And also work to make vibrant and safe neighborhoods. Ive been sole endorsed by the San Francisco democratic party, San Francisco firefighters, s. C. I. Local, planned Parenthood League of conservative voters and many other committees and San Francisco political committee, too. And also state and local elected leaders. And since ive been in office, i have passed over 29 pieces of legislation. I fought to keep but we have so much more to do. We have to fix muni, we have to build more Affordable Housing and we also have to solve the homeless crisis. So thank you u. C. F. And the league of women voters for having us tonight. Okay. [applause] mr. Lamb. Hello. Hello. My name is ryan lamb. Im running for district 5 supervisor. A little bit about me. I emigrated to here in 2003. My professional history includes, i was a former political journalist, a High School Tutor and also a former businessman. And the reason im running today is for three points that im really, really passionate about. And thats maintaining the cleanliness and safety of district 5, having fixing our affordability crisis and i promise a decrease in homelessness. And fighting for local businesses to mr. A Strong Economy to build a Strong Economy, where the American Dream is a reality and its true. Thats me, ryan lamb. Thank you very much, mr. Lamb. Ms. Omara. Im go to try to be really quick. 60 seconds isnt really long to introduce yourself. But ready, set. So, hi, everyone. My name is nopulo omara. Im the mother of children, whom i have raised and coparented in San Francisco. This is my first neighborhood in sunset. I lived here for eight years and still know most of my neighbors. And tiff run into some of them, our children went to the same day ericas together, small village. I have a long history in this neighborhood. To be very quick, the reason why im running is because all of my children are millennials. They range in age from 11, 19, 23. The oldest being savannah, graduating in prelaw and computer science. When our children graduated, come out of school, they cant afford to pay the rent here. And its just not my children affected. Any child of college age, 18 years old or millennials cannot. Thats the main reason im running. Prioritize housing, expand housing. Improve the Performance Index in Public Schools. Thats just some of the matters. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Thank you. Haney, everyone. Im dean preston. Im running for supervisor because the status quo in San Francisco is just not working. With the least affordable city in the entire country, with staggering inequality. And we are absolutely on the wrong track. District 5 deserves an independent leader with a track record of accomplishments, ready to take on the root causes of our problems. I have never been a city hall insider. Im a civil rights and tenant rights attorney. I founded the statewide tenant rights group, which led the fight to save rent control when it was under attack. Im a democratic socialist, who believes everyone deserves Affordable Housing, health care, fair wages and equal access to power. I have been on the frontlines fighting in district 5 for the last 20 years and my campaign is about taking bold steps, a Green New Deal for San Francisco, free Public Transit, a public bank to reinvest in our communities. And social housing to reverse displacement. We cannot afford the status quo. We need to rethink whats possible in our city. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [applause] now were going to begin with the questions asked from the audience. The first question will be very good in giving us an idea of how you see or how you wish to approach the position of supervisor follow district 5. Could you tell us what specifically will you do to engage with district 5 residents, when it comes to quality of life issues like development, Public Transportation, homelessness, and public space. And the first ms. Brown, you get this question. I have done a lot in a year perform i have passed 29 pieces of legislation, housing. I actually legislated housing with 20 affordable. At the time that was the highest inclusionary housing in this city. I have also the Affordable Housing. So i identified public and private sites, so we can build 100 affordable. I also put 40 million with my colleagues supervisor fewer to buy buildings, that people were being evicted. We bought a building on shader, all seven units, everybody was saved. To these are some of the things ive been doing. Rivals been working on homeless. I navigated the first center for vehicles. We know thats our biggest increase in homeless. I actually today cut a ribbon at st. Marks church to make it actually its a resting place for homeless to go in the daytime. So theres many things that i could do. But the minutes to tell you the minute is too short. Thank you. Mr. Lamb. One thing i take pride in is transparency. You can access my teams number, my email. All of my policies and when it comes to affordability, homelessness, me personally i was formerly homeless in 2017. Im the only candidate with a wellrounded knowledge of homelessness crisis thats gone up for what is it eight years straight. In my campaign i promise a decrease in homelessness. When it comes to Affordable Housing, i want to build 100 plus units in district 5. