Petrelis Files

VisionSF Party: Our Goals & Agenda for 2016 Elections

Given the epidemic of disgust in San Francisco with the Democratic County Central Committee, City Hall sleaze, the corruption of Democratic clubs and too many nonprofits their community organizers (many from the East Bay) looking for p.r. and grants, there's real hunger among a lot of folks for an truly alternative organization or network open to all.

Unfortunately, the local Green Party is not the vehicle or home for those of us looking to put our energy into an effective group. Even though their mayoral candidate Francisco Herrera in November came in a solid second against Ed Lee, the Greens did nothing of significance to build on their electoral accomplishment. 

No big outreach to voters, no meetings scheduled, no nothing on their website since November. Yeah, three months after the election, the Greens of San Francisco haven't updated their home page. If you can't even maintain a damn decent web site, how the hell do you expect to pull in folks to your party and achieve realistic goals?

A tipster sent this alert from the VisionSF organizers. Maybe they'll do a better job of political organizing and tapping into progressive disgust with the status quo. Make of this what you will:

Hi VisionSF activists. 

Our steering committee had a very productive meeting on Friday Jan. 22. We'd like to tell you the highlights and to invite you to our next general meeting, which will be held on Friday, Feb. 19-6 pm, at the Women's Building Auditorium, 3543 18th Street.

As you know, 2016 will be a very important election year, not just nationally, but in SF, where control of the Board of Supervisors is at stake, as well as the important State Senate race to replace Mark Leno. VisionSF has decided to hold several public events in each of the supervisor districts where progressive candidates will be involved in close, key races. These events, which will be modeled on our successful Brava Theater "coming out party" last fall, will combine speeches, musical performances and other entertainment -- and will channel this energy into the district races.

VisionSF will by supporting the following candidates for Supervisor this year:

Dist. 1 -- Sandy Fewer

Dist. 3 -- Aaron Peskin

Dist. 5 -- Dean Preston

Dist. 7 -- Norman Yee

Dist. 9 -- Hillary Ronen

Dist. 11 -- Kim Alvarenga

In addition, we will be backing Jane Kim for State Senate.

This is the year that VisionSF will seek to have a significant impact on the political dialogue in San Francisco. We feel that the issues of housing displacement and citizens control of the police are particularly urgent issues, where our voice needs to be heard. 

For VisionSF to go to the next level of political engagement, we will be taking steps to formally organize, so we can begin raising funds and making political endorsements. Several members of VisionSF have generously promised to make a financial commitment to the organization, so our fundraisers can hit the ground running as soon as we are officially registered. And to ensure that VisionSF stays on track between meetings, we are pleased to announce that we will be hiring a half-time executive director, former Supervisor and Planning Commission president (and longtime activist and VisionSF member), Christina Olague.

To put our ideas into action, we are forming three committees -- Fundraising, Media and Outreach. The following VisionSF members will be serving on these committees. If you're interested in getting involved with any of these working groups, please contact us and and we'll bring you on board.

Fundraising:

David Talbot

Christina Olague

Tim Redmond

David Carlos Salaverry

Lia Salaverry

Media:
Julie Levak-Madding

Tim Redmond

David Talbot

Outreach:
Gordon Chin

Calvin Welch

Christina Olague

Spike Kahn

We look forward to seeing you on Friday, Feb.19. It's going to be an exciting year.

Contact David Talbot david@talbotplayers.com or Christina Olague christina.olague9@gmail.com for more information on how to get involved.

...our Mission Statement...

VisionSF

It’s Time to Take Back San Francisco

A broad coalition of San Francisco residents is coming together to meet the challenge of a great city in crisis.  Whether or not we have always agreed, we are united in our understanding that powerful players, unconcerned with the public interest, now dominate City Hall. We know it is up to us, the people of San Francisco, to turn things around. And now.

We believe a sustainable city, like a natural ecosystem, requires diversity to thrive. where everyone is welcome, where diverse and engaged communities can work together to build a better future. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the city’s residents agree – and if we can mobilize, we can change the direction of San Francisco.