SF Vote NO on B & C (The Kate Slate) + Sean Hayes in SF Fri w/ the Blank Tapes & Sat!

Hi everyone,

I am forwarding my friend Kate's voting recommendations: The Kate Slate: cuz I like to use them as a voting guide and/or to check against what I intend to vote for. Most importantly, NO ON B & C!!Kate explains her views so that you can decide if you agree or disagree. There is a quick summary too, if you don't want to read thru it all... It is a good way to approach the issues, I find. Thanks Kate!!!!!!!!! And, come to the Sean Hayes show Fri (w/ the Blank Tapes) and Sat (w/ Jillette Johnson) at the Independent!! there are two day passes even!!! tix: http://theindependentsf.com xoxo Jessie 

PS - Thank you to Mark Matos & NovOs Beaches, Jared Saltiel, & Sugar Candy Mountain for rocking it at Amnesia on Saturday, Dia de los Muertos!!! Thanks to all who made it!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kate Michelle McCarthy <mskate@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 11:11 PM
Subject: The Kate Slate - Nov 5, 2013

Hi Friends, 

Nothing like procrastinating…Luckily this election has a pint-sized ballot so this should be done before the rice is ready.

This is the Kate Slate, my little election tradition to help my friends navigate each ballot. I try to be helpful and explain my view so that you can inform yours, even if we don't agree. I am wooed by the romance of democracy and this is my vain attempt to help it work. If you end up using this or sharing with a friend, please let me know. 

The Kate Slate also is at urbandelicious.com.

Without further ado...the Kate Slate.

As always, thank you for reading. 

My best, 

Kate

This year the slate is pretty easy: vote no on everything, but skip the policy statement. Skip the candidates, they are unopposed.

An important note about leaving items blank on your ballot at the end of the slate (your vote may not be counted unless…).

A – Creates Retiree Health Care Trust Fund rules – no
B – Allows the city to issue building permits for a project at 8 Washington that violates City Planning Code – NOOOOOOO
C – Allows the City Supervisor’s approval of the 8 Washington project take effect – NO!
D – Policy Statement about reducing the cost of prescription drugs – blank

Here is why I am skipping the “candidates”: Carmen Chu for Assessor-Recorder, Dennis Herrera for City Attorney, and José Cisneros for Treasurer. They are all incumbents running unopposed, so save yourself the trouble. Then you can feel smug later when they do stupid things because you didn’t vote for them. Just kidding, kinda.

This topic actually sends me into a rant about democracy because candidates running unopposed is a symptom of an unhealthy democracy and this is just one more symptom. (Fist shaking!) But I will be saving you my rant for now.

A – Creates Retiree Health Care Trust Fund rules – No

Voters created the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund in 2008. Now, this proposition would create rules about how the money is handled. The how and the why is confusing and boring (you can read all about it here on the SPUR Voter Guide), suffice to say it is ballot box budgeting that would lock down the budget for a specific cause, which limits budget flexibility. Even though it seems good that it would make sure money allocated for retiree health care is used for retiree health care, it is problematic to budget at the ballot box because it creates inflexible budgets when budgets need to be able to adapt over time.

B – Allows the city to issue building permits for a project at 8 Washington that violates City Planning Code – NOOOOOOO
We should start with C because the signatures were gathered first to put C on the ballot–to overturn the Board of Supervisors terrible approval of the 8 Washington project. Why was it terrible? They make an exception to SF Planning Code for one property–8 Washington–luxury housing on the waterfront by the Ferry Building. The main exception you hear about is the height increase. But, they also made an exception for parking, which is problematic because the area is already serviced by ample public transit and some of the best walking and bicycling facilities while at the same time the area is plagued by some of the cities worst traffic jams. We cannot afford to make exception to city planning code for luxury apartments. In this democracy, everyone has to play by the same rules for this to work.

So that was all about C… What about B? Once the developers of 8 Washington caught wind of the signature campaign to overturn the Supervisors’ decision, they put B on the ballot that creates a special district for the project that allows the development all the exceptions to the rules that they want. Since I don’t agree with them making this exception to the rule–especially not for luxury homes–I am voting no on B.

One argument for Yes is that the developers have to give $11 million towards low income housing. That money for affordable housing is required by law for developments of that nature, to attempt to counter the problematic impacts that developments like this have on affordable housing, that ain’t charity. And, it is a problematic bandage solution for affordable housing, at that. Don’t buy it.

C – Allows the City Supervisor’s approval of the 8 Washington project take effect – NO!
If you didn’t read B above, start there, because that is where I started talking about C. A yes vote for C means that you agree with the Board of Supervisors and make the exception to the Planning Code for the 8 Washington Project and you want the city to issue the building permits. A no vote means that you want to overturn the Board of Supervisors’ decision and oppose the development. I am voting No as I said before because I don’t think they should make this exception. Now, if B passes and C doesn’t, the proposition with the most votes wins.

D – Policy Statement about reducing the cost of prescription drugs – blank

This is a non-binding policy statement saying something along the lines of “wouldn’t it be nice if the city could actually do anything about the insane prices of prescription meds? But too bad we can’t so let’s just say that we OFFICIALLY think it would be nice if the city could actually do something about the insane prices of prescription meds.” I don’t waste my time voting on policy statements. Something in SF compels people to put these stupid non-binding policy statements on every ballot wasting money and time.

Now that thing I must tell you about leaving parts of your ballot blank!

Luckily my friend Sacha (and Slate Party Co-Hostess) did a bunch of election research and let me know that the only way to ensure your vote is counted if you leave items blank on the ballot is to vote at your polling place.

When you vote at the poll, you insert your ballot into a machine and if there are blanks, the polling place official asks you if you intended to leave blanks. If you say yes, they press a button and your vote is tabulated.

But if you drop your absentee ballot with blanks on it in the mail, drop it in an official election box, or drop it off at the Elections office at City Hall YOUR BALLOT MAY BE NOT COUNTED. When the vote counter who opens the absentee ballots comes across a blank, they are supposed to determine whether or not the voter intended to leave that item blank. I do not know how they do this–crystal balls? tarot cards? tea leaves? But I know if someone is guessing whether or not I intended to leave blanks on my ballot, they could guess wrong. And if they guess wrong and decide not to count my ballot, then NONE OF MY VOTES on that ballot would be counted!

So what do you do about this if you want to be able to leave ballots blank AND ensure your vote is counted? Bring your absentee ballot to your polling place and tell them you want to surrender your absentee ballot for a live ballot. They destroy your absentee ballot and give you a live ballot. Then you vote and leave blanks, feed it into the machine–it beeps–and you tell them you intended to leave it blank. If this sounds like a lot more work than you wanted because you are a lazy voter, you could always for no for D and vote for the three unopposed candidates.

Tah-dah! You voted. Now put on that shiny red Ya Voté sticker already!