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School Board candidates struggle to stand out on crowded stage

With the San Francisco Unified School District readying to sail off the edge of the map, 10 of the 11 declared Board of Education candidates shared their plans on proposed school closures and the district’s mammoth budget deficit with over 100 community members at a Friday night forum. The 11 candidate, Lefteris Eleftheriou, didn’t attend the forum held at Gordon J. Lau Elementary School and moderated by Crystal Van and Emily Fung of Chinese for Affirmative Action.The overcrowded stage made it de facto difficult for the candidates to differentiate themselves. That, however, didn’t seem to apply to candidate Matt Alexander, the only incumbent in the race. While his nine competitors cited their prior work experiences in other industries or presented their visions for education, Alexander enjoyed an unparalleled advantage as he was able to list his accomplishments as a board member. From […]

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SFUSD school board candidates on supporting educators

Welcome back to the “Meet the Candidates” series for the school board, where we ask each candidate one question every two weeks. They must answer the question in 100 words or fewer. We will link to longer answers.Eleven candidates are vying for four seats on the city’s seven-person school board. The election will take place on Nov. 5. Non-citizen parents of children living in the city are permitted to vote in school board elections, and can find information on doing so here.The San Francisco Unified School District kicked off the year with more than 100 educator vacancies. In response to the SFUSD’s financial troubles, the state has stepped in to oversee the district’s spending, including spending on hiring, which leaders of the teachers union say has delayed the process of filling those vacancies. The process has been hard on educators: […]

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District 5 candidates on how they will speed up housing

Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.San Francisco has a new mandate from the state of California to build 82,000 new homes by 2031, with more than half of those to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households. We’re not on track to meet this goal, and one of the big arguments in San Francisco’s housing debate — particularly as campaigning heats up in District 5 — has been over who is to blame for our slow housing […]

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District 5 candidates want to leverage technology to improve SF

Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.Tech is a big part of San Francisco and its discourse — tech companies weathering the pandemic here, whether Twitter should stay or go, or how technological advances like drones and surveillance cameras and robot dogs can support the police department.We asked the candidates to weigh in: How can tech and tech companies help the district and the city? How will you work to leverage it as supervisor? Note: I’ll be at Peet’s […]

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Who do the District 7 candidates support for District Attorney?

Welcome to “Meet the Candidates,” where Mission Local asks supervisor hopefuls questions in the lead-up to the November election. In District 7 — which includes the Inner Sunset, Parkmerced and West Portal — Matt Boschetto and Stephen Martin-Pinto are running against incumbent Myrna Melgar.Brooke Jenkins became District Attorney after a heated recall election ousted her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, in 2022. Now, Jenkins is running in November election to stay in the position, and Ryan Khojasteh is running against her. This week, we asked the candidates who they are supporting. Take a look at their responses below.Note: please come join me for coffee this week to talk about District 7: I will be at Java on Ocean (329 West Portal Ave.) at 5 p.m. on Thursday September 12. You can also reach out to me at kelly@missionlocal.com. Myrna Melgar Job: District 7 […]

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District 11 candidates weigh in on upcoming school closures

Welcome back to the “Meet the Candidates” series for District 11, where we ask each candidate to answer one question every week leading up to the election. They must answer the question in 100 words or less. We will link to longer answers. With District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí termed out and running for mayor, seven candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to represent the Excelsior, Oceanview and the Outer Mission.On Sept. 18, the San Francisco Unified School District will announce the list of schools recommended for closure, merger, or co-location for the 2025-26 school year.  Such a move is part of SFUSD’s Resource Alignment Initiative, which is an ambitious plan to improve student outcomes by creating a new school staffing model, generating more revenue for school properties, reorganizing the central office, investing in priority district-wide programs, and creating […]

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District 5 candidates weigh in — or don’t — on District Attorney race

Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.This week, we asked candidates about another election that’s coming up, for district attorney. After a heated recall of DA Chesa Boudin in 2022 and his replacement by his former employee, now-DA Brooke Jenkins, another former employee, Ryan Khojasteh, has stepped up to challenge Jenkins. Some favor Jenkins while others like Khojasteh. But for all the talk of different public safety approaches to crime this election cycle, a couple District 5 candidates […]

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District 1 candidates on Richmond seniors’ access to rest of the city

Welcome back to our weekly “Meet the Candidates” series, in which District 1 supervisorial candidates who have filed to run respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published each week, but we are also archiving each answer on this page for District 1, to make it easier for voters to browse. Next week, I will be on the mayoral campaign trail. Reach me at junyao@missionlocal.com. For seniors living in the Richmond, one of San Francisco’s outermost neighborhoods, a dominant concern is transit, especially medical transportation for seniors. Services like paratransit and taxi vouchers can be insufficient when someone has to go to dialysis three times a week, said Christine Ness, programs director at Richmond Senior Center. We asked the candidates this week: What will you do to make sure seniors have more access to get around the city? Jeremiah […]

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District 5 candidates discuss a drop in homelessness since 2022

Leer en españolHere’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.Last week, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing released a report about its point-in-time homelessness count taken in January. The department conducts a count at least every two years, and since the 2022 count, the total number of people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco increased by seven percent. The count shows unsheltered homelessness citywide decreased by one percent since 2022, and 16 percent since 2019. But in District 5, […]

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