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My friend @wafoli would have made for an excellent @sfmta_muni board member, but her nomination by Mayor @LondonBreed was shot down, not on the merits, but because of petty partisanship from the @sfbos: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-Supervisors-reject-Breed-s-SFMTA-pick-who-15493917.php
I want to take a moment to talk about San Francisco's loss.
@wafoli has more class, grace, and patience than I ever will, and she wrote an epilogue to this saga and her feelings & thoughts on yesterday's events which you can read here: https://twitter.com/wafoli/status/1296138026695852033
@wafoli has more class, grace, and patience than I ever will, and she wrote an epilogue to this saga and her feelings & thoughts on yesterday's events which you can read here: https://twitter.com/wafoli/status/1296138026695852033
But I want to talk about the woman I've gotten to know over the last 3 and 1/2 years.
@wafoli was someone I got to know at the end of 2016, as I was reeling after the election, and wanting to get more involved in local politics in my city.
@wafoli was someone I got to know at the end of 2016, as I was reeling after the election, and wanting to get more involved in local politics in my city.
In an attempt to build a coalition of #RichmondDistrict residents who say YES to housing, YES to public transit, YES to safer streets, @wafoli @NickC_dev @asumu @NDrumm2 and I started @growtherichmond
Here's one of the first gatherings in my home in April 2017
Here's one of the first gatherings in my home in April 2017
@wafoli made a point early on of educating us about the myriad ways in which our bureaucracy waters down potential improvements to our streets, and she made a point of ensuring that @growtherichmond wouldn't just be about housing: https://medium.com/@wafoli/the-yes-in-yimby-is-about-so-much-more-than-housing-e9226ba2c6eb
Jane was a longtime member of @sfbike, and a board member at the @SFLGBTCenter among other things. She was a busy person, but she always made time to help with @growtherichmond too: https://sfbike.org/news/member-jane-natoli-we-can-make-sf-even-better/
Jane also has a way with words, she's written countless times about the need for us to invest in meaningful changes to our streets, so that people stop dying needlessly: https://www.thebaycitybeacon.com/politics/sfmta-needs-to-build-better-bike-lanes-guestoped/article_3706849a-727a-11e7-8cf2-93c4b97ec7f9.html
San Francisco supervisors in speeches and declarations and during campaigns insist that we're #TransitFirst and we pass #ClimateEmergency declarations...but our deeds don't reflect these grandiose claims. @wafoli made a point of highlighting that: https://medium.com/@wafoli/show-dont-tell-9d1872240c31
Jane attended the meetings, engaged with neighbors, and has put in the WORK to actually advance the vision of a city we all know San Francisco can become: https://medium.com/@wafoli/grow-the-richmond-64ff33b6d64d
She's helped organize our neighbors around improving California Street, Fulton Street, and countless other places where speeding is too common, crossing the street is a hazard, and people riding bikes have been injured or killed:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-fulton-street-safety-and-transit-project https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/make-california-street-safer-for-everyone
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-fulton-street-safety-and-transit-project https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/make-california-street-safer-for-everyone
Jane has bleed for San Francisco. She has literally experienced the hazardous nature of our streets first hand...multiple times: https://medium.com/@wafoli/lucky-60f98042928d
When @wafoli pulled papers to run for the leadership of the @SFDemocrats I immediately ran to be by her side, because I knew she's the kind of person I'd want representing me on the board of the SF Democratic Party:
She knew she was signing up for a grueling campaign, likely to be clogged with elected officials seeking to keep out activists from party leadership, but she did it anyway, because she wanted to serve the city she loves: https://www.thebaycitybeacon.com/politics/a-new-generation-of-sf-democrats-are-fed-up/article_207a3bbc-5829-11ea-b6bd-67e33aabdf69.html
I organized countless mobilizations to help talk to voters and get out the vote for @wafoli and several of my other friends earlier this year for the March primary
While we knew the odds were long, we did the work, because that's what you do when you want to make change happen.
While we knew the odds were long, we did the work, because that's what you do when you want to make change happen.
Ultimately, the DCCC election didn't go our way, but we still had fun along the way
Shortly thereafter...COVID-19 would begin to sweep across the United States, re-shaping our lives and isolating us all from each other. I have not seen any of my @SFyimby or @uniteddemclubsf friends in months...it's all Zoom all the time...
