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Question 1:
Saving Theaters
Question 2:
Community College
Question 3:
Rezoning
Question 4:
Drug Dealing
Question 5:
Youth
Question 6:
Day Laborers
Question 7:
Visitor Attraction
Question 8:
Appointments
Question 9:
Commitment

QUESTION 8:

PANELIST: Okay, I have a three part question. As mayor of San Francisco, you will have the prerogative to make key personnel appointments to the city administration as well as to commissions and agencies. What selection criteria will you employ in A) the hiring of your Police and Fire Chiefs; B) the Director of Planning and Planning Commissioner; and C) what community-based organizations will you consult in making your decision , if any ? Can we start with you, Supervisor Newsom?

GAVIN NEWSOM: I’ve said this publicly and I’ll repeat it here tonight: I think the next Police Chief in particular needs to be committed to fundamental change in this Department, particularly as it relates to the lack of technology that exists in this Department. You know, we’re one of the few departments in the United States that doesn’t have crime-mapping technology. This is a big deal in the Mission, it’s a big deal in the Western Addition, a big deal in Bayview-Hunter’s Point. Crime hasn’t dropped 48% as I’m hearing other folks said, in these communities. We need to adopt proven strategies and we need a Police Chief that will organize those strategies around a completely new philosophy of community policing, and that’s following a successful model that we’ve seen across this country called COMSTAT. I will hold the next candidate for that office directly accountable on the basis of those principles of implementing those new reforms. Accordingly I feel very strongly that we need to find a Fire Chief from the Department, within the Department, we’ve got so many good people, bright people in this Department: it’s one of the outstanding organizations in this city and I’m proud to have their endorsement, Local 798, and we’ll continue to fight to maintain our stature as one of the finest departments, fire departments, in the United States of America. Accordingly I think we need to appoint a Planning Commissioner that’s committed to the Better Neighborhoods Planning process. That will be the criterion. My time is limited: on appointing these key department heads and directors, independence, integrity, sense of purpose and contribution above all else. [applause]

TONY RIBERA: I served under two outside Chiefs of Police during my tenure in the San Francisco Police Department, and they were clearly the darkest days in the Department. We have 2300 officers in the Department, and there’s a great deal of talent there. As I mentioned earlier, Captain Corrales, Captain Tacchini at Tenderloin Station, Mickey Pengel out at the airport. There is a great deal of talent in this Department, and I would work with community leaders to make sure that we tap into that talent and get the best possible Chief. Same with the Fire Department: Ray Balgiorini, Joe Asaro, Freddy Sanchez, these are quality leaders who’ve worked their way up through the ranks, who’ve proven over and over again that they’re capable of doing an outstanding job. In Planning: you know, one of the things, again, I don’t want to isolate myself from the Board of Supervisors: they do have three appointments to the Planning Commission and I want to work closely with them to share the vision of a San Francisco where we’re protecting neighborhoods, and that would be the clear priority there. Working with community groups, it just makes logical sense no matter who you are or what your political leanings are, to get the people to make contributions to the leadership of the city. And you know, government can’t do it all. I’m going to reach out to every community and, most particularly, the Mission District. Thank you. [applause]

MATT GONZALEZ: Yes, obviously you want to make appointments based on qualifications, and I think that it’s a mistake when the mayor or the president of the Board tries to make one based solely on who they personally know, who is on their donor list, things like that. You need to [inaudible] into the place you’re trying to get input from, stakeholders that know more about the subject than you do, talking to department members, employees who can tell you something about the culture inside the department. And I agree with Supervisor Newsom that I’d be disinclined to bring outsiders into the Department. I‘d favor reformers within the department that understand the culture, that are committed to making change there. I will also say that, to really change a department like the Police Department we’re going to have to do something really drastic to make it happen. I supported Supervisor Daly’s effort to try to merge the Sheriff with the Police Department and I’ll tell you why: the Sheriff’s Department has a much better reputation; it still has work to be done but it’s a better organization as it relates to representation by minorities, women, gays/lesbians, they have much better tolerance training, and I think a major infusion into the Police Department of about thirty percent of their members would really create a different Department, and I think we should continue to look at that. And of course, it would save a lot of money.

MODERATOR: Thank you. [applause]: Ms. Alioto.

