with people to create solutions for san francisco. i would be delighted to have your support. a want to make sure that our economy works at all levels of the community, making sure that our neighborhoods are livable and schools are fully funded, transparent and welcoming input of every day systems. thank you. [applause] >> hello,- my name is terry joan bon. i began as a personal aide to the legendary balla absed in her first run for congress in new york city in the 1970's. i am a green party activist. i am running because i have become incredibly concerned about what is going on in the world in this country.

it seems that we have gone so far to the right. i believe that the values of the green party would make an enormous difference. the values of grass-roots democracy, environmental wisdom, and nonviolence. i feel that the election of a green mayor in san francisco would have an enormous effect. not only on some francisco, but the entire country. it would open political discourse at a time when the fate of our planet is hanging in the balance. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is david schiu. we are going to spend a lot of time talking about what we believe in. i want to talk about who i am a little bit. raised in boston, born in cleveland by immigrant parents,

we can to some francisco 15 years ago for what we all love about the city. our commitment to diversity and social justice and innovation. i have been fortunate to work as a civil rights attorney, the founder of a technology company, prosecuting attorney, and president of the san francisco board of supervisors. i think that meeting new generation of leadership. one that is focused on delivering results. one that is ready to move beyond the dysfunctional politics of the past. i am proud of my record, helping to create thousands of jobs in units for new housing. i look forward to a conversation. thank you. [applause] >> great to see you, everyone. my name is dvin dunfy. i served eight years on the

board of supervisors and five years for mayer brown. i ran the complaint department. my approach to running for mayor is a look at the big picture by making the things that we rely upon every day better, serving the interests of the people that live here and work here. school is important as well. i am a public school parent. for the future of san francisco, we have to have great schools for the children of today and the workers of tomorrow. i was proud to work on a by attacks credit, creating synergy. thank you. [applause] >> mr. hall? >> good evening, folks. i assume you are here to see the different candidates. by m. tony hall. i am not a member of a

political party. i am running to be a working mayor offering serious solutions. fraught with programs that will cost the taxpayer down the road , we all need a serious solution to pension reform to bring all of these pension benefits. i am talking about keeping expenditures in line with revenues, cutting special- interest deals. we are talking about a san francisco income-tax. city hall does not need a blank check, it needs a reality check. enough of the sanctuary city. that is a program and policy that endangers public safety -- safety. changing the culture of city hall will take determination,

leadership, and it will take you to help me. join me. [applause] >> my name is city attorney, dennis herrera. i wanted to thank the house for giving me the opportunity to have a conversation with you all about what is at stake in this election. you clearly recognize that this is a seminal collection. this is the most important race we have had in and what years, because of the unique challenges we have found, 50,000 san franciscans moved here over the course of the last 10 years. we have to make sure that we are creating socioeconomic opportunities for all levels of income scale. a government needs to work to meet the challenges of the people, particularly important

when we are facing realignment to demonstrate that we can create economic opportunity and have a government that works. that is what this is all about and i look forward to having a conversation with you tonight. thank you very much. [applause] >> as your mayor for life, for the last nine months i have been looking at doing the most important thing in city hall. the most important thing is to create jobs and make sure that economic growth continues. that is number one. all of the convenience we have had in the neighborhoods, balancing the budget, talking about pension reform, they have all been attended by people who have asked, time and again, where are the jobs? they can be created here. yesterday i issued a road map as to how we can create jobs to

continue economic growth. i would like to share my points with you tonight, so that you know that the mayor every day should be waking up and asking themselves how to trade jobs in this city. thank you. [applause] >> my name is joanna reese. i came here 16 years ago to raise my family. i thought of this city as the verse and inclusive. as an entrepreneur, i founded a venture capital ship firm, applying the same model to public education reform, bringing innovative services into our public schools. i had the honor to work with an incredible education advocate. tonight, my heart goes out to

more meaning and her children. i have spoken to thousands of voters at bus stops, at the merchant walk, going door to door, and in neighborhood forums. i have heard loud and clear that we need a new approach and we will let get their buy trading shares at city hall. i look forward to the discussion tonight. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is professor phil ping. we love this city. san francisco is one of the greatest cities in the world. we know it can be better. we need to jump-start our economy and create jobs. we know the community can be faster in a more reliable. we agree, yet if the politicians alone could solve our problems,

