Neighborhood Newspaper Editors Grill Mayoral Candidates

By Paul Kozakiewicz

The major candidates vying for Mayor Willie Brown's job faced members of the city's neighborhood press at City Hall Sept. 15 to explain their positions on quality-of-life issues facing San Francisco's neighborhoods.

Publishers and editors of the city's neighborhood newspapers grilled candidates about homelessness, affordable housing, the economic vitality of San Francisco and what they intend to do about job creation and predicted budget deficits next year.

Angela Alioto:

Angela Alioto does not care whether or not the glass is half full or half empty: She wants to know why the water is in the glass, who put it there and how much it cost.

Alioto says there is a lot of fat in the city's $5 billion budget and she opposes the rampant use of tax dollars in single-source, non-competitive-bidding contracts.

"I'm a fanatic about this issue," she said.

She also thinks the amount of city money going to Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) is "a scandal." Although the city's goal of awarding contracts to minority and women businesses is 16 percent, she said, the actual rate is now down to about 3 percent. When she served on the SF Board of Supervisors in the '90s, the rate was 11 percent.

To stimulate the economy, Alioto would look to cut waste from the budget. The trial attorney would also eliminate the city's payroll tax and institute an across-the-board tax for all businesses, closing loopholes she says allow large corporations to escape paying its fair share of taxes. The payroll tax penalizes employers from hiring additional employees, she said, resulting in fewer positions.

To tackle homelessness, Alioto has a 25-page plan, which calls for 1,500 volunteers fanning out across the City in search of the homeless population. Once located, the volunteers would direct the homeless to one of the 400 organizations the City pays each year to deliver services to the population. She says the task "is a mission, not an obligation."

Alioto has issues with the city's Natural Areas Plan and opposes banks in the Bayview that limit loans to the community. She would require at least 50 percent of the city's firefighters and police officers to live in the City in case of an emergency.

Tom Ammiano:

As a long-time observer of city politics, first as a school board member and then as a member of the SF Board of Supervisors, Tom Ammiano has seen a lot of things he does not like. As mayor, he would like to change them.

For instance, most of the people serving on the city's boards and commissions were given their positions based on political patronage, he said. If elected, Ammiano says he would appoint the best possible people, based on expertise, to serve the interests of the City.

He also disliked the traditional budget cycle whereby the mayor introduced a budget and gave the supervisors little time to work with city residents to fashion the best possible budget. So he worked to open up negotiations with neighborhood groups and non-profit providers and took budget meetings out to the neighborhoods for direct public feedback. He also started working on budget issues all year long rather than wait until the mayor introduced a budget.

Ammiano would diversify the city's business landscape by working more to secure biotech and other emerging-technology firms.

To balance the city's budget, he wants to make government more efficient and he is looking at acceptable future "revenue enhancements" with philanthropist Warren Hellman. He said small businesses are an unrecognized economic engine that should be helped, perhaps with small business loans, but he also thinks many large businesses do not pay their fair share of taxes.

"Business has to step up to the plate," he said.

Ammiano said his administration would work hard to improve schools and increase funding to improve educational opportunities, particularly on the east side of the city where test scores are the lowest.

Concerning the homeless population, Ammiano said a major effort needs to be facilitated to reach and treat mentally ill people. He also thinks the city is badly managing the homeless program and that there is some fraud that needs to be rooted out. The current approach of leasing out an entire building that it can be used to house homeless and provide services at the same location is a sound one, he said.

Matt Gonzalez:

Matt Gonzalez is in the race for mayor to "articulate progressive values." He felt the candidates in the race were not adequately representing progressive views and that one progressive standard-bearer, Tom Ammiano, did not have sufficient financial resources to win an expensive race.

Gonzalez says economic development is the most important issue in the race because it provides the money government needs to function. He would diversify the city's business base and eliminate the city's payroll tax because it penalizes employers who want to hire additional employees. He would also shrink the size of government by lowering the city's payroll through attrition.

Many department heads do not replace lost employees lost to retirement or other reasons because the money that would have been used to pay for the employee's salary and benefits can be diverted to other department purposes without the department heads having to go to the supervisors for a supplemental appropriation.

"There's a game going on," he said.

The supervisor would also like to see residential developers contribute to a fund to improve city resources in exchange for permission to develop a property. Currently, only commercial developers contribute to a separate fund.

