San Francisco residents revealed their top local concerns in a recent Public Press poll. They were given the chance to weigh in on some of those matters during this November’s election.
City Hall
Elected Watchdogs in Scandal-Plagued Cities Show How SF Might Avert Future Corruption
Recent corruption scandals at City Hall highlight the need for good-government reforms, especially after efforts to create a public advocate’s office failed in July 2020. “It was a lost opportunity,” said David Campos, former supervisor and current chief of staff for District Attorney Chesa Boudin. The measure benefitted from precedents set in cities across the country that were similarly wracked by graft and mismanagement, including Detroit, Chicago and New York.
Media
In 2020, Youth Media Engaged With Election, Pandemic, Racial Reckoning
Newsrooms across the country have been in overdrive most of this year, covering a global pandemic, a primary and a presidential election and protests against systemic racism and police brutality. Contributors with YR Media, a national network of young journalists and artists, many of them people of color, have been covering the events of 2020 with reporting and perspectives that are rarely afforded space and attention in national or corporate outlets.
After a Political Year Defined by a Pandemic and Presidential Appointments, What’s Next?
The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the presidency and vice-presidency left several roles for Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill, and politicians from around the state, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, have weighed in on Newsom’s choice of Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate. San Francisco State University politics professor Jason McDaniel joined “Civic” to analyze Newsom’s choice, and the decision he has yet to make about filling state Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s position.
Elections
Youth Organizers Mobilizing for Voting Rights Confront ‘Adultist’ Attitudes
Young people have led the way on major social and political movements in recent years, from climate action to Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Youth have also been mobilizing to get the right to engage more directly, through local elections.
Demonstrators March Through San Francisco to Mark Juneteenth
Hundreds marched through San Francisco on Friday afternoon to mark Juneteenth, protesting police killings and calling for racial justice. The San Francisco Public Press followed the demonstration, which made its way from the Ferry Building to City Hall and then on to the school district building. Read updates from the march below, and hear a compilation of reflections from demonstrators in this recent episode of our radio program and podcast, “Civic.”
4:25 p.m.
With some 250 protesters still in front of the school district administrative building on Franklin Street, Indigenous dancers performed a ceremony while protesters sat and knelt. Lexi Hall sang “Lean On Me” with some demonstrators occasionally chiming in for the chorus.
“I think it’s definitely important for the youth to be a voice for the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Hall. “And we all came together, all of the creatives in San Francisco to put on a show and celebrate Juneteenth for the city.”
Hall’s partner, 19-year-old rapper Xanubis, had performed several times at the march that day. Xanubis and Lexi Hall.
Inside the S.F. Police Brutality Protests
Public Press reporters were in the thick of Sunday’s march over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Elections
Proposition F
Proposition F would add restrictions and requirements to campaign contributions in city elections.
Corporations are already barred from donating to campaigns, but this ballot measure would extend that ban to other entities: limited liability companies and limited partnerships.
The measure would also restrict contributions from people with a financial interest in big development projects pending before the city.
Finally, Proposition F would expand the requirements for disclaimers on campaign advertisements. Any ad funded by an independent political committee would have to name that committee’s top three financial contributors, and how much they paid.
If you want to hear more analysis of Proposition F, click below to hear from San Francisco State University associate professor of political science Jason McDaniel.