ANGELA ALIOTO: You know, I just have to comment for a second on what Mr. Newsom said about MWOBE. [Minority & Women Owned Business Enterprises] Would somebody please ask him why doesn’t he do it now? He doesn’t have to be mayor! [wild applause]

ANGELA ALIOTO: It is so frustrating, as a trial lawyer, to get so many desperate calls from city employees about the fact that, as minorities, they cannot get into positions they’re supposed to be in. So, as a consequence, I am going to hire a Chief of Police that is a minority. Now I’ve said, a woman: I got all sorts of heat, no pun intended, for saying that my Chief of Police is going to be a woman. I know what’s wrong with saying that she’s going to be a woman, so don’t say that she’s going to be a woman, …[laughter]…a San Franciscan, someone who’s come up through the ranks, someone who’s worked very hard, and someone who understands the EEOC guidelines backwards and forwards, and is a disciplinarian who is going to clean that Department out! The Fire Department, I’m not going to put any labels on it as woman, minority, anything else. I am going to put in highly qualified people as my chiefs and as my department heads. And the present status of the Commissioners in the city and county of San Francisco is a travesty! None of them know, or very few of them know, about the mission or the goal of the Commission they’re sitting on. I argued in front of the Human Rights Commission, and the president of the Commission at that time was Saliba, Human Rights Commissioner Saliba, contracts at the airport, I gave up…. I said, “You’re kidding me. You’re Mrs. Saliba?” The Human Rights Commission is going to understand what ‘human rights’ means. The Planning Commission will understand what ‘planning’ means, DPW and down the line, we’re going to have experts who understand what you, the citizens, want them to do, not what me, as a mayor [want them to do]. [applause]

MODERATOR: Mr. Ammiano.

TOM AMMIANO: Thank you. Stop the patronage and stop the fraud; everybody knows the basic tenets, hopefully, that we all share. You know, one of the signatures of the new mayor is going to be how he or she is ready to make that transition, and I have asked some interns from (?) Institute to come up with a transition plan, because as soon as you’re elected you’re going to have to land on your feet. You want it to be as smooth and as efficient as possible. When we reformed the Planning Commission and when we reformed the Board of Permit Appeals so that there was shared appointment power, we went to the community, we asked a search committee who then recommended to us who they thought would be the best, and certainly I would continue that. Actually, they did recommend Doug Shoemaker, Mission Activist, for the Board of Permit Appeals. [applause] It’s not a bad thing, So the Commissioners themselves have to be professional, have to know about who and what is happening in San Francisco in terms of their field: they do the search committee, and they check with any number of community organizations. Here in the Mission, of course, there’s MEDA and MAC and PODER and Northwest Bernal Block, there’s a million, but you have who you really know has their finger on the pulse of the district recommend to the Board and to the mayor who they might like. In terms of the Police Commission, we need reform, reform, reform. In November you will have a chance to vote for Prop H, which increases the number of Police Commissioners from five to seven: we need that for diversity, we need that for point of view, and it also allows the head of the Citizen’s Complaints, not just the Chief of Police, to bring charges to the Police Commission. I heard you! For accountability’s sake, for diversity, and for accessibility, I urge you to support Prop H because it’s a very important Commission that’s been gridlocked. [applause]

MODERATOR: Ms. Leal.

SUSAN LEAL: We have to have department heads, starting with the Police Chief and the Fire Chief, that are qualified to manage, and professionals. That should be primary criteria. And in terms of the Departments, yes I want someone coming up through the ranks; but these are both significant departments, and San Francisco is a significant city. We need to do a national search, because I would think that anybody, even somebody who came up through the ranks, would want to make sure that they were as good as this nation could provide. I know that saying those words, I’m sure that lost me the Police Officer’s Union, and the fact that I have said from day one that Fagan should not be appointed Chief. With all due respect, Supervisor Newsom, when you were asked that question you said you didn’t want to second-guess the mayor, but a lot of us knew that the record he had, and the cloud over him, he was not appropriate to be Chief, and you’ve got to prepared to state that, those tough decisions. About the Planning Commissioners, yes, we need to work with the Board. The next mayor of the city needs to be able to work with a majority of the Board. We should be putting forward commissioners that are not going to cause a war, and a gridlock between the Board and the mayor. We need to do that. And in terms of community involvement, yes I would check in with good people like Doug Shoemaker, like Dennis Antenorre, like Bruce Bonneker, these are people who are very much involved in the planning process. I would check in with them on some of their ideas. And I have, actually, over the past several months. Thank you. [applause]