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Ms. Omara. If you could go over the question again. I wanted to make sure i understand every point. What specifically will you do to engage with district 5 residents, when it comes to quality of life issues like development, Public Transportation, homelessness and public space. Okay. Perfect. First of all, i just warranted to make it very clear that im in disagreement with ryan when he says he knows homelessness from firsthand experience. I didnt share this as part of my bio. But its in the department of elections bio that ive let everybody know is that i did actually experience homelessness. And that was after living i lived in the inner sunset, a few blocks down from here for about eight years. I experienced homelessness for a year, with three young children, by the way. And i was actually doing my masters at the same time, with a newborn baby. So im very, very familiar with that. Not only that, i also worked as a case manager in the city in dual diogenes programs. How to tackle the problem of homelessness, well, expand housing for one. Have better renters rights, create better renters rights, such as the work dean worked on with prop c. Youre going to have better quality of life if you restrict landlords, especially corporate landlords in terms of gouging. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Thank you, well, in terms of engaging neighbors, well continue doing what weve been doing. Our campaign has knocked on thousands of doors, talked to many of you about the issues that matter most in the district. And, you know, what were hearing is that people are fed up with a city with a 12 billion budget and cannot seem to meet the basic needs of what folks in the district want, Affordable Housing, to be able to get on a bus without being so crowded that you cant get on. And to have basic quality of life. Most of these problems are caused because someone is getting rich off of these problems. We have dysfunctional Public Transit in part, because of private companies that are privatizing our Public Transportation system. We have unAffordable Housing because a small handful of Corporation Investors are making money, by making housing unaffordable. To the folks in this room, the people who live in the district. Well continue to take those folks on, to make this a liveable city. Thank you very much. Im sorry. If im looking kind of befuddled up here, its because this thing keeps going down. [laughter] and i dont know exactly why. Okay. But im going to continue. Okay. Well cull come up to question two for mr. Lamb. I believe that we should stay on the issue of housing in district 5. Do you believe, and if you do believe, how what ideas do you have for speeding up the permitting process for creating more housing in our district . Okay. One thing about building housing, i think it should be based on supply and demand. We have candidates on the stage that just want to build as much Public Housing and Affordable Housing as we can. Some people actually suffer from that. I think its more about planning and taking the time to plan, to make sure that this Affordable Housing is going to be good for district 5. I mean, if you look at the 350 building project. I know vallie has reached out to them. We have to build so much we have to build more Affordable Housing right in front of their front yard, by cutting the trees and building more units. I think its more about planning and making sure we have enough Affordable Housing, based on supply and demand in district 5. Thank you very much. Ms. Omara . Well, i think the amount of housing in San Francisco far heds the supply. Theres deaf huge kha chasm. The millennials between ages 18 and 25 are the ones most affected by it. And thats important to consider. And thats not to disclude seniors. So what my suggestions are, prioritize housing and expand it reintroduce certificates of housing for formerly marginalized communities like africanamericans and brown in the fillmore district or hunters point. Really protect our renters and tenants right will go a long way, by repealing hawkins, for instance. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Preston, how would you speed up the permitting process . Would you speed up the permitting process for housing . And hopefully create more housing and also protect existing houseing. For Affordable Housing, sure. And i think we need to distinguish between Affordable Housing and marketrate housing. Marketrate housing is in San Francisco today unaffordable to most working class people in this city. We need to look at the fact that as a city, we have built nearly double the goals for marketrate housing and not even half the goals for Affordable Housing. So i will be proudly the Affordable Housing supervisor, if i get into office. I believe thats what our city desperately needs right. I do not subscribe to the theory that building housing, that costs millions of dollars, will trickle down and benefit lowincome and working class people. It hasnt worked in San Francisco. It wont work. I will Prioritize Building Affordable Housing. Thank you. Thank you very much. [applause] ms. Brown. Could you hold your applause until were all done. Thank you. Well, when you look at housing in district 5, we have created 430 units in ten years. Now you tell me if that creates a housing crisis. 430 units in ten years. And this is apartments. This isnt, you know, im talking about apartments. So when were looking at building apartments, i just dont understand why people, who are tenant advocate, are against apartments. Because tenants live in parliament eapartments. Live in parliaments. Weve been streamlining planning processes. You know when youre trying to build housing in the city or anything in this city, that we have this huge process. I feel like we definitely need to make sure we keep the community input, because thats really important. I have seen many developments become a lot better, after the community input. We also have to make sure that we protect tenants. I dont want to see anyone building anything that displaces tenants. So for me, as were going to have to build housing. And also oh, yeah and also protect tenants. Okay. Thank you very much. Ms. Omara, this next question will be for you. Going along with housing, we also have rent control here in San