Building Community
As Mayor, I will foster a dynamic and responsive City government that will make people proud of their City. As Director of Neighborhood Services for five years and Supervisor for eight years, I worked in close partnership with neighborhood groups, and saw that any problem can be addressed when you bring together concerned neighbors, merchants, community organizations and city departments. From creating parks that reflect neighborhood needs, to decreasing the transmission of HIV, to implementing sensible reforms to the condo lottery process — I have the vision and track record to solve the problems on your street, and improve the quality of life for all San Franciscans.
Bevan’s Plan:
- Decrease transmission rates of HIV by 50%
- Marshal consensus for dedicated funding for parks
- Change political dynamic to increase access to affordable housing
We must address of HIV and AIDS in context of a comprehensive, coordinated health agenda.
I successfully championed funding for vital services and provided support for initiatives such as the Castro Youth Housing Initiative, Needle Exchange, the AIDS Housing Plan, Magnet and the Crystal Meth Task Force. My work has emphasized that HIV/AIDS must be addressed in a comprehensive manner, combining both a vigorous prevention strategy, access to substance abuse treatment, housing, mental health services and treatment.
I am committed to funding prevention. Over the past decade we’ve developed culturally competent prevention strategies that have reduced the rates of new infections. To continue this trend, we must reach a broad community of at-risk groups including youth, women of color, intravenous drug users, and the Transgender community. I support the goals of “Test and Treat,” and recognize the importance of bringing down our community viral load. But, for the new strategy to be effective, we must find ways to fund culturally sensitive outreach that assesses the risk levels amongst communities that may be less willing to discuss sex and share risky behaviors. And, we must be cautious not to set up a system that requires someone to test positive in order to receive any services.
Budget
As Supervisor, I was the go-to for ad-backs to restore funding for HIV/AIDS Services and I’ve seen the debilitating effect the City Hall budget process has on clients and providers. I recognize that this doesn’t reward sound planning or strong fiscal management in an organization. As Mayor, I will work with DPH and Providers early in the budget cycle to identify a set of priority services for the City that supports our model of care. These services must align to address the needs of people at risk of or living with HIV and AIDS including substance abuse, mental health, housing and youth services. Providers and clients have more important things to do than spend six months on the second floor of City Hall fighting to restore funding.
Transition to Federal Healthcare
As we’ve begun to see, the transition to federal healthcare reform may be chaotic for people living with HIV and AIDS. People with AIDS pay 30 times more for their drugs than the average person on Medi-Cal, and the State has overlooked HIV and AIDS clients in their planning.
One of the greatest triumphs of Ryan White was the establishment of Center’s of Excellence that created a Medical Home model that included medical and wraparound services. For individuals now pushed from Ryan White to MediCal, the disruption in services, and the uncertainty about co-pays and wraparound services could be destabilizing. Ryan White has been far more generous in reimbursements than Medical, and providers will also be hurt in this transition.
Ryan White Reauthorization
Ryan White funding continues to decrease. We now have twice as many people in care, with half as much money. Even with the decline in funding, Ryan White continues to be an essential payer of last resort that we can not afford to lose. I will work closely with our federal representatives to ensure the reauthorization of Ryan White, and will lead San Francisco through the transition to federal health care with a careful eye on the needs of the HIV/AIDS community.
As Mayor, I will continue my commitment to funding comprehensive HIV/AIDS services, and I will be a strong national advocate.
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As Supervisor, I worked with Recreation and Parks to make sure that my District’s parks got their share of capital improvements, were kept clean, and well maintained.
I am particularly proud of the collaborative planning effort at Duboce Park. Working with active neighbors, we overcame long-standing divisions between parents and dog-owners to create the first mixed use off-leash dog play area in the City.
As Mayor, I am committed to marshalling consensus for a dedicated funding source for our parks system. It’s time to make our parks more in line with the success that branch libraries experience.
The Neighborhood Parks Council rated me as a “Park Champion” and I will work every day to live up to this high praise. Click here to read my response to their questionnaire.
I have been a renter, condo-owner and TIC co-owner in San Francisco -- and I'm a five-time lottery loser.
The discussion at City Hall focuses on the extremes; whether it's bad landlords or bad tenants. I want to be proactive to change this counter-productive dynamic since landlords need tenants and vice versa.
I am committed to bringing an affordable housing bond measure to the voters in 2012, and working to make sure the people of San Francisco are confident in the City’s ability to use this money responsibly. When I talk about new housing, I consider the needs of families and first responders, teachers and seniors, people with disabilities, students and people seeking to start the next Twitter and Zynga.
As Supervisor, I sponsored legislation that allowed land in more expensive neighborhoods to be developed for affordable housing. I supported the efforts to build LGBT Senior Housing, and sponsored legislation to allow student housing to be built without inclusionary housing required of market rate developments.
We’ve got to stop bickering and work to provide opportunities at every income level. I support rent control as a tool that can help tenants who stay in place -- providing a hedge against the high cost of housing. However, I also sustained eight vetoes by Mayor Newsom of legislation that would have tipped the balance. It is estimated that 10,000 apartments and flats go unrented because small property owners are fearful of tenant conflict and litigation.
I have been directly in the line of fire in the legislative battles between landlord and tenant advocates at City Hall. I've been endorsed, for Mayor, by the Small Property Owners of San Francisco and I've also sat down with the Tenants Union to let them challenge me about issues of concern.
The Ellis Act is a bad tool in our City and I supported reforms that made it very tough to convert a unit that was cleared using an Ellis Act eviction. However, many TIC-owners, myself included, have done nothing wrong and actually have helped families become first-time owners. I would like to engage stakeholders to get good actors out of the lottery and possibly create a housing stabilization fund for those with financial need who are being displaced.
