Here's a chance to email a question on parks which SF mayor Gavin Newsom may be asked at an upcoming public meeting, and which will at least be delivered to him in hard copy in any case (see details below). Here are a few possible suggested questions:
• Will you support making park maintenance more affordable by having the city hire private gardeners instead of using expensive civil service employees?
• Prohibiting sleeping on parks is unnecessarily cruel and inhospitable to the thousands of homeless San Franciscans, and just ends up forcing them onto the streets instead. Will you support repealing this prohibition?
• Festivals and concerts in the parks, along with smaller private events like picnics and weddings are some of the things that make SF a great city. Will you help take the city government's vampire teeth out of the neck of these activities by reducing the taxes (aka "permit fees") imposed on people wanting to hold events in city parks?
• The head of the park rangers is trying to build a fiefdom by giving additional police powers for rangers, which is wasteful and unnecessary (see 2/11/09 SF Weekly cover story - http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-02-11/news/s-f-park-rangers-want-more-power-guns) -- will you promise to oppose this?
• Between 2004-2009, while you've been mayor, "the park rangers' budget quadrupled, from $500,000 to $2.2 million" (see SF Weekly story cited above) -- what will you do to rein in this irresponsible spending?
• The ban on smoking in SF parks is Big Brother type government overreach. We know the "War on Drugs" has been a failure, and this kind of thing just expands it. What will you do to seek the repeal of this misguided measure?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))