By Carlie Leduc, HANC Board Member
Our May meeting started out with a presentation from Allison Collins from Yes on C. Proposition C is a corporate tax that will fund Childcare and Early Childhood Education. “Proposition C was designed to levy a tax on commercial property leases in addition to the existing tax, which ranged from .285 percent to .3 percent at the time the measure was placed on the ballot. Proposition C exempts commercial landlords with less than $1 million in gross receipts, along with rents for nonprofit, government, arts, industrial, and non-formula retail uses, among other state exemptions.” - ballotpedia.org
This proposition targets one of the few sources of funding available to support early childhood education. Jane Kim and Norman Yee put C on the ballot as a part of a collaborative process with the full Board of Supervisors. At the last minute, Ahsha Safai added Proposition D to the ballot, which, if it passes, will nullify C, even if C passes at the polls. Proposition D would allocate funds for Housing and Homeless Services. While HANC is supportive of allocating more funds to Housing and Homeless Services, in this case the Board has taken a stance of Yes on C and No on D. Commercial property tax is one of the few sources of funding for Childcare and Early Education, while Housing and Homeless Services has numerous other funding sources. Activists and politicians also have plans for a bigger increase Housing and Homeless Services funding in the Fall. As the Board we would like to see an increase in funding to both childcare and homeless services, without pitting one issue against another.
Next Bruce Wolfe, HANC President, presented for Yes on B. The exact text of this measure is as follows, “Describing and setting forth a proposal to the voters at an election to be held on June 5, 2018, to amend the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco to provide that appointed members of boards and commissions under the Charter forfeit their offices upon filing a declaration of candidacy for state or local elective office.” This is a good government type of issue. When members of certain commissions (planning commission, environmental commission, Recreation and Park, etc.) run for public office, they would be required to give up their seat prior to running for office.
Finally Jim Billings from San Francisco Beautiful closed out our meeting. SF Beautiful started in 1947 on Telegraph Hill when they saved San Francisco’s last 3 cable car lines. Their mission is to preserve neighborhood character and make art accessible to everyone. They do not take part in housing debates, keeping their focus on features like outdoor dining, parklets, anti-graffiti legislation, and the MUNI art program. They recently launched a Poetry on MUNI program, where an artist interprets a poem, the public votes, and the top 5 get their art on MUNI buses alongside the poem. They have a current call for artists with this coming year’s theme of community. For more information visit their website at sfbeautiful.org. Additionally, their organization is a 501(c)(3) and is a fiscal sponsor, so if you are interested in hosting a beautification project, you can apply to SF Beautiful for support in getting tax deductible donations.