Joel Engardio
The well-documented San Francisco tech exodus continues to persist with no end in sight. To counteract this trend, how would you incentivize current San Francisco tech companies to stay or expand in the City, and how would you attract non-San Francisco tech companies to move to the City?
City Hall needs to streamline the approval process for new businesses, waive fees, and reward entrepreneurs. We need public servants who will foster creativity and innovation. City Hall must get out of the way and let every idea have a chance to be the one that saves our local economy.
Name two concrete actions the City should take to ensure that San Francisco maintains its title as the world's tech capital.
Moratorium on business taxes for existing companies and additional tax breaks for new companies.
Of the 25 largest cities in the U.S., San Francisco has the highest property crime rate in four of the most recent years. What policies or other approaches would you support to curb the City’s staggering property crime rate?
Support a district attorney who will prosecute crime while pursuing reform — we can have both, but only if residents feel safe and victims are not ignored. We must also recruit a new generation of reform-minded police officers to re-staff the SFPD shortage.
With a significant portion of San Francisco’s budget relying on tax revenue from employees working downtown and healthy tourism and convention numbers, are you concerned about the City’s ability to balance future budgets? If so, how would you address this potential budget shortfall?
Cutting costs. The budget doubled the past decade. Why? Because the number of city employees grew from 26,000 to 40,000 since 2010. This isn't sustainable. Mayor Newsom cut salaries and jobs in the Great Recession. Raising taxes kills the golden goose because companies will relocate.
What is one significant action you would take to address homelessness in the City?
More transitional housing combined with supportive programs to help people going through difficult times or suffering from addiction. We must expand conservatorship laws and support Governor Newsom’s Mental Health Care Court. We must also invest in a new generation of mental health facilities that can provide compassionate treatment.
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Gordon Mar
The well-documented San Francisco tech exodus continues to persist with no end in sight. To counteract this trend, how would you incentivize current San Francisco tech companies to stay or expand in the City, and how would you attract non-San Francisco tech companies to move to the City?
Sustaining the tech sector is a key to the economic health of our city and region, even as our economy may gradually become less reliant on tech as the primary engine of growth. Two ways to retain tech companies and to attract new ones are to lower commercial office rents and to expand middle income housing throughout our city.
Name two concrete actions the City should take to ensure that San Francisco maintains its title as the world's tech capital.
As a member of the Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Board, I’ve been a strong proponent of regional planning strategies for housing, economic development, and environmental sustainability. I see the opportunity for San Francisco’s role in the global tech sector to be maintained and enhanced.
Of the 25 largest cities in the U.S., San Francisco has the highest property crime rate in four of the most recent years. What policies or other approaches would you support to curb the City’s staggering property crime rate?
I sponsored the Crime Prevention through Community Policing Act, which requires SFPD to work in partnership with community and merchant groups citywide to create a community policing plan for each District Police Station, which includes foot and bike patrols, language access strategies, and crime prevention initiatives.
With a significant portion of San Francisco’s budget relying on tax revenue from employees working downtown and healthy tourism and convention numbers, are you concerned about the City’s ability to balance future budgets? If so, how would you address this potential budget shortfall?
I will approach budget shortfalls by fiscal responsibility without austerity. We need creative approaches to growing the pie so we can meet the needs of San Francisco’s families and cut waste, not services.
What is one significant action you would take to address homelessness in the City?
I support expanding the city’s shelter program with various resources, including shelters. As Supervisor, I have been actively working to create a Vehicle Triage Center, so the growing number of people living in vehicles on the westside has a safe place to live and access essential services.
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