Take Back Our Parks Questionnaires from Mayoral Candidates
Take Back Our Parks sent questionnaires to the San Francisco mayoral candidates. The questionnaires and the responses from the nine responding candidates are posted on TBOP's website for public review.
The nine responding candidates are (in alphabetical order): Jeff Adachi, Cesar Ascarrunz, John Avalos, Terry Joan Baum, David Chiu, Tony Hall, Dennis Herrera, Phil Ting and Leland Yee. Not responding were Michela Alioto-Pier, Paul Currier, Bevan Dufty, Emil Lawrence, Ed Lee, Wilma Pang, and Joanna Rees.
Issues covered by our questionnaire include how each candidate stands on privatization of parks and recreation resources, how they would fund the Recreation & Parks Department, whether they believe RPD operations should be supported by tax dollars, how they view the laying off of the workers who interfaced with the public and the subsequent hiring of high salary property managers, how they view the proposed developments planned for the west end of Golden Gate Park, their position on landmark status for Golden Gate Park, how they would make the Recreation & Park Commission responsive to City residents, their position on the entry fee at the Arboretum, and whether they would continue corporate tax breaks for the wealthy like Larry Ellison and corporations like Twitter while failing to hire more park gardeners and recreation staff.
TBOP assessed each candidate who responded and listed them in alphabetical order designating them as either very strong park advocates or good park supporters. Those who did not meet our criteria are not listed.
Very Strong Park Advocates (listed in unranked alphabetical order)
Jeff Adachi
John Avalos *
Dennis Herrera
Leland Yee
*for sponsoring the Parks for the Public ordinance with support from three of his colleagues.
Good Park Supporters (listed in unranked alphabetical order)
Cesar Ascarrunz
Terry Baum
Tony Hall
We encourage you to read through the responses in your consideration of mayoral candidates by following the links below:
Jeff Adachi:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Jeff%20Adachi%20Questionnaire_1.pdf
Cesar Ascarrunz:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Cesar%20Ascarrunz%20Questionnaire_...
John Avalos:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/John%20Avalos%20Questionnaire_1.pdf
Terry Joan Baum:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Terry%20Joan%20Baum%20Questionnair...
David Chiu:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/David%20Chiu%20Questionnaire.pdf
Tony Hall:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Tony%20Hall%20Questionnaire_1.pdf
Denis Herrera:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Denis%20Herrera%20Questionnaire.pdf
Phil Ting:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Phil%20Ting%20Questionnaire_1.pdf
Leland Yee:
http://www.takebackourparks.org/files/Leland%20Yee%20Questionnaire_1.pdf
Other Helpful Links:
The Neighborhood Parks Council's mayoral questionnaires can be found at the following link:
http://sfnpc.org/parkfriendly2011/
Candidates viewpoints can also be learned from the minutes of the NPC Mayoral Forum minutes:
http://sfnpc.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mayoral-Forum-Minutes-201...
Leland Yee wrote a position paper on various environmental issues, which adds more information to his parks policy. Points 1 through 4 are about parks:
http://www.lelandyee.com/issues/san-francisco-2020-leland-yees-vision-fo...