Francisco. So the question came in, how do you propose differentiating between small and larger buildings, with regard to rent control. And do you propose stronger or more lenient rent control . I think there should be stringent, more stricter laws protecting tenants, with regard to rent control. Currently theres a measure for the state of california, where voters will sign a petition to actually have rent control throughout the state of california. So i think that will be impactful for a lot of the residents, when that ballot measure goes on the ballot. And its its going to come. Its going to happen. And there are restrictions with it. You have to have been a resident since 1995. You it may not accommodate everybody. But its a start. Okay. Thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Thank you. So ive spent the last 20 years protect fighting to protect rent control and protect people from eviction and displacement. Believe me, theres a constant real estatesponsored attempt to rentcontrol protection for tenants. It happens in the city constantly. Supervisors are presented with that and it happens at the state level. And ive been fighting against that and to protect rent control, its the biggest reason that we still have a working class here in San Francisco. I also was the author of proposition f last year, which is the right to counsel measure, which guarantees any tenant in San Francisco the right to an attorney, if theyre facing eviction, so that we dont have our rentcontrolled tenants being fraudulently driven out of their homes. That measure is expected to decrease evictions gradually. It dropped by almost 50 , when the only other city in the country did it, new york. Evictions dropped 50 . So i will be a steadfast supporter of rent control and not supporting any efforts to weak continue. Thank you. Thank you very much. Excuse me. Excuse me. Please. Thank you. [background conversations] how do you propose differentiating between small and larger buildings, with regard to rent control . Do you propose stronger or more lenient rent control . Well, everyone in San Francisco agrees we need rent control. Its something that we fight all the time actually a state level. Because hawkins is a state level, that keeps rent control or doesnt untie our hands. We need to untie our hands for certain things that we have to protect tenants. Until we can overturn hawkins, thats not going to happen. Were always looking at ways to protect tenant. One of the things that i did is i actually funded a housing ombudsman. This is a mediator that any tenant in district 5 can use, if theyre having trouble with their landlord. And this is something i think is really important, because, yes, we give people a free attorney when were, you know, theyre getting evictedded. Shouldnt be working upstream and have someone work with the landlord and the tenant before it gets to an eviction. If anyone has been through an eviction, its stressful whether youre a landlord or a tenant. Im all about working upstream. I funded opendoor legal to also work with people. Thank you very much. Mr. Lamb. Hello. I think there needs to be more lenient rentcontrol laws. That barely covers inflation in the united states. An alternative i think that rent control could expand across San Francisco. And also i think that we should have benefits to defray rental cost for tenants, instead of certain policies. And like what dean said, im for the right to counsel for all. And its usually on a defensive side, if somebody making a lawsuit to you, then you have free attorney to help you in the housing matters. Thank you very much. Mr. Preston, this next question will be for you also on housing, as i indicated, there are many questions regarding this. Tell us about your commitment to building Affordable Housing in San Francisco and what sets you apart from other candidates. What part do you see district 5 being in being part of that solution of Affordable Housing . I think district 5 has been a leader in howing. The numbers as the supervisor points out, is pretty grim over the last decade. I think thats one of the biggest reasons that we need a change and not to be represented in district 5 by the folks who have been in control during that period of underproducing affordable houseing. I strongly believe that our city needs to embrace social housing, a different model of Affordable Housing than in the past. There are other countries that have much more successfully done this than the united states. If you look at vienna, of 0 of the population 60 of the population lives in municipal housing. If were going to see a day in the city where rents are affordable and people have longterm stability, district 5 is a district that will support that. Thank you very much. Sorry, 430 units everything, Affordable Housing. That wasnt just Affordable Housing in the last ten years. So im really the only candidate that has actually worked in Affordable Housing. I actually worked in it for two years afters left as a legislative aide. I know exactly what it takes to build Affordable Housing. 