San Francisco’s District 5 includes the Japantown area and the Western Addition, which is predominantly African American. Incumbent Supervisor Matt Gonzalez has voluntarily chosen not to run, and there are no Asian Americans running to fill the seat. Here are some of the issues facing that district and proposed ways to deal with them.
Coalition Building:
Joseph Vernon Blue, real estate loan consultant
“In the last 10 years, over 10,000 — half of the black population — has been forced out of San Francisco. In turn, a lot of the Japanese Americans have been forced out of Japantown. There was a time we had bowling allies where kids could come to Japantown. What we need to do is re-formulate that old alliance … that always existed between the Japanese community in Japantown and the Western Addition.”
Preservation and Development:
Robert Haaland, labor/housing organizer
“It was a huge loss to the community when Japantown Bowl was closed. The person who was selling the property took a lower bid to build condos instead of keeping the bowling alley. … What you had was more a systematic eradication … of cultural space in Japantown. I would do everything possible to ensure that a developer doesn’t come in and build more condos where the movie is now. I strongly support the planning [and] preserving [of] community space.”
Crime:
Ross Mirkarimi, investigator with the district attorney’s office
“My experience in the district attorney’s office and at the Police Academy allows me to have a well-rounded perspective on what community-policing strategy is all about. I lived at Webster and Grove and have seen how crime is mushrooming in the Western Addition. I don’t think it’s [a] fluke; I don’t think it’s a black-on-black thing or just simply … a turf thing. We’re not in touch, and we are not practicing the range of what it’s going to take in order to save our youth from being seduced by crime.”
Traffic
Susan C. King, grassroots fundraiser
“One of the problems that Japantown has is the community is bisected by a huge quasi-freeway here. … One of the things I really favor is improving transportation and calming the streets. There have been numerous pedestrian fatalities in this neighborhood. There is a large senior population. We can try things like traffic calming and countdown signals on the intersection.”