[SFGP] Greenzine: Complete Green Party endorsements, Fukushima events

[Announcement list for SF Green Party, updated weekly]

October 18
GREENZINE
SF Green Party Weekly News and Events

www.sfgreenparty.org
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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 at 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.

*===========================*

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