September 2009District 10 Supervisor Candidates Introduce ThemselvesBy Joni EisenThe Potrero Hill Democratic Club hosted its first open mic for candidates for District 10 Supervisor last month. A crowd of 50 heard six candidates introduce themselves in random order. Longtime Bayview Hunters Point activist Linda Richardson cited the thousands of community meetings she’s attended and the numerous commissions on which she has served while working for environmental justice in the southeastern neighborhoods. She also described her involvement with various environmental, land use and transportation issues, including Third Street Light Rail and closing the Hunters Point Power Plant. Potrero View Editor and Publisher Steven Moss said that as founder of SF Community Power he has worked with low-income families and small businesses “trying to make things work better.” He envisions himself doing that for government as well. He stressed the importance of civility in governmental discourse, and identified the need for more large-scale open space as a crucial issue in southeastern San Francisco. Native San Franciscan Malia Cohen mentioned a third grade field trip she took to meet the Mayor of San Francisco at City Hall as her first inspiration to enter public service. She asserted that she has since worked to make a difference in government and with her church and community. With a background in political science and public policy and varied work experience, she characterized herself as a bridge-builder on a human level. Eric Smith, whose background is in art and music, has lived in various San Francisco neighborhoods since 1999. He expressed shock at the multiple environmental challenges in District 10, calling it a dumping ground for San Francisco. Inspired by George Washington Carver, he is a leader in the local biofuel movement. Having always been involved in environmental justice, he emphasized green jobs as a key solution. Real estate agent and Obama campaign activist Diane Westley Smith was raised in the housing projects, believing education is the way out of poverty. She described her passion to work with at-risk youth in the Bayview to address the lack of economic fairness in District 10, which she called “the trash bucket” of the City with its pervasive health issues. She vowed to be the thread to connect all of District 10 as one community. Civil rights attorney DeWitt Lacy stated that he has witnessed victimization of friends and family by a system that does not value those with less. Raised and educated in the Bay Area, he named President Obama and his hard-working, self-sacrificing parents as his major inspirations. He thinks success should be measured by how much one can do for others and he called for a return to San Francisco’s past social justice and activist spirit of the 1970s.
The Potrero Hill Democratic Club will offer more opportunities to meet the candidates for the November 2010 District 10 race, and host a candidates’ forum as the election draws near. |
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