Here’s the latest in our District 5 “Meet the candidates” series, where we ask each candidate to answer one question per week, leading up to the election, with answers capped at 100 words. All the responses will ultimately be compiled onto a single page, where readers can peruse the potential supervisors’ stances on upwards of 40 topics before it’s time to vote in November.
Last week, former interim mayor Mark Farrell joined the mayoral race against Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí and Daniel Lurie.
So here’s our latest question for the District 5 candidates: Who are you supporting in the mayoral race, and why?
Allen Jones
I am supporting Mayor Breed. At the risk of sounding like I am playing the gender or race card, these three White male challengers should do the same.
I am skeptical of her three challengers: expressing change should not make voters feel skeptical. For instance, stating you would fire the police chief while supporting the mayor’s ballot measure on policing. Another challenger is running ads supporting that same ballot measure. The latest challenger said he would fire the police chief, but called him a “good man” in the same sentence.
Be a part of this city; don’t tear this city apart.
Bilal Mahmood
I am not endorsing anyone for Mayor, and will frankly work collaboratively with anyone who becomes our next Mayor.
Because San Francisco needs results, not the constant excuse-making and finger-pointing we’ve become accustomed to from City Hall politicians. For years, our political establishment, including District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, has been focused on dysfunctional rhetoric and blaming others for their lack of outcomes. Getting results on housing, safety and small business, requires collaborating with those we don’t always agree with, and that’s what we need to achieve results. Accountability is not possible without collaboration.
Dean Preston
I have not endorsed a candidate for mayor, and look forward to seeing who all runs and what they stand for.
I will support the candidate who will work the hardest for everyday San Franciscans, not corporate special interests. A mayor who uses our city budget to create affordable housing, houses homeless people instead of vilifying them, funds data-driven public safety solutions over failed strategies, prioritizes mental health and overdose prevention, fights for public transit, and supports our small businesses will have my vote.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the District 5 questions here, and the entire “Meet the Candidates” series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
“Vote for me because I am not him” doesn’t cut it. Only if you’re running for president of your sixth grade class. Let’s hear what Mahmood will do about garage break ins, illegal evictions, people sleeping in their cars and fentanyl overdoses. How about the broken elevators in the SROs and the veterans and elders who are trapped inside their homes because they cannot navigate 6 flights of stairs?
……still waiting to hear from Bilal Mahmood about his mega donor Garry “die slow” Tan and what Mahmood would do if he and his family received death threats from a toxic Techbro like Scary Garry. Would he file a police report? Would he denounce him? Return the money? Also: does Mahmood support a Free MUNI pilot? Does Bilal support the anemic performance of Breed’s appointee Brooke Jenkins? Bilal is a proud supporter of both expensive recalls, but what specifically has improved since? 98% of SFUSD teachers and staff are ready to strike; they aren’t getting paid correctly or on time. Mahmood lays the anti-Dean rhetoric on thick. Let’s hear exactly what ideologue Bilal wants to do if elected. What is his vision? Concrete steps please. After all the guy is a neuro scientist and a former Obama admin staffer.
Hilarious that Preston wants everything in a mayor that he is not. So long Dean, you didn’t focus on residents needs, you didn’t care when their homes were robbed, you didn’t care when you gave our free tents willy nilly to convicts and that thieves could plonk them on our sidewalks and use them as free staging when they robbed D5 residents.
Time for Bilal (or someone new).