800,000 to build one unit of Affordable Housing. This is really expensive. When we talk about social housing, we already have social housing and ndistrict 5. We have the largest social housing complexes in district 5. Theyre called h. U. D. Housing or the coop models. So weve done this before. Its not brain surgery. You dont need to be a brain surgeon to figure this one out. One of the things i keep hearing is how do you build housing. Look, 800,000 to build an affordable unit. We also should be buying existing buildings with tenants in them. This is our Affordable Housing stock, too. So we have to start thinking different and creatively when were thinking about Affordable Housing. Thank you very much. Mr. Lamb. For Affordable Housing, i want to build 1,000plus units. Vallie just said it, 800,000 to build one unit. But i think that we could do better than that. We can upscale certain places, we can buy out unused or improve Old Buildings to house more people. And when it comes to housing i have to disagree. Because the problem with social housing, eventually you run out of other peoples housing. And i think we stick to building hor housing, so that tenants have more options. They can choose where they want to live and choose the prices of where they want to live. Without reiterating some of the points i think without trying to reiterate some of the points that dean preston just made, im in agreement with the suggestion of building or expanding Affordable Housing. The numbers, though, that vallie gives to me are pretty not affordable at all. And what seems to be happening, at least the dynamic as far as our housing crisis goes, there appears to be a lot of attrition between those that have and those that dont. So when you live here, like i do as a renter for 25 years, the looming prices of rent and price gouging and in the insecurity that i live with personally, as do most renters, our millennials, its a serious crisis. So i think whoever decides to be eventually the final supervisor at city hall, needs to do a far more progressive job than the one currently done. Im not impressed. Thank you very much. The next question will be for ms. Brown. Yes. And weve spoken about housing, affordable or market. But the question that always comes up is how were going to pay for it. So where would you look to enlarge or cut the city budget, to deal with the issues that we have within the city of San Francisco . Well, i actually worked on a housing bond with the mayor and the other board of supervisors for 600 million, thats going to be on the ballot, prop a. Thats one way that we can help build Affordable Housing and buy existing buildings with tenants in them. But its also looking at i actually did a blueprint and found city land, private land. I actually found private land over at mcdonalds, when they wanted to sell on haigt and stanyon. We should be looking at city land to build it on, too. Thats a lot cheaper to do that. Still because of the cost of construction, its still 800,000. So we have to look many different places of how were going to do this. But this Affordable Housing bond will help us with the start. We should put it in capital planning. We should put housing funding in our capital plan. This is whats really different and people keep saying status quo. But theyre doing Different Things as we move forward. Its not status quo. And i feel like as we move forward, people will see whats going to, you know, what will happen. Thank you very much. Mr. Lamb. What will you do . How would you approach it . One thing i really dont like is inefficiency in city hall. The city and county of San Francisco has 700 Homelessness Services. And each one of them with an executive director, that gets paid 173,000 on average. For me im going to cut half of that. Because i dont homelessness has been on the rise. And i dont see i dont see that helping. I want to find efficient Homelessness Services. And then that money, that 173,000 from 700 Homelessness Services, im going to use that to build Affordable Housing for our homeless and for hardworking renters. When it comes to proposition a, i have i disagree with it. In the long run were going to be paying over 1 billion selling these bonds for Affordable Housing. Okay. But what would you do . How would you cut the budget or enlarge it to take care . I understand that. Okay. Thank you very much. Well, first of all, i think that it helps that i dont come from well, lets just say that. I am more into creativity than i am into politics. So its creativity that makes me ambitious about my dreams, our dreams, our childrens dreams about what needs to be done. And ill put it in very simple terms. When f. D. R. Was president in this country, about a third of this country was illhoused. Right. So that was part of the reason why you started the new deal. And so my idea of what f. D. R. Has done is what needs to be implemented in San Francisco with the serious housing crisis. The budget that we have, thats being proposed on the ballot in november, we need to recess some of those. If you say prop k is a high seawall that needs to be built and requires 400 million, well, its not really urgent. Reallocate those funds to whats really necessary. Whats imperative is housing. Thank you very much. I would shift the budget around. Thank you. Mr. Preston. Well, i think three points. First, the inclusionary Housing Program, which is requiring as much Affordable Housing from developer as possible. Thats actually free to the city. And ive been at the forefront of every effort to increase the efforts on developers. Theres a reason that Big Developers are not behind me in this race. Because i will continue making them build as much affordable as possible. Secondly, housing bonds, which i have fought for Affordable Housing bonds at the local and state level. Part of the push with progressive supervisors like matt haney to increase the Affordable Housing bond. We called it for it to be 1 billion. And through all of our advocacy, its at 600 million, as the supervisor just mentioned. And the last thing is we there is an appetite in this city to tax the biggest corporations in this country and in this city, who have benefited mightily from the trump tax break. We taxed them last year in prop c to address homelessness and we can tax them again. We always say theyre going to leave town if you tax them. And its just not true. Theyre better off right now than before trump. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. We have spoken of housing and homelessness. And weve spoken but we havent spoken about our Homeless Youth. Haight ashbury is home to many Homeless Youth. What plans do you have to provide support and services for these youth in need . And were going to start with mr. Lamb. So i want to bring formal Navigation Center to lower haight where people can register and use the services there. I want to continue the services of people going around the city, looking for homeless families, Homeless Youth and giving them the resources to help them succeed, so they can have a job and start rebuilding themselves. When it comes to Homeless Youth, i was a Homeless Youth in 2017. I would be about 16 years old. And i had these Services Reach out to me. And they were really helpful. I didnt use them. But i would continue those resources for our Homeless Youth. Thank you very much. Ms. Omara. I think i would agree. I think ryan offers some insight into how hes dealt with it. And i kind of felt the personal sense and connection in from him in describing that. Thats very valuable what he had to say. I would go with some of the points hes made, which is ensuring that the youth do complete their high school education. Thats key. And go beyond high school, make sure that there are programs within high school, whether they have a vocational skill. We really need to assess the education as its standing in our Public School system. It needs to be diverse, it needs to be varied. It needs to address that when not everybody has to go to college. They may go and learn a skill somewhere. Thats very key. I think the and the inequities of affordability are also impacted by the lack of education. And thats key. In that respect, i do agree. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Thanks. My priorities, first off, would be to stop the sweeps and the criminalization of homelessness, that is occurring. I think its ineffective. I think its immoral. And i think its a waste of taxpayer money. Second thing we need in the haight is the Homeless Youth alliance has been without a permanent site in the haight for years now. Its ridiculous. And we need some advocacy from our Supervisors Office to find them a permanent location. Its an Amazing Organization doing essential work. Third, we need a Navigation Center in district 5. Weve now been promised that since i first raised it in 2016. Year after year were told were getting a Navigation Center. Everyone agrees we need one. We still dont have one. Last thing i would say is the mcdonalds site is frankly an embarrassment. That is the site that was a strong proposal from the community. One of them actually involved public uses, as well as services for transitionalage youth. It would have been a great idea. The city abruptly withdrew the r. F. P. We were promised to have years more of a vacant lot. Thank you very much. Ms. Brown. Yes. When i first came into office, i brought take it to streets to haight ashbury. Its an organization that works with the Homeless Youth. They actually pay them and find them housing. So thats been going on for about eight months. And thats something thats working. When this housing bond passes, that will be breaking ground within a year and a half, two years. I put the predevelopment money in there. So you have to have if you put millions of dollars into a Navigation Center, they want it three to five years. Just like when i worked to build for booker t. Washington for agedout foster youth. Thats something we need to do. We need housing for the Homeless Youth, because if anyone is getting out of the cycle, its the transitional age youth. We have to have housing for them and education and jobs. And also we have a Housing Program or project thats being built, thats going to be built in hayes valley. These are the things that we need. Okay. Thank you very much. Continuing on on the issue of homelessness, ive got a question here that it appears supervisor haney has legislation or proposed legislation to create a commission overseeing Homeless Services. Are you do you support this legislation . If you dont, why or why not . Excuse me. Was it me . Not yet. Its miss o meara . Do you support the commission overseeing Homeless Services . Why or why not . I certainly support supervisor haneys proposed his proposed legislation to have Housing Commission . Is that correct . Homelessness. Homeless commission. Homeless services commission. Its imperative. Ill reiterate some of my stances. I think that weve discussed prop c a little bit. And dean touched on some issues about having increased that prop c raised about 300 million towards the housing. It was it got a vote of about 60 40. Twothirds would have made it with less entanglements. A lot of that money is tied up. By having a Homeless Commission, it is imperative to impact that gap thats required in the housing crisis. Thank you. Mr. Preston. I fully support supervisor haneys proposal. Its absolutely essential. Really right now two people direct and decide about all of our homelessness money. Its the mayor and jeff, the head of the homelessness department. Thats it. Thats too much power for just two people. Excuse me. Hundreds of millions of dollars controlled by two people. What the Homelessness Commission would do is have actually oversight of how those funds are being spent. Have transparency. And this is one i just want to emphasize. I think its essential that district 5, whoever you pick, be independent of our mayor. [applause] when it comes to things like the Homelessness Commission, it is clear the mayor is strongly opposed, because she wants exclusive control over how the money is spent. I disagree with that. And our the incumbent supervisor cast the deciding vote to kill that commission. Its a huge difference between us. Thank you very much. Ms. Brown. Yes. The majority of the supervisors actually had voted against it, because of it wasnt that we were against