Together, we can realize a bold new vision for District 5 in San Francisco. For too long, our neighborhoods from the Tenderloin to Hayes Valley to the Haight have become accustomed to our city’s political leadership making excuses. Constantly we are told ‘no’ to affordable and middle class housing, ‘no’ to safe and clean streets, and ‘no’ to small business. We deserve better.
I’m running to be the Supervisor of District 5 to return us towards results, not excuses. I’m running to focus on what matters - on the basics our city needs. I’m running to hold City Hall accountable to the people. To do that, we need to innovate on new ideas, we need to listen and collaborate with community, and we need to cut the bureaucracy and corruption that has stalled our City’s progress for so long. Having worked in the public and private sector - from the Obama Administration to local philanthropy - I know that when we come together, we can finally bring change to our communities. Join me in creating a safe, vibrant, and inclusive District 5.
Our city is unaffordable. As a lifelong renter, I know this personally. The cause is a lack of will from our political leaders and unchecked bureaucracy, making it impossible to build housing in San Francisco.
Our current supervisor has opposed over 30,000 homes from being built - housing needed to prevent our neighbors from being priced out of our city. San Francisco is also the slowest city to approve new buildings in the entire state, taking up to 87 permits, 1000 days, and $500,000 in fees to build or even remodel a home. It doesn’t have to be this way - it’s time to say ‘yes’ to building more affordable and middle-income housing and fixing our building process so our teachers, firefighters, and working class families can live here.
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Our community is suffering. Fentanyl overdoses have risen 20% over the last 2 years in the Tenderloin since the current Supervisor has been in office, with 811 deaths in the last year alone. It is not normal for the 3500 children who live in the neighborhood to have to walk past fentanyl dealers every day, or that our small businesses have to gate their doors every night. We cannot continue down this path, we must act.
We must tackle this crisis, and I am proposing a drug market intervention (DMI) strategy: an evidence-based approach that consolidates city departments, ensures accountability of high-level fentanyl dealers, and provides an exit path for those willing to leave the trade. It successfully ended open air drug markets across the US during the Obama Administration, and it can work here in San Francisco.
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From Hayes Valley to the Haight, we are seeing more and more people suffering on our streets. The problem isn’t lack of money, it’s lack of accountability and a mess of red tape. We have over a billion dollar budget to address our homelessness crisis, but a lack of shelter beds and permanent supportive housing, a fragmented government response, and persistent corruption have made it impossible to solve the problem. Having got results in the Obama Administration during our financial crisis, I’ve seen firsthand how innovative models can help address our most pressing crises.
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We must ensure public transit in District 5 is safe and reliable for all pedestrians, cyclists, and families. District 5 has some of the highest traffic fatality rates, especially in Hayes Valley and the Tenderloin. With service line cuts and uncertain funding, MUNI reliability is a top of mind concern for many residents. We must invest in safety and reliability of public transit if we are to ensure all communities can access the food, parks, and schools they need to thrive.
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San Francisco must lead the fight against climate change. With households and buildings being one of the largest sources of emissions in California, I co-led the 2023 Upgrade California campaign to support legislation to reduce the cost to electrify your home. We partnered with Assemblymember Matt Haney and Senator Josh Becker to introduce one of the largest legislative packages for building decarbonization in California history, successfully passing legislation to streamline the installation of Smart A/Cs or heat pumps to replace gas appliances which cause high emissions and pollutants.
As Supervisor, I will:
Many neighborhoods in District 5, from the Tenderloin to the Fillmore, have become food deserts as we lose access to full-service grocery stores. This necessitates urgency for equitable access to food for our families, children, and seniors. The cause of the food insecurity is a lack of leadership from City Hall in building public-private partnerships to find sustainable models for food access. As the cofounder of 13 Fund, a community impact fund that has supported restaurant workers, and a Board Member of the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, I know how to partner with our communities to create solutions together.
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Hate crimes have been rising across the District, affecting our most marginalized communities. Over the last 10 years, there has been a nearly 200% increase in hate crimes against members of our Black, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQIA+, Latino communities, leading to serious mental and physical health implications for those affected. This issue led me to author and pass a resolution with the SF Democratic Party to declare racism and hate incidents a public health crisis - the first of its kind in the nation.
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Over $1.4 billion in wages are stolen every year from restaurant workers, laborers, and construction workers in the Bay Area. These wages are stolen via mis-reporting, unpaid benefits, or job misclassifications, making it increasingly difficult for our workers to live here or feel secure in their jobs The main cause is lack of transparency in our construction industry that allows wages to be stolen and not enough public attorneys who can prosecute wage theft cases on behalf of workers.
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Bridging the digital divide is how we continue to make progress on education and equity to bring all of San Francisco into the future. I worked to rebuild a computer lab in Chinatown to provide computer and internet access for our seniors and youth, and investigated how teachers at SFUSD were not getting paid due to errors in the City’s software payroll system. There is no excuse for government software to fail in the tech capital of the country - and it’s time to change that.
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Our downtown economy is struggling to rebound and over 1,000 small businesses have closed their doors since our current Supervisor took office. I believe we can fill our streets with joy, music, and tens of thousands of people every week. But we need safe streets, vibrant businesses, and creative ideas to bring people back. I started the movement to bring a university to downtown San Francisco and as an analyst in the Obama Administration working on small business policy, I have a proven track record of supporting small businesses.
As Supervisor, I will:
