First, there was a call for Transportation questions about a month ago. I submitted about 5 good ones that the TWG came up with to the CIWG, and attended the meeting where the questionnaire was finalized. (I was the only TWG member to attend, and I was pretty jet-lagged after returning that same night from a trip to the East coast). I think I did get our two most important questions in. There are also several open-ended questions at the end which allow candidates to bring up Transportation issues if they want. There's a good reason there aren't 23 Transportation questions on the questionnaire. That is, there would have to be 23 budget questions, 23 housing questions, 23 education questions, etc. As a former GCC candidate, I really hated filling out long questionnaires for organizations I knew wouldn't endorse me anyway; I'm sure it's 10 times worse for supervisor candidates. We can't change the questionnaire after 5 other candidates have answered it, and we certainly can't change it at the request of one of the candidates! On the other hand, these are good questions to answer ourselves, for our platform plank. JMC ps. Use the sfgreens.org mail address instead of the yahoo address. On Fri, May 21, 2004 at 10:19:31PM -0700, susan vaughan wrote:
I talked to Kathy Roberts this afternoon. As a candidate for D5, she had been working on the candidate questionnaire and was truly flabbergasted by the paucity of trenchant questions. She's right. Any possibility that we can redo our questions, submit them for endorsement at a GM meeting and issue a separate questionnaire to candidates?
Here's my updated list of questions in no particular order (Marc, especially look at #5):
1) Where do you stand on the minimum parking requirement for new residential units? 2) Where do you stand on the legalization of new mother-in-law units? 3) Where do you stand on raising the fines for sidewalk parking? 4) Where do you stand on new kinds of two-wheeled motor vehicles that people ride on, standing up or crouching, on streets that we are beginning to hear, see and smell more and more? 5) Where do you stand on revising local implementation state CEQA statutes such that the bicycle plan update can be implemented without having to do an EIR for each element of the bicycle plan update? 6) Where do you stand on the creation of more bike lanes that might take away parking spaces or slow down the flow of car traffic? 7) Where do you stand on the city's Transit First policy? a) Do you support it? b) If yes, do you think that we need to add Muni buses and runs before we impact driving convenience of people with cars or should we move ahead with steps that would discourage driving even without Muni improvements? 8) WHere do you stand on moving the freeway entrance back to Bryant Street? 9) How often do you take Muni? 10) How often do you bike? 11) How often do you choose to walk to your destination as opposed to driving? 12) Did you support Proposition I in March? 13) Where do you stand on the garage beneath the Music Concourse? 14) Where do you stand on motorcycle parking on sidewalks? 15) Where do you stand on turning school yards into parking lots in the evenings and on weekends? 16) Are you a member of CityCarshare? Where do you stand on CityCarshare? 17) What do you know about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles? Do you think they are a realistic alternative to the internal combustion engine and given the current congestion in the city, do you think they represent a technology we should pursue? What do you think of Gov. Schwarzenegger's plans to establish hydrogen refueling stations at various locations throughout the state? 18) Do you think that the price of a gallon of gasoline is currently high, and if so, what do you think should be done about that locally? 19) What are your local priorities for the use of a limited natural resource, oil? 20) Locally, how would you balance our need for energy for transportation with the problems of global warming and imperial wars for natural resources? 21) Do you participate in Bike to Work Day? 22) What steps would you take to improve pedestrian safety? 23) What do you think is the most serious transportation issue facing the city?
-- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc@sfgreens.org) http://www.dolorespark.org/