the commission, we were against the timeline. The mayor had asked us to wait until march to actually put it bring it forward. We said yes. That was the majority of the board of supervisors. When the mayor asks you to do Something Like that, for a few more months, why not. The fact that the supervisors do not have any control over the budget, thats not true. I actually put money in the budget for take it to the streets. I actually put money in to open up project homeless connect in st. Marks. So this that the mayor has all control is not correct once again. And i actually supported prop c. I legislated that we have a prop c commission and oversight commission. And thats going to be starting to show, so we can actually know how to spend that money when it comes in. I also did legislation that any company that wants to give us let us spend the money now for prop c, theyll let us. We have two companies letting us do that around 14 million so far. Thank you very much. Mr. Lam. So are you for or against the Homeless Commission . Yeah. I said i said i dont think were suppose to do this. No. We were waiting until march. Wed like your okay. Im 100 supportive of this Homeless Commission, as long as it makes sure the Homelessness Services stay have integrity and check whether or not the services are actually needed. And and used by the homeless people. The city and county have a record of funding a lot of third party organizations, such as the cbad and greener benefit districts, that just redo the jobs that the city and county promise to do. This Homeless Commission i want to make sure that theres divided leadership on that. So that they can make a good decision on how to make the money and make sure that the money is spent, actually helping homeless people. Thank you very much, mr. Lam. Mr. Preston, this next question is for you. Were going to move into the issue of crime. Could you tell us what will you do to help lower crime in the district and be as specific as you can. We obviously have a rise in high levels of car breakins, property crime and increasing gun violence in the district, of particularly in the fillmore with two shootings right near the police station. Let me just say right off the back, i dont think ramping up Police Presence, Police Budget and incarcerating people no a longer potrero, a failed approach. Thats put us where we are. It doesnt mean we dont do anything about crime. We have to take a Harm Reduction and prevention approach to crime. So when were looking at Something Like gun violence or Something Like war breakins. We can work on prevention. They created neighborhood safety, that hired neighborhood advocates, created fellows of people who were likely to commit gun violence and had them checking in daily with the neighborhood advocates. Thank you. Turned the city from the worst Violent Crime rates in the country around in just a few years. We have to start taking that kind of approach in San Francisco. Thank you very much, mr. Preston. Ms. Brown. Well, we actually had six shootings, dean preston. And one of the things that we have done in this district, because we actually really turned this district around. Most of you know years around, it was really violent. And what we did, we put beat officers on the street. So they would get to know people and i pushed to put more officers on the streets this last budget cycle. We also have to make sure theres programs there for people to have choices and get opportunities. We have that program. Its called mo magic, preston. So im just saying, you know, you talk about some program enrichment. We have these programs right now. Excuse me. In the western addition. So i just want to make sure that when were talking about the violence and the things that weve done, im really proud of the district. And weve also stepped up. The community has helped up with the recent violence and also done peace marches, gone through Public Housing and other areas saying that this is not acceptable opinion its the community that actually makes the neighborhoods safe. Thank you very much. [applause] also i ask you again, before we get to mr. Lam, i ask you again to be respectful of the of our candidates up here. This is a lot of hard work, yall. [laughter] and so, you know, and theyre up here trying to answer your questions. And we want to get as many done as we possibly can. So i think we can do this. Mr. Lam, what will you do to help lower crime in the district . Last month i was at the freedom west homes. One of the main things they were talking about was car breakins and crime and how to prevent it. I do think enforcement and funding the police is a good way to stop crime. You look at bart, when theres a Police Presence at the entrances, you see 80 decrease in fare evasion. I hate to say it, when it comes to gun violence, shootings in school happens because schools are gunfree zones. And it takes a lot more time for policemen to get there and actually find a strategy to take out a gunman. So i think Police Enforcement is very critical. I think there needs to be a better, smarter punishment for people who have committed crime, especially younger people. I definitely agree with taking out juvi. It was an interesting move by city hall. Thank you. Thats my view. Moderator thank you. Ms. Omeara. Everyone has touched on very sensitive issues here, regarding the police. Im going to keep my answer really simple. I think the process needs to be communitybased, just as dean suggested. I think having some sort of Neighborhood Watch thats allinclusive and diverse is a better problem to a better solution to the problem than what happens is forest hill, in the sunset for eight years and the lower haight where i lived for ten years. I think i have a fair sense of my neighbors, who they are in district 5. And i think taking a more what i