League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
San Francisco County, CA November 3, 2015 Election
	Amy Farah Weiss Answers Questions Candidate for Mayor; City of San Francisco

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of San Francisco and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What do you see as the biggest issue facing San Francisco?

The biggest issue facing San Francisco is the housing affordability and displacement crisis that came as a result of the devastating impacts of 2007's global financial collapse and City Hall's subsequent economic and development policy decisions. San Francisco did not have an unemployment or displacement crisis before the collapse, but instead of properly analyzing the crisis and strategically planning for equitable, inclusive, and sustainable growth, our leadership has taken us on the wrong path of unsustainable growth and inequitable prosperity in service to the status quo and benefit of venture capitalists, developers, and realtors.

As a strong advocate for participatory democracy, I developed an online survey for my campaign regarding the key issues that voters wanted candidates to debate for the 2015 Mayor's race and conducted outreach to all of San Francisco's democratic clubs and neighborhood organizations (as well as my fellow candidates and the media). I asked voters to name their top three issues and then asked survey participants if they would attend a policy forum, teach-in, or candidate debate on the top 13 issues that I identified and framed as most pressing for the Mayor's race:

1. Inclusive and sustainable growth
2. Renting in San Francisco
3. Pro-worker economy
4. Short-term rentals
5. Cultural Preservation
6. Decriminalizing homelessness
7. Tech shuttles and regional transit
8. CleanPowerSF
9. Taxis and TNCs (i.e. Uber & Lyft)
10. SFPD & Neighborhood Safety
11. The Future of CCSF
12. Development in the Mission
13. Development of Balboa Reservoir (Public Land)

In the open-ended question regarding the top three issues voters wanted candidates to debate, the majority of participant responses were related to the following theme: "How do we protect and develop affordable housing for a diversity of workers, culture-makers, and neighbors?". The verbatim responses from SF voters included: "Affordable Housing", "Housing speculator issues in SF", "Homes for people not houses for profit + how?", "How to manage growth", "The use of city property for the creation of both low income and affordable housing rentals for teachers and service workers", "the rate of displacement re/ Ellis Act", "How will you preserve rent control which is the largest source of affordable housing?", "Outmigration of AA", "Loss of artists/creative's due to housing prices".

2. As Mayor, what would you do to handle it?

As Mayor, I will treat the eviction, displacement, and housing affordability crisis like a true crisis. I will strengthen protections for tenants from profit-driven displacement by providing increased mediation services for tenants and property owners by recent law school graduates who are trained in tenant law. I will immediately begin implementing cost-effective, humane, and creative solutions to provide interim-housing support for displaced and houseless neighbors. I will lead the development of an online platform for local workforce, displaced residents, and families with SFUSD students who are in need of housing in order to facilitate links to available units. I will explore new policies and incentives that encourage property owners to rent to local our workforce at 30% of their rent. I will work with the African American community to develop strategies in support of the in-migration of African American residents. I will ensure that short-term regulation is enforceable by requiring that short-term rental platforms to ensure that their hosts are registered with the city's existing program prior to allowing hosts to utilize their platforms. I will lead San Francisco and the Bay Area in new investment and development strategies that will enable us to use our local wealth to sustainably and equitably build our city and region.

3. What would you do to address affordable housing in San Francisco?

See above. A better way of framing our current housing affordability crisis is to take a step back and clarify that San Francisco did not have an unemployment, displacement, or housing affordability crisis prior to the global economic collapse of 2007. The economic and development policies of the current administration in reaction to the recession caused by the risky and fraudulent investment of too big to fail banks have led to unsustainable growth, displacement, and inequitable prosperity. We can do better by our workers and neighbors by taking the reigns of investment and development and steering our city toward inclusive, culturally-enriching, and sustainable development.

For a thorough analysis of San Francisco's current housing crisis and solutions for how to invest in pro-worker and equitable development with an equitable return on investment, please view my 9/30/2015 presentation on this topic. The campaign video linked above provides a 10 minute version of my presentation, and the full length version can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KazsUpW-5PY. In a nutshell, we must require developers to equitably invest and profit from the construction of new housing that is affordable to a diverse range of our local workforce. As Mayor I will enforce the regional housing needs assessment goals for affordable housing set by the Associated Bay Area Governments, 1986's Prop M, and the 2008 Eastern Neighborhoods Plan which all call for more significant building of affordable housing.

As Mayor, I will also support the construction of additional dwelling units in our city's 37,000 existing parcels that can accommodate the addition of one or more new units. I will create an incentive plan to property owners to fund the $50,000-$250,000 addition by providing financing, design, and construction support in return for property owners renting to our local workforce (teachers, nonprofit workers, paraprofessionals, health care workers, first responders, etc) at 30% of their income.

As Mayor I will support the development of regional union manufacturing centers that can build eco-friendly pre-fab units which allow for decreased construction costs and time. For an example of this approach, look up the recently approved development by Forge Land Company at 361 Turk and 145 Leavenworth.

4. What are your qualifications for office?

My interdisciplinary and multi-sector professional experience as a researcher, educator, communications professional, public speaker, and strategic planning consultant has given me the tools I need to inspire, engage, and lead San Francisco residents in co-creating an equitable, livable, and sustainable future for San Francisco. I have direct experience working in the fields of education, transitional housing, mental health, leadership development, HIV/AIDS prevention and support, sustainability, urban agriculture, medical cannabis, nonprofit consulting, civic engagement, and neighborhood development. I have professional experience working with a diverse range of people, including homeless residents, leadership of Fortune 500 companies, Executive Directors of nonprofits, tech entrepreneurs, activists, and elected officials.

As a Bay Area native who has lived and worked in multiple cities and counties throughout the Bay Area, I have a unique perspective on regional collaboration and planning. Since moving to San Francisco in 2007, I have developed a vast inter-disciplinary, multi-sector, and multi-cultural network of city-wide neighbors. After graduating from SF State in 2010 with an M.A. in Organizational Development & Training that integrated the disciplines of Public Administration, Instructional Technologies, and Organizational Psychology, I initiated and developed an award-winning community service learning project in SF State's Public Administration Department that connects community-based nonprofits with graduate student teams. I designed the SF CBO Support Project to support non-profit community partners and students in their ability to apply tools of strategic planning, communications, and evaluation to their mission-serving programs.

I became activated in local politics in early 2011 when I joined my District 5 neighbors in organizing at City Hall against a Chase Bank that displaced two local businesses on Divisadero without due process of a Conditional Use Hearing through the Planning Department and Planning Commission. I learned about San Francisco's zoning laws, spoke at the Board of Appeals, Planning Commission, and public comment at the Board of Supervisors, and worked with neighbors and Supervisors to protect neighborhood culture and character by upholding and strengthening formula retail law. In late 2011, I founded Neighbors Developing Divisadero and achieved nonprofit status at the state level along with the participation and support of neighbors and local neighborhood organizations. I launched a $3.6 million campaign to revitalize a blighted theater with the support of over 500 neighbors. Through Neighbors Developing Divisadero I re-activated and managed a long-dormant community garden in my neighborhood with the support of SF's urban agriculture network, hundreds of neighbors, and New Liberation Church.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 5, 2015 10:30
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