But Jane was still willing to serve her city...and in April of 2020 she again called to serve, by Mayor @LondonBreed, on the board of @sfmta_muni, an agency undergoing massive upheaval as a pandemic threw a wrench into their operations and finances: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Breed-picks-Jane-Natoli-as-first-trans-woman-to-15206513.php
...but in this city, the Mayor's nominees for @sfmta_muni have to get confirmed by the @sfbos, and @wafoli has been an activist who writes lots of opinions online, who has campaigned against the people on the Board of Supervisors and their allies...in short, she had a record.
There's a reason why in @HamiltonMusical Aaron Burr was fond of the phrase:
"...talk less, smile more...don't let them know what you're against or what you're for"
In politics, the more you get involved, the clearer you are about where you stand, the more enemies you make.
"...talk less, smile more...don't let them know what you're against or what you're for"
In politics, the more you get involved, the clearer you are about where you stand, the more enemies you make.
While the @sfbos rules committee could have taken up Jane's nomination at any time between April 16th and August 10th...they dragged and dragged and dragged...meanwhile, we had a whole crisis over #SaveCaltrain in the interim: https://sf.streetsblog.org/2020/08/10/editorial-welcome-to-brinkman-station/
But they had time to appoint their political allies, their friends, to other commissions...people like Larry Bush, who has been a longtime friend and donor to folks like @SandraLeeFewer, @aaronpeskin and @DeanPreston: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-supervisors-pick-Larry-Bush-for-Ethics-15345100.php
Ultimately, @wafoli got a hearing on August 10th. She was approved out of that committee with a positive recommendation 3-0.
The recommendation was advanced by @HillaryRonen @D4GordonMar and @SupStefani. The conversation was substantive, many of us called in to support Jane, her "detractors" were nowhere to be found:
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=36338
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=36338
Meanwhile, @wafoli enjoyed the support of @SFLGBTCenter, @sfbike @SFTRU, @walksf, @alicelgbtdems, @ElLaTransLatina, @transmarch, @ParivarBayArea, @TransHomeSF, @comebystjames, @eBARnews, @uniteddemclubsf and @SFyimby among others:
https://sfbike.org/news/we-support-jane-natoli-for-the-sfmta-board/
https://www.ebar.com/news/news//293068
https://sfbike.org/news/we-support-jane-natoli-for-the-sfmta-board/
https://www.ebar.com/news/news//293068
Some of the letters from the four packets of public correspondence gathered between April 16th and August 18th:
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8708124&GUID=09C1548A-6C73-4C5D-9BE7-BABFC5FC06AB
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8714649&GUID=EB92ECD0-759C-4FF7-9EE6-8178250BF53B
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8717788&GUID=F5B9DB7C-53BB-4A46-96BC-AB26FCA082C1
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8731169&GUID=964C92BC-B8F2-4FB7-871B-E9BE5F2F13CA
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8708124&GUID=09C1548A-6C73-4C5D-9BE7-BABFC5FC06AB
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8714649&GUID=EB92ECD0-759C-4FF7-9EE6-8178250BF53B
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8717788&GUID=F5B9DB7C-53BB-4A46-96BC-AB26FCA082C1
https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8731169&GUID=964C92BC-B8F2-4FB7-871B-E9BE5F2F13CA
Jane didn't have unanimous support, that's true. Groups like the Harvey Milk Democratic Club and a working group of the local DSA sent letters in opposing her, among others.
But their rationale was flimsy, lazy, and rooted in the petty partisanship SF is constantly mired in
But their rationale was flimsy, lazy, and rooted in the petty partisanship SF is constantly mired in
Ultimately, though, I know that Jane is a thoughtful person, who weighs the merits of the issues before us, but also has an eye towards the long term health and sustainability of our city and our community.
She was up for a vote yesterday before the full @sfbos
She was up for a vote yesterday before the full @sfbos
@wafoli would have been the kind of @sfmta_muni director we badly need. Someone who will push the agency to make hard choices. Someone who will ensure that San Francisco lives up to it's promises on being an ostensibly "transit first" city.
In a reversal, @D4GordonMar, under pressure from @SandraLeeFewer, @AaronPeskin, and @DeanPreston flipped his vote.
Ultimately, Jane's nomination was dashed, by a vote of 4-6
Ultimately, Jane's nomination was dashed, by a vote of 4-6
For a moment, I want to acknowledge something.
I don't really agree with @HillaryRonen on much (when it comes to local issues, we agree on all the big ticket "normal democratic vs GOP stuff")
But when Supervisor Ronen was being pressured to flip her vote, she didn't.
I don't really agree with @HillaryRonen on much (when it comes to local issues, we agree on all the big ticket "normal democratic vs GOP stuff")
But when Supervisor Ronen was being pressured to flip her vote, she didn't.