call a humanist approach to protection is more p paltable for neighbors a strong Police Presence tends to people make half expressions on police for historical reasons, that we all know. And i dont need to be here giving you a lecture on that. Moderator thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. The next question will be for ms. Brown. There have been Police Shootings in San Francisco in the past. Whats your position on what we should do or what the board of supervisors can do to address Police Shootings in San Francisco . I think also would be really retraining the police. The training that they have received, especially with mario woods. I think when you watch that tape and you watch them surround mario woods, thats the way they were trained. I think they completely need new training. I think that, you know, i dont agree with tasers. Thats something that im against. And i just feel that we have to really look at the police in a different way. I have to say, you know, when i was a legislative aide and we actually had, you know, youth that were committing Violent Crimes, there were cops, beat cops that knew these youth. One youth had a gun strapped around him. And the cops had him surrounded. But he was lifting the gun to throw it down, because he was only 14. And because the cop knew who he was, he told the other cops dont shoot. This is what we need. We need the police to understand and engage the youth, the community to make sure that everyone is safe. Moderator thank you very much. Mr. Lam. One thing i support is again training. I think that police need, similar to starbucks and other companies, i think they need weeks off to make sure that theyre following procedures. Its more like yearly you have one week off to do training again. To make sure that discrimination or some other effect may not be interfering with your police procedures. Im also against tasers. Of course, i speak with so Many Police Officers and their belts are filled. They have their batons, they have their they have their walkytalkies and, of course, their guns. Many told me they dont necessarily need tasers. And they have nowhere to place it. So i dont see the need for that. And i and, of course, they have their guns. I just want to make sure that Police Officers are following procedures and following commands of higher officers. Moderator thank you very much. Ms. Omeara. Well, i definitely agree that there is there is theres a requirement for intensive Police Training and perhaps introducing some new measures or a new way to look at things. But there definitely needs to be a training thats different from the past. Ill give an example. Racial profiling, as we know, do happen in the city, it happens a lot, even in neighborhoods that use to be highly dangerous. Maybe they need to look at the current curriculum that the police has and it needs to be on a whole refresher course. Thats one instance. The second one is i want to share with everybody about two weeks ago, i was invited to a nancy pelosi town hall meeting. And i joined a womans organization there called moms demand action. Its a very powerful organization. Its larger than the National Rifle organization. And i think im learning from them. I got a call from them today. Theyre very effective in educating the public about gun laws and enforcing stricter gun laws, et cetera. Moderator thank you very much. Okay. Moderator mr. Preston. Yeah i started my legal career in the late 90s, representing victims of police misconduct, both in the east abatement and in San Francisco. And that was before most things were caught on videotape. I have been regularly out protesting Police Shootings and joining the hunger strikers, who were demanding the resignation of chief sur, back in the mission district. And let me say i think this is one where our races interact with the District Attorneys office. I think we need a District Attorney who is willing to prosecute Police Officers, that shoot and kill people. And i also want to say i support the kind of training that were hearing others support. But i want to be clear. Theres also a Harm Reduction side for the community, which is limiting the police contact. Forgive me if i dont have faith in a department thats been so deeply racist for so long, that from my perspective, the more we can have nonpolice units interacting with people of color in this city, the more likely we are to avoid Police Shootings, as we continue to train Police Officers. Moderator thank you. Thank you very much. [applause] still in the speaking of in the area of crime. Were going to start with mr. Lam. What is your position on openair drug sales and how would you crack down on drug dealers. Openair. Okay. So again police i support Police Enforcement. I support the funding of police. But other than for that everything thats illegal in open saling of marijuana, open sale of Illegal Drugs, i want to make sure that theres a crackdown on that. Could you be more specific about your question. I just read it as its written. Okay. Sure. Sure. I want to make sure its not here in San Francisco. Moderator okay. Thank you very much. Ms. Omeara. I think having lived in the different districts, i have learned a lot about my current d5 district. And it comes with a whole history that needs to be reevaluated and understood. Having lived in the fillmore and whats now called the lower haight. Its interesting. Its interesting that of course, im concerned about open drug sales. Obviously i dont want to be exposed to it. I dont want to be around it. I dont want my children around it. Its a problem. But what we need to reevaluate in a sense is historically what went wrong postcivilcivilcivil. We know there was a war of attrition between people trying to progressively get their rights their constitutional right to be acknowledged, to have