we would not have them. what is missing is your voice at city hall. holding government and politicians accountable. we need to create the kind of government that forces the politicians to listen to us. not just during election season, but all year round. i know that we can do better as a city and change things about how we are running the city. that is why my campaign is organizing thousands of san franciscans every day. on our website, we had 100,000 hits. i would like to tell you more about how you can join me to change this city together. thank you. [applause] >> my name is leland yee. i want to be your mayor. i have experience and a proven record of accomplishment. 23 years, i have worked on the board of education, hoping to improve education for the board

of supervisors in with in your state legislature. i have worked hard to endorse -- to improve education. teachers have endorsed by candidacy. the sierra club has endorsed my candidacy. i have worked hard to protect and expand health care, which is why nurses have endorsed me. one of the other things that is important in my candidacy, i will be 100% independent of power brokers. i, with all of the experience and discussions i have had with you, have come up with five policy booklets. it allows you to hold me accountable. over 130 propositions on how to improve sentences go. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for your brief opening statements. you will get a chance to expand

on everything you want to talk about tonight. right now, we will proceed with journalists. then we will ask questions to the candidates of their choice. that means that not everyone will be called on. i will call all the journalists in alphabetical order. after that they will initiate, maybe, a lightning round to all candidates that may consist of yes or no answers, horror hoorays hands. candidates will have one minute to answer each question. >> thank you, sheriff. great to be here. [unintelligible] my first question is, we want to

avoid scripted answers. what with your biggest disappointment in high-school? how does that in their you now? >> i had no date to the senior prom. i asked a couple of girls. it was a different time. 1973. at some level, i knew that i was gay, but i was not ready to come out. it had to do with the isolation i felt moving from new york city to hear. it makes me hopeful now, wanting kids of all ages to be able to be out. my child has started a public school. you and i talked about this. my child is a tomboy. even in the first month of school, we had experiences that really surprised me.

it reminds me that being a gay man matters. hopefully as mayor i can be a person that can change that dynamic, stopping all leading wherever it takes place. [applause] -- stopping bullying wherever it takes place. [applause] >> this is for mayer leave. you regularly rely on a private automobile to get around. how can you ask people in san francisco to embrace public transit policies that you do not yourself embraced democrats because of my schedule, i have to be at meetings across town every day. unfortunately, i cannot ride my bike or walk as much as i would like. having said that, our city car is the chevy volt.

i have been a demonstrator for the electric vehicle. we want to make this city the electric vehicle capital of the world. we want to think that we have not only inspire the private sector to take advantage of electric vehicles, but we have done away with how we work with partners and car sharing, establishing the first residential car sharing spots just the other day. car sharing, as well as electric vehicles, are the future. [applause] >> mr. shapely? >> i get to ask the first lightning round question. the way that the winner of this election will be chosen, ranke choice of voting. do you support this form of

voting in its current form? do you think it is a good idea? please raise your hand. >> ok. >> if you would support repealing it or changing it, raise your hand. can i ask you, separately, one repeal, one change? >> we should support changing it. >> you want to get rid of it? why? or change it? >> if you look at the way this election is constructed and has played out, it has done some good things in terms of producing collegiality. i also think that it has been difficult for the electorate concerning differences between candidates. i think that elections are about choices, leadership, and the public having the opportunity to make meaningful distinctions about policy positions. it is unavoidable that candidates do not speak in black

and white as much as they should on the issues. they speak in gray tones so that they do not alienate others. of a runoff, and i think it was a good system then, and that the 20 to change it or repeal it. >> ok, thank you. -- and i think that we need to change it or repeal it. >> ok, thank you. >> the only thing i would like to changes look at the district 10. you had over 20 candidates and people having three choices. that meant a lot of ballots were exhausted. in a race like ours, people should have the option to vote for candidates, more consistent with the number of candidates qualify, so you do not have the

