Members of Coleman Advocates Fund for Children held its first
endorsement meeting Saturday in the family-dense enclave of the Excelsior District.
Photos by Luke Thomas
By Luke Thomas
August 21, 2008
Politicians aren’t used to being grilled by teenagers and immigrant moms. But that’s what happened last week when Coleman Action Fund for Children (CAF) completed its first candidate endorsement process in which young people and parents, usually excluded from the political process, were front and center.
“The Coleman Action Fund’s endorsements are an important step forward in building a stronger political voice for working families in San Francisco so politicians don’t ignore struggling families’ real issues,” CAF Board Member Maria Luz Torre said.
The Coleman Action Fund is a new 501(c)4 organization committed to keeping the diversity of working families in the city by holding public officials accountable to a strong, pro-working families agenda, including affordable housing for all families, improvements in education and access to public schools, and a strong city-funded safety net.
The group as part of its endorsement process endorsed Proposition B, an affordable housing measure that would “amend the city Charter to establish a baseline appropriation and set aside the annual equivalent of the available annual tax of two and one-half cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed property valuation for the next fifteen years.”
“Most kids in San Francisco are from immigrant families like me, and for us to stay here, affordable housing is really the number one issue,” ISA high school student Jose Rodriquez, aged 16, said.
Toni Hines, a parent member of the CAF Endorsement Committee, said the group is also focused on improving academic achievement for all San Francisco students, especially students of color who lag behind in test scores.
“I am proud that our endorsements represent a diverse group of community leaders who will focus on transforming the city’s public schools to benefit the students who’ve been left behind – especially black and brown children,” Hines said. ” We want a school board passionately focused on academic success and equity, without distraction or delay.”
In the Board of Supervisor races, CAF endorsed School Board Member Eric Mar in District 1, David Chiu and Denise McCarthy in District 3, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi in District 5, School Board President Mark Sanchez, Eric Quezada, and Police Commissioner David Campos in District 9, and John Avalos in District 11.
The group has not endorsed any candidates in Districts 4 and 7.
In the race for school board where 4 seats are up for election, CAF endorsed Sandra Lee Fewer, Rachel Norton, incumbent Norman Yee, and Dr. James Calloway.
On local propositions, CAF endorsed Proposition A (SF General Hospital Bond), Proposition B (Establish Affordable Housing Fund), Proposition N (Change Real Property Transfer Tax Rates), and Proposition Q (Modify Payroll Expense Tax).
CAF is opposed to Proposition S (Policy Regarding Set Asides and Identification of Replacement Funds).
On the State ballot, the group is opposed to Proposition 6 that would increase funding for criminal justice programs and prisons as well as soften rules of evidence including allowing hearsay statements into evidence.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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The Hunger Site
August 22, 2008 at 7:18 am
Set-asides and ballot-box budgeting is a major reason we have a huge deficit now up in Sacramento. Why should we follow that practice as example?
Nearly 1/4 of San Francisco’s discretionary funds are now ‘set aside‘ in voter-mandated spending levels for parks, libraries and — as of last November — Muni. There are also set-aside staffing minimums for city police and firefighters; plus, we’ve got ongoing subsidies for the San Francisco Unified School District.
It’s easy for voters to feel good this way and make protest signs that say, “Keep Families in San Francisco,” but set-asides lock up millions of dollars in the general fund, in effect taking away the money from The City’s many other more-urgent needs.