good programs, so their children could have a better education. And that movement was stifled and was repressed back in the late 60s and 70s. And we know that whether it was the Panther Movement or the different womens movement, a whole slew of organizations, particularly here in San Francisco, that came about as that. So when you start to look at the problem of drugs and drug sales, take into regard what happened before that. Moderator thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Yeah. I mean, i think we cant look at this without looking at the history of what was alluded to. Were looking at decades of a failed war on drugs that resulted in mass incarceration. You know, if youre looking for appear supervisor thats going to further the mass incarceration by pushing for arrests and long sentences for streetlevel drug sales, i may not be your guy. I mean, i think that the reality is if were going to focus our prosecutorial resources on our police, we should be focusing much higher up in the food chain, of the folks that are bringing the Illegal Drugs into our streets and not punishing. A lot of folks who lack Economic Opportunity and are engaged in streetlevel dealing. At the end of the day, similar to my previous responses, we need to offer Something Better to the folks who are selling Illegal Drugs on the street. So that they optimistic opt into that, as opposed to thinking punishments and sentences will solve it. Moderator thank you very much. This next question. Well start with you, ms. Omeara. Its a changeup. Im sorry. Thats okay. Moderator oh, no, its not. Im getting ahead of myself. Thank you, audience. Ms. Brown. Yes. You know, regarding the criminal rings that come in and bring the drugs, theres a real problem. I know ive been talking to supervisor haney about it. Because the tenderloin is on fire with that. You have the criminal rings coming in. And i definitely feel Law Enforcement should step up. Absolutely. Then you have the street dealing. How this is where we need to have programs come in and take people aside and get them into programs, whether most of them have their own drug abuse issues. We need to be able to get them aside, get them into programs and then give them opportunities. You really have to work handinhand. You cant just go out and do hardcore enforcement, without giving you want toos. And this is something that the city has been looking at and been working on. , but we definitely need to go after the criminal rings, because they actually they actually are predators to our people on the streets. Moderator thank you very much. Okay. This next question. Were going to speak of something near and dear to my heart, aging. [laughter] and were going to start with ms. Omeara. How will you support those aiming and living aging and living with their disabilities here in San Francisco . You mean when im supervisor . Moderator yes. Okay. How would i support . Well, the current status of the aging, as i have observed, i worked in mental health. Dual diagnosis programs. I have a varied clientele in that population. Its a difficult one. But its critical to the city that we provide housing to our seniors. They are less able to move around. And i think interest in our elders is a connection from the past to the future. The youth being the future. The elderly being the one that park on that knowledge. Its very important for a collective kind of consciousness. So my my sorry, my take on that is its one of its not just a moral imperative to provide housing and disability to them. We owe it to our seniors. Moderator thank you very much. Mr. Preston. Yeah. We have certainly have a housing crisis, affordability crisis for everyone. But we have an affordability crisis for seniors, that is really acute. We a little have a crisis in terms of longterm care in the city, where folks there are simply not enough beds for folks or places for people to stay and people end up moving to different counties, disconnected from their communities. So housing and safe shelter. Absolutely essential for us to seriously invest in that for our seniors. But i also think that there are a number of other issues that disproportionately impact seniors. Certainly Pedestrian Safety is a huge issue for our aging population, with most of our serious injuries and deaths in district 5 from folks walking on the streets. Folks or seniors near senior centers. I think we need to look at not just the housing issues, but the safety and stability of seniors as a top priority for any supervisor in San Francisco. Moderator thank you very much. Ms. Brown. Yes. I mean, seniors are the Fastest Growing population in this city. So we really have to really look at what we need to do. We also, besides housing and on the housing bond, the 600 million housing bond that i actually worked on, there will be money for senior housing. We need appropriate housing. I talked to many seniors every day. And one of the things they say is like, look, i have rent control. But i have you know, 50 stairs up to get to my apartment. And i have a hard time managing that. So we have to build the right kind of senior housing, so people can actually have elevators with Senior Services on site. This is something that were doing with prop a. But also we have to look at transportation, because a lot of seniors give up cars or, you know, or they actually start using transportation a lot more. We have to make it safe. Unless we have safe transportation and its reliable, muni is reliable, seniors, most of us wont use this, especially seniors. So theres a lot of things that we need to do. And thats what were pushing for. Moderator thank you very much. Mr. Lam. Yes. One of my priorities is safety, as i mentioned. And with my intensive Infrastructure Improvement plan, i want
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