Gonzalez, a member of the Green Party, also refuted the idea that the party was politically to the left of the Democratic Party. He said the Greens are a unique third party in American politics that favors decentralized government and encompasses some of the values of both parties. For example, he said, the party favors a smaller government, a position usually espoused by Republicans.

Gonzalez does not favor Care Not Cash, saying a cut in cash payments might lower the numbers of people getting General Assistance checks, but that the city would pay more than it was saving through increased costs at hospital emergency rooms. He wants to improve the city's shelter system and build more transitional housing to house the homeless.

Gonzalez would also like to help blue-collar workers stay in the city by exploring a public-private partnership whereby the city would give money to homeowners for an equity stake in the property. When the property is sold, the city would get its money back plus a percentage of the profit from the sale.

Susan Leal:

Susan Leal has her eye on the city's money. As treasurer, Leal has stepped up the department's collection of delinquent debts and invested funds with some of the best returns of all California cities.

As mayor, she would use her financial expertise to grow the city's tax base and more efficiently run government programs. She would work to promote and retain business and provide capital through micro-enterprise loan and she would eliminate the city's payroll tax.

To help the homeless population, Leal favors reducing cash payments in favor of providing direct services, including housing. She would make the health department the lead agency in dealing with the situation and would meet weekly with all city departments working on the coordinated effort to assist the homeless.

Leal thinks bond measures could be used to help finance housing for middle-class residents. A possibility would be to help homeowners by giving them a $40,000 grant to use as a down payment.

Education is also a high priority for Leal. She would work to provide more preschools and after-school programs in the city and, where needed, provide transportation for students traveling to after-school programs.

"Come hell or high water, we're going to contribute more money to schools," Leal said.

Tony Ribera:

He is going to tell the truth - and face the consequences.

As the only Republican in the mayor's race, Tony Ribera is undaunted in his battle to win election in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Ribera, the former police chief under Mayor Frank Jordan who is currently the director of the Criminal Justice Management Program at the University of San Francisco, said the current situation in the city is reaching "crisis proportions" because of the administration of Mayor Willie Brown. He said Brown is appointing people based on a political patronage system and that he is refusing to make difficult decisions, such as what to do to help the city's homeless population.

"I'm not afraid to make hard decisions," Ribera said.

Ribera said he would cut a bureaucracy that has grown by several thousand people during Brown's administration. For example, Ribera said, when he was chief of police he had five civil service "exempt" positions that served at the will of the chief. Now, he said, there are 11 such positions.

Ribera is opposed to increasing taxes and wants to stimulate the business community, which he says has been neglected too long. He would reduce the size of government by 6 percent over four years by looking at the top of the management pyramid.

Ribera is in favor of Care Not Cash and treatment on demand for drug and alcohol abusers. He would appoint the city's director of human services to chair a committee that would look to improve the delivery of city services, particularly to the mentally ill homeless.

Gavin Newsom:

Gavin Newsom described himself as being left, politically, of presidential candidate Howard Dean because he is an ardent supporter of rent control and other liberal issues. But his positions concerning the homeless, especially his homeless measure Care Not Cash, has led to him being vilified by tenant activists as an insensitive millionaire son-of-privilege, an image that is often perpetuated by San Francisco media.

The Care Not Cash program, approved by San Francisco voters with 60 percent of the vote, would have replaced most of the $410 General Assistance check the city gives homeless indigents and replaced it with shelter and services. A judge, who said only representatives of the city government could make such a decision, not voters, suspended the program. When Newsom introduced the measure at the board, it was defeated.

Newsom says because he is a fifth-generation San Franciscan from the Marina District, an area perceived to be relatively wealthy, the local media often take a "class politics" approach to its coverage.

But Newsom says there are needy families and seniors in the Marina District and that the success of his numerous business activities has been due to diligence to the cause, regardless of the long hours involved.

If elected, Newsom would slow down the growth of city government by lessening the number of city employees overall, via attrition. He would stimulate the economy by increasing revenues from increased building in the city and by chasing down more grant money. He has 12 strategies for increasing business in the city and making San Francisco a more attractive location for business to locate.

"We have to be more creative," he said of the challenge for stimulating the economy.

The city's general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 4. If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote on that date, a Dec. 9 run-off election is required.