ballots and exhausted. >> all right. >> my question is that much has been discussed in the media about a power broker, especially in the chinese community. do you think that is the right way to describe her, and what is your idea of the power brokers in other communities? >> i do not use the word power broker. the thing that it is important that a mayor listen to everybody in the communities. and every committee, would that make big decisions. every decision that i may, whether it was the purchaser or the public works director or the city administrator, i had the choices of making sure that that listen to everybody before the decision was made. but the ultimate decision is made by the mayor independently with the standard that is the choice in the best interest of the city. that should be the standard and the only standard by which a

mayor makes that decision. so taking into consideration all of the opinion that people will give to the mayor, to the board of supervisors, to the various hearings that we would hold, and we have a very elaborate system to get those opinions done. the ultimate choice has to be that a mayor makes that decision in the best interest of the city, and that is what i have been doing for 22 years. [applause] >> this question is for supervisor of a los. you have been a very strong proponent of expanding services for the poor, of shoring up our parks are putting more resources into muni, helping out the public schools when you can. from city hall, you want these to pay benefits for contractor workers. all that takes a lot of money. where are you going to get the revenue for that, and if you cannot, how are you going to set the heart priorities that need to be set? >> thank you for your question. i have been at city hall now

since 2005. i have been supervisor since january 2009. a lot of my work has been trying to find revenue for the city. one of the first pieces of legislation was part of trading was a changeover from the payroll tax to our gross receipts tax. unfortunately it was never enacted. last year i put on the ballot and in increased to our real estate transfer tax. it was passed by the voters and supported by labor and community organizations. it was raised from january this year to june 30 of 2012, $45 million that held the mayor to balance the budget. a look at the income tax. state law has enabled us to do a local income tax. we just had a veto from governor brown for local vehicle license fee today, and i was crushed by that. but i have been looking at all kinds of sources of revenue, as well as partial taxes or we need to shore up money for our education and parks. i support the idea of a partial tax for city college.

i feel like we have to be prioritizing within our department and about de prioritizing other areas of our department. i will talk about that later today. [applause] >> this question is for sanitary -- center yee. your critics say that you talked only about what people want to hear. if you could change any city policy oarlock that would probably never be supported by voters, what would it be? in other words, what is an unpopular position that you take that you think is just right? >> well, first off, i think that oftentimes when we're talking about policies, it is very, very easy to make those particular issues black-and-white issues. rather, in reality, and in real life, there's always going to be differences of opinion and looking at different types of variables. it >> keep in mind, the question is what policy do you support.

>> for example, would you like it all the time? there times when there are differences. i think that is the point i would hate for you. i the one issue that is going to be extremely difficult for everyone in this city and county of san francisco is with the realignment up services, health care, social service, and public safety, back down to the city and not having the revenue. having the gumption to say that we have got to look at an income tax. it is going to be extremely difficult for individuals. >> so you support an income tax? >> i have already said that we have got to get a variety of different revenue streams, including income tax. i think that will be rather difficult discussion for everyone in the city. those individuals that think they may like it and those individuals who say absolutely not. >> i have a question to senator

yee as well. in the state budget last year, you said because of the deep cuts to education, social service, and health care. but if you are elected mayor and the budget restraints for c to cut one single social service program, which one would it be? >> well, the difficulty is really comparing apples and oranges. what happens that the state level is that we do not have the degrees of freedom to raise revenue, were as you have greater degrees of freedom to raise revenue at the local level. so at the state level, when it constantly we're cutting back on education, social services, and so on, at some point i have said enough is enough. i am not going to do that anymore. i have always wanted to increase revenue. the difficulty is not having the opportunity to then raise the revenue. i am not prepared to allow us not to have the discussion at the state level. at the local level, you are

going to have plenty of opportunities to look at how you increase revenues. it is a different set of parameters that we're dealing with the state level versus local. that is why it is really comparing apples and oranges. [applause] >> this question is for jeff adache. using your pension reform measures should not be construed as anti-union. the two largest contributors to your ballot measure campaign have funded republicans in ohio and wisconsin who have spearheaded efforts to take on the public employees' unions. the unions here have been upset about that. are they wrong to connect the actions of your contributors in the midwest would let you are planning for the ballot? >> what was said in the media was not true. i mean, these individuals have contributed to a variety of people, including republican candidates for governor, but they have never, you know, put

