The scene outside of the church could have been mistaken for NFL, Sunday, as car horns interrupted chants and hollers of the debate’s attendees.
Even before the Nov. 23 mayoral runoff debate between Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez and Supervisor Gavin Newsom started, a mostly white and black audience was heatedly debating amongst themselves over the candidates’ platform and issues.
Hundreds crowded into the Jones Memorial United Methodist Church on Post Street to hear and participate in the second of four debates sponsored by the San Francisco Tabernacle Congregations and New California Media.
The event was standing-room only 15 minutes before the scheduled debate, and by 3 p.m., Gonzalez and Newsom supporters and campaign volunteers packed into the church’s assembly hall escaping from the chilly temperatures outside.
For those looking where to sit or stand, all that was required was to look for the “Gonzalez Tours” raglan shirts and yellow-colored Gonzalez pins or the red and blue Newsom pins and stickers. Most of the Newsom supporters scored seats, an indication that many arrived early and waited in line for the doors to open 30 minutes before the debate. The Gonzalez supporters stood in the back, but some also made their way into the seated section and were sprinkled throughout the crowd.
The crowd’s enthusiasm delayed the debate several times, including at the start. Moderator Belva Davis, a television journalist, had to wait for the extended chants and applause to subside as the candidates made their way to the podiums, before explaining the purpose and the rules of the debate.
“OK, let out your enthusiasm, let it out now,” Davis said, smiling.
The two were given questions by a panel of journalists, and organizers had originally planned for candidates to answer questions from the audience; however, interruptions caused by applause and heckling slowed the debate, resulting in only one question from the audience to be asked.
An improved economy, lowered crime rates and a more efficient process for women and minorities to start small businesses were just some of the issues the candidates were asked to comment on. A coin toss was used to determine who would speak first, and with a call of “heads,” Newsom got the ball rolling.
“I think the economy really defines this race, and it transcends all the issues,” said Newsom. “You can’t be for expanding universal healthcare without a vibrant economy. I think I know how to invest and put growth into San Francisco’s economy, using the private sector and investing in our small businesses and companies, investing in minority and women entrepreneurs.”
Gonzalez said the dot-com fallout is a lesson to not just rely on one type of business as a primary source of revenue.
“We learned that we need to diversify, that we just don’t rely on dot-coms or the tourism industry,” Gonzalez said. “The biggest concern I have now is protecting the individual zones, which are up for construction, in the city’s eastern neighborhoods.”
Gonzalez added that jobs that are integrated into the community need to have classes as well as courses at school that will prepare students for jobs currently on the market. He also said that the tax system needs to change, switching from the current payroll tax, which he says, “punishes” the city, back to the gross receipt tax.
Although a panelist asked Newsom about cutting the red tape for Filipino American merchants to start businesses, the supervisor answered more broadly with his 16-point plan for small businesses.
Newsom, for example, pledged to double the “discount rates” to help minorities and women win more professional service contracts. The city, he acknowledged, was only contracting with 700 businesses, when tens of thousands could be eligible.
Gonzalez said the Filipino American community is not involved in the procurement contracts of small business, and that he co-sponsored a small-business forum with Supervisor Chris Daly to allow Filipino American merchants to make suggestions to the city on how to get rid of obstacles and red tape.
Addressing a reporter’s question about education and school board appointments, Gonzalez said that there shouldn’t be a diversity index litmus test for the mayor to fill vacancies on the elected school board. He called it “absolutely inappropriate.” On the issue of the San Francisco Unified School District’s use of the “diversity index,” Gonzalez said the diversity in schools is an extremely important tool, and what is most important is addressing the issues of why the diversity index needed to be implemented in the first place. Gonzalez questioned the wisdom of busing kids desiring to attend their neighborhood schools.
“This has been a long debate, involving parents on the Westside unhappy with their kids going to schools on the Eastside,” Gonzalez said. “We need to confront the fact that much of the opposition for going to schools in San Francisco is the condition they are in and the quality of the teaching staff.”
Newsom said the only litmus test he needed for a school board member was that they work for the children and work together with Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who has been under fire by Gonzalez’s school board allies.
“I recognize that the school system has failed black students and that the truancy rates are the highest among Hispanic students,” said Newsom. “While the diversity index exists, I don’t believe it’s perfect and that we need to analyze it for its strengths and weaknesses.”
Newsom lit into Gonzalez, questioning him for voting against a plan to invest $60 million of city funds into public education, where half of the students are Asian Pacific American.
The plan, authored by Supervisor Tom Ammiano, will appear on the March ballot and would phase in the funding annually over the next several years.
“You’re not there to support it and I think that’s a big deal because I certainly am [supporting it],” Newsom said, coming back to the issue five times during the one-hour debate.
Gonzalez, countered by saying that in this year’s recession era budget, he voted to double the amount of funding given to the school district to $8 million. Gonzalez said he supports phasing in $4 million a year as resources permit instead of mandating $60 million.
Newsom and Gonzalez’s final debate will be Dec. 2 at the San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library.