Thank you to everyone who attended the first-ever Sunset Night Market. More than 10,000 people showed up. Longtime residents said they’ve never seen that many people gathered on Irving Street or anywhere in the Sunset before.
In August, schools across the City welcomed students back. While public education builds our future generations, and we all want to be optimistic about their future, the reality is the ways that both the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and City College of San Francisco (CCSF) have been operating is greatly disappointing. These districts’ administrations have not been doing right by our teachers, students and our families.
If you’ve ever been to Paris, you likely walked down tree-lined streets and enjoyed the quaint sidewalk cafes. If you noticed six-story apartment buildings throughout the city, you probably didn’t leave Paris thinking it was a terrible place because of housing density. The wonderful ground-floor bistros were memorable, not the building height.
San Francisco is facing an unprecedented budget deficit and a public health crisis on our streets. During last month’s budget negotiations, as chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, I worked to ensure our City’s budget process would bring accountability and transparency to our city spending, refocus our efforts on providing quality and timely city services, and deliver a San Francisco budget that allows all San Franciscans to thrive.
When a tent recently appeared near the curb on Sunset Boulevard, my office received many emails and calls from concerned residents. It was the first time they had seen a tent in that westside area, and they worried one tent would turn into 10 or even 100, like they see downtown.
As your Supervisor, my priorities include supporting our small businesses, protecting our tenants and small property landlords, and advocating for resources and safety for working families. And as the Board’s Budget Committee chair, I am working to ensure the budget process is transparent and inclusive, and city departments are held accountable for public dollars spent and yield the quality services that San Franciscans deserve.
The stabbing murder of tech executive Bob Lee in downtown San Francisco last month made international news. The headlines generated a lot of fear, which is why I did a series of media interviews to put the crime into context.
As COVID emergency declarations end, state assistance programs to help residents weather the pandemic are beginning to sunset. The COVID pandemic widened income inequality across California, with the gap between high- and low-income families being one of the largest in the nation.
Parents are on edge after recent violence at Stonestown Mall where mobs of teenagers attacked other teenagers. If kids can’t safely meet friends after school at the mall, it’s yet another decline in quality of life in San Francisco and failure of our City to function as it should.
All Richmond District residents deserve safe and accessible pedestrian walkway and bike connectivity. As supervisor, one of my roles is to demand city departments to deliver city services in the Richmond, calling on departments to be accountable and responsive to our community’s needs, which includes access to safe and accessible streets for various modes of transportation.
The recent explosion of a house in a quiet Sunset neighborhood was traumatic for residents and raises larger public safety questions.
Since April 2020, like the rest of the world, San Francisco has suffered economic setbacks due to the global pandemic. Many people were priced out of San Francisco, and continue to be priced out. Those who are able to stay often struggle to earn a living wage, stay housed comfortably, and stay healthy and safe.
There are lots of opinions about who a district supervisor should be, what ideologies they should support and which identities they should represent.
Geary Boulevard is a critical commercial corridor in the Richmond District. It has been home to several iconic local businesses, including House of Bagels, Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant and Joe’s Ice Cream. It connects the foggy west side to downtown San Francisco and is the main transit artery of the district. Pre-pandemic, the 38-Geary bus lines were the most traveled bus route west of the Mississippi River.
As we start a new year, I’m passing the baton to Joel Engardio as the new supervisor for District 4. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to serve the Sunset and San Francisco for the past four years. We have spent four years achieving real material wins for working people, changing the trajectory of the Sunset and challenging what is considered possible for this seat, this District and this City.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 