S.F. Ballot Initiatives
October 19, 2000
Prop. A: Branch Library Bonds — A $105 million bond measure that would fund improvements to 19 of the city’s 26 branch libraries, over half of which are more than 50 years old; would fund modernization including seismic upgrades, disabled access and technology needs.
Pros: The library branches have suffered from neglect and it would benefit the city’s many communities.
Cons: Some of the costs are the result of lack of funding and deferred maintenance. This may happen again.
Prop. B: District Aides — Would increase the number of legislative aides for members of the Board of Supervisors to three. Each of the 11 members currently is provided two aides.
Pros: Supervisors have a large workload, which will be more efficiently handled with more staff members.
Cons: Supervisors have the authority to pass an ordinance implementing a third aide and they should vote on it themselves.
Prop. C: City Retirement Benefits —Would create a new category of retirement benefits for most “miscellaneous” city employees. In the new category, the monthly pension for those who retire at age 60 would be slightly increased and the disability pension cap would increase.
Pros: San Francisco’s plan provides among the lowest benefits in the state. Prop C would place city retirees in mid-range.
Cons: Voters are being asked to vote on a small percentage of the city employee benefits without knowing the whole package.
Prop. D: Children’s Fund — Will extend for 15 years the provision that earmarks a fixed percentage of the city’s property tax revenue for children’s services and increases that percentage from 2.5 cents to 3 cents per $100 in property taxes. This will not increase taxes, only set aside a portion of the city budget.
Pros: This fund is always linked to the amount of money in the city budget because it is a percentage of the property tax.
Cons: Only 16 percent of the city is under age 18, which does not justify this set aside.
Prop. E: Retiree Health Benefits — Would require the city pay half of the out-of-pocket costs for health insurance for retired employees and one dependent. The total annual cost for covering 17,000 retired employees would be $12 million.
Pros: The passage of this proposition would reduce some of the disparity between active and retired employees.
Cons: The school and community college districts do not have current budget surpluses. Therefore this proposition may reduce funds for educational services or salary and benefits for active employees.
Props. F & G: Saturday Closure of JFK Drive — The Recreation and Park Commission has closed the eastern portion of John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to automobile traffic on Sundays. Prop. F would close the road on Sunday as well, starting from Jan. 1, 2001. Prop. G would take effect one month after the new underground garage at the Golden Gate concourse is open. Closures would exclude all motor vehicles from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and all observed city holidays.
Pros for Prop. F: The Sunday closure is successful. Therefore it should be extended to Saturday.
Cons for Prop. F: If the road is closed right away, the museums in the park may suffer because patrons will not have easy access to them.
Pros for Prop. G: Prop. G links the road closure to the garage. If the Concourse Authority cannot certify that the progress on the garage is coming along, the closure will be moved back.
Cons for Prop. G: By delaying the road closure for an indeterminate amount of time, the park may get fewer visitors.
Prop. H: Pass-through of Costs to Residential Tenants — Would prohibit residential landlords from passing onto tenants the costs of major capital improvements.
Pros: Landlords can’t use pass-throughs to drive out low paying tenants who cannot afford these increases.
Cons: Prop. H will discourage owners from making needed repairs.
Prop. I: Business Tax Revision — Several companies have challenged the legality of San Francisco’s business tax. If they are successful in court, they would expose the city to an $800 million liability. Prop. I amends the business tax so that all companies pay a payroll tax instead of a gross receipts tax.
Pros: Prop. I protects the city revenues from public services, which is needed because of the lawsuits.
Cons: Even with passage, the plaintiffs are likely to continue with their lawsuits and it is unclear whether the courts will find the remedy sufficient.
Prop. J: Contractor Contributions — Would prohibit a city-appointed or elected official from accepting a gift, payment, job offer or campaign contribution from a person if the city official previously had approved granting certain benefits—such as a contract or a lease—to this person.
Pros: This restricts the influence of money and special interests in politics by restricting the trading of votes for personal financial gain or campaign contributions.
Cons: It does not place any restrictions on “soft money.”
Prop. K: Growth Control — Would increase the amount of office space that is allowed to be built downtown.
Pros: Addresses the supply/demand imbalance that has driven rent sky-high. Exempts from the growth cap federal, state, local government and office development in Mission Bay; also encourages the concentration of new office development in the downtown and South of Market areas.
Cons: Does not stop office development in Mission and Portero Hill areas, which will raise rents.
Prop. L: Growth Control — Would keep current growth caps in place and restrict office development in the entire Northeast Mission, eastern and southern South of Market areas and Central Waterfront.