money into anti-union efforts in either of those states. remember, when i started working on reform, not a one of these elected officials stepped up to the plate and acknowledged that this was a problem. i went out and raised funds from san franciscans to support it, but when it became clear that this was going to be a major matt -- a major battle, remember, this is something like $3 million to oppose the first effort, not acknowledging that this was even a problem. i went to the two of them. one of them as a democrat. he also supported barack obama and mac in dollars when he ran for mayor. again, to pigeonholed -- pigeonhole individuals simply because they're supporting a particular effort, despite the fact that we need effective penchant for in the city. thank you. [applause]

>> question for david chiu. the city over the years has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on services for housing and the homeless, yet it is still a big problem, especially aggressive and intimidating panhandling. we have heard that from tourists and residents. what is the problem? why does the city seems unable to fix that problem? what gets in the way, and how do you balance civil liberties with public safety? >> part of what has gotten in the way is our city over the years has swung between two and the odd couples. on the one hand, law enforcement to billets criminalize homeless activities like aggressive panhandling. on the other hand, a perspective that keeps law-enforcement out and only focus on social services to homeless. i think we have to do a better job of integrating these services to this is why i was proud is to give -- to support the community justice center. this is why i am proud to support increasing -- >> we have talked about this for 25 years. you go to other cities like new

york, and it does not seem to be a problem. why is san francisco different? >> in new york city under review juliani, there was a different political culture that allow that mayor to take homeless folks off the streets. i think with a bit more disregard for civil liberties in the context. in san francisco, we do stand up for civil liberties. we stand up for compassion and treating homeless folks with dignity. i am a big supporter of supportive housing, making sure when we provide housing, we bundle but with the appropriate social services, mental health services, the dragon out all services that we need and case management that we need to make sure that we are delivering services to hold votes accountable. >> what do you tell a tourist or resident who has been harassed by a homeless person? >> first of all, we hope that you do not necessarily give them money, that you direct them to places in the area where they can get help. i am supportive of the project homeless connect project, making sure we direct folks in the

right way. the reality is there have been five mayors in a oroville have promised to end homelessness. this is a very difficult issue. i think if we do a better job integrating different services, using data, we can spend our money and more efficient ways. >> all right, i have a question. if you were mayor, how would you fight a gang violence, and would you support youth curfew's day and night in gang injections? >> i am supportive of the city attorney's gang in junction. i am also supportive of curfews. but i do think that the issue is a little more systemic. i'd think that we need to really look at our schools and the opportunity that our children have for not only good education but also good jobs when they get out of school. what we see with a lot of the members of our gang community is that the kids have nowhere to go. they are out after 1:00 in the

morning at a very young age, and is one of the reasons why i am very supportive of the neighborhood school initiative. we need to give local control of our schools back to our communities so that our kids, when they leave school, at the end of their day, they have church programs and community centers to go back to, like they did 20 years ago when i was growing up. so we had a system in place then where children would go from their schools and to their community centers, and would have after-school programs, athletic programs, tutorials, and that whole system has really gone into -- has gone sideways and now our kids travel 45 minutes across town and have no real anchor. >> thank you. >> language axises a very important issue in the immigrant community. -- language access is very important. as in the year, how would you have concrete steps to address that and implement that? >> in san francisco, we're

blessed and have been blessed for a century in after being a place that people come from all over the world to be a part of our community. in recent years that we have known we have vast amounts of our $6.8 billion government, services that are not being provided, as they could, to individuals in our community to do not speak english. this is why i was brought to champion the language access ordinance in my first year in office. one of the challenge in a budget-type environment is we have not had the money to put into the types of translation services that we need the money to hire folks who are either from the communities or can work with sensitivity to the diversity of communities we have. last year, i was proud to sponsor money in the budget to make sure that we had a minimal level of transition services in one of our department, but we need to do better. i would want to make sure that we're really truly making city hall and city government and accessible to all. >> ms. gordon.