November 09 Voter Guide Summary

Constant Readers,

I voted yesterday at City Hall because I'm off to the East Coast for a week or so. I'm proudly sporting my "I Voted" sticker today, much to the confusion of other locals in the airport. In fact, Election Day is  Tuesday and with City Attorney Dennis Herrera and City Treasurer Jose Cisneros both running unopposed, all that’s left to decide are some ballot propositions — many of which I have written about previously. My mother collects my pages, but I don’t expect y’all to do the same. Here are the summaries:

Oh, and check out this endorsement chart.  Neato!

Proposition A — budget reform: Instead of a giant leap to change San Francisco’s budget process, we got this collection of small steps. It’s better than nothing, so go ahead and vote in favor.

Proposition B — legislative aides: Lifting the two-person mandate on the number of staff members each city supervisor can employ may be worth supporting, if a new cap is put in its place. However, the measure removes all limitations. Vote for this if you trust supervisors to make fair and prudent decisions about how many aides they each get, based on budgetary constraints. (Stop laughing.) Vote against this if you are not, in fact, a supervisor.  

Proposition C — Candlestick Park naming rights: Vote for this if you want to send a gesture to the Niners that we will help them make money if they stay in San Francisco. Vote against this if you believe we should only sell the name of The ’Stick if it would fetch a lot more than the anticipated $700,000, or if you believe a different kind of gesture toward the Niners is in order. 

Proposition D — mid-Market Street sign district: Vote for this if you believe that lighting up problem areas will make criminals, drug users and homeless people scatter like cockroaches. Vote against this if you agree that something must be done in the mid-Market Street corridor, but think this poorly written cash cow for sign companies and building owners is not the answer. [Note: I have been working on a long piece about this and plan to have it up in a few days. I voted against it.]

Proposition E — limiting advertising on city-owned property: Vote for this if you don’t want public buildings and street furniture to be so covered in ads that they resemble NASCAR vehicles. Vote against this if you figure no unsentimental city property should be off limits as a moneymaker. [I voted against this one, but I don't think it'll make much a difference either way.]

FOR MORE INFO: Some of my favorite voter guides: League of Pissed Off Voters, SPUR, and League of Women Voters.

-Melissa

Comments

[generic]

Endorsement chart.

Yes.

This is what I need.

[Dan Ancona]

Thanks for the post Melissa, and thanks for the comment, generic!