Meet the District 5 candidates: Where does power lie in SF? (2024)

Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Three candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.

This week, we asked candidates to discuss the division of power in San Francisco, and where power truly lies in the city.

There is much debate about whether the mayor has too much or too little power, what role the Board of Supervisors plays in allowing or stymying the mayor’s efforts, and what role the city’s civilian commissions should play.

Accordingly, political action group TogetherSF proposed two measures for November’s ballot on this topic. One of those measures would limit the number of city commissions, disband many existing commissions and/or remove their decision-making authority, and give the mayor majority appointing power for any new commissions.

It would also give the mayor sole hiring and firing power over most of the city’s department heads.

We asked the candidates what they think of theproposal — unsurprisingly, they don’t agree.

Note: I will be at Cafe International at 508 Haight St., on Wednesday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m. Come say hi and share your thoughts about District 5.

Allen Jones

• Job: Activist
• Age: 67
• Residency: Tenant in District 5 since November 2021
• Transportation: Wheelchair
• Education: Teaching Bible studies at juvenile hall
• Languages: English

Smaller government? Hell…o yes. I was a committee member of a commission and refused to use a “doctored” document for a project. As a result, I was kicked off the committee. Also, when I met with the Mayor’s Office on Disability, it was only then that I learned we even had a Mayor’s Disability Council. By law, it had to take up my issue. Really, San Francisco?

Therefore, I support empowering future mayors with a smaller number of boards and commissions. The proposal would not affect the commission or council, I think needs to go. Damn!

Autumn Looijen

• Job: School board recall co-founder
• Age: 46
• Residency: Tenant in District 5 since December 2020, landowner
• Transportation: Public transit
• Education: B.S. from California Institute of Technology
• Languages: English

[No response submitted]

Bilal Mahmood

• Job: Founder of private and philanthropic organizations
• Age: 37
• Residency: Tenant in District 5 since May 2023
• Transportation: Walking
• Education: B.S. from Stanford, M.Phil from University of Cambridge
• Languages: English, Urdu

San Francisco currently has over 130 active commissions. This is more than double every other major city in the nation, more than the largest cities like Los Angeles and New York. Many of our commissions are redundant or incredibly specific past the point of significant relevance or value.

This extensive network of commissions in San Francisco has led to a bloated bureaucracy plagued by overlapping responsibilities, inefficiencies, and slowed decision-making processes. Reducing the number of commissions can create more government accountability and streamlined processes — outcomes sorely needed in San Francisco.

Endorsed by: San Francisco YIMBY, State Senator Scott Wiener and DCCC Chair Honey Mahogany.

Dean Preston

• Job: Incumbent, tenant attorney
• Age: 54
• Residency: Homeowner, in District 5 since 1996
• Transportation: Public transit
• Education: Bowdoin College and J.D. from UC Law San Francisco
• Languages: English

San Francisco has a strong mayor system of government. Our mayor has more power than most and receives the highest salary of any mayor in the country. The mayor appoints commissions, hires and fires department directors, and has unilateral control over spending the $14.6 billion budget. We have many problems in SF — lack of mayoral power isn’t one of them.

We need to make commissioners more independent and less beholden to the mayor. I was proud to write and pass legislation last year to ban the mayor’s scandalous practice of requiring commissioners to submit undated resignation letters in order to serve.

Endorsed by: Bernie Sanders, United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Tenants Union, National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Money raised and spent in the District 5 supervisor race

Source: San Francisco Ethics Commission, as of April 3, 2024. Chart by Junyao Yang.

The order of candidates is rotated each week. Answers are capped at 100 words, and may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.

Read the rest of the District 5 questions here, and the entire “Meet the Candidates” serieshere. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.

You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.