January 11, 2011

Re: Open letter to our friends on the Board of Supervisors about Ed Lee

Dear Supervisors Avalos, Chiu, Campos, Kim, Mar, and Mirkarimi,

Damn what a crazy week, huh? A week ago, we barely knew who Ed Lee was. Now we know that a lot of people we respect consider him to be an accomplished progressive leader. That leaves us hopeful that he'll be a welcome breath of fresh air--more open and less defensive and vindictive than his predecessor.

But then we hear that Ed Lee is unlikely to make substantial changes to the current administration. And that bums us out, because that's what we've been fighting for these last eight years.

It'd be hard to throw a rock in City Hall without hitting a Department in need of fixing:

• The Rec and Park department seems largely focused on turning our open spaces into money making ventures. Along the way, they line up their supporters like a political campaign while ignoring those who disagree with them. 

• "Old boys club" cultures persist in the police and fire departments. Cliques and favoritism that hurt morale and productivity are rampant throughout city departments, particularly in Muni. 

• The Ethics Department has shown little ability to investigate possible violations by campaigns that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to influence elections.

The list goes on and on. We need a Mayor who is ready to shake things up, bring in new leaders, and hold them accountable, and we have no idea if Ed Lee is going to be that guy.

We're not asking you to oppose Ed Lee as an interim Mayor. We get it that it's a done deal. But we are asking you to push him to make the changes that we've been fighting for all of these years. You can start by asking him to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting on January 11 and ask him direct questions about his plans. Do it in the public forum of the Board chambers so we can all learn about our new Mayor and get his answers on the record. What changes will he make to the Department heads? What are his plans for closing the budget deficit? If there's a Spring special election, will he put any measures on the ballot?

We worked our asses off to help get you elected. We put our reputations on the line when we told our friends that you were the kind of leaders who shared our values and would make us proud in City Hall. We've sacrificed evenings and weekends to stop strangers on the streets and interrupt conversations in bars to tell people about how cool you are. If you give a free pass to an interim Mayor who continues the status quo for the next year, we're not sure how we'll explain that on our next bar crawl.

This last week has kind of blown our minds. We want to hear your take on all of these changes, and we're hoping that you can lead the way in continuing our fight to make San Francisco the fair, prosperous, and fun city that we all dream of.

Sincerely,
the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters