Rob Anderson is good for the Jews

RAOUL WALLENBERG JEWISH DEMOCRATIC CLUB
QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES FOR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
DISTRICTS 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 11

Name: Rob Anderson

District: 5
Phone:

Email: rmajora@gmail.com

Please return this questionnaire to Igor Lotsvin at ilotsvin@somaasset.com no later than Saturday, August 16th, 2008. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact Igor Lotsvin at (415) 254-8158 or (415) 699-4376.

Only Democratic Party candidates who complete this questionnaire and return it by the deadline date will be welcomed to meet with the Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club Political Action Committee (RWJDC PAC) on Sunday, August 24th, 2008. Your response to the questions below should be no more than three pages.

Thank you for participating in the RWJDC endorsement process!

1. Why are you running for the Board of Supervisors and what do you hope to accomplish if elected?
I'm concerned about the ongoing problem of homelessness in SF. Mayor Newsom has made a good beginning in dealing with the issue with Care Not Cash, Homeward Bound, supportive housing, and Project Homeless Connect. Then there's the city's shocking move toward residential highrises and overdeveloping our neighborhoods with projects like the Market/Octavia Plan and UC's appropriation of the property on lower Haight Street for a massive housing development (450 housing units on six acres). I am proud to be a party in the successful litigation that required the city to do an environmental impact review of the 527-page Bicycle Plan, the anti-car fantasy that would have redesigned our streets for a small minority of cyclists.

Like other city progressives, Supervisor Mirkarimi has been silent and unhelpful on the mayor's initiatives on homelessness. He also voted for the Rincon Hill highrises and supports the awful Market/Octavia Plan that rezones thousands of properties in the heart of the city to encourage housing density in an already densely-populated part of San Francisco, including four 40-story highrises at Market and Van Ness. Supervisor Mirkarimi is leading the way in the city's surrender to a predatory UC of property on Haight Street that has been zoned for "public use" for 150 years.

2. Is there anything, in your view, that sets you apart from the other candidates and/or particular reasons why you think the RWJDC should support your candidacy first and foremost?
See answer to #1 above.

3. What do you see as the top two or three most important responsibilities of the member of the Board of Supervisors?
The most important responsibility of a supervisor is to make and/or support policies that are good for the whole city.

4. What do you view as the two most important policy issues facing San Francisco (in the context of the role of the Board of Supervisors ) and how would you address these issues?
See answer to #1.

5. What, if any, policy issues do you consider as being of special concern to the Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay Area?

I don't think it's helpful in general for the city's voters to divide themselves on racial, ethnic, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc. lines. The Jewish community doesn't necessarily have more concern than other groups in the city about homelessness, development issues, and the bicycle fantasy.

But your community should know that Supervisor Mirkarimi is a typical San Francisco progressive in his lack of understanding of the war in Iraq---he unwisely favors immediate US withdrawal---where the United States is fighting against al Qaeda and other purveyors of a murderous Islamist ideology. Typically, Mirkarimi signed on to the extremist The World Can't Wait movement, which compares President Bush to Hitler and thinks the United States is moving toward fascism.