Hillary, to her credit, saw that Jane had come to her rules committee prepared. She had made committments that were amenable to Hillary (even if I wish she didn't have to swear to those kind of committments...but I digress).
She noted that all of the opposition letters to Jane came in at the 11th hour, after the committee hearing on August 10th, in an apparent rushed effort to derail the nomination that...didn't sit well with her. She took a chance on Jane.
For that, I want to say thank you Hillary.
For that, I want to say thank you Hillary.
I also want to thank @SupStefani who was *criticized* by Jane in one of her Medium pieces:
https://medium.com/@wafoli/show-dont-tell-9d1872240c31
It's not a secret that supes don't like being criticized, especially when the person doing the critiquing is "on your side" in the partisan local politics wars
https://medium.com/@wafoli/show-dont-tell-9d1872240c31
It's not a secret that supes don't like being criticized, especially when the person doing the critiquing is "on your side" in the partisan local politics wars
But @SupStefani was an adult. She didn't obsess about one thing that one person wrote about her two years ago and use it as a justification to lobby her colleagues to reject the nomination.
She was an adult about it.
She was an adult about it.
Supervisors @RafaelMandelman and @MattHaneySF also deserve thanks. Rafael for being behind Jane from the beginning, championing her and the #LGBTQ community
@MattHaneySF was lobbied extensively by @SandraLeeFewer and @AaronPeskin but he ultimately did the right thing
@MattHaneySF was lobbied extensively by @SandraLeeFewer and @AaronPeskin but he ultimately did the right thing
But Jane's nomination was shot down anyway. Not because she was unqualified, not because she was a controversial figure, but because of partisanship. She was rejected because she's part of "team A" and that is unacceptable to "team B" https://www.ebar.com/news/latest_news//296229/trans_sfmta_nominee_rejected_by_board_of_supervisors
Mayor @LondonBreed put it best in her press release after the vote occurred:
https://sfmayor.org/article/statement-mayor-london-breed-board-supervisors-rejection-jane-natoli-sfmta-board-directors
https://sfmayor.org/article/statement-mayor-london-breed-board-supervisors-rejection-jane-natoli-sfmta-board-directors
It truly takes an extraordinary amount of humility to be put through the ringer like this, to be left waiting on end for months, to be lied about and willfully misinterpreted by people who just don't like you..and to still be willing to serve your city: https://medium.com/@wafoli/failure-is-an-inflection-point-f6a7637be561
The citizens of San Francisco got screwed yesterday. They got screwed by petty partisan bullshit. They got screwed out of an eminently qualified candidate to make difficult decisions about the future and fate of our transit system
...and this won't change till the @sfbos changes
...and this won't change till the @sfbos changes
So if you're tired of this "bend the knee" politics as @MarjanPhilhour puts it: https://twitter.com/MarjanPhilhour/status/1295876295591526400
If you're fed up with the 15 year incumbents who have been running this city's legislature and pulling cheap stunts to make themselves feel bigger and more powerful at the expense of everyone else since 2000: https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Napoleon-of-North-Beach-to-give-up-his-gavel-3177645.php
If you're tired of the endless grandstanding and bad faith opposition to qualified people and important policies because they aren't part of "team B" https://www.thebaycitybeacon.com/politics/dean-preston-s-housing-policy-is-based-on-faith-not/article_ea590146-96d4-11e9-a7e9-2f0c8851b528.html
then I urge you to get up, get involved, and start doing the work.
This Board of Supervisors isn't going to just "change" or "get better"
They need to be voted out. https://medium.com/@sfyimby/how-to-vote-pro-housing-4cca05a619f9
This Board of Supervisors isn't going to just "change" or "get better"
They need to be voted out. https://medium.com/@sfyimby/how-to-vote-pro-housing-4cca05a619f9
I encourage you to join me (virtually) in upcoming phonebanks and textbanks for these candidates.
I encourage you to donate to these candidates
Tell your neighbors, and your friends about these candidates for the Board of Supervisors: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/5460201cb14e2f5fd2f3f6c086d463e1adb6b01a?hash=7998930e1ca49ff69750eeb3debbe0fb
I encourage you to donate to these candidates
Tell your neighbors, and your friends about these candidates for the Board of Supervisors: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/5460201cb14e2f5fd2f3f6c086d463e1adb6b01a?hash=7998930e1ca49ff69750eeb3debbe0fb
@wafoli's nomination being killed is San Francisco's loss in this moment, but as Jane points out in her latest piece, it can be the starting place for something better to spring forth.
But only if we #DoTheWork to make it happen.
But only if we #DoTheWork to make it happen.
