Three more upcoming events I didn't mention at the meeting (well, one of them I did mention, but didn't recall the date):
Weds. Feb. 21 – David Boaz of the Cato Institute will be speaking at UC Berkeley on the topic of "Liberty vs. the 'Alt Right'" (sponsored by the Students for Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty groups there) – A specific location hasn't been announced yet, but will presumably be happening on or near the UC Berkeley campus – https://www.facebook.com/events/2043234779274562/
Thurs. Feb. 22 – Videographers from the "Let's Be Real SF" campaign to overturn the SF supervisors' flavored tobacco ban will be videotaping residents speaking against the ban. I'll be taping a segment, and encourage other libertarians to be recorded speaking out as well. They'll be around all day and are mobile so can come to meet you at the location of your choice – to arrange your participation, call Alison Jones at (415) 766-7076.
Besides working with the campaign, Alison is a libertarian newbie and former Democrat who came to our restaurant meeting with gubernatorial candidate Nickolas Wildstar, so don't hesitate to express your welcome and encourage her to get more involved.
Mon. Mar. 19 – SF mayoral candidates forum, 7-930pm at the Castro Theater (429 Castro St. btw. Market and 18th). You can register for the event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/candidate-forum-san-francisco-mayor-tickets-42798356035?aff=es2 (it is free, but having a ticket may help get you in – there will be a line for ticket holders, with seating opening at 6:30pm for the ticketed line).
Whether or not you plan to attend, you can suggest questions for the candidates by emailing the organizers at
questions@....
According to the description at the site above, the forum "will focus primarily on issues related to neighborhoods and LGBTQ issues", so questions directly related to those topics may be more likely to be asked.
The first thing I encourage people to do however is write the organizers and tell them you want ALL the mayoral candidates to be invited to the debate, as right now it is explicitly exclusionary. The website states,
"Confirmed participants include Angela Alioto, London Breed, Richie Greenberg, Jane Kim, and Mark Leno... Participating candidates were determined by their reaching a threshold of 5% in available public polling."
This kind of favoring well-known candidates over others is of course frequently used to exclude Libertarian candidates and other independent, non-establishment contenders from debates. It is anti-democratic, and creates a situation in which elections are decided by media outlets and other gatekeepers, rather than by voters choosing among candidates competing on a level playing field.
Here are a few questions I plan to submit for the candidates (please feel free to ask these questions as well, either as written or in your own words):
• According to the SF Business Times (https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/01/13/san-francisco-ed-lee-americas-highest-paid-mayor.html), the mayor of San Francisco is the highest-paid big city mayor in the United States, at $289,000 a year. Meanwhile, there are thousands of homeless people living on the streets of SF who cannot afford roofs over their heads, but who are often forced to pay sales taxes and other taxes and fees that go toward subsidizing this exorbitant salary. If elected, you could give half of that money back to some of the poorest people from whom it was taken, and still make over $100,000 per year. Will you promise to do that?
• What is your position on the use of police and other government agencies of Automated License Plate Readers to spy on residents and their movements without a warrant? If elected, will you seek to restore some of our privacy and freedom by banning the use of ALPRs in San Francisco?
• If a gay-owned local business wants to hire only LGBTQ employees, for instance because they want to ensure a queer-friendly space for their customers or provide job opportunities in the LGBTQ community, do you think they should legally be allowed to make that choice for themselves?
• What is the maximum percentage of a person's income that you think they should be required to pay in government taxes and fees, i.e. what is the minimum percentage of the money they earn that you think they should be allowed to decide how to dispose of themselves? How would you as mayor seek to guarantee that the city government does not take more than this share of income from anyone?
• As a Castro resident living by the Harvey Milk branch library on 16th Street, I have been displeased to see the library's waste of taxpayer money on so-called "defensive architecture" renovations. This sort of thing is better called "aggressive architecture", because it is deliberately designed to make spaces less welcoming to people, specifically homeless people, who might want to spend time there. I don't think either Harvey Milk, who was known for standing up for civil liberties, or queer pioneer José Sarria (aka the Widow Norton, for whom the section of street in front of the library is named) would approve – if they were alive today, might well be protesting their names being associated with such cruel projects. As mayor, what would your attitude be toward the use of taxpayer money to make public spaces less welcoming to people on the streets?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))