Pros: Will protect neighborhoods from high rents and over-commercialization.
Cons: Will limit the supply of new office space and continue to drive office rents higher leading to more displacement of businesses that cannot pay high rents.
Prop. M: Taxicab Permits — Would allow the Taxicab Commission to issue various special permits and would allow these permits to be held by corporations rather than only by cab drivers.
Pros: This measure would improve neighborhood taxi service by permitting the Taxi Commission to issue permits that would serve specific geographic areas of the city.
Cons: This proposition creates a separate category of permits that can be held by companies, to the disadvantage of individual drivers.
Prop. N: Tenancies-in-common — Would restrict the conversions of rental housing to owner-occupied property.
Pros: The city has a limited supply of rent-controlled housing. This makes it necessary to restrict the removal of these units from the rental stock.
Cons: Acquiring homes through tenancy-in-common ownership is the only possible way that many people can afford to buy a home in San Francisco.
Prop. O: Fair Elections Ordinance — Would establish new limits on campaign contributions, provide for partial public matching funding for candidates for the Board of Supervisors and impose additional reporting and disclosure requirements on candidates.
Pros: This limits the amount of money that can be contributed to a local campaign so that candidates are not beholden to their contributors.
Cons: The subsidizing of candidates for the Board of Supervisors will take money away from other important public needs.
Prop. P: Hunters Point Clean-up — Would declare that it is city policy that the Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard be cleaned of toxic contamination to a standard that would permit any use to occur on any part of it.
Pros: The entire shipyard should be cleaned so the space can be put to use for housing in the future.
Cons: At planned industrial sites, cleanup costs should be at the less expensive industrial standard rate. It is not feasible that the military should clean up all bases to residential standards.
Prop. Q: Pedestrian Safety Fund — Would encourage San Francisco to create a small Pedestrian Safety Fund out of current city revenues.
Pros: This forces city leaders to do something about the city’s alarming rates of pedestrian injury and death.
Cons: The amount generated from fines will be small, meaning little would be added to the fund.
Prop. R: Declaration of Policy — Would call for the city to create an interpretive educational public use facility at Pier 45’s shed with a mission to promote a greater understanding and respect for the bay, its delta and its Pacific Ocean sanctuaries through exhibits, resource archives, educational programs and outreach efforts.
Pros: This is the only way citizens can effectively oppose decisions that may perpetuate the commercialization of Fisherman’s Wharf.
Cons: Governor Gray Davis vetoed start-up money for the Bay Center from the budget.
Cons: Some of the costs are the result of lack of funding and deferred maintenance. This may happen again.
Cons: Supervisors have the authority to pass an ordinance implementing a third aide and they should vote on it themselves.
Cons: Voters are being asked to vote on a small percentage of the city employee benefits without knowing the whole package.
Cons: Only 16 percent of the city is under age 18, which does not justify this set aside.
Cons: The school and community college districts do not have current budget surpluses. Therefore this proposition may reduce funds for educational services or salary and benefits for active employees.
Cons for Prop. F: If the road is closed right away, the museums in the park may suffer because patrons will not have easy access to them.
Pros for Prop. G: Prop. G links the road closure to the garage. If the Concourse Authority cannot certify that the progress on the garage is coming along, the closure will be moved back.
Cons for Prop. G: By delaying the road closure for an indeterminate amount of time, the park may get fewer visitors.
Cons: Prop. H will discourage owners from making needed repairs.
Cons: Even with passage, the plaintiffs are likely to continue with their lawsuits and it is unclear whether the courts will find the remedy sufficient.
Cons: It does not place any restrictions on “soft money.”
Cons: Does not stop office development in Mission and Portero Hill areas, which will raise rents.
Cons: Will limit the supply of new office space and continue to drive office rents higher leading to more displacement of businesses that cannot pay high rents.
Cons: This proposition creates a separate category of permits that can be held by companies, to the disadvantage of individual drivers.
Cons: Acquiring homes through tenancy-in-common ownership is the only possible way that many people can afford to buy a home in San Francisco.
Cons: The subsidizing of candidates for the Board of Supervisors will take money away from other important public needs.
Cons: At planned industrial sites, cleanup costs should be at the less expensive industrial standard rate. It is not feasible that the military should clean up all bases to residential standards.
Cons: The amount generated from fines will be small, meaning little would be added to the fund.
Cons: Governor Gray Davis vetoed start-up money for the Bay Center from the budget.
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