When: Saturday, 2 - 6 PM Location: San Francisco State Univ., Room BH 1 1600 Holloway Ave. SF 94132 Japan and the world continue to be threatened by the Fukushima meltdown and further contamination of the land and sea as well as a growing cancer epidemic of children, workers and the people of Japan. The conference will challenge the information being propagated so that we can overcome radiation and that Fukushima can be decontaminated. Initial Speakers will include: Dr. Bob Gould, Physicians For Social Responsibility An expert on the medical affects of radiation Professor Masaki Shimoji of Osaka Japan A professor and anti-nuclear activist in Osaka Japan who was imprisoned for organizing against the burning of nuclear rubble in the prefecture. *===========================* 2013 VOTER GUIDE (Full endorsements): Supervisor, District 4 - Mike Murphy (write in) [campaign website: http://www.Murphy4supe.org] Mike moved to San Francisco from Western New York State in 1996. He lives with his wife and 5 year old son in the Outer Sunset, and has been registered Green since he arrived in the City. As citizens we should have a say in decisions that affect our lives. In a common Machine strategy, SF politicians are promoted before they term out, the Mayor appoints their successor, who is elected, and reelected in our one-party town. The only rule for aspiring Democratic Party politicians is: "obey the Mayor." We saw the price of disobedience: District 5 Supervisorial appointee Christina Olague was kicked to the curb. In addition to providing an independent voice for residents of the Outer Sunset, Mike is also strongly in favor of protecting Golden Gate Park from commercial development. The Mayor and his buddies want to install acres of artificial turf in Golden Gate Park at the Beach Chalet Fields, and light that industrial park up every night until 10 pm. The field would be made of toxic astroturf created by chopping up recycled tires. It would have a profound negative impact on local wildlife and the environment. The field would benefit a private foundation called City Fields, which would marked the new field to private soccer leagues. Rather than supporting the current Supervisor, a rubber stamp for Downtown developers and Mayor Ed Lee, write in "Mike Murphy" for District 4 Supervisor. And don't forget to connect the arrow next to the write-in slot as well: the Department of Elections has already proven that they will not count any votes that they aren't absolutely, legally required to. NO on A (potential raid on retiree health trust fund) In June 2008, voters established a retiree health care trust fund to help pay the health insurance costs of retired City employees. The Green Party supported that measure, even as we continued to fight to replace for-profit insurance with less expensive and better Single Payer coverage. Under existing law, money contributed by current City employees goes into a trust fund, which cannot be spent until 2020, and only then on insurance costs. City College employees pay into a separate trust fund, with identical restrictions. The current trust fund governing and distributing board consists of of five members: two at large (public employees), one Board of Supervisors, and one member each appointed by the Controller and Mayor. This gives SF public employees a semblance of comfort in knowing that their funds are under safe lock and key, in contrast to the workers of San Mateo Co, who saw significant losses due to risky investments. This year, Supervisor Mark Farrell introduced Prop A, which addresses loopholes in the way funds may be spent starting in 2020, along with changing structure of the governing board. These restrictions will supposedly help protect taxpayers from future raids on the funds. However, in fact Prop A does the opposite, by allowing the trust funds to be spent immediately under certain circumstances. If Prop A passes, the Mayor and Supervisors could spend money from the City fund with a supermajority vote, starting as early as next year. It is unclear who would control the City College trust fund, but we are worried that the funds would be controlled by the unelected "special trustee" who has usurped control of City College from the elected board. We are very worried that in either case, the funds would not be spent for their intended purpose--just as federal pension funds have been plundered for the purpose of "balancing the federal deficit." We urge voters to protect the trust fund by voting NO on Prop A. If there really is a problem with the way funds will be managed starting in 2020, there is still plenty of time to fix this, without introducing loopholes that may allow the money to be stolen by corrupt politicians. Join us by standing against government fiscal intervention and in solidarity with unions (including SEIU 1021) in opposing Prop A. NO on B and C (wall on the waterfront / more condos for millionaires) Prop B is an initiative pushed by well-funded developers that will overturn existing height limits for a single development along the west side of the Embarcadero just north of the Ferry Building. It will create a wall of 12-story condos, blocking out afternoon sunshine along the waterfront and producing a "wind tunnel" effect that would make it unpleasant to walk along the Embarcadero. Prop B is particularly bad because it