Paul Kozakiewicz: We Must Respect Election Results

There's a school of thought that says the ends justify the means, that it is OK to achieve your aims at any cost.

I do not agree with that view.

It is not OK to close roads in Golden Gate Park when the people you purport to represent voted, overwhelmingly, to not close the roads. There is no compromise of the will of the voters in a representative democracy.

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick has ignored the will of the voters at least three times.

Two times were when he introduced legislation to close roads in Golden Gate Park on Saturdays. The voters rejected two measures in 2000, by a large margin citywide and by an overwhelming margin in the Richmond District, that would have closed some roadways in the eastern end of the park.

Instead of going back to the voters with a plan, McGoldrick introduced legislation that was modified and passed by the board and signed by the mayor.

To get an agreement, marathon negotiating sessions had to be held in the mayor's office with several of the stakeholders involved in the park decision. Many groups were not represented to help reach an agreement, including all of the groups in the Sunset District.

The end result -the closing of the roads by legislative fiat - tells the voters that their vote doesn't count. Why vote, they say, as participation in elections continues to drop.

The SF Board of Supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom think the ends justify the means.

I call that unethical.

Another time McGoldrick ignored the voters was when a majority of them said the City should not limit an avenue to home ownership called Tenancies in Common. That's where tenants living in an apartment building pool their resources to buy the building.

Oftentimes, the action allows a tenant to purchase a piece of real estate in San Francisco at a rate lower than the cost of a condominium or single-family home. We should encourage people who want to own a piece of the City to do so, not foreclose their options to do so, like McGoldrick did when he limited the number of TICs allowed in the City to 200 a year. Less than a drop in the bucket.

With two-thirds of the City being renters, we can afford to allow more people to own their homes in San Francisco. That's what the voters of the City recognized when they passed Proposition N in 2000.

Most major cities have about a 50-50 split in their housing units being rentals or owned. Our city should have a more balanced mix of homeowners and renters.

Funny thing happened on way to recall
Over the past two months, I have written more than 5,000 words about why McGoldrick should be recalled. I expected there to be some disagreement with my positions, and there certainly is, but I didn't expect the vitriol exhibited toward the supervisor. Mail, phone calls and e-mails have been pouring in from people who want to help in any way possible.

But, I realize that a lot of the anger exhibited toward McGoldrick is also directed at the Board of Supervisors. McGoldrick is only one misguided supervisor purporting to represent the people. Most of the animosity from the public is from people who are disgusted at the actions of our elected representatives, from top to bottom.

As a lifelong Democrat, I have encountered many other Democrats, as well as Republicans and Independents, who feel this city has become "the city that doesn't know how" because of its so-called "progressive" politicians.

For example, home ownership possibilities are being foreclosed by board actions and taxes, fines and fees are going through the roof, hurting the poor, middle class and families. There isn't one supervisor on the board who has a grasp of the simplest economic principals. That's why, despite having a budget of about $6 billion, the board, and other government agencies, are always looking for ways to extract more money from the pockets of working San Franciscans.

A few of the examples include:

• Parking tickets that are now $50. A quarter gets you four minutes in many parking meters (which often have a half-hour limit, hardly enough time to have lunch without running out to feed the meter again). A group has been formed to fight this trend.

• Supervisor Tom Ammiano pushed an $80 million tax on businesses to pay for health insurance for those without insurance in San Francisco. He doesn't understand (or maybe he does) that that $80 million is going to come out of the pockets of San Franciscans every time they buy a product or service or go to a restaurant. For many working-class San Franciscans, life just gets tougher and tougher. It's that way for families, minorities and seniors who want to call this city home.

• The SF Public Utilities Commission (PUC) wants to tax families with its de-facto discriminatory 3-tiered water rate schedule, which only affects single-family homes. Under the PUC's scheme, a family of five would pay more for water than a family with two members living at a single residence. The mayor, his appointees at the PUC, and PUC head Susan Leal should be ashamed of themselves. To practice discrimination in the guise of conservation is unethical and punitive against the citizens of the city they are supposed to represent. I hope you read the column by Joan Girardot and Steve Lawrence in this issue and take action before it is too late.

• In May, the SF County Transportation Authority moved a plan forward to force Geary BRT on the neighborhood. They are spending upwards of $200 million on a system that will not increase capacity by one bus or one open seat.

I could go on-and-on, but you get the point. That is the Modus Operandi of the board of supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom, who recently suggested that another $100 million a year be raised for Muni. That would bring Muni's budget to around $800 million a year. That's more for mass transit than the entire budgets of some cities.

The cost of living continues to escalate, driving the city into a rapid Manhattanization where only wealthy people will be able to live. The numbers of African Americans and families in the city drop like a rock while the supervisors continue to find more ways to raise money to feed their fantastic visions.

We have more than 27,000 city employees and support thousands more with our payments to non-profit groups providing services in the City. Yet our streets are filthy and our infrastructure is crumbling.

Every member of the board has been an embarrassment, or outright incompetent, in the discharge of his or her duties. That speaks to district elections, which has been a dismal failure (more on that later).

Neighborhood residents are frustrated. Sometimes 200 people make the trek to City Hall to testify on behalf of an issue and the supervisors will let it roll in one ear and out the other. There's an impression that they do whatever they want, regardless of what the people think.

As former Mayor Willie Brown said recently in a television interview, all cities change.

It's time for a change in San Francisco. We need qualified candidates - conservatives, moderates and liberals with an inkling of economic intelligence - to take the reins of power. We need to abandon, for a second time, district elections. We need to have the Chinese population get actively involved in politics and vote. We need to abandon the policies of divisiveness that has ruled this city for the past decade or so. We need to have the guts to look at our budget and live within our means. We need politicians who have a clue about how to run a city.

Update on McGoldrick Recall Campaign
The petition to recall McGoldrick has been approved and signature gatherers are now working to get more than 4,000 registered District 1 voters to sign on the dotted line.

Richmond voters can go to several locations to sign petitions, including Gus' Discount Fishing Tackle at 3710 Balboa St. (M-F, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Tribecca Properties at 5840 Geary Blvd. (M-F, 8 to 8:30 a.m., or Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.) or at the Safeway at the beach and numerous other locations throughout the district. Look for the red and white signs that say "Recall Jake McGoldrick."

The public should sign the petition. Then, voters will have the opportunity to decide if they want to keep McGoldrick employed. If you would like to volunteer or need more information about the recall, call 797-2172 or go to www.richmonddeservesbetter.com.

Paul Kozakiewicz is editor of the Richmond Review.