would set a precedent that zoning laws do not apply to people with enough money to fund an initiative campaign: like so many laws supported by the City's elite, they would apply only to the "little people" and not to those in power. Voting NO on Prop C is another way to reject the same project. After the developers bought off the majority of the Board of Supervisors, Mayor Ed Lee, and former Mayor Gavin Newsom, this giant condo project sailed through the planning process. Prop C is a referendum that would reject the Board of Supervisors' earlier decision to approve this project. Because of the way referendums are written, a NO vote on Prop C is (just like a NO on B) a vote against the project. A lack of affordable housing is driving poor and middle class people, artists, and other long-time residents out of the City. We need a moratorium on most new market rate condo development, more City support for cooperative housing models such as community land trusts, and a procedure for legalization of in-law units without adding additional parking requirements. We also need more public parks and open spaces for people who can't afford huge yards: although the slick Prop B ads show pictures of beautiful parks, the vast majority of parks created by their proposal would be like a private country club: open to the public by invitation only. Join us in rejecting this abuse of the initiative process by greedy developers! Vote NO on both B and C. YES on D (statement in favor of cheaper prescription drugs) Unfortunately, this measure is only a policy statement. Regular people should be able to negotiate better prices for prescription drugs, a benefit that the Veterans Administration has long enjoyed. VA drug costs are half the price that the rest of us pay. If the City had the ability to negotiate on behalf of the Public Health Department, there would be a projected savings of $23 million annually which could be used on other needed services. Treasurer - no endorsement. Jose Cisneros is currently running unopposed for reelection. As we said in 2009, we appreciate Cisneros' efforts to lower taxes on SRO residents, and his work with banks to provide less costly alternatives to check-cashing companies for SF's poorest residents. However, we would like Cisneros to be more proactive in pushing for changes to laws that would benefit City residents. For example, state law severely limits the types of investments that a local Treasurer can make. City funds must be invested in commercial banks and government bonds, and may not be invested in projects such as community land trusts, alternative energy development, or even home loans to local residents. Rather than working to create a publicly-owned Bank of San Francisco that could invest City funds in such projects, Cisneros has focused on making deals with private banks. Cisneros should also call for reform of Prop 13 to allow higher taxes on commercial property. Assessor - no endorsement. Carmen Chu is running unopposed for election to the office she was appointed to by Mayor Ed Lee, a politician who himself was originally appointed Mayor by the Board of Supervisors. Carmen Chu is no stranger to political appointments, as she was originally appointed to her seat on the Board of Supervisors by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who himself obtained a seat on the Board of Supervisors after being appointed by Mayor Willie Brown. This maze of political payback in a 1-party town is confusing, but is best illustrated in a cartoon by Joe Luby: http://sfgreenparty.org/11-news/45-is-this-what-democracy-looks-like As Supervisor, Carmen Chu proved to be a reliable rubber stamp for Mayors Newsom and Lee, and for the 1% they represent. Always a reliable Democratic Party hack, she scored a perfect 0% on our 2012 Supervisorial Report Card, in which we scored votes on important issues from a Green Party perspective: http://www.sfgreenparty.org/issues/50-supe-report-card-2012 Carmen Chu did not participate in our endorsement process. City Attorney - no endorsement Dennis Herrera is running unopposed for re-election. We support Herrera's office's efforts in suing the ACCJC in order to keep City College open and public, and we supported his lobbying on behalf of marriage equality rights. However, Herrera has been reliable corporatist on too many other issues. In 2007, he sided with the Lennar Corporation in blocking a citizen-led initiative regarding Bayview-Hunters Point redevelopment from being placed on the ballot, even though the residents had gathered a sufficient number of signatures. By ruling that the petitions were invalid because the signature gatherers had not attached copies of a phone book-sized piece of legislation they were seeking to overturn, Herrera set a dangerous precedent that will allow authorities to reject any petition that they believe shouldn't be allowed before voters on similar technicalities. Herrera also promised 8 years ago to enforce the Raker Act (which would bring public power to SF), and he hasn't made any moves towards doing so. He's also been unwilling to enforce open records (Sunshine) laws. Herrera did not participate in our endorsement process. *===========================* To submit events for our newsletter, please email a short blurb to news@sfgreens.org. 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